The Grey Tower

For as many things as there were to be hurt by and to lament in life, there were many to enjoy. One such thing, for Miahala at least, was watching a tactical mind at work. For a keen eye and a strategist's insight to be dropped into their element. It was something she had seen more than a few times in the course of her long life, but it never failed to be...invigorating.

That was the feeling sinking into her as she watched Ravak and Marwen speak, moving between missive and map. Her own mind was far from slow, of course, but it didn't stop her from appreciating the minds of others.

As the coins were laid out, the Green slowly circled the table and the two men beside it. She let her own gaze flow over the markings and markers, taking in her knowledge of the land, the border and the Blight. What was the Shadow up to out here? The pieces were not simple to fit together, but then they never were, were they?

Glancing up at Ravak, who still looked at the map, some part of her mind said, Maybe some are.

Before that could progress much further, the men both turned to her. She met both their gazes and then stopped her predatory circling to stand by the table between them. "This is the track to investigate," she agreed. "The answer will lie in why they are avoiding it, whether through directive or instinct.

"That is to say, whether they are purposely being guided around it or there is a reason known to them that makes them steer clear. Sadly, we do not have a Trolloc to ask."

Not that they would want one.

She looked at the spot empty of markings. "I'll wager that it is not barren in the least, but not likely something long there else we would have known about it." What could have happened there that would be so dramatic in the reaction, but so swiftly that none are to know about it?

Of course, a part of her--a part that had grown paranoid for good reason--wondered if it was a setup. Some kind of trap. But then it was pretty broad a scope for that kind of thing. Too broad. No, that seemed unlikely. There was something else going on there, and it was probably whatever was at the heart of it.

"Ultimately, we aren't going to know what's going on unless we go look," she stated plainly. Why waste words when that was where the discussion would inevitably end up. She lifted her gaze to Ravak. "Don't you think?"

She didn't miss the brief expression of something like surprise on Miahala's face when she almost...deferred to Ravak's opinion. She was not a woman he was used to seeing defer to anyone, after all. It was telling, but she wasn't giving it anymore thought than that. Her notice of it was moved along as swiftly as Marwen's notice of it as she waited on the Gaidin Captain's thoughts.

Ravak

Well, off they went...or, were about to go.

Some part of her might have hoped for a night at the outpost, but even before they arrived she had known it unlikely. Hope makes for a lousy plan, she had heard it said once. Ah well. This was what they were out here for, and so onward they went. She hoped it would not be as big a mess as other times she'd been on missions like this...well. Hoped.

She left the table with the others but then paused when he did. Her eyes curious at first, but then she gave a small smile. It was one of appreciation for his lack of assumption.

"I trust you, Gaidin," she said simply. "Watch his head, though. He might try to bite you." Humor shot through her eyes. "If you'd rather, I could see to the horses while you see to the supplies." No trip with her was ever a dictatorship, but a partnership. With a plan before them, all there was to do was prepare to ride out.

Ravak

As Ravak headed off to speak with the quartermaster, Miahala made her way to the stables. She already knew where they were, enough to not need direction, but even if she hadn't, she probably would have been able to home in on them by instinct alone. As though a gathering of horses was a summoning circle for her.

Mia walked into the open stable, finding it a good break from the wind elsewhere in the outpost. Although it was not dangerously cold, the chill could not be denied. The stable was well-tended, smelling of hay and horse rather than... Well, other things it could smell like.

Seren and Impala had been placed in the stalls nearest the door, which made them especially easy to find. She walked up to Seren's stall and the big stallion put his head over the gate. She reached up and stroked his neck. He put his big nose into her chest and then bobbed his head, nearly pushing her off her feet as she laughed.

"Well, that never did change, did it, lass?" She recognized the voice instantly as Jan, who had not yet returned to Marwen's door. Turning, she smiled at him.

"Would you really expect that it would?" she said with her brows up.

He chuckled, his voice rasping and wheezing. She wondered that he was here at all, and knew that his posting at the door of the commander was at most honorary. He couldn't likely fight anyone off, but you didn't put a good soldier down if you could help it and Jan had always been the most faithful of soldiers.

"I see other things haven't changed either," he said, leaning back against the wall as she opened the stall door and led Seren out to the cross-ties. The horses had not been untacked for the moment, since they did not know how long they would be staying. Since it turned out to be almost no time at all, that was handy.

"What do you mean, old man?" she asked with warmth as she began checking Seren over, making sure that everything was in order and her horse would remain ready for the next leg of the journey.

Jan nodded his head towards the open stable door. "The young man with you," he said.

She looked at him dryly. "That young man is the Gaidin Captain of the Tower," she commented. "This is a dangerous mission, so one could hardly expect me to go alone."

Bushy white brows rose. "Because you've never traveled to the border and the Blight alone..."

Her sideways glance was wry. He had her there, but she hadn't this time. This time, she'd actually been smart. And that foreboding in the back of her mind whispered she would be grateful for that forethought before this journey was over. She almost felt like she was back at her father's table, though, with him looking at her.

"You always were nosy," she poked.

He just chuckled and shook his head. "As ye say, lass." With that, he made his way out of the stable and she turned to Seren.

Mia again stroked his soft neck, idly untangling a bit of his mane. "What do you think?"

He whickered softly and she smiled, shaking her head.

After a moment, she became aware of the footsteps coming into the stable and she looked up to see the Gaidin in question. She watched as he approached and started talking, and his very pragmatic suggestion made her brows rise slightly and another smile teased at the corners of her mouth.

"That sounds very practical," she said, her voice seemingly impassive but her eyes told on her. "I'm sure it would be better...for the horses...if we did not have the extra weight of that second tent." After all, she was always thinking of her horses first, right? "I shall defer to your wisdom on the matter."

Ravak

With the horses ready and their course set, there was indeed nothing left to do but head out. Ravak and Impala moved out first, and Mia took Seren's lead and walked him out next. Once in the open air, she mounted up. Seren danced for a moment beneath her, as if sensing what was to come and his rider's tension about it. He calmed quickly enough.

They began on the path to the gate, but stopped beside Commander Marwen. Grizzled and stout, he still cut an impressive figure. "You have my thanks for this, Aes Sedai, Gaidin," he said, bowing his head to them both. "The best wishes of I and my outpost go with you for your safety in this endeavor."

"Thank you, Commander," she said. "We will let you know what we find out." Assuming they were not consumed by the land or a pile of Shadowspawn or some such.

With that done, they rode out.

It seemed like it hadn't been very long at all since they had ridden into the outpost, and really, it hadn't. Just long enough to learn more about the strange things afoot and determine that they were indeed the pair crazy enough to go investigate same.

Once they passed the gates, this time heading northwest towards the "void" on the map, Mia glanced at Ravak. She realized she was not displeased with it being just the pair of them again, but she would rather not have been heading into so much of the unknown. Even if she did not say it or show it, she didn't like the question marks any better than he.

"Any theories as to what we may be looking at out there?" she asked, almost idly.

Ravak

Miahala was not unhappy to say that her experience with steddings was limited. She was like all channelers in her distaste for entering or even being near such a place. Being cut off from the One Power was akin to losing the use of half her limbs, and no one would claim that to be a pleasant feeling or one to be sought out.

"In my limited experiences, yes," she agreed, suppressing a slight shudder. "It would, at least, put paid to the mystery rather quickly, but I'm not sure I'm any more eager to go running into a stedding than I am, say, a full Fist of Trollocs with cookpots waiting."

She didn't bother mincing words, since she figured they were at least well past that by this point--when alone. And whenever possible, she preferred to be straightforward. She could dance on words with the best of them, like an Aes Sedai should, but that didn't mean it was how she wanted to operate.

The Green looked out at the road before them. For now, it was still a road and she would have them on it as long as possible, but she knew from both experience and the map that once they drew nearer the "void," they would run out of roads and be on their own. She and Seren's hooves would appreciate it while they had it.

"I suppose some Objects of Power could result in this," she said, theorizing as well since it was only fair. "It is such a broad span, though. I don't know the possibility, but a single Object seems unlikely. At least, to have gone unnoticed. And the attacks that showed this pattern are recent, so whatever is there is likely to be somewhat recent as well."

Settling into the feeling of the ride, the steady shifting of her horse, she let her mind roam over the possibilities. If Shadow, why would the Shadow avoid it? It seemed contradictory in some way.

She pulled an errant strand of hair away from her face. "I suppose perhaps there may be some sort of...order from the Shadow for their more brutish forces to avoid the area," she went on, trying to think logically and tactically. "I do not know that I want to imagine too deeply into that possibility, however."

Ravak