sRidahne squatted down so she was at eye level with Harai. It was not a friendly gesture made to help him feel less intimidated. Ridahne merely wanted to study him up close as he spoke, and it had much the opposite effect. Ridahne's gaze was intense, searching, and there was a wrath in those golden eyes that could not be ignored. A wrath that was, for now, restrained. So, the Red hand supposedly wanted the Seed in better hands, did they? The elf had no doubt that this man told her all that he knew, but she wasn't exactly satisfied. There was more to that story, whether Harai knew it or not. 

Still, Ridahne couldn't help the flash of memory that surged back to her with force as she watched Harai look up at her from where he was collapsed on the ground, looking defeated and desperate. "Ask her," he said, and for just a moment it was not Harai the Red Hand that was kneeling before her, it was Nailih, the man she'd slain on Khaltira's orders who had planted the seeds of thought that eventually led her to her current path. She suppressed a shiver. This was not the same and she knew it, but the memory had come unbidden anyway. Unlike then, Ridahne had no doubts about her current master. She would always be a blade, yet the hand that now held her was steady, firm, and gentle. Merciful. All things Khaltira was not. No, she did not have the same doubts about Darin as she did about her former master and her motives.

Ridahne straightened. "I believe you," she said without betraying any of her more private thoughts. "I believe you, but I don't buy it, and I'm sorry that you do. Ask yourself, Harai, who stands to benefit from the creation of such a group? You and I both know the nature of people is that, in time, one will always rise as a leader, and others will follow. What power that person would have! No, Harai, I doubt very much that your precious leaders want solely what's best for Astra. I'd tell you to start asking questions to find out for yourself, but with the Moon as my witness, I'm not letting you go back to them." 

Ridahne poured another cup of water from the large pitcher and poured it directly on him. This was not a cruelty, but a boon. "For the record, I do think it's currently in the best hands. Who better to nurture a seed than a farmer? And perhaps if you'd seen what those hands were capable of, you would not believe what you do now." Absently, Ridahne realized she'd never actually seen the Seed itself. Ridahne knew where it was kept, but in the year or so since they'd traveled together, the elf had never once made any attempt to see it for herself. She chuckled softly to herself at the realization, but knew, too, that she did not need to. 

"Still feeling cooperative? I have given you water and allowed you to sit, but never forget that the moment you stop complying, I will string you up once more, stoke the coals, and leave you here until you feel more cooperative. Given that knowledge, perhaps  you'll tell me more. Who commands you? Who do you report to?" 

--


Ajoran returned her gaze solidly, his dark burnt-orange eyes meeting hers without wavering. Ajoran was a little softer around the edges than Ridahne, but not quite so smoothed as Hadian. If Ridahne was fire, and Hadian water, Ajoran was steel. Cool and steady, but sharp also. "Ridahne spoke briefly of your father, and with no small amount of ire, mind you. Astra help him if she ever crosses his path." He chuckled. "But I think Ridahne's departure was different because she did not disappear like a breath of wind in the night. I knew where she was going and why. And I did not follow because it was what she wanted, not because it was what I wanted. I did it for her, just as she made me turn her in for my own sake. Did she ever tell you that?" he laughed, like recalling a funny story. "She made me turn her in. It killed me to do it, but she was right. If I hadn't, I would have been under severe scrutiny, if not outright disgrace." 

"But enough about that," he said, waving a hand. "I would hope the man she fell for and the real me are the same man," he chuckled, "but I can only hope. Well...let me think...I grew up in the north, in one of the mountain towns--Khiras. My mother, I'alahne, is a tattoer, and my father, Jaheil is a smith. He used to do everything from nails to horseshoes to pickaxes, but he learned blades as a lad and eventually became a legend for it. Naturally, he taught me the trade and that's what I did since I was small. He taught me his secrets and I became almost as good as him after a decade or two. That's how Ridahne and I met. She was beginning her journey as an eija and it was time for her to pick her specialty weapon. Jaisih brought her to our home and Jaheil showed her around the smithy. I have a suspicion my parents and her father had spoken about us, because we were encouraged to speak to each other. I guess they had a hunch we might get along." He grinned, a little foolishly. "When I actually was making her blades, the two khukri she keeps at her back, I used to intentionally balance the handle and pommel a little wrong in the mockup just so that she'd send for me to come and change it. But once I think she finally figured out what I'd been up to, because she sent for me, and when I came to Tasen and held it, the balance was perfect.  That was about when I got scouted out to be a Taja, and I decided to give up smithing to focus on my training. And it meant we both would live in Tasen and stay in the palace..." 

Ajoran wiped some rain from his face, a little vainly. "I belong to and serve Ailinde-Sol. She rules the northwestern province where I'm from, and has been good to me and my fellow Taja. It's been an honor to serve her. But I think someday I will retire and take up smithing again when I've had enough of being a Taja, and maybe after I take and train an apprentice." Ajoran shrugged and added, "I also am partial to corn, when I can get it as it does not grow here, I am a mediocre swimmer, and I once climbed nearly to the peak of a mountain because I was told there are flowers up there." He smiled. "There are. I am also very intrigued by this thing Ridahne described to me, apple pie? I must know what it's like someday. Is there anything else you wish to know?"