Chapter 2: Collared
The Tower was shuddering; Ramesa felt the vibrations, like ripples on the surface of a pond, under her thin slippers as she struggled out of bed.
She straggled first to her windows, where black shapes seemed to swoop in and out of the gray clouds that had shrouded the world for weeks. Shadowspawn? All signs pointed to Tarmon Gaidon coming soon but…!
Ramesa shuddered and opened herself to the One Power. With it came calm and sharpened senses, and sloughing off sleep entirely, she rushed for the door, where she could hear faint shouting.
The Tower shook again and Ramesa's mouth fell open with shock. The silver and white tiled floor was littered with rubble, tapestries lay crumpled on the floor and at the end of the White Ajah's hall was a gaping hole where a… creature had just landed, carrying two women on its back, one in gray, the other in blue. Moonlight reflected off the silver collar and bracelet connecting the two.
Seanchan! She had heard of them and wasn't sure what to make of their stories of leashed women who can channel. Now, they were standing in front of her, the woman in gray weaving a shield
Ramesa lost no time loosing a fireball but the woman in gray channeled and deflected it easily, almost casually. She was stronger in the Power than Ramesa and she felt an icicle of fear form in her belly.
Light, where were the other sisters? Her eyes flicked wildly behind her and to her relief, three more of her White sisters appeared at her back. Fireballs shot past her, the heat searing her arms but the Seanchan dived out of harm's away, in time for another one of those flying creatures to land, temporarily blanketing the hall in darkness and unloading soldiers and yet more of those women.
"So it's true. Egwene's stories… all of it was true!" was the only thing Norine managed to get out before the wall beside them exploded.
Ramesa woke with a start. How long was she going to dream the same dream?
It's not real, Ramesa. It is simply a construct of your sleeping mind. Her father had soothed away her nightmares with that explanation; he had been a scholar.
She remembered the way he used to hold her when she woke up shivering from bad dreams. He would take her from the bed and the two of them would settle down in his roomy armchair with a book, often a historical account of her native Arafel. She had been too young to understand many of the stories, but his voice, deep and rhythmic, was calming enough.
She wished he was here with her now, saying, It is simply a construct of your sleeping mind.
Only this nightmare was all too real. It had been more than two weeks since the night of her capture.
Ramesa sat up, blankets bunching around her middle and felt the collar on her neck, solid and cold. Once, her fingers might have probed its segmented silver length but she was tired of the cramping. There was no way to remove it on her own.
She glanced at the space between her door and the floor – the crack let in a little light, which was a pale gray.
It had always been her habit to wake before the sun broke the horizon. The early morning quiet was best for reading, for preparing herself for the tasks of the day. Her sul'dam did not like it; Tanavi believed that when damane were in their kennels, they should rest when they were not keeping their room tidy.
Her sul'dam. Ramesa frowned at the inadvertent admission that she was anybody's she! And kennels... this was not a kennel. It was a cell, a prison, and one that Ramesa meant to escape!
She was rambling. Her thoughts were disordered and that was no way to accomplish anything. Even in the White Ajah, Ramesa was acclaimed for her ability to distill complex situations into simple terms and equations. She would do that now while she had the time. Later was a time for action.
Ramesa sat up with her back to the wall, legs crossed in front of her, a favorite position for thinking. The Amyrlin's visit last night had given her much to ponder. She had already gathered enough of the young Aes Sedai to form the raiding party and was teaching them battle weaves; that was encouraging.
Ramesa herself knew many of those weaves already, part of the sul'dam's vain attempt to use Aes Sedai in battle. They were not difficult to master, weaves used in wars were of necessity simple, but Ramesa could not make herself form them. Not unless she was convinced that her life was in danger and even in the presence of sul'dam, she could not convince herself of that. The sul'dam punished the damane severely for any infraction; these Seanchan were sticklers for proper order to put Aes Sedai to shame, but they would never kill a leashed damane.
Still, she learned them because they would be useful once her collar was removed. The next time she encountered the Seanchan, she would not be taken so easily!
The vehemence of her thought surprised her… she almost felt around her shoulder for her shawl to see if it had turned Green. Only her shawl had been burned by the Seanchan.
Straying, her thoughts were straying. Ramesa took a deep breath, forcing herself to turn her mind to what was important. To the facts.
After she had gotten over the initial shock of being captured, she had set herself to observing the Seanchan, as she suspected many of the sisters were. One could not solve a problem without first knowing as much of the facts as could be ascertained and seeing how they fit.
The first were the Seanchan defenses. She had little idea of what that was outside the Tarasin Palace but for the damane kennels, she knew that they were guarded day and night – the entrances by two pairs of sul'dam and another two pairs patrolled the hallway at each level.
A linked circle should overwhelm them easily and Ramesa thanked the light that the Seanchan had no knowledge of linking. The collar made them impossible. There were periodic sweeps by raken and to'raken carrying sul'dam and damane but from that distance, those sul'dam dresses should fool them easily.
The second, more complex factor, were the damane themselves. There were hundreds of them here in the gardens of the Tarasin Palace and she knew there were more in the Tarasin Palace itself. Most of the ones in the Palace were Seanchan born and other damane held longest, they would never let anyone else who might be the slightest danger near their Empress.
That gave the Aes Sedai a little advantage. They were being careful of course, but the fact that most of the women here were newly-held meant there would be a smaller chance that they would betray escape plans, should they learn of it.
Which brought her to the Amyrlin's second command. To let the Aiel wilders in on their plans.
Ramesa tried to approach the problem as dispassionately as she could. Any damane they could free would weaken the Seanchan, which was to the Tower's good. And should things go wrong, the Aiel wilders could fight back freely with the Power, they were not constrained by the Oaths.
On the other hand, freeing damane in large numbers would mean abandoning secrecy – if they were to escape with these Aiel women, it would be more likely through overwhelming force. It meant greater chance of a battle with these Seanchan.
Yet the most important question remained – would it also mean better chances for escape? The Aiel held here numbered in the hundreds! With surprise on their side and moving quickly, they could perhaps barrel through the defenses of the Seanchan. Especially if they were taught to link.
Ramesa nodded. Yes, if the Aes Sedai rescuing them could neutralize the guards, the freed damane could form circles and make for the gateways, blasting away any hastily formed defense they ran into.
She was again surprised that she was almost looking forward to the blasting part.
Of course, there was still the question of actually working with those Aiel wilders. Ramesa frowned. She had had little contact with them, between attending daily lectures to learn the rules that damane abided by, running through a battery of tests so that sul'dam could learn of her abilities with the Power, and punishments for disobedience. Yet she sensed that those women disliked Aes Sedai for no reason that Ramesa could fathom. Or did they somehow sniff out the disdain she had held for them?
That needed to change. Now that they were not merely fellow prisoners but potential allies, it was not logical to look down on them. Or at the very least, she would need to do a better job of hiding it.
That morning, Tanavi brought her into one of the small buildings called simply the workroom.
It was a dusty sort of place. Motes sparkled in the light let in through the long barred windows that ran through both sides of the low structure. Two rows of tables with benches ran the length of the building with each table holding several sul'dam and damane pairs.
Tanavi led her to one of these and as they approached, Ramesa noted that the table was filled with orderly rows of rocks and metallic ores. She could identify coal, gold and silver, and what looked like green jade, but there were dozens of others she could not name.
She was also sharing the table with two other damane – both Aiel, judging from their sun-dark faces. One had long dark red hair and serious dark blue eyes; the other was a yellow-haired bosomy giant of a woman who was staring with sullen defiance at her sul'dam. The woman was incredibly strong in the Power, stronger than any living Aes Sedai – perhaps that was why she was speaking to her sul'dam with such arrogance.
"I have already said that I do not know. This… identifying ores… it is the work of blacksmiths," the Aiel woman was saying, her voice imperious.
"Someryn has not been paying attention to her lectures, it seems. Perhaps I was wrong and it is not yet ready for proper training," the sul'dam pronounced, her brown eyes stony. "I will give it one more chance to answer."
The woman stubbornly stayed silent. Shaking her head, the sul'dam stood up, flicking her bracelet.
"Then it seems Someryn has not yet earned her place here in the workrooms. Perhaps I will set it to counting pebbles again in the practice yard or moving a handful of sand from one sack to another until it has learned proper behavior," the sul'dam's tone turned grim at this last statement.
For a moment, it looked like the Aiel wilder would refuse to move. Then she apparently came to her senses, stood up quickly and walked out of the room with her sul'dam. The Aiel's back was straight but nonetheless, she walked two paces behind the sul'dam.
The Aiel wilder who remained watched the proceedings silently, though her mouth did twitch downwards as if to frown. In disapproval? Ramesa was not sure. And what did the sul'dam mean about counting pebbles? That did not seem like the usual punishment administered by the Seanchan.
"Malian indulges that one too much," the other sul'dam at the table said. She had short black-bobbed hair and a small heart-shaped face that made her look entirely too young to be in this disgusting trade. Something about this was significant – Ramesa filed that away for later.
"It is not your place to question Malian, Yanai," Tanavi admonished causing the younger woman to lower her eyes. One of the things Ramesa had tried to puzzle out was how sul'dam measured rank among them – age was a factor, skill in handling their damane was another, but the easiest way to look at the number of lightning bolts on their skirt panel.
Both Tanavi and Yanai had two, and Malian four. It was quite similar to the number of feathers in a captain's cap - sul'dam and damane were not so different from soldiers in battle after all.
"And how has your Musa been performing?" Tanavi asked.
"Musa has been doing well. She shows some talent with the ores and there are so few damane here who has even the slightest skill," answered Yanai stroking the Wise One's hair with pride. The Wise One's mouth twitched again but this time as if to suppress a smile or the feeling of pleasure at being praised.
Ramesa could understand the feeling well.
"We will see if Raimi can do just as well," responded Tanavi. She took three of the small ores in her fist and arranged them in front of Ramesa – the middle one was gold, the other jade and the other an ordinary looking rock.
Tanavi bade Ramesa look at them closely and then had her close her eyes. "Now the metals lay in front of you but not in the same positions. You will hold the Power and tell me where the gold one is."
Ramesa frowned even as saidar flooded through her. A strange test, certainly nothing she had ever encountered in the Tower. One needed to see to be able to weave after all.
Still, she had to try. She trained her focus to where she thought the ores were and oddly enough she felt them. Three lumps that felt different; the one on the left was vaguely cool and the other beside it pulsating with heat.
"The right one?" Ramesa asked.
"You are correct, Raimi! Now I shall take them away and we shall try again."
They tried again… once, twice, three times and each time, Ramesa had answered correctly. She was not guessing… more and more, she felt convinced that she was somehow, identifying them correctly.
"You may open your eyes now, Raimi," and when she did, the sul'dam was holding out a biscuit on a small square of cloth, which Ramesa took wordlessly. "You have done very well, indeed. Now we shall try with more metals, yes?"
There were five ores on the table now – iron and lead, Tanavi said. Again, Raime closed her eyes and again, she was able to identify the gold ore among the others. And it worked even when she was asked to point out the iron ore or the jade piece.
"That is enough," Tanavi said smilingly, putting the ores back in a small wooden box.
"What was this about, Tanavi?" Ramesa asked and it was a measure of the sul'dam's satisfaction that the woman did not rebuke her.
"You have an instinct for identifying metals, my Raimi. It is a much valued skill in the Empire."
"But I don't see what use it is in…" Her voice trailed off and Tanavi explained slowly, as if to a very young child.
"You think that damane is only of use in the battlefield? That is false. There is much a damane can do in their service to the Empress, may she live forever. This questing for metals is one, or the creation of magnificent palaces."
"There is honor in being an obedient damane and if you are such who can create ter'angreal, you will be much pampered, I assure you," said Tanavi, looking at Ramesa with what could almost be interpreted as kindness.
"Perhaps you will be one of those, Raimi. I see much promise in you," Tanavi continued. "There will be more tests of course but I see no reason why you should not do as well. Come, I will take you out for a run first, stretch your legs."
She clipped the bracelet on her wrist but not before turning to Yanai, who had been giving her damane similar tests. "Imagine, Yanai, the two of us having such talented damane. What if they are two who can make a'dam? We will surely be rewarded by the Empress, may she live forever!"
And with a final affectionate pat on Ramesa's head, Tanavi turned, giving the chain a gentle shake. Ramesa stood, face smooth but inside roiling with a mixture of relief for a morning without pain, disgust at being treated like a child in front of grown women and underneath it all… a tiny thrill of delight at having done something right.
The Wise One sitting beside her said nothing but their eyes met; and Ramesa thought she saw understanding in those dark blue depths before she was led away.