They entered the warmth and comfort of the Common Room in the Winespring Inn and Arianna and Moiraine took seats by the blazing fire. Lan resorted to pacing back and forth thoughtfully. "Well Arianna, we will understand if you are angry with us for springing such a nasty surprise on you, but..." Moiraine gave Lan a pointed glance that screamed out You better stop pacing and sit down or else! before clearing her throat and shifting around in her chair, trying to get into a comfortable position. Lan continued to pace though. "Well...it all started with a little too much mead-" Moiraine began. "Which, by the way, was YOUR fault Moiraine!" Lan butted in, stalling his pacing for only a split second. "Light, keep your tongue behind your lips and sit down for a moment!" Moirain screeched. Lan gave her a sly smile, stuck his tongue out, pulled it back in his mouth, then sat down and stood up in one quick motion. Moiraine rolled her eyes and Arianna laughed. "Light burn you Lan! I hate it when he takes my words literally!" Moiraine sighed. "You two don't seem serious enough to be a Warder or an Aes Sedai." Arianna remarked. "Oh, I think Lan is making an exception for you, consider yourself lucky..." Moiraine chuckled. Lan looked at her with disbelief. "What's that supposed to mean?" "Nothing Lan, off with you," Moiraine waved him off, "back to your pacing. I'll get back to the story now. As I said before, it all started with a little too much mead...to make a LONG story short, nine months from that day, you popped out. The life of an Aes Sedai does not make the rearing of a child the least bit easy. We both wanted you to grow up normally. I think you do prefer growing up around other children in a quiet village like Emond's Field as opposed to chasing Trollocs?" "Well, I suppose so bu- wait a second! Did you say 'chasing TROLLOCS'?" Arianna inquired. "Yes..." Moiraine glanced at Lan uncertainly. He shrugged. Arianna burst out laughing, "Trollocs are just a thing out of a Gleeman's tale!" Moiraine raised an eyebrow in confusion. At this, Arianna's laughter faded away. "I mean, Trollocs aren't real... are they?" Arianna muttered, eyes with a hint of confusion flicking from Moiraine to Lan and back. "LIGHT!!!! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER GIRL!" Lan roared. Arianna jumped in her chair at this sudden outburst. "OFCOURSE TROLLOCS ARE REAL! THE FOLK OF MALKIER AND THE BORDERLANDS DON'T WASTE THEIR LIVES FIGHTING EVIL TREES IN THE BLIGHT YOU KNOW!" (authors' note: I think there are actually evil trees in the Blight, I'm not sure, I'll go check my copy of TEoTW...eventually... I'm in the "WRITING ZONE" right now, MUST NOT STOP!!!) "Yes, yes Lan. Enough about your Light forsaken, deprived childhood... Trollocs are real, and Gleeman's Tales are not really tales," Moiraine explained calmly. "Even the ones about Aes Sedai being cruel witches an-" Arianna started to ask. "NO! Other than those ones, yes they are real." Moiraine looked outraged. "Can I use the One Power then?" Arianna inquired. "Yes. It's called channeling. You can channel the female half of the One Power, saidar. Since you're familiar with Gleeman's tales, then you should know that the male half, saidin, was tainted by the Dark One." Moiraine explained. "You do know that at least?!?!" Lan asked expectantly. "Yes, ofcourse. The taint on the male half drives them mad. That was how the Dragon and the 100 Companions broke the world. Master al'Thor always tells us that story on Sheering Day." Arianna assured them. "Well good." Lan replied. "Well, well, well! What have we here? Did I hear something about Gleeman's tales? Would you like to hear how Lews Therin Telamon and the 100 Companions broke the world?" a voice came from the stairs. The three people in front of the fire looked up to see a fairly old gentleman with a white droopy mustache and eyebrows to match, donning a colourful patched cloak. "Mat wasn't fibbing then!" Arianna exclaimed. "Good evening Gleeman, the crowd awaits you, I am sure," Moiraine said coolly, nodding towards the door. "Thom Merrilin is the name. With the entertainment I will be providing tonight, I am sure you would love to be a part of that crowd!" he replied. Lan and Moiraine exchanged glances and then they stood. "Arianna, go and enjoy yourself. We will finish this talk later," Lan said.

Arianna nodded and followed the gleeman, who had walked out the door. Thoughts were rushing through her head. She had found out so much in such a short time. She spotted Rand, deep in conversation with Mat and Perrin. "Hey, guys!" she called, lifting her skirts and running towards them. They all looked up. "Sorry Mat," she said breathlessly. "For what?" he asked exasperatedly. "For not believing you about the gleeman and all..." she replied. "Oh...yeah...sure...what ever..." he muttered. "So?" Rand inquired. "So what?" Arianna asked. "What did they tell you?" Perrin asked. "Uh... a whole bunch of stuff...I'll tell you guys later, let's go dance." She muttered, heading towards the dancing area. The Rand and Perrin exchanged glances while Mat fiddled with his cuffs. Rand and Perrin followed after Arianna, talking low voices. Mat looked up from his cuffs a couple minutes later. "Hey! Where'd everybody go?"