Fanfic:Ayrlin's Three Arches
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First Arch
Ayr stood outside the gates of the Tower, and it seemed that for the first time in years the world was bright. The sun shone overhead and opportunity spread before her – worlds waiting for her feet to choose their path. Adjusting her dark blue wool riding dress and checking that her packs were secure, she mounted Dancer, settling her patch-covered cloak carefully. Heeling the horse gently, Ayr made her way slowly through the streets – there would be no hurry to get back in time any more, no sneaking out after dark, no penances – towards the docks. There, booking passage to Saldaea – home! – the next morning, she moved back into the city. Yet, now that she could never go back, that the Grey Tower would go on as always without her, its elaborate dances unmarred by her lack, she found herself missing it, and the people she had got to know. Sadness swept over her for a moment. But – she was going home. The faces of the people she had not seen for years appeared before her, ephemeral as ghosts. Time had changed their features in her mind, until she was no longer sure whether the images were remembered reality or only what she thought they had looked like. It was easy to forget that it had been years since she had seen them; time seemed to flow differently in the Grey Tower, and it was just as easy to ignore the changes that would have happened while she was absent. As Ayr found an inn where she could spend the night, she thought of what the future might hold for her.
That evening, she lost herself in the pleasure of performing for an audience once more, and the following day she returned to the docks. The ship that would return her to her first home lay there, silent on the stillness of the water. Calling up, Ayr received permission to come aboard. Dancer was taken into the hold first. But then, as she raised her foot to place it on the gangplank, the unthinkable happened. Off to the right, a shimmering silver Arch appeared, and the voice of Miahala Sedai not whispered but resounded inside her head. ‘The way back will come but once. You must choose. Choose NOW!" No! She couldn't…her first dream, or her new one…to be who she had always wanted to be, or the Aes Sedai she could be…She stood frozen in indecision, the thoughts chasing each other until the Arch began to flicker and fade. Then, with a wail of utter despair, she flung herself at the dying Arch, the crunch of fragile instruments crashing against stone paving echoing the sound of the tearing in her hear, a wound that might never be healed, as she finally gave up those first, most cherished dreams. For an eternal instant she was between worlds, between dreams, then…
Second Arch
Ayr was in the middle of writing up her latest research on the properties of healing herbs when she heard a knock on her door. Getting up and smoothing her skirts, she opened it.
"Ayrlin Sedai, you're needed urgently in the Infirmary", the Novice in the doorway gasped out. "Shalmistra Sedai said to run." Ayr blinked, it must be really important. Casting aside her newly gained Aes Sedai dignity, Ayr lifted up her skirts and ran.
Luckily it wasn't far, and Ayr soon arrived, a little out of breath but not much worse for wear. She took a moment to compose herself, then opened the door and stepped in. As soon as she entered, she noticed the new occupants of some of the beds. As she bent over the closest patient, she gasped in shock. "Danyel!" What was her brother doing here, and in the Infirmary?
As if summoned by that thought, Shalmistra appeared from her office and said, "He was with a caravan that was attacked on its way to Elman's Creek. They brought the survivors here for Healing. He was saying your name…and I need your help with the others."
"Is he going to…can you help him?" Ayr asked in a small voice, entirely forgetting her own hard-earned skills.
"Not on my own, but with your help and a sa'angreal or two, maybe. He's badly off. It'll take a while to get ready, do you want to stay here?" Ayr nodded.
A few hours later, Shalmistra returned. "It's ready." Ayr stood, and drawing through the sa'angreal, readied herself to link with the other Aes Sedai. Then the Arch appeared again. This time Ayr wasted few moments. Casting one look back at the broken, dying body of her brother, she stepped towards the Arch.
Third Arch
Ayr looked around her in bemusement. Blinking, she shook her head to clear it, taking in the landscape around her and the fact that she was on horseback. "Ayrlin? Ayr?" a voice said behind her, and she snapped her head round to look at the concerned face of Daisha, her closest friend.
"It's nothing, I'm fine." Ayr said. Dragging herself back to the present, she patted her horse absently. They – Daisha, herself and two Asha'man – were travelling to the Ogier stedding. The Tower wished to negotiate for some masons and Daisha and her husband Keron, Greys both, had been given the task. Ayr and Harad, a Green Asha'man, were just along to see the Ogier, although Ayr also hoped that there might be some rare plants of healing value in the stedding.
Just then, Keron and Harad rode up. Daisha took a look at her husband's face and said "What happened?"
"Nothing yet – just one of my feelings." Keron had a mild Foretelling Talent, not enough to give prophecies but it did give him feelings sometimes, rather like over-developed intuition.
"Maybe it would be best to find another route?" Ayr suggested.
Then Harad raised his hand and sent a shower of Fire-sparks into the air. As the other three looked at him in bewilderment, a group of men appeared from behind a hill, weapons already in hand, and attacked them. Keron, the most skilled at attack weaves of the three, tried to hold them off, but it should have been Harad, the Green, who did that. Keron was doing a reasonable job right up to the moment Harad's fireball struck him in the chest. Not expecting an attack with the One Power, he couldn't avoid it and fell.
Daisha looked helplessly at Ayr, saying, "You have to help him!" from where she knelt beside him.
Again the Arch appeared, as she'd been half-expecting, and by now her decision had been made. "I'm sorry." she said to Daisha "I can't…". And she walked towards the Arch, leaving her friend's husband to die when she could have saved him and that friend to be captured by Darkfriends.
