[pfsb] investigations and explorations
Oct. 5th, 2020 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blue_ajahTwo days after Moiraine brought Wei Wuxian's talismans back to Twin Peaks, after she has taken the time necessary to review all of her notes as well as the histories she has been collecting, she calls Dale Cooper, who is still in Olympia, now, rather than Seattle.
All things considered, the conversation could have gone much, much worse.
She is well aware that they are going to have a much longer discussion after he returns in a few weeks, but he had agreed not to ask her to wait. She, in turn, had agreed, as before, not to go to Glastonbury Grove alone, or at night. She also agrees not to approach the pool closer than necessary to place the talismans, or to test it with her own weaving - not at present, anyway.
Hawk had been her next call.
A few days later, after he has had time to consider and to consult with the Bookhouse Boys, Hawk knocks on her apartment door and agrees to her request.
* * * * * * *
When Moiraine returns to Milliways, she leaves a sealed note with Bar, addressed to Wei Wuxian.
Master Wei--
I made the trial of your talismans according to your instructions. When I activated the one at the northernmost point, glowing red energy swept inward from the circle in a wave focused on the pool at its center.
The pool absorbed it all. It vanished into the depths without a ripple, and without a trace.
Nothing else has happened. Yet.
--Moiraine Sedai
That task completed, she settles at her preferred table with tea and begins sketching something in a notebook.
All things considered, the conversation could have gone much, much worse.
She is well aware that they are going to have a much longer discussion after he returns in a few weeks, but he had agreed not to ask her to wait. She, in turn, had agreed, as before, not to go to Glastonbury Grove alone, or at night. She also agrees not to approach the pool closer than necessary to place the talismans, or to test it with her own weaving - not at present, anyway.
Hawk had been her next call.
A few days later, after he has had time to consider and to consult with the Bookhouse Boys, Hawk knocks on her apartment door and agrees to her request.
When Moiraine returns to Milliways, she leaves a sealed note with Bar, addressed to Wei Wuxian.
Master Wei--
I made the trial of your talismans according to your instructions. When I activated the one at the northernmost point, glowing red energy swept inward from the circle in a wave focused on the pool at its center.
The pool absorbed it all. It vanished into the depths without a ripple, and without a trace.
Nothing else has happened. Yet.
--Moiraine Sedai
That task completed, she settles at her preferred table with tea and begins sketching something in a notebook.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 04:59 pm (UTC)"Several things are clear, as it happens." The Aes Sedai's tone is perfectly level. "Among them is that you hold a grudge very tightly."
Her composure apparently unruffled, she takes another sip of tea before she continues.
"You are not the first person who has distrusted me, whether in my own worlds or here. I expect that you will not be the last. For that matter, I doubt you would even be speaking to me now if you did not think that others might come to harm. It is something I appreciate, for more than one reason."
"You have shown no interest in my own history, or the reasons for it. Very well. But one thing I will tell you, Wei Wuxian, is that if I regarded you as my enemy, you would already know it."
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 05:22 pm (UTC)"What you see as a grudge," he says, tight with anger, "I see as survival." He shoves his chair back and rises from the table. "Be grateful your entire world did not turn against you and murder you because you dared to walk a different path. I will speak with my friend whenever I see him next -- we will come to you if there's more we can offer. Goodbye."
He turns to walk away.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 06:08 pm (UTC)"What would it take?"
Clear and carrying.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 06:21 pm (UTC)(He and his brother were not related by blood, but if anyone in the common room ever saw Jiang Cheng, they would see the resemblance.)
"A promise that you won't harm me or my friends," he says as he turns around. "Ever. For any reason. That you will let me live my afterlife in peace, without interference. That you will abide by the rule of no outside business with me."
One corner of his mouth lifts in a parody of a smile.
"But if you were able to promise me that without breaking your oath, Moiraine, I think you would have done so already."
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 06:58 pm (UTC)"I could make such a promise," she allows. "And I could do so without breaking my oath. Therefore, as a gesture of good faith, I promise to abide by the rule of 'no outside business in the bar' with you."
The Aes Sedai nods to the chair that he has just vacated.
"But there are flaws in the rest of what you have asked. Did you intend them?"
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 07:24 pm (UTC)"A question, first: do you consider Harrow, Lady Ninth, a friend?"
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 07:30 pm (UTC)"Yes."
Very low; very level.
"I do."
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 07:38 pm (UTC)"Then I will not swear your oath. Not as you have stated it. It is flawed."
A beat of silence.
"You may walk away now if you wish. I will find another way to do what I must."
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 07:47 pm (UTC)He can feel the black cloud of rage stirring his thoughts like silt on a riverbed. He clutches his hands tight, feeling them tremble at his sides.
Maybe it is good, he thinks in a dim and distant way, that it is so difficult to call up any resentful energy from inside the inn.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 07:51 pm (UTC)"She and I are working together on expanding potential uses of her thanergy and the saidar that I wield. To abide by the oath you ask, in strict interpretation, I could not help her to do that."
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 08:06 pm (UTC)Right.
Harrow had mentioned, hadn't she, that Moiraine once saw her unconscious. And she held that up as a matter of trust: that when she was at her most vulnerable, Moiraine did not harm her further.
He's fairly certain he caught his tongue in his back teeth by accident. Maybe. He thinks he tastes blood, somewhere, over the roaring fury in his mind. Wei Wuxian tries to narrow his focus down to that sliver of copper, taking in a long breath through his nose; exhaling, just as slowly.
(He wants Lan Zhan here, he thinks, with a wretchedness he doesn't expect. He needs him here. Why didn't he listen and refuse to speak to Moiraine right away?)
This time, when he turns to go, he moves straight for the back door, slamming it open with a furious clatter as he stalks outside. Before he's even reached the lake, black smoke begins to lap at his heels.
Maybe, once he's made short work of something deep in the forest, he will feel better.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-09 08:24 pm (UTC)It seems likely, now, that alternate measures will be necessary. She will see.
The Wheel weaves.