Sail Away With Me (attn: Bella)

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

Liaran smiled at her husband when he sat back down at their table. It was clear to her that he was not going to be pressured into leaving early anymore than she was, and she joined him in ordering something else just to show their intention to remain. When their drinks came, she took a sip from her cup of tea before responding to Haeden. Leaning forward to be closer to him, Liaran very quietly said, "He might....but I don't know what that reason could be." She frowned as she continued, "He's not the only one, either, the waiter who served our dinner seemed to be checking on us constantly." That observation caused her to look around the room, holding her teacup as she did.

Most of what Liaran saw appeared to her to be entirely ordinary; waiters serving food, hurrying back to the kitchen, and taking money. The two who had served them, however, each looked back to their table several times even though both were busy with other tasks. It irritated Liaran that she couldn't come up with any possible reason for the pair to be watching them so often, and by the time she and Haeden decided to pay and leave, Liaran was ready to be gone from the place.

The rest of their evening was spent walking around Bandar Eban, exploring the city, and it was dark by the time they began to head back towards the docks. Retracing their steps, the two of them returned to the street where they'd eaten dinner earlier, which was mostly empty now that night had fallen. As they crossed over a side street, the Aes Sedai was distracted by a hollow thumping sound that she thought came from the narrower street. Turning her head to search for its source, what Liaran saw was entirely unexpected.

The two oddly behaved waiters from the restaurant were confronting an elderly man who was backed up against the wall of one of the buildings. Liaran reached for saidar, but even with the One Power, she couldn't hear anything that might have been said. If the two waiters were threatening the old man, they were being very careful not to be overheard, which made the Aes Sedai wonder just what they meant to do. The answer to that question came quickly as one of the two men drew a knife, and without thinking, Liaran rushed forward, weaving a solid wall of Air which she placed between the man and his attackers. She did not waste time looking to see what Haeden would do; anything she noticed, Liaran knew he would have seen long before she did, and acted as he thought best.

[Bella]

Haeden Ives would not be much of a Gaidin, of course, if he hadn't noticed and seen exactly what his Aes Sedai did as they made their way along the street. He was only briefly surprised at the aggressive act done somewhere that could be easily viewed, like by people who happened to be walking by, but he was not surprised by the who of it after their behavior in the restaurant.

He was just a heartbeat or two behind Liaran's air shield. The waiters who were so abruptly thwarted in their attack could only stare in shock when the knife hit the shield and went no further. (Their would-be victim was similarly surprised.) They didn't even have a moment to get out of that feeling before the full weight of the large, partly-armored, armed warder shoulder-slammed the one.

That one bounced into the other like a child's ball, and both fell to the ground. Haeden's sword was in his hand, holding the tip near their persons before they could even attempt to gain their feet. "Is their victim okay?" he asked over his shoulder without turning back, keeping them in place while he checked their victim before turning to their just desserts.

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

Once the knife fell to the ground, Liaran, who had moved to the victim's side, darted a glance across the alley as she searched for the attackers. Having heard Haeden move in addition to sensing it through their bond, the sight of both on the ground with her Warder standing over them was exactly what she had expected to find. With that threat handled, she let go of her weave of Air, then turned back to the elderly man who was leaning against the wall. He appeared to be unharmed, but since she did not know what might have occurred before their arrival, the Aes Sedai asked, "Are you hurt?"

The man looked at her and shook his head. "No," he told her. "Not hurt...didn't even take my coin. Thought I was being careful, with the robberies in this area, but might take another street from now on." While he spoke, Liaran listened, but the Aes Sedai also used a Delving weave to check for any injuries he might not have noticed. When she found nothing, she called out to her husband, "Yes, he's fine."

Trusting Haeden to keep the two men more or less confined, Liaran looked curiously at the man before her. "Have there been a lot of robberies nearby?" He nodded, explaining that quite recently there had been more than a few on the street where they stood and a few other surrounding streets, a problem that was only now becoming common knowledge throughout the city. Liaran was not at all surprised when further conversation revealed that the man had also been at the restaurant she and Haeden had visited earlier in the evening.

Once she finished her conversation with him, the man left, and Liaran watched him make his way down the street until he disappeared from sight. Then she turned back to Haeden and asked, "What do we do with them now? I suppose a city this size must have some sort of guard, maybe we should find one of them." She frowned as she thought about it, focused on her husband and the problem before her. She paid no attention to the buildings across the street, nor to the window overlooking the alley. If she had, she might have noticed the shadowed form of a person silently observing what had just taken place.

[Bella]

Haeden's gaze remained focused on the two at his feet, though he listened to his wife's conversation with the older gentleman. There was also a prickling sensation on the back of his neck, but he could only glance around very quickly to see if there was a reason for it...but seeing nothing on that quick view, he had to turn back to the attackers.

"Aye, there's some sort of law in this city. I think I saw their offices on the way to the restaurant," he said. "I think this answers some questions from the restaurant as well. We could tie these two up and report them into the lawmen, let them know where they are and what we found under the table, then they can sort them out?"

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

Liaran nodded. "That sounds like a good idea," she agreed. She crossed the alley to join Haeden where he stood over the two men, reached for saidar, and pulled a thick thread of Air. This she used to bind the wrists of one of the attackers, trusting Haeden to keep watch over the other. Another thread of Air was used to tie the man's ankles, then the Aes Sedai did the same to the other one. Neither of them fought her or tried to escape, which seemed a little strange, but Liaran assumed it was caused by nothing more than her ability to channel and the intimidating figure her Warder could be when he chose.

Leaving the two leaning against the wall of the alley, Liaran walked out onto the street. She stayed quiet at first, the lack of protest from the two men continuing to nag at her. Finally, the Aes Sedai turned her head and looked up at Haeden. "Did that seem just a little too easy to you?" she asked, then shook her head. "It could be nothing. I might just be tired," she admitted.

[Bella]

Could it be nothing? Maybe. And yet...

Haeden offered a small, mirthless smile. "My mother has told me a time or two that when something seems too easy, there's usually a reason for it. Being easy isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but if it makes you uneasy, then there's generally a reason for it." He paused to glance back at the alley, then looked slowly and fully around them. He didn't see anything, but...

"There is something off here," he finally agreed, pitching his voice low. "I can't put my finger on it, but I don't like it. The question is less whether there's something or not. We both can feel there is. It's more what we want to do about it. Maybe it's just a corrupt, dark area of the city. All cities have them... Do we suss it out or report it and leave like we planned?"

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

Standing on the street and looking back down into the alleyway, Liaran could only agree with her husband. What the Aes Sedai saw seemed fairly ordinary, other than the two men confined by weaves of the One Power which only she could see. They sat still, even more so than their bonds alone could account for, and if they interacted with each other, Liaran did not see it. It was almost as if the pair were patiently waiting for someone, or something. Just what that was, Liaran could not even begin to guess.

She hardly needed time to consider before responding to Haeden's question. "If we can, we should deal with whatever those two are up to right now," she told him. "We are here, we don't have to return to the ship until we sail in the morning, and it needs to be done." While she spoke, Liaran continued to walk, though her pace was slow. She meant to give the impression that she and Haeden were actually continuing to move away, leaving the attackers behind them.

Trusting that her husband would understand her intent and follow along with her, Liaran spoke to him as quietly as she could while still allowing him to hear. "We could just keep walking, as if we were going to report them, and wait to see what, if anything, happens. If there's something else they're doing, if they're more than just simple thieves, I don't think we'll be able to get too far out of their sight before we learn what their plan is. And if not, we can let the authorities know what we saw and return to the ship." She did not stop walking, but her eyes flickered towards Haeden, an Aes Sedai seeking the opinion of her Warder.

[Bella]

Haeden Ives, as he so often did, concurred with the plan of his wife and Aes Sedai.

It was not that he was a man who lacked either opinions or convictions, but he would not have bonded and later wed the woman walking beside him had he not felt them of similar mind, ethos, and sympathies. Thus he tended to agree as they did often think along the same lines, and this plan was perhaps the soundest they could determine for the current moment and circumstances.

There was still some sense of...something that he could feel prickling at the back of his neck, but even as he glanced around as surreptitiously as possible, he could not seem to find its source.

So, they continued to walk toward the headquarters of the lawmen for this area of the city. The guard there met them at the door, looking curiously between the strangers. Like most observant individuals, he could see that they were not of this city. Although they hardly wore signs around their necks, there were enough signs to be seen.

They reported what they had seen and what they had done, introducing themselves for who they were although without any fanfare since one hardly needed that sort of attention. The city watchman asked, very politely--dare one say obsequiously--for them to wait on another watchman to investigate the men.

After agreeing, they were shown into a small room obviously for the purpose of people waiting to be seen although it was empty at the moment. The watchman had a pot of tea brought without their asking for it, but Haeden did not avail himself. Instead, he waited until they were alone and leaned against the one place on the wall that let him watch both the door and the room's sole window.

"I have a feeling..." he commented after a moment, quietly, even though they were seemingly alone, "...that they aren't going to find what we told them was there."

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

As she and Haeden moved further from the two bound men, Liaran looked ahead of her, but her dark eyes flickered from side to side, observing as much as she could of their surroundings. Certainly she trusted Haeden to do his duty as her Warder, but she saw no reason not to remain aware of where they were and what might be happening around them. She expected some sort of interference with their plan, though she could not have said what form that might take, and stayed silent and watchful while they walked the building where the city watch was located.

She did, however, allow her thoughts to drift to how fortunate she felt to have met Haeden. Unlike so many other people she knew, he would not take offense to her quietness, or her need to look after herself and not depend solely on him to detect any potential threats. The Aes Sedai flashed a quick smile in his direction as she looked around before turning her attention back to the path ahead of them.

Liaran became more uneasy, if no less alert, as the distance between the two of them and the men they had left in the alleyway widened. She began to look around them with increasing frequency, and when they finally arrived, the Aes Sedai was truly puzzled. A frown of confusion crossed her expression, and the polite smile she offered as they entered was just a little strained.

Once they had both described what they had seen, and done, Liaran joined Haeden in the room they were shown to and settled herself beside him, though not overly close. She laid her forehead in her hands as she continued to try to understand just what was going on in this foreign city. She looked up only when the door opened to admit a figure carrying a pot of tea, which was left on a side table for them before the man who had brought it departed without a word. For just a moment, Liaran eyed it nervously, then forced herself to turn away and ignore its presence.

She let out a sigh of relief when Haeden spoke to her, distracting her from her own unwelcome thoughts of what that teapot might contain and her resolve, born from fear, never to drink tea offered by a stranger, not ever again. After taking a deep breath, Liaran glanced at her husband and responded with as much of an answer as she could offer.

"You might be right," she acknowledged. "I don't know how, but then, I did not really think that we would be allowed to come and report what we saw. I was sure something would happen to stop us on the way...and now I just don't know," she muttered. "I can't make sense of any of this...the hidden money, the theft we interrupted, or how unafraid the thieves seemed to be, as if they knew they would not have to face any consequences for their crime."