Lavenda stood silently long after Mentiri was gone, contemplating what she must decide. It was obvious that she had to go with Mentiri, to whatever the Pattern held for her. But then there was the Violet Sitter...
I hope it's not too late, she thought, pushing her tired body back into the Lester's Jesting. However, she had fought even, on less sleep and more tired than she was now.
Once inside, she shook the rain out of her hair and walked to the corner she had been with the Sitter, ignoring the patron's stared at her shredded clothes mostly empty of bloodstains.
xxxx
The single glass of wine she had ordered lasted her a long time, as it always did. Most of the time, she was left to her own devices, watching the people come and go, listening the relentless rain beating down. Every so often, one of the serving maids would appear at her elbow, a pitcher of wine in their arms, politely asking her if she required a refill. Each time, Jacquelynn declined.
In the Southern countries, she knew that the innkeepers would have asked her to leave in no uncertain terms by now. After all, she had dragged her drink out for an awful long time, and the table and serving maids could make a greater profit from others. Here in Tar Valon, so close to the seat of Aes Sedai power, few innkeepers would ask an Aes Sedai or a Warder to leave. In some cases, their presence alone was enough to attract a handful more customers!
She didn't know or care how long she had been waiting for when Lavenda finally re-emerged. There was no sign of Mentiri, yet the Violet Sitter kept the question from her face as the Aiel woman approached her. Jacquelynn's eyes spotted holes and tiny tears lacing the woman's garments. Lavenda also looked thoroughly wet.
Jacquelynn gestured for the Gaidar to sit down, and she set her own wine glass down, still half full. Smiling, she shook her head ever so slightly.
"Do not feel you have to tell me of anything that Mentiri may have told you, or you him. I will not deny that I am curious, but even so, some things should not be said."
xxxx
Lavenda sat down in the seat opposite the Sitter, grateful of the fire's blazing heat. Small tendrils of steam started to rise from her clothes as they began to dry. Graciously accepting another mug of hot tea from the serving girl that had arrived at her elbow, she leaned across the scarred table.
"To tell the truth, Sitter, I know little more than I did when I went out there," she began in a soft voice that didn't carry. "Rather, I think it was..." she paused, fingering one of the slits in her sleeve with a small smile. "A test. Although, I believe I know a little more than before." Her outward calm was unfailing, but inwardly, she was still reeling like a drunken fisherman. Ta'veren? Her?
A rueful grin appeared on her face as she sipped. "I believe I am at an impass here. You see, if I wish to know the rest of what he was going to tell me... I have to be here before dawn." A sad smile was now in place on her face, and she looked into the Sitter's piercing eyes. "He said to be prepared for a long journey."
"I won't lie to you, Sitter. I think we will be going to the Three-fold Land." she stated, unsure of how the other woman would react. If it was anyone but an Aes Sedai she could be sure, but under the circumstances...
She sat silently in her chair, wondering why she said the things she did.
xxxx
Jacquelynn raised a fine eyebrow ever so slightly as she watched Lavenda toying with one of the many slits in her clothes. As far as she could see, there was no blood or actual injury, just an awful lot of damage to her clothes. Idly, she wondered what kind of test Mentiri had put the woman through, and contemplated asking, before deciding that it was none of her business.
Most of the time, that didn't deter a woman of the Tower from asking questions and sticking their nose in anyway, but Jacquelynn had never allowed her curiosity to get the better of her, other than when she was investigating ter'angreal and the like. Because of the nature of her ajah's work, too much curiosity was viewed as a weakness, a weakness which could very easily get you killed if you didn't harness it in for a more appropriate time.
Sipping slowly at her wine, the Violet Sitter watched and listened intently as Lavenda revealed a little more of what had passed between herself and the blind Gaidin. Not much, or so it seems. Putting her cup down, she thought over the last thing that the Gaidar had told her. The Aiel Waste...
She had never been there herself; few Aes Sedai had, for it was a dangerous place that only the Green and Blue Sisters tended to journey through, and even they wouldn't dare without the aide of a Warder, or the support of an Aiel guide. But in Rhuidean...in Rhuidean, there were ter'angreal. The White Tower had managed to recover many of them, but Jacquelynn knew there were still more left, hundreds doubtless in a stash greater than the one under the Stone of Tear.
In a perfectly neutral voice, that barely suggested anything, she asked "That is your home, is it not Lavenda? It must be a long time since you have last travelled there. Tell me, do you think your travels will take you close to Rhuidean?"
xxxx
Lavenda sat back in her chair, lips pursed. Rhuidean. Mentiri hadn't mentioned it... outright. Any trip to the Three-Fold Land might include a visit to the mystical place; but would they? And yet, she had gotten the distinct impression that his sword had something to do with the city of the Aiel.
But what could Rhuidean have to do with a Violet Sitter? Unfortunately, Lavenda was ignorant to all the specialties of the Ajahs but the most basic, and barely those. She sighed inwardly.
Noticing Sitter Mailli's eyes following her hand, she lowered it from her clothing, a barely noticeable smile crossing her face briefly. So she's more interested in this than she lets on, she thought to herself. Entwining her fingers and placing her chin upon them, she replied with thought.
"Yes, the Three-Fold Land is my home," she told the Aes Sedai matter-of-factly. "but it has been a very long time since I have been there..." Her eyes turned inward as she remembered her nightly dreams of the Waste... and her dead parents. With dry eyes, she looked back at the Sitter. "So long that I barely remember it." she said.
"And yet, I feel I must go there, and if I did, it would be just like I was there yesterday. As for Rhuidean, I can't tell you for certain, but I have a feeling Mentiri has ties to the place."
xxxx
Her blue-green eyes recognized Lavenda's look all too well as the Aiel woman thought of her home. It was true that young women were forced to severe all ties to home for their raising to Accepted, and that Aes Sedai were supposed to view Tar Valon as their home, but a part of Jacquleynn was still distinctly Ghealdanin. Even now, well over a century since she had left home for the White Tower, she still enjoyed the spiced cakes and sweet wine which were native to her people.
It was strange, the things that people clung on to. The Violet Sitter was well aware that her parents and siblings would have passed away by now, and that the nephews and nieces she had never met would be running the farm she had grown up on by now. One day I fully intend to go back there. Just to see...
Such thoughts were unproductive though, and she pulled her mind away from them before getting completely lost. The work of her ajah should always come first now, and she had to sort out her priorities. Jacquleynn smiled slightly at Lavenda, a smile that showed an understanding of sorts, although she was well aware that the other woman's situation would be vastly different from her own.
She tried very hard not to make her request sound like an order, for the Aes Sedai knew that enough years of experience in the Hall of the Tower had a tendency to make even the simplest questions sound like commands.
"May I ask a favour of you, Lavenda? If you do happen to visit Rhuidean, could you possibly bring me back a few ter'angreal from it? There are several still there, that the White Tower has yet to reclaim, and I don't imagine that they would be ever so difficult to find.
"One day, I might go there myself, but your lands are not the kind of place for a lone Aes Sedai, especially one who grew up on a farm and knows little of survival and such." she finished with a slight twinkle in her eyes.
xxxx
She looked at the Aes Sedai carefully, searching for any hidden agendas. To make such an abrupt request- as good as an order coming from an Aes Sedai- was unlike any other she had met before. But maybe there was... Aes Sedai had a way of hiding things in plain sight.
Realizing her eyes were wide above her scarred and tanned hands, she shuttered them, relaxing her face into a semblance of calm. She sat back in her chair, crossing her arms, her familiar stubborn look coming easily now to her face. She remembered now, the whisperings of the stable boys. The Violet Ajah specialized in ter'angreal. That's why she was interested in Rhuidean, she thought with a grimace.
Carefully wording what she wanted to say, she replied. "As I said, Sitter, I do not know if we are going even near Rhuidean," She paused. "But if we do... I promise I shall see if I am allowed to take any ter'angreal." There. She could be as twisty as an Aes Sedai with her words. Sounds like everything, and does nothing. "and they indeed are not," she agreed, a like twinkle coming to her eyes. "Of course, it wouldn't be a lone Aes Sedai, if you came with us," she considered, laughing. "And I'm sure any Aes Sedai is far from helpless..."
She grinned at the Aes Sedai, hoping she hadn't noticed what she had quickly said about the ter'angreal.
xxxx
Jacquelynn noted the amusement in her companion's voice as she replied to her questions and comments. Well, I suppose I do not look like the type to go on expeditions and such. She felt a touch melancholy at this, for once she had loved to travel, meet new people and see new places. It all seemed so long ago. Surely it was somebody else's life that she still found in her memories, for the young Aes Sedai she saw there could not be her reflection. I have grown softer and harder, lingering in Tar Valon...
Lavenda made her exit, as polite yet independent as she had been for the former part of the day. The Violet Sister found herself liking the young Aiel woman, maybe because she was so entirely different from herself. Whatever it was, she hoped to speak with the Gaidar again on her return, if Mentiri did not like the idea of her joining them.
For a few moments more, Jacquelynn toyed with her glass of wine, spinning it slowly between her fingers until a rather nervous looking serving maid came and asked if she could take it. With a jerk, the Aes Sedai came back to reality, not quite sure that her conversation about Rhuidean and the Aiel Waste had actually taken place.
But it had, and she knew that if first light was the time set for leaving, she had little time to waste. An unfamiliar blend of nerves and excitement meandered through her, as thought the emotions were uncertain of themselves through lack of use. Without allowing herself to become further distracted, Jacquelynn left a handful of silver coins on the table, as usual having little idea of their value, and made her way out into the relentless rain, heading back for the White Tower.