Post-Halloween

[we_bring_hell]

Harrow is working. Very seriously. She is not mooning over her new relationship with Gideon even a little bit; she has too much work to do.

She is, however, wearing a skull with accents of deep, almost black purple, with a starburst or floral pattern just below her temple, that she has never been seen to wear before.

Other than that sentimental embellishment, however, she is entirely focused on Obaeg's Toward a Common Haemographology. She is making copious notes in the margins--courting future simian fury--and thinking that she should have found this for Moiraine before they started working on her weave notation.

Comments

[blue_ajah]

"It did," the Aes Sedai confirms. Dark eyes are thoughtful as she regards Harrow.

"I would not wish to pull you from your own obligations, Harrow, but as it happens, there may be more with which you could assist, if you were willing."

[we_bring_hell]

She shakes her head. "I am reading about blood wards, as it happens."

"I am willing."

[blue_ajah]

"Then I will accept. Thank you, Harrow."

"But first - are you well? Given everything that we experienced there?"

[we_bring_hell]

She smiles softly. "I am quite recovered, Moiraine."

"I have had time, and these episodes are not new to me. I would be pleased to do anything I can."

[blue_ajah]

"Very well," she says. The Aes Sedai remains concerned about the vast amount of Shadow that she had sensed around the Locked Tomb, but is well aware that this is a topic where she will need to tread carefully. Until she knows the source for certain, she does not wish to make a false accusation.

"I think the time is coming where it may be necessary to intervene with the pool in Twin Peaks. I am wary of doing so alone," she admits. "In addition, I have given another an agreement not to do so - at least not at present."

[we_bring_hell]

"I see," she says. She's so interested in who these others are. Oh well. If Moiraine wants her to know, she'll talk about it, and if not, nothing will ever get it out of her.

"As I have said, I am willing, and Gideon will accompany me if it becomes necessary. I am not sure what the limits of my contribution might be on a living planet, but we shall see."

[blue_ajah]

"As it happens, that is something we could test beforehand," the Aes Sedai tells her.

[we_bring_hell]

She brightens slightly. "I would be happy to do so, when it's convenient. I admit to a certain amount of curiosity about your world."

"I would not be able to visit without Gideon, of course."

[blue_ajah]

"Of course," she agrees.

"Although I was not thinking to conduct this test in Twin Peaks. I was thinking, if you agree, to attempt it in the world of my birth."

[we_bring_hell]

"Oh, fascinating," she says. "That would be agreeable as well."

[blue_ajah]

"I am pleased to hear you think so," she replies.

"Among other things, that could afford you and Gideon the chance to speak with an Aes Sedai and Warder bonded pair, perhaps."

[we_bring_hell]

"That would be a great opportunity," she murmurs. "Is it..."

Ughhhhhh. "Moiraine Sedai, in your world is it permissible for a romantic relationship to exist between an adept and Warder?"

[blue_ajah]

She does not look at all surprised at the question.

"Yes," she says. "Some may even marry."

[we_bring_hell]

She smiles. "All right. I would not wish to give offense, but--" She touches the deep violet pattern on her cheek absently. "There were some unforeseen consequences of our trip to the Ninth House."

[blue_ajah]

"There is nothing in this that would," Moiraine assures her.

Cairhienin conventions of privacy (as complicated as they are) notwithstanding.

"It is a lovely pattern, Harrow. Representative of the changed dynamic between the two of you, I may presume?"

[we_bring_hell]

She nods, and her smile softens just a hair. "A deviation from tradition, but it holds a personal significance. And there is no one here to judge."

She hesitates, as she did before asking the question initially, but plunges onward. "I would speak to you of what I heard in my... my vision of the Lady of the Tomb. It is rather personal, but I believe... that is, I would like your perspective, and it touches on matters that are perhaps relevant to yourself as well."

[blue_ajah]

Her gaze sharpens slightly, but she merely says,

"I would very much like to hear what you have to say."

[we_bring_hell]

Inhale. Exhale. She folds her hands together to stop herself from twisting them.

"My perception of reality began to blur from the moment we crossed the threshold of Drearburh Castle," she says. "I did not realize until then just how fraught the Ninth was with memories of my loss... how much of my time I spent there in deepest distress."

"It was in those times that she of the Tomb would come to me, offering comfort. And so it was as we descended to the Tomb that day, and she began to speak to me."

[blue_ajah]

She nods, listening carefully, and waits for Harrow to continue.

[we_bring_hell]

This is so hard. Why did she decide to do this?

"I loved her from the moment I saw her face," she says, voice steady, her own face a frozen mask behind her paint; eyes huge. "A convergence of religious mania and chaste, pre-adolescent limerence that was devastating to the child I was."

"But it was in those long days and nights that came after that my devotion to her was truly cemented. She was--" Her voice doesn't break because she wills it not to, but there's a hitch. "Everything. Not just my beloved. The hole that my parents left--the loneliness that haunts Drearburh Castle to this day--she filled it, as much as anything ever did."

"That day at the Tomb -- what I heard." She swallows. "She demanded I tell her if she was no longer alone in my affections."

[blue_ajah]

"It would be very different," she says, carefully, "and very difficult, would it not, to be yourself changed in a place so painfully familiar."

[we_bring_hell]

"Yes," she says in a low voice. "It was. To see it through Gideon's eyes. And your eyes."

Hard, dark, and haunted, yes. She knew that. But shabby and cruel?

[blue_ajah]

"I have known those who would cling to their childhood," the Aes Sedai says. "Refusing to accept anything new. It takes courage, to face such things, and more so when they are hard."

[we_bring_hell]

She presses her lips together tightly, eyes shining. "I hope I do not fear to do anything simply because it is hard," she says after a moment.

[blue_ajah]

"It does not seem likely to me that you would," she replies. "From what I know of you, and from how I have seen you face challenges and sorrows in full measure."