Raekal found himself outside of the Amyrlin's office only minutes later, at
the side of Elayne. He realized how little he really knew about Aes Sedai
and the dealings of the White Tower. Was he supposed to bow to her? Kneel?
Kiss her ring? Light, he was lost already. Elayne looked at him out of the
corner of her eyes. "You have yet to master the emotionless look of a
Gaidin."
He could only nod, blinking. He feared that if he was to speak, he would loose everything he had ever eaten all over her. Swallowing hard, he looked back at the door just as it opened. "Enter," said the woman standing there, eyeing Raekal up and down.
Elayne bowed her head as she went in, and Raekal followed her numbly, not sure what was expected of him still. The woman swept ahead of them, leading them deeper into the room. Elayne leaned over to him. "She is the Keeper, second only to the Amyrlin. Under her is the Mistress of Novices, but she shouldn't be here."
Raekal swallowed again. Light, he was about to meet the most powerful woman in the world, and here he was, not sure what to say to even Elayne Sedai! Then he realized just what he was thinking then, thinking of an Aes Sedai as just an Aes Sedai. Shaking his head softly, he followed her into the room holding the Amyrlin Seat, seated behind her desk. The room was relatively plain, and there wasn't any real comfort to be seen. Even her chair was just a stiff-backed wooden chair. He blinked. Surely the Amyrlin would not lower herself so far . . .
"Raekal Gaidin. Raekal Dunshain." The Amyrlin spoke clearly, firmly, and then for the first time Raekal saw Ren, standing towards the corner. He didn't meet Raekal's eyes. "You have come about your claim?"
"I . . . I have no claim." He looked at the floor, and didn't understand why the Keeper's eyebrows rose warningly.
"Mother!" Elayne hissed. "You call her mother."
The Amyrlin herself didn't seem to notice, but rose from her chair smoothly, regally. "You have no claim? Of course you do. You have a very powerful claim."
"He is the heir," Ren said suddenly. "But he doesn't know it yet, mother."
Raekal looked sharply at Ren, and Ren made it a point to be studying his fingernails. "I have no claim to anything." The Keeper's eyebrows arched even higher. Any higher and they would vanish into her hair, he was sure. "Mother."
The Amyrlin shook her head. "You are the heir of Manetheren, surely, you know of it." She walked around the desk, adjusting the odd shawl on her shoulders, striped with seven colors. The colors of the Ajahs, he realized with a start. How did one woman belong to all seven? "Manetheren was destroyed a long time ago, but the blood of Manetheren still flows strongly. Especially in you. Your mother was smart, taking you away from us. How sad she would be to know that you willingly walked back to us."
He seemed to remember something she had always talked about then, about how the White Tower liked to use people for different reasons, and the plots of Aes Sedai were never to be understood. That he knew from the Aes Sedai that came to Shienar after the invasion. "I will not be used."
Ren looked up at him in surprise, and Elayne looked at the ground, shuffling her feet softly. "Used? Boy, I would never use you. I want to help you."
He struggled to remember what it was about Manetheren and the Tower. There had been something there, linking the two together almost as surely as chain was held together by links. The queen . . . the queen had always been Aes Sedai! "You want me to raise Manetheren so you can put an Aes Sedai on the throne of what would be my country." He spoke softly, but surely, and even Elayne was blushing now, her Aes Sedai serenity broken.
"I would not put it as bluntly as that," the Amyrlin said sternly. "But I will admit there are many countries that would rather see the Tower leveled than anything else. It would not hurt to have some country as influential as Manetheren as an ally to the Tower."
The Keeper shifted. "Mother, even then . . ."
The Amyrlin nodded wearily. "Even then allying his country to the Tower would make more enemies than friends. Andor wouldn't be too happy with us, I expect. Not to mention Tear. Or Illian." She sighed.
"You mean to throw me into the middle of politics! Into the Game of Houses! Well, I won't! I won't be used to further the Tower's influence! I came to be Gaidin, and Gaidin is what I shall be!" Raekal realized that he had shouted the last, and blushed furiously. He didn't want to be used by anyone for any scheme, no matter how noble or proper. "I shall be only what I can be. A man with a sword."
Ren smiled slightly, just the corner of his mouth, and Elayne looked at him in surprise. The Keeper took a step back, but the Amyrlin only nodded. "I did not think you would want to be what you are. I will give you two weeks. But only two weeks! To think about everything. After the weeks are up, you will return here, and we shall speak again."
"I will not change my mind. I will not be used." Raekal turned on his heel and walked towards the door, but the sharp exclamation from the Amyrlin brought him up short.
"If you will not be the heir of Manetheren, then you will be removed." With that, she walked back to her chair, ignoring the stunned silence in the room, and waved at Elayne and Ren. "Be gone."
Elayne stumbled out after Raekal, Ren on her heels. She looked at Raekal with worry in her eyes. "She just threatened to kill you if you didn't do what she wanted you to." She raised one hand to his cheek. "I would not like to see you dead. Remember that." With that, she swept off down the hall, leaving him and Ren alone in the hallway.
Ren looked to Raekal. "Well. That was pleasant."
Raekal ignored his comment. "Where's Korl?"
"In the Grounds. He went to work some forms and practice with his students." He looked down at the ground. "I almost didn't believe you were who they said myself. The heir of Manetheren! Light! What that must be like."
Raekal shot him a sharp look. "It's like learning that the food you ordered at an inn came out looking like raw sewage." He started walking, leaving Ren standing there stunned for a minute, and then he barked a laugh and jogged up to his side and fell into step with him.
"Quite the surprise, huh?" he laughed again, and then clapped him on the shoulder. "Man, these next two weeks, I'll work the sword with you, and teach you the quarterstaff. Then you can tell her how you feel and not be afraid. There won't be a person here who could kill you."
"Oh?" Raekal asked. He really didn't care for a word coming out of Ren's mouth. He knew how to wield his blade, and he had no interest in a quarterstaff. Right now he needed answers to his questions, but those answers could not help him either. It would help if he knew his questions. Shaking his head, he walked out of the Tower and into the Grounds, and saw Archer walking across the grounds with a man walking next to him. Korl. Blinking, he walked in their direction, Ren finally falling silent, realizing he wasn't being listened to, and following along.
"Archer!" he called and Archer looked up at him in surprise. Probably cause he hadn't used the honorific title. Well, he had no plans of using it for anyone know, least of all the Amyrlin. "You knew." He said once he caught up, and Archer looked at the ground, anywhere but his eyes. Raekal knew they must be as cold steel. He pulled his sword out of it's sheath. The rust was gone from the blade, but the hilt was cracking. "What's so important about this blade? How did you recognize it?"
Archer blinked and looked at the blade. "The faded heron mark, for one. And there . . . that's Old Tongue for 'ruler' there on the blade." Raekal looked over the blade, and saw the faded heron mark. He had always supposed that was just a stain in the steel. He had never seen a heron- marked blade before, and never even thought that the blade in his hands was one.
"How many people know what I am?"
"Probably most of the people around the Tower, now. Not to mention several others in the Borderlands, by the looks of it." Archer took the sword from him softly. "Let me have this repaired for you. I'll even have the heron-mark replaced, if I can. Who did you say gave this to you again?"
"My father," Raekal said quietly. "Repair it, yes. I would like that." He realized with a start that he was thinking that the heir deserved a new-looking sword. Light, help me! I will not be used for these Aes Sedai's plots! He thought desperately, but turned, heading back to his quarters. "I need . . . to lie down for a while . . . perhaps sleep."
Ren followed him to his room, and helped him out of his boots. "Sleep would be good for you. Tomorrow, we can start working. I'll introduce you to the hard life of a Gaidin." He smiled and waved as he left Raekal alone.
Raekal immediately walked to the window and looked out, towards the Tower. Already Elayne was heavy on his thoughts. His cheek tingled at the memory of her lingering touch. "I would bond her," he said quietly to himself. The thought of being so attached to her was appealing, very much so. He lay back on his bed, and let sleep take him slowly.
He dreamt of Manetheren, of vicious battles being fought across wide plains and rivers. He could see their banner, ever waving, never falling, and even when other banners fled the field, theirs stood strong until the rest came back, slowly. Always Manetheren had stood. And now it was to stand again, he knew that in the back on his mind. In the recesses of his mind, he knew that Manetheren was going to be raised, and that he would ride at the head of their new armies. And then, even in his dreams, he saw a black raven circling in the sky, a foul creature. He saw women fighting women with the Power, and men running by, swords clashing against swords. The Tower, white and glorious, slowly faded away to a deep red. The color of blood.
He woke with a start, sweat-drenched and shivering with the fear that the red tower had cast into him. He shook his head to clear it, and rose to his feet slowly and walked to the window. It was dark outside, very much so. Across the table lay a new cloak, one of the fancloaks that the Warders wore. He dressed again, and pulled the new cloak around his shoulder. He felt naked without his sword on his hip, and so as he walked down the hall outside, he pulled a sword out of a stand full of them. He moved quietly down the hall and outside. Towards the Tower. He wanted to see Elayne again. He needed to ask her just how much she knew.
He was inside the Tower before he realized that he had no idea where her rooms were. The only Aes Sedai he could see was at the end of the hall, sitting under a torch, nose in a book. He walked in her direction, and almost whipped his sword out to behead the girl that suddenly stepped out in front of them. She squeaked loudly and jumped back. She wore a white dress with the seven colors around the hem. He blinked again. Again, how could she belong to all seven Ajahs? He would have to ask Ren about that on the morrow.
"Excuse me," she said quietly, and went to go around him.
"Wait! You can help me," he said softly, and she looked up at him. She was older than him, he realized. By a good many years. "If you would, ma'am."
"With what?" she replied quietly.
"I need to find Elayne Sedai's quarters. Do you know where they are? She's Green." He hoped she didn't think him the fool. He sure sounded it.
Instead she grinned slyly. "Ah yes. So she has finally chosen a puppy, huh?"
"Puppy?" he echoed, but she was already walking back the way she had come.
"This way," she said, waving over her shoulder, and he followed after her, till they cam to a door some ways away from the entrance. He hoped he would be able to find his way back out again, but he didn't know if that was even possible.
"Thank you," he told her quietly. She responded with a wink and a wave, and was gone. He looked at the door, took a deep breath, and knocked.
It opened close to instantly, and she was standing there, in naught but her shift, her hair hanging down. Instead of being embarrassed, or even slamming the door, she stepped back to make room for him to come in. "Raekal," she said softly, a bare whisper. "Welcome."
He smiled at her, knowing that his cheeks were crimson. She was a lovely woman. "I . . . I had to ask you something."
She nodded. "And I you. But go ahead, ask away."
"Ahh . . . how much do you know of me? Of Manetheren? Am I truly the heir? Is there a chance this is a mistake?"
She blinked. "Those are hard questions, Raekal Gaidin. But I will do my best to answer them. I know not much about you personally. Very little, in fact. I know you lived in Shienar, and that you have killed more Shadowspawn than most other men alive. I know you have fought in several battles, and that your skill with a blade is close to untouchable. About Manetheren I know less. I know it was destroyed, I know it had powerful friends and powerful enemies. I know that it's blood is resurfacing today, and more and more people are like the old people of Manetheren. And yes, you truly are the heir of Manetheren . . . it has been foretold. There is no chance." She sat on the edge of her bed and gestured for him to sit too. "I have said all that I know."
Sitting next to her, he looked at the ground. I just find it all very hard to follow, you know? I mean, look at this from my shoes. One day, you're walking down the road with nothing more to loose, and your only possession a sword. So you go to the Tower to become Gaidin, and the next thing you know, you have women . . ." he trailed off, his face flushing. "You have women telling you that you're the heir of a lost nation, and that if you don't want to be 'what you are' then you are dead." He sighed, hanging his head down between his hands. "I don't know what to do, what to believe."
She put a hand on his back. "I understand, I truly do. That's how I felt, when I learned I could channel the One Power. I was a farmer's daughter, in Shienar, actually. We lived in the far south, almost Cairhein. And one day an Aes Sedai and her Warder came by and they talked to me and my father. I had to leave with them, leave my sisters, my father, and my brother. My mother was dead, she died giving birth to me, in fact. Everything in my world had just changed, and how was I to know how it was all going to turn out? So far though, I think I have made the best of it."
He looked up at her. He had never thought that becoming Aes Sedai was something that a woman not might want to do . . . he thought all women wanted to be Aes Sedai. "I'm sorry, I'm just wasting your time," he said suddenly, feeling foolish. And what a fool he was! Here he was, pouring out his heart to a woman who probably thought he was weak, an imbecile.
"Wasting my time? No Raekal Gaidin, you are actually saving me some time."
"Don't call me that," he mumbled. "I'm no Gaidin."
"You are too," she said, and poked him in the chest with a sly smile. "You are 'a man with a sword.' That is what a Gaidin is, that's what they are for."
He barked a hoarse laugh. "I suppose." He looked at her. She was beautiful, with dark hair similar to his own hanging in curls, soft brown eyes that could swallow a man alive, and ivory skin that looked smooth to the touch. She returned his look for a moment, then a flush rose to her cheeks, and she looked away. He realized that he was close to drooling and swallowed hard. "I uh . . . you had something to ask me?"
She laughed. "Oh yes. I almost forgot, even with the talk of saving me time." He looked at her quizzically. "I was going to come find you tomorrow to ask you officially, but . . . maybe I still will. Raekal . . . how do you feel about me?"
He swallowed again. "I . . . feel about you?" he blinked. "I guess . . . you are a very nice woman . . . and amazingly beautiful." A flush rose to her cheeks again, and he knew that he had to be crimson to his hair. "And, um . . ."
She laughed. "It's okay, I understand." He looked at her, struggling to re-swallow his heart, which had climbed up into his throat, at the same time that his stomach had dropped into his toes. "Raekal Gaidin, will you be my bonded?"
He almost cried. He almost laughed. He almost jumped for joy. He didn't know what to think, but found himself nodding dumbly. "I will, Elayne Sedai."
She smiled brightly, and threw her arms around him. He found himself staring eye to eye with her, their noses touching. "Good . . . I find myself fond of you," she said quietly, and opened her mouth to say something else, but before he knew what he was doing, his lips were on hers, a crushing kiss that melted everything him, turned it into a fluttering gooey substance that seemed to soak into him. She sagged against him until he broke the kiss, then giggled and laid her head on his chest. "I've wanted to do that since I saw you," she whispered. "I knew that you were the one."
He smiled to himself. "And I you," he whispered, and realized at the same time that it was the truth. He had known that she was the one. She looked up at him.
"I say we just bond now. We can tell the Amyrlin later." He smiled a little nervously.
"Alright," he said quietly, and she took his head between her hands, and channeled. He shivered as he felt he weaves settle into him, the sacred weaves that bonded a Warder to his Aes Sedai. He blinked as the icy feeling vanished, and she was there, inside his head, a bundle of sensations that was her.
Smiling, she kissed his cheek. "Now, my Warder, be gone. You must sleep tonight. Tomorrow the Amyrlin will undoubtedly call you again, as she will everyday until your two weeks are up, and tomorrow you will begin training as a Warder. However, do not go in to see the Amyrlin without me, okay?" he nodded, and she kissed his cheek again. "Good! Now, off with you."
He stood and left almost in a stupor. He was bonded already . . . shaking his head to clear it, he headed back to his rooms. Before he got there, he felt her fade into sleep through the bond.
He could only nod, blinking. He feared that if he was to speak, he would loose everything he had ever eaten all over her. Swallowing hard, he looked back at the door just as it opened. "Enter," said the woman standing there, eyeing Raekal up and down.
Elayne bowed her head as she went in, and Raekal followed her numbly, not sure what was expected of him still. The woman swept ahead of them, leading them deeper into the room. Elayne leaned over to him. "She is the Keeper, second only to the Amyrlin. Under her is the Mistress of Novices, but she shouldn't be here."
Raekal swallowed again. Light, he was about to meet the most powerful woman in the world, and here he was, not sure what to say to even Elayne Sedai! Then he realized just what he was thinking then, thinking of an Aes Sedai as just an Aes Sedai. Shaking his head softly, he followed her into the room holding the Amyrlin Seat, seated behind her desk. The room was relatively plain, and there wasn't any real comfort to be seen. Even her chair was just a stiff-backed wooden chair. He blinked. Surely the Amyrlin would not lower herself so far . . .
"Raekal Gaidin. Raekal Dunshain." The Amyrlin spoke clearly, firmly, and then for the first time Raekal saw Ren, standing towards the corner. He didn't meet Raekal's eyes. "You have come about your claim?"
"I . . . I have no claim." He looked at the floor, and didn't understand why the Keeper's eyebrows rose warningly.
"Mother!" Elayne hissed. "You call her mother."
The Amyrlin herself didn't seem to notice, but rose from her chair smoothly, regally. "You have no claim? Of course you do. You have a very powerful claim."
"He is the heir," Ren said suddenly. "But he doesn't know it yet, mother."
Raekal looked sharply at Ren, and Ren made it a point to be studying his fingernails. "I have no claim to anything." The Keeper's eyebrows arched even higher. Any higher and they would vanish into her hair, he was sure. "Mother."
The Amyrlin shook her head. "You are the heir of Manetheren, surely, you know of it." She walked around the desk, adjusting the odd shawl on her shoulders, striped with seven colors. The colors of the Ajahs, he realized with a start. How did one woman belong to all seven? "Manetheren was destroyed a long time ago, but the blood of Manetheren still flows strongly. Especially in you. Your mother was smart, taking you away from us. How sad she would be to know that you willingly walked back to us."
He seemed to remember something she had always talked about then, about how the White Tower liked to use people for different reasons, and the plots of Aes Sedai were never to be understood. That he knew from the Aes Sedai that came to Shienar after the invasion. "I will not be used."
Ren looked up at him in surprise, and Elayne looked at the ground, shuffling her feet softly. "Used? Boy, I would never use you. I want to help you."
He struggled to remember what it was about Manetheren and the Tower. There had been something there, linking the two together almost as surely as chain was held together by links. The queen . . . the queen had always been Aes Sedai! "You want me to raise Manetheren so you can put an Aes Sedai on the throne of what would be my country." He spoke softly, but surely, and even Elayne was blushing now, her Aes Sedai serenity broken.
"I would not put it as bluntly as that," the Amyrlin said sternly. "But I will admit there are many countries that would rather see the Tower leveled than anything else. It would not hurt to have some country as influential as Manetheren as an ally to the Tower."
The Keeper shifted. "Mother, even then . . ."
The Amyrlin nodded wearily. "Even then allying his country to the Tower would make more enemies than friends. Andor wouldn't be too happy with us, I expect. Not to mention Tear. Or Illian." She sighed.
"You mean to throw me into the middle of politics! Into the Game of Houses! Well, I won't! I won't be used to further the Tower's influence! I came to be Gaidin, and Gaidin is what I shall be!" Raekal realized that he had shouted the last, and blushed furiously. He didn't want to be used by anyone for any scheme, no matter how noble or proper. "I shall be only what I can be. A man with a sword."
Ren smiled slightly, just the corner of his mouth, and Elayne looked at him in surprise. The Keeper took a step back, but the Amyrlin only nodded. "I did not think you would want to be what you are. I will give you two weeks. But only two weeks! To think about everything. After the weeks are up, you will return here, and we shall speak again."
"I will not change my mind. I will not be used." Raekal turned on his heel and walked towards the door, but the sharp exclamation from the Amyrlin brought him up short.
"If you will not be the heir of Manetheren, then you will be removed." With that, she walked back to her chair, ignoring the stunned silence in the room, and waved at Elayne and Ren. "Be gone."
Elayne stumbled out after Raekal, Ren on her heels. She looked at Raekal with worry in her eyes. "She just threatened to kill you if you didn't do what she wanted you to." She raised one hand to his cheek. "I would not like to see you dead. Remember that." With that, she swept off down the hall, leaving him and Ren alone in the hallway.
Ren looked to Raekal. "Well. That was pleasant."
Raekal ignored his comment. "Where's Korl?"
"In the Grounds. He went to work some forms and practice with his students." He looked down at the ground. "I almost didn't believe you were who they said myself. The heir of Manetheren! Light! What that must be like."
Raekal shot him a sharp look. "It's like learning that the food you ordered at an inn came out looking like raw sewage." He started walking, leaving Ren standing there stunned for a minute, and then he barked a laugh and jogged up to his side and fell into step with him.
"Quite the surprise, huh?" he laughed again, and then clapped him on the shoulder. "Man, these next two weeks, I'll work the sword with you, and teach you the quarterstaff. Then you can tell her how you feel and not be afraid. There won't be a person here who could kill you."
"Oh?" Raekal asked. He really didn't care for a word coming out of Ren's mouth. He knew how to wield his blade, and he had no interest in a quarterstaff. Right now he needed answers to his questions, but those answers could not help him either. It would help if he knew his questions. Shaking his head, he walked out of the Tower and into the Grounds, and saw Archer walking across the grounds with a man walking next to him. Korl. Blinking, he walked in their direction, Ren finally falling silent, realizing he wasn't being listened to, and following along.
"Archer!" he called and Archer looked up at him in surprise. Probably cause he hadn't used the honorific title. Well, he had no plans of using it for anyone know, least of all the Amyrlin. "You knew." He said once he caught up, and Archer looked at the ground, anywhere but his eyes. Raekal knew they must be as cold steel. He pulled his sword out of it's sheath. The rust was gone from the blade, but the hilt was cracking. "What's so important about this blade? How did you recognize it?"
Archer blinked and looked at the blade. "The faded heron mark, for one. And there . . . that's Old Tongue for 'ruler' there on the blade." Raekal looked over the blade, and saw the faded heron mark. He had always supposed that was just a stain in the steel. He had never seen a heron- marked blade before, and never even thought that the blade in his hands was one.
"How many people know what I am?"
"Probably most of the people around the Tower, now. Not to mention several others in the Borderlands, by the looks of it." Archer took the sword from him softly. "Let me have this repaired for you. I'll even have the heron-mark replaced, if I can. Who did you say gave this to you again?"
"My father," Raekal said quietly. "Repair it, yes. I would like that." He realized with a start that he was thinking that the heir deserved a new-looking sword. Light, help me! I will not be used for these Aes Sedai's plots! He thought desperately, but turned, heading back to his quarters. "I need . . . to lie down for a while . . . perhaps sleep."
Ren followed him to his room, and helped him out of his boots. "Sleep would be good for you. Tomorrow, we can start working. I'll introduce you to the hard life of a Gaidin." He smiled and waved as he left Raekal alone.
Raekal immediately walked to the window and looked out, towards the Tower. Already Elayne was heavy on his thoughts. His cheek tingled at the memory of her lingering touch. "I would bond her," he said quietly to himself. The thought of being so attached to her was appealing, very much so. He lay back on his bed, and let sleep take him slowly.
He dreamt of Manetheren, of vicious battles being fought across wide plains and rivers. He could see their banner, ever waving, never falling, and even when other banners fled the field, theirs stood strong until the rest came back, slowly. Always Manetheren had stood. And now it was to stand again, he knew that in the back on his mind. In the recesses of his mind, he knew that Manetheren was going to be raised, and that he would ride at the head of their new armies. And then, even in his dreams, he saw a black raven circling in the sky, a foul creature. He saw women fighting women with the Power, and men running by, swords clashing against swords. The Tower, white and glorious, slowly faded away to a deep red. The color of blood.
He woke with a start, sweat-drenched and shivering with the fear that the red tower had cast into him. He shook his head to clear it, and rose to his feet slowly and walked to the window. It was dark outside, very much so. Across the table lay a new cloak, one of the fancloaks that the Warders wore. He dressed again, and pulled the new cloak around his shoulder. He felt naked without his sword on his hip, and so as he walked down the hall outside, he pulled a sword out of a stand full of them. He moved quietly down the hall and outside. Towards the Tower. He wanted to see Elayne again. He needed to ask her just how much she knew.
He was inside the Tower before he realized that he had no idea where her rooms were. The only Aes Sedai he could see was at the end of the hall, sitting under a torch, nose in a book. He walked in her direction, and almost whipped his sword out to behead the girl that suddenly stepped out in front of them. She squeaked loudly and jumped back. She wore a white dress with the seven colors around the hem. He blinked again. Again, how could she belong to all seven Ajahs? He would have to ask Ren about that on the morrow.
"Excuse me," she said quietly, and went to go around him.
"Wait! You can help me," he said softly, and she looked up at him. She was older than him, he realized. By a good many years. "If you would, ma'am."
"With what?" she replied quietly.
"I need to find Elayne Sedai's quarters. Do you know where they are? She's Green." He hoped she didn't think him the fool. He sure sounded it.
Instead she grinned slyly. "Ah yes. So she has finally chosen a puppy, huh?"
"Puppy?" he echoed, but she was already walking back the way she had come.
"This way," she said, waving over her shoulder, and he followed after her, till they cam to a door some ways away from the entrance. He hoped he would be able to find his way back out again, but he didn't know if that was even possible.
"Thank you," he told her quietly. She responded with a wink and a wave, and was gone. He looked at the door, took a deep breath, and knocked.
It opened close to instantly, and she was standing there, in naught but her shift, her hair hanging down. Instead of being embarrassed, or even slamming the door, she stepped back to make room for him to come in. "Raekal," she said softly, a bare whisper. "Welcome."
He smiled at her, knowing that his cheeks were crimson. She was a lovely woman. "I . . . I had to ask you something."
She nodded. "And I you. But go ahead, ask away."
"Ahh . . . how much do you know of me? Of Manetheren? Am I truly the heir? Is there a chance this is a mistake?"
She blinked. "Those are hard questions, Raekal Gaidin. But I will do my best to answer them. I know not much about you personally. Very little, in fact. I know you lived in Shienar, and that you have killed more Shadowspawn than most other men alive. I know you have fought in several battles, and that your skill with a blade is close to untouchable. About Manetheren I know less. I know it was destroyed, I know it had powerful friends and powerful enemies. I know that it's blood is resurfacing today, and more and more people are like the old people of Manetheren. And yes, you truly are the heir of Manetheren . . . it has been foretold. There is no chance." She sat on the edge of her bed and gestured for him to sit too. "I have said all that I know."
Sitting next to her, he looked at the ground. I just find it all very hard to follow, you know? I mean, look at this from my shoes. One day, you're walking down the road with nothing more to loose, and your only possession a sword. So you go to the Tower to become Gaidin, and the next thing you know, you have women . . ." he trailed off, his face flushing. "You have women telling you that you're the heir of a lost nation, and that if you don't want to be 'what you are' then you are dead." He sighed, hanging his head down between his hands. "I don't know what to do, what to believe."
She put a hand on his back. "I understand, I truly do. That's how I felt, when I learned I could channel the One Power. I was a farmer's daughter, in Shienar, actually. We lived in the far south, almost Cairhein. And one day an Aes Sedai and her Warder came by and they talked to me and my father. I had to leave with them, leave my sisters, my father, and my brother. My mother was dead, she died giving birth to me, in fact. Everything in my world had just changed, and how was I to know how it was all going to turn out? So far though, I think I have made the best of it."
He looked up at her. He had never thought that becoming Aes Sedai was something that a woman not might want to do . . . he thought all women wanted to be Aes Sedai. "I'm sorry, I'm just wasting your time," he said suddenly, feeling foolish. And what a fool he was! Here he was, pouring out his heart to a woman who probably thought he was weak, an imbecile.
"Wasting my time? No Raekal Gaidin, you are actually saving me some time."
"Don't call me that," he mumbled. "I'm no Gaidin."
"You are too," she said, and poked him in the chest with a sly smile. "You are 'a man with a sword.' That is what a Gaidin is, that's what they are for."
He barked a hoarse laugh. "I suppose." He looked at her. She was beautiful, with dark hair similar to his own hanging in curls, soft brown eyes that could swallow a man alive, and ivory skin that looked smooth to the touch. She returned his look for a moment, then a flush rose to her cheeks, and she looked away. He realized that he was close to drooling and swallowed hard. "I uh . . . you had something to ask me?"
She laughed. "Oh yes. I almost forgot, even with the talk of saving me time." He looked at her quizzically. "I was going to come find you tomorrow to ask you officially, but . . . maybe I still will. Raekal . . . how do you feel about me?"
He swallowed again. "I . . . feel about you?" he blinked. "I guess . . . you are a very nice woman . . . and amazingly beautiful." A flush rose to her cheeks again, and he knew that he had to be crimson to his hair. "And, um . . ."
She laughed. "It's okay, I understand." He looked at her, struggling to re-swallow his heart, which had climbed up into his throat, at the same time that his stomach had dropped into his toes. "Raekal Gaidin, will you be my bonded?"
He almost cried. He almost laughed. He almost jumped for joy. He didn't know what to think, but found himself nodding dumbly. "I will, Elayne Sedai."
She smiled brightly, and threw her arms around him. He found himself staring eye to eye with her, their noses touching. "Good . . . I find myself fond of you," she said quietly, and opened her mouth to say something else, but before he knew what he was doing, his lips were on hers, a crushing kiss that melted everything him, turned it into a fluttering gooey substance that seemed to soak into him. She sagged against him until he broke the kiss, then giggled and laid her head on his chest. "I've wanted to do that since I saw you," she whispered. "I knew that you were the one."
He smiled to himself. "And I you," he whispered, and realized at the same time that it was the truth. He had known that she was the one. She looked up at him.
"I say we just bond now. We can tell the Amyrlin later." He smiled a little nervously.
"Alright," he said quietly, and she took his head between her hands, and channeled. He shivered as he felt he weaves settle into him, the sacred weaves that bonded a Warder to his Aes Sedai. He blinked as the icy feeling vanished, and she was there, inside his head, a bundle of sensations that was her.
Smiling, she kissed his cheek. "Now, my Warder, be gone. You must sleep tonight. Tomorrow the Amyrlin will undoubtedly call you again, as she will everyday until your two weeks are up, and tomorrow you will begin training as a Warder. However, do not go in to see the Amyrlin without me, okay?" he nodded, and she kissed his cheek again. "Good! Now, off with you."
He stood and left almost in a stupor. He was bonded already . . . shaking his head to clear it, he headed back to his rooms. Before he got there, he felt her fade into sleep through the bond.