Fancy Meeting You Here [Attn: Liaran Sedai]

[Bella]

Haeden didn't speak again after he finished his little speech, letting her have whatever moments she needed after that. He didn't know if anything would sink in, since he knew what he could be like when he was caught in these sorts of emotions... He thought back to when Ravak had found him drunk and just how well he'd listened then.

He tried not to stare, but did glance at her face occasionally. She didn't quite have the full mask of Aes Sedai Serenity, but he didn't know what she was thinking.

When she did reply, he was able to afford a small smile in return. He wasn't sure what he was feeling in response, but it wasn't a bad feeling so he just went with it. "I shall...Liaran," he said. "I hope you will call me Haeden then." He couldn't recall her using his name before, although an Aes Sedai certainly could use whichever name they chose. Still, it felt right to respond in kind.

[Alianora]

Liaran

Liaran nodded. "I will, Haeden," she said. She let herself smile back at him then, something she had not had reason to do for many weeks, but remained silent. Some time passed, and Liaran worried that she was being rude, but she just didn't know what to say. She really didn't know him at all, but after that ill-fated trip together, there were things he knew about her that nobody else did. He'd even seen her cry, something Liaran very much hoped he'd forgotten, as it was something she would never have normally allowed anyone to see. The Aes Sedai tried not to dwell on the unwelcome memories, and looked up to see if Haeden had left, but he was still sitting there. She hoped for his sake that he wasn't feeling as awkward as she was at the moment.

When she thought about it further, he didn't know her either, regardless of what he might have seen. Did he know so much as her clan name, her salt name? Liaran didn't think he did, since she tended not to use them in the Tower.The whole situation just felt strange to her. She'd never expected Haeden to want anything to do with her after what they'd been through, and now that she was here sitting beside him, the Aes Sedai just wasn't sure what to say, or what to do.

[Bella]

Haeden let the silence exist for a little while. There was some awkwardness in it, but there was also some...peace.

She did not hate him, and did not blame him. While he still knew that he had failed her, there was some weight off his shoulders knowing her feelings on the matter. All of the assumptions that he had been making were unfounded, much like hers had been of him, as it turned out. It was...strange what humans could think, when left on their own.

Connecting, and talking, was everything.

Finally, he got up and went to the stove. He noticed that the chefs and servants were all scarce while the two of them spoke, but for that, he was grateful. He poured a bowl of stew and grabbed a slice of bread, carrying it back to the table and setting it in front of her. "You look a little wan," he said gently. "You should eat."

Now wanting to crowd her while she ate, he moved his stool back where it had been and took a seat to eat his meal as well.

"I hope it would not be too forward of me to say, A--" He stopped himself and laughed, his spoon resting on the edge of the dish. "Liaran. But...we have started to know one another not at our best, to say the least. Would it be too forward to say I hope that we can get to know each other...if not at our best, at least at our better?"

[Alianora]

Liaran

When Liaran looked up again, Haeden had disappeared. At first, the Aes Sedai assumed he'd left the kitchen entirely, and wouldn't have blamed him if he had. He had to be frustrated with her by now since she'd been so quiet. The Aes Sedai put a hand on the table and stood, getting ready to leave herself, but when she saw Haeden coming out of the kitchen, Liaran sat back down. The food he was carrying was set in front of her, which Liaran found embarrassing, since she was more than capable of serving herself. She could feel her cheeks heating up and shook her head, letting her hair fall in her face in an attempt to hide it. It did not help at all that he then suggested that she eat, as if she had to be told. He sounded concerned, which only made Liaran feel worse.

"Thank you," she said, "but you didn't have to do that. I could have gotten my own food." They were quiet again after she spoke, the only noise the sound of spoons clinking in bowls. Liaran ate quickly, not having bothered to eat before now, and was startled when Haeden began talking again. She looked up from a nearly empty bowl, blinking at him. What could he possibly want to know about me? She didn't understand, but nodded anyways. "I'd like that, Haeden," she said, and she meant it. She let herself smile at him then, but was sure she sounded as shy as she felt when she added, "I just don't know where to start."

[Bella]

A smile. Now there was something he hadn't thought he'd see out of her... It made him smile, just a little and kind of lopsided, in return.

"Well, hmm. How about I start by telling you a little of myself?" he offered, shrugging slightly before eating a couple bites of his now mostly cold stew before he went on. (The Yards trained one to eat the food in front of you, regardless of what it was like. If one was on the road, the next meal could be an uncertain thing.)

He considered himself, trying to think of what was...pertinent, and relatively interesting. But he wasn't used to trying to look at himself from the outside in that way, so it took a bit.

"I am a true child of the Grey Tower," he began with. "I was born here. My mother is Miahala Sedai. I am her youngest child...and I still will be for only a very short amount of time." That made his expression a wry one. "It's a little strange to be my age and about to have a younger brother or sister. But such is having an Aes Sedai for a mother.

"My father was Caden Ives. I think he was before your time here..." He didn't want to talk about his father much. "He was a Gaidin. I followed in his footsteps, I guess. Being a Gaidin myself. And using the sword."

He ate a little more stew contemplatively, finding himself wanting to tell her about what he did when not being Gaidin...but he struggled to think of anything. He seemed to live in the Yards. That was something he should work on, he realized. But where did one start? Finally, he realized how long he'd been silent and he laughed sheepishly. "I guess I'm not particularly interesting."

[Alianora]

Liaran

Haeden talked, and Liaran listened quietly while she finished eating. It surprised her that he'd been born here, though she knew it happened, and she wondered how he didn't get bored with it. Having lived her first fifteen years aboard ship, traveling from port to port, she found it difficult to imagine an entire lifetime spent in just one place. She didn't want to interrupt him to ask about it, so she let him keep talking, pushing her empty bowl to the side when she was done. Liaran then turned slightly in her chair, looking at Haeden so he wouldn't think she hadn't been paying attention.

The Aes Sedai shook her head when he declared himself to not be very interesting. "I doubt that's true," she said. "Even if it were, I'm not either. Until...recently, if I wasn't in a classroom, I was writing lesson plans or possibly chasing my dog around the Tower. Nothing you'd want to hear about." She couldn't help but think that her activities since coming back were even less interesting. The reports she'd been tasked with handling were dull even to her, and when she wasn't trying to work, she slept. That had become more difficult for her as a result of the nightmares she'd been having, something she would not be mentioning during this conversation or any other.

Liaran shifted nervously in her chair, slightly distracted by her unpleasant thoughts, and placed her hands under the table and out of sight."What was it like, growing up here?" she asked. The Grey Tower didn't seem like an easy place for a child to live, but she knew of Blues and others who raised children here anyways. Thinking of that brought another question to her mind. "Are you looking forward to being an older brother?"

[Bella]

Not being an entirely oblivious person, it did not escape his notice that Liaran didn't really say very much about herself in the reply she gave him...but that was alright. He wasn't going to push her, lest he push her away. He would find a way to learn in time, and could be a patient man when the moment called for it.

"Growing up here..." Haeden repeated with a soft laugh. "For the first eleven years, it was good. Growing up in the shadows of my parents wasn't easy, but at that time, I was too young to really know it."

There was a great deal more about those "shadows" that could be said, but he chose not to. Those were things that she didn't need to know about; that no one needed to know about. He hadn't even really spoken to his mother about it. Only Sadira knew, and even she only knew in part. It just...wasn't something he gave voice to.

"It was kind of like having many parents, though," he went on with "safer" topics. "It seemed like all of the Greens and all of the Gaidin watched over me. They played with me as a little boy with my little wooden sword, which I inherited from an older brother who passed before I had a chance to remember him.

"As for me being an older brother? That's... I'm honestly not sure. I think I'll be happy once it happens, but at my age...my mother's age...it's weird to imagine. To be perfectly honest." He smiled wryly and waved a hand. "But my mother is happy, and I am happy for her." He paused, eating a little more of his cold stew. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

[Alianora]

Liaran

Liaran couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Haeden at eleven, though she knew better than to ask. She wasn't about to pry into his life, and would be satisfied with whatever he chose to share with her. Again she was silent, listening to everything he said, but she couldn't come up with anything to say in response that would be appropriate to ask someone she barely knew. Liaran sat still, hardly moving, frustrated with herself. She shook her head at Haeden's question. "No," she said. "I'm my parents' only child."

She was quiet again then, dark eyes darting down to the hands she'd hidden under the table, unsure whether she felt up to saying anything else about her family and her culture. The Sea Folk woman had never been ashamed of her heritage, and in fact it remained a source of pride for her, but here, Liaran had learned that for every person who did not care, there were others who looked at her as different, strange, not as much a part of the Tower because of it. She did not think Haeden would be one, but she could never be sure.

Liaran let herself glance at him, and when he didn't appear to be bothered by her silence, she found the nerve to speak."I don't think I've ever told you my whole name," she said, somewhat hesitantly. "It's Liaran din Chelai Morning Star." Haeden said nothing, and Liaran had no idea what he was thinking, or if he could even tell that she was Sea Folk from her name alone. Not that that mattered, since he'd be finding out soon enough. "I was born to the Atha'an Miere," she finally said, "and until I came here, most of my life was lived at sea. My parents were, and still are, in charge of..a small ship, and that's where they raised me." At some point, she'd moved her hands back to the table top and into sight, which made Liaran blink since she couldn't remember doing it. Not sure what else, if anything, Haeden might want to know, she said nothing more, reminding herself that if he did turn out to be one of those who considered her a lesser part of the Tower, she could always leave and go back to her rooms.

[Bella]

As the silence had initially drawn out, Haeden had been worried that she had changed her mind about wanting to talk to him and that she was likely to rush off at any moment. He didn't want that to happen, but had no other way of avoiding it if that was what she chose to do. Still, he didn't want to dominate the conversation so he let her have her silence.

He was pleasantly surprised when she did finally speak, and told him something of herself. He had guessed at her heritage, though had tried to not make any assumptions. One never really know unless told, eh?

"I have known a few of your people to be here among the Tower in my years here," he said with a small smile, "although I fear that I did not know them very well and have not had much chance to interact with the Atha'an Miere. You'll find me woefully inadequate in my knowledge there in." There was no trace of derision in his tone, because he felt none.

When he said he was a true child of Hama Valon, of the Grey Tower, he meant it. He had not grown up as part of any one nation. While he was proud of his ancestry, he had not grown up among it. To him, there were all just members of the Tower.

"I also have no had much occasion to go to sea, or on any sort of boat. It must have been quite a change for you, to go from living on the water to living on land." It was said as a statement, though was also clearly a question.

[Alianora]

Liaran

Liaran felt herself begin to relax, settling back into her chair. She felt safe around Haeden, and though that shouldn't have been anything remarkable, it wasn't something she could say about many of the others who now lived in her home. That made it easier for her to keep talking. "Most people don't know much about the Sea Folk," she said, wanting to make it clear to Haeden that she saw nothing wrong with that. "If there's something you wanted to know, you can ask," she continued. Liaran wasn't sure whether Haeden actually had any particular questions about her people, but she didn't think the invitation could do any harm.

She pushed a stray curl out of her face before responding to his later comment. "It took me years to adapt to life on land," she admitted. "I didn't want to come here, didn't want to believe I could channel, and I spent a lot of my time as a novice fighting it." She paused for a minute before adding, "But...obviously, I grew to accept it, and the Grey Tower is my home now, the ships somewhere I occasionally visit. Have you really never been on a ship at all?" She sounded more surprised than she should have, knowing that that wasn't unusual for someone who'd been raised on land, but Liaran had trouble imagining it.