Respite & Resolve

[Adrian Kane]

Arikan

Kaori had a brain to him, then. Arikan cared nothing for the woman warder’s nationality. Kandor or Shienar or dark-swallowed Malkier. They were all one in the same. Only the costumes differed. For a man who spent a good portion of his long life at the border, he would know. Had he pokes holes in fortress perimeters or slit throats of worthy battle lords, indeed those nuances would have been necessary to know. Except Arikan lived on the other side of the border that made up the borderlands. Costumes made no difference there. The trollocs cooked their meat bareskinned.

So the warder could deduce, which meant he wasn’t merely hulking muscle and brawn. He was probably well-paired with Talin, then. But Arikan was pleased to have some insight into their cognitive powers. Nothing like the strategy of his own mind, but enough to pay their combined intellect some attention. This Green, however, surprised him. For all Talin’s praise of her Sister’s cunning, Arikan would yet hold his judgement of her capacities until he witnessed as much for himself. Perhaps she would be an unwitting spy. His information on the darkfriend network was outdated. His lieutenants destroyed following the defeat in Tar Valon simply for their allegiance to him. He explained as much to Lythia’s Inquisitor. The possibilities of her service to him were unformed but had potential.

But before memories backslid into the confines of that cave and all that transpired there, talk of the morality of whitecloaks and virtues of the Light edged the tide of his mood. He had stories dated a century that could exemplify such humor, though they would fall on deaf ears to any who were not also there at the time.  

He stood perhaps because the warder resisted joining their little chat or perhaps because they could offer nothing more to satisfy his need for knowledge at the moment. At the door he turned back, Tairen cape fluttering his shoulder in the motion. “No Talin. Not a joke in the least,” and he departed, laughter fading down the hall as he left.