(no subject)

[lastgunslinger]

Ted helps Roland down the hall and into room 99.

"Just like old times," says Ted wryly, with a sidelong smile at Roland.

Roland grunts.

Once inside, Ted settles Roland in his chair and awaits instruction.

"Write a note to the lady Moiraine, and take it to the bar. Ask that she gets it. Wait for her, and bring her upstairs, and don't say anything about why she's here in the bar. Put it in the note, or wait until you're up here."

Ted nods, and leaves.

A deep sigh, from Roland. He reaches for the volume of Yeats lying on the table and reads, and waits.

Comments

[lastgunslinger]

Roland nods, and waits for Ted to close the door before speaking.

"We were hypnotizing River, and hit a block. When I pushed further...she went berserk. One of the most incredible things I've ever seen. She had no idea who any of us were." A small smile. "And standing against her wasn't an easy thing. Ted helped her break through the block, but not before she managed to do some damage. My knee, mostly. The bad one."

Pause.

"This isn't something that people need to find out about. And it would be better if there were nothing people could see that would lead them to ask questions."

[blue_ajah]

Moiraine gives Ted an enigmatic and yet curious glance before saying to Roland,

"Then we shall deal first with matters at hand."

"May I offer you Healing?"

[lastgunslinger]

"Say thankya, lady-sai. Please."

He puts the volume of Yeats back on the table and stands, shifting over to the bed and sitting down, his leg straight out in front of him.

[blue_ajah]

As she embraces saidar, a golden glow surrounds her. Moiraine comes to stand by Roland, and with a deft movement, places one hand lightly on the injured knee.

Muttered, "At least you are no Thom Merrilin."

The light around her suddenly brightens, and a rush of silver passes over him like a mist, seeking and finding minor bruising and pains that may not be immediately visible. The silver coalesces further over the scratches down one side of his face, as blue-white light brightens to interweave as though forming a patch. The threads dissolve, and the angry red lines fade from view.

Around his knee, a green-gold ball of light forms, shot through with hints of a shimmering blue. She frowns, a little, and it brightens, pulsing-- then wraps itself tightly around the joint and sinks in. Moiraine releases him and steps back as the aura around her fades.

"I have done what I can for you, Roland." A pause. "There is not much I can do for the old injury-- that time has passed, I am afraid."

[lastgunslinger]

"Thankee-sai." There's a certain light in his eyes -- he's amused. "Time is a face on the water, say true."

Too stubborn, that first time, to allow her to do what she would. After Jake passed his trial.

And it had been the Lady who had stopped Moiraine.

He's been here near a year. It feels like forever. It feels like no time at all.

[mr-brautigan.livejournal.com]

"And I say thank you, as well -- " Ted's standing behind and to one side, hands in the pockets of his jacket, looking even more amused. "Though I'd point out, Roland, that if you'd let her fix it in the first place, you wouldn't have had to put up with me for a week."

He looks at Moiraine, perfectly deadpan now, perfectly innocent. "He's a terrible patient."

[blue_ajah]

"A week, was it?" One eyebrow arches slightly. "I suspect that a great deal of patience must have been required."

Diplomatically, she does not mention upon whose part, and her composure is perfect.

[mr-brautigan.livejournal.com]

"Had me scrounging extra pillows from every source imaginable," says Ted breezily. "Had enough to build a castle out of, towards the end. Almost wasn't enough room for me in here. And still -- saying he's uncomfortable, asking if there aren't any more to find."

[lastgunslinger]

Roland is staring at Ted.

He is bristling.

"That is not what happened."

[blue_ajah]

The only sign of her amusement is a suspicious flicker in the dark eyes as she turns back to Roland.

"Perhaps then you would care to explain?"

Utterly serene.

[lastgunslinger]

"He," says Roland, jerking a thumb in Ted's direction, "spent the entire week drinking that foul root beer stuff that doesn't even have alcohol in it, and lecturing me on the works of a man named Boris Pasternak."

[mr-brautigan.livejournal.com]

"Literature," says Ted serenely, "helps us to realize who we are and what our place is in the world. I was merely trying to enlighten you. And I note it worked, as you've got a copy of Lord of the Flies sitting right there."

Smug.

[blue_ajah]

"And a volume of poetry as well," the Aes Sedai interjects smoothly, with a glance at it. She notes the author, and her eyes narrow slightly.

" Lack nothing that a soldier needs,
That all are oath-bound men:
Those banners come not in...."

She pauses. "I have found his work interesting in the past, myself, as well as that of certain others."

Another pause, and she tilts her head, looking at Ted with interest. "Although I have not read anything of this Pasternak, nor the other book that you mention."

[mr-brautigan.livejournal.com]

"Boris Pasternak. A Russian. Interesting ideas about time. And Lord of the Flies -- by William Golding. About what happens to children alone on an island, when they're stranded there after a war. A really excellent novel."

The beast from the water, the beast from the air. The stick sharpened at both ends.

Ted maybe doesn't warm to his subject as much as might be expected from him.

[blue_ajah]

Dark eyes miss nothing of his reaction.

"Perhaps I shall look into these works, then."

A pause. "But perhaps it is also just as well that I was sent for, in this case, to prevent the two of you from having to share another such week."

Her calm tone is ever-so-slightly amused.

[lastgunslinger]

"Oh, it is very well indeed, lady-sai."

Glaring at Ted.

[mr-brautigan.livejournal.com]

Ted grins at Roland.

And then he starts to laugh.

[blue_ajah]

She inclines her head, smiling serenely at both as she observes them.

[lastgunslinger]

Roland finally shakes his head and looks at Moiraine. "So. All is as well as it might be, I think."

[blue_ajah]

"I am glad to hear that, of course."

She seems composed and utterly undisturbed as she adds, "And with River, as well?"

[lastgunslinger]

"She's shaken up." Quietly. "But unharmed. Simon is with her."

[blue_ajah]

She nods, looking back and forth between them.

"A block of some sort, it was said?"

[mr-brautigan.livejournal.com]

Ted nods.

"The guards at the Academy -- they're low men. Can-toi, if you want to use the High Speech term. Same kind of guards they had where I was kept. And Roland asked her about them, asked her what she'd do to them -- and she just snapped. I imagine they put something like that in her mind. A safeguard. Anybody who would try to implant suggestions of rebellion...they'd get that reaction, and then they'd be dead." Simply.

[blue_ajah]

"Sa souvraya niende misain ye," she says quietly, and the Aes Sedai is somewhat more pale than before.

"Can-toi?"

[lastgunslinger]

Roland knows what she said.

Calm: "Means children of the desert. Servants of the Crimson King." Pause. "They themselves don't put in the blocks. They can't."

[blue_ajah]

"And who does, then?"

Her tone is very even. Very, very even.

[lastgunslinger]

"The doctors at the Academy."

[blue_ajah]

"Perhaps, then, it is just as well that you intend to bring the place down."

Calmly.

[lastgunslinger]

A small smile.

"There's a group that Eddie came up with, in his world. The Tet Corporation. Turns out they have another group, in the Serenity-folken's world. Met with them the other day. They can help get plans of the place, and other things."

Roland is feeling optimistic.

[blue_ajah]

She nods slightly.

"I saw you depart, as it happens."

And had spoken to Eddie afterwards.

[lastgunslinger]

"It was...successful."

Calm.

[blue_ajah]

Ted is silently watching, seemingly unsurprised, and so Moiraine focuses fully on Roland.

"I am glad to hear that." A pause. "I may presume, of course, that Eddie has explained what happened to prevent his departure with the rest of you."

[lastgunslinger]

Roland nods. "He did."

And Eddie had been...noticeably quiet.

[blue_ajah]

"It is not an easy thing to accept."

Calmly, still, although the expression in the dark eyes is thoughtful. "The Wheel weaves."