Warders bearing gifts (Attn: Riahana Gaidar/Roan)

[Jack]

Sojin Majere Gaidin Heads turned as Gaidin and Gaidar alike noticed the silver-haired man walking toward the center of the Warder Yards. Some smirked and some were puzzled as to why this particular man was heading that direction.

Word, after all, traveled fast in a place as small as the Warder Yards, and some knew before it was announced when an official sanction was placed against one of their own.

For one who was apparently so deserving of it given his arrogance and blatant disregard for common sense, they hadn’t heard anything about Sojin Majere being called to the Mistress of Arms office.

And yet he was heading there, apparently of his own free will. A few Warders knuckled their foreheads in a unofficial salute of support or acknowledgement. Others nodded respectfully. Some just shook their heads.

All knew what happened just a week prior, on the fields outside Hama Valon. They knew Sojin Majere had been fool enough to turn with perhaps fifteen armsmen against nearly fifty Whitecloaks, all to protect two prospective Novices. And they knew he had taken two arrows that nearly killed him just to ensure their continued safety before the Tower Guard and two channelers demolished the rest of the enemy.

If there was a braver — or luckier — soul in all the Yards, they had yet to be named.

Sojin could care less about what words were spoken about him. As it stood now, he was under the Healer’s orders to conduct light activity only, no doubt at the request of the First Seeker. His father did so love to meddle, and as such, he found himself only leading drills or Warding his Aes Sedai. Even though he was fully Healed, he was still classified as recovering.

For once, he didn’t argue. It allowed him time to collect his thoughts and reflect. And to prepare for the battles that might yet come.

Dressed now in the black training garb of a Warder, the silver-haired Gaidin wore his jian at his side, the fox pommel noticeable. In one hand was a much more ornate broadsword, its pommel shaped in a lion’s head with emeralds for eyes. It was sheathed in a simple leather scabbard, but enough steel was bared to reveal a very distinguished mark. In the other was a nondescript bottle.

Sojin had his reasons for visiting the Mistress of Arms, some of it having to do with recent events that led to two arrows sending him to the Infirmary. Another was for entirely personal matters.

Reaching the hall of the Mistress of Arms’ office, he nodded to the attending person and murmured, “Sojin Majere Gaidin, requesting to see the Mistress of Arms. Please inform her that I bear gifts and news.”

[Roan]

Riahana Ferria

Riahana had been in her private office off of the main one she used to meet with those who had official business with the Mistress of Arms. She was going through reports delivered to her by her eyes and ears, and let go a discontented sigh. To have Children of Light make such a bold move so close to the Tower was disconcerting, and the last thing the Tower needed was another conflict. The motives of the Children were their own, and she struggled to comprehend. For now, she filed information away and let her mind consider what options might lay before the Tower to ensure the safety of all within it, and Hama Valon’s walls.

A knock at her door caused the woman to look up and offer a small smile to Paks Liard, the Drin’ assigned to assist her this week, “What is it, Drin’?”

“Sojin Majere Gaidin says he is here to see you, and that he brings gifts and news, Mistress,” Paks replied.

The title Mistress still sounded and felt odd to Ria, “You can refer to me as Gaidar, if you wish, Drin. Thank you, and please see Sojin into my outer office.”

Ria rolled up the scroll she’d been reading before leaving her private office for the bigger, more public one, closing the door between the two behind her. She took a seat at her desk as the main door opened, and Sojin stepped in.

Ria had an interesting relationship with Sojin, though it was not an easy one. She bristled when the man treated her as a child when they were not but a couple of years apart in age, and his stubborn streak had a way of colliding with her own. The man, though, managed to become Warder to her Memma, and could go toe to toe with someone perhaps more stubborn than the Mistress of Arms herself.

With a small, but warm smile, Ria inclined her head, “Sojin Gaidin. It is good to see you up and about. What brings you to my office?”

[Jack]

Sojin studied the decor of the study as he was shown in, nodding in thanks to the drin in the process. She seemed a newer face in the Yards, that one, but Sojin couldn’t place the trainee’s name.

It wasn’t atypical of any of the past Warder’s offices he had stepped into in the past, but his eyes were more intent on entrance and exit, the best defensive position in the room, even things that could be used as makeshift weapons should a sword or knife prove inadequate to the task at hand.

But in the end, his eyes fell on the Mistress of the Arms, and he nodded his head in respect. Despite being at odds with her a time or two in the past (or perhaps it was more, as one or two people were fond of reminding him), such things didn’t detract from the admiration or respect he had of the Warder Yard’s general. She’d proven herself a capable commander time and again, especially during recent Seanchan attack on Hama Valon and the Grey Tower.

“Thank you, Riahana Gaidar,” he said. “And it is good to see you as well.” The silver-haired Gaidin knew that his actions during the skirmish with the Whitecloaks were not exactly favorable with some. Miahala had been particularly concerned, and she’d informed him of keeping a closer eye on her Warder.

But given a small horde of Whitecloaks were gaining on the small party escorting two now-Novices before they could reach the city gates, his actions at the time were set on one principal: Warders protected the channelers in their charge, and given one of them was his niece, family protected family.

“I’ve your husband and Ward partially to thank for me being up and on my feet,” he said with a faint smile. He privately wondered if Gareth Asha’man was frustrated with the number of times he had to treat a Walker or Majere who was at death’s door.

“I came bearing gifts and perhaps a bit of insight into why the Children of the Light were foolish to pursue a heavily-armed group traveling right up to Hama Valon’s doorstep,” Sojin said.

“Pursue” was an understatement. Of the fifty men escorting the two Novices from Walker Manor who had turned to defend against a Whitecloak force twice their number, only a dozen were alive, most of whom were under Sebrina Calin Gaidar’s command. If not for the intervention of the Tower Guard, the First Seeker and his Gaidar, things might have turned out much worse.

“Cassie Majere, my niece, was the reason the Whitecloaks pursued us,” Sojin said. “They purused her and her twin brother from the village of Whiteside Firs to near Walker Manor after a small party killed their father’s steward. Their father, my brother Solin, and his oldest son, were taken prisoner by the local lord, who was aligned with said Whitecloaks. They managed to injure Coren in a village near Walker Manor. It was only by luck I was there and saw a group of Whitecloaks chasing a girl. The end result was dead Whitelcoaks, an injured nephew and a niece who blacked out after she channeled for what I can only imagine was the first or second time.”

Sojin briefly outlined the entire trip from their departure from Walker Manor to just up to what he could recount: two arrows in his body and a dead Whitecloak falling from his horse and onto him.

“I don’t know the reason why they pursued, ma’am, but they were determined,” he told Riahana. “A few days prior, a lone Whitecloak ambushed my niece and Sebrina Gaidar while they were not far from our encampment. The flaming bastard was silent enough to knock out a highly-trained Gaidar, incapacitate a very willful young woman and was about to kill the former.”

He set the bottle he held in one hand on the Gaidar’s desk, and with a brief look of asked permission, drew the lion’s head-pommeled broadsword in his other hand from its scabbard. The bright steel sword was laid in front of Riahana; the blade was well-crafted, obviously castle forged, but the thing that might stand out for experienced soldiers like the pair of Warders was the heron mark engraved in the blade.

“The Whitecloak wielded this, but he has no use for it now than he does a hat now,” Sojin murmured. “I’ve seen both you and the Lord Ives fight with a sword, and it’s with more skill than I ever will manage. That man was worthy enough to bear the mark.”

He left the sword on Riahana’s desk and added, “To send a blademaster after a young woman, so far from where she was first encountered, let alone a small army, is distressing. But what is more distressing was that this sword’s previous owner was almost unnoticeable. Had it not been for the bond with Miahala, my eyes might have slid right off of him.” He didn’t utter the words ‘Grey Man,’ but the description fit the bill for that Shadowspawn.

He let Riahana digest the news. Light alone knew he was still doing the same thing, even more than after a week that it had occurred.

[Roan]

Ria arched a brow as she listened to Sojin explain what happened to his niece on her journey to the Tower. To hear Sebrina had almost been felled surprised her, as she knew the Gaidar was more than capable in most situations. Both brows went up when she saw the heron marked blade, followed by the almost silent curse after hearing Sojin’s description of the wielder.

“The news does not bode well. I have had my own encounters with the Children, and it is only through that encounter that I now bare the mark myself,” Ria replied. Nodding to the sword, “Given the man no longer needs the sword, dare I ask how he was felled?”

As she asked the question and waited for the answer, the Mistress of Arms took the blade from Sojin and examined it. The weaponsmith who made it was more than skilled, to be sure. It was a beautiful weapon, worthy of a blademaster.

“I’ll follow up that question with another, perhaps more important one. . .why was your niece, and her family targeted by the Whitecloaks, aside from the obvious,” It seemed Jerid Walker and his kin walked with a curse or cloud hanging over them. Much tragedy had fallen upon the family over the years. One had to wonder when they might catch a break.

[Jack]

Sojin considered the answer to Riahana’s question carefully. Cassandrya had attempted to pry the information from him the morning after the Whitecloak attacked her and Sebrina outside the camp.

His words had been simple: “Only the Mistress of Arms will know and only after I deliver the Whitecloak’s blade.”

“It was the raccoon who was the man’s demise, I just simply cut off his head,” Sojin said simply after a moment. His sapphire eyes were sincere, his words free of any boast. He gestured toward the sword Riahana held and added, “As I told my niece, the man who held that sword thought he was better than I was, and he was right. But a heron blade doesn’t guarantee a victory.”

He knew the question would come as to how Sojin might have killed a blademaster so he jumped in before she could ask specifics.

“I was fighting the man, and barely able to fend off his blows. My only intent was to draw him as far away from my niece and Sebrina as possible,” Sojin said. “As I said, the Whitecloak was almost ... not there, and he moved with a grace and style better than I could ever muster.”

His eyes flashed, as if going back to his encounter with the weasley man dressed in dingy white and hunters colors. They were near the pine where Cassie apparently had been shooting her bow, for two arrows were still embedded in them. Sojin’s blade came up, deflecting a diagonal slash that might have left him dead.

“Lord Ives taught three valuable lessons,” he murmured, his mind still on the scenario. “One was that as Warders, we have a duty of care for those who are sworn to the Tower, whether they are Asha’man and Aes Sedai, or those who have yet to sign the Soldier or Novice books — even if it means sheathing the sword so others might live.”

In the forest, he recalled the sounds and images, the sound of steel on steel, the crunching sound of the underbrush as the pair fought. The brush moved slightly, a pile of needles and leaves that Sojin narrowly avoided because of said movement. The Whitecloak stepped on the pile.

“The second lesson he imparted was be aware of your surroundings ... at all times, every creak, every noise, every stone,” Sojin said. “He fought well with his sword, and knew quite well he could win. My only concern was Cassandrya and Sebrina, and that meant being aware of any threat.”

“He stepped on a pile of leaves and needles, and apparently on the tail of a raccoon. That raccoon didn’t take too kindly to that intrusion apparently, so it bit him in the back of the leg after it crawled on to him.”

The man had noticed the pain, attempted to ignore it as he tried to move through with completing what Sojin knew as The Wind Blows Over the Wall. Sojin knew the move well, but had been prepared to step into it without hesitation if it meant knocking the man down in the process.

Instead, the bite threw him off, Sojin’s sword came up in a parry, knocking the man’s blade to the side. The Warder was in close proximity, so he brought the pommel of his sword in, striking the man’s abdomen just as the raccoon bit into the Whitecloak’s leg a second time. The man fell to his knees as Sojin’s sword came down in an overhand strike to complete the form.

“Lesson three was don’t hesitate,” Sojin murmured. “Most gloat when an enemy mortally wounded and apparently unable to defend against a death blow. I just took his head and stabbed the body in the heart twice for good measure. The raccoon just ran off.”

He shook his head, as if to scatter the memory. Death was never an easy thing, even if it was a man who wished harm on others.

Sojin’s sapphire eyes fell on Riahana and he responded to her second question.

“Why the Children attacked my niece and nephew remains a mystery, only that it might be for more sinister, Shadowy reasons,” he murmured. “I aim to find out when the time allows, especially after the Whitecloaks’ brazen attempt a week ago.”

He knew Whitecloaks; as warped as their sense of honor was when it came to their devotion of the Light, Sojin couldn’t conceive that they were without some common sense. Even with a hundred men, Whitecloaks should have realized that within sight of Hama Valon, they would surely meet their demise at the hands of the Tower Guard and the channelers who resided in the Grey Tower.

“My father intends to take a more direct approach, I fear,” he added. “Within a week, Jerid Asha’man intends to return to Camden Corelle, House Walker’s estate in the Mountains of Mist to gather three hundred men, Travel to Walker Manor to raise another thousand men, and from there march on House Tyeon to rescue his son and grandson and to tear Tyeon’s hold to the ground stone by stone in the process.”

As much as Sojin disapproved of the action for tactical and political decisions, he could understand his father’s reasoning.

“I fear not even the Amyrlin Seat can rein him in, and he’ll ride through Whitecloaks and the Queen’s Guard of Andor alike,” he added. “He lost one son during the first Seanchan siege, one daughter and most of his grandchildren to the Fiery Serpent, and a second to the Black Ajah. He won’t lose another fourth child, and if he has to wage a war to find out why the Whitecloaks attacked his grandchildren, he will do just that.”

He gestured to the sword Riahana held. “All that is needed is to find it a good home, a good owner,” he said. He paused and added as an afterthought, “Someone who has a soul preferably.”

He gestured to the bottle he had placed on the Gaidar's desk. "I also bring Saldaean brandy on the occasion for when you entertain guests in the future," he said. "Or for your private reserves."

[Roan]

Riahana listened to Sojin’s account of the battle with the blademaster. He’d gotten very lucky the fool stepped on a raccoon's tail, or he wouldn’t be here to deliver the blade. She listened further as Sojin explained what Jarid Asha’man had in mind, and simply shook her head. “Does Jerid Walker Asha’man know anything other than seeking revenge or vengeance? Did he not learn a lesson from the aftermath of losing his daughter?” Ria asked, then realized it was perhaps inappropriate.

“Forgive me, Sojin. I respect him, but I dare say his intentions are extreme. The Tower has recently finished with one war we did not seek, and I fear that man will bring another to our doorstep,” Ria explained.

The Mistress of Arms looked to the sword, “I will hold onto the blade until such a time as someone earns the right to wield it, or the other that fool of an Asha’man and father of yous brought to me not so many months ago.” Her brows perked up as she nodded to the brandy, “And that is appreciated more than you know. I find it only fitting you share in the first sample.” As if to emphasise, she reached into a drawer and pulled out two glasses, and set them before him, “If you would do the honors to pour.” She pushed herself from the desk and motioned to the two chairs in front of the fireplace, “And please join me.”

[Jack]

Sojin studied the decor of the study as he was shown in, nodding in thanks to the drin in the process. She seemed a newer face in the Yards, that one, but Sojin couldn’t place the trainee’s name.

It wasn’t atypical of any of the past Warder’s offices he had stepped into in the past, but his eyes were more intent on entrance and exit, the best defensive position in the room, even things that could be used as makeshift weapons should a sword or knife prove inadequate to the task at hand.

But in the end, his eyes fell on the Mistress of the Arms, and he nodded his head in respect. Despite being at odds with her a time or two in the past (or perhaps it was more, as one or two people were fond of reminding him), such things didn’t detract from the admiration or respect he had of the Warder Yard’s general. She’d proven herself a capable commander time and again, especially during recent Seanchan attack on Hama Valon and the Grey Tower.

“Thank you, Riahana Gaidar,” he said. “And it is good to see you as well.” The silver-haired Gaidin knew that his actions during the skirmish with the Whitecloaks were not exactly favorable with some. Miahala had been particularly concerned, and she’d informed him of keeping a closer eye on her Warder.

But given a small horde of Whitecloaks were gaining on the small party escorting two now-Novices before they could reach the city gates, his actions at the time were set on one principal: Warders protected the channelers in their charge, and given one of them was his niece, family protected family.

“I’ve your husband and Ward partially to thank for me being up and on my feet,” he said with a faint smile. He privately wondered if Gareth Asha’man was frustrated with the number of times he had to treat a Walker or Majere who was at death’s door.

“I came bearing gifts and perhaps a bit of insight into why the Children of the Light were foolish to pursue a heavily-armed group traveling right up to Hama Valon’s doorstep,” Sojin said.

“Pursue” was an understatement. Of the fifty men escorting the two Novices from Walker Manor who had turned to defend against a Whitecloak force twice their number, only a dozen were alive, most of whom were under Sebrina Calin Gaidar’s command. If not for the intervention of the Tower Guard, the First Seeker and his Gaidar, things might have turned out much worse.

“Cassie Majere, my niece, was the reason the Whitecloaks pursued us,” Sojin said. “They purused her and her twin brother from the village of Whiteside Firs to near Walker Manor after a small party killed their father’s steward. Their father, my brother Solin, and his oldest son, were taken prisoner by the local lord, who was aligned with said Whitecloaks. They managed to injure Coren in a village near Walker Manor. It was only by luck I was there and saw a group of Whitecloaks chasing a girl. The end result was dead Whitelcoaks, an injured nephew and a niece who blacked out after she channeled for what I can only imagine was the first or second time.”

Sojin briefly outlined the entire trip from their departure from Walker Manor to just up to what he could recount: two arrows in his body and a dead Whitecloak falling from his horse and onto him.

“I don’t know the reason why they pursued, ma’am, but they were determined,” he told Riahana. “A few days prior, a lone Whitecloak ambushed my niece and Sebrina Gaidar while they were not far from our encampment. The flaming bastard was silent enough to knock out a highly-trained Gaidar, incapacitate a very willful young woman and was about to kill the former.”

He set the bottle he held in one hand on the Gaidar’s desk, and with a brief look of asked permission, drew the lion’s head-pommeled broadsword in his other hand from its scabbard. The bright steel sword was laid in front of Riahana; the blade was well-crafted, obviously castle forged, but the thing that might stand out for experienced soldiers like the pair of Warders was the heron mark engraved in the blade.

“The Whitecloak wielded this, but he has no use for it now than he does a hat now,” Sojin murmured. “I’ve seen both you and the Lord Ives fight with a sword, and it’s with more skill than I ever will manage. That man was worthy enough to bear the mark.”

He left the sword on Riahana’s desk and added, “To send a blademaster after a young woman, so far from where she was first encountered, let alone a small army, is distressing. But what is more distressing was that this sword’s previous owner was almost unnoticeable. Had it not been for the bond with Miahala, my eyes might have slid right off of him.” He didn’t utter the words ‘Grey Man,’ but the description fit the bill for that Shadowspawn.

He let Riahana digest the news. Light alone knew he was still doing the same thing, even more than after a week that it had occurred.


Ria arched a brow as she listened to Sojin explain what happened to his niece on her journey to the Tower. To hear Sebrina had almost been felled surprised her, as she knew the Gaidar was more than capable in most situations. Both brows went up when she saw the heron marked blade, followed by the almost silent curse after hearing Sojin’s description of the wielder.

“The news does not bode well. I have had my own encounters with the Children, and it is only through that encounter that I now bare the mark myself,” Ria replied. Nodding to the sword, “Given the man no longer needs the sword, dare I ask how he was felled?”

As she asked the question and waited for the answer, the Mistress of Arms took the blade from Sojin and examined it. The weaponsmith who made it was more than skilled, to be sure. It was a beautiful weapon, worthy of a blademaster.

“I’ll follow up that question with another, perhaps more important one. . .why was your niece, and her family targeted by the Whitecloaks, aside from the obvious,” It seemed Jerid Walker and his kin walked with a curse or cloud hanging over them. Much tragedy had fallen upon the family over the years. One had to wonder when they might catch a break.

Sojin considered the answer to Riahana’s question carefully. Cassandrya had attempted to pry the information from him the morning after the Whitecloak attacked her and Sebrina outside the camp.

His words had been simple: “Only the Mistress of Arms will know and only after I deliver the Whitecloak’s blade.”

“It was the raccoon who was the man’s demise, I just simply cut off his head,” Sojin said simply after a moment. His sapphire eyes were sincere, his words free of any boast. He gestured toward the sword Riahana held and added, “As I told my niece, the man who held that sword thought he was better than I was, and he was right. But a heron blade doesn’t guarantee a victory.”

He knew the question would come as to how Sojin might have killed a blademaster so he jumped in before she could ask specifics.

“I was fighting the man, and barely able to fend off his blows. My only intent was to draw him as far away from my niece and Sebrina as possible,” Sojin said. “As I said, the Whitecloak was almost ... not there, and he moved with a grace and style better than I could ever muster.”

His eyes flashed, as if going back to his encounter with the weasley man dressed in dingy white and hunters colors. They were near the pine where Cassie apparently had been shooting her bow, for two arrows were still embedded in them. Sojin’s blade came up, deflecting a diagonal slash that might have left him dead.

“Lord Ives taught three valuable lessons,” he murmured, his mind still on the scenario. “One was that as Warders, we have a duty of care for those who are sworn to the Tower, whether they are Asha’man and Aes Sedai, or those who have yet to sign the Soldier or Novice books — even if it means sheathing the sword so others might live.”

In the forest, he recalled the sounds and images, the sound of steel on steel, the crunching sound of the underbrush as the pair fought. The brush moved slightly, a pile of needles and leaves that Sojin narrowly avoided because of said movement. The Whitecloak stepped on the pile.

“The second lesson he imparted was be aware of your surroundings ... at all times, every creak, every noise, every stone,” Sojin said. “He fought well with his sword, and knew quite well he could win. My only concern was Cassandrya and Sebrina, and that meant being aware of any threat.”

“He stepped on a pile of leaves and needles, and apparently on the tail of a raccoon. That raccoon didn’t take too kindly to that intrusion apparently, so it bit him in the back of the leg after it crawled on to him.”

The man had noticed the pain, attempted to ignore it as he tried to move through with completing what Sojin knew as The Wind Blows Over the Wall. Sojin knew the move well, but had been prepared to step into it without hesitation if it meant knocking the man down in the process.

Instead, the bite threw him off, Sojin’s sword came up in a parry, knocking the man’s blade to the side. The Warder was in close proximity, so he brought the pommel of his sword in, striking the man’s abdomen just as the raccoon bit into the Whitecloak’s leg a second time. The man fell to his knees as Sojin’s sword came down in an overhand strike to complete the form.

“Lesson three was don’t hesitate,” Sojin murmured. “Most gloat when an enemy mortally wounded and apparently unable to defend against a death blow. I just took his head and stabbed the body in the heart twice for good measure. The raccoon just ran off.”

He shook his head, as if to scatter the memory. Death was never an easy thing, even if it was a man who wished harm on others.

He gestured to the sword Riahana held. “All that is needed is to find it a good home, a good owner,” he said. He paused and added as an afterthought, “Someone who has a soul preferably.”

Sojin’s sapphire eyes fell on Riahana and he responded to her second question.

“Why the Children attacked my niece and nephew remains a mystery, only that it might be for more sinister, Shadowy reasons,” he murmured. “I aim to find out when the time allows, especially after the Whitecloaks’ brazen attempt a week ago.”

He knew Whitecloaks; as warped as their sense of honor was when it came to their devotion of the Light, Sojin couldn’t conceive that they were without some common sense. Even with a hundred men, Whitecloaks should have realized that within sight of Hama Valon, they would surely meet their demise at the hands of the Tower Guard and the channelers who resided in the Grey Tower.

“My father intends to take a more direct approach, I fear,” he added. “Within a week, Jerid Asha’man intends to return to Camden Corelle, House Walker’s estate in the Mountains of Mist to gather three hundred men, Travel to Walker Manor to raise another thousand men, and from there march on House Tyeon to rescue his son and grandson and to tear Tyeon’s hold to the ground stone by stone in the process.”

As much as Sojin disapproved of the action for tactical and political decisions, he could understand his father’s reasoning.

“I fear not even the Amyrlin Seat can rein him in, and he’ll ride through Whitecloaks and the Queen’s Guard of Andor alike,” he added. “He lost one son during the first Seanchan siege, one daughter and most of his grandchildren to the Fiery Serpent, and a second to the Black Ajah. He won’t lose another fourth child, and if he has to wage a war to find out why the Whitecloaks attacked his grandchildren, he will do just that.”


Riahana listened to Sojin’s account of the battle with the blademaster. He’d gotten very lucky the fool stepped on a raccoon's tail, or he wouldn’t be here to deliver the blade. She listened further as Sojin explained what Jarid Asha’man had in mind, and simply shook her head. “Does Jerid Walker Asha’man know anything other than seeking revenge or vengeance? Did he not learn a lesson from the aftermath of losing his daughter?” Ria asked, then realized it was perhaps inappropriate.

“Forgive me, Sojin. I respect him, but I dare say his intentions are extreme. The Tower has recently finished with one war we did not seek, and I fear that man will bring another to our doorstep,” Ria explained.

The Mistress of Arms looked to the sword, “I will hold onto the blade until such a time as someone earns the right to wield it, or the other that fool of an Asha’man and father of yous brought to me not so many months ago.” Her brows perked up as she nodded to the brandy, “And that is appreciated more than you know. I find it only fitting you share in the first sample.” As if to emphasise, she reached into a drawer and pulled out two glasses, and set them before him, “If you would do the honors to pour.” She pushed herself from the desk and motioned to the two chairs in front of the fireplace, “And please join me.”

Sojin didn’t know whether to frown or smirk at the Mistress of Arms’ outburst. It was after all a fair assessment wrapped up in a charged statement that would have likely earned her the rebuke of said Asha’man.

For the silver-haired Gaidin’s part, he understood the woman’s stance. Jerid Walker had become consumed in the quest to find his daughter’s killer, and in the end, it nearly cost him dearly. He was on death’s door when Lysira had found him and in a position where he nearly got himself killed again.

Sojin instead inclined his head in response to Riahana’s comments and apology. “It’s not an unfair or inaccurate statement, Gaidar,” Sojin said with some mirth. “He is a fool, but in this case, he might not be wrong, especially when the lord holding his son and grandson hostage drops not-so-veiled threats about their lives and thumbs his nose at Tar Valon in the process.”

“I offered him counsel, and told him the same thing I told my niece on the road here: ripples become waves, actions have consequences,” he murmured. “But at the same time, I can’t help but sympathize; a part of me still regrets the day I chose duty and orders over staying to protect my wife and baby boy so long ago.”

Those days were gone now, but a part still remained of the things he could have done differently. Holding on to them, however, was foolish and getting lost in the past was a desire he couldn’t afford.

He opened the bottle at Riahana’s invitation and followed her lead, pouring them both a glass. As he did so, he found it perhaps wise to provide one bit of information to the Gaidar.

“There were four people who kept him in check,” he murmured. “Amora and Liana en’Damier were two, one out of love and loyalty and the other out of love and an oath he swore long ago as a Dedicated. The third was Lord Ives. The fourth is his Warder and wife, Lysira. One is dead, the other two gone from here. I know Lysira would knock sense into him as much as possible, but in the end, the road he chooses is the one he follows.” He lifted his eyes, slow in his pours. “Bryn would have been a welcome gift given her stubborn attitude, but the Shadow took her. He would listen to a kindred spirit, however, someone who must weigh the good and bad of learning ranks and Warders alike, as he did with his Soldiers and Dedicated once upon a time.”

It was a not subtle hint and perhaps an obvious request on his part, but Sojin knew she’d pick up on it and consider it. Beside, he had other favors to ask of Riahana.

As they sat, Sojin held his glass carefully. It was a long while before he took his first sip. Whatever rumors and stories existed of the Ji who could hold his liquor with the best of men and women was long past him.

He raised his glass and murmured, “To those who come after us, whether sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, or the young men and women who carry on.” He took a sip and then asked quietly, “How is your daughter?” The context was obvious, if perhaps subtle, but he was genuinely concerned about the family of his Aes Sedai, especially after what was endured at the hands of the Seanchan who invaded Hama Valon.

[Roan]

Riahana Ferria

Sojin Gaidin, Warder to the Amyrlin Seat came to see the Mistress of Arms to deliver a heron marked sword, and not so subtlety suggest she find Jerid Walker Asha’man and give him counsel or keep him in check before he overstepped once more. The man likely would not listen to Ria, as she knew how stubborn he could be. If his mind was set on a task, then he'd see it through. What are you about to bring to our doorstep, Jerid Walker? she couldn't help but wonder.

Accepting the drink, Ria held it up to honor Sojin’s toast and took a sip as she considered his question of Tia. “You are well acquainted enough with the Sha’hal line to know how stubborn we can be. Tia stayed with us for a short time after the attack, though insisted on returning to her quarters and resuming her studies. She so desperately does not want others to see her as weak, or less than capable of coping when things do not go to plan.

“Physically, the girl is fully healed, though she is more tight lipped about her emotional state, it is hard to know. Her brother senses she is troubled, and I cannot fully explain how he would know other than being a twin and having such a close bond with his sister. She spends time with Einion, though does not speak of her time with the Seanchan. There is no doubt it has changed her. . .her smile is not as bright, nor is her laugh so near to the surface as it once was,” Ria explained.

The Gaidin took another sip of her drink and stared at the brown liquid that remained, “I worry for her, and let her know she is not alone, but I do not push. It is hard to see innocence lost in one’s child, especially when it was lost in such a manner.”

[Jack]

Sojin sipped his drink carefully as Riahana spoke, noting every word and change of tone as the Mistress of Arms spoke of her daughter and the experiences the youngest Sha’hal went through.

Sojin had been there whilst Miahala was forced to confront and free her great-granddaughter from the wretched sul’dam who had leashed Tia. He still recalled the concerted efforts, the pitched battle as he defended his Aes Sedai against the swords of mercenaries and Seanchans during the second Seanchan Siege.

But he recalled more the fervent determination Miahala felt in her attempt to free Tia. He saw that same devotion in Riahana, like a lioness wanting to protect her cubs but unable to fully help after the changes that occurred.

“No, it’s not easy,” he said after a moment. “What the Seanchan do with those who can channel is abhorrent, and what they did to members of our own Tower is even more so.”

If there was any merit of a Seanchan noble family marrying into House Walker, it was that those Seanchan released its damane and entrust them into the hands of those who could care for them. Secret deals had been struck with Tar Valon, and with the Wise Ones who were on this side of the Spine of the World. The bloody silver leashes had been collected and buried so far deep, or remanded to the custody of the Grey Tower’s Indigo Ajah. As far as Sojin knew, his father had placed them in the most secure vaults amidst heavy Warding.

“It’s not easy, watching those we love to suffer,” Sojin said after a moment. “Cassandrya, my niece, was forced to kill a Whitecloak while she and her twin were fleeing toward the Caralain. She acts as if it doesn’t affect her, because she said she did it to defend her wounded brother, but her eyes say otherwise.”

Tia was fortunate in that she had her brother at least for comfort. Coren was hundreds of leagues away at Walker Manor, her oldest brother and father held hostage, and the rest of her family was in Tar Valon. Sojin did what he could, but he was a stranger to her, and Jerid Walker ... she avoided like the Dark One itself.

“She has one friend, perhaps, in Sebrina and the Warder seems to have taken a liking to her as well,” Sojin said. He smiled faintly, almost bittersweetly. “My biggest hope, for the sake of both our children, is that their experiences will act as the fire to strengthen them, not burn them to ashes from within.”

His eyes landed on Riahana and he added, “Cassandrya could use a friend, or a teacher, through her time here, and while she is a fine archer, her skills could bear improvement."

[Roan]

Ria contemplated what Sojin said as she took a small sip of her drink. Setting the glass down, she tilted her head, "As you know, I could easily help her improve her archery skills, Gaidin, though I wonder if perhaps the child could use someone closer in age? Tia has skill with bow herself, and I dare say could use time on the range with it, as she's neglected her studies in weaponry for time spent in the channeling yards.

"I do not blame her in this, of course, though there are times, as we both know, that weapons prove more useful than weaves. As mentioned, she does not let on that she suffers from the aftermath of her capture. She has some friends, though Einion feels she's more withdrawn as of late. I would not like to force her to be social, though perhaps arranging for her and Cassandrya to meet could benefit both?"