A Bond of Alliance

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After Tarmon Gaidon, the Amyrlin has a plan for rebuilding the World...

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Egwene al'Vere, Flame of Tar Valon, the Amyrlin Seat, had dressed in her finest, and for armour in this battle she wore her seven-striped stole across her shoulders.

She stepped through the gateway as soon as it was fully open, closed it behind her as soon as she was through, and stood in the Hall of the Dragon, in the heart of the Black Tower, where the M'Hael received petitioners.

"Sieze –" rang a voice.

Egwene was prepared for that. The Power enhanced her voice. "Logain! We must speak."

"Hold," said another voice, just as loud, but where the first had been a drill master's bark, this was a teacher's firm reprimand.

The first – Egwene cast a look about her – had come from an Asha'man who, judging by his uniform, was the Captain of the Hall, and responsible for security in the Hall of the Dragon. He would likely hear more reprimands when this was done – letting women Travel in and out as they wished, did he? Lucky for Egwene that she had a knack for sidestepping wards. Men's Travel wards lacked all subtlety. They were solid, impenetrable walls – which you just had to pass around.

The second voice had come from a man seated like a king on a throne, on a dais, his alert eyes now smiling down at Egwene with no mirth whatsoever. He was, like she, a legend in the flesh. The M'Hael. Logain Ablar.

Rumour said that he was quite mad.

"You brought no Warder," he said in his calm-before-the-storm voice.

"Do I need him?" Egwene challenged. She kept her chin high and her eyes on the M'Hael, but she knew how the dozen Dedicated and six Asha'man around her had their hands on their swords and were likely holding saidin. "Does the Amyrlin Seat have anything to fear from the Black Tower?"

Silence.

"Certainly not," said the M'Hael finally. "Stand easy, my brothers."

Egwene did not show her relief. "I will forgive this rude welcome," she announced. "Let us move on."

"Yes, let's," murmured Logain, and with a wry smile he turned to the emissary who Egwene's arrival had interrupted. "Proceed."

Egwene drew herself up and focused all her ire, all her air of command on the emissary´s neck. He must have felt it. He stammered. His gaze flew between the M'Hael and the Amyrlin, and his discomfiture was obvious.

"Will you keep the Amyrlin waiting?" Egwene wondered gently. As gently as she could.

"I don't jump when Aes Sedai fingers snap," Logain replied. "I have tolerated enough insolence from the White Tower for one day. Arriving here unannounced –"

"I might well leave, just as unexpectedly."

"That's a peculiar threat to make, Amyrllin. You Travel into my Hall and demand my attention, and when I will not oblige you, you threaten to leave? Women."

Dedicated chuckled around the Hall, and even some Asha'man smiled.

Egwene's teeth gnashed. Very well, it had been a stupid threat to make. Her tongue still ran away with her some times. "You know full well that I would never have come here, had I not thought it of the utmost importance –"

"Your schemes can wait."

"So can yours. Look at us, Logain. The two most powerful people in all of known Creation, and we squabble like children over cookie crumbs. I have come to you in person, alone, and thereby I have named this matter above all others. Will you not do the same?"

Logain studied her and leaned back on his throne. His wry smile was gone, his eyes now only cool, his expression unreadable.

Egwene waited. She met his gaze and stood firm.

"Out," Logain commanded.

Egwene gave her head an insulted toss, and began to weave a Gateway.

"Not you," Logain corrected. "The rest of you. Out. Now. Yes, Dabrantar, even you."

The Captain of the Hall – Dabrantar – swallowed a protest and barked at his charges to form up and march out.

Which in a matter of moments left the Hall of the Dragon empty, aside from the M'Hael, and the Amyrlin Seat.

"You have courage, Amyrlin, I'll give you that."

She gave a terse nod.

The M'Hael rose, left his dais, and approached her. "Come. Let us sit." He gestured to a table, out of the way behind the colonnade of black pillars which lined each side of the room. Upon the table stood wine and assorted delicacies.

Egwene accepted the curtsey and sat herself on a bench at the table's far side, her back thus to the wall and her eyes free to roam the room.

"Let us see one another as equals," she said, as the M'Hael poured wine for two and set a cup before her. "You may call me Egwene."

He chuckled. "And you may continue to use my given name. To effect – I haven't heard it for some time." He thumped down on the bench opposite hers, raised his cup in a grand salute, and aid: "To us, dearest Egwene! May we never bore one another." He drank deeply.

Egwene sipped her own wine and eyed him over the rim of the cup. When he set his down, she did the same. "I have a proposition."

"Do tell."

"I am tired of receiving reports that rulers sit in indecision with an Aes Sedai on one side and an Asha'man on the other. Whenever I attempt to accomplish something, there your Asha'man are, counterworking everything. I want it to stop."

"We have different agendas, my dear." Logain sighed, and blinked at her as he refilled his cup. "And I know you're not fool enough to believe I will meekly conform to your plans."

"You misunderstand me. This entire matter… this White Tower set against the Black, and Black against the White. This is what needs to stop. My schemes, as you name them, and yours, are all secondary. What I will no longer abide is the world frozen in fear between us. I want us to work together."

"On your terms or mine?" Logain asked. A glitter in his eyes betrayed his amusement.

Amusement? Perhaps the man was mad.

"I've named us equals, and you've agreed."

Logain studied her, toying with his cup in one hand, allowing the wine to circle, circle, circle, almost touching the rim but never overflowing.

"We have a world in chaos around us," Egwene went on. She tried to shed some of her customary regality, but by that time it had become her second skin, and would not easily come away. Far off, in the direction of the White Tower, Gawyn was in an uproar. Even at the distance she could feel his distress. There would be a fight when she returned. But if she accomplished something today, it would be worth it. She took a deep breath. If she accomplished something. "A world still attempting to define itself after the Last Battle. Old nations strive to survive, new nations to form. Many things which once were fact and true are no longer certain, and people are in their very cores afraid, uncertain. There are still dark things on the move, even if the Shadow was defeated, and now, no one can lean back and deny that they exist. There are still Forsaken roaming free, and there are still those who would serve them."

"I'm on their tails like a hound," growled Logain, and for the first time his manner was truly dark, his eyes truly reminded her of a madman's.

"As am I. Yet they continue to elude us."

"But I am aware of all this. I hope you didn't come all this way to lecture me on common knowledge."

Egwene shook her head. "I didn't. Here is my point: if we continue to counterwork one another, we will do the world only harm. If we learn to work together, we might help the world back to its feet that much sooner."

"True enough. But Egwene… can we work together?" He chuckled. "Can we put our schemes aside and cooperate?"

"Of course we can," Egwene replied tartly, with another small toss of her head.

The two of them exchanged a long look, and a slow smile spread over Logain's face. "Well," he said. "In any case. I believe you are right. If we are to aid the world, and not hinder it, we must find a way to… coexist."

"I have a way," Egwene said, and set her cup down. She laid her hands in her lap, beneath the table, to hide how they might begin to tremble – she knotted her fingers into her skirts, but kept her face smooth, composed and assured. "A way to unite the Black Tower, and the White. More precisely… to unite us, to make us allies. Inseparable, and –"

"You would bond me Warder?" laughed Logain, but it was a dangerous laugh.

The man was sly, to come s quick to such conclusions, but Egwene shook her head. "The Aiel have another bond. A sibling bond. Leaving neither the master."

Logain nodded, very slowly. "I have heard of this bond," he admitted..

"The bond would be a symbol of our decision to cooperate," Egwene said, "and of our good intentions toward one another. It –"

"Hold, Amyrlin," Logain interrupted her coldly. "Why? Why this bond, if it is only a symbol? I know you Aes Sedai. You do nothing without gain. What do you gain, by this?"

Egwene smiled. "A second Warder, of sorts," she said. "A political guardian. As would you. I suggest a pledge, to go with the bond. Bonded, we would both feel the other's distress, and we would pledge to respond to it. But not only for the two of us. If ever the White Tower is endangered, the Black Tower would be bound to come. If ever the Black Tower was threatened, the White Tower would respond."

"And what could possibly endanger me?"

"Only fear keeps the mobs from your door, Logain, and you know it."

"I like fear. Fear is useful."

"A double-edged sword. A populace subdued with fear will ever fold to its greatest fear, whatever that may be. And if fear of you overruns the rim…"

Logain shrugged. "The Black Tower can defend itself."

"What if the White Tower was to proclaim an alliance with the Black? What if the White Tower was to recognize the Black as its equal and ally? You would rise in the eyes of the World. People who have bowed to you only in fear might rethink."

"Or, you would fall in the eyes of the World." Logain laughed. "They might believe that the White Tower has gone as mad as the Black!" His laughter rolled on, rocks tumbling wild down a hill. "Dearest Egwene, they might listen to me out of fear, but they defer to you only out of habit."

"A habit a thousand years old."

"Habit!" laughed Logain. "Habit, which can be broken –" He snapped his fingers. "– like that."

Egwene took a deep breath. Perhaps the man truly was mad.

But mad or not, he was the only M'Hael available, and he would have to do. She had no way of replacing him. "The next time I send an Aes Sedai to a ruler," she went on calmly, "I want an Asha'man beside her, speaking for you. I want them to present a united front."

Logain stopped laughing. The look he gave her was not the least bit mad; it was penetrating, full of cunning, a fox eyeing a henhouse and figuring out how to open the door. "You know," he said after a moment. "I admit it. Asha'man and Aes Sedai side by side, and what ruler would dare go against us? They would heed an Aes Sedai out of habit as old as time, because that habit's been ingrained on their bloody bones, and if that isn't enough, they would eye my Asha'man and decide they'd better not make me an enemy." His laugh descended to a low chuckle, very pleased with himself, and the light in his eyes danced. "I think, dear.. I think I like it."

"I'm pleased to hear it," Egwene breathed.

"But it would mean streamlining our schemes. It would mean you and me having more than one long talk."

"I'm sure we'll be able to reach some agreement."

"Agreement. On everything."

Egwene nodded, and would not look aside when his gaze fell on her. "On everything," she agreed. "It shouldn't be so difficult. I mean to rebuild this world, Logain. I mean to see it prosper. What are your objectives?"

Logain sighed. "I don't bloody know. I suppose… I suppose I have nothing against yours. I've been…"

Egwene couldn't help the snap in her voice as she interrupted. "Trying to establish a basis for political power. Trying to dominate your way into influence and riches –"

Logain slammed a hand onto the table – Egwene refused to flinch.

"There is that," he said coolly. "For this place doesn't run on air, you know. Asha'man need to eat and wear clothes like everyone else, and without the Lord Dragon to supply us with gold, we must gain it where we may."

Egwene softened her voice, angry at herself for her outburst. "I know. There, too, the White Tower might be of assistance. If nothing else," she smiled, "we know how to bully people into handing ownership of their lands over to us."

Logain's eyes narrowed. "Another advantage for me. Tell me, Amyrlin. What advantage in this for you?"

"An ally able to grab this world by the scruff of its bloody neck when it won't listen to my advice," Egwene smiled. "At least, an ally the world believes will grab it by the scruff of its neck. And… an end to this eternal standstill, this counter-working. Stand beside me, not against me, and I will make certain you have the riches you crave, Logain. The power you crave. I will raise you to my political ally, I will hold you for my equal, and the world can't stand against us. They have told me they can't do as I ask, because of you. I will rip that carpet of excuses right out from under their feet."

"But at the end of the day, Egwene," Logain said softly, "you're Aes Sedai. And when it comes to Aes Sedai… I have certain trust issues."

Egwene leaned over the table. "I freed you, Logain Ablar."

Logain blinked, snatched up his cup, and took a long swig. Then he dried his mouth with the back of his black sleeve. "Can't argue with that," he muttered. "Very well, I admit. If there's any Aes Sedai I might trust – aside from Toveine and Gabrelle, of course – it is you, for freeing me, and Nynaeve, for healing me. Perhaps Siuan, she also aided my escape… though the woman is as unpredictable as a storm turning. But there's still one dilemma."

"What would that be?"

He threw out an arm in a grand gesture around the Hall of the Dragon. "Look at this place! I rule it. I, alone, am master here. But the White Tower? The Hall of Servants? You have a council of squabbling Sitters to bend to your will before you can do anything at all."

"I can handle the Hall," Egwene assured him coolly.

"I'm sure you can. Usually. But how are you going to explain what you just offered me? How are you going to convince them of this so-called alliance?"

"That," Egwene smiled, "will be the first time the M'Hael comes at the Amyrlin's distress."

Logain blinked, and then returned her smile. "You mean to…"

"I mean to cut their squabbles and arguments short by you popping into the Hall and wondering who is bothering me. If nothing else, that will drop their chins to the floor, and they'll be too busy trying to get a grip on developments to truly protest."

Logain's smile remained, brighter by the moment.

"The Hall meets tonight," she said. "There's a useful trick with the bond, something a Red discovered… if I give the bond a twinge, you'll feel it. When you do, you'll be able to follow it and Travel right at me. Right into the Hall. It'll guide you right past the wards, for the wards can't bar the bond."

"So when you call, I come. Well enough. But what if they just decide it's time they signed your abdication..?"

"With you hanging over them? Would they dare toss me aside, and risk the Black Tower's displeasure? The Hall's as afraid of you as everyone else is, Logain. They just don't want anyone to know."

"So you intend to use me as a safety measure when you put this through the Hall."

"Exactly."

Logain clapped his hands together and grinned at her like a child. "Bullying Aes Sedai? I might enjoy this."

Egwene let out a long sigh of relief. She made no attempts to hide it – no use hiding from a man who would soon know her every emotion.

She couldn't help feeling a little thrill. She had won herself an ally. One for the White Tower… and for herself. She returned Logain's grin with one just as broad.

Bullying the Hall? Logain wasn't the only one who might enjoy this.

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Author's Note;

Yes, I'm sure I've made some grave canonical error somewhere here above, for my research prior to this wasn't very thorough. It was just an idea that left my mind and stuck to paper. Hope you enjoyed it - for I enjoyed writing it.