The Grey Tower

Felix Kal'Sarak OOC: I left it completely open for your character to approach mine in any way you would like.

Miahala spent a lot of time in the gardens.

Since the first day she set foot in the Grey Tower, over a century and a half ago, this had been the case. She loved this place and it brought back many happy memories, of peace and pleasantness, of friends and lovers, of children and kin. Whenever she made her way through them now, she always took pleasure in those memories and was able to do so without retreating into the darker ones.

Now, her trips here had even deeper meaning as she felt the greenery--or the white of winter--provided her with a much-needed link to the humanity in her that was always fleeting. Whenever she felt that the weight of her office, the weight of her very life, was growing too much, she could make her way here and find something to ground her once more.

Today, however, the path she strode was not the solitary one that it usually was. Well, not that she was ever solitary anymore, but her official guard had learned how to keep themselves well enough in the background that she could pretend they weren't there. In fact, they were so good at it that others rarely noticed.

As she came around the corner, she saw a young man sitting there. Large and darkly complected, she thought she recognized something in him. Not that she recognized him but she saw something in his visage that made her think back to Ryne Machera, ages upon ages ago.

"My apologies," she said simply, in a very not Aes Sedai like way, she knew, but she wasn't like most Sisters, was she? "I did not mean to intrude." She respected all members of the Tower and felt that the gardens were where everyone could find their peace and solitude, if they should wish it. Knowing how bizarre it was for an Aes Sedai to apologize, the porcelain of her ageless face shifted in a small smile and light glinted in the blue-green of her Saldean-shaped eyes.

Felix Kal’Sarak

Oh, how Mia longed for the days when such a reaction only came because she was Captain-General of the Green Ajah and made people tremble in fear that she would light them on fire... The deference from fear of being bonked with her staff or strangled with the stole just wasn't the same, to her mind. Still, she was getting used to it...sort of.

"Not at all, child," she said, waving her hand. "The Gardens is a place for everyone and well it should remain. Here are the Dedicated of the Tower as welcome as the Amyrlin Seat, and the latter would not wish to chase you away. Please, sit back down."

Shifting her head, she glanced around to make sure that her guard hadn't melted out of the trees thinking there was an issue. They hadn't, for which she was glad. They were getting less touchy, knowing more and more every day how to deal with their Amyrlin who insisted on not being like the Amyrlins that had come before. "It is a lovely day, is it not?"

Blurting out the word 'legend' as he did made her lips curve slightly upward in amusement, a light flickering through her blue-green eyes as she looked at him where he sat. The blush deepened her amusement, but with decades of well-honed self-control, she was able to keep that much from showing for she did not wish to deepen it.

Mia was warmed by his question. She sat down beside him. "Ah, I have been asked that question many times over the years," she said. "The question that plagues all of those of your level of rank is what Ajah shall they embrace once they are Raised, as it is a choice that you cannot take back. You must be certain.

"Why did I choose the Green... Frankly, I didn't." No one might ever believe that an Aes Sedai would speak frankly about anything, but Mia did. It was easier in life. "The Green chose me. I was what more than one called an impassioned young woman, with a bit of a temper, not unlike many youth.

"What's more, however, I am of the Borderlands. We are a battle-born people. The Green said, come to us and fight back the Shadow with blade and flame. So I answered, and I have never regretted it." She paused and glanced at him sidelong. "Of most Ajahs, I think the Green is among the most that is of an...instinctive calling than a choice."

Malkier and Sheinar, she thought. That would explain it. She thought there had been a familiar look about him when she first chanced upon him, but hadn't been able to place it. Her first husband had been of Malkier blood--well over a hundred years ago now--and her second had been proudly Sheinaran. The Golden Eagle of Tarwin's Gap.

Had she ever doubted? It was perhaps the second most commonly asked question.

Mia smiled slightly. "No," she replied easily. "But I have never been like most people. Most do doubt, and it is natural do so, especially when you are young. My daughter is Sheinaran and Saldean, and she chose the Blue. My grandson is primarily of Sheinar, and he chose the Grey. It is not a given that those of our blood must fight the way the Green does. It was just what called most to me.

"If it calls to you, then pursue it. But doubt is not uncommon, or unnatural." She paused wryly. "It just never befell me."

Now that was a slightly less common question, but still not the first time she'd heard it. Then again, when you moved past one hundred and fifty years old, died and come back again... Was it possible for anything to be new?

"I have, yes," she said simply. "Unlike many of my Green compatriots, I have rarely been bonded to more than one at a time." She did not elaborate on that. She knew she was not the easiest of women to deal with once the facade had been breached, or the easiest to protect, and as she did have a habit of being in love with those she bonded... Well, it was just easier.

She considered his question, and the statement after--which she was not entirely sure she heard properly, soft as it was. "Warders are highly useful to a Green. When you regularly wade into a battle, you need someone to watch your back. But it does take a particularly good relationship to be effective. You must know one another to guard each other's back.

"To a Green, the warder is not just to protect you but your duty is to them as well. It is a responsibility not to be taken lightly." She did not abide by her fellows of any Ajah who treated their warders like servants, or worse, like fodder.