The Deepest Lies Are Those We Tell Ourselves [Fic]

The everyday life of the inhabitants of the Grey Tower. This board is for general daily roleplay around the Tower, in the corridors, rooms and halls that make up most of the building.
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Bella
Female Channeller Representative
Posts: 5615
Joined: April 14th, 2015, 11:28 pm
PC: Miahala Darrow Sedai
SC: Lysira Viathene Gaidin
TC: Gareth Tomosan Asha'man
QC: Natlya Cade Gaidin
QC: Andraste Alhandra Sedai
Location: New England

The Deepest Lies Are Those We Tell Ourselves [Fic]

Post by Bella » June 22nd, 2018, 1:23 am

It had been their habit, going on some years now, to meet at least once a week to share a meal and simply catch up on one another’s lives.

The informal tradition had its origins in when Sadira had rather abruptly become Haeden’s mother, for all intents and purposes. After he had grown up and didn’t really need a mother figure any longer, the two eventually realized how much they missed the time they spent together. Although it hadn’t been frequent while he was a trainee, it had still been there.

And now, quite some time later, they kept it up. At least, when they were both in the Tower.

This was their arranged night. Sadira poured a heavy, fragrant red wine into two glasses and brought one over to her brother where he sat in the armchair of her sitting room. She took the seat on the sofa nearest him. Alrim was out that evening, leaving the siblings to their time.

“Don’t tell Mother,” Haeden said to his sister with a small, conspiratorial smile, “but I’m kind of coming to like the times she has me watch Iain.”

That drew a rich laugh from Sadira. “I’m hardly surprised,” she said. “Children really aren’t that frightening, and I knew you’d figure it out sooner or later. After all, I was already well into adulthood when you came along.”

He smirked. “I thought women didn’t like to remind people of their ages,” he teased.

Sadi rolled her eyes. “You know better than that.”

That was impossible to dispute.

“Of course, I say that now, but he’s starting to pull himself up and along. He’ll be walking soon and then it will be the end of everything.” Haeden chuckled and took a drink. “Mother doesn’t seem worried, though.”

“And what about Ravak?”

Haeden grunted softly. He was doing better with it, but he still sometimes struggled with the fact that his mother had married a man roughly his age. It was one of the stranger side effects of channelers. “I can hardly tell. It’s not like he and I speak much. When we do, it’s usually on matters of the yards.”

Sadira had to wonder if her little brother would ever get over the awkwardness, but she knew that she wasn’t the one to fix it.

So, of course the answer was to make things more awkward.

After a few moments of companionable silence, Sadira chose to open up a topic that she knew might not go well for her. “I met Liaran the other day,” she said casually, taking a long sip of her wine although she watched him over the rim of her glass, gauging his reaction.

His blond brows rose. “You what? Why in the Light would you do that?”

She arched her own dark brow and tilted her head slightly. “Am I not allowed to meet my fellow Blues?”

Now those green eyes narrowed. “You certainly are,” he agreed slowly, “but I sense that this wasn’t about that.”

Sadira smiled. Her brother was no idiot, of that she was both certain and proud. “No, I suppose it wasn’t,” she agreed. “I simply wanted to meet her and get a chance to speak with her.”

“You had no right, sister,” he said with some heat. “I hope you didn’t upset her.”

“Upset her?” Sadi repeated curiously. “Precisely what do you think of me, my dear brother, that you worry I would speak to someone and do such a thing?” She didn’t mention that she wasn’t entirely sure she hadn’t done precisely that. Well, Liaran hadn’t seemed…upset, but she certainly hadn’t seemed comfortable.

Haeden huffed slightly, draining his wine cup at once. She couldn’t recall him ever drinking like that in her presence and her brows rose slightly. “It’s not you…” he said finally. “…exactly. But you know you can be kind of…blunt sometimes. You inherited that from our mother. And not everyone knows what to do with that.”

Well, that was certainly true, she couldn’t help but think. “Even so, I was perfectly nice. I promise you. But you talk about her more than I’ve ever heard you talk about anyone, except perhaps that young woman when you were a Ji…” She trailed off, trying to recall the girl’s name.

“Alene Moors.” He supplied the name quietly, staring into his empty glass.

“Yes, Alene,” Sadi said gently. “I just wanted to meet the Aes Sedai that has so captured my little brother’s attention.”

He grunted, pushing himself to his feet and pouring another glass. “You still should’ve kept it to yourself,” he murmured, but without rancor. “She’s my friend.” He took a long drink before he even sat back down, but then he did and his green eyes pierced the space between them in a way that disconcertingly reminded her of his father.

Sadira tilted her head, regarding him with steel blue eyes. “You know I can tell when you’re lying,” she said simply, “even when it’s to yourself.”

Haeden narrowed his eyes now, and suddenly, he was sixteen again. “You cannot.”

She smiled. “Can too.”

He scowled and growled, putting the wine on the side table to run both hands through his hair. “You’re infuriating,” he groaned. “How is it you can make me feel like a kid again?”

“Because you’re my kid brother, and I’m three times your age.” She said it plainly as she took a delicate sip of her wine.

His head fell back against the headrest of the armchair and he scrubbed his hands up and down his face. “Okay, maybe there’s more in my head about her, but she doesn’t feel that way about me. I know it. So…that’s it. She’s my friend, and I’ll help her when she asks, and we’re trying to help each other not be hermits. That’s it. Now leave her alone.” He lifted his head and stared at her.

“Whatever you say, dear brother.” She smiled sweetly. “Whatever you say.”

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