Respite & Resolve

[Natalie Grey]

 

Nythadri Sedai & Kaori Gaidin

Though she regretted leaving the warm water untouched, Nythadri did not linger. By the time she’d made it to the fort’s parapet she was certain enough of where in the world they were -- scant revelation, really, but she’d both hated the not knowing as well as having to rely on another to divine the answer for her. Saidar sharpened her eyes beyond the clinging night shadows; the landscape revealed itself to be mountainous, both rugged and brittle. In the distance crooked trees gripped tightly to the steep hillside; olive, she thought, by their shape. 

Her steps slowed as she neared the wall, where another already claimed the view. Nythadri wasn’t sure she needed to fear a sister’s warder, but Elly’s whisper of warning nonetheless circled a wary reminder as she came to stand alongside him. The press of the stone beneath her palms still held some heat, like perhaps the days would be warm -- certainly more so than Tar Valon. But not the captive heat of Arad Doman. 

Kaori dipped his head as she joined his vigil, but did not turn. They’d shared nothing but brief pleasantries in the single full day she’d known him, and while she would require answers soon enough, she discovered she was in no great rush to pierce the respite, despite the prime opportunity for interrogation. Her body ached something fierce, and the sheer isolation of the surrounding mountains -- absent any suggestion of civilization -- hung melancholy about her heart like a miserable anchor. She was quite prepared to take a selfish moment for herself. The silence was not discomforting. Just everything else.

“Best put your questions to my Aes Sedai,” Kaori said after a while. He spoke the words to the sky.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I came for the view.” She offered a cold and listless truth in reply, and might have left it there, but Nythadri being who she was, she did not stop herself from tilting her head toward him and dryly adding: “Do you find it chafing? You must not have been long acquainted with her, else I suspect I would have known of you before now. Yet you seem remarkably well trained to her whim already.”

No answer graced the jab. He did not seem to understand the tone of her joke, or perhaps simply did not appreciate it. That was no great surprise really; few enjoyed sparring in such arid conditions as Nythadri generally favoured. Though in this case it was not without purpose. All Northmen seemed to have strange notions of honour, and of respect. Not that an oathbreaker could not hold to such ideals, of course. Her pale gaze moved from the view beyond the parapet to the profile of his face. A beard clung to the slope of his cheeks, sun-darkened skin above. Now that she was close enough, she could see the knicks of old scars in the shaved sides of his head. Young, perhaps not thirty, but heavily brutalised. 

“The conditions of my own bond were not what I might have imagined, of course, so I find myself quite curious. Perhaps it’s different when two parties are joined by consent.”

He did not look at her. Instead he leaned against the wall. Leather bracers caged his thick forearms, and the muscles looked corded tight, if his hands did nothing but one clasp to the other. She watched him carefully, but he seemed quite content to ignore her. Her tone was pleasant, of course -- but the acid was intended, the insult quite plain. Who was he? Not a man trained by the Tower, that was clear enough. If he was the oathbreaker Elly suspected him to be, it did not seem likely he would shed one set of oaths in order to burden himself with the yoke of service to an Aes Sedai instead. Yet he gave no indication that his own bond had contravened his will. Though by his firmly held tongue, he gave no indication of anything at all. It was not usually so difficult to stir such a man’s defense of his honour.

“You’re from Shienar,” she added conversationally. “I have heard that the Lion was stirred to answer a call. A petitioner and her retinue came to the Tower too, pleading aid. I understand things are not good in the north.”

Well, maybe that was a little reckless, even by her standards. Not good was the most egregious understatement.

“Please, Aes Sedai.”

Kaori straightened, but when he looked at her his eyes were only weary. Nythadri’s hands slipped from their perch with a sigh. She held his gaze, unapologetic. “Perhaps you and Talin are well suited after all. You both make the effort of trust a terrible chore.”