(no subject)

[lastgunslinger]

In his room in the Dreaming, Roland sits, smoking a cigar and thinking.

Colored light from the stained glass window washes over his face.

As he exhales, the smoke catches the colored light and swirls; there is an airiness, an etherealness, to the room that one would likely never associate with the gunslinger...but it suits him.

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[lastgunslinger]

"The last time I was here, I walked out of this room -- I'd been thinking of how much the Dreaming looks like Gilead -- and I saw him."

A long pause.

"We held palaver, for a time, as we used to do."

[blue_ajah]

*She knows how the power of thought can shape the Dreaming. Moiraine listens silently, with a small nod when he pauses.*

[lastgunslinger]

Quietly: "I'd know -- did I dream him, and what he said?"

[blue_ajah]

*A long, long pause.*

You are in the Dreaming.

Am I a dream?

[lastgunslinger]

"You could be." Roland sounds almost unsure.

[blue_ajah]

*She inclines her head to him.*

The nature of Tel'aran'rhiod is complex. Here I am no more a dream than you, Roland. *Yet, she thinks, and then puses that aside for now.* We have entered the Dreaming in physical form.

But there are those who may enter it in a different fashion, through their dreams. Some of these have a talent-- the ability to walk the World of Dreams while asleep.

Even ordinary persons may enter the World of Dreams, upon occasion.

[lastgunslinger]

She's not giving him a straight answer, he knows -- and yet he feels lighter, somehow.

So the gunslinger nods, and turns his face to the window.

Maybe it's not for him to know.

A dust-roughened voice: The only things that matter are what a man can do an' a man can't do.

"Held palaver with another the other day."

[blue_ajah]

*There was more that she might have explained, and so her eyes narrow slightly as he turns away to the window, but Moiraine does not pursue it at present.*

Did you, then?

*Calmly inquisitive.*

[lastgunslinger]

"I was reading in the Garden," Roland says, "when it turned into a desert around the edges."

He's smiling, a little.

[blue_ajah]

*She tilts her head, watching him. His smile intrigues her, and she waits silently to hear what he has to say.*

[lastgunslinger]

The smile doesn't disappear.

"Joe."

[blue_ajah]

*And now the Aes Sedai smiles, also.*

Did he look well?

[lastgunslinger]

"He did. He'd been on the trail." Pause. "He was not what you or I would call happy, but he was himself, if that does ya."

[blue_ajah]

*Moiraine nods slowly, and understanding is clear in her glance.*

I see.

It is -- I would not have thought of it for him before, but perhaps it is not entirely an unexpected thing. I will consider it further.

[lastgunslinger]

"The desert, you mean?"

Roland understands the desert.

[blue_ajah]

Not precisely.

*She looks thoughtful.*

What did he say, would you tell me?

[lastgunslinger]

It's a long moment before Roland replies.

"He said that folken change, and that I was the one who made it hell for myself." Pause. "Passed on a few pieces of advice, as well."

[blue_ajah]

*She tilts her head again, and her gaze is clearly inquisitive.*

[lastgunslinger]

"The only things that matter are what a man can't do, and what a man can't do. A sailor he knew told him that, he said."

[blue_ajah]

An uncommonly perceptive sailor.

*Her look is suddenly very enigmatic as she mutters,* I wonder if he was a Phoenician.

It seems good advice.

[lastgunslinger]

Roland nods. "The kind of man who would understand ka, I wot."

He regards the window for a moment before saying, "Joe read the end of the last book."

[blue_ajah]

*Dark eyes are intent upon him as she says,*

Is it so, then?

*Her manner remains serene, although her acute interest is evident.*

[lastgunslinger]

"I believe so. The Dream-lord told Joe the manner of his death -- he can see the end. Joe told me not to lose the horn; so did the Dream-lord. Joe read the first book, and there is no reason he could not have read the last. The bar gave him the first, after all."

Roland seems to be inspecting one of the trellises of roses.

[blue_ajah]

I see.

*A pause, as she watches him examine the window.*

Does it disturb you?

[lastgunslinger]

He shakes his head. "I am accustomed to folken knowing things that I do not and cannot."

Eddie. Jake. Susannah. Ted.

"And unless I see him in this place once more, it is not likely, I wot, that I will see him again."

A small half-smile. "He was always a cheater."