We're Off to See the Wizard? [Attn: Carraidhin, Lirievin, Valadin]

[Bella]

This corner of the Band of Brothers Inn was bathed in darkness. It always was, which was why she always sat there. No matter the cause for her visit to the common room here, she preferred this corner. Now she had been seen in it so often that most of the regulars avoided it on principle, because who wanted to be on the bad side of an Aes Sedai that looked like her?

Tonight she had come in at the dinner hour when the place was busy, so no one paid her much mind and they wouldn't pay much attention to anyone that was there with her. A note from one of her network of contacts had recommended her presence here. Compared to many, she didn't have as intricate a web of voices as some since she wasn't exactly good enough with people to form it...but she was not entirely bereft.

Nykkolaia sipped her spiced wine and looked up from the shadows when the young man approached her table. He flashed a smile that never touched his eyes. "The weather was lovely this afternoon," she said.

"I hear it's going to rain tonight," he replied and she waved at him to join her at the table, going back to her meal as if there wasn't much to the meeting. He sat down in the chair across from her, the wood of its joints creaking with his weight. "I have a bit of news," he said, his voice pitched low. She didn't weave a ward, not wanting to draw the attention of any other Tower denizens here. It was up to him to manage privacy the "old fashioned" way.

"Why bring it to me?" she asked quietly, casually, as she took a bit of her stew. The bread sat on a small plate, pushed far away. Eating bread for her was still hit or miss. Today was a miss. "What interest would it be of me?"

He looked at her for a long moment of silence, then he leaned forward with his arms folded over the edge of the table. His voice pitched even lower. "A merchant in Arad Doman believes he's found an artifact from the Age of Legends." His tone obnoxiously said that he knew this would be of keen interest to a member of the Tower and he felt he had some power here. She hated that.

Nykkolaia kept eating, although her interest was piqued. "Does he intend to sell it then?" she asked, setting her fork down on the edge of the plate and lifting the wine glass for another sip as she finally met his eyes. She watched as her flat gaze and scarred visage came full upon him and he rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. That took him down a notch. Good.

"I don't know that," he admitted. "I know that he has no love for any of these bastions of the One Power, so I doubt he'd just want to give it up to you, or Tar Valon, or the Black Tower. He might be willing to sell it. Or you could just look at him like that and he'd probably give it to you just to get you to go away." That drew an arched blonde brow from her, and he blanched a little with a muttered apology.

"Do you have a name of this merchant?" she drawled, showing to him just how unimpressed she was with him.

Swallowing hard, he avoided her eyes now as he found a small folded piece of parchment in his pocket and offered it to her. She purposefully took it with her scarred hand, making him grimace and start looking like he wanted escape. She was happy to oblige him with a dismissive wave. He pushed back his chair, letting it scrape on the wood floor, before he rose and hurried out.

Her pale eyes trailed him out of her corner of shadows and towards the door. The corners of her mouth curled with a dark, mirthless smile before she looked at the name on the paper. It wasn't much, but a rumor like this couldn't be ignored. While she wasn't sure she was the best Aes Sedai for the job, it was her lap that it had landed in and thus she was the one to deal with it.

This was going to be interesting.
~ * ~ It was late when she returned to the Grey Tower's halls and she returned to her rooms. A single candle seemed to wave in greeting as she entered, shutting the door behind her and lacing her wards. She looked at her small table and couldn't help but think back to an evening not so long ago when she'd had a few, surprising and glorious moments of feeling human. When she hadn't been alone. The recollection she wasn't sure what to do with.

The feeling was unfamiliar. She tried to bring her thoughts back to where they should be, although her thoughts were disorderly that night as she considered both her quarters and Arad Doman in the same thoughts. She undressed and went to sleep, considering her options and what her next step should be. By the morning, she determined that something of this size should not be dealt with by her alone. She didn't exactly have 'peers' in the Tower, and the Age of Legends was...considerable inducement.

She wasn't exactly thrilled with herself for the decision, but she went out that morning and petitioned an audience with the Amyrlin Seat...

[OOC: It's very late, so I'm hoping this is coherent. XD If not, I'm sorry.]

[Carra]

Carraidhin Glaisne "Thank you, Virya." the voice of the Amyrlin Seat rose from behind the wide cherrrywood desk. "That will be all for now."

There was a slight pause before the Amyrlin spoke again, her eyes watching of the Blue that entered her office. She did not know this Aes Sedai well, as many of the Blue's shunned her after her raising to the Red Shawl. A bitterness that she had shunned them, as a potential hunter, or that she had a strong sense of justice. Carraidhin could never be certain and simply left them to their own devices when they allowed it of her. The door clicked behind the Keeper of the Chronicles and then two heartbeats passed. "You may rise and approach the Amyrlin Seat, daughter. For what reason have you petitioned to see the Amyrlin Seat?"


(Sorry for the delay.. and the short post.... Just getting things moving.)