Point of No Return
A/N: Here's the new chapter. Let me know if you find any conflicts or typos, I no longer have a beta-reader.
In other news, I got married in July. Fancy that.
Light rain fell.
Merina opened her eyes and drew a long, trembling breath. Her limbs twitched, still remembering the burning, ripping feeling, agony unlike anything she had ever experienced or imagined. The look in Lucky's eyes when she had been looking down at Merina still sent shivers down her spine. Merina had realised then that she would not die until Lucky extracted her revenge and found satisfaction. She had known what true fear felt like.
Now, there was only shame. She had been careless, too confident in her abilities as a sul'dam. She had had Fiery focus on Lucky, the one with the strength to be dangerous, and ignore the marath'damane who had barely been stronger than a damane new to the collar until such time that the marath'damane tried something. That had been their downfall. The marath'damane had ignored the unspoken rules that said that whoever had the stronger, better-trained damane won the battle. Her weaves, from what Merina had seen, were small and fast. She had used her meagre strength efficiently, compensating for the lack of great reserves with dexterity and ingenuity.
What a magnificent beast. Still young and untrained but with a great promise. What a wondrous damane she would make. But she was effectively out of the Empire's grasp.
"Light," Merina muttered and turned on her side. Her eyes fell on the silvery collar lying nearby on the road and she shuddered, fighting the urge to throw up.
They had taken Fiery.
She got on her hands and knees, and retched a few times, spitting blood-flecked drool on the road. She wept at the atrocity that had been committed, her wails carrying far in the night despite the rain and faint wind. Her precious Fiery, a masterpiece of damane training, had been stolen by the White Tower agents. The Seanchan Empire had trusted her to keep the damane under control and bring the creature back undamaged.
She was now responsible for not one but two runaway damane. She would have to answer for all the destruction they caused before they were properly collared again.
She might be better off just slitting her wrists before anyone found out.
But she wasn't going to run away from her duties. She had to get Fiery and Lucky back. If that meant going all the way to Tar Valon, the stronghold of the marath'damane, and dragging Lucky and Fiery out of there, she would do it. After all, those two were Seanchan property and as per the agreement between the Empress, might she live forever, and the Dragon Reborn, the Empire had the right to keep all the damane it had captured before the agreement, and would capture within its borders in the future. Therefore, even freed damane still belonged to the Empire and if they were not returned, the agreement would be violated. She refused to acknowledge the new law decreed by the Empress, might she live forever, for it was not for the good of the Empire.
Merina got up shakily, her arms and legs protesting, and looked at her surroundings, somewhat uncertain where she was.
The landscape looked familiar so they couldn't have taken her far from Altara. She remembered vaguely hearing through the haze of pain someone, possibly the weak marath'damane, telling Fiery to take them to the Murandian-Altaran border, on the road to Lugard. It was strange that Fiery had complied. Perhaps they had threatened Merina's life.
She picked up the a'dam and put it in the large pocket that all sul'dam dresses had in common. There is clinked against two other a'dam that she carried with her. Then she set out northward, determined to walk all the way to Tar Valon if necessary.
The line of merchant caravans waiting for their leave to enter Tarabon's capital was long. Anastasya stood beside Kiril, holding his hand and praying that the Seanchan would not force her to drink their foul tea despite the fact that she appeared to be barely ten years old. With her ability to channel hidden, her appearance and voice changed, and all the weaves inverted, she had a perfect disguise for entering the Seanchan lands. The disguise would have been even better if she had turned herself into a little boy but she didn't want to deal with that.
Despite the Amyrlin's orders, which she had taken as more of a polite suggestion, she had seen it prudent to go first straight to Amadicia, as close to the old border it had shared with Tarabon as she could, and from there Travel in short increments, each stop near one of her old hiding places, all the way to halfway between Tanchico and Elmora, where they had bought a spot in a merchant caravan in order to enter the city with more ease a couple of days later.
When she had been new to the shawl and hadn't yet developed the ageless look, she had spent quite a lot of time in Amadicia and Tarabon, mostly helping women who had attracted unfortunate attention from the Whitecloaks. Back then her Warder had been Kiril's and Anton's grandfather Vitali who had eventually married Yekaterina, Anastasya's brother's granddaughter, and his cousin Alexei. That had been a hundred years ago, of course, but things hadn't changed much since then. Opening a Gateway to one of her old hiding places was easy enough, avoiding all the hassle on the border where Aiel and Seanchan glared at each other like strange cats.
She glanced at Kiril whose face looked impassive, bored even. Inside, he was tight as a coil, ready do violence if anyone threatened Anastasya. He wasn't fundamentally opposed to their journey to Tanchico as Anton would have been. In fact, he found it quite exciting. He would have preferred to avoid the Seanchan completely which would have meant finding a way to Travel to the exact spot where the Sisters were hiding. No guarantees there, especially with Anastasya's shoddy Travelling ability. It seemed that the Amyrlin wanted to keep the mission as secret as possible and involve only those who were completely necessary. That had to be interesting to juggle.
Once they had reached one of the villages that dotted the road between Elmora and Tanchico they had assumed their disguises, a father and his daughter, and bought a spot in the passing caravan carrying spices and people looking for work. The merchant in charge, a surly woman whose name escaped Anastasya, had travelled between Jehannah, Amador and Tanchico several times since the Seanchan conquered most of the western coast, and was relatively well-known to the guards on the border and beyond. At least she was chatting merrily with the soldiers while several pairs of sul'dam and damane looked through the caravan, forcing every woman and man drink a cup of tea. So far no one had become dizzy or fainted outright. Anastasya would have kept her Aes Sedai calm if it hadn't been completely out of character for a little girl. As it was, she was shuffling her feet, glancing at her 'father' and biting her lower lip. As the sul'dam came closer, Anastasya could feel the strength of the accompanying damane. Apparently the average strength of the Seanchan channelers was much higher than that of the Westlands, for the damane was almost as strong as the Amyrlin and the others were either about the same strength or somewhat weaker but still very strong. She hoped that the Seanchan had brought their stronger than average damane to the newly conquered lands in order to give an impression of higher ability. It would be terrifying if most of the damane outclassed nearly every Aes Sedai alive.
She drew a deep breath and tried to keep herself from sweating. The sul'dam looked at her and she dropped her eyes, almost visibly trembling. Not all of it was feigned.
"Drink this," the sul'dam drawled, her words barely intelligible. Anastasya looked up and was relieved to see that the sul'dam had offered a cup to Kiril but was completely ignoring his 'daughter'. Kiril downed the cup in one big gulp and offered it back to the sul'dam. The sul'dam seemed to count to five and when Kiril showed no symptoms of being affected by the tea, she tugged at the damane's chain and moved on. Anastasya bit back a sigh of relief that would have roused suspicion if noticed.
Entering the city was probably the most difficult test for their disguises. Giving even one chance for some overly diligent sul'dam to catch them was indeed foolish but finding a safe spot for exiting a Gateway inside the city was impossible.
Once the sul'dam finished the inspection, the caravan was free to enter the city or find a place to park. The merchant seemed to want to be quick about her business and steered the caravan for the gates of the city. Anastasya and Kiril sat in the last wagon, sharing space with two elderly women and a little boy, younger than Anastasya's apparent age, who was constantly babbling excitedly and ignoring the near-identical frowns of the elderly women who, by their own admission, were his grandmothers. The boy often asked Anastasya to play with him which made her doubt the sanity of her decision to masquerade as a little girl. She refused to abase herself by joining an impolite and loud boy-child in a game of tag. Thankfully, they would be able to leave the caravan soon enough and find the Sisters who had requested help.
As they entered the city, Anastasya began to sense, one by one as they came within her range, women who could channel. She could feel active channeling in several places within her range, some frighteningly strong. She got up to peek over the side of the wagon, curious to see what the damane were being used for. She wasn't prepared for what she saw. They were passing through a neighbourhood where old buildings had been torn down and were now being replaced by new ones. There were several sites of construction in various stages of completion where weaves of One Power were being used to lift heavy materials, reinforce the finished structures, dig ditches, hold unstable structures waiting for completion, strengthen the foundations, and so much more. There was only one sul'dam to each site that Anastasya could see, each holding curiously long leashes of five or six damane. The damane, most of those within her range stronger than the Amyrlin, were channeling in harmony usually reserved only for circles, guided by the sul'dam who each held two or three bracelets in both wrists. In fact, the whole display was strangely reminiscent of a circle.
Though Anastasya knew only some of the actual workings of a'dam, she was quite sure that each weave that the damane wanted to use had to be approved by the sul'dam. And as each damane was using two or three weaves at once, the sul'dam had to be capable of following well over a dozen situations at a time. She had to know what was to be done next and keep the damane from interfering with each other's work. It was impressive.
Anastasya stared at them unabashedly, her mouth hanging slightly open. The sul'dam's work seemed so demanding that for a passing moment Anastasya forgot to resent the women for using other human beings as nothing more than glorified hammers and shovels. She continued staring at the sul'dam and damane until the construction-sites disappeared behind the buildings. She still could feel women channeling all around her. On the streets she could not turn her head without seeing at least two pairs of sul'dam and damane. There were so many of them that she was starting to feel alarmed.
There were not supposed to be so many in Tanchico. Ebou Dar was the Seanchan base of operations, not Tanchico. It was as if they had taken nine out of ten damane in their lands and brought all of them to Tanchico. Why? What were they planning?
"This is our stop," Kiril said as the wagons came to a sudden halt. He too had been standing up, surveying the city. His feelings were quickly turning concerned. Anastasya looked ahead, worried what she might see. They were on the edge of a rather large, positively crowded marketplace. Though standing on top of a wagon, Anastasya was too short to see anything out of ordinary. Kiril, however, was a mountain of a man and he was definitely seeing something worth noting. He lifted Anastasya on his shoulder and jumped off the wagon. Ahead, a man shouted something and a woman cried out. Anastasya took a firm hold of Kiril's head and stood up on his shoulders in order to see what was going on.
The crowd had parted around three people. One of them was a sul'dam, the other a damane. The third, a man wearing neat clothes and a veil, perhaps a merchant. He was holding the damane with one hand and pointing a knife at the sul'dam with the other. The damane was clinging to him desperately. Anastasya was not certain but it seemed to her that the man was crying.
"You give me my wife back!" he screamed, brandishing the knife. The sul'dam, an elderly woman with a long, hooked nose, regarded him in a disdaining manner. The dress she was wearing seemed finer than that of a common sul'dam. She tugged at the leash connecting the bracelet to the collar, causing the damane to let out a shrill wail. The man pushed the damane behind his back and took a threatening step towards the sul'dam. "You hear me, monster?!" he bellowed. "My wife, you release her now!"
The sul'dam sneered at him.
"You put your knife away, little man," she said, her calm voice carrying far. The crowd was growing silent as people stopped to watch. "Do not throw your life away for some damane. What she might have been previously, now matters not. Have you not sworn to serve the Empire?"
The man glanced at the damane who was huddling on the ground, her shoulders shaking as if she were crying silently. His face twisted in anguish.
"You have stolen our freedom!" he roared. "You have made slaves of us! I spit on your Empire!"
He then charged at the sul'dam, lashing his knife wildly. The sul'dam took a couple of nimble steps back, avoiding his weapon with ease. The damane, still huddling on the ground shaking like a leaf, suddenly embraced the Source. A weave of Air formed faster than Anastasya could follow and lifted the man off the ground. He let out a frustrated howl and fought against his bonds in vain. The sul'dam ignored the man and walked to the damane.
"Hana is a good damane," she said, her tone still calm. She did not seem to regard the incident as anything worth noting and patted the damane as if she were a dog who had performed a neat trick. "Hana will get a present. Now stand up and follow."
The damane climbed on her feet and glanced at the man, the look on her face a mix of horror and grief. She did not lag behind, however, as her mistress started to make her way through the crowd. Seanchan soldiers appeared and formed a ring around the man, obviously waiting for the weave to dissipate. It wouldn't take long.
Kiril started walking away and Anastasya sat down, letting her feet hang against Kiril's chest. She was focusing on novice exercises in order to not give in to blind rage. The Seanchan were vile creatures indeed.
They turned right in the next intersection, Kiril walking with apparent leisure. Anastasya pretended to be focused on playing with his hair while scanning her surroundings furtively. She was looking for the secret sign of Green Ajah, something green, usually a ribbon, paired with a wooden weapon, usually a dagger, hanging beside the store sign. She had a rather vague idea about the location of the Green Ajah informant in Tanchico and was not entirely certain the woman still lived. Of course, she had heard that Brenda Moselle was tough as old leather and rumoured to be related to Amira Moselle, a late Red Sitter.
Based on what she knew of the Sisters who had been sent to Tanchico, they were likely to follow Teramina Drallen, the Green, as she was the strongest one by a minimal margin compared to Nalasia and Jamilila, and by a clear margin compared to Tehera. Teramina was most likely to use the Green Ajah assets in Tanchico. All four together, based on what the Amyrlin had kindly told her, were barely enough to open a Gateway of useful size, that being big enough for a grown woman on all fours to crawl through. It was unusual that four Aes Sedai in a circle weren't enough for Travelling but it was obvious that they had to take all kinds of precautions at the same time. Missing one Sister made it impossible for them to continue their operations in Tanchico, at least with the same level of security. The disappearance had happened a day before the Amyrlin had called Anastasya back to the Tower, and been reported through a small Gateway opened in the Amyrlin's study. Anastasya had taken only a couple of days to arrive in Tanchico which meant that the Red's trail was still relatively fresh.
The Amyrlin had suggested, however, that Anastasya first helped the remaining Sisters in their task to send the young women they had saved to Tar Valon. Before the Red's disappearance, the group had managed to send almost two dozen women away from Tanchico, a feat that was borderline miraculous. Anastasya had no idea how they conducted the testing nor did she know how they had managed to avoid getting caught for so long. It seemed that strength in the One Power wasn't everything. She was prepared to defer to Teramina if she had a better idea how to find the Red.
Kiril rounded another corner and Anastasya saw their destination. A modest sign that hung above the nondescript doorway only had a picture of a stylised tree, completely white in colour. The White Oak, an inn meant for poorer travellers, more of a charity than an enterprise. Beside the sign hung a wooden dagger, it's hilt faded green. Anastasya slid down from Kiril's shoulders and tugged gently at his hand while pointing insistently at the sign. Kiril nodded, smiling indulgently.
The moment they entered the inn Anastasya knew they had come to the right place. The inn was orderly and smelled good, almost overtly so, and though the customers looked like they didn't have two copper pennies rubbing against each other in their pockets, they were clean and neatly groomed. It might have seemed odd but Anastasya had heard that whatever their other sins were, the Seanchan took care of the poor and the homeless, providing them with necessities such as food, soap and clothing, in addition to offering funds to any innkeeper who gave out rooms to those in need but unable to pay. It contrasted heavily with the systematised slavery and the harsh division of their society based on social status.
The innkeeper was a wiry woman in her late fifties, her hair in braids that were more grey than honey-coloured. She was chatting jovially with a couple of the customers leaning against the counter but as she saw Anastasya and Kiril, she immediately excused herself and came to greet them, an infectious smile on her face.
"Welcome, dears, to the White Oak. We offer food and bed for a meagre price to those in need and the price is free if you bring the right ticket from the social security centre."
She offered a hand and Kiril shook it gently. Anastasya did not blame the woman for ignoring a little girl and focusing on Kiril but she still felt slighted.
"Are you Brenda Moselle?" Kiril asked in a quiet, polite voice. He too felt irrationally annoyed that his Aes Sedai was being ignored for the time being.
The woman kept smiling but her eyes hardened.
"Oh, you must be looking for my sister. Come, let me take you to her."
She turned and led them through the door behind the counter to the kitchen. There she told the cook to mind the counter for a few minutes and then took them through another door, this time leading to an empty office. She closed the door behind them and turned to regard them as if expecting them turn on her.
"I am Brenda Moselle though not many call me by that name nowadays," she said, eyeing them with distrust. "What do you want?"
"We are looking for a green blade," Kiril said, using the code words that Anastasya had told him. Brenda nodded slowly.
"Ever vigilant," she said, the correct answer to the code words. "Is there, by any chance, a woman waiting for you outside the city?"
Kiril grinned and shook his head.
"The one you want to talk to is already here," he said, gesturing at Anastasya. Anastasya looked at Brenda sternly, her manner somewhat spoiled by the fact that she still appeared to be a ten-year-old. Brenda looked at her for the first time, quizzically, and then snorted.
"This little girl? Really? I don't have time for jokes."
Anastasya chose that moment to undo the weave that disguised her, certain that whatever residue it might leave, would be unnoticeable by any damane. She did not feel different but Brenda gasped and took several steps back.
"I am Anastasya Norin, pleased to meet you," Anastasya said in a polite tone and extended her hand. Brenda took it, her cheeks slowly reddening.
"Unbelievable," she muttered and curtsied hastily. "Like something out of a dream. I am sorry, did not mean any offence. Perhaps you could even take it as a compliment, that I was fooled by your disguise."
Anastasya flashed a small smile.
"I hardly have time for being offended. Now, I have to get to those I was send here for. Where are they?"
Brenda placed a finger on top of her mouth, conveying the need for silence, and then gestured for them to follow her. They exited the office and went through the kitchen to a door that led to the basement. There, past large barrels of ale and wooden boxes full of vegetables, beneath what appeared to be a stack of empty casks, was a trapdoor. The bottommost of the empty casks had been nailed to the trapdoor, covering it completely, and the trapdoor used a clever mechanism for opening and closing, a lever that was hidden in the ceiling, barely noticeable even when Brenda pulled at it. Anastasya heard a faint sound of a bell from far below and the trapdoor opened, showing rickety-looking stairs with a railing leading into darkness. The air suddenly smelled strongly of earth and mildew.
"You can't have a candle, I'm afraid," Brenda said, looking down. "It wouldn't do to set anything on fire. The stairs may not look like much but they are sturdy enough. Keep your hand on the railing and you'll get down in one piece. I hope."
Anastasya nodded, keeping her face serene even as her stomach twisted at the thought of blundering in the darkness, uncertain of what waited below. Debating whether she was within some strong damane's range, she decided not to create a ball of light and instead descended into the darkness, trying to look confident. Kiril followed behind, putting a hand on her shoulder. Once they were out of the way, Brenda pulled at the lever again and the trapdoor slammed shut behind them, plunging them into darkness. Anastasya was proud that she did not let out a small shriek at that. Still, Kiril squeezed her shoulder gently, as if trying to soothe her. She swallowed whatever expletives she had been about to utter and focused on climbing down the stairs. As her eyes got used to the dark, she saw that the stairs ended to a doorway, faintly outlined by the source of light behind it. As she reached it, she decided not to knock and pushed it open as quietly as possible, suddenly exceedingly aware of the fact that Brenda might be a double agent. In fact, she had no proof of the woman's allegiances except for certain secret phrases. She felt an overwhelming stab of fear. She almost turned around and started climbing back before she realised that her feelings, while somewhat rational, were being far too inordinate. She embraced the Source.
The feeling of terror dissipated. She drew a deep breath. Of course. The Blue Sister.
She could not see the complicated combination of the two weaves that had been used which only meant that Tehera Saincha had a lot of common sense. The weaves had been inverted. One of them was probably a ward that served as a trigger for the other weave which instigated terror in the person who had set off the ward. It worked perfectly against almost anyone who couldn't channel and would almost definitely surprise any channeler who came this way, damane and sul'dam included. This might lead them to making the same mistake as Anastasya just had, touching the Source, and so alerting the Sisters to the fact that someone who could channel had just entered. Saidar would protect the damane but it was unlikely that the sul'dam would benefit from the defence against mind-affecting effects that embracing the Source bestowed. The sul'dam would be terrified and unable to act as she should. A simple yet effective trap. It was a good thing that Anastasya wasn't there to fight against the Sisters.
"Hello?" she called out as she stepped through the doorway to a place that looked like a cross between a man-made structure and a naturally occurring cavern. The upper part of the cavern had been smoothed with tools but the lower part was the natural result of grinding by running water for centuries. The doorway pierced the cavern's wall from the side and the cavern continued to left and right from Anastasya's position, curving quickly out of sight. There was a lit lamp sitting on the ground a bit further down the left passage, perhaps trying to convey the image that those hiding in the cavern were more likely to be in that direction.
"I am Anastasya Norin of the Green Ajah," she called out, "and I am here to help you."
She glanced at Kiril who was standing behind her, seemingly relaxed. He had not even noticed the terror-weave, mostly thanks to the Warder bond. He was feeling annoyed, probably because Anastasya was not letting him go first. They had not spoken of it but Anastasya was more protective of him than before, afraid that losing Kiril would drive her insane with grief. So the Warder was not allowed to perform his duties with the usual recklessness and that chafed him more than he wanted to admit. Anastasya moved aside, letting Kiril past her. Some of the tension in the bond melted off. She drew a deep breath and let out a holler, in a very un-Aes Sedai-like fashion.
"Come on, I know you can hear me! I am not some bloody Seanchan slaver! Teramina, I know you are there and unless you come here this instant I am going to be rather annoyed!"
Anastasya then slowly counted to ten. Just when she hit ten, a ball of light appeared in the right passage and was soon followed by a pale woman who was a little bit taller than Anastasya. She was pretty in the conventional way, dark-haired with large blue eyes, full lips and a straight, small nose. She was wearing a pragmatic dark-green riding dress, completed by sturdy shoes perfect for trekking through the wilderness, and around her waist, a utility belt. Though Anastasya had not seen her in some time, she recognised Teramina. The woman looked at Anastasya warily, her hands resting on her hips. The ball of light rose close to the ceiling, illuminating a good chunk of the cavern with unwavering white light. The woman looked from Anastasya to Kiril and back again, a tiny smile appearing on her lips.
"Thank Light," she breathed. She then turned around and called out towards the right passage. "You can come out, it's really her. The Amyrlin has answered our prayers."
Two more balls of light appeared from the right passage, followed by two women. They were of medium height, dressed similarly to Teramina but in blue and brown, respectively. The one in blue had a dark complexion and even darker hair to go with it but her eyes were startlingly green. She was almost head and shoulders taller than Anastasya and walked with fluid grace that belonged to someone who had trained with the Warders. Not unusual in a Green but rare among the Blues. Tehera Saincha was a fighter through and through, and even if her strength in the One Power was negligible, the Green Ajah had been disappointed when she chose the Blue over them.
The one in brown was almost as pale as Teramina and her hair was bright yellow, almost golden in colour. Her eyes were dark and somewhat vague, as if she were focusing on something else at the same time. Not many were aware of it but most Browns developed excellent multitasking skills and often hid behind the assumption that they were unable to focus on the present due to their interests. Nalasia Merhan was one of the most skilled at it, at least according to the Amyrlin, and her greatest strength lay in her ability to handle well over a dozen weaves at the same time, a feat that was usually reserved only for those who were strong in the One Power.
The women reached Anastasya and their balls of light winked out. All three looked weary but hopeful. Anastasya hoped that she was indeed an answer to their prayers.
"We are more than grateful that you are here," Teramina said, motioning vaguely at herself and the other two, a somewhat nervous gesture. "I will make sure that you have all the relevant information. This way, please."
Teramina began leading Anastasya through the right passage while Tehera and Nalasia followed behind them. The passage was rather long and at times narrow. They walked for several minutes, passing many side-passages, before arriving to a doorway, not unlike the one through which Anastasya had entered the cavern. Through the doorway was an ancient basement of a long-forgotten palace, the high ceiling held up by pillars at regular intervals. The place was well-lit, with a long table in the middle surrounded by various chairs, makeshift beds on the right side and a make-do kitchen on the left. There were almost a dozen women of ages between fifteen and sixty sitting around the table, conversing nervously but quietly among themselves. They stood up hastily as Anastasya and Teramina entered and curtsied, some with more grace than the others.
"This is Anastasya Sedai of the Green Ajah," Teramina said with a touch of pride in her voice. "We will have you out of here in no time."
There was a collective sigh of relief and the general level of anxiety dropped several notches.
"Where are the Warders?" Anastasya asked as Teramina showed her to one of the better chairs while Tehera started preparing tea, pouring cold water into a kettle and then briefly channeling in order to heat the water. They couldn't use the fire to heat their food, for obvious reasons, so they probably prepared everything with the One Power.
"My Aeric and Masara are scouting the city, keeping an eye on the things so to speak. Tehera does not have one and Nalasia's Thomric is in the White Tower, waiting for a Gateway back. I suppose he's bringing her a new patch of books from the Library."
Teramina smiled, flashing her white teeth. It was against the norm to ask about someone else's Warder but at least Anastasya was not being overly intrusive.
"I see," Anastasya said, smiling apologetically. She looked at the women and girls still standing around the table, some of whom were eyeing her with certain degree of caution. There were ten of them in all, two wilders and the rest either born with the Spark or able to learn. The two wilders were in their late fifties, obvious village healers by their demeanour. The rest were at oldest barely past their twentieth birthday.
"How have you been able to find so many?" Anastasya asked as Tehera brought her tea. Tehera glanced at Teramina who shrugged almost imperceptibly. Anastasya found it almost strange that Tehera wanted Teramina's permission to speak to someone who was so far above Teramina. But on the second thought, Anastasya was a stranger to them and her opinion did not count for much in the long run. She wouldn't make a fuss over something like that, unlike many other Aes Sedai who were too insecure to let something so inconsequential slide.
"Some we find through the help of the Readers who can't channel. They bring girls to us for testing. The others come from the countryside, smuggled in through the sewers by Teramina and her Warders. It is natural that we cannot find everyone, due to the essence of our operation. Those we try to track down and free before it is too late."
Anastasya lifted her eyebrows at that.
"You actually go after those that are captured by the Seanchan? Is this how Jamilila disappeared?"
Tehera glanced again at Teramina who nodded.
"Jamilila was our secret agent, so to speak. She infiltrated the place where the damane are kept. She would note the girls who were brought in and find a way to get them out without getting caught. She had been posing as a der'sul'dam for a good while when the Seanchan Empress arrived in Tanchico. Jamilila found out that the Seanchan are preparing for war in Seanchan. They are gathering their forces here and stripping their lands of sul'dam and damane, leaving only the bare minimum behind. Jamilila brought one more girl out, came with her here and then went out again and did not return. Before she left, she said that she had found something that might lead to a solution to many of our problems and that if she did not return by the next sunrise, we should contact the White Tower and make sure that we would be able to get the girls out of here. Teramina's Aeric saw Jamilila enter one of the finer mansions near the King's Circle, one that belongs to a Seanchan noble family. She didn't return. This was less than four days ago. We believe that she did indeed find something interesting enough to walk right into the proverbial den of rabid wolves. So far, we have only surveyed the place. We haven't seen her in the gardens or in any of the windows so we are assuming that either she's staying or being held out of sight. We can feel channeling at times inside the house and it's far more than Jamilila alone can manage. We are assuming that the noble family residing in the manor owns a damane or two, and has a sul'dam as a house retainer. What we would like to do, is to get inside the manor and find Jamilila if she's still there, and bring her out if she needs it. However, we were ordered to wait for you and open a Gateway to Tar Valon as soon as possible."
Anastasya found herself nodding along as Tehera went into details of their undertaking, feeling quite impressed. The four Aes Sedai, so unremarkable in the White Tower, had been keeping their heads cool, gathering information and working together, not rushing into anything without the say-so of the Amyrlin, even to save the fourth member of the team. It was a sharp contrast to the common workings inside the Tower, where the Ajahs and individual Sisters were always vying for more power, unable to put aside their differences unless explicitly forced to, and even then teamwork was seen as something distasteful. The ideal Aes Sedai was a strong individual who did not need aid from anyone else, definitely not from someone who wasn't of the same Ajah. Especially if the said Aes Sedai was a Red and the help was to come from a Green or a Blue Sister. Or the other way around.
How in Light were Tehera and Teramina getting along with Jamilila? According to the Amyrlin, these four had been working together for years, often leaving the White Tower and returning in the dead of night, refusing to tell even the Amyrlin what they were doing. Their latest excursion, before the one to Tarabon, had taken place at a very unfortunate time, just after the Seanchan attacked the White Tower and before Egwene al'Vere cleansed the Aes Sedai of the Black Ajah. This had drawn quite understandably unfavourable attention to them and when they had returned, they had been promptly arrested and brought before the Hall. There they had each first forsworn all their Oaths and then sworn the Three Oaths. None of them was a Black Sister. They had refused to divulge any of the details of their second-most recent tour outside the White Tower, invoking the custom by which it was forbidden to question another Sister's actions. They had been exceedingly adamant, even in the face of the Hall's displeasure, that their business was their own but had added that whatever they had been doing was to the White Tower's benefit. It had been the last bit that had allowed them to leave with their hides intact. Whatever had happened afterwards in the Ajah quarters was unknown though Teramina had certainly been lectured thoroughly by Adelorna and given a stiff penance for fraternising with a Red Sister, the enemy. It seemed that Teramina couldn't care less what the Captain-General thought about her and had continued working with Jamilila.
"I think I'll send Kiril to check out the manor if that is alright," Anastasya said, nodding thanks to Tehera who had finished the lengthy explanation about their methods of working against the Seanchan. Kiril offered a polite bow at Anastasya and the other Sisters, and then left the room quietly. "I will help you to enter the place once we have opened a Gateway to Tar Valon. Teramina, if you please, form a circle. Better get this out of the way."
Teramina's eyes widened ever so slightly when she realised that Anastasya was giving her the reins for time being. She masked her surprise masterfully otherwise. She motioned the two other Sisters closer and touched them in the order she brought them into the circle. No halo shone around them nor could Anastasya feel anything. Teramina then gestured at Anastasya politely. Anastasya allowed herself to be brought into the circle, feeling quite peculiar at the lack of any indication that anyone was channeling. Teramina and the others were feeling varying degrees of relief and wariness, with a great deal of determination on top. They were oddly in sync, their feelings almost too similar to each other. They had to have been working in a circle for a long time.
"Form a line, ladies," Teramina said sternly. "Pick up your belongings and get ready to leave. I will open a Gateway at the back of the room, so stay away. You will walk through one by one, greet the Sister on duty on the other side politely and then wait quietly outside the walled area. I will come through last and have you escorted to the Mistress of Novices."
The girls and women scrambled to the makeshift beds, picking up small pouches and backbags. None of them had much to carry, only the necessities. They were more refugees than anything else.
A fairly large Gateway opened beside the wall at the end of the chamber, wide enough for a cart to roll through. It startled Anastasya. She hadn't seen Teramina do anything. She turned to look at the woman and still couldn't see anything. Had the woman somehow inverted the weaves while she was channeling? That was possible? It was possible to invert the weaves once they had been formed but Anastasya had not been taught how to do it at the same time with weaving. Her respect for the woman went up several levels and she found herself wondering if she could ask the woman to teach her how to do that. Teramina had to be willing to do that, otherwise she wouldn't have shown Anastasya that it was possible.
"Move it," Tehera barked, again startling Anastasya. She felt mild amusement from the other women who had noticed her sudden agitation. She blushed and drew a deep breath, watching the women and girls file through the Gateway. On the other side was the Travelling Grounds of the White Tower, a roof-covered enclosed paved area in the newly named Garden of Travellers, not far from the Yellow Garden and the Sunrise Gate. A young Aes Sedai with a grey shawl whose name Anastasya did not know was standing on the other side, guiding the would-be novices through the arched opening in the white wall of brick that surrounded the Travelling Grounds. Snow was falling and the ground outside the roofed area was already white, every hint of grass and earth hidden. Cold air wafted through, making the waiting girls and women shiver.
It took only a few minutes for everyone to walk through the Gateway. A handsome Warder appeared, carrying a stack of books and came through the Gateway, greeting Nalasia warmly. Teramina came back through, looking quite pleased with herself. She conferred briefly with the young Grey Sister and the Grey Sister opened a tiny Gateway in the air, connecting herself to the office of the Mistress of Novices. She had a short exchange with the occupant of the office and then closed the Gateway. The Greys were getting increasingly deft with the weave. Teramina nodded to the Sister and then walked back. The Gateway closed behind her.
"It is done," Teramina said and released the circle politely. She nodded at Anastasya. "By your leave, we are ready to discuss our next move."
Anastasya nodded back and gestured for the three Sisters to sit down. She took out a piece of paper and started writing down what they knew.
"I am curious," she said slowly, eyeing the other three, "how did you manage to open a Gateway without channeling openly."
Teramina and the others exchanged a look. Had they thought that Anastasya would not notice or had they thought that their ability was common knowledge.
"It was Nalasia who came up with it," Teramina said, smiling at the Brown Sister who was reading two books at the same time and paying attention to the conversation. "She thought that there had to be a way to do it concurrently with the weaving. It is rather simple, really, only it takes more focus. One has to only invert the weaves as one weaves them. It is almost like handling two weaves at the same time. Nalasia showed us how to do it and we practised with a small amount of Power, lightning a candle and putting it out while inverting the weave as we did it. It took some time to get it down right. I recommend using only simple weaves at first, until you have built some confidence."
Anastasya nodded. It sounded obvious now, in retrospect. How many things were obvious but everyone somehow failed to think about them?
"Thank you. I will return the favour with this."
She took out the angreal that she had hidden in a pocket inside her sleeve. Teramina gasped at the sight of it and Tehera grinned widely, quite un-Aes Sedai-like. Nalasia only nodded, as if she had known all along. She probably had not but it was what an Aes Sedai was supposed to do.
"This is one of the assets we have. With it, we can easily overpower any two damane, maybe even three. Enough that those damane the nobles in that manor have will not be able to fight for long. We can go find Jamilila once Kiril returns and if necessary, we can Travel out of there with her help. She's been there for a while so she'll be able to open a Gateway. Can you make yourselves invisible?"
She received three nods.
"Good. We wait for nightfall. We will make ourselves and our Warders invisible and get ourselves to the manor garden. From there, we will find a servant door. We go in, sneak around in pairs, find Jamilila, Travel out of there to the countryside, decide whether you want to remain in Tanchico, Travel either back here or Tar Valon. Sound good?"
Three more nods.
"Great. Let's do this."
Merina urged her horse to move faster, to no avail. The creature had been expensive but certainly not worth even half the price. It flicked an ear and continued trudging forward at a glacial space. She still had a long way to go until she reached the next tolerable accommodation for the night. It was almost sunset.
She had expected the rest of the Westlands to be somewhat behind in terms of progress. She had not expected that there were no soup-kitchens or decent facilities for bathing and resting. Even the smallest towns in Seanchan catered food and shelter for the poor, and every inn had a bath-house with hot water. The prices were extraordinarily high and she couldn't help but feel that it was because of her attire. The commoners showed no respect to a sul'dam.
She let out an annoyed huff. She had to keep reminding herself that eventually all land would belong to the Empire. Everything would be as it should be. No hasty washes with a tiny pan of water. No substandard bedding or food. Proper appreciation for those who kept the channelers under control.
She had brought a decent sum of money, secretly hoping to purchase a house in Tar Valon before the inevitable return of the Empire. The property prices would increase steeply once the Empire took over and it would become more difficult for someone who was not of the Blood to buy a fine house in the new capital. It was no secret that the Empress, might she live forever, would make Tar Valon the new capital once the marath'damane residing there had been properly collared. Some might call for tearing the place down and salting the earth but that would be such a waste, as the city was said to be the finest Ogier stonework. Tainted by the Aes Sedai, certainly, but still fine.
Merina sighed. It still amazed her that people of the Westlands had not reached the same logical conclusion as they had in Seanchan. The Aes Sedai here were far more subtle than the Aes Sedai in Seanchan had been. She shuddered at the thought of the Seanchan Aes Sedai. They were long gone even if there were rumours that some of the oldest damane had once been Aes Sedai themselves. The last Aes Sedai had fallen several hundred years ago, and her reign had lasted for so long only because her domain had been deep in the mountains near the Blight border. The Burning Queen and the Mountain Throne. Why did that feel so ominous?
Merina gasped. She had forgotten about the Foretelling she had witnessed! It was only natural, with everything that had happened but to let such a thing slip her mind!
She stopped her horse and sat in the saddle, her hands trembling as she considered. She had to choose between bringing the information about the Foretelling to any der'sul'dam she could reach, at the same time facing all the disgrace that she deserved for losing two damane, and finding those said damane and bringing them back. She looked around, searching for an omen that could help her. She saw nothing of import. It was as if there were few to no omens in the Westlands. Things were omens only if they happened right when you needed them, not randomly.
She wanted nothing more than to avoid the humiliation of having to answer for two lost damane. The damane were the property of the Empire, and everything that belonged to the Empire also belonged to the Empress, might she live forever. Losing something that belonged to her was inexcusable! Merina certainly would never become a der'sul'dam then, if she even managed to stay as a sul'dam. She might become property herself, to pay for her incompetence. She did not want to risk all that even if the information she had might be important.
Merina relaxed somewhat. The Foretelling had to be of no great importance. It was just some damane's rambling about things that were impossible. The Burning Queen was long gone, despite that her body had never been found, there was no way that she had survived and was still alive today...
Merina swallowed. If the Burning Queen still survived, if she had bided her time until the Empire was noticeably weakened by something, say, the loss of nearly the entire Imperial family and the civil war that had followed, with more than half of the Ever Victorious Army on the other side of the Aryth Ocean, if she had spent years hiding in the mountain caves with thousands upon thousands of followers, most of whom had been rumoured to be strong channelers who for whatever reason had not wished to rule their own little totalitarian states...
If she then were to purge the surrounding areas of the Imperial forces, slowly claiming the mountains for herself while every contestant for the Imperial Throne was focused on Seandar and the important areas around it...
"By the Light!" she gasped. She turned the horse around and started galloping back towards the Murandian-Altaran border. A few dozen meters down the road she passed two tall trees that formed a natural arch over the road. She saw someone standing on the branches far above ground but had to time to react, and suddenly a rope fell down from trees, catching her by the chest and yanking her out of the saddle. She might have screamed in pain and surprise before hitting the ground hard. She lay on the road, too stunned to do anything but gasp for breath, barely registering the fact that her horse had stopped almost immediately after she had fallen off. Brutal-looking men gathered around her, appearing from behind the trees and bushes, talking and laughing coarsely. One of them, a mountain of a man with nothing else to mark his leadership than the presence he radiated, bend down and pulled Merina up by the scruff of her neck. She fought against his hold in vain, her head still spinning from the fall. His foul breath could have curdled milk.
"A fine catch, lads," he rasped, his voice roughened by years of smoking and drinking. He pulled Merina closer and took a long sniff as she struggled to gain her senses. "Smells good, too. For a Seanchan slaver harlot, that is. Only half as rotten as I expected."
He then tossed Merina back on the ground and kicked her. She let out a choked cry and tried to crawl away. He stepped on her back and applied just a little bit of pressure. She went very still, knowing that if he put his whole weight on the foot, he would crush her back.
"Shall we make an example out of her?"
The men hooted with derisive laughter. Not aimed at their leader but her. Her heart sank. They were going to kill her.
"Then let's hoist her up!"
A noose was tossed around her neck, swiftly tightened and she was hauled up. She hung to the noose with both of her hands to keep herself choking. The men dragged her to one of the trees and threw the rope over one of the low-hanging branches. She expected them to go further but they stopped there and turned to their leader, as if expecting something more. The leader strode closer, holding a thick log with one end sharpened. Were they going to impale her with that? Merina drew back as far as she could, breathing fast. She was still feeling oddly detached from the situation. Wasn't she supposed to be terrified? Twenty or so big, crude men had her at their mercy and there was absolutely nothing she could do to change her fate. Was she simply refusing to let them have all of it, withholding them the satisfaction of seeing her break down and start crying, begging for mercy?
"I would have my way with you first and then let my men enjoy themselves but we are certain we would catch some foul rot from you so we are giving the honour to this piece of wood," the leader said, lifting the log so that she could see it better. They were going to... what? Violate her with that?
"Strip her. We want everyone to see what happens to Seanchan slavers."
The men holding the rope of her noose pulled the rope tight, forcing her to stand on her toes. Others closed in and started ripping at her clothes. That was more than she could take.
"Stop!" she screamed. No tears fell. What she felt was closer to rage. They dared touch her, a sul'dam? One of those who saved the common people from the horrors that the free channelers would visit upon them? Inconceivable!
The men hesitated and looked at their leader who looked suddenly annoyed. Of course. She had suddenly given herself voice, made herself more human in their eyes. It made simply killing her more difficult. It made torturing her to death even more difficult. If she could continue...
Her train of thought was interrupted when one of the men slapped her across her mouth. Her lip split and she tasted blood in her mouth. The other men jeered at her and resumed groping at her. She spat at them and one of them slapped her again, almost stunning her with force of the blow. She hung her head, letting the men rip off her bodice. Catcalls followed and the men pawed her breasts, now only covered by her shift. She almost accepted her fate right there.
But some quiet voice in her head told her that this was not the end. This was not the way she was going to go.
"Let me go," she howled, trying to aim a kick at the man who had slapped her, miraculously hitting him right in the groin. The man doubled over. The other men stopped for a few seconds, hesitating again. She did not let them regain their composure. "I am a sul'dam and by the Light I will not be treated like this! Release me this instant or suffer the consequences!"
It was the leader who shut her up. He stepped past the man she had kicked and punched her in the stomach, causing her to yank at the already tight rope and nearly strangle herself as she gasped breathlessly in pain.
"Silence," he growled, his voice chilling. "I know what you are. Your kind took my daughter from me. This is but a small payback for all the pain you have caused."
The man then spat at her. She glared at him and then managed a sneer. The man punched her again, the pain almost too much for her to bear. She still managed a contemptuous smile, her breath hissing through her teeth.
"Light blind you fools," she gasped, trying not to throw up. "You are all damned."
The man punched her again and she nearly whited out in pain. She was soon going to lose consciousness and then she would choke. That was better than being impaled to death.
She found peace in that. And in that peace, she found the light.
It was as if the sun was shining inside her, inviting her to touch the light and be saved.
"I don't want to die," she whispered to herself. She touched the light. The men around her were ripping at her clothes and she did not even care. Her stomach and face hurt but those were distant feelings.
"Fire," she muttered. Everything around her flashed to flames. The men screamed, trying to run away, some falling down, some throwing themselves down in vain attempts at putting the fire out. They still burned, their skin peeling off as the flames hungrily devoured it. Soon nothing remained but Merina, stark naked in a field of ash. Her horse stood a bit further away, tossing its head nervously.
As if in a trance, she walked to it, not even noticing the glowing embers she threaded on. They did not burn her. She opened one of the saddlebags and pulled out a spare dress. Once she had dressed herself, she went to retrieve the a'dam that had been in her pocket when she had been attacked. Where she had been standing was but a large puddle of silver. The a'dam had been destroyed.
"Oh Light," she wailed, falling on her knees. Tears were falling on her cheeks. She could see the residue of what she had done, a massive weave of Fire and Air. She could feel the presence of the One Power inside her, herself brimming with it. The feeling that she knew, the feeling of invincibility and exhilaration that the damane felt when touching the Source, she was feeling it. She could channel.
"I am a marath'damane!" she screamed, burying her face in her hands, her whole body shaking with her sobs.
What was she going to do? She had to be collared. Otherwise she would kill or enslave everyone. She had to...
She had to...
But she would not. Could not. She would never let anyone put a collar around her neck.
"I must continue," she muttered, wiping her face. "I must find Lucky and Fiery and bring them back."
And perhaps there was something else she could do as well?
"I can... I can show everyone how dangerous it is to let the channelers roam free," she whispered, a feverish note in her voice. She turned to stare towards the way she had been riding, back to Altara. She could not go back anymore. She turned to look at the other direction, the road to Lugard. Her first stop. Her first rampage.
Let them try to stop her.
The blizzard continued for three days. The wind and the cold together were strong enough to freeze any exposed skin within ten minutes outdoors, and so people were staying inside, praying that milder weather was on its way.
The storm passed during the night that preceded the fourth day. The morning was bright and calm if still cold.
Cadsuane stood at the top of the White Tower where the snow had been melted and the slush swept away. She was naturally accompanied by Samitsu but also by Suana, Seaine, Saerin, Yukiri, Rubinde, Raechin and Lyrelle, one Sitter for each Ajah.
They stood in silence, staring at the completely dry centre of the roof of the White Tower.
The white stone that had weathered three millennia was slowly decaying into fine, white sand that was completely frictionless yet somehow unaffected by the wind that always blew so high up above the ground. It was slowly rolling in waves towards the hole in the palisade that surrounded the slightly upward convex roof, meant for letting the water off the roof. There the grains were falling off in a thin, completely straight stream and once reaching the ground continuing their progress towards a small heap that had formed near the edge of the construction-site surrounding the Hall of Learning. There it was turning back into neatly stacked perfect blocks of stone, reversing the decay.
It was eerie to say the least.
The sand and the white stone of the White Tower were surrounded by a large weave of Earth, Air and Spirit. It seemed to permeate every part of the Tower that had been built of the white stone but nothing else. It had appeared in a flurry the instant the sun had appeared above the horizon on the fourth morning. It had slowly strengthened since, the process accelerating as time passed. Its active source was still unclear but its cause was known. As the strange woman had said, the White Tower was starting to crumble to dust. Whether she had set it up herself or someone else had done it, there was a powerful ter'angreal involved. No other explanation made sense.
"If my estimates are anywhere near the target, the whole building will have been dismantled within thirty hours," Seaine said quietly. Samitsu wrote it down. "Based on the observations, this effect started with one ton of stone within two first hours. Now, six hours later, the amount turned to stone is four tons per two hours. I predict that within the next two hours the amount turned to sand will be eight tons. Extrapolating from that, the amount turned to sand will double each time two hour mark passes."
Cadsuane nodded. She kept her face impassive, an easy trick when one had seen so many strange things. The White Tower slowly turning to sand did not reach even the top ten of the freakish things she had seen.
"As for the source of the weave, we have not yet been able to pinpoint the exact location," Seaine continued, her voice nearly devoid of all emotion. Her current demeanour was unusually cold even for a White but the situation was grave. "It is not within any of the Ajah quarters, Novice wing, Accepted wing, administrative areas or the refectories. This leaves us with the basement where we keep most of the ter'angreal."
Cadsuane nodded again. She had suspected as much. Finding one ter'angreal among hundreds was no easy task even if the ter'angreal had to be emanating the weave. As the weave was present everywhere where there was white stone, just checking each storeroom quickly was insufficient. Each room had to be scrutinised thoroughly just in case the ter'angreal had been hidden beneath or behind other ter'angreal.
"The novices have been evacuated to the city for time being," Suana said, her appearance as unyielding as usual. Yet there was a hint of a tremor in her voice, a clue to how shaken she truly was. "I have appointed several Yellows to oversee them. Most of the Sisters left in the Tower are those who hold positions, about a hundred in all. They and the Accepted are looking through the basement. However, if it were to come to pass that we are unable to locate the object before it is too late..."
She left the sentence hanging. An uncomfortable silence followed.
The sand continued forming, eating away the roof.
"Then we will rebuild," Cadsuane said, almost smiling. "There is nothing else to it. The White Tower will not fall until the last Aes Sedai dies."
From the corner of her eye she could see the Sitters nodding. Samitsu continued writing, appearing completely unperturbed. She trusted Cadsuane to see things through. No use for two women to fret about the same thing.
"What about the Forsaken Mesaana?" Raechin asked abruptly. She and her sister were working on the new Red Ajah while Barasine was mostly focusing on facing off with Lelaine in the Hall. So far, they had determined that at least one of the purposes of the new Red Ajah was to hunt Darkfriends and especially Darkfriend channelers, former Aes Sedai and otherwise. The remaining Forsaken were on the priority list. They were livid that Mesaana had died of a suspiciously natural cause. They had decided to disbelieve it and were now trying to find out who had killed the woman.
"What about her?" Saerin asked. She seemed almost annoyed that the conversation had been steered to a new direction. She was quite fascinated by the weave and its function. Had the target of the weave been almost any other building than the White Tower, she would have been studying it meticulously.
"I am wondering whether her death might have anything to do with this."
Cadsuane kept herself from sighing out loud. The Yellows had studied Mesaana's brain, as far as they could, and the best of them had concluded that the Forsaken would never recover. Punishing her for her crimes was impossible as she would not understand it. What was the point of stilling and executing a creature who spent her days drooling and moaning on a dirty pallet on the floor? As far as Cadsuane was concerned, the woman had already got her just desserts.
"It might," she said, keeping dryness out of her voice. "It might be that the source of our blight is also the person who killed Mesaana. It occurs to me that we might have to inquire about the health of the Forsaken that the Aiel captured in Shayol Ghul."
Another silence followed. There was not much they could do or say that would affect their situation in a positive way. Cadsuane was keenly aware of the fact that while she had warned the Hall and the Black Tower and declared the state of emergency in the Tower, it had not been enough to prevent the ter'angreal from turning on. She felt like she was facing her first failure as an Amyrlin and it was a monumental one at that.
It did not help that other matters demanded her attention. The Sisters in Tanchico had gone silent after sending the woman they had gathered to the White Tower some three weeks ago. Tam al'Thor's visit had been decidedly troubling. The strange woman had been very busy indeed. And then there was the matter of Erinshane Meloridred whose disappearance had only come up the day before. Rosil had been apologetic about it but her reasoning was almost sound. Cadsuane had already enough on her plate and adding more just might tip the balance for worse. Still, knowing that something had happened would have meant that she could have done something about.
In fact, the only good news recently had been from the Black Tower; the first Sea Folk and Aiel male channelers had joined their ranks and it seemed that their number of students was growing just as fast as it was in the White Tower. The Asha'man were gaining popularity and respect, their deeds alleviating the deeply ingrained fear of male channelers that had been a constant since the Breaking.
The sand edged slowly closer to her and the other Aes Sedai, probably already through the roof to the topmost floor.
She was feeling very tired. Each new problem felt like it might be the last straw. Her mind might be as sharp as ever but she was losing the fight. Her body was giving up. How much longer did she have before the end? It could be years but it could also be months, weeks or even merely days. She was not afraid not dying but she was worried about what would happen to the Tower after that. Who would replace her? Would all her work be undone?
If so, she would return to haunt the fool who had taken the Seat.
A Gateway appeared on the edge of the roof. A tall, handsome man with dark, curling hair stepped through. He was wearing a black coat with a silver sword and a golden dragon on the collar. A stylised black fang had been outlined on the left side of his chest with silvery white thread. He was resting his right hand on the sword that was hanging from his belt. Under his left arm was a bundle of cloth. He looked as weary as Cadsuane felt. There might have been a hint of grey in his hair that had not been there when Cadsuane had last seen him.
"Logain," Cadsuane said, barely feeling surprised. She had asked to send any Asha'man to the top of the Tower if they appeared on the Travelling Grounds. She had also informed the Sitters of the fact, to save them from embarrassment. "What brings you here?"
The man nodded at Cadsuane almost casually, staring at the sand and ignoring the pointed looks from some of the Sitters. Raechin glared at him openly. That he looked more alarmed than surprised at seeing the sand confirmed that the same thing was happening in the Black Tower too.
"We found this in the basement under the Black Tower," he said, taking the cloth and opening it. Inside was a small, delicate device of silvery metal, glass, clock faces, and many, many knobs and levers. It looked more complex than anything Cadsuane had ever seen. "I believe something similar is under the White Tower."
He brought the ter'angreal to Cadsuane. It was far heavier than it looked. She offered it to Saerin whose Ajah was in charge of investigating old ter'angreal. The woman took it carefully, obviously worried that if she dropped it, something catastrophic might happen. Yukiri opened a Gateway downstairs to inform the Greys there of what the object most likely looked like. Logain pointed at a few knobs on the ter'angreal, telling Saerin which one needed to be flicked to a different position in order to turn off the device. He also gave her the name of the man who had a better understanding of the ter'angreal. Saerin looked quite pleased.
"Thank you," Cadsuane said, nodding at Logain, ignoring the annoyed look from Raechin. The woman still held on to the old ways. No matter that saidin had been cleansed, there were still some Reds who believed that male channelers were not to be trusted under any circumstances, no matter how foolish it seemed. "Did it have time to cause irreparable damage?"
Logain shook his head.
"Once we managed to turn it off, the remaining sand drained out of the stones and formed into blocks. We have to redo only a fraction of what has already been completed."
Cadsuane nodded again, sighing inwardly in relief. At least one problem was off the list.
"By your leave, Mother," Logain said but did not wait for dismissal. He exited the rooftop through the Gateway and closed it behind him. Once again it was silent.
Logain was growing to his position as Cadsuane's male counterpart. Their first meeting, soon after the Last Battle, had been a coldly polite one but the following meetings had slowly thawed the man's attitude. It helped that Cadsuane treated him like an equal, something that still seemed to shock the Sitters. Quite a few of them had expected the Black Tower to be subordinate to the White Tower.
Had she not met Rand al'Thor, she would have expected the same. She had treated the Dragon Reborn like an unruly child. The results had been almost catastrophic. She prided herself in not repeating her mistakes. Therefore, she had changed her perspective.
The Asha'man were no children, no more than the Aes Sedai were. Of course, in Cadsuane's often rather vocal opinion most Aes Sedai were indeed a little more than bickering brats and often downright juvenile in their behaviour. Still, Cadsuane would assume some level of common sense from the Asha'man until such time that they proved her wrong. They were, after all, far closer to the common people. Many of them had families, something that precious few Aes Sedai bothered with. They seemed to already know that their abilities did not make them infallible.
Cadsuane gazed at the sand and its slow advance. The situation was contained for the moment at least. The ter'angreal would be found soon enough.
She had barely finished the thought when the formation of the sand suddenly accelerated visibly. Rubinde and Lyrelle had to jump back as the weave virtually devoured the part of the roof they had been standing on. To their credit, no one shrieked in surprise.
Yukiri swiftly opened a Gateway and everyone on the roof hurried through. Cadsuane left the roof last, the stone beneath her foot disintegrating just as she lifted it to walk through the Gateway.
The Gateway had been opened on the Travelling Grounds. Cadsuane hastened outside to look up. The top of the White Tower was dissolving into sand at a speed that made it look like the stone was all but liquefying.
"Yukiri, contact the Greys in the basement!" Cadsuane barked. She almost embraced the One Power for comfort. Yukiri opened a small Gateway into the basement. The Greys on the other side confirmed Cadsuane's suspicions. The ter'angreal had been found.
However, the one who had found it, a young Yellow Sister, had tried to turn it off herself without knowing what she was exactly doing.
Cadsuane suppressed a long, frustrated sigh. She wanted to rub her temples. The Sitters were mostly women of common sense but the rank-and-file Aes Sedai seemed to be lacking in that department more often than not. There had to be something that could be done about that. Maybe it was something that could be taught to the Accepted. She would have to take it up with Rosil and see if they could together figure something out.
Light, she wanted some peace and quiet with a cup of tea. Just an hour to pretend that her duties did not include dealing with human stupidity.
The Greys hurriedly passed the active ter'angreal through the Gateway to Yukiri who then showed it Saerin. Saerin compared it to the ter'angreal she was carrying. The two devices were almost identical, something that was thought to be exceedingly rare in ter'angreal, excluding the a'dam of course. The active ter'angreal was shining brightly and emitting the weave in rapid pulses, vibrating visibly. The top fourth of the Tower was already gone, pouring down the sides of the building like white waterfalls, a surreal sight.
Saerin flicked one of the knobs down like Logain had advised her. The ter'angreal let out a long, loud whistle, visibly startling some of the Sitters, and then the ter'angreal's light went off. The weave changed, ebbing in its strength swiftly. When the last thread left the device, it went still.
Several Sitters let out sighs of relief.
Cadsuane simply nodded at Samitsu who took out a piece paper that contained a list of things that demanded Cadsuane's immediate attention. The Keeper crossed off on item on that list. There were still several entries that needed some seeing-to before the day was out.
However, other things demanded her attention first. The Sitters were promptly calling the Hall to a Sitting to discuss the current physical state of the White Tower and what to do about it, and more importantly, the events of the last three days and the new information that had been acquired. There had been no time for extensive discussion while the White Tower was in danger. Suana was visibly furious, muttering under her breath that the young Yellow would not sit comfortably for the next decade. Seaine already had a writing kit out and she was calculating the cost of the repairs. Yukiri opened a Gateway to the waiting room outside the Hall and told the Greys in the basement to find the rest of the Sitters.
There was a sense of efficiency in the way the Sitters were handling the situation. It was almost enough for Cadsuane to feel a sense of pride.
Most of the Aes Sedai had a long way to go before they were up to her standards. The Sitters, however, were almost there. It had taken months of wrangling but the Sitters were capable of working together when it was needed. Perhaps everything would not devolve into chaos when she died.
Perhaps pigs would learn to fly.
"Samitsu," Cadsuane spoke as they walked through the Gateway into the waiting room. "Call Rosil and let her know that it's safe for the novices to return, for now at least."
Samitsu nodded and stepped aside to open a small Gateway. She spoke briefly with the Mistress of Novices, her tone somewhat clipped. She was displeased with the woman for withholding information from Cadsuane. Cadsuane waited until last of the Sitters had crossed the threshold of the Hall and then entered the domed chamber. Samitsu announced her in a hurried manner, obviously keen on getting the Sitting out of the way.
Cadsuane took her seat and then waited. She had only a vague interest in the discussion surrounding the rebuilding of the top floors but there was always a chance that the Hall took her absence as an opportunity to scheme against her. By the looks Barasine and Lelaine were giving her, they had expected her to forego the Sitting in favour of seeing to other, more demanding concerns.
They would have to learn to live with disappointments.
The Sitting proceeded as an informal one. Many of the Sitters were still deeply and openly disturbed by the events of the day, shaken by symbolism of the attack. The strange woman had rather overtly accomplished something that for three millennia the White Tower had successfully pretended to be impossible.
The uncertainty among the Sitters was palpable. Their morale had taken a direct hit. The doubts would spread among the rank-and-file Aes Sedai, and from there to the novices and Accepted. Would the result be disunity, the same kind as Elaida had sown? Or, perhaps, was there a chance to use the blow to bring the Sisters closer together? And what about the outside world? How would they perceive the attack?
"I propose," Yukiri said slowly, the other two Grey Sitters spoke softly together and compared their notes, "that we firstly Seal the truth of the matter to the Tower." Several Sitters murmured approvingly. "And then once we have rebuilt the lost floors, we build several floors above the old ones, making it seem like we simply wanted to expand the Tower. After all, we can accommodate only some three thousand Aes Sedai at any given time and seeing how our numbers are expected to grow over the coming years, it is quite sensible to take action now. Ferane, if you please."
Ferane Neheran, a White Sitter, stood up. She was holding a stack of paper full of calculations. She had a vaguely pleased look on her face as she began to address the Hall.
"The foundation and the load-bearing structures of the White Tower has been reinforced with saidar," she began, her voice cool in the manner of the Whites. "Most of the strength calculations that have been completed over the years attest this. Though the strength and hardness of the saidar-infused stones are finite unlike those of cuendillar, they are still far greater than that of any other structure, steel and diamond included. There is no logical reason to not rely on this while expanding the White Tower. The only complication is the lack of knowledge of the required weaves of Earth but even as we speak, the White Sisters are solving the issue. Therefore, adding floors on top of the existing ones is completely within our power."
There was a hint of smugness in her voice as she finished the sentence.
"Does the White Ajah wish to oversee the expansion of the White Tower and the Hall of Learning?" Cadsuane asked. Ferane, Seaine and Saroiya gave their consents. That they took no time to deliberate over Cadsuane's question signified that they had discussed this beforehand.
"Then, who wishes to speak against this proposal?"
There were no dissenting voices, even from Lelaine or Barasine. The issue was insignificant to them.
"Very well. Who stands for this proposal?"
After a greater consensus that surprised no one, Samitsu stated the conclusion of the voting and reiterated what had been agreed to. The matter was then set aside, marked as discussed and solved.
The discussion turned back to the strange woman. She was an unknown factor. Cadsuane had previously described the woman's appearance to the Sitters, drawing attention to the unnatural aspects of it. The woman being a Shadowspawn was briefly toyed with but soon discarded as a ridiculous idea. She was unlikely to be a Black Sister even if the weave of Folded Light allowed any woman to look like whatever she wished to. This was due to the information from Tam al'Thor who had visited Cadsuane a couple of days ago after the fire in Emond's Field. According to him, the same woman appeared to Sarenna Zakura, the White Tower agent in the Two Rivers region in charge of the Tower sponsored school. According to Sarenna, the strange woman seemed to have some connection to her old friend, Meylin Sirowa, who had died in a bubble of evil before the Last Battle. Had the Shadow foregone killing her and instead Turned her? This too seemed unlikely, for the strange woman had shown scorn for the Dark One in front of Cadsuane, something that one of the Turned or Darkfriends would not do. Her actions in Emond's Field had shown that her tendencies were destructive but at the same time she was almost freely sharing information, visiting both Cadsuane and Sarenna within the same day, informing them on the significant events that were happening. What was clear, however, that whoever the woman truly was, she would have to be contained by any means necessary. Not least because according to Sarenna, the woman had called herself Discord, a name that did not bode well for the world.
"No matter who she is," Viria was saying, "as of this moment she is hunted by the Red Ajah. We will undertake this hunt proudly but with great care. I ask you, Mother, to share all the details of your encounter with her. We will find her and make her answer for her crimes against the White Tower and the Light."
By the way she said it, she equated the White Tower with the Light. Though her sister still held on to some of the old prejudices, Viria was swiftly changing her stance, having already bonded an Asha'man Warder.
"Be that as it may, the prisoners in the stedding Sholoon have indeed escaped," Barasine said, her tone saying that while she thought capturing the strange woman was critical, the pomp with which Viria declared it had been unnecessary. Viria crossed her arms and did not quite glare at the other Red Sitter. "We will call our members back to the Tower and then dispatch three separate groups of thirteen Red Sisters to recapture the renegades. As per the Tower Law, we will bring them back to the Tower for the trial. However, we request the permission to Still or Gentle any and all of the Black Sisters, Darkfriend Asha'man," the way she said Darkfriend Asha'man sounded like she thought the two words interchangeable, "and the Turned we find, for our own safety. As Stilling and Gentling can be Healed, it should be used as a pre-emptive measure."
Her comment sparked a fierce debate that soon devolved into a borderline shouting match, with the Greys on one side aghast with the suggested violations of the Tower Law, the Yellows on the other trying to get their voice heard, declaring that if Turning could indeed be Healed, Stilling or Gentling one of them, even if for the general safety, was an act so deplorable, the one who suggested it should be at least birched, and yet on another side, the Blues and the Greens screeching at Barasine for the principle of it, and on the sidelines the Whites and Browns exchanging somewhat confused looks as they beheld the scene. Cadsuane glanced at Samitsu who was unerringly writing down everything that was being said, seemingly unconcerned with the topic. She even wore a small smile. She sometimes added her own commentary in the notes, humorous short lines about the Sitters and Cadsuane.
"That's quite enough," Cadsuane said eventually, not bothering to keep exasperation out of her voice. The Sitters went silent, some turning to glare at her, unhappy that she had interrupted their favourite game. She ignored them and favoured Barasine with a cold stare that the woman met defiantly. "Barasine, your suggestion is ridiculous. I expected you to know better than that. It's not been even thirty years since the vileness and already you are trying to use the same tactics. What's next, putting people in boxes and beating them several times a day? Phaw! I cannot believe you actually had the guts to ask for a permission. You do not have it. If any of the escapees are brought back Stilled or Gentled, and it was not an accident, I will have your hide. Understood?"
Barasine who had been slowly turning redder than her dress, nodded quickly. The Connoral sisters were avoiding the eyes of the other Sitters, whispering to each other softly. It was likely they had not expected Barasine to make such a request.
"Moving on," Cadsuane said, adjusting her Stole. "The Seanchan. Queen Nynaeve has informed me through Rosil that Matrim Cauthon and Min Farshaw are visiting the Seven Towers and are adamant that Empress Fortuona is not about to commence an attack on us."
The young Yellow had even quoted what young Matrim had said about the whole idea. Assaulting the White Tower was indeed a bloody insane thing to do.
"Instead, the Empire is about to retake their capital on the other side of the Aryth Ocean. Let us discuss the possibilities."
It was a fact that the Empress was amassing troops for a war. She could easily turn them against the White Tower if she so pleased. She could be Compelled into taking an action against the Aes Sedai if she wanted to remain honourable and keep her word.
"In fact," Cadsuane said, "no one who matters to her would question her if she decided to rip the peace treaty into small pieces, except for Matrim Cauthon and Min Farshaw who are conveniently out of the way for the time being. I propose we prepare for an attack in nine days time."
Greater consensus followed. It was recorded and the matter taken under further consideration.
The most sensible course of action was to evacuate the White Tower. Novices and Accepted would have to be sent out of the city for their own safety. Wise Ones, Windfinders, Sisters outside the Tower and the Asha'man would have to be contacted and warned about the possible preach of the truce. The Maidens of Spear who had arrived in Tar Valon to train the Sisters in the ways of combat would be used to carry the message. Resources would have to be stockpiled in safe locations. The harvest had been plentiful so grain was cheap. Angreal and sa'angreal would have to be distributed. Thanks to the efforts of the novices, each Aes Sedai would have at least one strong angreal, and with circles of two to thirteen, no damane would be able to shield any Sister. The Tower had precious few sa'angreal but those would be split between the strongest Aes Sedai. If the Asha'man decided to offer their help, the Sisters would be able to form larger circles. It was their greatest advantage over the Seanchan.
The Seanchan would use the Aes Sedai they had captured to open Gateways on the White Tower grounds, probably in the small hours of the morning. Warders would be assigned to patrolling the Tower grounds in case the Seanchan decided to attack early. Since the roof of the Tower was gone, there would be no easy pick-up point for the Aes Sedai the Seanchan had somehow managed to capture. They would have to drag their prisoners through their Gateways, giving the defenders time to free the Sisters.
The greatest issue, however, was the matter of numbers. The Seanchan had thousands of damane. Even with the Aes Sedai that had been Raised recently, there were only barely over four hundred Sisters that would be able to join the fight. If the Seanchan decided to bring all of their strength on the field, the balance would tip in their favour. However, if four hundred Aes Sedai and a thousand or more damane had a violent confrontation in the heart of Tar Valon, there would be only a smoking hole where the city used to be afterwards.
There would almost definitely be no survivors.
Both Cadsuane and the Sitters were reasonably certain that the Seanchan Empress would not seek to utterly destroy what she saw as an untapped asset. It would be a raid, not a downright invasion. It was safe to assume that the number of damane who would take part in the raid would be relatively low. A few hundred, at most.
The imminent attack would also be the White Tower's chance to deal the first one of decisive blows to the Empire. While it would be reasonable to answer the attempt with lethal force, it was smarter not to. Instead, the damane and the sul'dam would be captured, re-educated, and made part of the White Tower. It had been already shown to work, as a few of the sul'dam and damane who had been captured during the last raid had already joined the ranks of novices.
And then there was the fact if and when the Seanchan attacked, the Aiel and the kingdoms of the Westlands would immediately declare a war on them. The Seanchan Empress, no matter that she would be all but innocent if Compulsion was involved, would be facing a massive war against every nation between the Aryth Ocean and the Aiel Waste.
It remained to be seen which side Matrim Cauthon chose. It would decide the outcome of the war.
But as he was out of the way for time being, his tactical genius would not be used in the raid.
A small relief.
The matter was then declared Sealed to the Ring and considered thoroughly discussed, only waiting for application. It would be counterproductive to let the Seanchan Empress know that the White Tower knew.
"The story about the Seanchan so-called Aes Sedai intrigues me," Lyrelle said as the matter of war with the Seanchan was laid to rest. Previously she had rarely spoken in the Hall, usually content to let Lelaine take the lead. Having been one of the four Aes Sedai to persuade Cadsuane become the next Amyrlin Seat had caused a rift between the two Blues. "If someone like that truly exists, would it not be our duty to offer her our aid?"
"We have conducted several aerial surveys of the Seanchan continent," Yukiri answered, "with the help of the former sul'dam and damane. Our knowledge is still quite limited and finding one group of rebels in a continent so vast will not happen within a reasonable time limit."
Lyrelle nodded, looking pensive. Perhaps the Blue was about to take up a new cause?
"The Seanchan continent is reportedly in turmoil. The loss of most of their Imperial family has caused a civil war. It would be logical for any group of rebels to strike now," Seaine mused, scribbling something on her notes. "Provided that they have the resources, of course."
Saerin tapped her index finger against her lower lip.
"We do not know much about the Seanchan history," she said, her tone somewhat distant. She did not usually exhibit the vagueness associated with the Browns. She had to be deep in thought. "There might be stories and legends about surviving Aes Sedai, used to scare people into submission. This information could be extracted from the former sul'dam and damane."
"There are several Sisters in the Blue Ajah who would gladly pursue this matter," Lyrelle said, giving Lelaine a brief but pointed look. "We request the permission to do so."
After a short deliberation the permission was granted. Lelaine looked like she had eaten something particularly sour.
"The matter of Sharan channelers," Rubinde said slowly as the Hall moved on to the next topic, "is rather delicate. Saying that there is some resentment among the Sister is quite an understatement. There are many who will not sleep well at night until at least some of these Ayyad leaders have been brought to the Tower for Stilling and execution. Though the former Amyrlin, Light bless her, practically eradicated most of them, some undoubtedly escaped and returned to their homeland. However, chasing after those women is no easy task, mostly for the same reason as we cannot contact the Seanchan rebel channelers if they exist."
"Indeed," Yukiri said, some frustration in her voice. "Aerial surveys may be an outstanding way to map the countryside but it's almost completely useless at finding people."
"The Grey Ajah has still done excellent work, daughter," Cadsuane said, nodding appreciatively. Yukiri waved her hand as if dismissing the notion but still smiled.
"So, we need a group of Sisters to enter Shara," Rubinde continued, raising an eyebrow at Yukiri. She did not appreciate interruptions. "I would suggest members from all Ajahs, with a Green or a Blue as a leader, to give an illusion of peaceful intentions. Of course, there is a possibility that the Sharans know nothing about the White Tower and will not understand the implications of the Ajah of the leader. Nevertheless, once we are inside, we will start capturing any and all channelers and bringing them to the White Tower for a trial. We will find them all and end the menace they are!"
Many of Sitters nodded while some, mainly Reds, looked displeased at the suggested choice of a leader.
"There is also the matters of knowledge that the Sharan channelers have amassed over the millennia. I am not ashamed to say that most of the Browns will be positively salivating over the prospect of getting their hands on the books and scrolls of this mysterious nation," Saerin said, some mirth in her voice. "We will approve of any methods that allow the Browns to focus on extracting those items."
"I would like to draw attention to the fact that while we know little about the actual government of these Ayyad, with all but a remnant of their society destroyed, they must lack a cohesive government," Suana said, looking Cadsuane in the eye, ignoring the other Sitters completely. She was trying to put more weight in her words. "A void that the White Tower simply has to fill. We can not be certain that all the Sharan channelers followed Forsaken Demandred. There might be dissidents, those who saw the Shadow in him and chose to oppose him indirectly. I suspect any who opposed him directly have been murdered or Turned. I suggest that we focus on finding those women and forging an alliance with them. They will know who followed the Forsaken willingly and who did it only out of fear."
"You bring up an important point, daughter," Cadsuane said, nodding. "We cannot we certain that every Sharan channeler is a Darkfriend. Of course, their culture, according to the observations we made during the Last Battle, seems to be heavily reliant on slavery even if the channelers are not subjected to similar torment as they are in Seanchan. We have already established that while the Seanchan are vile, disgusting and generally disagreeable, they do not serve the Shadow. Perhaps the same courtesy can be extended to the Sharans."
There was quiet muttering among the Sitters, many of whom saw little difference between the Seanchan and the Darkfriends. Cadsuane's cool gaze eventually silenced them.
"A violent or barbaric culture does not mean that the society practising it is inherently evil," Cadsuane said, not bothering to keep dryness out of her voice. "It only means that the society lacks enlightenment. We, the Aes Sedai, must be the source of wisdom, not judgement. Let us not forget that, daughters."
There was a murmur of general agreement. Prejudices aside, the Sitters were level-headed women.
"Perhaps instead of an outright attack, we should focus on negotiations and offering aid? If there really is a massive civil war going on, the common people must be in dire straits," Magla said, toying with the golden fringe of her shawl in a somewhat nervous manner. After Romanda's death, she had remained mostly neutral in the Hall. Allying with a Blue seemed to be out of question for any Yellow, and the Reds were apparently considered an equally dreadful option for any Aes Sedai who had fled the Tower after Elaida's coup. "We could bring food and Healing to them, and ask nothing in return. Kindness goes a long way. And... perhaps we could ask the Aiel Wise Ones to help us? Some of them must have been on the other side of the Aiel Waste. They and the Maidens could have some useful knowledge."
Suana nodded firmly. The third Yellow Sitter, Narenwin Barda, repeated the gesture.
"Well then," Cadsuane said, feeling relieved that she did not have to bring up the Aiel herself, "I propose the following. We will contact the Wise Ones and ask them for guidance in this matter. A group of fourteen Sisters, two from each Ajah, will travel to Shara. A Blue Sister will be leading the group. Their object is to establish a base there, offer food and Healing to those in need, and search for surviving channelers. If a channeler is found, her or his allegiance will be clarified. A Darkfriend will be brought to the White Tower for a trial. A non-Darkfriend will be treated with courtesy unless they try to commit criminal acts. Browns will search for books and scrolls, Greys will negotiate with the non-Dark Ayyad, Blues will be in charge of administration, Yellows will distribute food and offer Healing, Greens and Reds will keep the peace, and the Whites will aid the others. Our goal is to bring stability to the Sharans and spread our influence among the channelers. Now, who will speak against this proposal?"
Naturally, the Reds and the Greens were the first to object, mostly to working together with each other. This was eventually smoothed over by deciding that the Reds and the Greens who would be sent would be those who had Asha'man Warders. They would have something in common and that would hopefully keep them from strangling each other whenever it was time to act in unison.
The proposal was eventually approved with a lesser consensus, and a greater one was achieved in the name of unity.
The Sitting reached its end soon after without a lengthy discussion about the Dark prophesies that Sarenna had mentioned. It was only considered in passing after the Keeper had already concluded the Sitting with the traditional phrase about departing in the Light, and shelved for a later date as something that needed far more research than had currently been done. The Browns would look into it, searching through the Library for any allusions to or mentions of the Champions. With that, the Sitters started leaving the Hall, and Cadsuane followed them, feeling quite drained. Samitsu stayed close to her, a look of concern on her face.
"I am fine, daughter," Cadsuane said as the Keeper inquired about her well-being. "I am just old. There is no cure for that."
Samitsu shook her head slightly, causing the silver bells woven into her hair tingle faintly. "There must be something," she said, juggling her notes awkwardly as they glided through the hallways towards the Amyrlin's office. It was late afternoon. "I asked Nynaeve to look into it and she said, well..."
Samitsu's voice trailed off as she carefully considered what she wanted to say next.
"The Three Oaths drain our life," she said softly, glancing about to make sure that no one heard. "One way for you to regain some of your years is to unswear them."
Cadsuane raised her eyebrows but said nothing. Samitsu seemed to take this as a prompt to continue.
"If it ever comes to it... Please, Mother. We need you."
They reached the door to the Amyrlin's office. Cadsuane opened it carefully and let Samitsu enter the chamber first as usual.
"I know that I have said many things about not letting our roles define us and keep us from achieving greatness," Cadsuane said as she sat down. Samitsu started preparing tea. "But giving up those Oaths would mean the end of my reign as an Amyrlin. And, more importantly, it would mean the end of my career as an Aes Sedai."
Samitsu placed a steaming cup of tea in front of Cadsuane.
"There was a time when I questioned the necessity of the Oaths, back when I was an Accepted," she said as she sat down on the single stool beside Cadsuane's desk. She usually remained standing in Cadsuane's presence, mostly due to having to constantly move between her own office and Cadsuane's. "I came to understand that the Oaths bind us all together, from the first Aes Sedai to swear them to the last. They are what makes us Aes Sedai. But what about those Aes Sedai who lived before the Oaths? Are they less than we are? I think not. They were more than we are."
Samitsu glanced at Cadsuane who gestured at her to continue. The Yellow straightened herself and turned to look at Cadsuane directly.
"The world knew that the Aes Sedai stood for the Light back then," she said. "Even before the Breaking, during the War of Power, there were no Oaths. The first Oath to be sworn was the Second Oath, soon after the founding of the White Tower. It was necessary back then, for the people did not trust channelers. The Third Oath was added soon after but the First Oath joined the other two sometime between the Trolloc Wars and the War of the Hundred Years. All these Oaths are meant to make us something more than just channelers who meddle in the affairs of the world. Freeing Aes Sedai completely from the Oaths might break the Tower. I understand all this. What I don't understand is, why do we not simply swear to serve the Light and the White Tower to our best ability? There would never have been a Black Ajah if every Aes Sedai simply gave up her ability to choose the Shadow. But I digress. At least the first two Oaths have become pointless. No one trusts our word unless we state something clearly, and even then our words are thoroughly scrutinised. We do not know how to forge weapons with the One Power. And, what of those of our students who are already hundreds of years old? Will they die the moment they swear the Oaths? What of the Wise Ones and the Windfinders, and our exchange program with them? What I am trying to say, Mother, is that the Oaths might be what makes us Aes Sedai but they are what will eventually destroy us. No sane woman would give up half of her lifespan if her option is to join the Aiel or the Seafolk or even the Kin, and eventually gain the same level of respect as an Aes Sedai."
Samitsu sighed.
"And therefore I find myself frustrated with the Three Oaths. There is no solution that will not end in a catastrophe. I simply wish that you will consider freeing yourself from the Oaths and hiding the fact from everyone until such time that you deem your work completed. Because, frankly, if Lelaine becomes the Amyrlin before the Hall has had time to get used to the changes you and Egwene al'Vere wrought, the White Tower will be in trouble. I have no desire to witness that. By the First Oath, you know that I at least believe I speak the truth. The irony is not lost to me."
There was a silence. Cadsuane sipped her tea, trying to appear unperturbed. Samitsu sat completely still, not unlike a criminal waiting for the verdict.
"I will consider it, daughter," Cadsuane said quietly. Samitsu relaxed visibly. "I promise nothing else. Now, I need some time to think. I will call you if I need you."
Samitsu stood up and glided out of the office. She left the door slightly ajar behind her.
For all her intelligence, Samitsu had failed to see the obvious answer to the dilemma.
There had to be a way to make an Oath Rod that did not drain life. Such a thing had never been considered before, due to the fact that making ter'angreal had been a lost art until recently. Cadsuane took out a piece of expensive paper and started writing instructions on it. Elayne Trakand had run amok for far too long. It was time to put her to work.
They had spent the last three days cooped up in a small inn only a day's travel from Tar Valon. The blizzard had kept them from setting a foot outside. Around the noon of the fourth day, they set out towards Tar Valon. The city soon came into view from behind the snow-covered hills. There was something strange about it and soon it became evident what it was.
The top fourth of the Tower was gone.
Erinshane stared at the White Tower, her mouth hanging open.
"It was not like that when I left it," she spluttered. Neysia snickered. The former damane, Deirdra Feirinbar, remained silent but her lips quivered as if she wanted to giggle.
"It was just fine yesterday," Erinshane continued. "This is not my doing."
"No one expected it to be," Neysia remarked, grinning widely. "According to a prophesy, it is not your fault."
Erinshane stuck her tongue out at Neysia. Deirdra covered her mouth and turned away, shaking with silent laughter.
"Fine," Erinshane muttered. "But if I get blamed for it, I am setting something on fire."
"That will teach them," Neysia said, still grinning like a maniac.
Erinshane chose to ignore her. They continued trudging along the road that the wind had swept clean of the snow.
