Soiree

[Colette Moreau]

Lady Kymira Taravin

Kymira tapped her foot, crossed and uncrossed her arms, and paced back and forth. All between leering out the door and glancing in the direction her one-minded brother had taken Nicole. She'd seen the apologetic look the Lady in Waiting issued before the dance, and Kymira was likely to forgive, but that had been ages ago! And now Nicole had yet to return. All she had to do was curtsy like everyone else and walk away from the dance floor.  It was so simple a kid could do it!  So what was taking so long?

She turned to leer again, but nearly jumped out of her heels instead. She was nearly overrun by Nicole herself, who was blazing along, skirt swishing, back inside. Kymira jumped out of the way, expression soon furrowing from shock to frustration. "What took so long!"  She was still wearing the ring. Thank the Light! 

Nicole stared at her like a statue. She looked angry. Then without a single word of explanation, and definitely not giving back the ring, Kymira was soon dragged away from the Great Hall. She sheepishly glanced away from a pair of guards, and the two ladies found a spot away from eavesdroppers.  "Nicole what's going on?  Did Leo get mad?"  Nicole released her arm, but her face was stern and cold. She took the ring off and held it between them, "Kymira, tell me right now how you came by this." 

Ky reached to take it, but Nicole yanked it back.  To which the rightful owner of the ring put her hands on her hips defiantly.  "I told you before," but Nicole cut her off.  Her voice made her swallow nervously. “You're lying about it.  Right now child." 

Kymira looked up and down the hall. This corridor led toward parts of the house she didn't often go. The gentlemen's parlor was down and to the left while her father's library and study split toward the right. Why did Nicole want to know so badly? Was something wrong?  Did Leo know she'd made the whole thing up? Light, did her father?  "Look I found it, okay.  But if I hadn't taken everything, it all would have been stolen by some grubby fingered servant anyway."  She crossed her arms, mouth petulant until she realized she'd admitted there had been more than a ring.

Nicole's cheeks smoothed harder than frozen pond water.  When she spoke her mouth barely parted and calm demands leaked out. Kymira had the distinct feeling she was about to be in real trouble, but she didn't understand why, and it only made her mad.  She couldn't believe she was giving in to a waif of a weak noble like Nicole. She groaned and went on. “It was left in the crypts."

As soon as she said it, Kymira wished she hadn't.  Nicole's statuesque glaze looked sickly now, and Kymira dropped her crossed arms. "By whom child?” The question sounded almost as thin as Nicole's pallor looked. Kymira glanced nervously at the stiff-dressed guards in the distance.  Nobody else was watching, but the way the two of them were whispering, surely they couldn't overhear from this far? 

"I don't know.  This man who came to visit my father.  An Asha'man, actually."  She said it rather proudly in retrospect but thought buzzed behind Nicole's hawk-like eyes. Kymira had always been too distracted by Nicole’s scar to notice she really did have pretty eyes and high, tilted cheekbones. She was wearing pink cream under them right now, make-up Kymira was only just now allowed to wear since debuting at court her last nameday.  But she had a feeling Nicole would look beautiful even without it. Maybe not beautiful in the traditional sense, but, stately anyway.  She was only a handful of years older, but Kymira wished she could look so sophisticated. 

She tried to calm herself. "Nicole what's going on?" 

"We're going to the crypts.”

A fresh jolt of worry and Kymira opened her mouth to protest, but she followed Nicole anyway. The woman walked like she was on a cloud, and Kymira tried to reproduce it, but the grace was lost in the rush to get ahead of her to lead the way. She never quite managed to step around, but it didn't seem to bother Nicole. How could the mere Lady in Waiting know where to go? 

This part of the grounds was not as festive as that nearer the Ballroom where Leodon took Nicole. They found their way easy enough, with Nicole continuing to go as if she knew exactly where the stoic entrance could be found.  Another guard stood sentry at the gate.  His jerkin was blazed with the Oak and Owl, but beneath Kymira could see the glint of steel rings and other hints of armor. He had a grizzled snarl to him that Kymira found uncomfortable, but she lifted her chin and rounded Nicole anyway, summoning all her presence to issue orders.  "Unlock the gate. I wish to pay my ancestors a visit."

He bowed without hesitation and immediately produced a wicked looking key. Nicole seemed content to let Kymira handle everything, but she descended the steps first as soon as the gate creaked open. A single brazier burned at the bottom of the stairs. It cast a long, subterranean walkway with creepy low light, but as soon as Nicole thrust a torch into the coals, shadows and stone and alcoves burst with flickering shadows. Nicole turned, holding the torch away from her dress. "Show me where.  Exactly where." 

Kymira shivered nervously. It had been daytime when she was here before. Coming at night seemed... wrong. Like cold gnarled hands were going to claw their way out of every alcove she walked past. After what seemed ages, they came to the right spot. It was a hallowed out hull in the side of the passage. "There." Centered within was the statue of Corele Sedai with her unnatural globes for eyes staring forward as though she saw something beyond the grave Kymira couldn't sense. Her stone-white shawl was draped across her shoulders. Her dress was in the outdated shape of a corset and her skirt slashed in the way Aes Sedai liked. Kymira looked up at that face, wondering what Corele was like, then wondering if her father really would send her to the country for a season. 

Nicole was similarly staring up at the face, expression as blank and perfect as the statue itself staring back down.  She whispered a question that hung like smoke on the air, as though as fearful of disturbing as Kymira. "He visited your father and then came to the crypts?”  Kymira nodded, cringing. Even the whisper seemed too loud like the dead was going to take offense any moment. If Nicole saw her nod, the news was absorbed without a hint of reaction, but she must have seen. Kymira's eyes were starting to adjust by now, but what few details came into focus, she wished would go away.  She was just positive she saw something move along the floor.  Nicole asked another question. “What did he look like?”

She thought back to the brief moment she'd seen his face pass by. "Lean."  She'd seen him from the side first.  "He walked like a cat about to pounce."  She had followed him until she realized where he was going and had to turn around for fear of being caught. "He had long blonde hair tied back behind his neck."  She twisted her lips thoughtfully, "Oh.  He had a longsword like a borderlander." That was all she remembered. 

Nicole gently placed the torch into its bracket on the wall so she could remove the ring. Kymira's fingers itched to take it back while the Lady stared into the blue pearl.  Then there was one last command.  "Go and bring back the other things you found with it child."  She spoke softly, and when she looked over, Kymira felt her plea.  It wasn't a command after all, Nicole looked like she was practically begging. 

"Okay."  She took a deep breath, disliking the notion of the long walk back to the exit alone. The brazier was the only light all the way down there. "Its in my keep box in my room. It might take a while to get there and back.”  Nicole nodded soberly, and Kymira gathered her courage, and her skirts, cleared her mind and left Nicole alone. Only when she met fresh air again did she remember to breathe it in, and remember to wonder just exactly why she was so eager to obey Nicole Candraed. 

The Guard glanced over, then down the lonely flight of stairs. Kymira shook her head, and he understood her companion was still within. Then the guard noticed approaching footsteps and bowed more deeply for who approached. Kymira tilted curiously, then gasped when she realized why.  "Leodon!  What are you doing here!"

He lifted his brows, "I could ask the same about you two." 

Ky's stomach knotted up.