Disclaimer-This is my last disclaimer. If you don't already know I don't own the Wheel of Time, stop reading!
Chapter 3- Let the Soft Winds Blow
Sopika smiled as the flute began to sound an unusual song to hear in a common room's inn, So Blow the Soft Winds, a waltz. Mino, from a table across, the room, also recognized the song. "So blow the soft winds that shall blow anyways/so blow the soft wind of our love," as the words went from where he was from, they were strangely appropriate in his mind. For while the song chirped its lullaby, he could not keep his eyes off the Aes Sedai.
"And we shall remember the first soft wind," As Mino hummed the last line, realizing that Sopika looked young, like a girl of twenty, instead of the traditional agelessness. "So blow the soft winds of the heart.
Mino gulped, and twenty minutes later as the song played again. What did this mean? He nervously glided over to Sopika, a rose playing across his mind. Sopika noticed him, and the pull of ta'veren took them both. That night they spent waltzing, Mino unable to think of anything but how perfect the Aes Sedai was; pretty, smart, accepting.
They left the inn after a few dances; leaving for a walk through the rose garden that now featured dry, crisp stalks. Sopika found that her head fit perfectly into a spot on Mino's neck and sang So Blow the Soft Winds yet again. She could not help thinking of the final line "and we shall remember the first soft wind." Mino looked back, his cold, heartless eyes were and forgiving.
"Sopi," Mino whispered, "you are perfect. I never thought of Aes Sedai as human. We were taught that Aes Sedai were Shadowspawn. Human never entered into it."
Sopika muttered back, "Whitecloaks are not thought of in the White Tower as human either. But they are wrong. Everyone is human."
"That is so true. It is that song.
So blow the soft winds that shall blow anyways
So blow the soft winds of our love
Those who were different are yet the same
Those who weren't are now.
Will you deny that the soft winds do blow?
Will you deny our newborn love?
Who will the soft winds blow yet again for?
For who shall accept the soft winds?
And then we shall remember the first soft wind
So blow our soft winds of our love.
'That verse suits us so much more perfectly than any thing else."
Sopika murmured back, "So it is. So it is."
A large crack, like a bow shooting for the first time echoed, and they pulled apart. What was this? As soon as they had parted, a large yew arrow shot through where Sopika's neck was. What was going on?
Voran jumped from the shadows, knocking the Aes Sedai and Whitecloak down as he shouted, "Keep Down!"
2 more arrows shot through the air where the pair stood. Voran trembled slightly and Sopika blushed. The bond reeked of a sharp pain in the shoulder and a trickle of blood touched her face. Mino, not sure what happened, pushed the warder away, staring down at Sopika. The sneer on his face was familiar. But it was too reminiscent of a whitecloak's contempt, so the Aes Sedai flinched away.
"Sopi? Sopi? What is wrong," Mino's voice was distant, and growing farther away.
A soft wind blew, bringing clouds filled with large, fat raindrops that shook the town. Sopika recovered slightly, and then shook her head. People, townsfolk, danced around the spring, now bubbly with a sliver of water, rejoicing in the end of the drought. The temperature started to drop rapidly, and then the rain slowed to snow. This was bad. There had been no crops in the drought, and winter will shorten the food supply quicker. The Aes Sedai would have to dig in and use the power on crops. As the rest of the town noticed the intermingled snowflakes thickening, their faces paled, and all returned in. The Marsh Wiggle was now bursting with folk celebrating, and Sopika ran to her room, tailed closely by Mino.
He did not enter her compartments, but said, "I could Heal those arrow holes in you and Voran. Voran fist, he took four good shots to the shoulder that need to be attended to first. Then you."
