Around the table

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

After she left the Meeting Hall . . .

De'Ryanna had stayed silent after she stormed out of the meeting hall. No doubt her language and attitude were unbecoming of a lady. She didn't have outburst like that, simply didn't. In a family of, well, animals, she wanted to be the level-headed one. What's done is done and she would find the results of her actions later.

As she walked her hands gripped either side of her long and heavy skirt, having it balled in her fist. One aggravated puff of air she crossed the hall and headed to the lounge, obviously she either wanted to remain in a public setting, or she didn't think she could maintain long enough to go to the privacy of her own room.

The lounge did have a door - though it was always pushed open - and she would not close it now. Instead, knowing that Benjamin and Armandeus had followed, she waited until they were both in before she grabbed hold of the Source and entrapped the three of them in a bubble of Air. It was invisible to the normal eye and anyone who saw the trio would only see the actions taking place and not the sounds. Think of it as watching a silent movie.

Where did she go? To the hockey table. It was more of in the corner and out of the way if anyone else wanted to enjoy the lounge. "You've caused a lot of trouble with your arrival Benjamin. You shouldn't step up to my father like that." She knew that he was watching her earlier, for this reason she moved around the hockey table so it was between them.

[B.D. Adams]

"I've cause trouble?" He had followed, the natural sway of his seen in his steps. Very fluid movements, every one purposefully placed, even in his Timberland boots. His nose took in the scents of the new location and with his eyes he saw where she took them. Partially expecting it to be a more private place he knew that it was doubtful. No one had followed, for now, except for the Elf.

He knew that he was going to come. De'Ryanna had said that she and the Elf, Armandeus, were friends, but he saw more than that. Friends do not pass glances like the one they had moments ago. And friends did not speak in heated tones to others when one of them got upset. The elf could be competition.

Benjamin stopped on the opposite side of the air hockey table, curling his hands around the side. Was she trying to put a barrier between the two of them? She could do better than that if that were her intention.

"They are the ones who prefer to use aggressive force towards a guest. And your father." Thinking of the only male Were who had been present in the room caused the corner of his mouth to curl up in a grin. "That was a welcome addition to my being here." The table creaked under the pressure of his weight as he leaned forward. "You can't shift can you? It's in your blood, coursing through your vein, growing stronger with the full moon. That's why you lost your temper in there. It's the beast." Was this not delicious. He knew she had the gene, it was not dominate but when he had been around her in time past he had sensed it.

The hockey table sighed its relief as Benjamin eased up and stood, walking down the length of the table while letting one hand continue to drag along the side. "I can teach you to control it. I can teach you many things." He reached the end of the table, a corner and a few steps away from his prey.

"You are promised to me. "

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

There were two options currently available to her in terms of movement. One, she could get closer to Armandeus, or two, she could stay where she was. If she went with the first then Benjamin might think that she was afraid of him - and she wasn't, she was only a bit cautious.

"I told you. I'm not interested," and she wasn't. It didn't matter what her foster had designed for her, she would have no part of it. What she wanted was a Warder as was customary for an Aes Sedai. Even with her convictions, with him standing so close she could feel her heart beating faster and started mental exercises to help calm herself down. It wasn't the same feeling she had when alone in close quarters with Armandeus, this was different.

He was right about her ability to shift, she couldn't do it even though she wanted. Seeing her brother shift whenever he wanted, not only during the full moon, was something that excited her. The things she could do if she would shift forms. Never wanting to ask her brother, and her mother couldn't aide her, she assumed that it was a talent not available to her. Now this man said that he could teach her. Was it possible?

With her father here, perhaps she could ask him.

"Don't you have somewhere to be? Aside from here?"

[Armandeus]

This was the first time Armandeus had been inside the Lounge, and so it shouldn't have been a surprise that he had become momentarily distracted. The television alone was enough to distract him; it was big enough to be worshipped for Vergoth's sake! Worship would have to wait, however, for they had already moved past him to a strange table that had been set up away from everything else.

He reached the table just in time to hear the other man tell De'Ryanna she was promised to him. That made him stop cold at the side of the table between them, and look at her with a strangely curious look. "You are promised to him? Does that mean the same for your kind as it does mine?" Armandeus had heard the term before in his homeland, but there it had been used for those about to marry. It couldn't mean the same thing here, could it? Her answer confirmed it, and he couldn't hide the frown that came from it. Instead he looked down, pretending to be fascinated by the odd table.

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

De'Ryanna opened her mouth to say something to Benjamin, but that was when she heard what Armandeus said. She thought that she heard disappointment in his voice and she frowned for a shadow of a moment. What was she to say? That it wasn't what he thought? It was exactly what he thought it was. Promised, given, intended, in all her studies those words were always synonymous.

"It's nothing that I agreed to Armandeus." She said that while looking at him, wondering how she would be able to explain it and make it better. If she could. How she wished that what Benjamin had said wasn't the truth. Her attention went back to Benjamin. "And it isn't anything that's going to happen either."

She couldn't continue to look at Benjamin for doing so made her feel vulnerable and her mind kept thinking about what she could learn and what it would be like to actually shift forms.

"Go. Leave me. I can't deal with you right now." He was causing problems for her and to actually know Armandeus was disappointed made it worse. "If you need a place to rest..." she left it at that.

[B.D. Adams]

There was something between the two of them, even if it was just a thought or a desire. Something was there. Armandeus admitted to it with his words. Wonderful, so the elf was competition.

He could handle that.

Attention strayed to the Elf for a moment but it always went back to his target: De'Ryanna. Right now, the unspoken body language told him that he was getting to her. She was thinking about what he had said and that was enough. For now. Once a person had you in their thoughts, it was often hard to make those thoughts go away easily. He would make sure it was not that easy to forget him. She was a lovely thing and she was fresh.

His fingers drummed upon the tables edge and he smiled at the both. "I will go, for now. You can't avoid me forever. Perhaps I will acquire a room." Perhaps, but he knew that he did not want to be in the Inn at the moment.

"This is an Inn. I will be back." Benjamin pulled back off the table, his movement steady as he backed away from the pair. When he cleared the table he turned and started out of the room.

"Try not to miss me too much."

[De'Ryanna Aybara]

"Try not to miss me too much."

The nerve. She didn't plan on missing Benjamin at all because she wasn't going to think about him at all. That was her plan. Not think about him at all.

Her first step to showing that she didn't care about the things he had said, she turned her attention back to him. De'Ryanna was going to watch him leave and not think about anything that he said. Having to remind herself of that again, and again.

It helped knowing that Armandeus was there and, as Benjamin left, she reached out and placed a hand on Armandeus' shoulder. At the moment she didn't know the right words to say for nothing seemed right and she felt like she had done something wrong.

She lowered her head again and gently squeezed his shoulder she spoke, her words were soft as a whisper. "I do not choose him."

Removing her hand from his shoulder she took a deep breath and headed from the room.

[Sponsored content]