(no subject)

[blue_ajah]

Shortly before sunset, Moiraine had come downstairs and gone quietly out the door to the lake. From time to time, a particularly observant or sensitive patron might well have noticed a flicker of golden or silver light near the edge of the building, or by the greenhouse, or at the fringes of the forest.

Sunset had turned into deep dusk, and now night has fallen. The Aes Sedai is still outside, gliding noiselessly over the grass under the dark of the moon. Silver fire sparks from her fingertips as she tests possibilities and considers threads.

Frequently, her gaze flicks upward as she scans rooftops and skies and the branches of trees.

Comments

[conflictedhero.livejournal.com]

There is thunder, or something like it. Or merely the sound of footsteps like thunder, footsteps caused by the stomping, grumbling, grouchy movements of the green monster called the Hulk.

Hulk stands far taller than men would, but is also somewhat hunched over, Hulk's eyes pits of glowing green coal.

At first Hulk does not see Moiraine, but Hulk moves deliberately in a random manner.

[blue_ajah]

She whirls surprisingly quickly at the sound-- and when she sees the giant shape with the burning eyes, the the faint aura that gleams from her skin flares into a bright golden light.

Moiraine braces herself, preparing for any of a number of possibilities.

[conflictedhero.livejournal.com]

When Hulk sees strange woman in blue dress, Hulk grumbles louder. Why did puny humans always go where Hulk wanted to be alone?

Hulk's grumble becomes a growl and Hulk eyes strange woman in blue dress.

"Why Strange Woman in Blue Dress out here?"

[blue_ajah]

"For reasons of my own," she replies crisply. "I shall not plan to disturb you, if you do not intend to disturb me."

[conflictedhero.livejournal.com]

Hulk eyes strange woman in blue dress. Hulk's wounds come into the faint light as Hulk moves around her slightly. They are visiibly healing as Hulk stands there, but even so there are signs of burning, cutting and bullet holes.

"Hulk just wants to be left alone. Puny Men never leave Hulk alone."

[silver_flecks]

"They eat rodents."

[blue_ajah]

Moiraine glances up hastily from her study of the ground between two trees.

"Del." She smiles, faintly. "Good evening."

There is a pause.

"They?"

[silver_flecks]

"Them." Clarifying.

[blue_ajah]

Moiraine looks past Del toward the rooftop of the bar.

Instead of twelve golden-eyed owls, there are only two. She mutters dryly,

"Golden eyes I am used to; even the use of birds as tools of foul work, as well. It is not as though I were not told."

A pause.

"How are matters with you this evening, then?"

[it_has_teeth]

Should her path bring her near the lake, she might find a white shape shadowing her movements.

"Your kind has evolved it would seem, to so prefer moving about in the dark."

[blue_ajah]

She glances toward the trees, where she notes a flicker of gold from a watchful avian eye.

Dryly, Moiraine turns to the lake and tells Ed, "I did not begin my work in the dark, as it happens."

A beat.

"Good evening, ed'Rashtekaresket."

[it_has_teeth]

"And yet here you are, all the same."

He swims, circling ever so slowly in the middle of the lake.

"Is it a good evening, Moiraine?"

It is only the phrasing that indicates Ed has asked a question.

[blue_ajah]

"It may be so, for some," she replies coolly. Her outward demeanor is calm enough, but there is a subtle tension about her.

"And as you say, I am here all the same. Where I find there to be need, I often try to be."

[tibetanmethod]

Two owls, both alike in dignity,
Perched out by the lake, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where owl pellets make the forest floor unclean.
From forth the intestines of these two birds
A pair of woodland vole skulls leave by mouth;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their exit fall down to ground.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd bones
(Where the decomposition therein is made),
Could be changed, and ground for flour'd sweet scones:
Here is the two hours' traffic of our stage!
-- the which if you with patient ears attend,
The cry of 'WHO?' our toil shall strive to mend.






We'll call them Abbott and Costello.

[blue_ajah]

She is treading blades of green instead of boards this night, albeit in a public place and with what some might say were coals of choler.

Nevertheless, Moiraine spares the avian observers a single sharp glance before she moves to the next tree.

She is, however, very aware of their presence.

[tibetanmethod]

I will be alarming
the Islamic owls
that are in
the barn

and which
you warned me
are very jittery
and susceptible to loud noises

Forgive me
they see so well in the dark
so feathery
and so dedicated to Allah




OH. OH NO THEY DI'N'T.

Now there are four owls. Abbott, Costello, Dick, and Jane.

[blue_ajah]

Or if not Allah, then dedicated to some power, it would seem.

Moiraine straightens from her inspection of the ground and tilts her head back, watching the four neatly-aligned feathered figures with a level gaze.

[bev-marsh.livejournal.com]

Bev didn't really mean to stay out this late. It's just that she went for a walk on one of the forest paths, and got a little turned around.

She's hurrying to get back inside--being outside alone at night in a place that's still strange isn't the most comfortable situation--and when the silver sparks catch her eye, that, plus the fact that she hadn't heard Moiraine out there at all, makes her jump slightly, stifling a shriek.

[blue_ajah]

The Aes Sedai whirls quickly toward the sound, and the dim light around her brightens into a shining glow.

"Child-- Beverly, is it not? What are you doing outside alone, at this hour?"

[bev-marsh.livejournal.com]

"Moiraine?" Beverly relaxes a little, realizing it's someone she knows.

"I--I went fro a walk." Sheepishly, "I meant to be back before dark..."

[blue_ajah]

"Better if you had been," she says crisply, moving toward Beverly in order to brighten the area around them both and casting a sharp glance at the forest trees as she does.

"It is not safe out there at night, I do not think; at least, not at present. You are well, though?"

[agirllost]

Kim does see Moiraine and glow of saidar surrounding her. She hasn't been avoiding her, exactly, but she hasn't sought her out either.

Resisting the urge to embrace the Source herself, she walks closer to the Aes Sedai.

[blue_ajah]

No one who is Aes Sedai can stand in the presence of a woman who can channel and not know it, not unless it is woven to be hidden. Even if it were so, Moiraine is very, very aware of the presence of others outside on this night.

She turns gracefully to face the other woman, and inclines her head in greeting.

"Kim. How are matters with you?"

[agirllost]

She looks down, suddenly not sure what to say. She can feel Moiraine's power, but she's not afraid of her, she knows she shouldn't be, at least.

"I'm...I want to walk in the Light, Moiraine."

[blue_ajah]

Her gaze sharpens suddenly, and the Aes Sedai seems almost taller as she looks upon Kim.

"I am glad to hear it, to be sure." Her tone is calm, even serene. "It is a wish, you say, rather than a certainty?"