[blue_ajah]

She has kept her silence for quite some while, knowing that the pace of time that passes between Twin Peaks and Milliways, and between Milliways and the world of her birth, is slowed and slowed again by factors she cannot explain. Still, it is no small gift, in that it grants her space in which to think and plan.

The Aes Sedai has used that time to study her options and the prophecies of the Karatheon Cycle, to dwell on the sound of the wind at night and her restless unease with every dawn. She has mulled over what Nynaeve had told her, and all the possibilities that the apocalypse at the bar at the end of all worlds may now have brought upon them.

("I cannot go back without undoing what was done. Can I?"

"That, I think, is mostly a question of how far back, yes? Or possibly it is a different kind of forward.")



There are other considerations to be taken into account, as it happens.

Dinner has become a habit for them, now, at least once or twice every week. It is her turn to host tonight, in the little house that she had begun to call her own. Moiraine has come to believe that she will always prefer tea, but she has developed something of a fondness for coffee all the same, and has been trying her hand at new ways of brewing it for these occasions.

The French press stands before her now on the countertop, and she slants a sideways look at him as she reaches for the canister that holds the coffee.

Comments

[tibetanmethod]

"Arabica?" Cooper asks, over by the sink.

He's scrubbing dishes, sleeves rolled up.

[blue_ajah]

"Yes," she replies, with a slight smile. The Aes Sedai measures the beans with a steady hand.

"This time, at least. I have given thought to ... obtaining ... another type for next week."

She holds her tongue until the loud whirring of the grinder ceases, then pours the results into the French press.

"Do you have a recommendation to offer?"

[tibetanmethod]

"Robusta tends to be rougher on the palate -- I'd recommend asking for samples of the finished product before you make a final decision."

One plate finished; carefully Cooper positions it on the drying rack and moves to the next.

[blue_ajah]

"I shall keep it in mind," she murmurs, channeling briefly. The teakettle instantly begins to whistle, and she adds the properly-heated water into the press.

"If nothing else, there are certainly enough varieties of Arabica alone to occupy one's palate for quite some time."

Moiraine glances at him.

"As well as certain other types which are available to us."

The faint hint of emphasis on the last word is subtle, but clear.

[tibetanmethod]

Cooper glances at her, hands stilling for a moment.

"What types might those be?"

[blue_ajah]

"Those that are to be found in a certain bar between worlds."

She turns the French press, ensuring that the water flows through the grounds within.

"Although you have not been there in some time, I think. Have you?"

[tibetanmethod]

"I haven't, no." Cooper goes back to work. "Have you?"

[blue_ajah]

She is silent for a few seconds.



"Yes."

[tibetanmethod]

The silence for a yes-or-no question isn't something Cooper likes very much.

But he also knows that if there's a reason for that silence -- and there likely is -- Moiraine will speak of it when she's ready, and not before.

So for the time being, his job is to finish scrubbing that plate.

[blue_ajah]

She is quiet again for some few seconds, focusing her attention on the coffee until it is sufficiently brewed.

The Aes Sedai pours the first mug full and sets it down beside the sink, within Cooper's reach.

"There is something I learned there," she says, finally. "And although I am not yet entirely sure of what it means, I have my suspicions."

"I would share them with you, if you are willing."

[tibetanmethod]

First Cooper looks up at the coffee, then at Moiraine.

"Of course I'm willing," he says, and reaches for the dish towel to dry his hands.

[blue_ajah]

Her smile is small, yet warm, and she makes no effort to hide it.

"I am glad," she murmurs, and turns to retrieve her own mug.

Although she still vastly prefers tea, she has long ago decided of her own accord to partake of coffee at times like these.

[tibetanmethod]

If Cooper were to make an educated guess, knowing Milliways and Moiraine as he does, whatever is on her mind is not likely to be wholly positive. Still: one must not theorize in advance of one's data (or one's dreams).

Hands dried, he picks up his coffee, samples -- and nods. "Your technique is flawless, Moiraine."

[blue_ajah]

"High praise indeed," she observes, not without a sparkle of pleased satisfaction in her dark eyes. She gestures gracefully outward, encompassing both her small kitchen table and the sofa and chair in her living room.

"Will you sit?"

[tibetanmethod]

Cooper takes his coffee and sits, perching on the edge of the sofa; without thinking he's adopted the listening posture common in his professional life.

He does, however, take another sip of coffee.

[blue_ajah]

She glides after him, and takes a seat beside him on the sofa, rather than across from him in the chair.

Moiraine stares down at the surface of her own coffee for a moment, then says, very softly,

"To begin, I suppose, one must simply begin." She glances at him. "You remember, I am certain, what I did in order to buy the time that I felt necessary for my world, before Tarmon Gai'don?"

It is very nearly a rhetorical question... but not quite. Not quite.

[tibetanmethod]

Cooper, looking at her sidelong, nods seriously.

"It's why you're here, and not there." It's not a question.

[blue_ajah]

She inclines her head in acknowledgement.

"The Wheel of Time turns," Moiraine says. "But its turning is not always even. Less so, where the Dark One is involved. He - call it distortion; it is near enough to what he does to the Pattern when he is able to exert influence upon it."

She taps the side of her coffee mug, sending ripples across the surface, and nods toward the result.

[tibetanmethod]

Another nod; it isn't especially news to Cooper.

Except for the part about the uneven turning of a wheel. While Cooper is a city dweller, and not an expert, he is under the impression that if a wheel is turning unevenly, the car should probably go to the mechanic.

...that would make Moiraine the mechanic. Right?

[blue_ajah]

It might well be so, as it happens.

"I believe you may also recall another, earlier time when I returned from the world in which I was born to Milliways in somewhat of a -- let us say, a distressed state."

She looks the question at him, awaiting confirmation.

[tibetanmethod]

"Quite clearly, yes."

Cooper's expression is as serenely opaque as Moiraine's customary expression.

[blue_ajah]

"Somehow I am not surprised," she murmurs.

She takes a small sip of the coffee, then curls her fingers around the mug, drawing in its warmth.

"I now suspect that there may have been more reasons than I was aware of at the time."

Moiraine looks up at him.

"I encountered Nynaeve, recently." A single second's silence.

"It appears that time has slipped backward, between when last I saw her and this most recent occasion."

[tibetanmethod]

...and Moiraine is a mechanic.

Cooper keeps resignation off of his face.

"To what point?"

[blue_ajah]

"She spoke of the Last Battle yet to come," the Aes Sedai says, simply.

[tibetanmethod]

It was over. Or it was supposed to be over. First -- as per that scary evening (and it was scary) that she already spoke of -- she took too much of the Pattern within herself. Then she removed herself from her world altogether.

And then, finally, at the park, where Windom Earle made his (frankly most ridiculous) move and where he and Annie navigated a great many things in a rowboat, Moiraine told him that the battle was over.

But it's not over. Apparently.

All of this passes in the moment in which Cooper's gaze slides from Moiraine's face to somewhere in the vicinity of Moiraine's hands, gaze abstracting.

And then Dale Cooper drinks his coffee, and says, "Moiraine, is time linear?"