On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

The World outside the Grey Tower is a vast place.
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Alianora
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On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

Post by Alianora » June 7th, 2019, 10:34 pm

Stefana Sedai of the Red Ajah, PSC
The morning sun was bright in the sky as Stefana made her way towards the Traveling Yards, leading her black horse by the reins. This meant she was moving rather slowly, but Stefana didn't mind. As it was, she was arriving early, and she wasn't looking forward to standing there, searching for someone she'd never met. A female Warder. Like so many of the customs of the Grey Tower, that still seemed strange to her. She put it out of her mind as she continued to walk, occasionally giving the reins in her hand a tug to keep the horse moving.

Once she and the horse finally reached the spot where they were supposed to meet, the Aes Sedai brought the horse to a stop. She turned her head, bright blue eyes looking around her, but as she'd expected, nobody else nearby could possibly be the woman she sought. She pressed her lips together, forcing down a sigh of frustration. She'd been ready to leave days ago, and it had been very difficult for Stefana to have to wait for a Warder to be found to travel with her. Honestly, the entire arrangement made the Red just a little nervous. How is someone I'm not even bonded to supposed to protect me? She didn't really understand it.

To distract herself from that nervousness, Stefana thought about the mission ahead of them. They would be traveling to a few small villages near the Blightborder in Arafel which had seen a few people go missing. On its own, that wouldn't have drawn her attention, but she had built up quite a network of Eyes and Ears in the Borderlands during her time there, and their reports of the situation spoke of notes left at the homes of those who had disppeared by someone called the First Blade. While the name was completely unfamiliar to her, after asking around within the Red Ajah, she'd learned that this person had been a plague to the Grey Tower for years, and was almost certainly allied with the Shadow.

She brushed a few specks of dust from her red riding dress, still searching the area. This First Blade person, whoever he or she was, needed to be found. Stefana was more than sure of that. All that remained was for the Warder to show up so that they could get going, and Stefana was already feeling a growing impatience to be gone.

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Re: On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

Post by Bella » June 12th, 2019, 12:18 am

Natlya Gaidin just needed to get out of the Grey Tower.

It wasn't that she was unhappy with this place that had so solidly become her home, not at all. She loved the Tower, and the life it had given her, despite the heartbreaks that had come along with it all. But she wasn't generally a woman used to staying in one place for a long time, and once she reached Gaidin, she knew she didn't have to be.

But since she was still unbonded, she spent most of her time training other Gaidin and trainees. She waited to be called upon by an Aes Sedai or Asha'man in need of escort, but that was rather an unpredictable way of things.

At least today, however, she had a task and a path out of the Tower, for just a little while. Just to shake the dust off. She was leading Rosy--her chestnut mare--to the Traveling Yards where she was meant to meet an Aes Sedai of the Red named Stefana. All she knew was that they were heading to Arafel, and rumors gathered told her that this Aes Sedai was one of the White Tower transfers.

As she reached the Yards, she looked around and spotted a woman who was clearly waiting and who met the description.

Nat walked up and approached the other woman. She bowed politely and asked, "Stefana Sedai?"

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Re: On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

Post by Alianora » June 13th, 2019, 10:24 pm

Stefana Sedai
Having been given a vague description of what Natlya Gaidin looked like, it wasn't hard for Stefana to guess the identity of the redhaired woman who'd approached her. She nodded and gave the other woman a polite smile that quickly faded. "Yes, I'm Stefana Sedai," she said with a nod, "and you must be Natlya Gaidin. She gave the reins in her hand a slight tug, letting her horse, Blackbird, know it was time to start moving. "Shall we?" asked Stefana, with a slight wave of her hand towards the Traveling Yards.

As they walked, Stefana turned to the Gaidin, sharing what little she knew about what lay ahead of them. "You should know before we Travel that I don't know exactly what we're going to find in Arafel," the Aes Sedai warned. "I've learned that several people have gone missing from small villages near the Blight, and that someone called the First Blade is claiming responsibility, though none of my contacts know why." She shrugged a shoulder and said, "I'm hoping we can find the missing people, and bring this First Blade person to justice. It's not likely to be a quick or simple task." To herself, Stefana hoped the other woman was up to the demands this journey would place on both of them.

What was quick, however, was the walk to the Traveling Yards. Stefana nodded a greeting to the Asha'man who was working this morning. "We need a Gateway to northern Arafel, please," she told him. "As close to the village of Blackstone as you can."

She rather wished it had been another woman working that day, so that she could watch the Gateway form, but since it wasn't so, Stefana simply waited. While the Asha'man worked, she dropped the reins and mounted Blackbird, watching from the saddle as a silver slash opened in the air. The sight still amazed her every time, though she'd seen it often enough in her few years here, and Stefana stared through the open hole into the fields of northern Arafel. She tugged at Blackbird's reins, moving the horse back a few paces in order to let the Gaidin enter first.

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Re: On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

Post by Bella » June 16th, 2019, 4:13 pm

The First Blade... The name sounded familiar to Natlya, although she was having trouble putting her finger on the memory of it.

Instead, she just nodded. "I understand, Aes Sedai." She bowed slightly and then mounted up. She drew her sword and held it with one hand, low to her side, while the other held the reins. Moving Rosy a few steps ahead of the Red, she waited for the Gateway to form and open before riding through.

She emerged what seemed like a world away, and practically was. The open terrain of the Arafellan countryside yawned before her, and she quickly sought out every sight from every side.

There was no immediate danger, so she rode away from the Gateway site and waited for Stefana to follow.

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Re: On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

Post by Alianora » June 16th, 2019, 9:40 pm

Stefana Sedai
The Gaidin disappeared through the open Gateway, but Stefana had to wait. It was an activity the Red did not enjoy, and the time she had to stay there, uselessly looking at the Gateway, seemed to pass by in slow motion. Finally, she decided she'd given Natlya enough time to look around, and urged Blackbird through the silvery hole in the air. They emerged into the flat landscape of northern Arafel, with the homes of the village just barely visible in the distance. She brought the horse to a stop as she searched the area for the Gaidin, but once she spotted the flash of sunlight on the other woman's red hair, pushed Blackbird to a run in order to catch up to her.

The open land around them didn't look particularly dangerous, but Stefana watched her surroundings carefully despite that. This close to the Blight, one never knew what to expect. So she watched, and she listened, not once letting her guard down despite having a Gaidin with her. The woman said nothing to her, so the ride was mostly one of silence and observation.

As they neared the village, the flat green fields around it were replaced by gardens belonging to the inhabitants. They looked entirely ordinary, but Stefana still studied them as she passed. Most contained tomatoes, or onions, or peas, nothing unexpected, but as she rode by one with rows of lettuce in front, her sharp eyes picked out something small and tan, something that was very much out of place among the lettuce.

After catching Natlya's eye, she brought Blackbird to a stop, dismounting and walking over to get a closer look. At first glance, Stefana thought it was a shoe, but after crouching down to see better, the Aes Sedai knew she'd been wrong. The toes of the severed human foot were hard to mistake for anything else. While it wasn't a pleasant sight, Stefana had once been Green Ajah, and blood and body parts had ceased to bother her long ago. Looking it over, she could tell that it was large enough to have belonged to an adult, and the dried blood around the ankle suggested that it hadn't been placed there very recently. What she didn't know, and wished she did, was whether the foot was connected to the disappearances she was here to investigate.

The Aes Sedai shook her head and stood up, making a note to herself to find something to put the foot in once they reached town. It would have to be disposed of, but she had nothing to carry it in right now, nor did entering town with it seem like a good idea. It felt to her as if her already important task had just gained more importance, and as she walked the few steps to Blackbird, Stefana looked over at the Gaidin, wondering what she was thinking.

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Re: On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

Post by Bella » June 26th, 2019, 3:50 pm

If Natlya had better known the Aes Sedai she was traveling with, she would have made a terrible, macabre joke about "something is afoot," but she restrained herself since she had no idea how it would be received. Not everyone appreciated morbid humor.

She studied the foot as the Red did, taking note of many of the same things. Although when Stefana stood to return to her horse, Natlya did not. Her hazel eyes narrowed as she thought she'd caught on to something, and she leaned a little forward to peer closer. As a Gaidin, she was just as accustomed to bodies, body parts, and blood, so she didn't flinch when she carefully touched the foot to tilt it slightly.

"There's something here," she said, trying to identify what it was despite the condition of the skin. That was decomposing although not particularly putrid yet, so it had been here a while but not too long. "It looks like some sort of...tattoo? Can you see it?" It was small but clearly present--if not clearly outline--on the ball of the foot. Something in black. A sword, perhaps?

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Re: On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

Post by Alianora » June 28th, 2019, 10:10 pm

Stefana Sedai
Stefana turned around at the sound of the Gaidin's voice, and walked back to the garden and the foot. Looking down at it, she couldn't make out anything remotely like what the other woman had described. It just looked dirty to her, as she would have expected of anything that had been laying around in the soil of the garden for a while. It was obvious that she was going to have to get closer to the thing if she wanted to see what Natlya meant, so Stefana crouched down to get a better look. She used one hand to hold the hem of her dress out of the dirt, and laid the other flat against the ground to balance herself. Bending her head over the foot, the Aes Sedai was just barely able to identify the mark the Gaidin had noticed.

It was small, the black lines almost blurry, suggesting to Stefana that it hadn't been recently done. At first glance, she had no idea what the long shape was, or had been intended to be. Only several seconds of staring at it enabled Stefana to see what appeared to be the hilt of some sort of bladed weapon at one end and the point at the other. She couldn't have said if it were supposed to be a knife, a dagger, or a sword, and wasn't sure it mattered exactly what it was. Stefana raised her head and looked up at Natlya.

"It's a blade," she said quietly, the words sounding ominous considering the name of the person they were searching for. The First Blade. Perhaps the foot and the tattoo had nothing to do with him or her, but Stefana rather doubted that. She let the hem of her dress go and used the hand on the ground to push herself back to her feet.

Once she was standing again, she continued, "I couldn't tell exactly what sort of weapon it is; you might be able to, if you get closer to it." Her blue eyes moved as Stefana quickly glanced around the area where they stood. It appeared peaceful, but the Aes Sedai knew that to be false. She stepped closer to the Gaidin and lowered her voice even further.

"I think it might be a good idea to try to find out who that foot once belonged to," she said. "I find it very unlikely that someone with a tattoo of some sort of weapon has just shown up in this area when we know the First Blade has been a source of trouble here. There could be a connection there...though of course, it could also be nothing." She felt she had to consider that, but Stefana didn't really believe it.

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Re: On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

Post by Bella » July 3rd, 2019, 12:36 am

Natlya looked up and met the other woman's eyes. "I think I could probably bet to eat my saddle if there isn't a connection, Aes Sedai," she said dryly. Turning back to the foot, she set it down and rocked back on her heels. "Thing is, a tattoo that small and on someone's foot, there's no telling details like what sort of weapon. A blade. Maybe a sword." She shrugged.

"What I do know is that you don't put a permanent mark on your body unless it's important, and you don't put it on the bottom of your foot--where no one can see it--unless you don't want everyone and their brother to know it's there. That says to me that this man was up to no good of some kind or another."

The Gaidin rose to her feet with a heavy sigh as her hazel gaze surveyed their surroundings. "We might want to find out who this garden belongs to," she said, looking at the small farmhouse at the end of the vegetable rows.

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Re: On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

Post by Alianora » July 6th, 2019, 1:10 am

Stefana Sedai
It was something of a surprise to Stefana that she agreed with every one of Natlya's conclusions. She gave the other woman a brief nod, secretly relieved to find that the female Gaidin was apparently quite capable at thinking through situations such as this one. It wasn't more than a few steps to reach the nearby house, but in that short time, Stefana paid careful attention to the rest of the gardens and studied their contents, wondering if any of them contained parts of the body that had once been attached to that foot.

It wasn't exactly a sight Stefana wanted to see, no matter how used to it she was, and she was glad to reach the farmhouse without noticing anything else unusual. Looking down, the Aes Sedai shook some of the dust from her skirt, then climbed the steps and knocked on the door. It opened quickly, and a short, middle aged woman stepped onto the porch where Stefana stood. Her apron was dirty, her brown hair in an untidy bun, and she peered up at Stefana curiously.

The Red sister didn't bother with introductions or greetings, instead skipping directly to the question that she and the Gaidin needed answered.

"Is that your garden over there?" she asked, turning slightly towards the area off to the side of the house where she and Natlya had just been.

"Yes, that's mine," the woman said, looking away from Stefana. "I know it's not much to look at from the road. It's just too much for me to handle without Cyron."

"Cyron?" Stefana repeated.

"My husband," the woman explained. "He was always the one to ride off to the markets, and I'd stay here. It never takes more than a day....but it's been more than a fortnight now and he hasn't come home."

The woman sniffled, and while Stefana wanted to ask her more questions, the Aes Sedai was silent while she waited for the woman to collect herself. She turned her head, eyes drifting towards the Blight, and by the time she looked back, the woman appeared calmer, or as much as could be expected for someone whose husband was missing.

"I'm sorry about your husband," Stefana told her. "Is there nobody in the village who could help you try to find him?"

The woman shook her head. "We did try, but there hasn't been much time to look when there's still work needing done, and it's not just my Cyron we were looking for. There were a couple others who disappeared around the same time. It wasn't easy to search for three men, and then when the notes came, I think we all got too scared to try anymore."

"Notes?" asked Stefana, though she already knew what the woman meant. The woman nodded and said, "About three days after Cyron should have been home, I found the strangest note under my door, and when I told my neighbor about it, she said the other families had gotten them as well."

She turned to the door rather abruptly and rushed into the house, returning moments later with a small piece of folded paper. Unfolding it, she offered it to Stefana.

The Aes Sedai took it and gave Natlya a look that suggested she should come closer so that she could also see. The dull white paper could have come from anywhere, and bore only four words. There is no escape. Stefana had no idea what it meant, or what it could have to do with the missing men.

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Location: New England

Re: On the Hunt (attn: Natlya)

Post by Bella » July 24th, 2019, 10:56 pm

Well, that's not enigmatic or frightening at all, Nat thought sarcastically.

Natlya examined the note closely, looking at the writing and the quality of the paper. It was pretty common. The ink that the words were written in was black, but there was no special gleam to note much quality. The handwriting looked blocky and common as well, as if trying to disguise the writer's actual hand.

When the Aes Sedai paused, Natlya spoke up, "You said that your husband was headed to the market?" she asked. The woman nodded. "Was that where the others were headed when they vanished?"

The older woman nodded slowly, after pausing for thought. "Yes... Now that you mention it, they were. All from along the market road, we all of us lived. No one too close to town, you see, which is why it takes us all at least a day to bring our wares there and then come home again. The other two--Dyer and Botle--vanished around the same time, it seems."

Three people. All men. All farmers. All living on the same road... "Did your husband have a tattoo on his foot?" she asked gently. When the old woman looked confused, she went on, "Something drawn on the skin with ink, done in a way that it stays there forever."

"Oh no, my Cyron wouldn't do nothing like that to himself," she said. "We've been married some-odd forty years. I'd know."

Nat smiled that charming-but-sincere smile and nodded. "Of course, ma'am. A woman knows a man better than he knows himself, doesn't she?"

This was the first time the older woman had smiled. "Yes, that she does, miss. That she does."

"So, you haven't gotten out in the garden much since Cyron vanished?"

"No, 'fraid not. Just the stuff close up. Rabbits have probably destroyed everything out near the road."

I doubt it was rabbits... Natlya thought wryly.

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