"No, no its fine," Mave said after a moment of consideration. The dusk was growing heavy and they would need to be leaving. The mayor returned walking quickly across the green with a basket in his hand. To Mave's considerable surprise it contained some cheese and a loaf of bread as well as some dried apples. The man cleared his throat in obvious embarrassment.

"You'll be back for the feast tomorrow of course but I know that you aren't fixed to be feeding guests," the mayor muttered the words and Mave sensed they were an apology of sorts for the behavior of the Wisdom and himself when they visited earlier. Instinctively she moved the bread aside to see a wineskin concealed beneath it.

"Thank you master al'Cagan, and I apologize for my outburst earlier, I did not come here to cause dissent," she said carefully but the mayor was already waving her words away.

"Your welcome here Misstress..."

"Kashana," Mave supplied. The Mayor nodded as though the name made sense, though this far from Arad Doman she could have said anything and it would have been equally believeable.

“Mistress Kashana,’ the Mayor repeated and bowed slightly. They stood and waved and started for the edge of the village. Ali took up his staff and Mave wrapped her shawl tight around her shoulders. Beltane eve it might be, but it had been a harsh winter and the seasons grip hadn’t yet been dislodged.

“Should we take the game trails?” Ali asked as they walked into the twilight, the lights of the village twinkling behind them as they headed westwards towards the mountains. Mave shook her head.

“Let take the path,” she said, “I don't think we will have any trouble. Whoever your friend is he knows you aren’t home by now.” Mave didn’t have any such belief and she kept her eyes opened as they followed the path through the moonlit woods. Ali had taken a lantern from the green but he kept it shuttered, it was almost the new moon but the stars were bright enough to see by and they instinctively didn’t want to draw more attention to themselves. Despite Mave’s misgivings they reached the house without incident, and they both felt an unspoken relief as the farmstead came into view. No black figure or dark horse lurked around that she could see. Ali cleared his throat perhaps feeling a little embarrassed at his own fear.

“Well, nothing like a walk in the woods,” he said with giddy relief. Mave smiled at him and gestured to the house.

“Why don’t you go in and get a fire started,” she said, affecting a slightly nervous glance towards the house.

“I’d like to look at the stars a moment,” she said. Ali nodded and gripped his staff, imagining that she was worried about someone lurking inside the house.

“Right,” he said and headed inside. Infact Mave wasn’t concerned that the rider was lurking inside, but she did need a few moments of privacy. Reaching out she surrendered herself to Saidar, allowing the One Power to flow into her like a warm draught of tea. Instantly her senses were sharper, she could hear the chirps of bird and sense the movements of leaves. She began to walk around the house, weaving flows of spirit and air in an intricate lattice work. Some Aes Sedai believed that all students had a particular talent or aptitude when it came to the Power. If that were true Mave’s talent was wards. She completed a circuit of the house, joining the point where she had began before inverting her flows and tying them off.

By the time the ward was in place the light of the fire had appeared in the window and Mave went inside. Ali was closing the windows and latching them, no doubt imagining the rider to be a more prosaic threat than Mave feared.

“It is beautiful in the country at night,” she said as she began to take off her shoes and shawl.

“In Bandar Eban you can hardly see the stars for the city lights.”