The Grey Tower

Haeden very much wanted to just stay in their rooms and spend time together, he knew he was obligated.

Besides, his Aes Sedai had gone through the trouble of wearing an ensemble of which she was not terribly comfortable and he didn't want to put her effort to waste. Not his either, to be honest, since this was hardly his own favorite thing to wear. He felt something like a dog that had been dressed up and put on display, but he kept that particular thought to himself.

The pair walked from their chambers, Haeden playing the dutiful Gaidin and escort to Liaran while also somehow straddling the line of being the child of the family that they were here about.

Dinner that night, while formal, was at least not too grand an event. It was still larger than he would have preferred, but it was a far cry from some sort of ball or reception party with dozens of people that he'd harbored a fear of happening. This was a long single table. At one end sat Lord Hiron, and an elegantly dressed woman sat at the other end.

Hiron stood, and the guests followed. "Ah, Haeden, Aes Sedai," he said with that creepy, jovial smile. "May I present to you my good lady wife, Lady Allistira."

Haeden turned to her and bowed politely, holding her gaze. "Lady Allistira, it is an honor and a privilege to be welcomed into your home."

The woman smiled politely and returned the nod. She was...quiet, and she looked tired, but as mother of a newborn, that was to be expected. Haeden did notice that someone at the table had made some sort of noise when he referred to "her home," but he did not know who or why. He was probably being paranoid. Someone just had to cough.

After introducing Liaran and her title, everyone sat back down. Haeden sat to Hiron's left with Liaran directly on his other side. Across from his was an older man with the grizzled appearance of a veteran and steel gray hair. He was introduced as Jardin Aba, who oversaw the safety of the house and soldiers of the family name.

From there, Haeden knew they just had one meal to make it through and then the Naming Day Celebration on the morrow...and then they could go home.

Liaran Sedai

It was naturally impossible for Haeden to not sense his Aes Sedai's discomfort, but it was only an echo to what he felt inside his own mind since he didn't like these sorts of occasions any more than she did. It was inherited from his mother. She was smooth as glass at such events, but equally as blunt about how much she disliked them.

Haeden was pretty good on the outside, however. He smiled politely. He answered questions. He asked them. He made small talk.

When Liaran put her hands in his lap, however, he knew why. Under cover of the tablecloth, he reached over and put his large hand over her smaller, darker, tattooed ones and gave them a gentle squeeze.

He couldn't miss how Master Aba didn't seem to like him too well, or perhaps the older, grizzled man just had that sour expression all the time. Never having met him before it was naturally impossible for the Gaidin to tell. He just knew that hard eyes flashed his way more than once for reasons he didn't understand.

Eventually, thankfully, the meal ended. Haeden made their pleasant excuses, bidding a good night to the table, and especially to Hiron and his exhausted wife. Saying they would see them at breakfast.

Then he walked with Liaran back to their guest suite. Both relieved that this was over and done with now.

Liaran Sedai

There was a knock on the door.

Haeden looked up from the book he'd been reading. While Liaran had taken to bed, he had felt restless. There was a small alcove here in the room with several leatherbound books that he perused and chose from, settling into one of the overstuffed armchairs with the small tome open on his knee. It was about some ancient warfare, which he found somewhat strange in the home of his cousin, given that Hiron had never served in any sort of militial force.

Back to the knock at the door.

He set the book aside, grabbed his sword out of habit, and went to answer it. There was the usual level of wariness present, of course, but he felt like it was unlikely for someone up to dark deeds to manage to sneak into this manor only to then knock on the door.

"Hiron," he said with surprise. He would've thought the new father would turn in early, but here he was. Haeden's pale brow knit and he tilted his head. "Is everything alright?"

"Can we talk for a moment?" his cousin asked, gesturing to the hallway.

The Gaidin frowned slightly. "My Aes Sedai is asleep," he said, the words forming slowly. "I do not wish to be far from her, in case she has need of me."

Hiron laughed, but there was an uncomfortable edge to the sound. "Do you think she is in danger here? Among your kin?"

Suddenly, Haeden wasn't sure. And yet, he had no reason to think otherwise. "It's not that," he said, only lying a little. "But it is the duty of a Gaidin to remain close to his charge when we are away from the Tower. It is my duty."

"Right," his shorter but more rotund kinsmen said, the word sounding almost like a grunt. "Well, how about just in the room across the hall? You will remain close but we can speak more freely, without the worry of waking her."

"That should suffice," Haeden replied after a moment, stepping out into the hallway with a look back over his shoulder. There was an uneasy feeling settling in the center of his stomach and he yet he couldn't put a finger on just what it was causing that feeling. There seemed to be something...different about Hiron now, something he'd picked up on briefly at dinner but hadn't thought through much until now. Something off. Why did he even want to speak privately to Haeden?

The two men stepped across the hall and into another sitting room. As soon as he walked in, he saw a man on the other side. He was tall, perhaps just shy of Haeden's height. The Gaidin had seen him earlier at dinner, he recognized, although the man had always been seated. Now he stood, and his military bearing was clear. This was a career soldier, and a veteran of my battles. It was written all over his stance.

Jardin Aba.

Haeden felt his spine immediately go rigid and he started to turn toward Hiron, toward the door, and leave. He still didn't know what this was about, but with Aba's presence, it set his hair on edge and he wanted no part of it. Something stopped him, however.

The sword on Jardin Aba's hip.

The heron-marked sword.

The engraved hilt of a heron-marked sword.

The very familiar engraved hilt of a heron-marked sword.

The very familiar engraved hilt of a heron-marked sword that shot him back to his youth.

It was the sword of Caden Ives Gaidin. Haeden's father.

How...

"Grave robber," Haeden declared, both fire and ice coiling around his tone. Caden and Miahala Ives had left the Grey Tower for the borderlands of their birth, to remain their in state. His mother had, as everyone was aware, somehow come back...but his father had not. His father's body had remained out in those unforgiving lands, lying in solitairy, utilitary state...and apparently to be robbed of one of his most prized, hard-earned possessions by this...

He didn't even had an epithet fitting enough for a man like this.

Haeden's eyes remained hard on this man until he heard the door shut and lock behind him. His head snapped to the side and saw that Hiron was gone.

Aba turned to face him, hands held loosely behind his back. "Lord Hiron feels that you cast too big a shadow for him to be under while you yet live. No one will fully accept he is the proper heir to the manor while you exist, and so we will fix that. With you dead--in an apparent attack on your way home, of course--then the family will cede there exists no other viable heir but he." Aba put his hand on the hilt of Caden's sword. "This was just...poetic. Lord Hiron has a flair for the dramatic."

Every fiber of Haeden Ives's being wanted to rush at that man and rip the sword from his body, and yet there was danger. His duty was to get back to his Aes Sedai and get her out of this hostile environment. He backed into the door--not taking his eyes off Aba--and grasped the handle. He knew it was locked, but he tried it anyway and yanked as hard as he could. The door was heavy and budged not at all.

There was a flare of emotion over the bond that rent through him, but it then went quiet...

He knew she was not dead, but what just happened?!

"The only way out of this room is through me," Aba said coolly. "And yet that will not be happening since I have my orders. I have years of experience on you as well, and I know the lay of this place better. You might as well just lay down and die now."

Haeden clenched his teeth and drew his sword, dropping the scabbard to the ground. "I'll be taking my father's sword back now."

Lowering himself in Ox Lowers its Horns, Haeden found the Void and sunk himself into that nothingness. Outside, his emotions raged in the sort of storm he had not felt so hot and so cold and so wild and so painful in years and years. Those storms battered at the Void, beating it with ephemeral fists while they struggled to reach his heart, but to weild a blade in anger was to lose.

He needed the cold.

OOC: This begins a long-ass sword fight sequence that you can choose to read or not, as you like. I've put it in a spoiler tag so you can skip if you choose.

Spoiler: show

Jardin nodded once as if in approval and them formed his rugged form into Lion on the Hill, and they each stood like that for several moments. Waiting to see what the other would do. Haeden was frozen. Was ice. He waited, and he watched. He knew little of the man before him, so he had to watch and learn fast. It wasn't too much longer before the man struck first, breaking the stalemate with Boar Rushes Down the Mountain.

With decades-trained reflexes, Haeden brought his sword up to block, steering the blade away and then taking that moment to thrust. Aba parried it away, and Haeden moved swiftly back to disengage. Now they each kept their sword in middle guard, loose and ready, circling each other around this well-appointed sitting room. Haeden's eyes were in a constant state of motion to know where Jardin was and what he was doing while also avoiding the furniture in this unfamiliar space.

The waters had been tested, and now the fight would begin.

This time, Haeden chose to make the first move with Lightning of the Three Prongs. Thrust. Thrust. Thrust. Then swooping up into Low Wind Rising to try to catch Jardin Aba in his smug face before returning to guard. He had a slim hope that maybe this man wasn't a good fighter and this move would take him out, but his reflexes were proving that he could have born the heron-marked blade on his own.

The Gaidin was immediately rebuffed with Striking the Spark, catching the motion of Haeden's blade and stopping it before it was able to cause damage. Fortunately for Haeden, he too was well-trained and saw it for what it was.

He met it with Two Hares Leaping, countering his opponent and then pushing them away from each other.

Haeden held his sword ready, backing up careful and keeping wary green eyes on Jardin as he followed, just as warily. Haeden felt his heel bump into a piece of furniture, and he guided himself blindly to the side and around it. It was a small armchair and he moved until he was just behind it, then snap-kicked out and sent the seat sliding toward Aba. As he tried to sidestep the flying furniture, Haeden drove in behind it.

Swinging his sword, Jardin was forced to block and parry awkwardly as he regained his footing and the younger Gaidin drove him back toward the wall. Haeden pressed his advantage, but the old soldier was still fleetfooted and wily. When his back pressed against the wall, Haeden bound their blades, but he was met with Jardin's forehead into his. The taut skin over Haeden's brow split and blood slipped down his face.

In that split-second, Jardin pushed back and Haeden's boots skidded along the hardwood floor. Gritting his teeth, Haeden bore down and stopped the slide. He shoved at the older man's sword just enough to get some space and lean back to put the flat of his boot into Aba's stomach.

Jardin coughed and hunched forward, but he wasn't stupid. He was well-trained and took several steps back to not let Haeden take advantage of this moment.

That did not stop Haeden from trying anyway, of course. He surged ahead, and Jardin got the sword up just in time to block the first strike. A flurry of blows and blocks followed. Jarden suffered a moderate slash opening the front of his doublet to his chest, while Haeden received a pierce to his side. He felt no pain, no fear, no weakness from within the Void. He was aware of the pain outside, but it did not touch him.

Aba's next strike was met with Black Pebbles on Snow, moving Haeden back into his space with the follow-up strike that Jardin just managed to avoid, but immediately followed up by Cutting the Clouds and another blooded line across the man's midsection. Jardin half-spun to lessen the damage and then whirled back with his elbow. The pointy crook of the man's arm glanced off Haeden's chest, making him leap back to get space between them.

Now, they circled again. Both wounded. Bleeding. Determined.

Haeden didn't want this to go on for much longer. He had his Aes Sedai to get to. He'd leave his father's sword behind if the chance presented itself, but Jardin Aba was equally determined. What had he ever done to offend him? This felt...personal, but Haeden Ives did not have the time or energy to spend on figuring it out. He could only fight his way through or around this man so that he could get out of this room.

He jumped over the couch, catching Jardin by surprise.

The older man lifted his sword quickly into a high guard, meaning to bash Haeden in the head--no doubt--in a form such as Courtier Taps his Fan. Green eyes flickered to the blade quickly and saw it coming, bringing his blade to his hand and half-swording his block. He pivoted and brought the hilt around, catching Jardin on the back of the neck and sending him to the ground. Once his sword was free, he brought his blade up and down.

Unfortunately, Aba managed to roll out of the way just in time. Haeden's sword point landed on the floor and he had to wrench it free in time to deflect a wild swing. Two more followed, but Haeden was able to dodge back to avoid them both.

The third, Haeden ducked, then drove his shoulder into Jardin's gut and sending him back to the floor. He landed half on top of the other man and moved to hit. Aba couldn't get his blade around at this angle, but he was able to punch Haeden in the gut. The Gaidin coughed and felt pain rattle at the edge of the Void, since Aba's fist had been nearly atop his wound, but he shoved it all into the Flame. He drove his fist down into Jardin's face, hearing something in the other man's face crunch.

With a roar, Jardin bucked and rolled, somehow managing to dislodge the younger man, although Haeden was on his feet again in an instant. Weakness was threading at the cracks in the Void, tied to the sensation of the wet heat running down his legs, but he was on his feet. He was ready.

Haeden Ives surged forward once more.

The Wood Grouse Dances. He slashed and thrusted with the short, feinting movements that he had been taught by the very finest of the Warder Yards. He rembered training with his sister, during those long years when they only had each other. Jardin parried and blocked, but his movements were getting sluggish and he was laboring visibly. Seeing this, the Gaidin flowed into River of Light.

His blade moved like water, seeming to be independent of Haeden's conscious will and perhaps even separate from this world. Everything grew hazy but the figure before him as Haeden's blade slid over Aba's arm. The old man let out a shout of pain. It was the first in all this time...

Some of his momentum was lost in the swing so it did not remove the man's arm, but muscle was visible and blood flowed freely. Haeden could practically smell it, like a wild dog wanting to go in for the kill as Jardin stumbled back. To the old soldier's credit, he held his wounded arm to his bleeding chest while he held the sword in his other hand. Up in a guard and ready to fight this till the end. It was all over his face.

This could only end one way.

Blood was seeping into his eyes from the gash over his brow, but Haeden could see as much as he needed to. He and Jarden locked blades one again, and he saw his chance. With their blades bound up together, he used The Grapevine Twines and got this tip of his blade to the hilt of his father's sword. One twist, and the blade came free. Within a heartbeat, he had the heavy weapon in one hand.

Haeden dropped his own blade and with his father's heron-marked sword in both hands, he swung heavy and fast. The sword sheared through Jardin Aba, who gurgled briefly as blood rose to his mouth and then collapsed without further ceremony.

The Void abandoned him then, and in rushed all the pain. All the fatigue. All the emotion. He nearly fell from it all and barely caught himself in a stagger back against the door, blood running down his hand and fingertips to the rich carpet below. He didn't even remember being cut on the arm. He felt the blood on his face, though, from where it had sprayed him with Jardin's last breath.

The only image in his mind now, however, was Liaran, and he used his father's blade to hack open the locked door and half-stumble out into the hallway.

No one was in sight. Lord Hiron was a confident man, apparently. That made the Gaidin smile darkly as he staggered across the corridor and into the rooms he shared with his Aes Sedai. Hiron would get what was coming to him...but not now. (Although some corner of his mind said that if Hiron had still been in that hallway, Haeden would have shoved Caden's heron-marked blade right down his throat and tore out his lying tongue. He was his mother's son, after all.) But Hiron was not there...

Later. Later...

Haeden blundered through the sitting room, nearly tripping over and end table before just about toppling a plant stand. He found Liaran, unconscious on the floor in her bedroom. He dropped to his knees, the sword making a heavy thud beside him as he dropped it too, and gently lifted her head to his knees. He knew she was alive, could sense that over the bond and see it in the rise and fall of her chest, but someone had hit her on the head.

If he'd had the strength... When he had the strength, he would gather her up and get them both away from this place. He just needed...a little rest...

He left bloodstains on her skin as he touched her, but he could barely see them through his own tears as he waited for her to wake or for his strength to return.

Liaran Sedai

Relief flooded through him as he felt her awake. Her immediate concern for <i>him</i> overwhelmed him, when he had just been sitting here in fear of what had happened to <i>her</i>...

"Liaran," he breathed her name like a man who had just taken his first breath of fresh air. He moved his bloody hands to cradle her cheeks, staring into her dark eyes with far more emotion in his green ones that anyone was used to seeing. "Keep your strength. I'll be alright now that I know you are well," he said, although his words sounded tired and came out lower, heavier than usual. "I will..."

He hesitated, trying to figure out how to explain succinctly. Yet even as he contemplated that, other things moved in his mind.

Haeden swallowed hard and started again. "I will explain all later, but for now, we must contemplate being away from this accursed place." This was the second time someone had tried to kill him in this manor, after all. "My cousin's kindness was indeed a facade as you and I suspected him of. I have taken care of the immediate threat, but I don't know if more are to come so I want gone from here."

Of course, he said that and didn't move just yet. "I had to fight his man, Jardin Aba," he went on, although his tone seemed like it didn't care about that. He stroked loose hair back from her forehead. "I was so worried what might have befallen you..." The thumb of his other hand traced her bottom lip, thankfully without blood streaks this time. (Romantic man, this Haeden Ives...) "Liaran. I love you," he breathed the words that neither of them had been brave enough to say, even in all their time together.

He knew, beyond the bond, how much he wanted to be in her life and how much he wanted her in his. "And someday, if you'll grant me the gift, I'd take your hand in marriage." He took one more moment to kiss her before he knew they would have to ready themselves and leave this place. But he needed this moment after everything that had transpired this night...

Liaran Sedai

If ever there were a moment of conflicting emotions, this was it.

Haeden was exhausted and in pain. He felt the injuries he had sustained, and the energy expended settled on him like a blanket made of stone. There was concern for the safety of his Aes Sedai, and there was the need to flee this place to get her (and thus also himself) to the safety of the Grey Tower and away from here.

What she said, however, made sense. There was a pragmatic coldness to his mind that agreed with her. Hiron obviously saw Haeden as a threat, and he'd gone so far as to make this plan. He'd gone so far as to desecrate the grave of Caden Ives just to get the man's sword and torment Haeden in the process.

Would he stop now that his first attempt had been thwarted? No, probably not.

Did he wanted to risk Liaran's life, and his own again, to stop that threat here and now, however? He could find the law, but Hiron was a noble... Liaran was an Aes Sedai, though, and they were respected here. They would listen to her, if not Haeden--the fallen son.

Beyond all that, however, were emotions far on the other side of this horizon. There was elation and excitement. He had (finally) spoken the words he had felt about her for so long. That he loved her. That he wanted to marry her. She had returned both sentiments and assured him that she felt the same. This was a joyous thing...

...but it was happening just after they had both been attacked. So. A little confusing a moment for him.

"You are right," he finally said. "He is not likely to stop here. Yet my first duty is to protect you, but as your Gaidin and..." Even now, with all this, the next words made him smile. "...and your future husband. I don't know how many other guardsman he has here, or if you and I alone can possibly face that unknown number and reach Hiron. I doubt he's without protection."

Liaran Sedai