Out she stepped in the alley next to the Gholam Inn and the gateway snapped shut with out so much as a blink of her eyes. She walked with her head held high. She was cleared, but then ran.

The words still echoed in her ears and the feeling of utter relief....

"After considerable thought and questioning the Hall of the Tower has decided that Mordelaine Aldendred Sedai is innocent of the charges brought against her."

Her heart beat so heavily and quickly she could hear it in her ears. He is here! But will he understand?

Stopping just out side the door, she took a deep breath and held it in, and exhaled as the door swung inward under the push of her arm. Tainor turned fully to her holding his dinner plate in hand and stopped dead. Jendaia and Sky were there, and the Green sister greeted Mordelaine with a sigh.

Sky pushed a bottle at Jendaia, "This might be interesting..." Emptying a good portion of the bottle, Jendaia grunted an acknowledgement and observed the pair.

Straight as an arrow, Mordelaine walked toward Tainor stopping opposite the table, and uttered in a choked voice, "Tainor."

The Ashandarei smiled hesitantly, glanced quickly at his dinner, and set it on the closest flat surface. With a deep bow and fist to heart he answered clearly, "Mordelaine Sedai." He hadn't been sure she would return for him.

"It is good to see you again," she told him. The awkwardness between them was striking. Tainor glanced up while recovering from his bow and smiled like the cat that ate the canary.

"It is good to be seen."

Across the room, Sky sat back in his seat and studied the scene.

"I have been away too long. I half expected you to have found your way to me on your own." She had also harbored hope he would.

Tainor glanced at Sky, the Master of Training and one of the men whom he had studied under, and said earnestly, "If I could have gotten away with my skin whole, I would have." A chuckle escaped the observing Gaidin. "Shall we sit, Aes Sedai? If you don't mind me joining you, that is."

Mordelaine sat and smiled, "Maybe then others can go back to their own business."

After a brief uncomfortable pause, Tainor grabbed his plate and sat, "Was your time away... restorative?"

"Yes. After I attended to some... formalities..." After another uncomfortable pause she continued in almost a whisper. "I should have taken you with me."

"You should have. But you're here now. And I am here." His eyes seemed to drink in the sight of her. "You're looking well, Aes Sedai."

"As are you, but you must call me Mordelaine. We are now too familiar for that, are we not?"

Grinning he replied, "Yes, Mordelaine." It was uncomfortable not to include the obligatory "Sedai."

Her heart jumped into her chest. Quickly she answered, "And I shall stop calling you 'Ashandarei.'"

The silence filled the air like a wet blanket.

"So, then... Have you kept busy?" Mordelaine quickly asked.

He nodded and replied loudly enough to carry across the common room. "Quite. Dev'Kal Gaidin has me doing most of the hard work he's supposed to be doing."

Skyfall Gaidin looked up from his drink, "You can sit behind my desk tomorrow and listen to people tell you what I should be doing... and cover all the paperwork for me then, Tainor. I certainly would rather be out on the yards, though I'm sure your students prefer you."

Mordelaine stifled a giggle, but did not look away from Tainor. After giving the Warder a winning smile, he turned his attention back to her. It is almost time. It is really going to happen! she thought. Leaning in to whisper she said aloud, "I am sorry I haven't written. I had to reset things after..." Mordelaine studied her feet.

"Of course you did," he interrupted he with a brief, hesitant touch to the hand.

Mordelaine looked back up at Tainor hearing a chuckle elsewhere in the room. She had quite forgotten others were here. Gathering all her strength she stood quickly, she exclaimed, "Oh, for the Light's sake! Let's just do this, shall we?" Her knees wobbled slightly and Tainor scrambled out of his chair with an uncharacteristic struggle. Regaining her composure, she walked gracefully towards the stairs, not bothering to find an empty room from the Innkeeper. She climbed the stairs as if she were walking on air and embraced, using Saidar to find an empty room. Tainor was right behind her after righting the chair carefully and unconsciously checking to see if it was damaged. Sky watched the entire departure and saluted the not-for-much-longer Ashandarei. Jendaia, in characteristic fashion, simply winked.

Mordelaine opened a door to the small room with naught but a bed, chair, desk and lamp, the last of which she lit with a single skein of fire. She turned to the man who would be her protector and life-mate till their demise and began working her fingers wildly. Never had she practiced a weave like this, amongst constant thoughts of how like a schoolgirl she was acting. All Tainor would see was moving fingers and hands, but the fine mesh of spirit that Jendaia had taught her took shape to her eyes.

"It is years past due, my friend, but now is the time I think. Thank the light we have both made it to this point despite everything."

He dropped to his knees in front of her, "My life for you, Mordelaine Alendred." Never had he meant the words more truly, not in all his hours of thinking on the subject, then when they finally crossed his lips.

"No. Not like this." She pulled him to his feet by his arm as a tear fell down her cheek.

Tainor compromised and put one foot on the ground, but remained kneeling as he took her hands and putting them to his head, guessing such an intimate act as Bonding might need contact the way Healing did. He had certainly been Healed enough to know; all the trainees needed such Aes Sedai help on a fairly regular basis.

"I want you to know that I trust my life to you! You are not my servant, but protector. The only thing that separates us is this power! We share the same purpose, but you are NOT my servant." So saying, she set the weave into place.

Tainor shivered as the weave settles onto him, and jerked slightly at the foreign sensation that bloomed in the back of his head. Nothing anyone had told him had quite prepared him for it; nothing could have. Any uncertainty about his future disappeared - his future belonged to her now. He would live and die to see her cause through.

Mordelaine smiled and lifted Tainor to his feet by placing her hand lightly under his chin. Awash with emotions, she knew that she should never be alone again. She wondered if Tainor knew the extreme sacrifice that she had just made.

Finding himself on his feet but not quite knowing how, Tainor wrapped his arms around her and spun her around once. "Mordelaine is my Aes Sedai!" He shouted gleefully as he turned, then he set her down carefully, as if she might break from rough handling. More than with any other woman alive, he would allow no harm to come to her at his hands.

Mordelaine stifled back the torrent of emotions as she realized Tainor's presence in the back of her mind. "He really does live to protect!" "How have I been so lucky?" she choked out, smiling while ignoring the tears in her eyes.

"I was just asking myself that same question..." he replied.

Mordelaine sank down onto sitting the bed, a relief previously unknown washing over her. Tainor was at her elbow almost instantly. "You'll never face anything alone again. Not while blood flows in my veins." His voice was quiet, but no less certain.

After a moment of pure unspoken communication, Mordelaine laughed ironically, "What now?"

Tainor laughed, "Hopefully nothing. Long, uneventful lives of changing the world."

"I doubt uneventful!" She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Let's go downstairs. I am sure we will find at least a drink from the Green. They live for such things, do they not?"

Rolling his eyes, he slipped his hand under her elbow to help her up. Mordelaine, however, stood faster than his hand, and they went down to the bottom of the stairs.

Sure enough, Jendaia called over a barmaid and ordered a round of drinks. Dev'Kal set down his bottle and stepped out from the table. He drew his katana ceremoniously and with a flourish touched the blade to his forehead. "Welcome, Tainor Gaidin."

Tainor beamed widely. Mordelaine caught the word, "Gaidin" and turned to her bondmate with a look of amazement. Gaidin... He turned to her, realizing the same thing, feeling her realize it, and smiled with sparkling eyes. Mordelaine retained the all-too-habitual facade of Aes Sedai serenity and smiled to the Green Sitter.

"If you'd excuse me Mordelaine Sedai," Dev'Kal straightened and then grounded the point of his blade. He unclasped his fancloth and draped it over his arm. "You won't be needing this anymore." He plucked the Ashandarei pin from Tainor's collar.

"But you will be needing this... I realize it is tradition for the Aes Sedai to provide the legendary cloak, but this one time, I think a break is proper." Walking behind Tainor he draped the Fancloth over Tainor' shoulder. "Welcome home." The elder Warder walked around in front again, and one last time saluted with his katana before sheathing it with a small grin, "I knew there was a point to being the Master of Training," he said as he returned to his seat. He propped up his feet looking rather pleased with himself.

Jendaia smiled at Mordelaine, doubtless remembering the bonding of her first Gaidin. Would it have been so overwhelming for her and that man? Short of asking, Mordelaine and Tainor would never know, which meant it would remain a mystery.

Tainor eyed the cloak, fingering it, trying to figure out just how it worked. It was too dizzying and so he stopped, instead looking back to Mordelaine. He couldn't stop comparing what he could see of her to the information the bond gave him. It was almost as dizzying as the cloak.

Jendaia placed her hand on Sky's and winked at him. He murmured just above hearing, "You think we should tell them it took you a month to finish my cloak?"

Jendaia shook her head, the movement scarcely visible. Sky nodded as imperceptibly and winked, then flipped Tainor's former pin before pocketing it.

Mordelaine turned to Tainor and whispered. "You shall have a spare then... I have your cloak at my estates. I finished it years ago."

Tainor grinned at that, whispering back, "This means a lot from him, but...it will mean so much more from you."

"I never had any doubt of the honor you have earned, but this shows me that... I am proud to have you as my Gaidin, Tainor."

"An honor to serve, Aes Sedai," he said with a slight bow.

"Call me Mordelaine."