<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/4/42/Gaidin.jpg)</div><strong>Character name:</strong>Ardan Taliesin<br/><strong>Position:</strong>Gaidin<br/><strong>Bondmate:</strong>Aleana Sedai (Soon)<br/><strong>Tag:</strong>Aleana<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Evening, Saven 5th, 990NE<br/><strong>Place:</strong>Aleana<br/><strong>Warning:</strong>N/a<br/><hr/><div style="text-align: justify;">Ardan had an odd feeling of deja vu when  he followed Aleana up the tower to the Blue Ajah hall. He felt like a child who had been caught with a hand elbow-deep in a cookie jar and now had some explaining to do. He didn't expect her to punish him, or scold him or anything. It was the explaining, justifying that he dreaded to do and her reaction to it. At least she wasn't a Red, she wouldn't quickly jump to the conclusion that it had something to do with channeling. By the Light, he hoped it had nothing to do with channeling!<br/><br/>As they walked silently, he tried to think of ways to bring it up to her, to explain it to her. There weren't sixty different ways to go about it, but he wanted to pick the right one regardless. Outwardly, Ardan appeared to be his usual self; alert with his deep brown eyes constantly scanning his surroundings even up here and calm. He was anything but calm inside and he knew it. What was the worst that could happen? He become some subject of study for a brown or a yellow? Give him to the Reds to be tested for channeling, tried and gentled? This had nothing to do with the One Power, he repeated to himself. He had seen what the One Power would do and this had nothing in common with it. Being put out of the Tower, or labeled a dark friend could happen and would sadden him much. What if he was some kind of hound for the… no. He was no dark friend.<br/><br/>Ardan clenched his teeth to control himself, something that a twitch of a muscle at his jaw betrayed, but not much more. He entered her quarters, murmuring thanks as he did so and he stood, near the door, his hands around his back; one hand holding the wrist of the other and he forced himself to ease the tension in his shoulder, neck and jaw. Aleana had never given him a reason to think ill of her; if anything, she had always done the opposite. He trusted her and as the thoughts came to him, the tension drained from him.<br/><br/>"I will remain standing, Aleana Sedai." Ardan said, a little too quickly and when he caught himself, he added, "Unless it causes you discomfort." He had no intention to be a literal pain in the neck to her. At her words of gratitude, Ardan's first reflex was to dismiss them. He had done his job, he had sworn to protect the men and women of the Tower and he would uphold that oath until he was released from it or died. He simply inclined his head to acknowledge the words. Then came the words that he dreaded to hear. How did he know…<br/><br/>"I don't know how I do it, or what makes me different." Ardan started and it was the honest truth. Truth would be the best path to take here, he was sure of it. Of all the scenarios and explanations he had thought of, truth seemed the most efficient and logical. "I can track people by scent once I've encountered them or something of theirs that carries their scent. Some people, and sometimes places, smell foul. I've learned that when it happens, it's because there has been violence in their vicinity.  When he perused the foyer waiting for someone to call him to his meeting, I picked up on his scent.  The clothes on his back are not his, they belong to someone else. He stinks of death and violence, and by the end of the interview he smelled of fear and despair." Ardan said, talking much more than he intended to but he was nervous and that made him long-winded.<br/></div>