Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Hama Valon, the city around the Grey Tower.
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Welcome to Hama Valon! The aptly named 'mountain guard' is the city that has grown up at the gates of the Grey Tower at the western edge of the Two Rivers. Like all cities, there are quiet quarters with pleasant inns, such as Elman's Creek, which used to be the nearest village when the Tower was young, but was absorbed as the new city grew; its Band of Brothers Inn is still a favorite relaxation spot for many of the Tower's denizens. And again, like all cities the world over, there are less pleasant places--narrow, nameless streets that house hells and other houses of ill repute. Most of the city falls somewhere in between, with hawkers crying their wares in the streets, respectable shopkeepers ready to serve you, and petty cutpurses happy to follow you.

Novices, Soldiers, and drin'far'ji must be accompanied by a chaperon when outside Tower walls or they risk being picked up as runaways and duly punished.
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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

Re: Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Post by Bella » May 26th, 2018, 10:46 pm

They danced a while longer, to the slow rhythms and the fast beats, unless Sadi was feeling somewhat breathless and her face was flushed, but she couldn't stop smiling. And wasn't that what this evening was meant to be about? But between songs, she noticed their food being set upon the table and she nodded towards it.

He understood her gesture, and they finally left the dance floor.

Sadira sat down with a breathless laugh. Although there had been many moments of levity and light since Alrim Farshera walked into her life, she couldn't quite recall a time--in a long, long time--that she had felt quite this free. It was a wonderful feeling, and she hoped it wouldn't be the last time she had a chance to feel it.

Taking a long sip of her drink, she flashed a smile across the table at him. "It's been a long time since I danced like that," she said warmly. "I am glad I did not forget any of the steps!"

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Andy
"A Crown of Swords"
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Joined: February 4th, 2017, 11:16 pm
PC: Alrim Farshera Gaidin
Location: UK

Re: Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Post by Andy » May 27th, 2018, 5:55 pm


He chuckled at her laugh and her words before hiding a smile behind a sip of his drink. In some ways they were quite alike he had come to believe. Both of them had been in their own rooms, the door firmly shut as a reaction to the Patterns weavings. Now the doors were opened and it was akin to finding yourself once more, the real self. As time together passed he was seeing her find more of herself.

Like as not the same could be said of me he noted to himself with satisfaction, she was the best thing that had happened to him since leaving Arafel. Joining the Tower didn't count he had had to do that. He had chosen her and had been chosen.

"You dance well, when was the last time?" he asked a smile creeping across his face, "I'm glad you are enjoying yourself. We should get out more often I think. Perhaps a special meal, a picnic somewhere out in the world. Or another thing from a sizeable list. I like seeing you like this...lighter of spirit. You deserve the feeling"

He flicked his gazed about for a few moments to make sure all was well, even on an evening 'off' there were duties he could not lay down and didn't wish to. Finding little amiss he took a few bites of food and watched Sadira eat across the table.

"I can't say that I have danced like that for a time either," he reflected musingly, fingers tapping his cup, "it reminds me of why I should. Hermits rarely find happiness someone once told me. Forget who now. I'm glad I was convinced not to be one"

That, of course, went for more than just getting out into the city of Hama Valon, he knew.
~
Arafel Will Rise, Kick Matty's Butt & Be Totally The Most Awesome Land Evar
~

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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

Re: Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Post by Bella » May 28th, 2018, 3:14 pm

"It's something I heard more than once from my family," Sadira said with some amusement. "My brother and nephew when my mother was dead, and then my mother after she returned. You would think more than a century and one death would lead a mother to not be so...motherly, but it certainly did not stop mine."

Her smile showed that she didn't really mind it.

Another errant thought made her laugh again. "My mother would be particularly glad that this was how we've chosen to spend our evening out, though. She was the one who gave me the wish to dance and taught me how to do much of it. She's quite the dancer herself. I don't remember my father as well, but Mother says he liked to dance too."

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Andy
"A Crown of Swords"
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Joined: February 4th, 2017, 11:16 pm
PC: Alrim Farshera Gaidin
Location: UK

Re: Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Post by Andy » May 28th, 2018, 4:23 pm


He had to laugh at her words, blunt and honest but still affectionate. He was not sure whether he would be the same in her shoes but if he were truthful in some ways he already was. It was part and parcel of being a member of the family. Largely he kept out of the way, just accepted it and did right by Sadira as best he could. He had yet had to stand his ground against the legendary woman but it would be a very fun day if he ever had to, he knew.

"The wisdom of the ancients," he stated with theatrical solemnity, "but she does what she knows. She cares deeply for you, enough to give me the talk. I'm not sure even an army of Trollocs could distract her overly long from her family. Maybe for an hour"

He listened intently as she talked briefly of her mother and father. He liked that she shared such things, it reminded him of an earlier time of his life and for a few moments there was a distant look in his gaze as he replayed a few memories in his mind's eye.

"Like mother, like daughter," he noted warmly, "we shall have to get her dancing too some day. I remember my family, my father was away a lot but he knew how to enjoy himself. My mother was too busy putting up with me to dance that often, that I remember anyway. To my discredit"

"My sisters...they were the fun ones. Traditional fun at least. They liked to make flower crowns and dance on the grass. Children should do such things, adults even more so" he noted.

"What else do you remember from those early years?"


~
Arafel Will Rise, Kick Matty's Butt & Be Totally The Most Awesome Land Evar
~

User avatar
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

Re: Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Post by Bella » May 29th, 2018, 10:06 pm

"Does that mean the next time we dance, it will be out in the gardens?" she asked, both teasing and serious.

She smiled gently to hear him speak of his own family, knowing how he felt thanks to the bonds they shared--both of the One Power and of their deep abiding affection, which only seemed to grow. She was sure that he missed his family, but she was also glad to share her own with him. In all its loud, pushy, obnoxious glory.

Reaching across the table, she took his hand and gave a gentle squeeze.

"You're asking an awful lot of an Aes Sedai to look so far back," she teased. "I remember my older brother, well, half-brother. I miss him. He was a good man, and a good Gaidin. He was bonded to a Green for decades before she perished. Her nearly went with her, but a bond with a Yellow saved his life. He served her up until the day he died.

"He used to teach me how to fight with swords. He was the darling of the warder yards as a child, and was given many toy swords by many Gaidin and Greens, and he shared them with me as soon as I could stand up and hold one."

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Andy
"A Crown of Swords"
Posts: 611
Joined: February 4th, 2017, 11:16 pm
PC: Alrim Farshera Gaidin
Location: UK

Re: Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Post by Andy » May 30th, 2018, 8:58 pm


"I insist on it, where would be the fun in not?" he asked with a warm look, "and I know a particularly nice spot up high where you can see the city at sunset, night and sunrise. During the day...well it's still there but less impressive"

It was strange, at times it was so easy to forget that she was older than he by quite the margin. It had been more distinct at the beginning, when there had been that distance between them. Now it was more difficult. He loved that she had opened up enough for him to be forgetful. It was gratifying, to know how she felt inside, and to know that she was happier. He still shook his head to himself at his question though, it was proof he was ever the fool. It kept him human.

He squeezed her hand back, it was soft yet strong, a reminder of what she talked about - she was just as much a fighter as he if required. He had toyed with the idea of asking her for a friendly bout one day, just for fun...and for the teasing rights of course. A small
smile crept across his face at that before returning to the words at hand. It occurred, not for the first time, that it was hard to be a channeller in some ways. One day he would die, it was inevitable. She would have to live with it because he bloody well intended her to.

"A bittersweet story but it sounds like there are few finer than those you have already known, one way or another. Things to live up to, not a bad role model, I think. Certainly I hope to follow his example by being around for a long while yet," he said with a soft but serious tone, becoming a bit merry toward the end, "what have you gotten yourself into Rose?" he flashed a smirk.

"I miss many things myself, the colour of their hair, the smell of the baking read, but I am grateful for what I have," he traced his fingers in her palm briefly, "even if I had the choice I don't think I would go back and change anything. I couldn't be sure I would end up with the same ending, which would be a tragedy"
~
Arafel Will Rise, Kick Matty's Butt & Be Totally The Most Awesome Land Evar
~

User avatar
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

Re: Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Post by Bella » May 31st, 2018, 2:02 am

"The past is what makes us who we are," she said softly, offering him another smile even as a shiver raced up her arm from when he touched the palm of her hand like that. She almost lost track of her thoughts, but she didn't. "I wouldn't wish the pain in either of our pasts on us or anyone else, and yet I wouldn't want either of us to be other than we are."

She let her fingers trace along his as she spoke. "And I know that even though they are gone, those who loved us would want us to keep on living. Growing. Changing. Forming new bonds. The Pattern wove the strands that drew us together, and I think maybe those who passed before us had a hand in that. I find a lot of comfort in that."

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Andy
"A Crown of Swords"
Posts: 611
Joined: February 4th, 2017, 11:16 pm
PC: Alrim Farshera Gaidin
Location: UK

Re: Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Post by Andy » May 31st, 2018, 10:03 pm


"Guardians," he said thoughtfully, nodding in agreement slowly, "it has a nice sound to it. Better than most beliefs I can think of. And of course, they would know better than we would. Best not to argue with their weaving"

The corners of his lips turned up as she returned the tracing and he held her gaze as she answered as he hoped she would. She had never had any complaints about their Bond or time together but even so there were vestiges of his insecurities that were like insects - difficult to wipe out fully. Rose had done much more than give him a purpose or connection - she had given him a life. Oh he could have lived as a Gaidin in the Yards, doing what all Gaidin did best when not out of the Tower on some mission or other. Could have done that forever.

But merely existing, going on, did not a life make. The difference was obvious now.

"I find comfort in you, in us," he said easily, without needing to think, "in the fact that we are living instead of just existing. Proof that change, and growth, are worth putting your faith into. I have nothing that I love or am more thankful for"

~
Arafel Will Rise, Kick Matty's Butt & Be Totally The Most Awesome Land Evar
~

User avatar
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

Re: Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Post by Bella » June 2nd, 2018, 12:22 am

Somehow, it was possible for a woman of her years to blush.

The color was very faint, and the Creator knew that no one else in the entire world would be able to elicit such a reaction from her, but his words brought the very faintest tinge of the name he had given her: rose. The heat gently filled her cheeks and she was possessed by the girlish urge to look away in a sudden bout of shyness, but she resisted and held his gaze.

"Nor I," she said softly, voice a touch hoarse and breathless. "I didn't even know my life was missing so much of its color until you."

She had nearly died once. In fact, she was believed to be dead for a time, but had been brought back from the brink by the miracle that were the Yellows of the Grey Tower. She had awoken, of course, to know that her bond-mate and lover of decades was dead, and that her mother was dead, and her step-father. And her young half-brother was in her care.

It hadn't been easy. He'd been an angry young man, hurt and feeling abandoned. Her life had narrowed to the focus of duty, of being as much a mother as she could, until he matured.

Once he'd grown, she wasn't sure what to do with herself. So she went out to be as much a Blue as she could be, and still be there for her family as she always was...but that wasn't the same. She just didn't know it until the true light of the sun had actually come back to chase the shadows, the specters of the past and her near-death, away.

It had been Alrim. "I am grateful, Alrim," she whispered, leaning a little closer, "and I will always love you for that, and more."

User avatar
Andy
"A Crown of Swords"
Posts: 611
Joined: February 4th, 2017, 11:16 pm
PC: Alrim Farshera Gaidin
Location: UK

Re: Lightening [Attn: Andy/Alrim]

Post by Andy » June 2nd, 2018, 10:31 am


There was a swell within, gentle but powerful, and it caused him to grin almost foolishly as he noticed the faint change in her cheeks. He doubted anyone else would notice, even with the lighting being excellent as far as taverns went it was barely perceptible. No, he had had many hours to study her face, its contours, expressions and colours. It was more familiar to him than his own. That he could affect her so only served to enhance her beauty.

"Colour indeed" he said, reaching out the back of his hand to feel the warmth of her cheek with a smile.

It was a moment he would remember until his dying day, no matter how long his allotted lifespan would be. It was one thing to feel something through the Bond, to exchange smiles, looks and affections. It was another to hear it said plainly after stepping around it for a time. Perhaps it had been inevitable but it didn't matter, she loved him and he her and it was glorious.

That did cause him to blush. Hiding and controlling emotion had never been his strength. He did not look away though, if anything his gaze deepened and shone brighter as she leaned closer. Of all the things he had imagined would happen in his time at the Tower, the place in life he might have been in at his current age, he had never imagined himself to be so lucky on that first day.

"And I will always love you Rose...for being you. For seeing in me what I couldn't see myself. For a spirit unbreakable" he responded easily, following it with a slight pause and then the only thing that was right to do.

A kiss.
~
Arafel Will Rise, Kick Matty's Butt & Be Totally The Most Awesome Land Evar
~

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