Fanfic:Martyr's Pardon/Epilogue
|
This fanfiction may require cleanup to meet the Grey Tower's quality standards. The specific problem is: imported from Old Library.. Please help improve this fanfiction if you can. |
| Author(s) | |
|---|---|
| Character(s) |
|
This is a piece of fanfiction. Only the original author(s) or Librarian(s) should make content changes to this page. |
Benar and Selenirra had not come back to the Tower right away, but had sent Lucan and Mouse ahead of them, saying that there were a few matters of business to attend to first and that they would follow in due time. Mouse continued to wonder if she was dreaming.
And so, just a few days after finding the news, Mouse returned to the Tower successful.
She and Lucan parted amicably, but with no words of the future. Mouse knew that the two were not done being in one another's life yet, but the journey and arrival home had made her realize that she now felt free. Most girls probably would have felt more attached, after the night they had spent, but it wasn't so for the Gaidar.
After he had saved her life, and then the strange period to follow, Mouse had felt somehow indebted to him. Now, she felt like her debt had been paid and she was freer to go on with her life, as she chose it, and while she knew that they were not through with one another, she didn't know where the future would bring Lucan and here from there.
Only time would tell.
Two days later, two of the Tower's 'lost children' returned to the fold. It was quiet and without any sort of fanfare, of course. There would be many things to be seen to, in order to sort through what needed to be done, but the first course of action on either mind was to find their daughter for a more thorough homecoming.
Benar and Selenirra came to find Mouse in her small quarters in the area of the Yard housing set aside for unbonded Warders, and more warm welcomes were exchanged.
"Lysira," Sel said warmly. "There is someone you should meet. This was why we did not follow you immediately," her mother explained, stepping to the side.
Behind her stood a small girl, perhaps six or seven in age, with a slender frame and large dark eyes. They were not black, like Mouse's, but were instead dark blue and her hair was brown, but the delicate features of her face were Selenirra's, were Mouse's.
"This is your sister," Benar said in his deep tones. "Her name is Kassyna."
Mouse stood for several long moments, just gaping. It was not fitting her training, she knew, but she couldn't help herself. She struggled valiantly and regained her composure, straightening up again and looking at her parents. No words were spoken or signed. The only gesture exchanged was a nod from mother to daughter, as if to say 'yes, it's true'.
Once all were in the room and the door shut, they began to talk.
"We thought you were dead," Selenirra explained, sitting on the edge of the bed with Mouse beside her and the girl at her feet, clutching blue skirts with a chubby child's hand. "When we escaped, we came to Saldaea, but discovered that the old woman had died a little under a year earlier and the girl who had been her ward had vanished. We looked for you, but could never find any trace."
"We never imagined that you'd end up at the Tower," Benar said with a wry smile. "Though, we should have..." He didn't say it, but he was clearly - clearly to Mouse, at least - lamenting the over-sight.
"Aye, we should have," Selenirra agreed quietly. "Which brings me to the next question, and let me say that I am immensely proud for what you have achieved, but why are you not an Aes Sedai?"
Mouse blinked. Frowned. Sought an explanation in a questioning gaze.
"When I left Saldaea, you were showing signs of being able to Channel. I sensed the Spark in you and would have trained you, as I thought I would because I did not expect things to go as they did. It was a foolish decision on my part, I will confess freely here, but I cannot now change it." Selenirra frowned slightly and reached out to touch her daughter's cheek. Mouse could not tell, but the Blue was channeling a Delving weave. "Oh," she said quietly.
Brows raising, Mouse prompted her mother with barely restrained impatience to the question: 'oh' what?
Sel brushed a long strand of dark hair behind her ear. "Somewhere along the way, you somehow were stilled," she said softly. "It could possibly be Healed, by a strong male Channeler, if you wished."
As if the world hadn't exploded already by the discovery of her parents being alive, now it all went dizzy and she felt almost on the verge of a faint. Her Gaidar disposition kept her together and she attained the Void out of desperation.
Lucan is a strong Healer... Something in her mind whispered. For several long, agonizing moments, the implications of the choice loomed over her and ran through her mind, until finally the decision crashed down in the forefront of her brain like the crashing shut of a portcullis.
Mouse shook her head. I don't know what happened, or what I might have been years ago, she signed, but I am a Warder of the Grey Tower now. I have no desire to be anything other than I am and do not wish to seek it.
Selenirra nodded, and seemed to understand. Mouse thought she detected some pride in the faint smile her father gave her.
To these reactions, Mouse smiled a little as well. I'm just so happy that you're home, she signed.
"So are we," Benar said with a deep voice. "We shall now have more time to talk of all that has passed, but for now, I just wish to enjoy the knowledge that my daughter is not dead and that I have all my family before me."
The women smiled, agreeing.
Unbeknownst to Mouse, however, something had bloomed inside her mind: some determination to prove to herself, or to others who would not know or understand, that she had just made the right choice. The existence of her parents around her, and of a sister she never knew existed, had tumbled her world on to its ear, but she was determined to keep her footing and to thrive.
Many burdens were lifted, only to be replaced... but she had born all the ones before, and had grown and advanced. She would do so again, no matter what lay before her.
