The Past Undying, Redeux [Attn: Ravak Darrow Gaidin]

[Bella]

The rings hanging from the cord around her neck, resting upon the hideous scar that split her chest, felt heavier in that moment than they had in a very long time. Miahala stared down at the head and its unattached body, the grimace of pain still clear on the woman's face. Her own had fallen into its state of impassivity, because things in her mind were too intense to set free.

Is that it?

She lifted her head and looked at Ravak when she heard his voice. Her eyes flashed in the otherwise expressionless face, but within a moment, she took in the blood spattered on him as well and the paleness to his features. Even more than usual. There was something in his eyes that poked at the ice walls around her.

Stepping forward, she laid her hand against his chest. "That's it," she said softly, glancing back over her shoulder one last time before walking away. As she walked, she had the first chance to actually look at the room. She saw rows of tables with black stains she wanted to know nothing about, and she felt a sharp pain in her breast bone.

Mia put her hand over it and let out a soft breath. She didn't want to know what happened here.

When she reached the door, she turned to make sure he was with her. Seeing that he was, she wove thick cords of Fire to set the bodies aflame, for no especial reason. She just did it. Then wordlessly, she turned and left the wretched building.

[Craig]

Ravak[subtitle]Gaidin Captain's Log, Supplemental[/subtitle]

Ravak's skin was still crawling when the Saldaean led him out of the building. He looked at the flames with one question in his thoughts. Was it right to burn them? He couldn't understand why he held anything other than contempt for these Darkfriends, but there it was. Pressing the confusion down, Rav moved his attention over to Miahala.

The Green sister seemed satisfied to walk back towards the horses in silence, so Rav respected that wish. There wasn't really anything to say. It's not like they were going to uncork a bottle of wine and celebrate the murder of five people, Darkfriends or not. No fanfare was going to play. They'd done what they had been tasked to, and now they had the journey back to contend with.

He continued his vigil on the landscape but there were no further signs of life. It was quiet even for the Blight, but then they were in this void he'd discovered. Would raids resume now that... whatever it was had been burnt or killed?

They were halfway towards the horses when the Shienaran decided to speak up. He had more or less recovered from the shock of killing the Warders. "We should have looked through the building, to see what was happening there." His voice wasn't accusatory, but there was an edge to how he stated it. He was looking for an answer and was concerned Miahala wouldn't have a good one forthcoming.

[Bella]

She stopped and turned her head slightly, showing she had heard him but without meeting his eyes. She knew there was too much in hers and she didn't feel like being vulnerable in that moment. (Did she ever, though?) Her mind raced, trying to understand even herself and without a great deal of luck in that area.

"You're not wrong," she said softly. You're right, being words she didn't speak often, really. "I just... I had to clear my head for a few moments. I would like to check on the horses and make sure nothing befell them while we were at work, and then we can go back. I am sure the building will not have gone anywhere in the meantime."

[Craig]

Ravak

That was not an appropriate answer. Of course the building's still going to be there. It's the little matter of the fire I was referring to. Not that he was about to give that thought a voice, but it was still there. Light, why was she acting out of sorts? The Green Ajah killed Darkfriends and Shadowspawn. That was their raison d'être until the Last Battle arrived. So what the heck is up with you?

Ravak knew the heat in his thoughts were unjustified, at least partially, so he contented himself with a sigh. He could press the matter -- he had the seniority between them -- but what was the point? What was done was done.

He trudged alongside side the Green sister back to the horses. Both Impala and Seren were more or less where they have left them, and seemed well tempered given the hellscape they were in. The Gaidin pulled him up onto Impala's back before seeing what the Green was doing.

"Shall we go back?" he asked in a quiet rumble, "or do you need to clear your head?"

[Bella]

His tone was something of a knife into her head, and that place in her chest that had hurt while in that building raged to living pain once again... His disapproval was clear to her--or was it?--but she didn't have to explain herself to him, or to any man. She explained herself to no one. She had her reasons...but what were they?

Standing at Seren's head, she gently pet his soft nose. That pink diamond on his upper lip that was as soft as velvet. He nudged her with his head, as if to tell her things were okay...or to get over it. It was hard to tell.

Finally, she looked up and met his eyes as he sat in the saddle. She had no clue what was revealed in her own gaze, there was something very strange about her feelings in that moment. Something painful. Raw. For a moment, she unconsciously put her hand on her chest. She stifled a shiver running down her spine.

"I know what you want to know," she said softly. "I can't explain it in a way that will make you understand. It needed doing, that's all I know, and my very, very long life has told me that when I feel something needs to be done, I will regret not doing it."

What happened to never explaining yourself to anyone?

Shut up.

[Craig]

Ravak

For a moment, the Gaidin's blue-grey eyes narrowed to a doubtful glare. In the next instant, it was gone, expression replaced by a granite-like stoicism. He recalled the words of the Mistress of Arms upon his raising. "Do you swear to serve and guard the Grey Tower faithfully?"

I do, he grumbled internally. He glanced away from the Green sister, pretending to fuss over one of Impala's saddlebags. I get it. You're an Aes Sedai, ancient and imperious. The Light protect me from offending your honour. He tugged a strap tight beyond what was reasonable, then resumed his pretence of being completely fine. Women are going to be the bloody death of me one day, the Creator protect me.

Ravak encouraged Impala a few steps back in the direction towards the house as he waited for Miahala to join him. Aes Sedai she may be, he had his own talents when it came to reasoning out the evidence set before him. He just hoped that Miahala's little Illuminator's display hadn't set the entire house ablaze.

[Bella]

The building was not, in fact, ablaze, just as Bella had assured. There was not even a trace of smoke to be seen or sensed, as Miahala had kept her focus very tight. She had just known that the bodies could not be allowed to remain in any state that could... What? The entire chain of reasoning made no sense, even to her. She had just known that that's what had to happen.

Apparent icicles seemed to have begun to form between the Aes Sedai and the Gaidin, and it added weight upon weight to the discomfort she was already feeling, which was a discomfort grew all on its own as they got closer to the building once more.

The Trolloc corpses remained just as they had been, and their bodies did not cause her any particular pyromaniac tendencies. The whole outside, even with the Blight and its foulness all around them, was not as discomfiting to her. There was the lingering pain in her chest, but it existed just where the rings sat. Lost too many bonds, mayhap, she reasoned.

She did not say anything to Ravak, since he was already clearly displeased with her answers.

However, there was nothing more she could tell, and she wasn't going to press it. Her word should have been good enough to put a little faith in her. Maybe they hadn't known one another that long, but she'd felt...something, some connection between them, and she would have imagined that along with her reputation would have bought her some credit.

Time would tell.

Seren balked at the Trolloc corpses, however, but she instantly soothed him. He snorted once and then was calm again. At the building's front face, Mia dismounted and soothed her steed again. She did not want to go back in there, but she wrapped herself in ice and ivory. Her eyes glinted as she looked at Ravak and then wordlessly forced herself back through the shattered door.

[Craig]

Ravak

Ravak took his time to dismount, leaving Miahala to enter alone. His hard glare took in the dead Trollocs as he also wondered why they hadn't been set ablaze. The Light knew they deserved even less of a burial then the Darkfriends. He scratched at his beard for a while before heading back inside.

The Gaidin Captain took the other side of the room, leaving the Aes Sedai to her own inquiries. He would have to know enough to give a full report to Riahana on their return, and he wasn't going to parrot second-hand knowledge.

The building itself gave Rav an unnerving sense of déjà vu. As he walked between the tables, he could recall all of these little details. His gloved hand rested in the same place it had in his dreams, even finding the same patch of blood.

Slowly and without concern, Ravak turned to address Miahala. "I dreamt I was here last night."

[Bella]

While he took to one side, she took to the other. Now, at least, the distance was simply that of pragmatism rather than...anything else. In her mind, somewhere, she debated whether she should doubt her choice or feel bad...but that part didn't get too loud or be let into the light too much. Maybe ego, maybe not. She was what she was.

Besides, she had bigger things to worry about. Every corner of the building now caused her discomfort bordering on distress. Before, she had been too full of fury and bloodlust. A fight before her. Now, it was different.

This wall was full of tables, and the only windows were small and near the ceiling. It let the light in, but they were obviously not ever cleaned because that light was dingy at best. The tables were austere and wooden, with iron shackles at the tops and bottoms. She didn't want to think about the purpose of them all.

Terrible things have happened here, she thought, suppressing another shiver.

The sound of Ravak's voice drew her back from examining a set of shelves with jars of cloudy liquids she didn't want to think about any more than she did the tables. Despite the last several moments of chill between them, the sound of his voice brought a strange, if brief, comfort to her that she tried to cling to as she looked at him.

I dreamt I was here last night.

Other thoughts were chased from her mind as she contemplated this. She knew she had Dreamed the night before, but he had said nothing about his being a Dreamer as well... Perhaps he wasn't. But if not, how had dreamed of this? His voice was even, stoic, and although she felt her breathing growing more difficult, it didn't show.

"Tell me more of what you dreamed?" she asked softly, turning her body to face him more fully with curiosity in her gaze.

[Craig]

Ravak

"I dunno," he mumbled as his grey-blue eyes took in the room again. "I saw what you see now: tables, blood, tools. But it all seemed, well, it all seemed real. I touched the table." He rubbed the brownish blood between his fingers. "It wasn't a dream, and it wasn't a Dream, but..." Looking away from Miahala, he shrugged. "I dunno."

Well that was a whole lot of nothing, he grumbled internally. The Light knew why he bothered mentioning it at all.

Ravak started back on his investigation. All of this medical malarky was beyond his pay grade, but he could smell a world of foulness that defied easy labels. There was envy and pride in the air, scents usually associated with crimes of passion, but this did not seem like the sort of place where affection could thrive. He frowned at the walls as if he could glower the answers out from the wooden beams.