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The Keeper was mildly surprised to find that the other woman was a descendant of Aleis Romlin. Zeara was unlikely to be lying, bound by the Oaths as she was, but Mercury intended to check the facts.

She mulled over the situation. While it was not necessary for such short steps to reach the position of Amyrlin, it would perhaps be necessary, simply due to the means by which Zeara meant to reach the position.

She could not avoid the question any longer. Nor did she wish to. The Keeper was tired of playing cat and mouse. And she was intrigued to see what Zeara had planned, for the Tower, and for Mercury. Ambition was a difficult thing to hide, even under a perfect Aes Sedai mask.

"Very well...I do not say your words are unfounded. However, we cannot make allegations without proof, no matter how much people may believe them to be true. The Tower can be fickle as the sea.

Find me a sister of the Black Ajah." She said the words without any hesitation. "With absolute, undeniable proof of course. And then, who will be there to question our promotions? If the Mother is still unwell at the time, perhaps others will suggest it, without our interference. And then, a new period will begin."

She glanced behind Zeara, where it seemed Hawk had bumped into Aiken. She then brought her storm grey eyes back to bear on the Green in front of her. "I trust that this will be another of the Tower's secrets, and the first of my confidences in you. However, as I'm sure you will understand, I will require the same from your Gaidin. From them, in their own voices of course. Any actions they take, betraying this trust, will be held accountable against yourself."

The two Warders' voices could not have been more different. One full and thick, the other almost hoarse. Boron's sounded honest enough, but Aiken's was...rather nonchalant and offhandedly said, in Mercury's opinion. But nothing to be done now.

She glanced at Hawk, who said he would keep the conversation a secret. She then nodded to Zeara. The woman's smile was positively unsettling, like that of a maniac who had stumbled upon the object of his madness. Mercury wondered whether the smile truly was so wicked looking, or if it was her own imagination. Perhaps a mix of the two.

"A deep secret between the five people in this room Zeara. Not to be mentioned to others by verbal, written, or expressed by any means to anyone. Until after such time as the Black will come to trial before the Hall. Aiken, Boron, Hawk, you are also bound to these terms." Mercury clarified, not foolish enough to be caught by the loopholes of the Oaths. After all, a secret was a secret of course, but amongst how many.

Hawk raise an eyebrow on his aes sedai. He slightly nod to Merc after a few moment. Markis will eventually learn of this discussion sooner or later, or he might even tell it himself. As far as he know the three oaths doesnt apply to him. Walking back towards Merc desk, he keep his cool up and ignore the other watching him. He walk with deadly pace towards Merc. He reaches her desk and once again standing by her side. Hawk position himself where he can act aginst the three visitors infront of him if needed. Bumping at the other man put his instincts in wide-wake. There something amiss with the man and his compagnion he doesnt trust, not to mention with the other sister in the room. They know that he is a warder to the keeper. But do they know that he can use saidin?. and that he can sense when a saidar is being use? The moment the other sister tries something with saidar he will feel it and a shield woven in saidin will be slammed at her. Best thing with being a male channeler, He can sense saidar but they cant sense when he is holding it. Though by bonding with Merc, she can sense when he is holding saidin, but at moment she had it close. Likewise he can feel it when she is holding saidar. He have the urged to open their bond just to let her know that he too can do it if he wish to. He restrained himself from doing it. As a well trained Ashaman he have learned to guise his weaves, unseen and deadly. As for the two men in the room, besting them in swordfights would be quite interesting. Boron is not much a problem but Aiken is another story.

((Yeay!))

Mairyela nodded, then stepped away from the door. She did not wish to be near the thing when the Warder came out anyway. She was still unsettled, but she put it behind her for now.

She had heard nothing of the conversation, which was fine in her opinion. The Keeper knew what she was doing, of course, and Hawk was still present. Stepping out into the hallway, she admired one of the large tapestries in the area as though seeing it for the first time. It was large and impressive, a depiction of Hunters searching for the Horn of Valere riding across the plains towards Tar Valon. That's when she heard the door open.

Hawk keep his cool through all of the discussion. He is watching their sorrounding for any unspected moves. As the meeting ended, he felt a slight relief. But the slight emotion didnt reach the outskirts of the void. His face is still hard as a carved granite and his eyes are cold as ice. Its always a relief knowing that this is not one of the days when he will be using his skills for killing. It take so much energy and it make him sad to kill a fellow gaidin, even an odd one like Aiken. Every swords are needed for tarmon gaidon, and its fast approaching.

As the other three left the room, Hawk release a slight grip of the void and let some emotion back on his face. He look at his aes sedai. He doesnt need to use the bond to understand that Merc is somehow not so pleased at the outcome of the meeting. Something or rather someone is making her displeased. But then again, she havent forgive him yet for whatever it was he have done. Sometimes women could be so mysterious, maybe Markis could teach him about them sometime if he ever have the time to ask him.

Markis rounded the corner, and walked forward quickly. There was a woman passing him, with a rather smug smell wafting off of her. He heard her sniff-or cluck-at Mairyela who was looking at a tapestry of the Hunt for the Horn. He himself had glanced at the cloth numerous times, but he couldn't say he had ever particularly observed or studied it as Mairyela seemed to be doing.

He paid the unknown woman no mind, passing her with complete disinterest. When her Warders followed behind, just coming out of the Keeper's office, he paid more attention. He immediately noted the sharp scent that Mairyela had mentioned; it was all he could do to prevent his nostrils from flaring, even in his human form. The second stout one would likely be Boron, there was nothing particularly remarkable about him. As Jaim had said, Markis would easily best him in a match, or so it appeared. Aiken on the other hand, was not so easy to gauge.

Pretending to be lost in his thoughts, Markis wandered into Aiken's path, and then purposely collided with the man. What was he hiding?

She looked around with the now blazing blue eyes, and alighted upon a vase of flowers on a table nearby. She stomped over, pulled out the flowers, and threw them at Aram. "You always were and still are such a cold, uncaring...."

Aram tuned out the rest of the words; he assumed they would all be synonymous to each other. He managed to awkwardly grab the flowers that had been flung at him, earning himself some wet hands in the process, from where the stems had been soaking in water.

He stood, and walked over to the table, replacing the flowers in the vase. Of course, this action put him within three lengths of the girl. However, he did not think she was a threat; she hardly seemed an immediate danger. However, playing cold was only going to last him so long.

And so, hoping he wasn't mistaken, he reached across for the girl's hands. He clasped them firmly, and before she could react, pulled her into a tight hug. "I've missed you." He said, as best he could manage.