Perspective

Lenala wished she were not so alone. She wished she had brought a warder or another Aes Sedai to help face this. She had not wanted to take another warder so soon after Othidin was killed, but his absence now made itself an acute vacancy. On her own, this was something that nearly exceeded her. She was just a Gray and three years to the shawl. She lived to travel between courts to speak to royalty, lived to wear a fine dress and put on the stoic Aes Sedai face for whomever the Tower required. To have so many agonies piled on top of one another pushed her almost as far as the tests ever had. But, an Aes Sedai is serenity.

She had been proud as an envoy. If only she knew who she was supposed to be an envoy for: the fracture of the White Tower had wounded her almost as much as losing her warder during the aftermath. Two Amyrlin Seats now wore the stoll and Lenala did not wish to stand against either! And so she was one woman alone, a weak Gray whose betters were at each other's throats. With stories of the Dragon Reborn raging his way across the land, of Aiel come over the Dragon Wall and of every enclave up in arms against every other, one small simple Gray with ambiguous authority, one sister three years to the shawl, meant almost nothing. It left Lenala to do what she could on a scale where her strengths made a difference. After great deliberation, she came home to her family's village for the first time in years and had been working to keep the few small surrounding settlements at peace with one another in a world that no longer seemed care about protecting the simple or the poor. What Lenala wanted most was for the little she held precious not to break in the Breaking that seemed so imminent.

The story of the man in the black coat seen on the road headed north from Baerlon had sent a tremor of fear rippling through the community. Keeping all expression from her face, Lenala had hoped a desperate hope that the Asha'man would pass this place by; they had already been around recruiting and no one wanted to see anyone else dragged away. When she arrived home, it broke her heart to learn from her mother that her father had been among those forcibly recruited to the Black Tower. Her own father.

She had kept her face flat, kept her eyes cool and unflinching, but felt the thrill of horror. Her father taken by the Asha'man.

She had not wanted to face this Asha'man. But, what else could she do? Even though many in the community knew her as a child, they now saw her wearing the shawl and they treated her as someone different. She was Aes Sedai, no matter how young, no matter how lost, no matter how alone. She kept her face unaffected. She stood tall. She wore the Tower as she would for a king. Aes Sedai are serenity. Inside lurked something else, but she was becoming ever more schooled at hiding it.

Lenala had been surprised by the bedraggled man in the black coat. She had not seen an Asha'man before, despite hearing the rumors of the Dragon's cadre of killers. The man in the black coat looked so ill-kept and unhealthy, his stringy gray hair so wild, that he seemed anything but a living weapon. His body and face were so thin that he may not have eaten soundly in weeks. His eyes were hollow, frightened. When she and Hoften met him on the road, he scampered away like a panicked rabbit before they could get close. Lenala thought they might be able to talk him down; Lenala always hoped she could talk someone down. Most of the time she could--Grays knew how to talk.

"Aes Sedai?!" Hoften helped her to her feet from where she had taken shelter. He had been optimistic before, but reeked of fear after witnessing the channeling fight.

Lenala breathed in and dusted off her dress, smoothing her face and steadying her voice. She did not feel at all steady. "This man is lost." A Red knew the effects of the Taint. A Gray did not want to know about the Taint, but could not question the evidence right before her eyes.

The old ruin, old before she had been young, was now truly a ruin. The Asha'man had gone stark wild with his power, cracking apart old walls, knocking stones flat in the manner only a male channeler possibly could. How could one man be so destructive? Had it been like this during the Breaking of the World? Fires from Lenala's attempt to distract and cut the man off were spreading out and steadily inflating. The Asha'man had disappeared back into the trees of the grove, away from the road. Was he headed toward the village? He had been just an old man! How could a weak old man wreck such destruction? Would he harm people in town?

"What should we do? Aes Sedai, what should we do? He's running already. Blood and ashes! He did not even notice what you did!" Hoften said. As a little girl, Hoften and his sons had spent almost as much time on her family's front porch as Lenala had. He still struggled with her new title, but with less awe and fear than other villagers. To him, this Aes Sedai was a grown version of a little niece and the title instantly conferred his respect.

Lenala was forced to think more quickly than she might have wished. Responsibility was becoming more natural, "We have to protect the village. That man is dangerous." Relaxing herself, she embraced saidar. Air was one of her strengths and the bubble weave she learned as an Accepted snuffed out most of the flame swelling across the grass and up a few nearby trees. If she were stronger with Fire, she might have handled the blaze directly, but that was not her forte. A Green sister would have been better suited to this than a Gray who belonged resplendent in gems, jousting with words instead of weaves. "Once things have calmed, we will need a few people here to make certain all the small fires are out--but, everyone must reach safety first! I..." she hesitated, "I must see to this man. There may be little any of you can do."

"Aes Sedai, I can't leave you to face this alone."

"Your concern is appreciated," Lenala touched his shoulder, meeting his eye. "But he can kill as easily as breathe and he seems to be lost to himself. He went through the grove, so it might slow him somewhat. We need to run back along the road and get to town ahead of him. I will block him as he leaves the grove, you will get everyone out of the village behind me."

A rolling crack like thunder sounded from the grove. Dust flew and a tree tipped, sending birds squawking into the sky. The Asha'man was still headed toward the village and he was making no secret of his power.

Hoften's face went white and he startled in fear. "Blood and Ashes!"

Lenala felt the same thrill, but refused to buckle to it. She shoved the frozen Hoften into motion and started to run herself, hiking up her dress and forgetting all modesty, "Quickly, quickly! We have no time to waste!"

Continued in Chapter 3