Technically, the Mess Halls were already closed that evening. It was past the eleventh toll of the night, and the noisy crowd of the young initiates were peacefully tucked in their barracks and dorms for sure. But here in Tar Valon you were never sure with the Aes Sedai and Asha'mans' sleeping and waking habits, and the Kitchens have long since grown used to their dual custom come nighttime. Of course only those with Dragon, Shawl and Sword could have full privelege of this twenty-four hour service. Usually. It all depended on the cook if they let the occasional novice, soldier or recruit in. As long as the young ones didn't abuse it, everything was all right.

Edeleas was one who always liked to use this privelege. He avoided eating in crowds because of the late tendency of the novices, Accepted and Green sisters to oggle at him and whisper things behind his back. For this purpose he let slip of his bonding to Myara Anhri, and there was a slight uproar especially on the part of the more enthusiastic Greens. Fortunately the novices and Accepted started desisting on his trail now. It was all very annoying, and Edeleas had short patience to begin with.

He sat near the candle-lit counter, poking his hot porridge idly as he strained his eyes to read his notes by his wan candlelight. Every now and then he took careful spoonfuls into his mouth, and flipped a yellowed page. The young cook was watching him kindly as he wiped his glasses and bowls, ready to fetch anything should the blonde Asha'man needed something. But for now Edeleas was content concentrating on his notes.

The door creaked open, but Edeleas did not look up.

Farina couldn’t help it. Her stomach was making such a noise that she was sure that it kept her roommates awake as well. None of them were snoring yet. Farina had had chores, sweeping mostly, and she had looked at a Soldier long enough to be concidered flirting, and suddenly she had found herself knee-deep in dusty books in one of the storage rooms in the library. Arranging the books had taken her far too long. She had missed dinner, and hadn’t had time to do an essay she was supposed to return tomorrow. Life was not looking too good at the moment.

Farina wriggled a little, tried to find a better position, but a certain emptiness in her stomach made sure that no position felt comfortable. She was not going to get any sleep tonight. Unless she went to the mess hall and grabbed a late bite. Novices were not supposed to leave their rooms after sunset, but Farina had never been to careful about the rules. She hadn’t broken them too severely, but sneaking out to eat didn’t seem too violating to Farina. So she quietly stood up and grabbed her white cloak to cover herself decently and left the room where her friends were pretending to sleep. No one said anything though.

She walked swiftly, trying to be quiet, but her rumbling stomach didn’t really help. But she made it all the way to the Mess hall without being confronted by an Aes Sedai or an Asha’man. The hallways were all but deserted, which suited Farina. She clutched the cloak tightly to make sure that her shift-clad body didn’t show, and opened the door.

The room wasn’t empty. I’m so bloody stupid! Now I’m certainly getting caught. A man was sitting there with a bunch of papers, and a young cook was obviously serving him. Farina thought that she could just slam the door shut before the Asha’man turned and looked at her, but her stomach picked that exact time to rumble very audibly. She clutched her stomach and blushed. “I’m so sorry, I was just looking for a bite to eat, I didn’t know someone was already here...” she said, waiting for some kind of response.

“I’m so sorry, I was just looking for a bite to eat, I didn’t know someone was already here...”

Edeleas still did not bother looking up. However his angreal earring chinkled a bit when he reached for his tea. "The Mess Halls have a certain rule about opening in the middle of the night, and they are quite strict about initiates such as you are wandering around, but if what you say is true, I will not breathe a word." Edeleas answered crisply as he gently closed his book and finally raised his dead green eyes. The Novice was wearing a cloak that protected her from the cold and possibly unwanted eyes. Her face samed vaguely familiar, too. But then, Edeleas dealt with many novices, Accepted and Green sisters to recognize them all. Shadow take him, but it seemed that only Cayana Alhi seemed respectable in the Green Ajah nowadays. He gestured for the girl to come inside, and she did. "Rhys, do serve the girl, will you?" Edeleas said absently.

The cook nodded and went forward to take whatever order the girl might have. Edeleas re-opened his book and tried to resume his reading, but his concentration slipped by his fingers like grains of sand. A little part of him became cross at the fact that he ever let the girl in. Hopefully she was not gaping at him. He hated women when they did that. He lifted his green gaze again and looked at the Novice curiously.

"Have we met before?" he asked politely. "You seem very familiar, but I can't put a name on you."

"The Mess Halls have a certain rule about opening in the middle of the night, and they are quite strict about initiates such as you are wandering around," the man said, and Farina blushed silently as she stood in the doorway, "but if what you say is true, I will not breathe a word." She looked at him in surprise. Really? Well, apparently it was possible for an Asha'man to be kind. They always seemed so hard and cold, like most Aes Sedai. Farina curtsied, but the man was putting his book down, still not looking at her. Finally, food. Farina wasn't sure if she would pass out from hunger soon.

The man raised his green eyes and looked at her for the first time. Light! She knew him. He was Edeleas Asha'man, the Master of Soldiers. The man who had once taught her a class, and once comforted her when she was crying for Frenna for a change. She still didn't know why he had done it. He had even offered his help. A strange man. But Farina had never felt more gratitude towards anyone, and she still thought of him as a saviour of some sort.

But the Asha'man didn't seem to recognise her. Well, it didn't bother her that much, but she thought that he should have remember a girl who had cried her eyes out in front of him. He just gestured her to come in, which she did. "Rhys, do serve the girl, will you?" the Asha'man said quite absently. Farina looked at him for a while in slight confusion, and then asked the young cook to bring him a bowl of porridge. She would have been satisfied with anything at the moment.

Farina looked around the room absent-mindedly while she waited for her food. The man continued to read, and Farina felt a bit awkward just sitting there, doing nothing. After a while the Asha'man looked up at her again, and Farina nearly jumped under his gaze. "Have we met before?" he asked politely. "You seem very familiar, but I can't put a name on you."

"I'm Farina Aileen, Master of Soldiers," she answered a bit shyly. "You found me lost in the Black Tower and treated me to tea and I cried quite vigorously about my daughter I had left when I came to the White Tower."

"I'm Farina Aileen, Master of Soldiers," the girl answered a bit shyly. "You found me lost in the Black Tower and treated me to tea and I cried quite vigorously about my daughter I had left when I came to the White Tower."

Edeleas frowned at empty space for a moment before his brain sparked some recognition at the name. He returned his gaze to the girl afresh. Of course, he remembered her now. She was the one who did lose her way in the Black Towers. And if he remembered correctly she had an unhealthy hobby of looking at his Soldiers and Dedicated for too long. He reached for his teacup and took a careful sip of the cold brown liquid within. He also remembered offering her some help to find this daughter of hers, but she did decline politely. Edeleas tried to smile but his lips could only twitch at the sides. "Missed dinner, haven't you?" He murmured as Rhys came back with food for the girl. "You must have had lots of chores to have missed such an important meal." He went on.

The girl was busy filling her stomach to answer, and Edeleas watched her with slight interest. It helped greatly that at least she was not one of those novices who gaped at him when they had the chance. He could tolerate her looking at his boys in turn, just so she should be careful not to let him catch her. It would be a long lecture with Cayana afterward, and he won't envy her a single bit. Cayana was nice to her girls, but she knew perfectly well to be firm if the situation called for it. They worked together to make sure the Towers' children did not go out of hand while learning the One Power.

Edeleas re-opened his book and carefully peered down at the table of angreal that had been documented in the time of the Dragon Reborn. One Power tools were always an interesting subject for a Dieb Cha or a Brown.

The Asha’man frowned for a while, but then looked at her again, recognision evident from his eyes. Farina smiled. He does remember me. Her stomach made another audible rumble when the man took a sip of tea, but luckily the cook seemed to be done and was bringing her porridge. Finally. Perhaps she could sleep after she had had something to eat.

"Missed dinner, haven't you?" Farina nodded silently, she was too hungry to answer. The bowl of porridge was brought in front of her. Farina didn’t hesitate, but grabbed the spoon and started to eat. "You must have had lots of chores to have missed such an important meal." Farina coloured slightly, her mouth full of porridge. He can’t know. How could he? Punishing novices was Aes Sedai business, but Farina had the feeling that the man knew why she had missed dinner. I was just looking! I wasn’t even flirting, she thought bitterly. Some Aes Sedai were so tense.

She kept eating in her hungry manner which was not quite lady-like, but Farina had never been a lady. The Asha’man didn’t seem to wait for an answer, because after a while he took his book again and seemed to forget Farina altogether, which was fine with her. She just wanted to eat. But after a while, when she had satisfied her immediate hunger, the silence seemed quite awkward. Farina glanced at the man now and then, but made sure that she wasn’t looking too long this time. If she was punished when she looked at a Soldier, she didn’t want to know what happened when she looked at an Asha’man for too long. Besides, Asha’man were out of her league. Maybe if she was an Aes Sedai... She shook her head. No need to think about that right now.

Farina finished her mouthful, and decided that the silence was too unbearable. “Uhm, mind if I ask what you are reading, Asha’man?” she asked, trying to be as respectful as possible.

Silence ensued in the Mess Halls. The only sound to be heard was the regular chinking of the utensils against the Sea Folk porcelain bowls and the shuffling of paper as Edeleas turned his book. The Dieb Cha's Dreadlord senses could feel the uneasiness emanating from the Novice sitting across him. Edeleas did not pay this any heed. It was actually a curious thing as to why she would be uneasy like that. Finally she spoke.

“Uhm, mind if I ask what you are reading, Asha’man?”

Edeleas looked up and gave her a smile - that same smile that had once made a novice faint. Now that Edeleas remembered it, it wasn't funny at all. He had had to endure tauntings from his Doon m'Taal and Dieb Cha brothers for three whole weeks, and there was nothing he could do about it, even if he shouted his throat out at them. Now he refrained from smiling to Novices, Accepted and Aes Sedai - especially Greens. Greens seemed to read gestures as well as Blues, but their interpretations were a whole lot different of course.

"I am reading a book entitled Aides for the One Power, written by one Logain Ablar Asha'man in the time of the Dragon Reborn." Edeleas explained, minding and choosing his words carefully lest he started talking like the Dieb Cha that he was and scare the Novice into boredom. "This book is fairly interesting if you consider angreal and the like to be your choice of study, of course."

He closed the book and gently pushed it toward the Novice. "Rare book, that one. Only two copies remaining in the world. The other one is with the Tower libraries. That one is my personal property." He added softly.

The man looked up - and smiled! Farina was not expecting that, so she surprised herself by blushing. She had never seen him smile before. One the whole, Asha'man didn't seem to smile that much. Farina looked down, hoping that the Asha'man wouldn't see her red cheeks. You can't bloody smile at me! There had to be some rule against that. If novices weren't even allowed to look at men, Asha'man shouldn't be allowed to smile at novices. Bloody unfair.

"I am reading a book entitled Aides for the One Power, written by one Logain Ablar Asha'man in the time of the Dragon Reborn." Farina took the risk of looking up at the Master of Soldiers again. Suddenly she wished that she had paid more attention in her history lessons. She knew she had heard the name Logain before, and that he was someone important, but she couldn't remember what he had done. Oh well. She wasn't going to be Brown anyway. "This book is fairly interesting if you consider angreal and the like to be your choice of study, of course."

Not likely, that. Farina didn't know what she was going to study, or which Ajah she was going to choose, but angreal... They were useful of course, but at the moment she didn't feel any particular interest in them. But she took the book as the Asha'man pushed it to her and opened it carefully, looking at a page and trying to look interested.

"Rare book, that one." the Master of Soldiers continued. "Only two copies remaining in the world. The other one is with the Tower libraries. That one is my personal property." Farina swallowed nervously. Two copies? She was not used to handling valuable books. She turned another page carefully and looked at it for a while, but then closed the book and pushed it back to the Asha'man. "It must be very interesting," she said rather lamely. She was not a book person. "Do you study angreal, Asha'man?" she asked and took another spoonfull of porridge as she waited for an answer.

"Yes, I study them." Edeleas replied as he set down his spoon. He had finished eating, and there was no need to tarry further in the Mess Halls. He was sure that the girl could keep herself amused as she ate. If not...well, that was her problem. He took back his book and rose, eyeing her as she sat there.

"Rhys, keep her company, will you? I'm going back to the Black Tower now." That was all and he turned on his heels to go. And then he remembered something. He turned to Farina. "I hope you will find her." There was no need to elaborate who 'she' was, Farina already knew who he was talking about. Then he left the Mess Halls and turned into the cold night outside.

The walk to the Black Tower was uneventful, as it usually was, unless there was something that Edeleas was sent to do. Briallan and the others had been awfully quiet, and Edeleas was starting to feel that whatever orders he was going to recieve next can't be a pleasant one. Well, it never was pleasant, really. Briallan seemed to have turned her sadistic hobbies on him for some reason he couldn't openly fathom.

The hallways were dark, but some Asha'man were still around, and Edeleas nodded to them in respectful acknowledgement. The Dieb Cha kept his senses sharp, you never knew where a Soldier or a Dedicated could be lurking. But mostly it was the Soldiers. The Dedicated couldn't be bothered to be out of bounds, as they already knew how he dealt his punishments. Having met with no trouble, Edeleas returned to the comfort of his desk, lit a lamp, and resumed reading. It was an other sleepless night.

"Yes, I study them." Farina nodded as she ate, but the Asha'man didn't seem eager to continue the conversation. Fine. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything in the first place. The man took his book back and rose from his seat. He's leaving? Farina cursed herself. Of course he's leaving. He has finished eating, why would he want to stay here with a novice? Farina felt a little disappointed nonetheless.

"Rhys, keep her company, will you? I'm going back to the Black Tower now." Farina glanced at the cook and then at the Asha'man. He had already turned to leave. That's all? Farina didn't know what she had expected, but this wasn't it. He had been so friendly when he talked about the book, and now he acted like she didn't exist. Men, she thought glumly. No, Asha'man. They were even harder to interpret than 'normal' men. Farina felt like throwing the bowl of porridge at him.

Farina was looking sulkily at her porridge when the man spoke again. "I hope you will find her." Farina looked up in surprise. The man turned again, and this time he left. Farina looked at the door, paralyzed. Frenna. She could feel tears forming in her eyes. Then she shook herself mentally and bit her lip. She didn't want to start sobbing here in front of this Rhys. She ate the rest of the porridge, but she didn't taste it, her mind was elsewhere. Frenna. Now that she thought about it, the Master of Soldiers was rather nice.

She thanked Rhys and left the Mess hall, a small smile on her lips, went back to her room and slept.