[panfandomsandbox] change is in the wind

[blue_ajah]

She sits at the table near the fireplace, sipping tea and reflecting on what she has learned in recent days.

In the world where she was born, the Dark One is also known as the Lord of the Grave, and is the one who holds power and sway over the dead -- and to an extent, death itself. Fortunately, Moiraine is experienced enough with Milliways to not draw instantaneous conclusions.

(The lessons learned from Anthy Himemiya will remain with her for the rest of her life.)

It had helped that she had seen nothing of intentional evil or the mark of the Shadow as she knows it when she had studied Harrowhark while channeling. It is nonetheless something that requires consideration, in case action of some sort becomes necessary.

The Aes Sedai has much to think about.

Comments

[we_bring_hell]

"Formally changing House would be quite difficult," she says. "It happens in the case of marriage, but even if things had reached that pass--which I doubt highly--there is no one in Canaan House to officiate."

"I was thinking more of insubordination. We are in a lawless place, and Gideon and I..." She studies the tabletop. "Have a tumultuous past. If it came to a necromancer's duel between Septimus and me, I... don't know what she would do."

"She has proven her willingness to sacrifice. But I do not believe her loyalty stems from House propriety. She is her own creature. If she thought I was wrong..."

[blue_ajah]

"Then it would seem best for matters not to reach the point of a necromancer's duel," she says, very simply. "Do not allow yourself to be led down a path that you would prefer not to walk."

[we_bring_hell]

"You are correct," she admits heavily. "I appreciate your insight."

[blue_ajah]

It is little enough to offer, the Aes Sedai thinks.

"I would also suggest," she says, gently, "that you continue to consider where your advantages may lie. For one thing, how many keys remain to be discovered? You have two, I believe you have said?"

[we_bring_hell]

It as much help as an adult has offered Harrowhark since the day she came home to five nooses.

"Yes," she says. "I believe one or two at most remain, of the eight trials I know. I know someone has completed the challenge that was most intuitive to me, what I believe must have been the black key of the Ninth, and some of the others show signs of having been at least worked, perhaps solved."

While she was counting doors! Frustrating.

"I know the Seventh has one in addition to the one she assisted us with. Palamedes must have at least two, and I suspect even three. He's smug enough." This is base slander of a very kind young librarian.

"The Second and Fourth have not even claimed the facility key. The Third... lurks, rather than partakes. The Eighth avoids me with a religious fervor. I didn't even know he had a facility key until he told the Fifth about it."

Grimly: "The Fifth died in the entryway."

[blue_ajah]

"I see."

Her dark-eyed gaze is very thoughtful.

"Palamedes is enamored of Dulcinea, you said. Do he and Gideon themselves appear to be in any conflict?"

She is rapidly reaching a conclusion, but must be certain before she speaks.

[we_bring_hell]

"No. He has been remarkably civil. I must say she has given Gideon far more encouragement. Septimus told me she had never met him before Canaan House."

"I believe he has conceded the field, but since we are confined together, he holds himself to being chivalrous and sentimental." Harrow drawls the word 'sentimental' with a lot of contempt for someone so obviously bitter about the first part.

[blue_ajah]

Moiraine nods.

"Be cautious in your trust, Lady Ninth," warns the woman who escaped the White Tower's plans to place her on the Sun Throne and who - with her Warder and the aid of the Amyrlin Seat - secretly pursued her cause for over twenty years. "But do not fail to give it where it is warranted."

"Whether or not you trust him, it would seem that Palamedes may be a strong ally. Together, you would hold at least four, perhaps five, of the eight keys you have indicated are known to exist. If you form a partnership of sorts with him as well as Gideon your cavalier, you may help to prevent a conflict between them, or for that matter between any of the three of you, that would make you less strong torn apart than aligned, leaving Dulcinea with the strings in her hands alone."

[we_bring_hell]

Harrow lets another one of those tightly-hoarded breaths. She has trusted Palamedes, and pilloried herself for it a dozen times; Moiraine's endorsement of her course of action eases her heart.

"We have started down this path. I had thought to initiate an exchange of our notes from the studies. Your advice gives me greater certainty in this."

"I have not seen Camilla the Sixth in action," she muses. "She is not a duellist, but that only reflects that the Sixth does not participate in the social milieu of the Lunar Houses. The Sixth has a reputation for being academics, but it would be a blessing if while Palamedes pored over his books she had studied the sword as avidly."

[blue_ajah]

"Perhaps, once Gideon is recovered, she and Camilla might spar," she suggests. "Such training activities may often be clear indicators of skill, and in Gideon's case could serve to allow her to discern any weakness that she might need to be careful of."

In either herself or another, as it happens.

[we_bring_hell]

"Oh, she would love that," Harrow says, with a narrow little smile.

She means Gideon, but they probably both would.

[blue_ajah]

Moiraine inclines her head to Harrow in silent acknowledgement.

[we_bring_hell]

Something goes click in Harrow's head, and she makes a decision.

"I have one other mystery. It may not be anything important, but it... vexes me." She flips through her journal. "After the second experiment, I had to wear Gideon's overcloak back to our room. I found something in her pocket, a scrap of paper she had removed from the first study without showing me."

She finds what she is looking for, copied painstakingly in clear rather than coded.



"The reason why seems obvious. The initials of the Second House pair who shared that study ten thousand years ago were G and P."

[blue_ajah]

Moiraine studies the bit of writing, then looks up at Harrow.

"Is Gideon a common name among the Houses, then?"

[we_bring_hell]

She shakes her head.

"I have never heard of another." She swallows.

"Gideon Nav was a foundling to the Ninth," she says. "Nav is a Niner arithmonym, but Gideon came from her mother. A year before I was born, I am told, a shuttle crashed, and a woman in a hazmat suit jumped out with an incubator strapped to her chest. She screamed the name three times before she died."

[blue_ajah]

The Aes Sedai stares at her.

"That seems an event of some portent," she remarks, finally. "Certainly an unusual one, at the least."

[we_bring_hell]

"Yes," she says.

What else is there to say?

She stares at the table. "Moiraine Sedai, I would not lie to you. But there are secrets of my House I... cannot tell. Not... not right now."

She raises her head and meets Moiraine's eyes with her starless black ones. "Will you accept an omission?"

[blue_ajah]

"I shall," she says. "Until such time as you may see fit to explain further."

After all, Harrow is not obligated to tell Moiraine anything... but she would also not be the first to come to repose significant trust in Moiraine, in the fullness of time.

(Such things are almost never a coincidence, when it comes to the Aes Sedai and her interests.)

[we_bring_hell]

A deep breath. This is easier without eye contact. "When Gideon Nav arrived on the Ninth, she was the two hundred and first child between infancy and fifteen."

"By the end of her first year she was the only one still alive."



"It was not her fault," she adds quickly. "But her survival was. Unexpected. Soon after, I was born. We grew up the last and only children of the Ninth."

"Her survival then was as unexpected as her recovery today," she says slowly. "As unexpected as finding her name in a letter ten thousand years old. It may all be coincidences. But if so, coincidences seem to congregate around my cavalier."

[blue_ajah]

Moiraine studies her in silence for several seconds.

"All things are part of the Pattern," she says, finally.

"In the world where I was born, there are those who are ta'veren. The Pattern itself bends around them."

[we_bring_hell]

Her face beneath the paint is very, very still.

"I believe there is destiny," she whispers. "I have felt its hand on me all my life."

And Gideon was always there. Always Gideon. Always, always. The guilt of two hundred corpses, never far away, lands on her with both feet, and it brings with it the guilt for the one who wouldn't die. Her myriad cruelties and vindictive punishments to Gideon Nav for having the temerity to be alive and at her mercy.

It's crushing, and each breath is like rolling away the Rock that must not be moved. "I need, need to study," she stutters. "I..."

Can't be here, she thinks, and she's so pulverized by the weight of her crimes that she almost says it. "Have so little time," she grates out, and gathers her skirts and flees.

[blue_ajah]

She looks after the younger woman in some surprise as she scrambles away, then lets out a quiet sigh as the front door shuts behind her.

"Light illumine and protect you, Harrowhark Nonagesimus," Moiraine murmurs.

"I suspect that you may need it."