(no subject)

[blue_ajah]

She cannot see Raven, exactly, not in his current state. It does not matter. If he is present, he will make himself known; if not, well, the Wheel weaves.

It is not as though Moiraine does not have other matters with which to occupy herself. Currently, she is settled at her old familiar table, studying the open sentences she has written in a new journal, tapping pen absently against page as she considers the notes she is making.

Whatever is occupying her, it seems to be holding a great deal of her attention, but not all of it.

Comments

[cutting_edgex23]

"Yes."

Beat.

"I do not like it when my friends are stupid."

[blue_ajah]

"It can be difficult, when those you care about undertake to do that which is less than wise," she agrees.

[cutting_edgex23]

"Your friends do that, too?"

X is genuinely curious.

[blue_ajah]

"From time to time," the Aes Sedai tells her.

Herself, as well, of course, although she does not admit that.

[cutting_edgex23]

"Oh."

Beat.

"You are not allowed to stop them?"

[blue_ajah]

At this, both her eyebrows wing upward, and X will find herself the recipient of a very considering look.

"It might depend on the situation, might it not?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X tilts her head very slightly, studying Moiraine.

"You have mission parameters."

It is not quite a question.

[blue_ajah]

She thinks about it for a moment, then inclines her head to the younger woman.

"I suppose it could be said that I do, as it happens."

[cutting_edgex23]

X merely continues studying Moiraine.

"You set them?"

Beat.

"Or other people do?"

[blue_ajah]

"That, also, might depend."

Might.

[cutting_edgex23]

X's nostrils flare, very slightly.

Then she studies Moiraine a little more carefully, frowning.

"That is a lie."

She is not sure how it is, but.

It is.

[blue_ajah]

Once again, her eyebrows arch.

"I am bound by Oath to speak no word that is not true."

Of course, it is also known that the truth an Aes Sedai says may not be the truth you think you hear, but that is beside the point.

[cutting_edgex23]

"Okay," X says, offering a one-shouldered shrug.

"But you are not telling all of it."

If what Moiraine says about the Oath is true.

For instance.

[blue_ajah]

"Perhaps I was not, at that."

A pause, in which the Aes Sedai studies her.

"But how did you know?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"Biochemistry," X says, matter-of-factly.

"It is difficult to disguise."

[blue_ajah]

She frowns.

"What do you mean by that?"

[cutting_edgex23]

X visibly searches for words for a second.

Then --

"Scent."

[blue_ajah]

"I see," Moiraine replies.

Thoughtfully.

[cutting_edgex23]

"Okay," X says.

Maybe Moiraine does.

[blue_ajah]

Enough, at least, to make a mental note of what such a thing will mean in the future.

It is not unlike speaking with a Wolfbrother, in some ways.

Some.

"In any case," she continues, "what I have said remains true. It cannot be otherwise."

[cutting_edgex23]

X considers that, eyes narrowing faintly as she studies Moiraine.

And then --

"Even if you do not know it is a lie?"

It seems like a logical question to her.

And a very strange ability, too.

[blue_ajah]

Her lips curve in a slight smile.

"To speak no word that is not true," she repeats. "That is the Oath by which I am bound; one of three. That is what I must do."

[cutting_edgex23]

"I do that, too," X says.

Beat.

"Except when I am on a mission."

Other people might be more impressed.

[blue_ajah]

"Is it so?" Moiraine studies her curiously. "Why?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"I do not like lying."

Sometimes it really is that simple.

But it's also because if X were more prone to lying, she'd never learn the things she needs to know.