Homeward Bound

[Valeriya]

Now of course it was absolutely out of line to be wandering about the halls at such an unseemly hour as this.  Surely only the true night owls prowled the hushed corridors, or those on official White Tower business - servants, guards, and the like.  Any other persons likely to be out and about were surely to be up to no good.  Mischief abounds after midnight!  Or so good mothers warned their daughters.

Elsae tugged the pair of socks from her hands.  They were mottled up with all sorts of ash stains that would only come out with a good soak in the harshest sorts of water baths.   It would be an easy task with the One Power, pushing all that sod from the woolen fibers.  Then again, that would be sorely cheating.  Is it still cheating if no one knows the rules exist?  

Elsae smiled to herself.  The little mind games about logic were always a fun thread to tug along.  Only sometimes she wished she had a kitten to drag it by.

Then she halted.  A black shadow dashed down the hall.  She smoothed her hair back behind her ears and finished shoving the tail end of her sock mittens into her satchel.  Well, it wasn't a kitten, but it was an ... "Asha'man?"  She called after him.  

When he looked at her, Elsae's brows rose up her face.  Definitely not a kitten!

She smiled, and any fatigue washed itself away.  She felt fresh as a spring rain.