Welcome to Gaia! ::

To the north, in near the border of Kandor, a meager group of friends, soldiers, and fighters of the Light appeared through a Gateway. They missed their true destination by a day's travel, though they had prevented a month's ride by horse by using the One Power.

The landscape was cold, approaching winter. Fall's grasp held the landscape tight, threatening to blanket the rolling hills and sparse trees with snow. That time would come, soon. Snow and ice would embrace the land and the ground would grow has hard as stone.

A town to the north and east could barely be seen, the thin trail of smoke barely visible from the livelihood of its occupants. It was here tha the group began to journey towards. For, without information from this town, they would wander aimlessly with little hope of finding the fortress they sought.

A fortress they knew no name for, just that it was old, evil, and the makings of a trap.

Markus took lead, finding a road after an hour's travel and watched as the smoky tendrils that reached into the sky grew more distinct. He guessed by midday they would arrive, and by hope, the people of the town would have information.

Fighting back the cold as best he could, Denath urged Moss, his dappled grey mare, up beside the Warder's mount. Judging by Moss' temperament she was as enthused about the cold as he was. He couldn't blame her. Summer seemed ages past while a harsh, unrelenting winter seemed to lie maliciously in wait.

"I'm sure this question has already been asked," Denath said quietly, fighting to get each word past clattering teeth, "But isn't there a very good chance that this is a trap? Not that I am doubting the wisdom of Aes Sedai, or Asha'man," he added quickly, risking a glance at the two women riding behind him for any sign that they had overheard before continuing, "But I just don't like the idea of trusting anything that comes out of a Darkfriend's mouth."

Kai stepped through the gate and guided his horse to the side. Behind him, Nanako and Aldo trotted into the crisp, cold air. She pulled her cloak tighter around her, shutting the cold away from her body as much as she could. Kai's grey eyes scanned the treeline, his methodic search of the mediate area revealing nothing more than the light trail of smoke in the distance. The group ahead of them were already moving towards it. Nanako urged Aldo into line behind them, knowing Kai wouldn't fall far behind.

Tallas snorted at the cold, displaying an irritation at the sudden temperature change, but presented no hesitation at continuing through the Gateway. The weatehr hit Markus with a fondly remembered assault, beginning to rip away the heat his body held onto. He adjusted his cloak so that the wind would not flap it behind him and took his first deep breath of the cold, crisp air.

Home. The thought brought a sense of happiness and contentment wrapped inside a ball of concern, bitterness, and a yearning that was as much to run to his father's estate as much as to run from it. This was never your home, the voices chided. You're still an outcast..

He looked behind him, finding purpose to divert his attention to. He had taken the lead, based more out of instinct than anything else. He felt the waves of exhaustion trying to wash over him, and with a simple bout of stubbornness, he squashed it into nothingness.

They were moving as a group, oddly placed in the southern fields of Kandor. Few people traveled freely this far north. Fewer were people foreign to the area. He felt confident enough that should any of the Kandori patrols question them he could justify their excursion across the landscape.

Denath and Jazral were close to him. He heard bits and pieces of their conversation, hearing enough to know what they spoke of. He offered no insight, no comment. He just listened with a deaf ear, focusing on the path ahead. Beyond, Liana sat in her saddle, accompanied by a furious Selene and a stoic warder--Doberler--adorned with Asha'man pins. Beside Liana, Nozrin rode one of the horses another Asha'man had lent him. He was pulling his harp from the case, beginning to tune the delicate strings. Kai and Nanako passed through. He noticed something about them, something different.

Kurai and her companion Sograel brought up the rear, talking quietly between themselves. He had not met Kurai's new friend yet, but he had intentions to introduce himself soon. Perhaps when they reached the village that was becoming more visible the longer they rode.

Beside him, riding quietly, Tarma sad hunched in her saddle, the same familiar cold caressing her as she seemed to be remembering home and the bitter-sweet that accompanied it. Her very presence beside him gave him strength, but he still felt drained, worn out, and on the verge of giving in to all the pressures.

He felt even more weight in the extra, smaller saddle bag that he had strapped to Tallas' side. The contents were not something he was proud of, but it was a necessity. Was it a necessity? chided the voices. Or was it revenge?

He squeezed his eyes shut, willing them to silence.

The wind bit fiercely in her lungs, sliced keen as a blade over the exposed skin of her face, whiping color into her pale cheeks. She wore two thick pairs of woolen stockings beneath her boots, a thicker shirt that she'd worn in the Stedding, and a cloak of dark grey. And for the first time in years, the weight of her old mail lay heavy beneath her warm black coat.

The leather of her gloves creaked in the temperature drop as she gripped the pommel of her saddle, echoed by the rest of the gear her mount wore. As for the mount itself, Skysong stepped friskily along at Tallas' side as though it were not cold enough for their breath to rise in white plumes. The soldiers azhure gaze seemed to match the cold as it swept of the plains of her homeland.

Kandor. She'd sworn she'd never see it again. And now here she was, looking out onto fields that were so like the ones she'd run through as a child. Catch me, Thom! Her eyes closed in a blink that suspended time. Hurry Jamie, supper's ready! Mama, look at Puddle fetch! Will you play my lullaby tonight Papa? Oh Light, but it ached! How could she have known it would ache so sweetly?

Opening her eyes, she breathed deep, tasted memory and damp. There would be frost in the morning, and snow shortly after. Best they find shelter somewhere with four walls and a fireplace. Steeling herself against the grinding hurt with distraction, she left Markus' side with a light touch to his shoulder, falling back to speak with the stranger tuning a harp. Her features, barren and frozen as the landscape, warmed a fraction with the hint of a polite smile, though she eyed the pins on his black coat warily.

"It's good to see someone else along who can play, Asha'man. A little music might cheer these frozen Southlanders where words cannot."

She looked into his face, and a slight frown seemed to crease her features before she smoothed it away. For some reason she couldn't place, she felt she knew this man, had met him before. Fool woman, you've seen him about the Stedding, same as any other Asha'man! Almost amused with herself, she gestured at his harp with a gloved hand.

"Do you know any of the songs of this land?"

Accepting the cloak with only a hint of reluctance, Denath followed the Warder's instructions and wrapped the cloak tightly around his middle. As glad as he was to have another layer between himself and the cold he still felt a trickle of shame for not being able to brave it without complaint. It wasn't his first time in either snow or cold, and the rest of the party seemed as unfazed by the cold as they seemed by everything else.

Adjusting the cloak a few final times to make sure that it wouldn't impede his use of his bow should the need arise, Denath stole a few seconds before replying.

"Even if it is a trap and we know about it, I still don't like it." He said darkly, pausing briefly, uncertain how to continue. "And for the other things, I know I should trust them, but I still don't feel comfortable knowing that at any moment they could pick me up by my little toe with nothing but air and toss me into a river, or a bog, as if I were nothing more than an insect."

He sighed heavily, the warm air from his lungs forming a misty cloud in front of his face before it was banished by the wind a heartbeat later. "I guess not all Aes Sedai are like the ones they talk about in the children's stories back home," he added somewhat more cheerfully, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Sograel walked through the gateway as the chill cut deep into him. The gateway intrigued him. He couldn't remember the Tower Aes Sedai knowing any weave like that. The thought of that gave him an unsettling feeling. He had been able to ignore the cold for the the little bit after getting into, Kandor was it, he couldn't really recall. They had failed to inform Sograel what entirely what was going on, beside what he had already known. Maybe Kurai knew more about it. In any case, he had worn an extra layer. no point in ignoring the cold if your toes fall off, he thought to himself sourly.
He wrapped himself in the thick wool cloak he had been given. Besides that, and his weapons, he wore all his Aiel clothing. His shoufa was doing a good job at keeping his head warm, the black viel hanging limply. He had his pack in with Kurai's on her horse. He had refused his own horse. He always felt awkward in a saddle even if he could ride steadily. And besides, he had shown he could keep up with a horse. He held onto her saddle's stirrup with one hand, keeping the other on his sword. He could help but smile everytime he looked up at her.
He watched Markus slow up onto the other side of Kurai. Sograel gave him a warm grin, nodding in reply to the man's own greeting

Nanako huddled in her saddle, pulling the thick woolen cloak as close to her as she could. She was glad now that she had foresaken her usual dresses for britches, and doubly glad she had worn an extra layer of clothing. The cold still bit through however, feeling as though it was a hundred little daggers entering her lungs with the first few breaths. She couldn't help but wonder at the others lack of reaction to the cold, something she had never dealt with well. Denath seemed to be the only human one amoung them in her eyes at the moment.

Bloody, light forsaken cold. They have to feel it. I don't see the point though in them ignoring it.

Shivering in the saddle, she guided Aldo with her knees keeping the headstrong stallion in line behind Liana, Doberler, Selene and Nozrin. The girl was still shocked to see that this man was the same one she had known only months earlier. Curiousity still bit at her to find out the whole of his story.

She managed to relax a bit when Kai came to her side. The unaccustomed warmth he brought her now evident through the bond created by the pendant. She had been hesitant to leave the stedding so soon after having admitted her feelings for him. Even going as far as debating leaving the pendant back at camp. But in the end she couldn't leave something entrusted to her behind, and for better or worse the bond was back and oddly comforting in her mind as she grew accustomed to it once more. A small smile crept across her face as a thought came to mind. Well, there's no hiding your feelings now Kai. For better or worse, we're both going to have to be honest here now.

Her gaze wondered back with Markus as he went to speak with Kurai. The man the woman brought with them unsettled the Nanako, if for no other reason then the looks she had seen him cast at Kai the evening before. She wanted to know more about him, and was determined to keep her eye on him until he had somewhat earned her trust. She may have let one man past her defenses, and to a lesser degree the others in this group. But he, like them, was simply going to have to show her he was trustworthy before she would turned her back to him. It was this logic she used to dispell any lingering guilt she felt at easedropping on their conversation. Something easily done on this crisp and quiet ride.