Tyanna smiled a small almost unnoticeable smile as Lain stood not far from them. Well, what can she say that is for my ears only? Why should I let him go off on his own after what I've done for him? she thought bitterly as she looked at the Red.
"Thank you, Aes Sedai," Tyanna heard Lain say to her with a little more respect then she thought was needed. She nodded slightly to him before turning her attention back towards the red.
"What do you want to talk about?" Tyanna asked the red proudly with just a small hint of frustration in her soft voice. Tyanna knew that Lain was listening to what was said but she did not care. The red will hopefully think he's not interested in what is said here. As Tyanna looked at the red, she could not help but fold her hands lightly.
xxxx
"You really don't know? Why we know each other when our ajahs oppose the other because they are who they are, why we know each other when we were never friends, or even before we were novices, you could not have known me, I am from far away isles that have no name in this language, and was only in Chachin for three of my years, tell me why." Dasa said this in a dead voice, trying to keep it free of emotion, for she was Aes Sedai, not some brainless girl.
xxxx
Lain's eyebrows raised of his own accord, despite his efforts to appear not to be listening. They thought they knew each other, despite all that? This is surely an interesting conversation, he thought. Besides all of that, the Red- surely a Red, now, he thought,- for all the deadened voice, had a hint of desperate emotion in her voice, a hard edge of desperation.
Smoothing his features once more, he stared straight ahead still, trying hard not to smile.
xxxx
Tyanna listened to the red speak as her gaze fell on the reds face. What can I tell her? Even I do not know how I know her. Tyanna thought as she continued to look calmly at the woman.
"It is true that I should not feel like I know you when our Ajahs dislike each other. I do not believe that I knew you as a novice or from your isle. I am from Fal Moran." Tyanna looked again at the woman carefully. How do I know her? As Tyanna looked at her a couple of possibilities came to her mind. "I was in Chachin and Kandor a few times with my Father. I could have met you there but not known it until now. I have also been one of the Aes Sedai present at the tests. You might have been tested while I was there. It does seem pretty unlikely that we should know each other when there is no reason for us to."
Tyanna could not shake the feeling that she knew the red sister but she did not in all truth know how. That is one puzzle I would love to know the answer to, Tyanna thought as she watched the red.
xxxx
"Maybe we met in the borderlands, but I doubt it. Being not of marriageable age, I was hidden from those not of my clan. In essence, everyone but my family. All Aes Sedai at my test a had an Aes Sedai face." She then thought of one time in Chachin she had not been hidden.
"Dasa!! The manor is burning! We must leave!!" Her nanny scooped her up from the great bed she lost herself in when she slept.
"What? Nanni, it is late!!! Who would do such a thing, even?" She leapt out of her bed, as the doorway erupted into flame. Her nanny grabbed her arm in that iron grip and threw her through the flame. Her fourteen-year-old self landing hard. Then her nanny had attempted to leap through the flames, and been caught by the timber over the door falling. Nanny had screamed, burning beam trapping her. "Nanni!!!" She had screamed and leapt to catch her hand.
"No Dasa!! Get out!!! I will not live so you can die tonight."
"No Nanni!!!" She was crying now, screaming and choking on her tears and the smoke. Strong arms had grabbed her and she kicked at the person, still screaming and struggling. The person had spun her around and hit her as hard as they could, catching her unconscious. She had woken a week later, and lay in a waking coma for months until they took her to the tower to be healed and had discovered the inborn spark.
Her eyes reflected her pain anew as she remembered that night, not knowing why the woman's face made her remember the nightmare.
xxxx
Tyanna looked carefully at the red sister. Then how can I possibly recognize her. Since I was not at her test. I hate puzzles, Tyanna thought as she felt herself become calm again.
Calmly Tyanna turned her head a little so that she could look at Lain. She did not know what he had heard so far but she had a feeling he'd heard everything. She felt amusement rise in her at the thought of him listening to what had been said without looking like he was listening.
As Tyanna watched she saw a faint flicker of pain in the other woman's eyes. Now that is strange, Tyanna thought. She felt a slight frown start to from but quickly Tyanna made her face become a picture of calm. She hated her emotions showing at the wrong time.
"Shall we take this talk inside. Were we can not be disturbed. Lain you will come with us." Tyanna said in her soft voice. Her green eyes shone with their own light as she looked at Lain.
xxxx
Lain tried to make sense of what he had just heard as the Aes Sedai finished talking for the moment. So they know each other... but not from where... he concluded.
"Shall we take this talk inside. Were we cannot be disturbed. Lain you will come with us." Tyanna said softly. Lain focused on her, surprised. Where we cannot be disturbed... or not heard... Tyanna looked at Lain, her eyes shining. Meeting her eyes, he nodded slightly. He didn't like being ordered around, however. I could leave if I wanted to! he told himself fiercely.
"Inside would be nice," he said mildly, now looking at the Red sister. The flash of pain in her eyes he had seen earlier was gone now, without a trace of it ever having been there. He shifted, ready to move inside.
xxxx
Dasa followed them inside a long corridor. They went to a small corner, where they would not be overheard. She unconsciously rubbed her forearm, where a long burn scar marred the normally smooth skin. "Have you any idea where we could have met? Perhaps in the borderlands? I seem to remember you somehow from Chachin. The great arson and assassinations there several years ago. Your face reminds me of this." She studied her, and could not remember further.
xxxx
Tyanna calmly glided off the balcony with Lain and the red sister. They walked down a long corridor until they came to a small corner. It was there that they stopped and looked at each other.
"Have you any idea where we could have met? Perhaps in the borderlands? I seem to remember you somehow from Chachin. The great arson and assassinations there several years ago. Your face reminds me of this." The red sister said starting the conversation off again.
"I have been in Chachin a lot. I get sent all over the land to search for girls who can channel. I went Chachin when I had to search in the villages of Kandor. That was a few years ago now." Tyanna said calmly to the woman in front of her. Tyanna's gaze fell briefly on Lain before quickly going back to the red sister.
xxxx
Striding inside the Tower with the two Aes Sedai, Lain tried to make sense of this new puzzle. The arsons and assassinations of Chachin... he had heard of those. Who hadn't? So many had died... With a start, he realized it was possible the red had been a target. Aes Sedai did come from all walks of life... Perhaps Tyanna had tested her at some point? And yet he had guessed they were close in age, or had become Sisters at roughly the same time. So that would make Tyanna the senior of the red Sister...
Abruptly, he came to a conclusion. The red Sister had never given her name, to either him or Tyanna. Him, he could understand- she had barely acknowledged he existed, even when Tyanna referenced him- but he had though Aes Sedai always were polite to each other. But what he had seen- and heard- already definitely negated that theory...
Tyanna looked at him briefly, flicking from the red Sister to him and back again in the blink of an eye. Had she realized the absence of a name as well?
xxxx
Tyanna watched the red sister carefully even as she looked briefly at Lain. As soon as Tyanna turned her attention back to the red she knew that something was strange. The red hadn't given her name. It was strange that an Aes Sedai if they spoke to each other would not give their name to fellow sister. Why hasn't she told me her name? Tyanna thought as worry started to creep into her thoughts.
Tyanna knew that sisters from the red and green Ajah's did not see eye to eye but they were civil to each other at least. Tyanna was becoming puzzled the more she thought about it. She did not like to be puzzled but Tyanna knew that she would find out what was happening and why the red had not given her name.