Gnawing at the roots
A Wheel of Time fic by Gigi.
Disclaimer: I only own one copy of each Robert Jordan's (R.I.P.) published Wheel of Time books. No more.
Chapter 2: So do I obey
A/N: So I noticed after I posted the last chapter that I forgot to mention one thing: Egwene could channel more than just a trickle in this because, since the bodyguards were not there, she did not have her evening dose of forkroot.
Egwene channeled through the lock and pushed open the iron latticework gate. Apparently the Black sister hadn't needed to worry about leaving a witness behind, because Leane was draped over the washstand, the bubbled mirror shattered on the floor around her. Shards of the mirror were splattered with blood, and Leane hardly moved. No matter how "Talented" this Black sister was, there was no way she could have done that from outside the cell. This was self-inflicted.
Egwene had to keep the tightest rein on herself of her life to keep from screaming at the top of her lungs.
Egwene crept closer to the washstand, intending to use whatever skill she had with Delving to see if Leane could be saved, but there was no need. As soon as she came within two feet of Leane, the woman coughed and started to straighten from the stand.
Egwene really did scream then, releasing the weave she had used to conceal herself. When she suddenly popped into view, Leane let out a small shriek of her own. Quicker than she ever had before, Egwene set a ward against eavesdropping around the two and inverted the weaves so nobody could tell it was there.
"Leane," Egwene started anxiously, "what happened here? And why were you like that?"
Leane was still cleaning herself up. She started calmly picking shards of glass from her sleeves – her face was calm, but her hands were shaking enough to make the task much more difficult than it should have been. "I heard screams coming from the main cellar," she answered in a clipped tone. "They weren't scared screams. They were horrifying in themselves. The sounds of those having to watch people they know being tortured, and then being tortured themselves." Despite Leane's best efforts at serenity, she shivered.
"You weren't tortured, were you?" Egwene asked, panicked. She could not afford to have a spooked Leane, too afraid or too weak to be any good. Egwene hated that she'd started thinking of people that way—simply to serve a purpose.
Leane shook her head. Her cropped hair had grown out in her time in captivity. It was now down past her shoulders and curled softly at the ends. "No. I figured the only way they wouldn't would be for them to think someone had already gotten to me." Leane held out her arm, which bore a gash that spanned half her forearm. Blood still dripped from it. "I needed it to be convincing," she said, wincing.
"And it wouldn't have been convincing without blood," Egwene finished for her. "I don't have too much Talent for Healing, but maybe I could ease the bleeding and some of the pain." She reached to take hold of Leane's head, but the Aes Sedai first walked around the room, making sure her blood dripped all around it.
"I need it to be convincing," she repeated. "Obviously, I cannot be found here. They can think that I was killed and taken to feed the Trollocs that are no doubt gathered on the other side of the Shining Walls."
Once Leane had bloodied up the room to her satisfaction, she allowed Egwene to Heal her as much as she could. It seemed that Egwene's affinity for Healing, although small, had improved a great deal since her last attempt. The wound was closed and healed, and only a small, pink scar remained. "That is all very well, but that means you must walk these halls as a novice. You will disguise yourself using our weaves and ask to be entered into the novice book tomorrow morning. Hopefully, you will not remain a novice long, with your experience."
Leane looked at her sideways. "I would not be so sure. I may have experience and years as an Aes Sedai on my side, but my ability to touch the Source was only partly Healed. I stand below most Aes Sedai in power now, save for a few and those who have not yet reached their full potential."
Egwene shielded the both of them from sight as they started to make their way out of the open cells. "Just as well. If you advance to Acceptance as quickly as Elayne and I did, they will never let you go, and there is hardly a chance that they won't detect how you mastered these weaves so long ago that you don't even think of forming them." Egwene's eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Perhaps a noblewoman from Arad Doman who wishes to teach novices the art of...persuasion."
Leane's face whipped toward her companion. "The art of persuasion, Mother?"
Egwene looked at Leane from the corner of her eye. "Aes Sedai are masters at getting people to come around to their way of thinking, but it takes far too long for them to learn that certain skill. In order to keep the world safe and orderly, the White Tower must start training its students early in persuasion," she explained. "At least, that will be what you tell Elaida when you petition to see her tomorrow."
Leane stopped in the middle of the hallway so suddenly that Egwene had proceeded for a few steps before realizing she was alone. When Egwene turned around, she saw that Leane was smiling at her, a proud smile. "Being Amyrlin Seat suits you," she mused. Then she curtsied. "As Mother commands," she started, "so do I obey."
8D
Egwene lay on her pallet, staring at the drab, white ceiling. Night had fallen an hour ago, but there was no way she could have slept then. Her mind kept making up plans and discarding them, making up new plans and discarding those. Suddenly, she bolted to a seated position. In all the confusion she had completely forgotten she was supposed to meet the Hall in Tel'aran'rhiod that night.
She darted to the small window she had in her room to check the moon's position in the sky. The night was still young. There was a good chance the meeting hadn't even started yet. Lying back down on the hard mattress, Egwene went through the practices of putting herself to sleep, just as the Wise Ones had taught her, and before long she was floating, bodiless in the World of Dreams.
Envisioning the Little Tower in Salidar, Egwene opened her eyes to see Sheriam looking at her impatiently.
"Finally!" her Keeper exclaimed. "We were starting to get worried you weren't going to come, Mother."
"Well, I'm here now," Egwene affirmed calmly. After checking herself—she was in a royal blue dress with silver embroidery along the modestly scooped neck and sleeves—she made the Amyrlin's stole appear on her shoulders and nodded for Sheriam to begin the ceremony.
"She comes," Sheriam began. "Watcher of the Seals, the Flame of Tar Valon, the Amyrlin Seat. She comes." She pounded her Keeper's staff twice on the wooden floor before stepping aside to let Egwene proceed into the room.
Egwene glided across the small common room, eyes straight ahead, to the Amyrlin Seat that was situated in the center of the semicircle of chairs and platforms. Stepping onto the seven-colored platform, Egwene turned and sat down in her chair, commanding silence just by her very demeanor.
She spent a moment looking at individual Sitters and letting the silence settle in on each and every one of them before speaking. "Tonight, an event occurred in the open cells that forces us to change our approach, but before I disclose the happenings of the Tower, I ask that this be made a closed meeting of the Hall." Whispers rippled through the sisters as Lelaine hesitantly stood and wove a dome-like ward against eavesdropping over the common room. Egwene cleared her throat softly, but it was enough to capture everyone's attention once more. "Katerine Alruddin of the Red Ajah was torn apart and nailed to the wall of the open cells while she was attempting to deliver a note to a prisoner," Egwene stated calmly. "Katerine was one of the sisters who allied herself with the Shaido Aiel and aided in the attempt to capture Rand al'Thor." She did not have to say what Rand was. They all knew. "I have suspected Katerine was part of the Black Ajah--" a shiver ran through the room, but everyone had gotten used to saying those two words by now-- "for quite some time, and this confirmed my suspicion." Egwene produced the note from her imagination. She had read it so many times after she left Leane to prepare that she had memorized it. The note was simply for the Sitters. "Its addressee was smeared by the blood from her rather messy death, but the message reads clearly:
"I am going to tell the Great Mistress that I no longer wish to serve her.
I have long since discovered she will never grant us eternal life and power, but after what she made me do to my sister, I can not afford anymore to hope that someday she will.
There is a good chance I will not be able to live past my resignation, and for that reason, I wanted you to know that Elza Penfell will be able to help you finish your assignment concerning your rebel cellmate."
The Sitters for the Green Ajah let out a collective gasp at the mention of Elza, one of their own from Andor. And it soothed no pains that the "assignment concerning your rebel cellmate" obviously referred to Leane, who had joined the Green when she could channel once more.
"Faiselle," Egwene addressed the Green Sitter, "where is Elza Penfell now?"
Faiselle stood slowly on shaky feet. "In Andor, visiting her ailing cousin, Mother."
"I think it is safe to say that she is hardly visiting any cousin, wouldn't you think, Faiselle?"
"I think so, Mother," Faiselle agreed faintly. "I do, however, know she was in Andor just yesterday. I got a few pigeons from some of my eyes-and-ears in Andor saying they had seen her go into an inn where already quite a few sisters were staying."
"That is very useful information, Faiselle," Egwene approved. "You will need to send a few sisters—not your strongest, but not the weakest either—to Andor to handle her and make sure she comes back to the camp. I want this to be done with by our next meeting in three days."
"Yes, Mother," Faiselle bobbed before almost falling back into her seat.
Malind Nachenin of the Green Ajah then stood up. "Excuse me, Mother, but if Leane Sharif is in obvious danger, should we not start to plan an escape for her?"
"Leane has already been removed from the cells," Egwene assured. "However, she will not be returning to the camp. She will remain disguised in the Tower for a time and give assistance where needed."
Lelaine suddenly stood, abandoning all ceremony, and announced, "Someone has just tried to penetrate the warding, and it was inverted. I suggest we adjourn now." Without waiting for an answer, Lelaine popped out of sight, followed closely by Romanda, Kwamesa, Varilin and the other sitters.
Egwene stayed. She waited until every last Sitter had gone before calling out, "You may come out Leane." The woman obeyed, stepping out from behind a very large table. "Your timing was impeccable. They did not have time to bicker and discuss your return to the camp, which is all the better. The less argument, the better."
"How did the rest of the meeting go?" Leane asked, weaving her own ward against eavesdropping.
"Well enough," Egwene answered, eyeing Leane askance. Something was off about her. Her hair was still cropped, as if it had never grown out at all. Without letting the other woman know what she was doing, Egwene readied a weave to cut someone off from the Source and concentrated on Leane's hand. Something about it was...immaterial.
Then she saw it. The color on Leane's hand suddenly flickered before going back to normal. Pale skin had shown through the illusion of Domani skin.
Egwene's shield slammed in place, as did bands of Air to bind the Black sister.
"Hello, Temaile," Egwene said in a sickly sweet voice. "Aren't you supposed to be in Caemlyn?" Temaile's fear-filled eyes bobbed up and down as she nodded fervently. "I have a little message I would like you to deliver." What Temaile didn't know was that the shield blocking her from the True Source was completely and forever impenetrable. It wasn't a shield. It was a stilling. "I'm sure you'll put every last ounce of effort you have into making sure it is delivered to the right person, now that you need something to motivate you to stay alive."
Later that night, Temaile woke up in her dungeon cell sobbing.
A/N: I hope you realize this whole really fast updating thing is not going to last, but I really wanted to get this second installment finished. So please, REVIEW!
