Anima Patty
Patty took a deep breath as she focused on her friend. Inwardly, she cursed at this body that freely gave away each emotion, but she was too tired to fight them anymore. Tears welled in her eyes as she answered. "It's not over. I'm just afraid it's not over."
Kait settled herself at the side of her friend holding her hand, giving comfort by her presence. "I'm afraid...of everything." Patty choked on a sob. The events of the past few days seemed to encompass enough change for a lifetime. The feelings and fears that coursed through Patty's mind were so alien to her, but so much a part of her now.
When she'd first come to the White Tower as a novice her classmates were amazed at how quickly she'd developed the Aes Sedai calm they struggled so hard to achieve. Events were rarely unsettling to Patty, and when they were, she never demonstrated her discomfort in any physical way. Especially not in public, but not often in private either. Patty was never one to dwell on feelings. She liked to deal with a situation and have it done with, then she could go back to her unruffled ways.
Now, the touch of a hand or the sight of a friendly face brought her to tears. Hearing someone laugh was enough to send her into a panic. And she didn't want to even contemplate what hearing the word "pet" would bring her too. It was too much. Too intense. Too overwhelming. And Patty was all to familiar now with running from her fears and hiding in her mind.
Perhaps this was the most frightening change of all. To be aware of one's madness is uncomfortable; to be able to dwell in it is unholy. Patty shuddered and felt Kait put a comforting arm around her shoulder. Patty leaned into the comfort and tried to harness her emotions again. They wouldn't come under control. She couldn't even get the words out to let Kait know why she was sobbing again.
~~~Comfort~~~Courage~~~Peace~~~
Patty closed her eyes and allowed the sending from Moonlight Dancing wash over her. It eased her distress and gave her some stability within herself. She sent back...~~~Gratitude~~~
Patty lifted her head from Kait's shoulder. "I'm just so afraid of everything. And angry that I'm afraid. And lost. And overwhelmed. And joyful. And I know so much of what I love has been twisted against me and I hate the woman who did that to me. I want those things back. And I want to channel." The tears threatened again. "I...I just...I can't...and I'm always crying..."
Patty laughed through her tears at her own frustration at being unable to express herself. Kait smiled and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "You don't have to get it all out now, you know." Kait gave Patty a look, knowing her as well as she did. "You might want to consider writing how you feel down, too. You've got a lot to work through. But you're not alone in this."
Moonlight Dancing echoed Kait's words. ~~~Never alone again, Sister~~~
Kait continued, "So cry, throw things, have a fit...just do whatever it is you have to do." Patty gave a small smile at that mental image.
Meranda, apparently realizing the conversation was winding down decided it was time to throw everyone out. "She needs rest now. All of dos get get. Dos rest now real rest with nau Shadow Walking." Patty gave Kait's hand a final squeeze and waved to Rebecca on her way out. Meranda made one final check on the patient, and then responding to a call from Lia, winked out in a yellow glow.
Patty settled back on the bed. Yes she needed rest; some real sleep. But going to sleep was what got her in trouble in the first place.
~~Sister.~~ came the call.
:::?:::
:::Open the door. One's paws cannot manage:::
Startled, Patty climbed out of bed, Light! I can hardly stand! and made her way slowly to the door. Standing in the hallway was a large grey female wolf. Moonlight Dancing in the flesh. Patty didn't pause to wonder how she'd gained entrance to the Annex, she just slid to her knees and threw her arms around the wolf. ~~~Gratitude~~Love~~Joy~~~
Patty was again overwhelmed by her feelings but she didn't mind these feelings so much. Moonlight Dancing sent an image of Patty back in bed. Patty had to wonder at this nursemaid she'd just acquired. But with some not so gentle nudges from Moonlight Dancing, Patty made it wobbly back to the bed. She settled herself in and Moonlight Dancing made herself comfortable beside her. Patty rested her hand on the wolf's thick coat.
:::I will guard your dreaming, Sister::: The wolf implied in the sending that she would guard the sleeping body too. This gave Patty more comfort than she cared to admit to herself. She listened to the sound their breathing as she let herself relax toward sleep.
Patty woke up slowly. She was aware of sounds and smells around her before she came fully awake. She luxuriated in the feeling of home and comfort and kept her eyes closed for a full minute more, just enjoying herself.
When Patty did open her eyes she found herself in a room not her own. She sat up slowly trying to puzzle out why she was sleeping here instead of in her own room. As she placed her hand on the bed to give herself a push up onto the pillows instead of feeling the mattress she felt fur. Patty smiled as understanding returned to her. :::Good morning, Moonlight Dancing!:::
:::Greetings, Sister!:::
Patty looked down into the yellow eyes of her friend and shared a secret smile with her. :::Your young ones frighten easily.::: Moonlight Dancing sent Patty the image of the poor Studè, who'd been assigned to bring Patty some breakfast, who was startled to find a large grey wolf guarding the bed. Patty chuckled inwardly. She owed that poor boy an apology.
The smell of the food on the table gave Patty a good reason to rush out of bed. :::Not so quickly, sister. You are still weak.::: Patty made a face at the wolf who had taken it upon herself to be not only guardian, but nursemaid as well.
:::I'm hungry!::: she sent in a plaintive voice to the wolf. Then she spoke aloud. "Don't worry. I won't be leaping about any time soon." She leaned across the bed to give the wolf a hug. Then she made her way slowly to the table.
Patty was digging in when she heard a soft knock at the door. Kaitlyn peeked her head in to see if Patty was still sleeping. She smiled when she saw Patty seated at the table. "Can I come in?"
Patty nodded yes and waved her in as her mouth was full of food. Kaitlyn sat down across from Patty and gave her a searching look. "How are you feeling?"
Patty grimaced. "Believe it or not, I'm still tired. How can someone who's had all the sleep I've had in the last few days still be tired?" Kaitlyn was glad to hear some of the old humor creeping back into Patty's voice. But when Kait asked how Patty was feeling she wasn't inquiring after her physical health, and they both knew it.
Patty looked down at her plate as she pushed the food around. She gave a deep sigh. "I feel totally out of touch. Like I'm completely disconnected with everything that's going on around here. I mean, where's Jen? Where's Vree? What's been going on?"
Kait gave Patty a look. "Well, you haven't exactly been in any kind of shape to deal with what's been going on. You need to take care of yourself first."
"I need to take care of the Tower first! I've spent too long wallowing inside my own head. I need something to do. " Patty raised her chin in a defiant gesture. "Even without being able to channel, I still have work to do. There's so much that hasn't been addressed yet."
Patty's eyes took on a shadowed look. "And I don't know how well I'll be able to deal with everything. But I'm not going to just sit here and hide." Her eyes filled with unshed tears. "Damn!" she whispered. "Here I go again..."
Kait's expression showed understanding. "Patty, no one expects you to rush out and save the world. Not yet anyway." She winked at Patty and Patty slowly smiled back. "Right now, all you need to do is finish breakfast. Then if you feel up to it, go take a shower." Kait held her nose and feigned smelling something awful. "You could really use one."
Patty contemplated chucking a roll at her head, but that would be a waste of perfectly good food. She settled on sticking her tongue out instead. "You're right. I think that's what I'll do."
"Good." Kait replied. "Then we'll take things from there."
SianStudè/SianSepta Kait, Mauve
Kaitlyn left Patty to her shower, and headed for the dance hall. She needed to think, and she never thought more clearly than when she was dancing. A fellow Mauve and her Warder were finishing a routine, so Kait ducked into her tiny office to get a tie for her hair. Then she went into the now-empty hall.
Warm-ups first, and as she stretched her muscles, her mind wandered. Patty's plight disturbed her far more than she cared to admit. For all that she loved dancing, she thought she'd rather lose that ability, than to be stilled. Never to be able to channel again? Just the thought was enough to make her embrace saidar, holding as much as she could for long moments, before she let go and moved into a complicated dance routine.
There had to be some way to help her friend. There was a way, Kait was sure of it. She knew the stories as well as anyone- Nynaeve al'Meara had Healed stilling. But how? Kait knew a fair amount of Healing. She had nearly joined the Yellow Ajah when she was Raised to the shawl, but love of dancing had won out, and she had become part of the new Purple Ajah instead. No one she had ever spoken to knew how Nynaeve had accomplished her miracle. It wasn't as if people could do a lot of experimenting to find out. Those who were stilled nowadays deserved it, and no one wanted to Heal them. Until Patty.
This part of the routine called for the dancer to launch herself into the air and spin above the floor, defying gravity. Kait channeled, weaving the proper flows without really thinking about it. This was what made the Mauve Septa dances different from those of ordinary dancers: the ability to incorporate the One Power into the performance. It wasn't required, of course, but it definitely made things more interesting.
She finished out the dance in the same position as she'd started, in more ways than physically. She still hadn't a clue what to do about Patty. It was almost worse to know that stilling could be Healed, and that the how of it was unknown, than to believe that it was permanent. Kait released her breath in a hiss of frustration, yanking the tie out of her hair as she left the room. There was a way, they only had to find it.
Patty and Moonlight Dancing looked up in surprise as the door opened after only a cursory knock. Ayenda Kaitlyn, Sitter for the Mauve Septa and SianStudè of the Purple Tower, stood in the doorway, long golden hair loose and wild, dressed in her characteristic purple dance 'tard. On her face was a look of determination, and in her hands was a notebook. Patty read the cover, where a label was written in a defiant scrawl- "Notes: Rediscovery of the Flows Which Heal Stilling."
"Kait?" Patty asked uncertainly.
The dancer entered the room, closing the door behind her. "We have work to do."
Cuebiyar Jen
Mayadi al'Kella, Amyrlin Seat, was trying to sleep when her door flew open and her Keeper, Kailenne Venir, rushed in with apparently no foreseeable cause.
"They're missing," Kailenne said in a hurry before Mayadi could even sit up straight. "I can't believe it. It was that bloody Purple Ajah--pardon, Tower--"
"Excuse me?" Mayadi cut her off, turning on a nearby light. "What's missing? And why would the Purple Tower have anything to do with it?"
Kailenne stood before the Amyrlin's bed, hands on her hips and plainly poised for argument. "The lists, the documents, the evidence, the everything! Everything that the Eyes-and-Ears had collected! It's all gone!"
"I'm not sure I follow."
The Keeper sighed, exasperated. "All the important papers and photos dealing with this new crop of supposed Darkfriends. Each and every one lost, taken by someone who wants to protect them."
"You don't know that," Mayadi assured her. "There's no need to jump to conclusions."
"But I have proof!" Kailenne protested. "It's in my desk. If you'd just come look...?"
Why ever would anyone wake the Amyrlin Seat in the middle of the night over such a matter as this ... although, she had to admit, this network was Kailenne's pride and joy. And they were so close to pressing charges...! If it was true, that anyone had truly taken these to protect the Darkfriends, Mayadi knew that Kailenne would be crushed. No, she reminded herself, not crushed. Furious. And someone would take the brunt of that anger; Kailenne's temper was infamous. "Alright, I'll come."
The Keeper led the way through the hallways until the pair came upon her study, which was in total disarray. Files were strewn about the room, out of their cabinets. Tables were upturned and shattered alongside chairs; broken splinters littering the floor. Pencils, pens, paperclips, and other supplies were thrown haphazardly across the room, ink staining various parts of carpeting and wood that once constituted tables. Shards of broken glass from what were once lamps suffered the same fate. But above all, the multitudes of papers upon papers upon papers, ripped, shredded, and torn, covering every square inch of space. This was not how Kailenne would have kept her office.
"I didn't move anything; the police haven't come yet. And there's insurance to be dealt with. The only thing I did touch was the drawer, to make sure the files I'd collected already were safe. They're the only thing that's missing, as far as I can tell, but ..." She picked her way over the mess, treading carefully, to the desk, and opened the drawer. "...whoever it was," she continued, "left me a present." Laying in pieces inside the top drawer were the fragments of some shattered purple metal.
"And this is why you think Jenaea's crew of artists had anything to do with this?" Mayadi questioned.
"They have to!" Kailenne answered, so certain. "There's no other possibility."
"Even the one that someone planted this to lay false blame to them?"
Kailenne didn't answer, just stood there like a volcano on the verge of erupting.
"Keep these where they are," Mayadi instructed. "We'll let the police deal with them. For now, go to bed. You look like you could use the rest."
Photos were taken to assess the damage to send to the insurance company, and the police were in to take a look at the scene and strap yellow tape across the whole mess of a study. The purple fragments were placed in a sealed plastic bag labeled "Evidence" and taken to the station, where Kailenne followed the officers. Mayadi opted to stay behind.
The Tar Valon Police Department was abuzz with activity as it appeared to be daily. Kailenne stood around and waited as the fragments--the only piece of evidence, really--were analyzed by a forensics officer--whom she did not flirt with, oh, no, of course not!
"Well?" she asked constantly. "What is it? What is it?"
The officer shook his head. "We can't place the material, or even its component parts. However," he continued, "we did scan the fragments in, and let our computer piece them together." He swiveled a computer monitor towards Kailenne so she could see the image displayed on it. "This is what we came up with."
The image was that of a metallic purple ring ever-so-gently inscribed with an image of a bat on its inside, and the word "cuebiyar" on its outside.
Kailenne veritably gasped, mouthing the word. Her shout nearly filled the air and stilled all motion in the station. "JENNAEA!!!"
SianSepta Nyna, Lilac
Nyna was never very good at discussions. Especially at negotiations. She glanced behind her to make sure Kelly was still there. After Jen's sudden disappearing act Nyna was feeling a bit paranoid. They were being led to the Breanne Sedai's study, after a long conversation, during the course of which they have been quite often insulted by the distrusting Assistant Sitter - Kassandra Sedai. Nyna felt like sticking her tongue out at the stern-faced woman, or maybe throwing a pie in her face. You're here on business... and business only.. who cares what the bitch thinks of you... she told herself. And after what's been happening, its a wonder she didn't call a police. The Purple Tower was always blamed when something went wrong, and now... it felt as if all Hell broke loose.
The Aes Sedai stopped in front of a heavy-looking wooden door, and knocked, still eyeing Nyna and Kelly up-and-down.
"Who is it?"
"Two Ayende Vera to see you.. or so they claim," The woman's voice was dripping with disgust and mocking. There was a sound someone's quick footsteps, and a heavy thump. "Uhh... just a second.."
Nyna exchanged worried looks with Kelly. Kassandra just shrugged and knocked again. "Should I tell the warders to throw these two out?"
Now it was Kelly's turn to make a face. Nyna just sighed.
"I have told you before, Kassandra, we have a meeting arranged" Nyna tried to keep her voice calm... And this Aes Sedai is supposed to be Grey Ajah?? Light, I wish Jen was here.... "We are expected."
The door swung open and a pleasant-faced woman in her late thirties, obviously Breanne, motioned them to come in. Kassandra rolled her eyes and stormed down the hallway. Nyna didn't have to be able to read minds to know what the Aes Sedai was thinking...
