<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/3/35/YellowAjah.jpg)</div><strong>Character name:</strong>Shayella Adair<br/><strong>Position:</strong>Sister, Yellow Ajah<br/><strong>Bondmate:</strong>None<br/><strong>Tag:</strong>Kalain, Closed<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Evening, Saven 7th, 990NE<br/><strong>Place:</strong>Private Room - Infirmary<br/><strong>Warning:</strong><br/><hr/>Pondering for a moment, Shayella fought not to smile at the answers, and lack thereof, to her questions.  Not because the answer he gave caused any amusement but because they were finally getting somewhere with it.  Whatever had taken place at the faire was making Kalain attempt to divert her attention away from that and onto the fight he had with Theraeve.  While she honestly didn’t track his movements, the rumors of that had traveled quickly through the Tower.   “As tempting a diversion as that is, I would much prefer to hear about the rest of your night with Moira.”  She said, bring the conversation back to the very topic he seemed to wish to avoid.  “The two of you danced.  How was that?”  She asked, pressing for more details though not really of the event.  She was far more interested in how Kal reacted to such things.  What he did with his Aes Sedai was not her real concern but the fact that Moira and Kal might be making some sort of connection was of importance.<br/><br/>Falling silent as he followed her example and let all the pretenses fall away, she gave him the room to speak freely as she had always desired.  She had always wanted a real conversation and to actually understand the man that she had spoken to every week for a year.  Listening very carefully, her eyes remaining on his, she studied the man across from her.  Most often, he had shared more with her only when he was at his most angry, his actions often speaking louder than his words but this time was different.  As he revealed truths, some that were new and others she had already guessed at, she felt a knot of tension release from her stomach.  Seeing a glimmer of the man beneath the irate exterior, she found herself both liking him for it, rather than just the skill he brought to the Tower, and truly feeling for him.<br/><br/>Remaining quiet for a moment when he was finished sharing, she cocked her head and addressed the easiest, and the most complex, matter first.  “I’m not trying to fix you, Kalain.”  Her words were gentle, kind, but still lacking past pretense.  “You are not, in fact, broken.  You are a man that has suffered a loss that no one should have to face.  You are a man that has been deeply wounded, though it’s not visible for others to see, and you are a man that is suffering.”  She paused, her blue eyes saddened though she still didn’t blunt the truth.  “You are a man that has held an important position in the White Tower, a man with incredible skill and ability, and I believe you feel betrayed by the very people you have served.”  She continued, taking a deep breath.  “You’ve been given no freedom to heal, no privacy to grieve the loss of Elaine and, more than that, the very people you have served for so long and so diligently, haven’t offered support but, rather, suspicion and doubt.”<br/><br/>“My task here has never been to heal you.  Only time, your own decisions and Moira can do that.  I have not been asking about your interactions with Moira to keep track of your activities.  As there is no one closer to you in the world than Moira, due to your bond, I was seeking signs that you were opening up to her – even a little.”  She explained openly.  “In all of this, I can only offer guidance, a safe place to speak and, perhaps, help you to acknowledge things that you might otherwise bury.”<br/><br/>Taking a sip of tea, she set the mug back down and spoke of those things he might well bury. “I noticed that, when you spoke of Elaine and Moira, you mentioned their commonalities, understandably, but I am curious about some of their differences.  What stands out as different about Moira?”  She asked, “What traits does she have that are distinctly her own?”<br/><br/>There was much he had to say that Shayella wished to address but she needed to take it one step at a time.  Kal’s personal guilt and the guilt he levied on the Tower for the death of Elaine would, naturally, be a subject that Shayella broached but, perhaps, not right away.