Age of Legends: Starlight and Woodsmoke

Later that evening,Raelle and Joar Addamwaited by the East Gate. Joar Addam sat on the edge of a fountain, absentmindedly strumming his harp, to the delight of the two brainless blondes he had talked into accompanying them and several passersby.

Raelle paced impatiently in front of him, checking her watch every thirty seconds. "He's not coming. I know he's not coming. I looked like such an idiot and you..."

"Relax. He probably just got held up at a meeting, or had some last minute research to finish up. He is graduating this year you know."

"You're here."

"I'm your best friend and a known slacker. Not the best basis for comparison."

She made one or two more circles and then stomped her foot on the smooth cobblestones. "It's nearly curfew. If we don't leave now, we won't be able to Travel out and it's a long walk to the car."

"Fine by me," he stopped playing and lovingly slid the harp back into its case, gently caressing the wood before closing it.

"You know, if you were willing to treat a woman half as well as you treat that harp, you'd have girls falling all over you."

"My harp is my life."

"You are so incredibly sad."

"I'm not the one who nearly choked myself trying to..."

She whirled on him, raising her hands. A gateway sliced open between the two of them, forcing him to jump back in surprise. "Light, Rae! Watch where you put that thing!"

"Coming?" She asked, smiling.

Shaking his head, he stepped through the Gateway and out into a public parking garage outside the city. The two girls shuffled after him. Raelle went through last to close the portal.

"Why don't we ever Travel to the lake?"

"Because I want to have the car just in case. Besides, I like the drive. Stop griping and get in."

Joar Addam took the front seat, nestling the harp lovingly between his feet. The two girls rolled their eyes and giggled as they climbed into the back seat. Raelle gave him a long suffering look and they headed out of the city.

"Heard from Sherri lately?" Rae asked him as they turned off of the main highway. She and Joar Addam had been friends for years. They'd grown up a block from each other, and Sherri was his mother. Rae's mother was just Mom, to both of them.

"Yeah. She left Leir. Again. She'll be back with him in a week, tops."

"And Kel?"

"She's... with the Aes Sedai now. So Leir can't touch her."

"And Sherri won't do anything about it?"

"She'll protect him. She loves him. She hates us. Especially Kel. Because she'll never be anything. Not now." He made no attempt to mask the anger in his voice.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked, just..."

"You're practically family, Rae. I should have told you before," he stared out into the darkness for a while. "I'm going to go after him as soon as I'm legal. I'll petition the Halls if I have to. He's going to pay for what he did to her." His voice was so cold it forced her to look over at him in surprise.

"And if they don't believe you?"

"Then I'll take care of it myself."

"I'll be right there with you," she said, and meant it.

"I wouldn't let you. This is between him and me. So."

"So." Moments of uncomfortable silence passed. The city lights faded behind them and the air dropped as they drove further into the hills.

"So what's with the bimbos," she asked quietly, half under her breath.

He shrugged. "Groupies."

"You have groupies?"

"Every musician needs a few. You think Barid might show up later?"

"Don't know. Don't care." She said, a bit too quickly.

"Liar. You know he's graduating next month."

"I know."

"So why wait so long? To say something?"

"I wouldn't have if you hadn't shoved my nose in it. Joar Addam, men like him don't have anything to do with girls like me. He's going to be somebody in the world. There are those who are born to lead, some who are destined to be at the top of their game. Like you. Like Barid and Tel. Nemene. And then there are those who...well, some of us just are."

"You've never given yourself enough credit, Rae. You're pretty."

"Mierin's pretty."

"Mierin's gorgeous. And psychotic. And a complete bitch. Personally I prefer you. Pretty. Nice. Dependable. Not likely to castrate me with thrown objects. Most men would agree with me."

"So maybe we should just get married. You and I. You can play your harp, and I can pick on you mercilessly for about for oh, say, the next three hundred years or so."

He laughed. "Mom's been expecting it to happen for years."

"Couldn't do it. Too much like fucking my brother."

"My thoughts exactly. Hey, look, we're coming up on the lake road."

"I know. I'm the one driving, remember?"

"You want to stop at the ridge for a minute?"

"Not this time. We're already late, and I've got the keg in the back. Might be a few cranky people up there if we take too much longer."

He called something over his shoulder which was carried away on the wind. The two blondes laughed. The lake was actually a hollowed out bowl in one of the mountains which had at one time been a copper mine. When all the ore was taken out, the resulting hole had been thoroughly cleaned up with the Power, and filled with water to create a gorgeous, perfectly round lake nestled in the surrounding hills.

Thousands of stars were reflected in it's pristine surface, largely undisturbed by the gentle breeze which blew across it's surface. As they approached the meeting site, they could see a large campfire,

"Keg's here!" someone shouted as they pulled into the clearing. Two men walked up and started helping Joar Addam unload the car. The two blondes immediately disappeared into the crowd.

"You lost your groupies," she informed Joar Addam

"They'll be back," he said, without a hint of sarcasm. "Looks like we've got quite a crowd. Sure one keg will be enough?"

"I'm not going back for a another. Get the music set up and I'll stash our gear," she grabbed their bags and tents out of the car.

She heard someone call her name as she dropped the bags near a copse of trees. She turned to see a tall dark haired woman winding her way through the crowd with a sour look on her face. People cleared a path for her, as that particular woman wearing that particular look never boded well for the recipient. "Raelle, I need to speak to you. Now."

Rae continued unpacking her tent, smiling at the worried looks of those at the edge of the fire circle. "What's bothering you, Nemene?"

The tall woman cast a venomous look at a willowy pale beauty across the clearing. "Who invited her?"

"I did, Nemene. I figured she'd keep some of the guys off the rest of us. Besides, she needs something to do other than moon over Telamon."

"So you decided to subject the rest of us to her bullshit? You're a good one to talk about 'mooning around'. I heard about your run in with Medar this afternoon."

"Wasn't anything to hear. If you don't like it, Nemene, I'll drive you back to campus," Raelle said, with complete sincerity.

The tall woman stalked off.

She finished setting up her tent and had started in on Joar Addam's before he made it back with two beers. "I'm supposed to sleep in that? You know I hate sleeping on the ground," he said, eying the two tents skeptically.

"Don't worry, by the end of the night, you'll probably be drunk enough to wake up next to Nemene," Rae said brightly.

He shuddered. "I don't know what it is about her, but that woman scares me."

"Other than she's a foot taller than you, and studying to be a Restorer. Which means she could literally take you apart and put you back together again? That's enough for most people right there. I like her."

"You like everyone."

"I do not."

"You do. Name one person you don't like."

"Telamon. And that blonde haired bint who's always tagging along behind him."

"Ilyena?"

"Yeah. That's it. She thinks she's the Creator's gift to the world. And I don't much care for your stepfather. In fact I think he's a good candidate for involuntary sterilization."

"OK. OK, point taken. It's just..." suddenly, his head snapped around. She followed his gaze to a space between two trees just ahead of them. She knew someone was channeling in, from the fact that all the men in the clearing were also focused there, and all the women were staring at them like they were stupid. The Power was funny that way.

Agate sliced open, and two men stepped out, not ten feet from where she stood. She caught her breath.

"Certainly likes to make an entrance doesn't he?" Joar Addam muttered. "Go say hello. I'll finish up here." He took the poles from her.

"Do you even know how to put one of these together."

"I'll figure it out. Go." He pushed her gently towards the new arrivals. She searched her brain trying to remember the second man's name, but all thought of that rushed out of her brain as Barid stepped towards her.

"I hope we haven't arrived too late? I was delayed. I suspected the meeting would run long, so earlier..." he grasped her hand and brought it to his lips as he had earlier. A shudder ran through her. "I tagged you so I could find you. I should have asked your permission..."

"No," she managed to gasp, thinking she should pull her hand away, but her muscles wouldn't respond, "not at all. I... I'm glad you could make it."

He took the beer from her hand sniffed it, made a face, then poured it out on the ground. She started to protest.

"Ared, be a friend and give the lady a real beer."

The boy behind him grinned. He was also dark haired and dark eyed, but lighter complected, and a few years younger. He did as Barid said, winking at her as he relinquished the beer, which was a dark ale with a label she didn't recognize.

She reached for the two cases. "We should put these in the cooler."

"Allow me," Barid said smoothly, reaching down to pick them up.

"Um. OK. Over here," and they walked away together slowly. Ared and Joar Addam were left alone together, staring at the fire.

"Barid just walked off with your girl," the other boy - Ared - said, sounding far too smug.

"She's not my girl."

"Hmm." Long awkward pause. "So you're the poet right? The one with the third name."

"Composer. And yes. I had my third at fifteen. Joar Addam Nesossin."

"Impressive," the other boy said, sounding anything but impressed. "Any unclaimed ladies at this little get together?"

"There's always Nemene..."

The other boy looked at him sharply and stalked away in the direction Barid and Rae had disappeared. Joar Addam heaved a sigh of relief, downed the rest of his beer, and slid his harp out of it's case. For a moment or two he had seriously believed the other boy was about to hit on him.

Raelle stood just outside the ring of dancers, talking quietly with Barid. They watched Ared talking to the two blondes who had ridden in with her and Joar Addam.

"Fancies himself quite the ladies' man, Ared does," Barid said, laughing.

"They seem to be impressed."

"They seem to be rather... intoxicated... as well. Your friend, Joar Addam, isn't it?"

She nodded.

"Quite young to have his third already."

"Fifteen. He was on his way to being the greatest composer the Shorelle University ever turned out, then... well, then they found out he could channel, and shipped him here."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"He hates it. He lost so much time, and now, well, he still writes, but its not the same. He used to write operas, now he's reduced to mixing folk music for keg parties. Most of the music playing tonight is his. Still, it's sort of a let down. He's really good with the OP though. Much better than me."

"Third name at fifteen, and all that talent. Quite impressive."

"You know what I like about you? When you say that, you sound like you mean it. Like you aren't just being nice. He doesn't get that much. No one understands how much talent it really takes to do what he does. He's going to be great someday. Like you."

He smiled at that. "I didn't have my third name at fifteen."

"I meant the engineering thing. You're both artists in your own way. You have real talent. As opposed to well..." she let the words drift off into space.

"I'd like to show you something," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a folded sheet of paper. They moved closer to the fire and knelt together. He folded it out on an upended log. "Just something I've been playing with."

It was a line drawing of a building, arched and graceful. Twin towers rising out of a garden below. "It's only a preliminary sketch. I haven't had time to work out the technical drawings yet. I based it off the Whitebridge structure only it had to be more solid. I've got either a multi level office building, or an apartment complex in mind."

"Wow," she said, turning the paper so she could see it better in the firelight.

"And you? What do you want to do when you get out of school?"

"You mean when I drop out of school? Don't look so shocked, Barid. I don't have the skills to be Aes Sedai. They told me that when I got here, but I'm stubborn, and I wanted to learn what I could. I'm the only channeler in my family. You've got to go back nearly two thousand years to find another. My parents were really psyched about school. But they really don't have the money to keep shelling out for some fever dream that's never going to happen." She realized she was rambling and stopped.

He was listening intently, watching her with those dark eyes. "You haven't answered my question."

"I want... I want to travel. Small t. I want to walk all over, and meet everyone and see everything there is to see. I want to see mountains, real mountains, and the Lakes. I want to hear how people talk in different lands, find out how they think, and I want to feel wind in my hair. It's silly, I know, but..."

"I don't think it's silly. Different, but not silly," he glanced away from her towards Ared who was moving off towards the beer cooler with one of the blondes, then across the fire to where Joar Addam sat in the shadows, quietly strumming his harp.

"Will he do that all night?"

"Yes."

"And there is nothing between the two of you?"

She shook her head. "We're just really good friends. We're both from Shorelle, grew up right down the block from each other. He calls his mom by her first name, and mine Mom. Its... complicated. But no, we're not together. Not like that. Why?"

"Because I planned on taking you away from him tonight," he said it as a simple matter of fact.

Her mouth went dry. He leaned forward and kissed her, unconcerned by the crowd. She froze, her blood roaring in her ears as his lips pressed against hers, soft and hard at the same time. She was breathing hard when he moved away, a small smile playing across his lips.

"Shall we dance?"

She nodded, and got to her feet, a bit too quickly, before he kissed her again and she completely lost her wits. She felt like her insides had melted and settled between her thighs. He laid a hand on her waist and steered her through the crowd to the side of the fire closest to the speakers.

He was an excellent dancer, making up for what she lacked with perfect grace and control. He kept her close to him, one hand splayed across her lower back, the other grasping her hand as he guided her between the other - mostly drunken - dancers. With each turn, she could feel his hips move, ever so slightly, pressing against hers in ways that left no doubt as to his plans for the rest of the evening.

Her knees were weak by the time they left the group of dancers, stopping by the cooler on their way to the shadows at the edge of the fire. They left a beer with Joar Addam, who glanced up and winked at her without missing a note of the tune he was playing. Barid picked up his cloak from where it lay by the tree and wrapped it around both of them in one smooth motion.

He leaned back against the trunk of a tree, pulling her against him. She could feel his breath on the back of her neck and he spoke, "Comfortable?"

She answered him by settling her skirts around her and letting her head fall against his shoulder as she stared into the fire. The stars gleamed above. She could hear the soft notes of Joar Addam's harp winding their way through the louder music from the system.

The breeze carried with it the smell of wood smoke and the sound of laughter. The strength of Barid at her back and the heat from his body combined with the night wrapped her in a sensuous blanket of sights and sounds, sensations and smells. The combination was enticing, and just a bit dangerous.

"Deep thoughts?" he asked.

She realized she had been staring into the fire as if hypnotized. "I could live a thousand years and never have a night more perfect than this one."

He laughed. "The night's just started."

She sighed and leaned back against him. He began gently caressing her thighs through her dress, her hips, moving small circles across whatever he could reach, slowly working her skirts higher onto her hips.

"Barid..."

He pressed a finger to her lips, then spoke softly into her ear, too low for anyone to hear, "I could take you right here, and not one of these fools would even notice."

She felt a rush of heat to her core, and shifted against him, even as her mind rejected the thought. Her body betrayed her. He tilted his head suggestively towards the tent. "Yours?"

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

His eyes shone in the firelight. "One would think you planned this," he teased, standing slowly, and helped her to her feet. The ground seemed to shift beneath her. He kept her pinned to his side as they walked slowly into the darkness.

She unzipped the tent and tripped over the bottom edge as she stepped inside. He closed the door and knelt, looking down at her.

"After tonight, you will never be with another man without seeing my face."

He sounded so sure of himself, she had to laugh. Not mocking, just sheer joy. He knew the difference. He had been telling the truth earlier. The night had only begun.