The Wheel Turns

[Raffe]

Keio was tight-lipped and raw-eyed when she returned with news -- or lack thereof. Araya had never seen the child so quiet, or so fierce, and nor had his attempts to console what ailed her ever been so adamantly rebuffed. Nythadri Sedai belonged to the Greens and was not in residence, she said -- fast and quiet, and only as a prelude to what she seemed in more desperate need to impart: that she wished for him to leave, and quickly, and for him to stay away until -- well, for that she would not say, or perhaps could not. Instead she only begged please until he crumbled to the pressure of her distress. “I’m sure she is fine,” she added, breathless and keen to be away. “The Aes Sedai come and go all the time. I think it is better to be away.”

He’d wanted something to reassure Hana -- and himself in the process, he supposed. But the mystery of Keio’s flight left a sour taste in his mouth, and more worries to fill his head. The Tower would always have its secrets, and Araya wanted little part of them, but the hint of disquiet beneath its white facade made him uneasy.

Back in the cottage Hana absorbed the tidings with expected stoicism. The lack of either answer or resolution cleaved a pit right in the centre of his chest, though there was little more he could do. At least not without making a regrettable fuss, or finding himself hopelessly tangled in Tower politics. Whether he willed it or otherwise, both heart and duty carried him back to Bandar Eban, and at least there he could keep the promised eye on Jai. It sat ill, though; enough that he made Hana promise to call on him if he were needed home. Araya’s visits were frequent, but it had never pained him to leave before. For a long time Tar Valon had been the safest place he could imagine for his family. It still was.

Light willing, this was a knot that would harmlessly unravel itself, and the cold feeling in his gut would be for naught.