"My message to you young one is a matter of privacy." Mentiri 'looked' towards the Aes Sedai with them. He sensed some kind of urgency but nothing catastrophically important. Oh Mentiri, where have your manners gone?
"There is a tavern in Tar Valon, Lavenda, called the Lester's Jesting. Meet me there when you have time. Come alone. Aes Sedai," He bowed a bit to the Aes Sedai before departing and then walked away.
I pray that she takes my offer. Too many will die if she does not, he thought as he dodged the practicing warders.
xxxx
Jacquelynn followed placidly as Lavenda led them from the practice yards, away from all the potential hazards. Perhaps some Aes Sedai might have contested this, and not gone so meekly, but the Violet Sitter was not a woman to dispute simple common sense, so she tailed the Aiel woman to a small marble bench, nodding in gratitude as it was offered to her.
Carefully, she crossed her legs at the ankle and folded her hands in her lap, her hands wrapped firmly into her sleeves. Small comforts had always been the things which gave her the most pleasure in life, perhaps because she had never received many of them as a child. Even now, almost a century and a half old, the Aes Sedai liked nothing more than a cup of kaf and a fire in the Winter, or a stroll in the sun in the warmer months.
This Mentiri appeared behind her, yet he seemed to have little to say to Jacquelynn, his attention focused on the Aiel woman. She frowned minutely at this, wondering what he could possible want. As the man spoke, she rapidly deduced that her presence was not required or wanted, but she refused to move. This was her White Tower as much as it was his, and he could take Laviendha somewhere else if he wished to speak to her in private.
As Mentiri walked off, Jacquelynn allowed her frown to increase a shade. More than a touch suspicious...what can he want with her? Lavenda seemed intent on what the man had said, and Jacquelynn would have dearly liked to know what the young Warder was thinking. As stubbornly blunt as ever, she turned her clear gaze to Lavenda and asked simply "Do you know what he wants with you? And more importantly, do you intend to meet him?"
xxxx
Lavenda brought her attention back to the present, and focused properly on Jacquelynn Sedai. Was she suspicious of Mentiri? Why would she be? she thought to herself not kindly. Maybe she's heard the stories... It must be that she's upset at him ignoring her. But then, there was no way for him to tell he was in the presence of an Aes Sedai.
Standing at ease slightly out from under the branches- heat didn't bother her at all- she considered the best way to explain. Deciding, she opened her mouth to speak.
"Gaidin Mentiri is a... I suppose you could say a new friend... of mine, Sitter," she began. "I don't know exactly what he wants right now, but I certainly intend to meet him. He's quite a kind fellow." Lavenda gazed at the Aes Sedai in what she hoped passed for a meek look. How was she reacting? Unfortunately, this one had the same cool, distant and unemotional look as all women in the Tower. "We agreed to meet in the city, at a tavern," she gently reminded her.
"I don't know how to explain, Sitter, but I have a distinct feeling that what he 'wants' is of the utmost importance," she continued, hands clasped behind her back. She straightened up, gathering all the dignity she could muster. "But I believe it is not life-or-death within the next few days." She considered something, a thoughtful look in her deep green eyes.
"Or maybe not even within the next few weeks," she added quietly, as an afterthought. However, she didn't want to wait that long. Mentiri... fascinated her. He, too, had lost an Aes Sedai... one that he loved, it was said. And she felt a strange bond to him, in a way words couldn't come close to.
"Is there any particular reason, Sitter?" she asked in her usual straightforward manner. She felt a liking for this Aes Sedai. There was a faint hint of curiosity in those eyes when they looked at her, but not the deep pity she couldn't stand to be around.
xxxx
You are too hasty to jump to conclusions, she reprimanded herself with a slight dash of irritance. It was unlike her to make any decisions quickly, and normally she waited until she knew someone properly before making a judgement on their character.
I have been in the White Tower too long...she mused, trying to remember the last time that she had actually left the Tower. She found it mildly disturbing that she couldn't actually pinpoint a specific occasion.
It was just that she had been so busy with internal duties. There had been a pair of Violet aspirants, Reth and Anasazi who she had mentored for a period, and that Andoran Accepted who had spoken a Foretelling in her presence, not to mention the young archer who had expected her to tell him about becoming a Warder. Why he couldn't ask a Green Sister, I just don't know!
And of course, there was all this horrible business of Whitecloaks that the Hall of the Tower was still in deliberation over. Moriel, the White Sitter, had called the first meeting to provoke the other Sitters into some form of action, but it had escalated into full-blown debate with the Browns and Violets reasoning for caution and the Blues and Greens demanding that something be done immediately. That matter was still unresolved, and just thinking about it gave her a headache!
Surely the last time couldn't have been when...Jacquelynn thought with a horrible lump in her throat. ...when Monet died...? It was many years since her last Warder had been killed, but even so, the memory of the Gaidar brought back emotions that she had only recently began to control. The Sitter had not realized how much she had contained herself after that. It is time to move on. Twenty years of lurking in the White Tower is more than enough for anyone.
She gazed up at the Aiel woman, and shook her head slightly. "No, nothing in particular. In these dark days I am too easily suspicious. I am sure that he means as well as you or I do. Perhaps it is for the best that you do go to meet him. After all, you have both lost your Aes Sedai." she said.
Perhaps she was being more than a little tactless, but sometimes it was better to get these things out in the open. She had hidden her own pain for long enough, and only now realized the damage that it had done to her. Being able to accept these things was crucial.
xxxx
Lavenda listened carefully to what the Sitter had to say. A bit of it made bile rise up in her throat- no one, not even her had ever been that... obvious... about her Aes Sedai and friend... but there was wisdom in those words. Maybe it was rude- extremely rude- to speak of an Aes Sedai's age, but she must be very old to have such wisdom. Or perhaps not. Some seemed to be born with it, but certainly not herself.
The last person who had been that truly honest with her- ever- had been... Laina. Her Aes Sedai. Was that why she felt so comfortable around someone she had just met?
Lavenda could sum up all she knew- really knew, not just guessed- about Sitter Mailli on one hand. One, she was a Sitter for the Violet Ajah, and two, she was too easily suspicious. And both from her own mouth! It was a good thing for those Three Oaths. Otherwise, you would never get an answer from an Aes Sedai, no matter what.
Lavenda found thinking about Aes Sedai to be helpful. She no longer winced just thinking about them, and could look at- even speak to!- one without tears or her voice breaking. She knew the pain would never go away, just become subdued, but it was a pain she could live with, like the fact she never knew her family.
Dare she think it? But maybe, just maybe, it was time to see about getting another Aes Sedai. Not to replace Laina- no one could ever replace her dearest friend- but a reason to live. Someone she could die for and not be ashamed. Someone to fill the empty hole.
But who would take on one such as her? An oddity among the Warders, different three fold from anyone else... Oh well, she thought to herself. Perhaps it is for the best. Inside, she sighed heavily. She doubted that. But wait- the Sitter. Yes, the Sitter. She must speak to her.
"Yes, perhaps it will be for the best if we meet." she stated quietly, her emotions under control, face smooth as stone, but her eyes brimming with emotion.
"Perhaps... Perhaps you would like to accompany me?" Had she really just said that? What had gotten into her? But the words were out, and she would only look silly taking them back. All there was to do was wait out the inevitable storm that was brewing.