My WOT Characters

For a brief moment she considered turning back but then changed her mind. Maybe this was just what she needed. Picking up her step she came up to be beside him. “You don’t appear to be on duty Con… could I buy you a drink?”

Con walked up the street, Stephanos as ever on his shoulder, he needed the solace after the travel. Or rather, he just needed to drink and loosen up. All Tower Guard that had been travelling had been given the day off for which Con was eternally grateful for. He still had alot of memories of what happened in that battle still going through his mind, he had never envisaged it that way. It had been easy to think of them as the enemy as Gray had told him to, but afterwards…

Gray, another man they had lost, Con was angry with himself, he had been unable to find his friend’s body amongst the field of corpses. He could still see Gray, carving a path out around himself before being pulled under by the sheer weight and numbers of those that had surrounded him. He really needed a drink, and to loosen up. The brush with death hadn’t helped.

As he walked, Con realised someone was next to him and as he turned and heard the voice, he knew exactly who. Telcia Sedai, the last person he wanted to see… or was it? Con’s automatic reaction was to tell her no and to leave him alone, but he stopped himself from doing it. Ever since that battle… Well, the feelings had been confused, Telcia Sedai had brought him back, barely, long enough to get some decent healing. He had thought he was dead on that field, alone with only the corpses of friend and foe about him. Perhaps he had been too harsh, perhaps he had judged too quickly… If nothing else, the least he could do was be gracious, and it wasn’t as if he was the only one to make sacrifices, it was Telcia Sedai who had to help shield her own kin.

“No.” Con let that hang in the air for a moment. “But perhaps I be buying you one, it be the least I be able to do.” No matter what, Con still couldn’t bring himself to accept what Telcia Sedai would offer… Even though she’d given him his life back, which was the most precious gift anyone could have offered.

“That sounds fine to me. My moth-” Telcia cut herself off. She really didn’t want to think of Theodosia now. “Well, its just not good to drink alone. Or so I’m told.” Telcia will walk silently beside Con for a ways. Thinking about many things. About her family, about Iussi, about Esteban and about her duty to the Tower. So many things had changed since the trip to Arad Doman began… now it felt like she was someone different than she was when she left. It scared Telcia somehow. “Do you have a favorite place to drink at? I’m sort of hungry too so it would be nice if they had food wherever we went but… its okay if not. I’ve drank before on an empty stomach. I’ll just have to limit myself.” Telcia knew how easily she got tipsy. People suggested it was due to her size but Telcia hated that thought and so she pushed it away.

Con listened as Telcia Sedai spoke politely, and out of habit fell half a step behind her. He had been heading to the [I]traveller’s stay[/I], a decent plus run by one of his former Captain’s in the civil watch, Taylor welcomed the rare visits of Aes Sedai to his inn so that would be no problem. All the way out near Osenrein gate. “[I]Traveller’s stay[/I] be a decent place and we be able to be getting some food as well. No be too rowdy either, that be where I was heading anyway. You be right, drinking no be good without company.” He had planned to simply drink with Taylor, but that could wait later.

“Busy day for you too?” Telcia was trying to make conversation that wouldn’t upset Con. She knew how touch and go any kindness between them had been and she sincerely wanted to spend a nice evening with him… to be honest she sincerely wanted to know if there was any chance the two of them could sit together in a civil manner when not ordered to do so.

“Tower Guard be debriefing, and we be having to offload the ashes of our fellow guard. It no be the best day I be having, every single urn be more than a name, the urn and some ash.” Con knew them all by sight and name, and talked with them at least once or twice on the wall depending on the duties he had. Not close friends, but still people he had known he could depend and rely on, each one of them brought back in an urn because they couldn’t afford the time that would be required to transport them as bodies, nor could they preserve the bodies long enough. It had been grim work.

“After that we be given the day off after everything else be taken care of. Just be making sure those that be left of the men under me be settled down. Too many be lost.”

“I’ll have to speak with Alin about who they all were. I think I’ll light a candle for them and pray for their return to this world in the next turning.” Telcia will sigh. “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to make you think on sad things. Maybe we could talk about something else if you want to. To be honest sometimes it makes me feel better to talk to someone when I’m down Arie and I -” Telcia cut off at the mention of her mentor who had been stilled. Closing her eyes she took a breath and continued. “we use to talk about things all the time. When I first got here to the Tower she really made things easier on me.” Telcia will look at the ground as they walk, her eyes glazing over as she plays through the memories of seeing Daemon weap and scream, of seeing Arie disappear into the mob of people… running away from her and her Sisters – her family.

Con shrugged at her as they walked, while it wasn’t strictly the most polite thing to do, he was simply too weary to care. As they walked Con saw the inn come into sight, a modest place yet it maintained a good hearth. Walking up the steps and getting the door for Telcia Sedai, he waited for her to go through first before following. “Telcia Sedai, if you could be finding a table somewhere, I just be speaking to the innkeeper and be getting something to drink. What do you be wanting?”

“Something to eat, maybe a stew or something. And to drink…” Telcia will wave her hand. “If its strong I’ll take whatever you’re having. If its not… get whatever the keep would call strong in a big glass. Thanks Con.” Telcia will make her way through the room to a small unassuming table near the fireplace. She put her back to it so to warm up. She had yet to get completely rid of the chill that had set in on her after Arie disappeared and so it felt good to have the warmth there.

Letting Telcia Sedai pick a table, Con wandered over to the bar where Taylor was talking idly to a couple of regulars. Leaning on the bartop, Con rapped his knuckles slightly to get Taylor’s attention, since Con knew that Taylor hated it when someone did that. Smiling at Taylor’s surprise then grin, he shared a laugh with the man as they exchanged an arm clasp.

“Con, I was wondering when you’d get back. I heard they buried alot of boys out in Arad Doman, was afraid that you were one of them and I’m glad to see you weren’t.”

“I nearly be. That Aes Sedai there, she be managing to be pulling me back from the Lord of the Grave though. Be able to be getting a couple of stews and two tankards of the best ale you be having? I also be having a package to be sent.”

“Sure, just come around the bar and put the package where they usually go. I’ll go get you your things.” As Taylor disappeared into the kitchens for a few moments, Con went around behind the bar, Stephanos somewhat glad to be back in familiar surroundings but Con more intent on his purpose. Finding the cabinet, Con took out the small brown package from underneath the cloak he’d been wearing and slipped it into the cupboard with a few other items that Taylor handled here and there.

As he closed it, Taylor came out balancing bowls on his arms and holding two tankards. Relieving Taylor of the bowls, Con headed over to where Telcia Sedai was, sitting close to the fire and the walls, a rather good choice actually, not in the middle with too many people nearby. Placing a bowl with it’s spoon and fork infront of Telcia Sedai, Con sat down even as Taylor placed the tankards down for them both and after greeting Telcia Sedai by name, left the pair of them alone to tend his bar once more. Con should have known that Taylor would recognise any Aes Sedai by sight.

Telcia took a long deep breath inhaling the scent of the stew. Her mouth watered and had she been alone she would have been shoveling it into her as fast as the spoon could reach her lips… but not in public. Picking up the spoon she stirred it a bit to let it cool. Her stomach growled and she blushed. “I guess I waited too long to eat today.” Telcia will chuckle.

“This is a nice place Con. You come here often?”

Con was somewhat aware of Telcia Sedai’s stomach rumbling yet she wasn’t eating. Con had no such problems and was already helping himself, elbows on the table and stooped forward somewhat, every single lesson she had taught him about etiquette gone out the window nearly. As he caught her question, Con waited for a moment and swallowed before answering however.

“I be here on patrol and once in awhile, be coming with one or two other Tower Guard. The man that be bringing over the ale, that be Taylor, be a Captain of the southern quarter with the civil watch and be my old boss as such. The civil watch be paying extra attention to this place, so there be little to no trouble at all, rather peaceful when it be compared to… Some of the taverns that be on the south harbour.”

Telcia took a spoon full of stew and put it into her mouth. The meat melting softly as if it had been simmering all day. Chewing it and swallowing she spoke, “I know what you mean. Some are a bit … rowdy. Still, to each his own I suppose.” Telcia was trying to think of things to say but it was so hard to know what would make Con angry… especially after everything they’d been through. It was odd walking so carefully through a conversation with someone. Not since Liselle had she done that. Wow… there was someone she hadn’t thought of in a long while – Liselle. How she use to worry about that woman and now, was she no longer an issue? She’d had the largest role to play in her arches and those still scared her. So why had she not thought of Liselle in a long time? Perhaps she had changed quite a bit.

“Well, in a way its good to be back in Tar Valon I suppose. Something that’s a bit more certain. Perhaps I’ll take some time to relax and speak with my mintee… see her get raised to the Shawl, the Light willing and then… maybe another trip to Cairhien.” Telcia wondered if Con would come with her. There was an odd thought. Why would she take him to her brother’s? Surely now House Teobon would accept her and her brother would too, sending guards for an heiress and all honors. Still… Con had saved her life. Perhaps that was why she hoped he’d come with her despite her seemingly amazing inability to speak to him like a normal person – without fear.

Con nodded before sipping on his ale, light but it felt good to have a decent meal infront of him with a chair to sit on. Travelling, especially with speed, had not been one of his better forays out into the world. Especially since they had to move fast to ensure they weren’t caught by any followers of the False Dragon trying to release him, that happened occasionally, or so the Red Sisters had said. Telcia Sedai seemed to be wearing some of her Aes Sedai face again, which annoyed him slightly, but he was too weary to worry about it, food was more important. As she mentioned a trip to Cairhien, that sparked his interest somewhat, he’d been there before… unofficially.

“Cairhien be a dangerous place and behind all the colours that be on the streets, there be daggers and all sorts of weapons. They be playing their own games, you’d be doing well to be taking a Tower Guard escort with you.”

“I was thinking of that. I sure my brother would see to my safety but frankly some guards might be best to come along with me considering the last time I was there poor Daemon Gaidin met up with something in the way of what you and Esteban did on the road to the Nalemar Manse. That one was waiting for me in my bed chambers though and luckily it was Daemon who went their before me. Fools even tried again while I was out falconine with Skechid.” Telcia will take another bite of her stew shaking off the tightness in her face.

“However… I can’t see anything of that particular sort happening again. Especially once my business there is done. They’ll see I kept my word and all will be right with them at last and our deal will be complete.” Another bite, this one a little bigger than the last.

Con smiled slightly but shook his head, he had once been naive but he’d developed quite a sense of cynicism ever since the battle. “I be thinking you may be wishing Telcia Sedai. Cairhienin be playing games to be getting every little advantage they be able to get. If they be seeing it possible to be getting to you with advantage and no be getting caught, they be more than capable of doing it. That and their house be having enemies, be killing you and no being caught be to their advantage as well. No be able to trust that many people outside Tar Valon.”

“Perhaps you’re right Con and few people here do I number so close as to trust being so near to me when dealing with things of a sensitive nature. I’m afraid not a lot of people care to take the time to get to know a Red Sister, something I expected when I was raised but you never really get use to.” Telcia will take a deep drink of her mug and smile as she sets it down.

“That is some fine drink. I will have to remember to be back here again. I don’t think I’ve had such a smooth drink since…” Telcia will think a moment. “Ah, yes. Camelyn. Light but that was a while ago.” Telcia will dig into her stew more for a time thinking on her last trip out of the Tower compared to her trip to Cairhien.

“What do you do for fun Con? I mean really… I know you work a great deal but do you ever come dancing or … dicing or anything like that? I know a good deal of the guards and Gaidin do. I see them often in the Town.”

Con finished off the last of his stew as he thought of a response to Telcia Sedai’s question. “I be… Well…” Con struggled with it, not so much that he didn’t want Telcia Sedai to know, he was beyond caring about that when it came to Telcia Sedai, she’d saved his life so it was no longer really a concern. Rather, it was he was genuinely stumped by the question. “I be training I suppose, sometimes be sharing a hot cider with a few good friends when I be having a moment free, or be working on patience. Be sitting in the Ogier Grove, relaxing for awhile by myself.”

“The grove is nice. I like going there and sometimes the Keeper and I go to the spa together. Arie use to take me fishing… though I’d never bait my own hook… not since Melanie told me about those worms and their teeth.” Telcia will chuckle. “I know they don’t have teeth but I just can’t feel good about putting them on the hook. Light but those were fun days. We had this street artist do a picture of us once… I still have it in my room.” Telcia will take another long draught of her glass and set it down to rub the bridge of her nose. Light but the brew was good.

Con nodded “memories of old things, they be seeming so far back compared to now do they be?” Con certainly felt that way, he could still remember when he and his sister along with their family and relatives had run free on the docks, when he and his twin had been inseperable, they had been one person. Con had been the muscle while Mia the speed, skill and brains. It had been so difficult to become two seperate people, two truly seperate people, and not nearly as fun filled. His worries in those days seemed so small in comparison to now.

“Too old. I use to think that living so long was going to a great thing. I’m not so sure of that anymore. Sure I have all the time in the world to do the things I wanted, to help people… but there is a part of it you just don’t think about when you’re young and stepping your feet on the path to the Tower for the first time. All you see is the ivory tower, how big it is, how amazing the women look in their shawls standing confident with pride and power. You see Gaidin in their shining armor and you think to yourself… ‘This is going to be a grand adventure… no matter what I left behind, no matter what lays ahead of me… this is going to be great.’ But you just don’t know.” Telcia will take another couple bites of her stew, a bit quicker this time, seemingly becoming a lot more relaxed.

“Sometimes I just wish we Sedai had the power to go back in time. I’d go back and Light but what I’d tell myself then about what I know now.” Telcia will shake her head. “I think Arad Doman woke me up Con. Something happened to me there… Nothing feels like it did before I left but I don’t think anything really has changed… has it?”

Telcia nodded. “It scared me.” Telcia will whisper. “I’ve rarely been so scared in all my life Con.” Telcia’s whisper seem cracked with pain. “Light, it all makes me so angry… all of it.” Telcia will shake her head thinking of how the Reds had gone off with all those boys in armor to fight for the Light… to save humanity from the danger of another breaking at the hands of a male channeler… her nephew… only to come home and find that the Tower had used their absence as a chance to pass new policies that would keep future males from being put out of their miserable state of madness and decay. It made her sick. She wanted to spit over it all. Karana, and all the others had used them. While they were dying the Tower was ploting and politicing… Karana had no idea what she’d done. Telcia suspected she never even saw the ashes of those who died… nor could she really care. She wasn’t there to hear them screaming and dying on the battlefield even after the battle was done. Each praying a Sedai would come to heal them when the truth was the bulk of the Sisters needed to keep the boy shielded. How many had died alone on the cold ground knowing that a Sister would save them. How many pictured that Sister to be her? Telcia shuddered.

“Somethings about my life turn my stomach more than others… that’s for sure.” Telcia will take a deep drink that will nearly empty the glass. The obvious signs of light headedness now seeming to come into the way she held herself. The sheild of Aes Sedai calm lost with her latest string of thoughts and bits of anger. Her eyes blue eyes hazed over with a look of happy buzz but tinged with the anger she was feeling now. “Its just not right. It just isn’t Con. What can we do? What can I do? I want to make it right and believe me I’m going to try to get them to change their minds but I just don’t know. You’re sensible and forth right… what do you think we need to do?”

Con looked at Telcia Sedai and nodded as she mentioned being scared, light he might have been incapacitated if not for the flame and the void as they charged. He’d been on the outside of the wedge, then right near the point, pulled off his horse. There were no songs to be heard in battle, only savage fighting with no quarter being given so none could be returned. As she continued, Con found himself thinking that Telcia Sedai’s mind had drifted onto another topic.

As he watched and listened, he watched her face lose some of it’s Aes Sedai calm, seeing something far more real beneath. This time he could be sure it was real, liquor tended to be more honest than people ever gave it credit for. As she asked his opinion though, Con found himself caught in an impasse, wondering whether she was asking for his help on one thing or another, and decided to answer both.

“There be nothing we be doing about the dead. Once they be gone, their thread is cut, to be rewoven another time, pattern weaves as the pattern wills. I be thinking you be asking about something else though, what be troubling you?”

Telcia will blink a bit… and realize she was speaking about something different than Con and that it was a topic best not heard in a tavern… best not spoke about anywhere. “I trust you Con, with my life I trust you but this is not the place to speak of such a thing. Maybe I am needing some air anyway. Would you walk with me?”

Con nodded at Telcia Sedai, finishing the last of his ale off before standing and putting his chair in behind him. Taylor would collect what was left on the table so that was not a consideration. “No be worrying about paying, it all be taken care of.” Walking to the door with Telcia Sedai, he opened the door for her before following after her, closing the door behind him gently before following her lead, wherever she chose to walk on the streets of Tar Valon.

Telcia took a deep breath of the night air and tried to let it clear her head. She really was no good at drinking when it came right down too it. It was good Con was with her. Telcia looped her arm in Con’s in a polite and respectfully distant manner… enough to give her balance should she stumble and close enough to keep most people away from hearing their conversation.

“I’m worried more about the living than the dead Con. I pity the dead… I hate the fact that so many of those boys died while we were shielding my nephew. I sometimes think I can hear them yelling for us Sedai still…” Telcia will shake her head, her voice nothing but a soft husky whisper laced with her true emotions instead of anything faked as her station would call for.

“The Hall of the Tower gathered while we were in Arad Doman…” Telcia will lead Con down by the water considering her words as her eyes scan the ground for something unknown.

“While all those people were dying… while we were putting our lives on the line… while Arie was burning herself out to save people they were back here plotting like political benefit was all this whole event was. I can understand needing to take advantages where matters of state and simple decrees are involved but this… this is wrong.” Telcia will shake her head.

“All they saw was the Red Sitters all gone, none to nay say their little plan… I’ll tell you what it was… they had a mad idea and the one time we weren’t their to remind them of what we are and why we do it, they run off and do something fool like this all in the name of learning. BAH! Learning burn in the Pit of Doom for all I care! We’re talking about lives of people here not… not… not some bloody text book.” Telcia will shake her head.

“You know they rot don’t you? Flesh on their bones, it rots right off them if its let go too long. First time I read about it I sicked up all over the floor in my room. Had to throw out the carpet the bloody smell was so bad.” Telcia’s language was now begining to show signs of her state as well. “They go mad and do you think they ask for it – no. They’re just men, in some cases boys, with families, and homes, and plans… Light they don’t want it. They don’t ask for it!” Telcia will shake her head again.

“I’m ashamed of all of them for this. Ashamed they’d even consider it or bring it up. They’ve all gone mad. Its cruel to leave a man shielded just to document his powers and the trip into madness. Of course I’m scared of Tarmon Gaidon. What fool wouldn’t be. Of course I know the signs say that it will happen soon … but does that mean I’m ready to become… cruel to anyone just to learn what MIGHT come? No. Last time I checked we’re suppose to be about protecting the people of the world, not condemning them to something… inhuman. People think we Reds do what we do because we like it or hate men… Light that is such bulldung! You know the Reds study those boys more than anyone else after their gentled? Light the other Sisters can’t get far enough away from them… like its catching or something. We Reds stay by them even when the Yellows gave it up as hopeless… and the men who are gentled… they hate US most of all. But we understand you see… we know. You read just one of those accounts penned by a Red and you’ll know. And the bloody Hall decides its a good idea to just… to just shield them in the Tower!”

“If for no other reason than safety of the Sisters and girls and the guard you’d think they’d see the foolishness in it… but no. So long as they don’t call themselves Dragon they’ll be ’sheilded, studied, and then … if the Tower can… returned to society.’ Like that could happen! Society doesn’t accept the Tower how would they accept a male channeler sent to them by us? They won’t, they won’t I tell you – mark my words. Cruel… inhuman… that’s all it is. I’m going to do everything in my power to have it over turned. That’s what I’m going to do. Everything I can do.” Telcia will mutter a few more things and then enter back into thought and silence again.

Con was surprised that Telcia Sedai had taken his arm, he had forgotten to put it out for her but she’d grabbed it anyway but as he watched, he saw that she was looking about to make sure no one else was about, it was to make sure no one heard it seemed. She was soft to the touch, far cry from how he’d ever seen her before, and why was he thinking that of her, of all the things he could think of her?

What did anger him was that this political thing had been done, had they no respect for the dead? Con did not like the idea that his fellow Tower Guard had died just for this False Dragon to be treated as an… Intellectual curiosity. As it went on further, he could understand why Telcia Sedai’s language was slipping and why she’d needed to drink, it had been done directly behind their backs when it suited others most. On the otherhand, he could see that there might be a need to study them, but in the Tower itself was madness, and even elsewhere, it was simply too dangerous.

Con was quite aware of what happened to male channelers, that was something they had learnt during their training on the chance they were picked to accompany the Red Ajah on one of their trips. That thought was put aside as he heard Telcia Sedai rage about how the Red Sisters were looked down on so. Con had to admit, he had not held them in high opinion, especially when he first met the Sister on his arm, but Arad Doman… Many things had changed.

“You be wanting to know what I be thinking? I be thinking you be needing to working together. Hall be made of sisters of other Ajahs, be going after each one, one at a time. Isolate and convince, then be moving to next sister. Be using one you convince to be convincing others in turn of same Ajah. That be sounding like the way to be doing it, to be convincing the Hall to be putting aside their…. plan.”

Telcia will pause and look up at Con, her blue eyes meeting his. For a moment she studied the moon reflecting in them, it seemed to be dancing. Telcia smiled but she wanted to giggle. Why hadn’t she noticed how nice Con was before this moment? “You’re right. A good plan.” Telcia will nod slowly.

“I think you’re going to make a wonderful Gaidin one day. You listen well and you have a keen mind, and you’re not afraid to tell a woman when she’s making a mistake. Some of us Sisters need that more often than we’d like to admit.” Telcia will chuckle knowing she was speaking about herself a bit. “Thank you for coming with me. I was going mad up there in the Tower all alone.”

Con peered into Telcia Sedai’s eyes without blinking, the smile that came to her face was one that was in her eyes as well, real. He wondered idly why she looked upon him so, he had been quite sure that all her politeness and such before had merely been a veneer of etiquette that had shielded him from a spite that she had of him for ever accusing her of being responsible for the novice’s death, when it had really been him for leaving the vine…

Con couldn’t help but smile slightly as she said he’d be a good gaidin someday, a smile tinged with sadness because he knew that would never be the case. His mind was not keen, he was too common to be afraid of telling a woman she was making a mistake and now he’d earnt his right to do so after nearly dying on the battlefield. He was surprised that Telcia Sedai had been going mad however. Something came to him though, something that he’d always been wanting to find out about, but no one seemed to talk about it, no one he knew anyway.

“It be the least I could be doing, you be bringing me back from the grave after all. I be having a question though, something that I be thinking about for sometime. I be hearing that something be happening to you before you be Aes Sedai. I be told you be suffering, and you be hinting at it, others be hinting at it, but no one be telling me what be truly the case. If you no be wishing me to be knowing, then I no be asking further.”

Telcia looked down briefly and then back up again. “We’re even you and I. You saved me and I you. Its what friends do, if I can call you that?” Telcia hoped so. She’d been all wrong about Con and so scared to admit her own flaws that she hated him for doing it for her. “As for what happened… I’m surprised you didn’t here. I know of few times that Tar Valon’s gates were so heavily regulated by the order of the Amyrlin herself. Not a wagon or lone man left the city without being completely riffled through or … well … you are young. Perhaps you were not here yet. I suppose I sometimes forget how old I am.” Telcia will make a half hearted chuckle.

“It was the day I decided to announce to everyone I was aspiring to the Brown Ajah. I’d told Arette Sedai in secret of it but no one else and I had asked some friends and my mentor and her Gaidin to meet me for dinner… a good thing I did too or I’d might be dead. I went into town to pick up some sweets for the desert and some other things and I met a man. To be honest I was sweet on Esteban then, I meant to bond him in those days but when I met this guy it was like a gleeman’s tale walking. Here I was ready to be raised and this handsome swordsman from Arad Doman meets me on the streets and begins to woo me. I was a young girl… nieve at the time. He begged me to go to lunch with him and in the end I conceeded to tea but only because he told me he was coming to train as a warder. I figured anyone who said they were meaning to be Gaidin had to be trustworthy and what harm could their be in the shadow of the white tower.” Telcia will pause a moment before going on. Images flashing across the back of her eyes, a tremble not from the cool night air will ripple through her body.

“The tea was mint, that’s what he said but forkroot tastes like mint you see… Its an herb that … well it makes women unable to do anything, move, speak, or channel. I drank it all down and he packaged me up. My father hired him to kill me but apparently he had other ideas for me first.” Telcia will look at the ground unable to meet Con’s eyes as she continues.

“He ravaged me in an inn some distance away from where he took me his prisoner. All hours before anyone would know I was gone. When he left me there in the bed all bloody and scared the root began to wear off. I guess he’d gone out to get a dress to replace the Accepted’s gown he cut off me. Anyway… I tried to fight back, I even bit him but I still wasn’t able to channel. I gagged alot on the next dose and he made sure I wasn’t going to move again. He broke a lot of bones…” Telcia’s voice will trail off tears rolling down her cheeks as she looks at the ground… obviously the alchol loosening her tongue.

“He carried me out to leave the city but by nightfall when we tried to leave the Amyrlin had closed the gates and guard were all over. So he took me to another Inn trying to avoid capture. He chose the wrong inn… some of my Aunt’s informants work there and well… they caught him. It was a pretty bad fight cause he caught Arie off guard and ran her through… my Aunt Muirenn she couldn’t heal well so Arie had to be run back to the Tower. They thought she might die. Muirenn took the man and gave him to the guard… I never saw him again.” Telcia’s voice will fade off again her silent tears still flowing.

Con was shocked to say the least as he listened on. He had never thought much of Telcia Sedai, that much was certain, even after she’d saved him, he had still struggled with the idea of her, in some ways he had wished he had died instead of being saved by her. But to listen to… Light. He had thought her to be some sheltered woman who’d never known what real pain was, when in fact she had experienced perhaps the worst pain of all.

He was even more shocked when he heard that not only had the man been able to do this, he’d then been able to run Arie Sedai through, the same woman who had sacrificed herself for some of the Tower Guard, Tower Guard that he was responsible for getting into that mess. What had amazed him most were the tears being shed. He had seen her cry before, but they had been arguing, he had never given them any credence, he had never wanted to care. Yet now he found he was, perhaps being pulled back from the grave by a woman did that to a man’s sense of what he believed to be true about people.

He had misjudged, Con knew that now, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, it was his fault alone about the vines. He had chosen not to act, he could have prevented it, blaming it on Telcia Sedai had been his way of averting the blame. In the end, his lack of action, or his choice of the wrong action, led to his current woes, and he was wrong to try and offload them upon the woman next to him who had been through things he realised he could not, nor would not, wish to truly understand.

Con knew what street they were on, he knew what it was like where they were, it was quiet and no one was about. Carefully looking into her eyes, filled with hurt, and the tears, Con found himself doing something by reflex like he did with his twin, or had. Lifting a callused hand to her cheeks, he brushed her tears away gently before hugging her gently giving her a shoulder to cry on as he spoke.

“I be sorry. I be judging you from one mistake that truly be mine, and be blaming it upon you when the fault be mine all along. I be once thinking that you be a serpent when you truly be wounded. I be asking for your forgiveness.”

“Oh Con…” She sobbed into his shoulder. “I forgive you if you forgive me for being a spoiled brat. You were right to say those things about me. I did grow up with everything at my finger tips… I can’t possibly understand what its like to be you and I have no right to think I can reach out and make men what they don’t want to be and what they aren’t. Light… I was a fool and you were right. I was stubborn because of how angry I was with you… I hated what happened to Melanie and I…” Telcia’s body was racked with shudders as she began to cry harder.

“They’re… all… dying… I’m going to be alone Con… all alone and my power will mean nothing!” Telcia clutched onto Con more. “I’ve made a … horrible mistake… Light … save us… its going to be … my fault.” Telcia’s face burried into Con’s shoulder and as her skin pressed in the crux of his neck and sholder she muttered the names – “Jelene… Melanie… Arie… Arette…” softly.

Con had not been expecting this, of all things he had never expected to see Telcia Sedai so broken, so lost. He’d seen her cry before, but that had been partly rage and frustration more than anything else, this was… sadness. Not how the word was so easily used to describe anything, but sadness in it’s most evocative meaning. He couldn’t ever remember coming across the emotion so… Hopeless, that was what it was, a sense of being hopeless, unable to see something better, how well he knew that feeling.

Con whispered in Telcia Sedai’s ear as she named Arette, the Keeper, strange, she was not lost yet. “We no be picking our time, but when it be up, our thread be cut and nothing be stopping what the wheel be weaving for us. That be our fate, but remember that you no be alone. I be here while I be, and when I be gone, there be others. You be having other Red sisters surely, younger that will be mourning you when you be passing away, that be the fate of all people, it simply be a longer burden for Aes Sedai. Whatever problems that once be between us, be putting them aside. We be starting anew, ok?”

Telcia pulled her face off Con and looked him in the eyes, her lip quivering. “Say you’ll come with me to Cairhien, no matter what. When I want to go we’ll go. I don’t want to ask anyone else… I trust you. Please… when I want to go, we’ll go?” Telcia tried to calm herself but it was hard. She hadn’t broken down like this.. not the whole of the terrible tiring trip to Arad Doman and back. She was exhausted and this moment… she needed this some how more than even she cared to admit. Even after Melanie’s death she hadn’t felt so alone as she had tonight and now Con was here and that helped some.

Con looked into Telcia Sedai’s eyes for a moment, then nodded. “If you be needing me and I be here, then I no be failing you.” Con didn’t offer an oath, but he didn’t need to and she knew that. If he said he’d do something he would do it with no need to be compelled by some obligation. As he looked into her eyes though, Con changed his mind and decided to, she seemed to need it. “I be giving you my oath under the light and being a Tower Guard.”

Hearing him say that made her smile. For some reason it seemed if Con had an oath he’d made, he’d fight the Dark One himself to follow through with it … and likely win. Putting her hands on either side of his cheeks Telcia pulled Con’s head down and kissed his forehead softly. “Thank you…” her voice still trembled a small bit. “Can we… would you take me back to the Tower now. I should clean up and get some sleep. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.” Telcia let out the last of her held in air in a long sigh.

Con nodded slightly and said nothing more, finding this whole encounter to have been somewhat… unreal? Before they had gone to share a meal together, he would have still thought of her as someone he disliked, someone he had once nearly hated though to be honest, he’d been struggling with that the entire way back. That kiss had sealed it however, that past was gone, Telcia Sedai a foe turned friend? It would take getting used to, but he would try. Their arms interlocked, they made their way back to the White Tower slowly. No longer bitter foes, perhaps not the closest of friends yet, but they had at least taken a first step.