The Gilded Gleeman

[Lawrence Monday]

Vladamir Armendariz, Gaidin warder to the Sitter of the Green Ajah, Caia’li Sedai
Lythia Krean, Captain-General of the Green Ajah

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In the blink of an eye, the stakes of the spar raised. A cloud of dirt kicked up. The slaps of weapons rang in the ear, but it was the grunt of weight hitting the ground that made the warder at her side tense. For a brief moment, the two combatants blended into one shape, and she just knew that blood was about to spew out of gurgled death cries. But true to the warder’s skill, or perhaps the Dark One’s own luck, the sword landed in the dirt rather than impaled through flesh. It happened so fast that none but only a bondmate may have known Lythia was poised to rush forward. Vladamir, however, lowered himself back to the ground as if halted mid-air from springing the rungs of the fence in one leap. The two partners were unharmed but for the gleeman’s trickling mouth. Losing a tooth would do his singing no favors, but it seemed he was only cut.

Vladamir’s tension was palpable. He was always on edge, but Lythia was so accustomed to his behavior, she hadn’t really noticed it until the gleeman’s taunts. She didn’t think he laughed a day in his life, or if he did, it wasn’t in her company. Nor did she think he shared the company of anyone besides his chaste bondmate. He kept quarters in the warder’s wings. Everyone knew where to find Vladamir when he was needed. If he wasn’t in Caia’li’s shadow, then he was training. Always training, though for what Lythia couldn’t fathom. Sharing even more intimate company was absolutely never a consideration for the Shienaran. He’d come to the Tower the same year Lythia became a novice, and they were practically the same age, or so she guessed. He’d been a breath past puberty and facial hair and muscle came years later. He was a boy when he arrived and never again left. The man was probably still a virgin. Light, let Caia’li take some pity on the poor man.

Which was likely to explain the stone-cold tension locking his jaw for the innuendo.
“You were punched in the face and tripped over your own feet, gleeman. You're lucky to be alive. That's hardly impressive,” he said.

Lythia’s amusement for the tension between men was superficial. She let Vladamir have his moment. She could tell that he didn’t like the gleeman simply for his brazen flourishing, bow or no bow for the Aes Sedai. Meanwhile, she’d not been blinded to his irreverent perusal of the Green’s shape and likely Vladamir wasn’t either. He was protective of all Sisters. She did not fault him for it, knowing herself to be what she was, but further still, she might have taken offense if the gleeman hadn’t been enamored with her. Lythia Sedai was the kind of figure that featured in gleeman’s tales, and Lythia intended to be a legend in her own right. A thousand years from now, the world would still speak her name.

She smiled a slim, yet toothy smile. The kind that was unable to discern whether she was mocking or flirting. Perhaps they were one in the same. “I am impressed that you got up,” was all she said just before Akari interrupted.

She stepped aside only to give herself a good vantage with which to witness the confrontation. Akari Gaidar was terribly intimidating to practically everyone. Even Vladamir nodded a deferential greeting for the warder of the Amyrlin Seat. Of course, when she and Kekura’s plan was enacted, the Amyrlin stilled and deposed, Akari would probably die. Most warders did when their bondmate was stripped of power. She would be a threat as long as she lived, seeking revenge or otherwise work against those who overthrew Kaydrienne.

Poor thing.

So Lythia was willing to watch Akari do battle one final time. Just to remember the warderess in all her glory.