Silence, Sulking, Sweeping & Strangers [Attn: Dedicated Alric Aurella]

[Bella]

Andra walked easily alongside him, finding herself distracted by her troubles by listening to what he had to say. When he brought up that ill-advised picnic, she suppressed a shudder. Worst of all, she had still been able to channel then. Kidnapped and in mortal peril, she could channel, but now she couldn't? How did that make sense?!

"I remember that trip," she said ruefully. "I was freezing rained upon."

They reached the inn and began to walk inside. "I suppose the fact that I don't even know the nature of my block is part of the problem. I can only make the association that I was Raised, but I've never heard of anyone suddenly being unable to channel because of that. I had already been working on it and had it down then. I'm not severed or anything; just blocked."

[Locke]

Alliteration

“That’s what I’ve been thinking,” Alric said, leading the way towards a corner table. He’s did a reflexive sweep of the common room. It was a normal lunch crowd for the most part. A few regulars relaxed at the bar and a woman in a pleasantly low cut dress wound her way between tables taking orders.

“Something did change since you’ve become an Accepted. The new found freedom? Or maybe something you saw in your Arches?” Truth be told, Alric didn’t want to talk too much about the Arches. It was yet another road that seemed to lead back to Affie. My past has to many locked doors these days, he thought with a mental snarl.

[Bella]

"We all see many things in the Arches," Andraste said softly, because she too was not particularly pleased to return to thoughts of what had happened there. She folded her hands on the tabletop and examined her interlaced fingers with a slightly knit brow. "But I thought I was alright afterwards. I mean...I was very upset immediately after, but then felt better after a couple of days."

Despite not wanting to think about it, she couldn't help it. Her brain ran through each Arch, and each of the pain that it brought with it. Yet the pain had been entirely familiar, so why should that have changed anything. She huffed with frustration.

Just then, the barmaid made her way to their table to take their orders. Andra mentally reined herself back in and looked up at the women, going first upon Alric's nod and placing a simple order. Truth was, she wasn't all that hungry, but she knew that she should eat something. And after he had ordered, the women moved off.

"I just don't know, and the more I think about it, the more frustrated I get," she finally said.

[Locke]

A Man With Issues

“Well that’s the thing isn’t it?” Alric said, glad to focus on anything other than the Arches. “You’ve gotta be calm to channel saidiar, am I right? But, that can’t be the problem, I’m guessing, you start perfectly calm, but by the end you’re throwing brooms at passing Dedicated.” The statement was accompanied by a half grin. He still didn’t know why he was becoming so invested. True, he curious. Yes, he wanted to help one of his fellows. No matter how much he put on a show of griping about teaching, Alric did enjoy helping people grow and overcome challenges. He wouldn’t have been half the officer he’d been if he didn’t.

Still, those all felt like excuses today. He just needed to be out of the Tower. To do his best not to think about Affie or Ajahs or any of that. Besides, he could do much worse when it came to company. The dark skinned woman sitting across from him was bloody stunning. There was probably sort of flowery dross that would get his point across in a more poetic manner, but that hadn’t ever been his style. It would be hard to say she wasn’t judging by the repeated glances tossed her way since they’d entered. Admittedly he’d also had to stop himself from staring since they’d sat down.

“If it’s not prying, who were you before you came to the Tower?” he asked, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. He held her gaze, willing himself not to see freckles scattered across her cheeks. He forced those memories further into the past slamming and locking the door behind him. He focused his attention on her full lips, a feature distinctly hers. No memories of Affie there at least.

Doing his best not to show the conflicting desires in his head, Alric continued, “It’s just that, I’ll have a better idea of who you are and what changed to pick out your block.”

Oh, so that’s your style, isn’t it. Offer to aid them as a teacher before coaxing them into your bed? Disguesting. What? No, was he intentionally missreading his own intentions? He could really live without his brain going through the gymnastics to justify even more self hate. He had enough of that thanks to the things he’d actually done. When’s that beer getting here? Alric thought. He’d ordered a summery wheat ale and he needed it right about now.

[Bella]

Andra nodded slowly, thoughtfully. Her past was not something that she put any effort into hiding, but she wasn't always sure just how much she wanted to get into it at any given time... Then again, she had been able to speak of it more often now than in the past without the same attending pain. Besides, what he said made sense.

She offered him a small, rueful smile. "I was born to a...not exceedingly rich but well off merchant family. I was the youngest of five, and the only girl. I grew up to be a merchant like my family was. I married a man named Belenus, and he was a wonderful man. Also a merchant. We lived on the road, plying our trade but not being confined to Kandor."

Now, here was the more interesting part.

Her dark eyes focused on him as she said this, watching to see how he would take to it. Everyone was different. "We traveled also with a woman named Chandra. She was my lover, and she was Belenus' lover. We were, for all intents and purposes, all married to one another, simply without the legal binding. We loved one another a great deal.

"They were taken from me just before I came to this Tower. Murdered at the same time by what I now know was a member of...well, a darkfriend and her warders. They were killed before my eyes." She paused and took a slow breath. "I channeled then. Apparently, I had been doing it for a while but did it then in their defense. It was too late. They were gone.

"I was found by Miahala and Tia Sedai, who brought me here. And so here I have been for the past years."

[Locke]

Alric

As she talked, Alric’s thoughts drifted back to his younger days. An arrangement like Andra’s might have saved him a load of trouble back then. Taking a lover in addition to one's wedded partner wasn’t uncommon in Mayene, but rarely was it so brazen. He’d spent so much time denying his own feelings in the name of friendship and duty that it probably wouldn’t have mattered.

Her next words wrenched his thoughts away from his own past. Both murdered at the same time? He realized he couldn’t even begin to imagine the ragged hole such a wound would have left. In his years in the army, Alric had seen men he liked and respected die. He knew what it was like for a single death to change the course of destiny, but this was something different. His lips tightened and he reached out a hand slightly. The hand hung in the air impotently as he searched for something to say. It wasn’t pity he felt. Andra didn’t seem the type of woman who would welcome it anyway.

Exhaling slightly, he brought his hand down to rest on hers. What could he say? What should he say? His usual gallows humor seemed utterly inappropriate. “I’m glad you lived to fight another day,” he said holding her gaze. It felt woefully inadequate but it was as sincere as a man like him could be.

In that instant, Alric realized something about the woman sitting across from him. Her block was tied to the death of her husband and her lover. How exactly he didn’t know. It felt extremely cruel to try to open that wound again. It might be the only way though. Who was he to make that call? He was just some guy who’d dropped into her life. Troubled, Alric sat back in his chair clutching his beer in both hands. He stared into the brown liquid watching the remainder of the foamy head dissipate.

[Bella]

For a moment, Andraste had looked down at the hand that rested over hers and she realized how little physical contact she'd allowed herself in the time since she came to the Tower. In the time since she had lost Belenus and Chandra. There had been that disastrous ball where she had danced with Nasrin, but that was...pretty much it.

It was, of course, some measure of sympathy that drove him to it. She was used to that reaction after what she had just told him.

"Thank you," she said simply, offering a small but sincere smile. "I was not glad to still be here immediately after, but I am now. I have worked hard during my time here and overcome much of the crippling grief that followed their loss. I can't say that I will ever be as whole again as I was then, but I am much better than I was years ago."

She too took hold of her glass, twirling it in her fingers for a moment before lifting it to take a long sip. She had wondered how her block might be tied to all that, but she couldn't seem to make the pieces work. And maybe she didn't want to dig that deeply again, after working so hard to get past it. "I don't suppose blocks ever just...go away on their own, do they?" She laughed softly, ruefully.

[Locke]

Alric

“I doubt it,” Alric said, mirroring her laugh. “That would be way too easy.” He sobered quickly though, as he began to plan his next words.

“As for your block. I think you and I both know where this leads,” he said, leaning forward and steepling his fingers in front of his face. The gaze he fixed her with was steady, but his inner voice was in revolt. He didn’t have to do this. This wasn’t any of his business. Before the pause could drag on too long, he said, “If you want to walk that path, it isn’t my call to make. If you don’t want to walk it alone, you don’t have to though.” Alric’s jaw tightened slightly at the absurdity of the situation. He barely knew her. This had gone beyond any of the trials Rodric had put him through. Helping a widow dissect her grief wasn’t even something he had the slightest preparation for. He clamped his mouth shut before he could say anything else.

[Bella]

Alric had seemed very nice through this whole time, not casting her aside in her petulant broom-tossing episode and even being willing to sit a meal with her and talk. This, however, seemed even beyond the kindness that he had shown her so far. It worked through her mind, wondering why he was being so nice to her. Maybe it was just his nature. Maybe he liked to "fix" things.

She looked into her glass as she considered. "It's not like I haven't thought about it already, a great deal," she said quietly. "It does seem like the obvious direction to go, but the way of it seems less clear. You don't know me, though, so I would hardly expect you to do more than you already have done today." Looking up at him, she gave him another small but genuine smile.

[Locke]

Alric

She was giving him the option to walk away. He should. This wasn’t his business. He didn’t have any reason to care, but he did. Was it a genuine desire to help, or did he just need a project to keep him occupied? Alric liked to think his motivations were noble, having spent so long rudderless himself he didn’t want to watch somebody else go through something similar. Maybe he saw a kindred spirit in the woman. Or maybe he was just a sucker for a pretty face.

Alric took a long drink, about halving the amount of beer in his cup, as he tried to find a solid reason. It had to be one of those reasons, or something else entirely. Shrugging, he said, “I already said I’d help. If it’s ok with you, that’s exactly what I plan to do.”