Reunion in the Green Halls (Attn: Mia)

[Trent]

The familiar columns and hallways of the Green Ajah gave a familiar calm to Durent as he walked them. There were many new faces, however, that he saw as he walked. He recognized some, but not most. There was one Asha'man that passed him that Durent remembered teaching Battleweaves to as a soldier. A small smile curved up Durent's face, glad of the young man's success in attaining the cord. The Asha'man nodded to him respectfully as they passed each other.

As he reached the main area of the Green Halls, the Common Room, he found it mostly empty. Many would be off training or amongst errands during the middle of the day. Paintings depicting battles and large bookshelves lined the walls. He had never spent a lot of time here in his previous stays at the Tower, but he wanted to get back in the social swing of the Ajah and meet those he hadn’t yet since his return. There was much to do, and he intended to see that the Greens were ready to face the future whatever came, even if he held no title, other than perhaps ‘ancient.’ That brought a smile to his lips again.

He took in the mostly empty room and was happily surprised when he saw someone he had once thought never to see again. Miahala Sedai, one of the most well-known Captain Generals the Green Ajah had seen in recent times. She was the head of the Ajah when he had joined and who had also raised him to Sitter the first time he served in the Hall. Durent couldn’t help but wonder if she had sent the letter summoning him back to the Tower.

She stood observing one of the paintings on the far wall. He wasn’t sure if she was waiting for someone or perhaps finding some relaxation time. She had also recently returned, and if the rumors were true, from more than just being away from the Tower. Durent had been perceived dead in his long absence, but she very well might have actually been dead. He approached her and stood also regarding the painting.

“Miahala Sedai, I’ve been hoping I would find a moment to talk to you. Words aren’t enough to tell you how glad I was to hear of your return. The Tower has regained a powerful and loyal warrior.”

OOC: Btw, in Durent’s return fic(http://www.grey-tower.net/Wiki/index.ph ... 27s_Return), he had received a letter with a Green Ajah seal, summoning him back to the Tower. He doesn’t know who or why, and I haven’t made any solid decisions about it yet, just having it be a fun story hook for now. If you want it to be Mia we can do that, or we can have it be an interesting intrigue for the both of them to ponder.

[Bella]

This one is new.

Much had changed in the Tower since she had been...gone. Much had remained the same. It was the same throughout every corner of the place, and that included here in the common room of the Green Halls. This was somewhere she had spent much time over her many years in this place, and it was comfortable and welcoming. When there were many aspects that had not been, and many that had, this was a strong and reliable embrace back to her home.

Today found her here simply for the quiet, yet not to be entirely removed. She'd had enough of that. The painting she was regarding had been added since she left, although over the course of twenty years... There had been plenty of time for it to have been so.

She heard the footsteps before the voice, but that was hardly a surprise. She was after all in a public area, but they came closer to her, and then she heard the words and recognized the voice. It brought a faint smile to curve her full lips in an otherwise impassive, porcelain face as she turned to greet to newcomer.

"Durent Asha'man," she said, warmth in her blue-green eyes. "Brother, it is good to see you. I had heard of your return as well and had hoped the same. The Tower is most fortunate to see you again return to its ranks."

OOC: I'm going to say that it wasn't her and can be a bit of intrigue to join her own. Could the events even be linked? Hmm, intrigue indeed.

[Trent]

Durent returned the warmth and the small smile. Greens tended to let their emotional guard down a bit more than others, especially among their own and good friends. Durent felt suddenly more comfortable than he had the entire time back at the Tower so far. Here was someone who was familiar, friendly, and had been a mentor of sorts to him. Amid the sea of new faces, here was a welcome one for sure.

“I have to say I’ve seldom been more excited to see that rumors were true, that the reports of your return were not exaggerated.”

He had a dozen or more questions for her, not to mention so much to catch up on. He had to mentally kick himself and reign in his brain. She was also just returned, he didn’t want to throw a million questions at her. He would be controlled in his questions as well, to gauge her reactions.

“I am mildly amused and a little intrigued that our respective returns happened so close to each other.” He left the obvious question, about her return from the dead, alone. She could bring that up if she wanted. He didn’t want to pry. Well… he did, but he wouldn’t.

“I wonder… did you receive a summons back to the Tower also?” Durent figured why waste time, Miahala was someone he could trust, at least he felt very strongly that he could.

[Bella]

Miahala could very well imagine what the rumors about her had been saying. Naturally, no one had said any of them to her, but it was terribly easy to determine their contents.

Miahala Sha'hal Machera Jolstraer Ives Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah had been stabbed by the bastard son of her second husband, lured by an Aes Sedai of the Black Ajah into the lower basements of the Tower, and bled out just minutes after her third husband and warder had found her.

Miahala Sedai, of the Green Ajah, now walked these halls twenty years later, quite alive.

Oh yes, it was easy to guess the rumors. Although there were likely to be some wilder ones, but how much wilder could they get than the reality?

"It seems that we are not the only ones who are returning to the embrace of the Grey Tower," Mia said, thinking of having met Jerid Walker in these very halls not so long ago, of Riahana and Gareth, of the little Gaidar that her husband had been so fond of... "The Wheel weaves as it wills, and it wills that the long departed children of this place return home."

She paused at his question. "Not in the way that you did, I'm sure." The small morbid smile that had often haunted her features returned for a moment. "There is no use trying to be vague, even as an Aes Sedai, with such an old friend and comrade. I was dead. I awoke in the Blight, of all places, and made my way home to Saldea to learn of all that had changed. I returned to the Tower because I needed to be home, but aside from my...unexplained resurrection, no one summoned me." She tilted her head, gazing at him with keen eyes.

"Who summoned you, then?" She was always a blunt woman.

[Trent]

'It wasn't her then,' he thought to himself. Taking that notch off of a mental list in his head of possible authors of his mystery note. Before allowing himself to get too lost in thought, he turned his attention back to their conversation. "It does indeed, and the Wheel does often work in odd ways. One has to wonder why, at this time in particular, so many of the Tower's long-time members are returning, combined at a time when so many new, young and strong members are coming up through the ranks." Should he tell her about the feeling he'd been getting from his 'Listening?' If not her, who would he tell?

Durent looked around for a moment to make sure no one else in the room was too close. A dedicated studied from a large tome at a desk opposite the common room from them. He sensed no channeling from the young man so there was most likely no eavesdropping. What he wouldn't give for a talent in warding. He'd never been good at making them. He lowered his voice. "As for my summons, I received a letter, unsigned, with only the Green Ajah seal on it, telling me to return to the Tower, that I was needed. I obviously found it odd. Few knew where I was, let alone that I was still alive. I had almost no contacts remaining at the Tower, and I had let my eyes and ears network almost completely dissolve. However, with the near-simultaneous return of you and so many others... well, neither you nor I put much stock in coincidence. I can't put my finger on what or when, but I sense an impending threat. A feeling of dread comes over me when I Listen to the Wind these past days since returning to the Tower."

It felt good finally confiding in someone beyond himself. He needed allies once again in this place, and he could have no greater than in Miahala. "Have you noticed anything strange here at the Tower since your return?"

[Bella]

Listening to what he had to say, Miahala's tactical mind took it all in. Was it simply the weaving of the Wheel, or was there a more...mortal, directed hand at work here? Obviously, there was...but how much and to what end was this hand directed? Was it one or many? A coincidence was you and your friend happening to show up for a meal at the kitchens a half hour later than others. This was something much larger in scale and much more clearly defined.

Yet there were still far too many unanswered questions, obscured images that tied into what was at work. Was the Last Battle upon them sooner than they, perhaps, anticipated? Did these returns and this growth hearken to that? She did not know. And she not like not knowing...

...and she wasn't sure she liked holding this conversation here.

Her smile was polite, otherwise bland. Her eyes glinted with purpose, however, as she asked him, "Perhaps you would care to join me in my sitting room for a cup of tea, or a drink, so we may continue our conversation in...comfort?" While a learning rank may not dance through the subtext as well, Mia knew that Durent would.

[Trent]

The understanding behind her words passed effortlessly between the two of them. She was absolutely right, of course. He shouldn't have even said as much as he had here. He cursed himself silently for being so careless, despite the appearance of them not being overheard. His smile and nod was simply that of someone accepting a straightforward tea invitation. "Absolutely, I could certainly do to have some tea."

Durent followed her lead out of the common room past the studying dedicated who gave no outward acknowledgement of their existence. He kept up some small talk as they walked, their conversation appearing not to skip a beat from her invitation. "Have you had a chance to train in the Yards since your return? Now that I'm settled in, I'm going to seek some sparring partners. I haven't had a proper spar in years."

Despite all his individual practice, Caden would not have approved of Durent's lacking in this regard of his training. 'A sword gains its edge from hitting the whetstone, not by endless swinging through the air.' The words echoed from one of Caden’s many training sessions in teaching Durent unarmed combat against armed combatants. The memories of his old, dear friend and trainer came rushing back to him at the thought. Caden’s loss had been another in a series of crushing events in the span of very few years. Caden, Kylara, Saphire, so many people he loved were now gone, lost to the spinning of the Wheel.

[Bella]

Inclining her head, the pair turned and began walking. They would not have far to travel, of course, since they were already in the Halls of the Green. Mia loosely laced her hands behind her back, presenting the perfect image of Aes Sedai calm and lack of concern for the heavy topics that may lay before them. Instead, she strode along and listened to the start of conversation from her friend.

"I have not spent any time in the Yards since my return," she replied bluntly, but with a quiet edge around her voice. "I have not been as much on my weaponry training as my channeling and my...sharply edged tongue..." She paused to offer him a small, wry smile. "But, friend to friend, the place is still a little too painful to return to yet. Without Caden being there."

[Trent]

Durent nodded, understanding at least in part how she must have felt about the Yards. The Green Halls would always hold memories for him of Kylara and Saphire. "I think that is completely understandable." They walked quietly for a few moments, the silence comfortable. An idea struck him as they walked. "If you should ever want, and I won't be bothered if you don't take me up on it, I know a good place not far from the Tower where you and I could spar away from the Yards. Until you feel comfortable to return of course."

As he waited for her response Durent noticed they were approaching their destination. He let Miahala take the lead in opening the door and guiding them inside.. Durent knew better than to try to open the door of another channeler's quarters. Just because Durent wasn't good at warding didn't mean everyone lacked the skill. Durent looked up and down the hall nonchalantly as they made their way inside. They didn't appear to have been followed.

[Bella]

Upon reaching her quarters, Mia unlocked the door and the ward. She was not highly skilled in that ability, but had learned enough over the many decades of her life to properly protect what was hers. Or at least properly lock my private chambers, she thought bitterly, since there were many things that were hers she hadn't protected. Even you can't stop time, Miahala. And yet she had overcome death...

Mia tried to silence those inward thoughts as she stepped inside and held the door open to invite her friend inside.

Like most quarters in the Ajah Halls for unbonded channelers, and ones without family, her quarters were comprised of two small rooms: a sitting room and a bedroom. The door to the sleeping chamber was obviously shut. The sitting room they now stepped into was quietly appointed with a two person table beneath a window, with a short sofa and arm chair before the fireplace.

"Have a seat," she offered, gesturing to the seating area. "What would you like to drink?" She moved to the sideboard on the side of the fireplace opposite the table.