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

[we_bring_hell]

"I am pleased for you, then, that you have found some measure of balance and an earned peace," she says. "For the most part."

Lyctors don't get to retire.

[blue_ajah]

"For the most part," the Aes Sedai agrees. "The Wheel weaves."

"But thank you, Harrow."

[we_bring_hell]

"Thank you for telling me about it," she says. "I will of course keep it in confidence."

[blue_ajah]

"I appreciate that," she says, "as I am something of a private person. However, there are others here who know as well, so it is not as though it is a secret."

[we_bring_hell]

She nods. "I understand the value of privacy."

She hesitates. "May I speak of this to Gideon, if or when it seems appropriate? I will impress the importance of respecting your privacy on her as well. She is capable of discretion, though it may seem surprising."

"I will understand if you prefer I do not. But a friend told me there should be few secrets between us."

[blue_ajah]

She smiles, at Harrow's last observation.

"You may."

[we_bring_hell]

"I will also speak to her about visiting the world of your birth. I must try to give her more warning," she says ruefully. "But she will be quite interested, I believe. As long as the Warder has an interesting sword."

"Is there anything else relevant to such a visit we should know? I assume my paints may be out of place; would a veil be appropriate?"

[blue_ajah]

"It depends on if the one I am thinking of is available," she says. "There are not many with heron-mark swords. But we shall see."

"As it happens, either paints or a veil will draw attention. Wearing a black veil, however, may indicate to others that you are in pursuit of vengeance or violence."

[we_bring_hell]

Her lips thin. "Very well; I can bare my face if necessary."

[blue_ajah]

"Or you can wear your paints," Moiraine tells her. "I can craft a story that will serve, without conflicting with my Oath."

[we_bring_hell]

She deliberately relaxes her expression.

"Moiraine, the avulsion trial burned the paints off my face and every stitch of my clothing besides. I hope I am as modest as any sister, but I can bear what I must."

[blue_ajah]

"The key word there is 'must,' I think," the Aes Sedai says.

"I will leave the decision to you, but you may be certain that the explanation I have in mind will pass challenge easily. Although there are some who may stare, thinking it unusual, most should know better, these days."

[we_bring_hell]

"All right," she says. "I just do not wish to be difficult."

There's a first time for everything.

[blue_ajah]

"Harrow. You are not."

She smiles, very slightly.

"I had considered this before I extended the offer."

[we_bring_hell]

"I did not expect you to overlook it," Harrow says, with a small sliver of smile in return. "But you may have concluded that I must... cope."

"Griddle will be pleased for an opportunity to go without it, at least."

[blue_ajah]

She inclines her head, acknowledging the validity of Harrow's point, and merely says,

"Then I shall be pleased to provide it for her."

[we_bring_hell]

"...perhaps it seems strange," she says after a beat, "that I would ask about a relationship with a Warder and not about a relationship between two women. I am not used to it being at all noteworthy."

"May I presume from what you have said it will not be a problem?"

[blue_ajah]

"It will not," Moiraine says. "There is nothing objectionable about it. Such relationships are both known and accepted in my birth world."

[we_bring_hell]

She inclines her head in thanks and acknowledgment. "They are quite common in the Empire. Certain technologies make such pairings equally capable of conceiving children--indeed most couples, regardless of composition, prefer it."

[blue_ajah]

She blinks.

"I do not think that is a technology with which I am familiar."

(The narrative observes that the one conversation with Cordelia Vorkosigan about such things occurred in an AU timeline, and thus does not factor in here. Alas.)

[we_bring_hell]

"Ah." She considers how to describe it. "The extent and availability of the technology varies from House to House. Speaking broadly, it is possible to combine the genetic information of any two partners in a laboratory setting. From there the fetus can either be implanted in a human womb or a mechanical incubator."

"Resurrected humans have difficulty with fertility, especially with a necromantic parent, and of course it's simply safer and more comfortable to use an incubator. I believe the majority of children in the Empire are decanted rather than born."

"The Ninth's access to such technology is quite low, and we cannot afford the kind of equipment we would need to rebuild from our current population."

[blue_ajah]

"I can see how such things could be useful under the right circumstances," she murmurs.

[we_bring_hell]

"I had thought perhaps the reason some worlds frown on such relationships is the lack of technology to make reproduction possible," she says. "But it seems in your world, this is not as much an obstacle as it could be?"

[blue_ajah]

She gives a very elegant shrug.

"If you are asking about questions of inheritance, there are generally branches to the bloodlines in the noble houses," she replies. "If one line does not have a direct heir, another may easily be designated."

[we_bring_hell]

"Yes," she says. "Perhaps I was looking for a rational explanation for a matter of culture and history."