Chapter 1: Plans
"Tell me how the sisters are faring," Egwene asked Jala Bandevin.
The room they were in was cramped and plain; filled by a narrow bed and a rickety writing desk where a bracelet shone with a sickly light. There were hundreds more of these rooms near the Tarasin Palace; the Seanchan hunt for women who can channel had been ruthlessly effective.
In her dream, Jala sat reserved and dignified, her hair in a neat bun, the picture of Aes Sedai confidence despite the gray dress she wore.
"As well as they could under the circumstances, Mother," answered Jala, choosing each word carefully. "Better, now that they know there are plans to help us escape. I have passed your instructions to keep low and out of trouble and I've not heard of any sister being punished today. Truthfully, some have come to that conclusion themselves, unless they wish to earn themselves useless punishment."
The gray-haired sister said it with all the weight of her more than two hundred years yet not all the sisters were as sensible as she. "Still, some are… despondent and we have not been able to reach everyone, Mother. As you know, we have been kept apart and have little time for talk. And we have not yet been able to ascertain where some of the novices and Elaida is being held," she said with a sigh.
Egwene winced at that. It had been two weeks after the Tower had been attacked and it had taken her a frustrating number of nights to find the dream of any sister being held by the Seanchan. Fortunately, Jala had been one of the first she had encountered and the grandmotherly Green had been surprisingly capable.
Egwene's goal had been simple – to rescue the sisters held by the Seanchan. The Sitters in the Hall had determined that it could not be done but that was before Egwene had revealed the secret of inverting weaves. The Seanchan may have had their raken and to'raken, they may even have Travelling, but the ability to keep your weaves hidden from any but yourself would still be a sizable advantage in holding a raid at the damane quarters. Sisters could open a gateway without being detected and if they were quiet and quick enough, escape with the Aes Sedai.
Yet that plan was contingent on knowing where each Sister and initiate was being held and that work was slow going. The Seanchan now held so many damane, according to Jala, that several of the outlying buildings in the Tarasin Palace complex had been converted to damane quarters. The sul'dam would be suspicious of any Aes Sedai asking about her sisters; it was a wonder Jala had been able to speak to any of the others at all.
"Ramesa and Hikari have made their initial reports to me, however. They believe they can get more information in the next few days when they are taken out for exercise," Jala continued and a piece of paper suddenly floated in front of Egwene.
A list of names with notes on where they slept in the damane quarters. It was a pity that Jala not a Dreamwalker, she proved surprisingly adept at manipulating the Dream. Or stronger in the power. She was the one who had devised the code that would allow them to communicate instructions and important information, such as the one they had now, but it had taken Egwene's explicit instructions to Ramesa and Hikari to make them defer to her.
"What of the Aiel Wise Ones?" All three of the sisters had been abuzz after seeing dozens, if not hundreds of these sun-dark, pale haired women held as damane.
"Tough as the roots of an old tree," said Jala with a faint smile. "Almost as stubborn as us Aes Sedai. They keep their sul'dam busy. Not a day goes by that you don't hear some story of these Aiel wilders tweaking her sul'dam's nose and that heartens everyone who has been resisting the Seanchan."
Egwene thought she almost heard respect in the woman's tone, the same with Ramesa and Hikari. Which was all to the good. Other matters had taken precedence but she hadn't given up on her plans of tying the Wise Ones somehow to the White Tower. If unleashing them was the way… and the Wise Ones could be of help in the escape. The more women unleashed the greater the chance that they could overwhelm any defense that stood their way. If there was only a way to let the Wise Ones know!
That didn't answer the question though of how hundreds of Wise Ones could come under Seanchan control. Surely, Rand would not let something like this happen without retribution. He should be striking hard at the Seanchan and yet…
"Barasine was also able to slip this tidbit to me today, Mother," Now it was Jala's turn to seem troubled. "The Dragon Reborn has tried to make an alliance with the Seanchan. The meeting has been some weeks pass but it did not go well at all; some of the sul'dam who were present are greatly troubled. They spoke of the Dragon as being sei'moseiv…" she stumbled a little at that word. "It apparently means something like losing face, Mother. He insulted their Empress in some grave way and the negotiations fell through. It might have even set them against him, if they weren't already."
Egwene felt her blood rising within her and was hard put to keep a smooth face. Rand had tried for an alliance with the Seanchan? Those monsters who leashed women, enslaved them, made them worse than pets? Burn him, it was an abomination!
Yet, hard as it was for her to admit, it was a worry for another day. She had the Tower to rebuild, sisters to rescue. That had to come first. As for the Wise Ones and their numbers, would they help or hinder? It was hard but she had to think of the sister's safety first… until memory of the collar on her neck helped her make her decision.
"The Dragon Reborn must wait," Egwene finally said. "I must check with the eyes-and-ears and learn more about these… negotiations. As for the Wise Ones…" she emphasized that last, if the Aes Sedai and Aiel were to work together, the sisters would have to accept them as more than just wilders. "…is there any way you could speak to them? I won't leave any woman to the collar if I could help them."
"It will be difficult, Mother. They do not seem… fond of us," said Jala wryly. "Still, we are all prisoners of the Seanchan and that might be common enough ground for us to help each other. One of the sul'dam let it slip that some of their Sea Folk prisoners escaped not too long ago so it is possible. I think they will welcome rescue even from our hand and they would surely relish the opportunity to strike back at the sul'dam."
She herself sounded eager; the woman was Green after all.
"Tell the other sisters to try approaching the Wise Ones but do not take any foolish risks not mention Traveling," Thank the Light that had remained a secret, none of the sisters captured, save Elaida knew the weave. The woman had been parsimonious in sharing new weaves, perhaps as a way measure to gain power over the other sisters, yet that that had worked to their good. Light send the woman could hold on. "You have done great work, daughter. More than anyone could have expected under such circumstances."
The woman beamed at the praise, then her kind face took on that determined cast Egwene had known her for. "No sister should have to live with this collar, Mother. No woman should. I will do everything I can to make good of our escape, Mother."
"I'm sure you will, daughter. We will speak again in two days," Egwene said and she left the woman's dream.
Egwene awoke before the sun rose, as she had done when she lived in the Aiel tents. Sleep did not come easily to her now, not when there was so much to attend to.
She rushed to her desk and quickly wrote down the names of the sisters and their locations. There were still some missing but surely it would not take long to find them all. She herself would spend tomorrow trying to seek the dreams of those not in the list so she could add them.
Egwene sighed, turning to the windows to stare at one of the watchtowers. Two green sisters stood at their post, watching for raken. Each tower was manned day and night now. The moment a raken was sighted an alarm made of the Power would be rung, a suggestion from Sharina. Every single Novice and Accepted had been taught to link then pass command to the sisters assigned to each floor. The Green sisters had willingly taken on this task, perhaps to make up for their failings in the Seanchan attack.
Two weeks later and signs of the Seanchan attack was still everywhere. She looked towards one of the small gardens at the Northeastern side of the Tower, where the thirty-seven sisters who had died in the attack were interred. And that was not the only nightmare still haunting the Tower. Siuan had reported an assassin on the Tower grounds the night of the attack, yet rooting out the Black Ajah had taken precedence over the hunt for them. The result was two Aes Sedai dead before one of the Warders was able to kill another of the assassin.
Since then, two more had been caught, also by Warders, but who knew how many remained? Each had borne a ter'angreal in the form of a ring, now in the custody of Browns, who wished to study them. How many more surprises did the Seanchan have?
It was a question Egwene did not have an answer to so she turned her mind away from them as she sat to eat her breakfast at her sitting room. It was still warm; Chesa was surprisingly good at slipping in and out of her rooms without disturbing her.
A tug at the bond told her Gawyn was awake; as was proper for a Warder, he slept in the smaller bedroom next to the Amyrlin's. It didn't take him long to join her at her breakfast and Egwene felt the tightness in her shoulders lift a little. Light but he was beautiful, golden haired, blue-eyed and a smile that shamed the sun with its brightness. Egwene had too little time with him so she savored their breakfast together.
"You sleep too little," admonished Gawyn after giving her a kiss. "You use yourself too much." He spooned more of the savoury soup into her bowl and added another roll to her plate.
Egwene smiled, biting into the crusty roll. Was this how he had been with Elayne when he was young? Since she had bonded him, there were so many little things she was finding out about him. His attention to duty and resolve, his incredible skill with the sword, the genuine warmth and concern he had that made him want to protect everyone and their Mothers, including and perhaps and most especially, Egwene. That made him the ideal Warder, and even more importantly, the ideal husband for Egwene.
Wedding him would have to wait until the Last Battle was over though yet looking at him almost made Egwene wish it would happen soon. They chatted over the defenses the Greens had put in place after the attack, Gawyn's tutelage on warfare under Gareth Bryne made his advice invaluable.
Gawyn spoke about the state of Tar Valon; he had more freedom than her on that regard. Egwene was glad to hear that garbage was being cleared off the streets and that sisters were going about in Tar Valon, bringing food and offering Healing. Though they had not been affected by the attack, the people were frightened and needed reassurance. A show of strength from the Tower was needed.
When the last bite of her breakfast was done, they stepped out of Egwene's rooms as part of her daily rounds. Elaida had all but locked herself in her chambers; Egwene refused to do so.
She liked to check on different things every day. Yesterday, she had visited the Mistress of Novices to discuss room arrangements of the Novices. There were more than a thousand in the Tower now, more than the Tower has held since the Trolloc Wars, and a dozen more had been added as sisters combed Tar Valon and nearby villages. They overflowed the novice quarters and most of the large classrooms had been converted to host several novice families. Egwene had already approved plans for the construction of a third well for novices and another well for the Accepted.
But she had more important matters to see to today. She headed towards the lower levels of the Tower. To where the captured damane were being held. There were twelve of them, all but three Seanchan. Egwene had submitted her plan to have them trained as novices but Romanda and Lelaine were both set against it, bringing the Hall to a standstill.
They would have time to come to an agreement as it would be months yet before the damane would be ready, by the reports of the sisters before her. Though the three Westlander damane – two Taraboners and one Altaran – had been entered in the novice book, all of the Seanchan damane still insisted that they deserved to be collared.
In the room next to the damane's quarters, fierce-eyed Malind Nachenin stood over a table with a map of the Tarasin Palace, markers scattered over it. Red circles marked the sul'dam quarters, yellow the damane, while others indicated posts for soldiers, exercise and training grounds. With her was stocky Rina Hafden, Escaralde and three more of the too-young Sitters from Salidar.
The reunification of the Tower made had required them to give up their seats but these women had been among Egwene's strongest supporters so she had entrusted them with the radical plan to rescue the sisters held by the Seanchan. They had spent days questioning the damane to learn every detail of a damane's life at the Tarasin Palace, sickening at it was.
"Mother, thank you for joining us this morning," Malind said. The Greens had taken the lead in this well. She invited Egwene to take her place at the table, giving her a better view of the map. "These damane are close-mouthed but I believe we've gotten all we could out of them. The Tarasin Palace is overflowing with damane, these three…" she pointed out five squares in the map "... buildings hold near four hundred damane between them."
Four hundred? Light above! "Are we certain?" asked Egwene quietly.
"As you know, the Seanchan damane has been held separately to prevent collusion and they all say the same thing. They have taken to using forkroot to catch women who can channel and about a month ago, a great many Aiel wilders were captured as well. Hundreds they say," answered Rina with a shake of her head, as if wondering how so many women with the power could have escaped the Tower's notice. "It is fortunate that so many are newly held. They should not be so quick to come to the Seanchan's aid. Most of the Seanchan-born damane are given more dangerous posts at the borders."
Cool-eyed Berana took over the narrative. "We have ascertained that newcomers are all placed here…" She tapped one of the buildings near the southern wall of the Tarasin Palace complex, corroborating what information Jala had given her. "…so logic dictates that this is where our sisters are being held. Given the position of the patrols, we've determined this…" she pointed to a relatively open area in the Tarasin Palace's gardens "… as the best place to open a gateway, where it will take approximately half an hour to get them out and return here." She was a mathematician.
"The dresses are also ready, Mother," Salita said. "Perhaps they are not exact copies but they were best we could do and under cover of darkness it should not matter." The dark Yellow's mouth was twisted in distaste. She was referring to the replicas of the sul'dam dresses, dark blue with its lightning worked red panels. None of the sisters liked this part of the plan, even when they admitted that it was necessary.
Yet it was their only chance for success. Posing as sul'dam would forestall questions at best; at worse, it would allow them to get close enough to kill Seanchan soldiers or other damane.
"And I…" said Aledrin, not to be outdone. "… have been able to complete the list of suitable sisters, Mother. Truly, many are eager for the task but few match your rather… special requirements."
That special requirement was that none should have the Aes Sedai's ageless face, which would give them away in an instant. Malind had recommended that they send sixteen sisters, linked in groups of four, they would be strong enough to overwhelm a sul'dam and damane if needed but not too many to draw comment. Stealth was still their greatest ally.
It saddened Egwene that there were too few of these young sisters; the list had to include Siuan and Leane to make sixteen. The thought of sending them both into such danger made her stomach clench but she had to steel herself. The Amyrlin had no friends, not when it came to her duty.
Egwene gave Aledrin Jala's list. "These are not complete but I will add more to them tonight. Work out which group will free which sisters." The White would be the best at that; like Suian, she was skilled with puzzles. "Tell them also that we will meet this afternoon and every afternoon until the raid." She took a deep breath. "There are weaves I must teach them to prepare them for battle against the Seanchan."