ALTERNATE ENDING - Epilogue Part VIII - The World Moves On
51 ATG
Fortuona sat on the palanquin as it was carried through the gateway. Of course riding a palanquin befitted her status, but she had to admit that these days her age meant that it could be something of a relief too. She tried to keep in shape, but it was inevitable that her body was slowing down as she entered her seventies.
She felt every year of her age when she thought about the state of the Empire. It was not as large as it had been, several peripheral provinces had been outside central control for more than a decade and almost everywhere in the Empire the bandits and terrorists of the Damane Liberation Front caused problems.
The da'covale bearing her palanquin set her down. They were well trained, not even grunting from the effort, and she stepped from it, looking over her favourite summer retreat. At least now she could have a few days of peace before she had to return to Seandar and keep trying to hold the Empire together.
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Somith felt more than uncomfortable in the sheer clothing of one of the Seanchan Empress' da'covale. Another example of the degeneracy of Seanchan morals. Slavery and rape bundled together. It didn't stop her from doing her job though. As soon as the signal came that the Empress was settled in her reception room and the da'covale were to return to their duties she straightened out of her prostrated position on the floor and hurried away, ignoring a lecherous look from one of the guards that had accompanied Fortuona.
She rushed through the corridors, looking like she'd been given an urgent task. In a way she had. There. She turned into a small room and glanced around. She was clear. With a flex of the Power she tore up the floor to reveal a bundle of clothes and a carved stone cube. Thank the Light she'd able to get out of this ridiculous dress too!
She picked up the cube and spun spirit into it just so. For a second nothing happened and then a wave of… something shot out. She didn't feel saidar, just a brief wave of nausea, but she knew that the wards over the summer palace, every tied off web in fact, would have just vanished. She hurriedly divested herself of her da'covale clothing and pulled on the clothes that had been with the ter'angreal. As she donned the unadorned black breeches and tunic she respun and tied off the webs concealing her channeling. Finally, she pulled the hood and mask over her head, leaving only her eyes clear. Then she was spinning a gateway to join the others, they should be arriving any second now that the wards were down.
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Fire flashed down the corridor, Somith sliced it and Raedran leapt through his own gateway, slicing through the damane with his sword and sending a crackling ball of energy past her at the same time, to detonate on some unseen enemy.
The first thing they'd done was spin their own anti-Traveling wards, nothing huge, they weren't defensive, just there to make sure that the target couldn't escape and then they'd been moving. The five of them fighting in perfect, long practiced synchronisation as they ran through the palace corridors.
A pair of damane started to spin attacks at Somith and were slammed into a wall by Florin before they could finish their webs. They hadn't even seen him. Keep the enemy reacting, strike hard and strike fast. That was the fundamental principle of their tactics.
Within minutes of bringing the wards down they were at the doors to Fortuona's main reception room, the guards on the doors dead the moment they saw them. They didn't even hesitate. Florin and Somith took up position by the doors. The other three, slightly further back.
Somith spun saidar and the doors collapsed with a crunch. Florin sent fire spiralling into the room and the other three Traveled straight through the gap.
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Fortuona watched aghast as the five black-clad marath'damane simply executed her guards and damane. She called it an execution, because that was what it felt like, the speed and coordination they showed meant that the damane and Deathwatch Guards had as much chance of fighting them off as a small child would a grown man.
Then it was just her and them. So this was how she would die. Perhaps it was for the best, she really was very tired. She nodded to them and braced herself, ready to die with dignity.
Her resigned peace of mind was shattered when one of the walls exploded inwards. The black clad figures whirled to face the small group of men and women that burst through. For a moment Fortuona thought she had been saved and then she realised, no it was… ridiculous.
The newcomers were dressed in clothes of servants and soldiers of the Empire, but each of them had a grey mask across their face. The mark of the Damane Liberation Front. She started to laugh at the madness of it. Two groups of assassins. Both falling over each other. If she was incredibly lucky, they might kill each other, but no, she doubted she would be that lucky. The pattern was no longer favouring the Seanchan Empire.
One of the black clad figures spoke first. A man. "Are you here for her?" He tilted his head at Fortuona and she bristled at being talked about so dismissively, her laughter dying in her throat. His accent was pure Westlands. A shot of rage went through her, so they had been involved! Of course she had always believed they had been. They had denied any involvement in Seanchan's troubles, obviously, but that meant nothing. The true irritation had been that her seekers had never been able to find any evidence of it.
"Yes, you?" A woman's voice, she had a proper Seanchan accent.
The man chuckled. "Oh yes. Damane Liberation Front?"
"Mmhmm. You?"
"You might call us an interested party, if you want her, she's all yours, but we're on a schedule. If you want to do the business we'll be gone."
"Ah." Realisation seemed to dawn on the woman leading the Damane Liberation Front contingent. Such a ridiculous name. As if good damane even wanted to be liberated. Traitors too short sighted to see the damage they did to the world, every single one of them. "I understand completely." She gave a low bow. "I'd thank you for your help, but of course you were never here."
Fortuona could hear the amusement in the black-clad man's voice. "Exactly, please do take all the credit."
She wished they would just get on wit…
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Extract from The Rise and Fall of the Seanchan Empire - 1298 ATG
While the death of Empress Fortuona in 51 ATG did not bring about the end of the Seanchan Empire, there is no doubt that it hastened the slow collapse that had begun almost immediately after the Last Battle. After Fortuona there were to be only three more true Empresses as what was left of the imperial family descended into vicious infighting.
With the tendency of the Seanchan royals towards internecine warfare, it can sometimes be hard to tell who killed which of them. However, it is generally accepted that the Damane Liberation Front were responsible for Fortuona's death, although there are some suggestions that it was the result of a Hall black ops team. Her successor Karael's reign lasted only six months and it is thought that she was assassinated by her own successor Loaena (although the death was certainly arranged to make it look like another assassination by the Damane Liberation Front).
Loaena lasted a further year and a half before she in turn was assassinated. It is believed that this was the action of restive lords, dissatisfied with her leadership; however, the evidence is sparse. She was replaced by the final true Empress of Seanchan, Jinarae.
Jinarae quickly became renowned for her ruthlessness and was able to bring the Empire back from the brink it had reached following Fortuona's death, driving the Damane Liberation Front's operations back to the periphery of the Empire and forcing rebellious nobles back into the orbit of the Crystal Throne.
While she was without a doubt a competent woman, she was also well known for her brutality, ordering horrific reprisals for attacks by the Damane Liberation Front and in one case having the entire population of a small city put to death for not immediately surrendering.
Her reign came to an end, like her three predecessors, at the hands of an assassin in 63 ATG. Of course for the previous ten years of her reign there had been numerous attempts on her, but she proved very difficult to kill and her successful efforts against the Damane Liberation Front and Seanchan nobility meant that by 63 ATG the attempts on her lfie were becoming rare. This changed when somebody (most likely the Damane Liberation Front) managed to slip an individual claiming the now famous and arguably over-used identity of 'Saela' past her guards.
Following Jinarae's death, the Empire split between rival Empresses (hence the description of Jinarae as the last true Empress of Seanchan). This is not generally seen as the very end of the Seanchan Empire because each faction kept to its laws and traditions and claimed to be the legitimate ruler of the whole Empire. However, at that point the writing was on the wall and it was only a matter of time until the Empire's final collapse and the rise of the Seanchan People's Confederation from its ashes.
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1,456 ATG - The Trakand Summer Palace
"In 55 ATG after forty years of rule during which Andor had prospered, transforming itself into a far wealthier, more populous, partial democracy, Queen Elayne abdicated the throne, showing that she truly believed in what she had said when she imposed the term limit on Andoran monarchs that has stood to this day. You can see a bust of her here, completed shortly before her abdication."
"I can see that some of you are itching to ask what happened to her after she abdicated the throne. Well, Queen Elayne was a woman of consumate achievement, one of the greatest queens Andor ever produced and also a very strong channeler, so she had many more years left to live given she was still in her first century after her time on the throne. I'll get to that, don't worry."
"She was succeeded as queen by Helea Taravin. Of course at that time the next monarch was still elected by the great houses, rather than the later system of appointment by the Commoners' Council. There's no doubt that if Elayne had had children they would have been in prime position to inherit the throne given her sterling reputation, but unfortunately she had none."
"Elayne was confident in Queen Helea's skills and had endorsed her for the throne, so after her abdication she announced that she would be making a tour of the Unaligned Nations. Of course she was accompanied in that by her Prince Consort Matrim, who had remained loyally at her side, commanding Andor's armies while she was queen."
One of the tour group spoke up. "Was he a channeler too?"
"Ah well spotted, no he was not, so by that point he should have been an elderly man. However, he is recorded as not having aged at all. The reason for this is thought to be a ter'angreal of some kind, although sources differ on what exactly it was. Now, Elayne was a strong opponent of abuse by…"
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64 ATG
For the fourth year in a row Darian found himself trudging up the slope to Natrul's Ford. It was mad, he knew that. There was no good excuse for it at this point. He just… Nothing else seemed to hold quite the same appeal.
Even the other aes sedai had teased him through the year. He needed to give up on Comelle Adanzan, he was just wasting his time, there were more important things to do. It had been endless, in the end he'd told them he was going to Ghealdan. That had even been his plan, yet here he was, putting the lie to his words. The problem was that he just couldn't quite imagine the feelings that the mountains here gave him anywhere else, couldn't see himself feeling as relaxed and happy as he had after the last summer. Spending time with Lara again. He sighed, he really needed to get her out of his head.
He hoped Lara wouldn't mind. He supposed she wouldn't. They did get on well and he certainly paid above the odds for her services as a guide. He was never sure whether, if she did get annoyed, she'd tell him not to come back or just grin and bear it for the money though. While the village looked prosperous, they couldn't have that much currency floating around. Was that a strange thing to think about? No, he wasn't trying to take advantage, he just liked spending time up in the mountains.
The inn was exactly where it should be and he could hear the sound of raucous laughter from inside. For a moment he hesitated, he didn't want to disturb some kind of event. Or, if there were other outsiders there, it might be a problem, depending on who they were. Then he shrugged, he wasn't there to cause trouble and it was the village inn not a private residence.
Darian pushed the door open and stepped inside. It was the busiest he'd ever seen it, villagers that he vaguely recognised sat in groups, drinking, talking and laughing together, not even looking towards the door. However, Leston spotted him from behind the bar as soon as he entered and when he headed over gave him a nod. "I'd wondered if you'd be back again." He sounded pleased, like he'd won a bet.
Darian wasn't quite sure how to take that, but smiled anyway. "Well here I am, can I get one of your excellent ales?" He made a show of looking around the common room. "Some kind of party going on?"
"Ah, not really. Sometimes we're just a sociable bunch, you know. Seems like today's the day for it. You're very welcome of course." Leston handed him an ale. "You're in luck too." He was smirking again.
"Oh? How so?"
Leston just nodded over to a corner of the common room. Darian followed his gaze to see Lara nestled away in a corner with three other people around a table. He recognised Eneth, but not the two men. One was a small, white haired old man, probably in his sixties, the other he felt a surge of inexplicable irritation at, a very handsome, dusky haired young man. The sort women would throw themselves at. He gave himself a shake, he needed to stop thinking like that, smiled and headed over to their table.
Lara looked up and saw him coming, her eyebrows rose and for a second he thought she'd tell him she was busy, turn her attention back to the handsome young man, but then she smiled, her customary blankness transformed as her face brightened. "Darian! What are you doing here? Come, have a seat."
He headed over and pulled out the spare chair and sat in it, smiling at the men. Both of them returned his smile, introduced themselves and then quickly said they'd leave him to his catch up. It was a bit odd, he hadn't meant to just make them abandon Lara, was it because he was an aes sedai? "Hello Lara, Eneth. Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your conversation."
"Oh no, they're just being silly and think I want privacy, don't worry about them, they've got plenty of other friends here. It's nothing to do with you." Lara dismissed it with an airy wave of her hand. Eneth on the other hand was scowling at him again. He really wasn't sure why she seemed to dislike him so much.
Lara glanced at her and frowned momentarily. "Eneth, I think I saw Gerad over there, talking to Amalisa, maybe you should go join him before she twists him too far round her finger." Eneth's scowl vanished to be replaced by a look of betrayal and without another word she leapt to her feet and hurried away.
"That was a bit of cruel of you wasn't it?"
"I've got no idea what you're talking about, I'm just trying to help her with her marriage prospects. They do seem to marry awfully young here."
"Well, if you can't channel…" Darian had never asked about Eneth, not wanting to pry, especially with the way things were in the world, but he'd assumed she was apprenticing to Lara in some way.
She looked at him blankly for a second and then laughed. "Oh, ha. No Eneth can't channel."
"Oh, I always thought she was your apprentice, but I didn't want to ask."
"Not really. Maybe…" Lara hesitated. "Her parents were killed when she was 9, a raid in one of these bloody civil wars, so I took her in. I suppose you could call her my apprentice in that I teach her things, but not channeling, no. She's more like a grumpy lodger than an apprentice anyway. She seems to alternate between pushing boundaries and trying to look after me whether I want it or not. I think she sees me as an annoying aunt." Despite her description, Lara looked fondly after the girl.
"Fair enough, she's older now, but how did that work when you went off into the mountains?"
"Oh I took her with me and didn't go too hard, or else she stayed with other people in the village. It's the nice thing about a small village like this, everyone looks after everyone else. They say it takes a village to raise a child."
That made sense, odd expression though. There was a pause and then Lara looked at him quizzically. "Why are you here anyway? It's a free world of course," another odd expression, "but I thought you were done with little old Natrul's Ford. You must be getting tired of the place compared to the Hall or Caemlyn."
Darian shrugged. "I don't know, I think I've just fallen in love with the mountains here. My trips out into them with you have just left me feeling so much more relaxed and refreshed than anything else. So, if you're willing, I'd like to employ you again this summer."
"Huh. You must like it here. Better taste than I expected." She hesitated. "I need to settle a few things in the village first and will need to settle Eneth down, so I don't want to leave for another two days, but if you can wait that long I'd be happy to take you again." There was something he couldn't quite put his finger on in her voice, Darian hoped it wasn't irritation at him being back. He suspected she quite needed the money. There couldn't be many sources of income up here in the mountains for a woman like her.
"Thank you, if it's not an inconvenience to you, then I'm happy to wait a couple of days. I'll speak to Leston about extending my stay."
"Great, but you can stay in my house. You've been around enough that it feels wrong to leave you sleeping in the inn and it's nicer anyway." She nodded to herself. "Yes, I'll just have to give the spare room a quick clean," she smiled, "or make Eneth do it."
She had a spare room? That was… surprising. Even having two sleeping rooms was unusual. He'd expect a rural commoner in a poor area like this to have the whole family in one room, although the houses here were unusually large. Regardless, the suggestion was ridiculous.
"No no! I don't want to inconvenience you and it wouldn't be proper anyway. Staying in a lone woman's…"
He trailed off under her unamused gaze. "It's no inconvenience, or I wouldn't have invited you. As for propriety, what exactly are you worried about?" She laughed with the tiniest hint of pain underneath it. "I'm not too worried about men getting interested these days anyway…" Darian wasn't sure he agreed about that, certainly he'd met far worse looking women in his long life. Much worse looking... "and it's not like you're planning to take advantage in any way, are you?" She looked at him sideways.
"I'm just… trying to protect you…"
She cut him off. "I'm perfectly capable of protecting my own virtue thank you very much. I'm not worried about you behaving inappropriately and, if you did," her face suddenly went blank, "let's just say I have a lot of friends here."
Fine, whatever. He wasn't going to win that argument and if she didn't care then who was he to argue. Time to change the topic. "You do a very good threatening face you know. You could teach some aes sedai a thing or two."
Lara smiled widely at that, the hard look gone from her eyes. "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind for future negotiations. So…?"
"Yes, thank you for your kind offer, I'd be delighted to take you up on it."
"Great, you'll need to entertain yourself while I get things ready, but you'll eat better, whatever Leston claims, and the room's nicer."
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Lara hadn't lied, her home was indeed nicer than the inn. Darian still wasn't sure how she had such a large, nice, stone house or where she got some of the decorations in it, but he supposed she'd had time to travel the world before she came to Natrul's Ford.
"This is the kitchen, reception room, utility room. Through there is my room, if you need me just knock. That one's Eneth's room. Just avoid it completely, she defends like an angry badger. This one's the spare room." It wasn't very big, but the bed looked comfortable. A pair of tapestries in what looked like Illianer style hung on the stone walls and a desk and chair stood in the corner.
"That's an interesting little statuette, where did you get it?" He pointed to a finely carved raven, made from some kind of black stone. He'd never seen anything quite like it, although it reminded him a little of the Seanchan Imperial banner that he'd seen during his training.
Lara glanced at it. "Oh, that, just something I picked up in… Altara, it reminded me of something so I kept it." Well that explained why it resembled the Seanchan, it was probably leftover from their invasion before Tarmon Gaidon. Lara was clearly very well traveled, or at least had been before she'd settled down. That wasn't really a surprise given some of their conversations.
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The next day Darian found himself sitting in Lara's kitchen, watching as she fried something that smelt delicious. He still wasn't quite sure what it was, or where she got the ingredients from, but he had no doubt he'd be eating well. Eneth was out somewhere, 'probably mooning over Gerad' as Lara had put it. He'd offered to cook as a gesture of thanks for putting him up and she'd said something rude about Andoran cuisine, which was very unfair. He knew how to do more than just boil a lump of meat with some potatoes.
Lara had clearly decided she was a bit more comfortable with him as she wasn't hesitating to channel now. Other than her laughable impression of a beginner last year, it was actually the first time she'd openly channeled in front of him. He was fairly sure she was splitting her flows at least two ways, while keeping two pans going on the hob and holding a conversation at the same time. Almost any Hall aes sedai could have done it, but it was still impressive, especially for someone who'd never completed her training. Not for the first time Darian wondered why Lara had never become aes sedai. He knew enough not to ask though. The couple of times he'd strayed towards that topic she'd instantly gone cold.
He'd never thought of her as a particularly domestic woman, but she did look like she was very much in her element. Stirring pans, cutting ingredients and shifting things around one handed with the help of the Power. The summer warmth, along with the heat from the fire left sweat glistening on her skin. She'd rolled up the longer sleeve of her blouse and undone a couple of buttons to combat it. The odd pendant that was the only jewellery he'd ever seen her wear hung loose on the outside of her blouse. She looked good, happy, busy and full of life. It made him feel a little lonely seeing it, if he hadn't gone to the Hall he'd be an old man now, but maybe he could have had a home like that, a wife like that.
Darian's reverie was broken when Lara suddenly stopped talking about some ridiculous argument between two of the villagers. "You know, my eyes are up here."
The words jolted him back into full consciousness of what he was doing and he realised he'd been staring at her, making his own assurances of not behaving poorly a lie. "I… Sorry… I wasn't…" He couldn't help but splutter denials.
At least she didn't look angry, more bemused. "It's fine, it's not like there's that much to see, but please stop staring, it's making me worry about you."
Darian was left with a flaming red face, studiously looking away as Lara busied herself with the cooking. Had he really been staring like that? He might have been…
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The dinner was delicious. Even Eneth took time off from giving Darian disapproving looks to compliment Lara on it.
Darian hurriedly offered to clean up and started picking up dishes before Lara could protest. Instead she raised an eyebrow at Eneth who scrambled to her feet to help too, despite Darian's own assurances that it wasn't needed. He carried the dishes through to the kitchen, but there was no obvious water to use for washing. Normally there'd be a bucket or barrel. Eneth was eying up a contraption he didn't recognise some kind of metal pipe sticking out of the wall, but there was no need to worry. He seized saidin and started channeling everything clean. It was a fairly simple web after all.
Eneth just raised a single eyebrow and put her load down next to him before going to get more. In no time at all, everything was clean and neatly stacked. The Power made chores so much easier.
Once he was done he turned to go back to the reception room only to almost run into Eneth. She gave him an unreadable look and then leaned in closer, her voice a whisper. "I don't know you and I don't like you anyway, but if you treat her badly they'll never find your body." Before he could respond she was moving away and raising her voice. "Lara, I'm going to go out and see if Lyra needs help with the calves." Then she was gone.
Darian shrugged to himself and headed back to the reception room. He seemed to get threatened a lot here in Natrul's Ford. Water off a duck's back, he wasn't going to do anything to justify those threats, but it was still odd.
Lara had shifted herself to one of the large, cushion covered armchairs she had in there and he took the other. He picked up one of the cushions, it was oddly decorated, black all over other than crossed silver keys surrounded by a golden wreath. It was nice and soft though. Perhaps a minor lord's coat of arms from her travels? He certainly didn't know enough to recognise every coat of arms in the Westlands.
"Eneth doesn't seem to like me very much…"
"Oh she'll get over it, I think she's just worried you might do something to me, she's a bit over protective." Lara laughed, "I think sometimes she struggles to remember that she's the one that needs looking after and I'm the adult, so she tries to guard me from danger, real and imagined. I think it probably comes from losing her parents." The amusement left her eyes and for a moment she looked morose.
"But she's safe here with you."
The brightness returned to Lara's face. "Exactly, she'll grow up, find a nice husband, have babies and the world will never trouble her."
"Sounds idyllic, dull but idyllic. What about excitement, exploration, fun?"
"Well there's plenty of fun to be had. Why just last week old Holan tripped and fell straight into a cow pat, it was the best thing that happened all year." It took Darian a moment to realise Lara was joking, but then he burst out laughing.
"Don't you get bored being here though? You're still young for a channeler, there's a whole world out there. I've said it before, you could come to the Hall, become an aes sedai."
Lara responded with a question of her own. "Haven't you ever thought of just running away to the mountains? Living a peaceful life away from everything?"
"Since you showed them to me, yes." It was the first time he'd admitted it out loud. He liked the way her lips twitched up at that. She had nice lips. "But then I think of my duty. Not so much the analysis work, plenty of people can do that, but healing people, just being able to help."
"There are plenty of mountain villages that could do with an aes sedai of their own you know. Duty… Duty's a harsh mistress. You can Travel anyway, it's not like you'd be stuck there." The mention of duty seemed to have pushed Lara into one of her moments of melancholy. Darian really did wonder what she'd been through in the War and after it to still be affecting her sixty years later. Then there was her arm and the scar across her cheek. Not that he'd be stupid enough to ask. He knew her well enough to avoid that, but regardless it was one thing new initiates learnt fairly quickly at the Hall when dealing with some of the older aes sedai. They all had memories they preferred not to relive.
"Well Traveling does make a difference." He deliberately made his tone jovial and she jumped and refocused on him.
"Yes, I suppose if you could Travel you could see the world. There are so many things in it."
"Oh there are." Maybe he should offer to take her somewhere? Would she take that the wrong way? "You must have been to Caemlyn?"
"Ha, of course I have, but you know me. I just like my mountains."
"Well, you could see more mountains?" Her laugh matched his.
"I'm happy here now, it's my home, but I used to fantasise about just packing everything up and becoming a permanent traveler. Maybe writing a book about what I saw, but just going from place to place, seeing the most beautiful cities in the world, eating the best foods, finding natural wonders. Like Jain Farstrider I suppose, but less adventure and more just exploration." As she mused Darian found himself studying her again, the smooth skin of her face, well other than the scar on her cheek but that didn't detract from her looks as far as he was concerned, her lips as she talked, the way her eyes gazed into the distance. Without thinking his gaze moved down her neck, to her body. With a sinking feeling he realised why he kept coming back. Light, he shouldn't have let her persuade him to stay in her home.
He was snapped out of his contemplation of her when she suddenly looked at him, catching him gazing at her. A rare look of uncertainty flashed across her face and he looked down, flushing in embarrassment at being caught unable to control himself.
"You're staring again. Why?"
"Sorry! I was just lost in thought, I wasn't staring, I didn't mean to."
She frowned, "No, you were staring right at my… oh." He wanted the ground to open up and swallow him. What kind of a creep was he? Shame flooded into him as he realised he'd been paying Lara to spend time with him like this, as if she was some kind of… As if she was for sale. "Darian, why are you really here?"
There was no point denying it. "I wanted to spend another summer with you. Blood and bloody ashes, that's terrible, I'm coming up here and paying you to spend time with me because I like you. Taking advantage of you like that, what kind of a creep even am I?!" He'd behaved badly, selfishly, that much was obvious. He was still aes sedai though, he knew right from wrong. Darian stood in a decisive movement. "I'll go back to the inn, you won't hear from me again."
"You wanted to spend it with me? But why? I'm not even that nice to you."
She sounded genuinely confused. "Because I like you, alright? I know you've got your life here and you don't need someone like me butting in, but I just wanted to be with you!"
She ignored his raised voice, seemed to be chewing over something in her head. "Wait, you like me? As in like me like me? Me?"
"Light woman, I've come back here four years in a row! Yes the mountains are lovely, but do you think I really cared that much about them or the flaming Age of Legends city?! Are you that oblivious?!" Did she have to humiliate him like that, make him admit it to her?
Lara blinked a few times, she still sounded uncertain, but a bit more confidence had crept back into her voice. "Don't be rude about the mountains you like them and you're not fooling anybody, but yes, you're right I clearly am that oblivious. I'm sorry."
"No I'm sorry, I should have been clearer after all. Rather than taking advantage of your friendship." He shuddered. "Offering to pay for your company… Like I said, I'll just leave."
"No, sit down!" Lara's voice cracked out like a whip and Darian found himself obeying without thinking, falling back into the oversized armchair. "Alright… I just want to be very clear, so that I know exactly where I stand. You've kept on coming back because you like me, because you find me attractive?"
"There's no need to rub it in."
Lara stood up, an unreadable look in her eye. "Alright," she nodded, "that's clear." Why was she coming towards him?
He looked up at her. "Again, I'm sorry, I'll go to the inn, you won't need to worry about me again."
"Light Darian. How can you be both so smart and so stupid sometimes? Yes you should have been clearer…" She was standing right over him, it was surprisingly intimidating for such a small woman.
"Let me just get my bag from my room."
"Let me finish! I'd appreciate it if you were clearer in future, I've had some experiences in the past that have made it difficult for me to… Oh for fuck's sake I'm terrible at this!" She cut herself off and dropped straight into his lap. She felt surprisingly light. Shyness suddenly infected her voice, her confidence fleeing. "It's been more than sixty years, so please be gentle, also I've never done this one handed so it might take some thought, but I'd like it if you kissed me now."
