The Grey Tower

Kubotai Gaidin had been settling in unobtrusively to life back in the Tower; it was certainly a luxurious holiday compared to the years of running and sleeping in the mud that he had pushed upon himself for so long before. Now he did not have to worry about where his next meal came, or if he would have to sleep under a bush of rotleaf or out in the open where a Trolloc or Darkfriend could split him in two while he slept. Here was safety, and a place where he could, for once, let his guard down the slightest bit.

That did not make him careless, however. He assisted with training in the yards, and took toa regimen of keeping up his sword forms and maintaining his strength and endurance. He chose the off-peak hours, early in the day before Low or at dusk when most of the others took their meals in the mess hall. He took his meals after all the others had eaten, even after the servants and livery had taken theirs; he had subsisted on less for longer, and had learned a great deal of humility in his travels.

Now was one of those times for meals, as he sat alone at the table. He was uncouth in how he took his meal, howeever; one leg propped up on the bench, eating scraps of beef and vegetables with a slice of bread instead of silverware, slurping down a cup of wine with the bottle uncorked nearby. One of the serving girls had taken to remaining behind after the others as if expecting him, a plump thing with a shy smile for him and a nice plate of scraps for Jolen. The mutt was growing very accustomed to the new attentions many in the yards had given him, and was even now gnawing on the shank of one of the dinner service's few hams.

This was how Kubotai enjoyed the quiet time late in the evening when another Tower denizen slipped into the hall and made her way for the kitchens; the striking woman seemed taller than even her sizeable height afforded her, the grey streaks in her auburn hair alone giving the tell-tale signs of considerable experience. Her face bore that damnable agelessness that had once kept him turned in the other direction and, while not spirtedly running, making sure to keep his distance.

Yes, he had come to the Tower with the express interest in pursing the fancloak and becoming one of the legendary Gaidin, but the second part of bonding had not been in the plan. Stories told in the hamlets and villages across the land to farmers' children about Gaidin using their powers to fight in the Blight, and he had always thought why not become a story on his own? Perhaps not one of the grand bard-tales to rival the Great Hunt, but a little tale of the Shienaran Gaidin who sought out and punished those Dark-hearted souls who wished to undermine the noble defense of the Great Blight.

Her ageless face tickled his memory though as she moved through the grand hall without paying he, the sole occupant save her, much mind. He watched her unabashedly as she moved ever nearer along the walkway closest to the wall, until she was within speaking distance instead of shouting distance. Then it struck him, where he had known this face before.

"Aren't you dead?" he asked straightforwardly, breaking her stride if for but a moment. Jolen, beneath the bench, stopped his gnawing and perked his ears up towards Miahala Sedai, as if finally noticing there was another person.

Miahala was not always eager to find crowds, but the walls of her personal chambers could be confining. She liked to be free of them for a time, but to find her own quietude while doing so. The gardens were often a favored place, but for now it was while in search of something to eat; perhaps she did not require as much as she once did, but she did still need to eat on occasion.

And so it was that she found herself in the dining hall that evening, when everyone else had taken care of their repast but for a lingering cook or servant. She had some awareness of her surroundings, because the Greens like the warders were always aware, but without a threat to draw her focus, she didn't pay much attention to things. Thus, she took note of but did not focus on the other occupant of the room...

...until he spoke.

The voice and the words surprised her, to an extent. Their sentiment, however, was not unfamiliar. She paused in her path and then turned to face him. Her eyes roamed over his face. His age and the lack of agelessness said he wasn't a channeler, and the way he held himself said he was a Gaidin. She could appreciate the fact he didn't look as young as so many in the Tower now did. They made her feel...old.

"I was, yes," she replied quite plainly. She could not lie, after all, and she had no desire to skate around it. Her blue-green eyes drifted down to the dog and she couldn't help a faint turn of her lips at the furry creature before she turned her ivory veneer back to the man at the table again. "As you can see, I am no longer. Do I know you?"

"Probably not," he replied just before pulling apart a bit of cured ham with his teeth, watching her as he chewed it sloppily before swallowing. "Knew your husband. Picked my swordfights against him every time. Shame about all that," he gestured with the remaining bit of ham. "Heard of it while I was North. But you? No one a thousand leagues in any direction hasn't an inkling of you." He gulped down the remaining piece of ham, then made a show of looking around. "But, my manners. Don't let me keep you from dinner. Or Breakfast. Snack perhaps? Whichever," he gestured with a smile, before taking up an end of bread and sopping it through the remnants of potatoes and vegetable juices before stuffing it in his face.

She stood and listened, and watched, with more than a hint of amusement at his...dare she say it, uncouth demeanor. Having spent too much time with too many militia men in the Blight Border, it didn't bother her in the least, although she knew it would send more than a few Sisters, and even some Brothers, running from the room for the ghastly sight of impropriety...

...but then Mia wasn't like most Aes Sedai, was she? Few, if any, had been dead before.

With a faint smile, she inclined her head to him and then turned back to find herself the meal she had come to find. It didn't take long as the young girl in the kitchen saw her, paled, and shoved a plate of food in her direction. Nearly falling over and dumping the food on the ground with her hasty and ill-conceived curtsy. Mia offered her another faint smile and told her to stand up, be about her business.

The Green took the plate and returned to the dining hall, where she found the Gaidin still at his seat. His presence and demeanor brought back memories of her forays with the men of the border patrol and she found herself slipping into old habits. She could've sat anywhere, but on that militia-like whim, she took an uninvited seat at his table. Pulling a piece of meat apart with her fingers, she tossed it gently to the dog before setting about eating as well.

Kubotai sat quietly, watching this distinguished and legendary Aes Sedai sit without admonishment, be it subtle or harsh. Jolen snatched the meat out of air, but held it in his mouth as he wavered over which was more enjoyable, the meat or the bone. The meat won out as he wolfed it down in three big chomps, then picked up his bone and moved to the Aes Sedai's side of the table, before settling back down and wagging his tale as he resumed gnawing on the bone. Kubotai smirked and shook his head at the animal.

"I think you're getting too used to this place already," he leaned over and said quietly to the dog, before propping himself back up with one leg on the bench, and arm resting on his knee. He watched the Aes Sedai as she ate for a long moment, an unreadable look on his face. When Miahala Sedai looked up and simply arched an eyebrow at him, Kubotai shook his head.

"Apologies. I have not watched a woman eat in many years."

She considered his unreadable gaze, that stone-faced expression that most Gaidin developed, which was made only more pronounced in those born of the Borderlands. Her blue-green gaze held his, without blinking or speaking, for a few moments. "Truly?" she finally asked, now glancing down again for a moment before pressing the tip of her thumb to her lips, cleaning it delicately.

It would have been considerable equally uncouth to do by those other Brothers and Sisters, but somehow she made it look graceful.

"Have there been no women near the Blight Border of late?" she added, a light glinting in her eyes that, when combined with the faint upward twist of her lips, could be read as amusement...by those brave enough to assume anything of her emotions. Too much time among soldiers kept the trend and she continued eating, though her eyes moved to his often enough as she awaited his reply.

He smirked at that, a tugging of the corners of his mouth and a wrinkling at the corners of his eyes. "Wintering in abandoned farmhouses, summering on the run and in the muck more nights than I saw a bed. An hot bath only dreamed of? Oh, there were plenty of women near the Blightborder, but my travels were inclusive to a fair few spirits. And I couldn't trust a soul to accompany me anyway." He picked up the remainder of an apple from his plate, using a knife that was clearly not part of the dinnerware to slice off another piece and shove it in his mouth.

"What of you? Many meals with other souls in...whatever awaits us after this thread ends?"

Miahala knew a woman or two who would have been contented to join a man on journeys such as that, but elected not to reply with that sentiment. Considering that she was among them, and her warder-husbands had been the ones she'd attended such times with... Well, it felt a little too intimate to share with another person.

His question tugged at the corners of her lips as well, although it was with a wryer smile than before. "Would that I could remember," she said plainly. She took a bite and worked thoughtfully before taking a drink of the spiced cider she had before her. "I awoke in the Blight, a place I've woken in far too often. Scarred and confused, though I knew who I was.

"I crawled out, and found my way home to Saldea. Before that..." Another drink. Her tone was musing, but otherwise lacking in emotion. "I only remember having a knife driven into my body until blood flowed easily, stabbing my murderer, and then dying..." In Caden's arms... She did not add that, but looked at Kubotai flatly. "Alas, the time between the stabbing and the crawling, I recall nothing."