The Grey Tower

Elia licked her lips nervously, as conflicting thoughts whirled around in her head. Ravak had said there had been nothing to worry about. Was this some sort of practice scenario, to see how she reacted? The look on the Aes Sedai's face said otherwise, as did her brother's own expression. He looked determined, not at all like if this was training. She had Kaia's permission to leave, to run in fact, straight back to the Tower and call for reinforcements. That was probably the pragmatic thing to do, to get more Gaidin and Asha'man and Aes Sedai. White Tower spies, here? The Light knew if it was possible.

Rav removed the golden pin on his lapel, the little badge that announced his station to the uninitiated, and he tightened the lace around his collar. Kaia had already assumed a posture of regal bearing, more than what the average Aes Sedai could muster. For her part, Elia stood straight, behind both the Keeper and Ravak.

"If you wish to start with talking, we shall do so." Her brother was looking at Kaia Sedai, his voice harsh like gravel. "It's easier to go from talking to bloodshed, than the other way round." The Red sister offered a grateful smile, but Ravak was not finished. "But I will go first." He bore a slight grin. Kaia simply nodded at that.

The three of them moved around the corner, which turned out to be a wall that surrounded a large warehouse. The doors were pulled wide open along a length of forty spans, allowing large, burly men to carry large containers onto and off of wagons. In all, there had to be ten dockworkers, but they were not what attracted the Accepted's gaze. Two men, seemly enjoying a rest leaning against a nearby container, had familiar hard faces. Gaidin. As soon as the part of the Grey Tower appeared, they both sprung into action like uncoiling snakes. They moved enough to reveal steel at their waists, but either drew their weapons. A moment later, Elia realised that Ravak was just the same, his hands resting ready on the hilts of his swords.

"Where are your Aes Sedai?" Kaia addressed the two White Tower Gaidin as if they were nothing more than wayward children, and she looking for their mother. "I should like to speak with them."

The startled recognition that surged up did not touch her eyes as she stared down the two White Tower Gaidin, the perfect coppery features devoid of anything that might have suggested expression and warmth. She felt Ravak's sharp question, but Kaia pushed back at it, unable to split her attention from what was before her.

"Kaia." The taller of the two opposing Warders addressed her calmly, and though they had history together, he did not remove his hands from the hilt of his sword.

"Kaevrin," she responded, her nod imperious, as if she was a Queen deigning to acknowledge a mere stableboy. The petite Domani felt the Master of Training twitch inside of her mind, and she responded with cautious reassurance. She couldn't hide what she was feeling, so she made no attempt to. "Where is she?"

At that moment, she felt saidar being embraced from two separate places within the warehouse, steady and unwavering. Kaia sighed, looking upwards at the sky for a moment. Bloody flaming ashes. She did not hesitate, drawing in as much of the Source as she could hold and then more, the pretty comb nestled within the coil of raven hair serving its purpose well.

The corner of her mind where Jaryd inhabited spiked, recognition of what she was feeling sending his concern spiking higher. Her jaw flexed in unconscious response to Ravak's tension, the Red Aes Sedai not realizing she had gritted her teeth until she heard them grinding together. Saidar was no longer gentle soothing warmth; it was Light made tangible, the glory of the Creator made real and she wanted to throw back her head and roar with it.

"Well. This is unexpected."

Kaia grimaced inwardly, forcefully reining in her wilder impulses. She was Red Ajah. Light. She hadn't heard that voice in over a decade and a half and still it had the ability to grate over her in the same way it had when she had been a Novice. The curly haired she-Trolloc made her way out into the open from the warehouse. Red-gold curls were arranged in majestic perfection, the ice blue eyes shrewd and calculating.

"Kaia."

"Jaelle."

The statuesque Andoran's expression thawed slightly, a faint smile ghost over pale lips. "Release the Power and we shall talk."

A flash of white teeth leapt out from coppery skin as Kaia smiled in return. The velvet contralto of her voice was perfect. "Not until you and your Sister do so first. She should come out and say hello. It isn't polite to skulk about while the adults are discussing matters."

When the two channelers were finally together and in view, the Keeper allowed herself to relax marginally. It did not escape anyone's notice that the Source had not been released. Even without the aid of the angreal in her hair, Kaia was stronger than them both. There were two of them, however... as well as the matter of two present Warders to her one. She let out a soundless breath. So long as she made not threat towards Jaelle, Kaevrin would not attack her; just as she knew Jaelle would not harm her. Nor would she harm Ravak or Elia.

Emerald orbs narrowed. The other girl though... she did not seem to be quite so level-headed. Kaia didn't recognize her however. "I suppose you aren't just going to tell me what two White Tower Aes Sedai are doing here in Hama Valon?"

Almost predictably, flows began to draw together from the girl. The petite Domani wanted to pinch the bridge of her nose, exasperation plain on her face. "Flaming Light," she muttered, slicing through the forming weave with a quick snap of Spirit laced with Fire. Thick coils of Air wrapped around the irritating child, a Shield slamming into place. The nimbus of saidar winked out from around the annoyance.

"I did not think so," Kaia continued unperturbed, green eyes going to regard the bound woman with something similar to admonishment in her gaze. "But that interruption was rude, child. I -" She was cut off again by the whisper soft sound of steel being drawn. She wanted to throw her hands up into the air.

"Stop!" Kaevrin's commanded exclamation was ignored and the other Gaidin rushed at her.

Green eyes were incredulous. What in the Light was the White Tower teaching them? This lack of composure was as worrisome as it was inappropriately amusing. Smoothly, almost with casual indifference, Ravak stepped in front of her, intercepting the charging Warder. Behind her, Kaia heard Elia's gasp. The Red twisted back to glance at the Accepted, giving her a reassuring smile.

The two lengths of steel slid soundlessly free from their scabbards, as the athletic Shienaran stepped out to intercept the shorter White Tower Warder. The ko'di wrapped around him like a protective ward, shutting out all of the elements that assaulted his sense so that only the few that were important remained. Kaia's presence in his skull thrummed with exasperation; she was not at all frightened by the charging man. Grey-blue eyes stole a glance at the other Warder and Aes Sedai, Kaevrin and Jaelle, and saw there was no intention to act. Kaevrin had shouted at this youngling, this smaller man, but to no avail.

Unfolding the Fan moved into Lightning of Three Prongs. It was an ineffectual move, Rav had learnt that long ago, but the jabbing motions of his longsword forced a sudden halt in the other man's hasty advance. He responded with an overhead strike, so Rav raised his sword-breaker in response. The Branch in the Storm countered River of Light, the White Tower Gaidin's blade being deflected harmlessly off to the side.

Rav made notes of the other man's stance, his movements, the speed of his responses. He seemed no better trained than a Ji'alantin, and only one newly raised at that. Thoughts about the training regime in Tar Valon would come later. In the cool centre of the ko'di, the Shienaran was a pure object of attack and defense, his only purpose to stop this young lunatic from causing harm, even to himself.

The Tower-forged longsword swooped low in a strike against his opponent's legs, the tip of the blade dancing towards the youngling's thighs and shins. Rav parried the return strike near to effortlessly, catching the weapon in a notch on his off-hand weapon. The longsword drew blood as he made three nicks just above the Warder's ankles. The wounds were not deep, but they would hamper his mobility a bit, making the Warder an easier target. Rav shifted backwards into The Kingfisher Watches the Sky, waiting for the man's next assault.

Green eyes blinked in amazement as the two men battled one another. Ravak seems like the superior combatant, but both Warders moved at a flowing and powerful pace. The sound of steel or steel reverberated slightly off the warehouse's ceiling and walls. There was blood on both men's swords, but her brother had struck the deeper blows.

The rest of the room stood still. The third man, Kaevrin, watched the battle with a frown on his hard, stoic face. She thought his eyes lingered more on Ravak than his battle brother. Jaelle flickered between looking at the fight and at Kaia. Elia couldn't say what the Keeper of the Chronicles was doing, but her posture spoke volumes about her frame of mind. She was not at all frightened.

Elia winced each time steel rang on steel, and more when the smaller Warder drew blood from her brother. The Shienaran wanted to act, to see if she could adjust Ravak in some small way. But that would break the Oaths, and Accepted had to act is if they were already bound. Furthermore, Kaia had said she would be safe, but that protection had to disappear the moment she got involved.

Watered Silk countered The Falling Leaf. The longsword lashed out, scoring a slash along the young man's cheek. The cut was deep, and blood poured forth, his neck and collar going red within mere moments. Rav stepped back into a guard stance. "We should stop this instant," the Master of Training intoned in his hard, gravelly voice. "There is no need to lose your life, nor garner any scars, from this affair." Kaia's mood seemed approving of her Warder's actions, but within the ko'di, Ravak's expression and tone were without warmth. "There is no need for anyone to die." White Tower or not, inexperienced or not, Ravak Darrow did not wish to be a killer of Aes Sedai, or of Gaidin. There were horrors enough beyond the Blightborder, without the need to use his swords to kill another man or woman who walked in the Light.

When the other Gaidin didn't renew his attack, Rav slid his longsword slowly back into his scabbard in good faith, and stepped back to stand alongside Kaia, and let go of the ko'di. The sword-breaker dripped crimson, so he kept the blade away from Kaia's clothing. The blades would need cleaning as soon as they returned to the Tower.

Kaia shook her head, letting the dismay she felt show on perfect coppery features. "Are we truly going to do this?" she asked the tall Andoran quietly.

"No." The ice of blue eyes thawed. The nimbus of light surrounding the Gray winked out. "It is as your Warder says. There is no need for anyone to die. We will leave peacefully."

The petite Domani released her hold on saidar, the bindings holding the third woman dissipating. A faint smile came to her face as she regarded her oldest friend with something very close to exasperation tinged with fondness. "I should have known you would be involved, somehow."

The pale regal woman answered with a similar quirk of her lips. "I did not quite expect to be found out so soon." A slight shake of her head that sent red-gold curls tumbling around unbowed shoulders. "We will leave."

A raven brow arched. "Just like that."

Jaelle brought jewel clad fingers up to touch her forehead. "We were caught trespassing." Their expressions did not shift in the slightest, but something unspoken passed between Gray and Red, the moment rife with heavy meaning.

Kaia nodded, making a curt gesture with her hand. "Indeed you were." She watched as Jaelle embraced again, the flows coming together to form the weave for Skimming. Curious. The Gray had not been here all that long then, not long enough to familiarize herself with her surroundings for Traveling. "Give my regards to the others." That was added as an afterthought, the Domani's amusement thorny.

"I am sure they will be delighted," came the neutral reply.

She shook her head after the four White Tower denizens had gone through the gateway, the Red Keeper turning to place a hand on Ravak's arm in silent appreciation. "Come," was all she said to the dear boy and his sister, the petite woman leading the way into the warehouse. "We'll need to have all of this moved back to the Tower." She pursed her lips as she glanced around. I suppose it's a good thing we're still in the bloody basement... She was impressed. At first glance, it seemed as if Jaelle had managed to bring everything...

Kaia caught the Master of Training's look and she smiled. "I will explain everything later. For now, all you and your sister need to know is that we solved the mystery with minimal bloodshed," green eyes went to the swords at Ravak's hips, "and the merchants can return to their business. We will have to ensure that this kind of thing never happens again. The last thing we need is to have White Tower spies running amok in Hama Valon."