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Chapter 9: The Box
It was a bright summer's day and the sun shone down warmly on her back as she walked the streets of Caemlyn. She loved Caemlyn, all the high closely bunched houses to the myriads of rushing people. Everyone was busy, going somewhere looking for something. She would not want to live anywhere else. As the wars in the south continued it made her glad to be here in the safety of Andor.
There had been times even in recent months when Andor had not been safe. Still, the Daughter Heir had returned after all and that Gaebril character had been removed. Good riddance in Paula's opinion.
The Dragon had ruled for a while in Camelyn, not that Paula had ever seen Him! She knew enough to leave a man who could channel well enough alone. Still he was getting involved in helping people learn and that could only be a good thing.
Her musing had brought her to her destination: The royal library of Andor. With a nod to the clerk by the door she moved within. This was her haven. It was one of the most vast collections of knowledge in the entire world. Of course there was Tar Valon but one could not compete with Aes Sedai after all! "We are all children compared to them" she mused aloud. Shaking her head to dismiss memories of pots piled high she set aside her shawl and set to work cataloguing book titles and authors in a large ledger. The leather bindings cracked as she opened the heavy book and even these everyday sounds brought a smile to her face. There was no where she would rather be! It seemed ridiculous to her that at one point in her life she had been disappointed to think all she would ever be was a librarian. With a contented smile firmly in place she got to work. Hours had passed before she was disturbed.
"Careful!"
The voice was sharp but constrained to a raised whisper. It was coming from the opposite side of a filled bookshelf. "That cut the Trollocs gave you has not closed yet."
Paula paused in her rapid writing and tilted her head to listen. It had been a woman's voice. She could have sworn she had said 'Trollocs'.
"You do be telling me to be careful do you!" came a man's deeper voice in reply. "You shouldn't be talking at all and words like 'trollocs' do be dangerous words."
The reply was too low for Paula to catch though she was listening intently now. Still she heard the vehemence in it and thought whomever the man was he better take note and back down. So she was doubly surprised when the next thing she heard was a smothered chuckle from the other side of the bookshelf. Quietly she raised herself from her seat. Curiosity had always been a problem with her. She could not count the amount of pots she had scrubbed because of her cursed curiosity. She edged up closer to the books and tried to peak over them and look at the speakers from between the shelves.
"I'm do be glad we are here, that is all" the man was saying. "Nothing seems to have gone right since we entered Lugard. I thought once we were out of Seanchan held lands the problems would disappear but no such luck. Anyway how will we find this box?"
"By finding the woman it was left with," this time Paula did peak through but quickly ducked back because the man's eyes had been turned her way. The woman's voice did sound a little strange accented. But not one that Paula could place.
"How do we do that?" replied the man. "Sit on the floor and repeat 'the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills' until she just turns up. We are not Ta'veren!"
"I have seen her; I'll know her when I see her again."
At that the man subsided and grunted something unintelligible. "You know I am right Dirk. We have discussed it and fought over it over a hundred times these past months. You would not have left the trail if you had not expected yourself to follow it."
She leaned closer her curiosity so aroused she could not pull away. How had the woman seen the person she needed but still be intending to meet her for the first time? What was it that these two companions disagreed about? How had the man 'left himself a trail'? It was fascinating she felt like she was back in white.
Suddenly without warning a hand shot through the books and latched onto her throat. Paula was so shocked she couldn't even let out a squawk, never mind a scream, before her wind pipe was ruthless closed by the forceful grip.
"Don't channel there are Aes Sedai about, enough to cause serious trouble. We aren't ready for that part."
"Not yet" the woman agreed. She had come around the bookcase and seized both of Paula's arms. The arm grasping her neck was presumably that of the man. He was still standing on the other side of the bookcase, with his arm through the shelf over whose books she had been peering. He released her but she had barely drawn breath and he had skirted around the bookcase and was in front of her, a sword now in his hand.
The woman could channel? She had stumbled upon an Aes Sedai deal… oh wait no she hadn't. They said not to channel so that they would not be detected. She did not have the ageless Aes Sedai look either. Still she did not look like one of the Seafolk channelers. What was going on?
"Why were you spying on us?" he asked.
"Another of these… what do you call them Dirk? Shadow Friends?"
"Darkfriends, right" amended the man. His eyes were steely and hard. He looked ready to grind her into the floor with the weight of his look alone. His body was taunt with anticipation, or maybe fear. Every muscle seemed to quiver, ready to strike. Paula almost passed out but held herself together with a calming exercise she had learned in younger days.
"I did not mean to spy and under the Light I am no darkfriend." They did not look like they believed her. "Please listen, I was just curious, this was an accident!"
The man looked like he might have believed her in another life. Behind his eyes there was something integrally kind but his body seemed to have been hardened beyond feeling. His jaw was set and he shook his head. As he did so a key on a thin chain slipped out from under an unwashed shirt. At the same time Paula stirred a long unused part of herself and confirmed that the woman could channel. Quick as a flash the woman's eyes lit and she struck Paula.
"She can channel, I have to shield her!" she snapped, desperately trying to keep her voice low but not being wholly successful.
"Is she strong?" asked the man who seemed to have taken a step back. "She does not look Aes Sedai to me."
"I am not, I was too weak to even become Accepted" blurted Paula. "Please don't kill me, this was just a mistake. I only wanted to see if you could channel."
The woman seemed afraid and angry but the man who had been as cold and deadly as the sea a moment before seemed to be clearing. His face changed and he moved over to her and gently removed the other woman's hands. "If so we are sorry but we have been badly treated by those who have listened in secret. It seems the dark has spies everywhere and we tire of trust."
It was as he said this, his face softening, looking younger; that suddenly a memory was twinged in Paula. It was as he turned from her with that key, loose on the chain around his neck, spinning away from his body before sliding back around to his chest. It was in that moment his face came as it were screaming back into her mind.
"Kye is that you in there? You look so different!"
These simple words had a bizarre effect on her two erstwhile attackers. Suddenly the woman did a double take, and then a triple take. After a few seconds goggling she breathed, "By the Empress' Throne Dirk, it's her! I didn't recognise her at first but it's her!"
The man on the other hand let his sword fall from limp fingers. So suddenly Paula thought he had collapsed he sat down on the floor. His back resting against another bookshelf he put his head in his hands and seemed to be struggling not to cry.
"Who are you?" asked the woman as she moved to Kye's side and squatted down beside him.
"I am Paula al'John" Paula replied. "I am a librarian here."
"Do you have a box with a lock that this man once left in your care? Is it still with you? Still intact?"
"Yes I do. Is it important?"
"A foolish question" replied the woman but her tone was more that of the frustrated parent than the angry customer. "You can see here the importance," she said pointing at the struggling man.
"I told you, that you would care Dirk. Now maybe you will believe me when I tell you that you are a man and not a Gardner!"
An odd sentence to be sure but one Paula understood despite the foreign words. He had thought to leave behind this old life and his feelings and now they were aroused again.
Finally he raised his head. "Can you get the box and bring it here? Please?"
The woman gave him a curious look but he snapped at her and the look vanished. "I have trusted this woman for I don't know how many years with my secrets. We can trust her for five minutes!"
Paula did not answer any of their questions instead she got to her feet and left them immediately. It did not take her long, though it had been years since she had hid it she knew exactly where it was. The once place no one would ever bother to look. The old harvest records. Arriving within minutes of leaving the two she uncovered the box and lifted it. It was not very heavy, though its length made it a little unwieldy. As she returned to them she wondered what Kye had hidden in the box that was so important to him? Important enough to return now and in such secrecy; and unimportant enough to leave with her for four years!
When she returned Kye and the woman were waiting for her. They had replaced the books that Kye had knocked aside when he had reached through the shelves to grab her, though she could see at a glance that they had messed up the careful order. She didn't mention it.
"Here you go," she said laying the box before them. "Do you want me to leave?"
Kye was already on his knees. "No I have trusted you with this and you have proven more than worthy of that trust. You have done everything and even though I did not recognise you and we did treat you harshly you have returned good for evil. You do deserve answers as much as we do."
Pulling the key from around his neck he slid it into the lock and twisted it. It fit perfectly and despite years of disuse the lock clicked open obediently. The hinges squeakily slightly as trembling he opened the lid and removed what was inside.
For a moment he appeared to hold nothing, or rather he seemed to be holding the air itself made somehow solid. Then as he unrolled what he held it became clear that it was some kind of cloth. From within there fell something hard and metal. It landed with a clunk on the floor and rolled slightly. It was a sword. The metal was exquisitely worked. The pommel capped with bees made out of gold and arranged in a diamond shape. The hilt and crossguard were of a piece and oiled leather was wrapped around the grip. The sheath in which the blade currently rested was made of metal but the top was bound in straps of leather with loose attachments that appeared to be for a belt. On one side at the top of the sheath right under where the crossguard would rest was the symbol of nine bees in gold arranged in the same formation as on the pommel of the sword.
Picking up the sheath with a look similar to wonder on his face Kye grasped the hilt. His fingers locked onto it as a man who has fallen from a cliff grabs onto an outcropping to halt his fall. His knuckles whitened as his grip intensified, Paula could almost not resist stroking her neck were he had seized her earlier. In a flash of movement he drew a pristine steel blade. Shining for all that it had not been treated or whetted in four years. He slashed it through the air and smiled apparently pleased with the feel of it once more within his grip.
Re-sheathing the blade he picked up the now fallen, constantly changing, piece of cloth. It was large and thick, and changed its colour to match whatever colour was behind it. Swinging it around his shoulders, he let it settle. It sat well on him, like a cloak. Indeed it was a cloak, as he demonstrated by pulling up the hood.
"What is all this?" murmured the obviously amazed girl.
"Don't you know?" asked Paula surprised.
"No" replied Kye. "Until today, I have only known myself as Dirk and so has she. We have no idea what these things are other than they were mine and I thought them too important to lose. Do you know Paula al'John?"
"Well of course. That's your sword from when you were in the army and your cloak, well… Lots of people recognise the cloaks. There's a few of you in Caemlyn in fact."
"Sorry Paula, but I must beg you to speak plainly!" Kye cut in. "I do not remember, do tell me!"
"Well that's a special cloak and only one set of people wear them. You are one, at least you were and I don't think it's the kind of work you can retire from in the normal way." She paused here and gathered a breath. She hadn't gambled on him not knowing anything when he returned. He had said if he ever came for it have it ready and that he might be a little disorientated that had been all.
"Well when you have to have something said straight, get someone from Andor. You serve the Aes Sedai. You are a Warder!"