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May. 3rd, 2005 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blue_ajah*It is the space of only a moment, as if but a step, to be first there and now here. A flicker of light as the air parts, and then Moiraine and Roland fade into existence in the Dreaming.
They appear in the center of a great hall. Here, the floor is of cool, dark grey stone, polished smooth by the passage of feet and the slow wear of uncounted years. Staircases angle and curve, leading down from nearby landings and from other levels-- some known to the Aes Sedai, and some perhaps still unknown.
A lighter, rougher stone forms walls that lead to a ceiling arched high, clear to imagination if not actual sight. Stained glass windows set in stone pour light through the shapes of ageless figures, until the room itself is full of color.*
They appear in the center of a great hall. Here, the floor is of cool, dark grey stone, polished smooth by the passage of feet and the slow wear of uncounted years. Staircases angle and curve, leading down from nearby landings and from other levels-- some known to the Aes Sedai, and some perhaps still unknown.
A lighter, rougher stone forms walls that lead to a ceiling arched high, clear to imagination if not actual sight. Stained glass windows set in stone pour light through the shapes of ageless figures, until the room itself is full of color.*
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Date: 2005-05-04 05:53 am (UTC)"No -- not -- "
He looks at the glass -- it's different, but...similar...seven figures in all, and not one for each Bend o' the Rainbow...
"This is the Dream-lord's realm?" Roland looks at Moiraine, now, not quite sure exactly where he is.
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Date: 2005-05-04 06:02 am (UTC)*She is watching him carefully, and there is something of worry in the dark eyes as she continues speaking, in a calm tone.*
A part of it, at any rate. It is one of the great halls of Dream's castle.
*A pause.* It is not a small realm.
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Date: 2005-05-04 06:03 am (UTC)In his shock, he doesn't realize that Moiraine has no idea what that looks like.
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Date: 2005-05-04 06:08 am (UTC)But I have always seen this hall so, Roland.
*Moiraine looks around the hall again, with a new perspective now, and then back at him.*
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Date: 2005-05-04 06:22 am (UTC)His eyes are on the small, black-clad woman with the High Speech letter for char under one eye as he says, "All stone and glass. I...have not seen such for years."
And indeed he knows not what to say, faced with
(home)
such a place as this.
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Date: 2005-05-04 06:29 am (UTC)Be welcome to the Dreaming, Roland.
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Date: 2005-05-04 06:39 am (UTC)yet, when the other far doth roam
He turns it on Moiraine, and bows his head to her. "And I say thankya, lady-sai." A pause. "To both of you."
it leans, and hearkens after it
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Date: 2005-05-04 06:48 am (UTC)There is more to it than this hall, of course; is there anywhere that you would see, at present?
There is the Library, and the Garden--
*She looks at him, and then adds, calmly,*
The latter is a place of true peace.
*A pause.* There are other places, as well, or I could simply show you to the apartments that you will be living in during your stay, if you prefer to rest.
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Date: 2005-05-04 06:59 am (UTC)Quietly, he says, "I'd see the Garden, lady-sai, if it's not too much to ask."
He doesn't need to say why.
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Date: 2005-05-04 07:16 am (UTC)It is, perhaps, my favorite place in the Dreaming, were I to be forced to choose but one.
*She beckons to him, indicating that he should walk with her. She leads him through a short series of hallways to a doorway of wood and iron, with a black iron ring for a handle, and pushes it open.
The Aes Sedai gestures for Roland to step through first.*
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Date: 2005-05-04 07:32 am (UTC)The last time that Roland saw a sky this blue, he was in Mid-World.
He breathes deeply and freely, and looks to see a grove of blosswood trees somewhere far off...and apple trees, heavy with fruit. No devil-grass here; such is for the waste lands, and this is the realm of the Dream-lord, ever rich and well.
A wondering step along a path; there is a trellis, with roses the red of heart's blood.
He tilts his head, listening.
He'd not be surprised were he to hear the singing.
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Date: 2005-05-04 07:43 am (UTC)Moiraine steps through the door after Roland, standing beside it, quietly watching; and yet the Aes Sedai makes no move to intrude.*
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Date: 2005-05-04 07:55 am (UTC)Perhaps there is indeed something faint, on the air. A touch of the voice of Yes; a modicum of the voice of Always.
Coral is far more red than her lips red
But as Roland moves further forward to explore, it becomes part of the background. A place of true peace, Moiraine said; Yes and Always say all that needs saying.
I have seen roses damasked red and white
There is green grass -- with a purple blade here and there -- under his feet, lush and welcoming. Trees overhang the path, interspersed with rose bushes of all shape and size, not restrained in any way, but spilling untamed here and there, with red and pink and yellow and white blending in ways most folken have never seen, or will ever see.
But no such roses see I in her cheeks
And there, a fountain -- a simple, peaceful pool, with one low freshet replenishing the cool water. Roland pauses by it, sitting on the edge briefly. There are goldfish in there, brilliant orange, exploring every corner of their small world. Roses float on the surface of the water, and if Roland never knew that such a thing were possible he figures that it is the magic of the Dream-lord, in this place, and thinks no more of it as he closes his eyes with a sigh.
And yet I think my love so rare
As any she belied with false compare
Here, he is safe.
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Date: 2005-05-04 08:05 am (UTC)She feeds Milton, quietly entertained, and allows Roland the space to have such peace as he may find in the Garden.*
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Date: 2005-05-04 08:17 am (UTC)It's all right.
He'd keep exploring -- this is the realm of the Dream-lord; there are wonders here not to be seen in this, a world of love and light that will never move on -- but he's spent too much time walking, these last years, never at rest. Never at peace.
This is enough for now. For this moment.
He feels the sun on his back, warm and gentle; hears the water and the song; smells the roses and the earth.
No breeze, though, ka or otherwise. This is the Garden of the Dream-lord, Third of the Seven; and none of his fell siblings may tread here without repercussion.
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Date: 2005-05-04 08:26 am (UTC)It had been a place of peace for her then, a respite from the cares of life and the strain of nightmare-induced lessoning. Since that time, it has become a familiar refuge and shelter, most precious to her. Were Roland to ask, she might explain some of this, or she might not; as it is, she is quiet, enjoying the scent of the roses envisioned by another.
Time passes.*
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Date: 2005-05-04 08:44 am (UTC)Not quite so funny, here.
After a suitable amount of time, Roland remembers that Moiraine is likely somewhere waiting for him, and she's done a great deal for him already, and there's more he needs to be shown before she can go to the Dream-lord --
And so he rises, and goes to her.
"A place of peace indeed." His voice is quiet, and he seems a good deal more relaxed. Less manic. Less desperate.
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Date: 2005-05-05 02:52 am (UTC)I have often found it so.
*Not always; but Moiraine does not intend to mention the changes made when Nyarlathotep was ascendant.*
You are, of course, welcome to visit the Garden as often as you wish during your stay.
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Date: 2005-05-05 03:11 am (UTC)Los ángeles, the great white clouds that the vaqueros of Mejis had called angels, float above them, but never block the sun...or drift in any particular direction. No Beam, here, for them to follow.
Quietly: "I'd not mind seeing the Library, if it's not a trouble to you."
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Date: 2005-05-05 03:26 am (UTC)*Moiraine gestures at an angle, indicating a staircase in the distance that seems to spiral down through the air from a building somehow above, and then glides in its direction, leading him through the circuitous pathway to the base of the stairs.*
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Date: 2005-05-05 03:41 am (UTC)They ascend the staircase, up and up and up, and come to a door, which Moiraine opens. They step through.
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Date: 2005-05-05 03:58 am (UTC)One section in particular is extremely familiar to Moiraine, having been duplicated from the Tower Library and the Great Library at Cairhien as a gift to her from Morpheus, for her sake. The rest is less so, perhaps-- but there is time.
Tables for study are at hand, here and there, where one might imagine they would be needed.*
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Date: 2005-05-05 04:01 am (UTC)After he gets over his initial shock, one title in particular catches his eye. It is bound in dark blue leather.
In the script they were taught in Gilead, in the High Speech, the gold words on the binding read A Concise History of the Barony of New Canaan.
The author is Abel Vannay.
Roland reaches for it -- but then pulls his hand back, looking to Moiraine. "Is it permitted?"
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Date: 2005-05-05 04:28 am (UTC)*Calmly said, if certainly; Moiraine is more comfortable in the Dreaming now that it is her home. A thought crosses her mind, however, and she moves casually to one table where notes remain laid out, standing so that he may not see them, although this may not be obvious.*
Go ahead, if you wish.
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Date: 2005-05-05 04:32 am (UTC)He turns to the table of contents...and looks up at Moiraine.
Quietly, with authority: "He was my tutor. He could not have written this. He would not have had access to such resources." Not the physical materials with which the book was made. Not the sources that it seems that the book was written with -- a chapter titled "From the Annals of the First Ten Years of Arthur Eld's Reign"?
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Date: 2005-05-05 04:40 am (UTC)You are in the Dreaming, Roland. *Gently.* Those things that are here, for all that they are real and have weight and depth and presence of their own -- they are dreams, as well.
As is the book you hold in your hand.
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Date: 2005-05-05 04:43 am (UTC)"Did he?"
It's not an impossible picture -- Vannay sitting at his desk, late at night, making notes on a slate that he would have to erase before daybreak, wishing -- dreaming -- of such a thing...
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Date: 2005-05-05 04:53 am (UTC)*It is a rhetorical question.*
You are here, amid-- dreams -- but your experiences here are real.
In truth, what happens in Tel'aran'rhiod is often more real, in a way, than that which occurs in the waking world.
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Date: 2005-05-05 04:56 am (UTC)He closes the book, and says quietly, "It is...a place like none I've ever seen before."
Running a palm over the cover, he says, "Would there be any objection to me reading this, lady-sai?"
A small touch of
(those who can go)
home, even if it never existed in Gilead.
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Date: 2005-05-05 05:00 am (UTC)I cannot think of one.
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Date: 2005-05-05 05:11 am (UTC)A pause.
"I...did not rest, last night." It's an admission. "And I'd do so before too much longer, if I may."
Books all around him, dizzying wealth; somewhere he catches the scent of roses, as if a remembered dream. He aches, from his sword-work...and though the sick feeling he had before Moiraine brought him here has abated, it has not disappeared. Not entirely.
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Date: 2005-05-05 05:21 am (UTC)*She beckons once more, indicating a half-hidden door, recessed to a side and perhaps not immediately visible before.*
If you will come this way, I shall show you to your apartments.
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Date: 2005-05-05 05:34 am (UTC)Instead, he sees Chronicles V, by a man named Bob Dylan; I Am Not Thomas Wolfe, by ...Tom Wolfe; and Rabbit Roadkill, by somebody named John Updike.
Huh.
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Date: 2005-05-05 05:48 am (UTC)They walk in silence for a time, moving through the halls of the castle, and eventually arrive at another door. Moiraine opens it, and gestures for Roland to enter first; although she has not welcomed guests here before, the Aes Sedai is strangely confident that there will be no difficulties in preparation for one.*
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Date: 2005-05-05 06:03 am (UTC)The walls are of some smooth-polished stone, and hung with colored tapestries that he knows well -- they tell the tale of Arthur Eld's ascendancy to the dinh of All-World, and they lend warmth to the room. Two great carved chairs -- ironwood -- sit facing each other, with a table in between them, and a game of Castles set up, waiting to be played.
One wall is all window -- only it is stained glass once more.
Two trellises of roses, and a huge tree, green-leafed and vibrant...and all crowned by a sky so blue it must be made of dream. No other way.
Roland moves into the room, seeing also the writing desk -- and papers and tobacco there -- and the switch for the spark-lights. There is another door, also of ironwood, and it is closed; Roland assumes this leads to the bedroom.
The furnishings are utilitarian; the decorations are near hedonistic in their aestheticism.
Roland turns to Moiraine.
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Date: 2005-05-05 06:16 am (UTC)*It is clearly a sincerely meant offer, and just as clearly she does not expect him to accept.*
If you wish to find your way somewhere - to the Garden again, or the Library, or if you need to find me-- *The Aes Sedai's tone is very slightly wry.*
Need is the key, in Tel'aran'rhiod. Concentrate on that, focusing your will, and you will find your way. Concentrate on me, and -- I believe that I will know.
*Or would be told.*
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Date: 2005-05-05 06:20 am (UTC)A hesitation.
Then:
"Thank you, Moiraine."
Sincerity of this strength from Roland is usually a shock -- mostly because he rarely lets anyone see him this way.
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Date: 2005-05-05 06:28 am (UTC)*Serenely, but with clear sincerity. Moiraine inclines her head in farewell.*
Light illumine and protect you, and peace favor your sword.
*She leaves him, and glides away.*