Memories and Gifts (Attn: Haeden Ives)

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Welcome to the Gardens: one of the most tranquil areas of the Tower Grounds. Birds sing in the trees which line the wide paths between beautiful flower beds and serene lakes. There are benches to sit and listen to the waterfall, and there is neatly trimmed grass to lie on and rest. Novices and Soldiers as well as Warders in Training can be seen, sweeping the stone paths as Accepted and Dedicated study from books and relax under leafy trees.
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Jack
"Lord of Chaos"
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Memories and Gifts (Attn: Haeden Ives)

Post by Jack » April 26th, 2021, 11:57 pm

Jerid Walker Asha'man The letter that came to the quarters of Haeden Gaidin and Liraan Sedai quite early ... enough that a few soft knocks would answer the door with disturbing one of two residents.

The Dedicated who held the note bowed respectfully to the Gaidin that answered the door and rapidly retreated after the message was delivered. The scroll held a complex seal: a rampant fox with three downward-facing daggers.

The personal seal of Jerid Walker of House Walker, Asha'man of the Indigo Ajah. Rare was the event that such a seal was ever seen. And as such, there was a bit of writing with an arrow toward the seal saying "Jerid Asha'man."

Upon breaking the seal:

Gaidin Haeden, you are urgently requested by Jerid Walker of the Indigo Asha'man for an important meeting of the utmost importance, four hours from hence in the Gardens.

A small map was included in the message, in an area of the Gardens near the lake.

___

It was early still, just moments before sunrise. Mountain mists encompassed the area, concealing a cloaked figure sitting on a bench near the Tower's lake. Long had the great serpent lake confounded those outside the Tower, but as an Inigo, the Asha'man understood.

It was nearly as old as the Tower itself — younger than Elman's Creek, the village the Tower crew you up around, but older than the city that grew around the village. And the lake was ... Jerid could not remember the history, so much locked away in his mind that it was.

The youthful Indigo remembered so much ... and yet so much remained locked behind a window.

But that wasn't what called him here this morning. It was other things. Or rather a brief rare moment n which he took notice of other occupants of this Tower,

Jerid Walker and his Warder Lysira Viathene were rumored to leave this Tower into ... retirement. And yet the day came when he saw the son of Miahala stride across the Yards ...

And now he sat, cloaked in forest green ... against a small clearing of heavily treed-area of the Gardens, the lake in front of him.

The cloaked man gestured to Haeden and murmured, "I remember when there was but a Tower and a small village, when the world had barely even heard of the Grey Tower, when most still thought Trollocs were a myth ... "

He smiled from beneath his hood, his gold-green eyes watching the ripples on the lake caused by the breeze.

"I remember a time when the name of Jerid Walker was unknown beyond the walls of Ebou Dar, a simple thief turned initiate of this Tower," he whispered. "When the Seanchan did not tell children nightmares of the gold-green demon of Ebou Dar, who called forth fire and lightning."

His smile vanished. "When all one wanted to do was raise his son and daughter far away from this place, from the shadow of its memory," he murmured.

Jerid turned his gold-flecked forest green eyes toward the towering man. "But then there be no Dedicated who would ride out with the legendary scarred Caden Ives of the Yards and Miahala Aes Sedai of the Green to face an army of Whitecloaks and its Dreadlord commander who had taken something so precious from the Tower, from them."

He gestured toward the Gaidin again, beckoning him forth. "You remind me of them both ... you walk very much like your father, especially the way a man who has earned his heron mark might stride," Jerid murmured. "He would be proud of the man you've become, much as your mother is proud of you now."

He smiled again. "Much as I am proud of my son Cade and my daughter Liana."
Jerid Walker Asha'man
"We all suffer. It's how we move past it that defines us."

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Bella
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Location: New England

Re: Memories and Gifts (Attn: Haeden Ives)

Post by Bella » May 30th, 2021, 5:36 pm

Haeden had been perplexed to receive the summons from Jerid Walker, given that while the Gaidin of course knew the Indigo better than the average channeler in the Tower, he did not spend so much time with him as his mother did. The elder was the friend, while Haeden was more the son of the friend...but he, specifically, had been summoned nonetheless and one did not refuse such a thing.

He strode through the gardens with ease, knowing this area of the Grey Tower as if he had been born here...which, as the stories was, he very nearly was. (Miahala had only just made it to the infirmary before the proper birthing took place, such a near-miss with death for the both of them as it was.)

His green eyes--colored like his father's but shaped his mother's--surveyed everything until he found the seated figure, knowing the man for who he was.

"Asha'man," he greeted respectfully with a bow of his head.

What the man had to say came as a surprise, almost as much--maybe more--than the original missive had been. Haeden had more years still without living parental figures than with them, so such expressions of pride and familiarity could at times still catch him off guard. He was curious, almost wary for a moment as Gaidin were trained to be, but then he inclined his head again.

"I appreciate your words," he said, still a little uncertain but otherwise sincere, coupled with a hint of a smile in his otherwise naturally stony expression.

Jack
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Re: Memories and Gifts (Attn: Haeden Ives)

Post by Jack » June 3rd, 2021, 5:24 am

A small smile touched the hooded Asha'man's lips, visible enough for the Gaidin to see ... if he noticed. It was fleeting, gone two heartbeats after it had appeared.

And it was a smile of good-natured humor and admiration that a Warder could still show surprise, however subtle and be comfortable doing so. The combination of so many countless years in this place and the bond with a particular Warder had taught him that — though his wife rarely showed such a side to most.

Unless they really, really annoyed her. He could think of one recent lad. But the thought faded from his mind.

The Indigo lowered his hood with his left hand ... one missing the tips of both his ring finger and pinky, scars from a time long ago when he had to rescue a very temperamental Green Sitter from the Black Ajah looking to turn her.

A youthful face looked turned to look at Haeden Ives. Very few were alive to know what Jerid Walker looked like more than 150 years ago. By the time he was 65, he had barely looked into his early 30s ... and that look stayed with him as he reached the pinnacle of strength in the One Power. Now nearing 200 ... was he that old? ... the Asha'man barely looked a day past 35 summers. Sure, a few grey hairs, the slightest sign of lines around his gold-green eyes -- but the passing of candle marks might as well have stopped altogether.

The youthful Asha'man looked back at the lake, his gold-green eyes -- so much older than his appearance -- dancing with slight whimsy. "Your father made me swim this lake when I was but a Dedicated, and he an officer of the Warder Yards. I believe it was during an evaluation of my skill with an ashan'darei. I said something that offended him ... he told me to swim it in a certain time frame ... and I got back with seconds to spare."

He smiled and it stayed. "He's also the one that kicked me in the pants and told me 'Get raised, Dedicated.'" He looked back at the Gaidin. "But while he might have booted me into earning the cord and Dragon pin, it's your mother who anchored me in her friendship."

His eyes returned to the lake and his smile vanished. "Why did you become a Warder, Master Haeden? You're an intelligent man who could have chosen any number of endeavors."

The question was asked with simple, open curiosity, more akin to the Indigo he used to be than ... what he had become.
Jerid Walker Asha'man
"We all suffer. It's how we move past it that defines us."

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Bella
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Location: New England

Re: Memories and Gifts (Attn: Haeden Ives)

Post by Bella » June 13th, 2021, 11:00 pm

It was an interesting contrast, Haeden reflected, between the man's age and memories compared to his appearance. Yet even so, it was hardly unusual to someone whose mother was Miahala Sedai. The contrast was more normal to him than not sometimes, and there was something comforting about it. To a small degree.

This man probably remembers my father better than I do, the younger Gaidin reflected with only a momentary flash of bitterness.

"My father was a hard man," he said flatly. "My mother is a good woman. Between them, I am a child of the Grey Tower. I have never wanted to be anything else. I had no propensity to channel, and so it was my father's path into the warder yards that was left open to me and thus it was the one I chose to walk."

Jack
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Re: Memories and Gifts (Attn: Haeden Ives)

Post by Jack » June 19th, 2021, 5:17 am

Jerid cocked his head slightly, his youthful face emotionless as the Gaidin provided his brief summary. The Indigo remembered only slices of the other man’s life — there were years or decades in which the Asha’man had been gone, such that he remembered his parents more.

But Haeden’s words were familiar to Jerid Walker, an echo of his oldest son, long since gone from this world and spun into the next life. Beric Cuelaen-Walker was a child of the Grey Tower, the son of his first wife Aynasis Cuelaen, a Warder of the Tower. He and his twin sister Angel had grown up in the Grey Tower, long before Hama Valon had been a dream.

And when Jerid, still a Dedicated, decided on a life in self-exile, Beric had shown signs of channeling and did the proper thing — he signed the Soldier Book. And then the First Seanchan Siege came … and brought death to his first-born.

He smiled bittersweetly, a flash of emotion that lasted a faint heartbeat.

Both he and Haeden were similar — both made a decision to serve the place of their birth.

And then there was … “You remind me of my sons Sojin and Solin,” he murmured. “Both grew up in Tar Valon long before I knew who they were or even of their existence. You know Sojin, or least know of him. Solin … he chose to stay rather than leave, and joined the Tower Guard, and rose high before assuming his role as heir to his family seat.”

Another faint smile, one of pride for wayward children who never seemed to warm up their birth father.

“You remind me most of Sojin, though: loyal to family, loyal to an ideal, to justice,” he murmured.

The Indigo moved with fluid grace, quick and silent, reaching for the bundle still on the bench with all the care of a babe in the world. From the cloth, he pulled a sabre in a simple leather scabbard. Its hilt was elkhorn, its pommel set with a simple green jade stone.

Jerid pulled the blade free without a second thought, seamlessly as if he had done so a thousand times before. One did not need to know how to handle a blade in order to at least unsheath it.

The sword was marked with a heron near the crossguard and a simple script on either side of the blade, written in the Old Tongue. Pick me up to serve justice and Lay me down in peace.

The Indigo held the blade pointed toward the sky, twisting it slightly to observe it before looking at the Gaidin.

“This was to be son Sojin’s sword, gifted the day he would prove worthy of the heron mark,” Jerid murmured. “”He showed that potential and I think he could have earned it, even after returning to Walker Manor, but … “ Walker Manor had fallen to a powerful enemy, most of the ruling House killed along with the bulk of its immediate retainers and some servants. If not for a visiting Green Aes Sedai and her Warders and a large gateway, most of the civilians would have died.

Or so the stories went. All Jerid knew was that there were no reports of his son surviving a futile but brave charge to protect the nearby town.

“This blade deserves a good owner, and it’s appropriate it should go to you,“ Jerid murmured, as he offered the sword hilt first to the Warder.
Jerid Walker Asha'man
"We all suffer. It's how we move past it that defines us."

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Bella
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Joined: April 14th, 2015, 11:28 pm
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QC: Andraste Alhandra Sedai
Location: New England

Re: Memories and Gifts (Attn: Haeden Ives)

Post by Bella » July 4th, 2021, 2:39 pm

In truth, Haeden respected the Indigo as such a close friend of his mother's...but really, the Gaidin never much knew what to do with the man. Their encounters had been few, particularly in Haeden's adult life, but the feeling lingered even from those few times. There was no doubt the same bittersweet fondness for his children in his words that Haeden oft heard Mia use, so that was familiar.

What came next, however, was a total shock. Haeden was his mother's son, and a Gaidin of the Grey Tower. It did not show on his face in any way but a small tilt of his head, a small knit to his brows.

As it was rude to do otherwise, he reached out and took the sword respectfully. He held the blade up, turning it slowly to view its aesthetic and craftmanship. Then his eyes returned to Walker. "This is a...noble gift, Asha'man," his said, words measured. "And I am honored that you consider me worthy of its heritage.

"But you and I are not so personally to known to one another. Is there not another you would consider to master it? Your wife is a strong swordsman as well," Haeden continued.

Jack
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Re: Memories and Gifts (Attn: Haeden Ives)

Post by Jack » August 4th, 2021, 6:31 am

“Because I’m selfish,” the Indigo answered with stark honesty. His gold-green eyes held nothing back, nor did his expression. For a few heartbeats, the oldest Asha’man in the Tower revealed his feelings: strong determination, fierce devotion and unequivocal love.

The expression and the conveyed emotions faded, the Asha’man’s youthful face returning to its marble state.

“The Asha’man in me respects and honors my Warder’s duty to defend me, to be my shield and sword, to keep me safe from enemies and my own worst impulses,” he murmured. He nodded to the sword. “But as a husband, it’s love that wants to protect her from own worst impulses.”

Jerid shook his head. “After as long as I’ve lived, married or loved three Warders and bonded to two of them, you’d think one would learn a thing or two, but the truth is, I give her that sword, it might confirm she’s risen to a skill at level seen by you or your father. That’s a heron mark on that sword, Master Gaidin, and it is meant for one thing: close quarters.”

He turned back to the lake. “At close quarters, my wife is definitely lethal, but at a distance she’s deadlier ... and safe. Because I’m there, because I won’t be in a situation where I won’t be out of earshot ... because if I was even fifteen feet behind her ...”

Jerid’s voice cracked for a second, a rare failing as so many memories flooded back. Memories from all the worlds and lives and would-bes that had occurred when he walked different worlds.

“Gaidin, Lysira Viathene is my anchor to this world. She is one of the very few things that can keep me in check,” he said calmly. “I am one of the reasons the Red Ajah and the Green Ajah exist, to defend. The Red to hunt down male channelers who have gone off their rockers and the Green to defend those nutty enough to swear allegiance to Old Grimm. I walk that line every day for defense of this Tower, and have done so for more years than I can recount. There are reasons the Seanchan this side of the Aryth call me a demon to this very day, and for bloody good reason. If I completely immersed myself into that mindset, I fear what carnage I could harness and I fear even worse the potential loss of innocent lives before someone like your mother or someone like Saphire en’Damier arrived.”

He raised a finger before the Gaidin could speak. “Lys grounds me. She keeps me from that worst impulse. Without her guidance after I bonded to her, my loyalty to Amora en’Damier as Amyrlin would have been ... much starker.``

“Now imagine what the Black Ajah did to my wife the night they came for her and our son. They used an object of the Power on her, or said she said, and they granted her a blessed curse. They restored her youth and it cursed her with such rage when triggered ...”

He paused. “If you’ve ever seen Saphire en’Damier in a berserker state, you’d understand. But Lysira is more ... elegant. She was trained by your father, and so that lethality when combined with a loss of reality she might kill innocents. And when she recovers and learns of that latter fact, I fear the impact it will have on her very soul.”

Jerid again nodded to the sword. “And that blade was forged for someone accustomed to a person capable of wielding a sabre and for those who are exceptionally skilled with such a blade on horseback. Also, the balance might be way too off for her.”

He looked back to the lake and raised his hood again. “Besides, what makes you think that House Walker doesn’t have a heron marked sword more suited to Lysira’s fighting style? We are descended from an extended royalty of the Caralain and had a few blademasters. Also, I had a bow similar to hers commissioned not too long ago. It took a lot of effort and sketches over six months ... she does not leave the blasted thing out of sight.”

He briefly nodded toward the sabre yet again. “That sword was meant for a Warder, a son of the Tower once he became a Blademaster, crafted by a blacksmith turned Asha’man. I choose you to wield it as you wish, and do it justice and honor as I know you would.”
Jerid Walker Asha'man
"We all suffer. It's how we move past it that defines us."

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Bella
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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: Memories and Gifts (Attn: Haeden Ives)

Post by Bella » August 9th, 2021, 11:00 pm

It felt somehow... Haeden was not a man of words, so he did not have them on hand to explain the feeling. The explanation somehow felt too personal, as if learning more about a sister than was seemly to his own mind. Of course, for what he lacked in words, he made up for in reserve, so that had to be balanced with the world at large. Not everyone was like him.

"Again, I am honored," he said, still choosing his words carefully...or at least just slowly, as he tried to parse everything being said to him.

He wasn't sure how to manage the encounter. It was, by any marks, very personal. "You do know, I trust, that I have gained back the blade of my father," he said cautious. "It is the one I bear now."

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