A/N: This chapter is mostly dialogue, but it's important dialogue which sets the stage for later events.

Dawn of a Shadow Sister

Bian opened the door to the White Tower library and crept reluctantly inside. She hated bringing messages to Seira Sedai. But a Tower novice did as she was told, or faced harsh punishment.

Seira was in her usual place—at a table in the back of the library, together with Mierelan Sedai, another Brown sister. Mierelan had several books in front of her and was leafing through one, while Seira peered intently at another book and took notes.

Bian tapped the table. "Excuse me, Seira Sedai? A pigeon has come with a message for you"

Seira looked up, pushing dark curls away from her face. "Hello, child. Listen to this: 'Although the great armies that wrought such devastation in the Trolloc Wars were composed entirely of males, it is the females that remain the terror of the Borderlands. Gaunt from rearing offspring, wild with hunger, these creatures attack in ravening groups and fear nothing; they will devour their victims alive heedless of blades or arrows in their flesh'". Her eyes, amber flecked with brilliant green, fastened on Bian. "Isn't that interesting?"

Bian gulped. Seira was a kind woman who never punished novices caught stealing from the kitchens or eyeing the Warders as they practiced sword-forms. But she had an insane fascination with things nobody else wanted to think about, and she seemed oblivious to the suffering caused by her musings on murderous beast-men, sinister, eyeless rapists and other things that were best forgotten. Many a novice had grown slim from attending her classes.

Now she was taking the message, studying its seal: a six-pointed star on blue wax. "Oh good, it's from Lord Lossel in Arafel. Perhaps his men have discovered a Trolloc breeding ground. I would love to see one of those"

"Why bother when you can go to Lugard or Ebou Dar?" Mierelan murmured, setting her book aside and opening another. "They're probably not very different"

Trying hard not to gag, Bian curtsied and left the library as fast as she could. Nobody with sense wanted to find Trollocs, and Mierelan's comparison was simply disgusting. The golden-haired sister could be almost as bad as her friend; some novices even whispered that Mierelan had an Ogier lover—a truly revolting concept. It was almost enough to make her wish she had never come to the Tower.

"Miere!"

The cry cut across Mierelan's ruminations on the economic importance of Tairen fisheries. Looking up, she saw Seira gazing at her with an ecstatic grin, green sparks blazing in her eyes.

"Remember that message I showed you ten years ago about Sila, the Saldaean girl who ran off with a Myrddraal?"

"Um…yes" That had been the day Eleara taught her how to fish by hand.

"Now, listen to what Lord Lossel wrote! 'Ten miles into the Blight, near the Shienaran border, my scouts have observed a strange creature. It had the features of a Saldaean woman, but wore the cloak and armor of a Myrddraal. Striding through the Blight, it did not seem lost or afraid, as a human would be. I fear that it may be a new kind of Shadowspawn, or else a very powerful Darkfriend. Do you have any knowledge of creatures like this?'" Seira smacked the letter down onto the table. "You see? She's real!"

Mierelan smiled, recognizing on her friend's face the thrill of a theory being proven. "You're right; it does seem unlikely to be anything else. Though I have no idea how a woman could survive this long in the Blight, much less in a Myrddraal's clutches"

"He loves her, of course! How else?"

Mierelan sighed. "Seira, be reasonable. How could a woman be loved by something that isn't even human?"

Seira grinned. "What about that Ogier you keep talking to while he mends the Tower wall?"

Mierelan's cheeks burned."Talan is my friend, and if you've been spreading those rumors about us—"

"No. No, I haven't."

"All right, then. But Ogier are different from Myrddraal, anyway. Myrddraal are tainted to the marrow by the Dark One. Their gaze is pure fear. Women go insane from their touch. How could something like that feel love, or be loved? It isn't logical—"

"Oh, burn logic! Why didn't you become White, if you care about it so much?"

A librarian peered around a shelf at them. "This is no place for fighting, you two," she chided them gently.

Mierelan blushed again. "We're sorry, Eleara." Turning back to Seira, whose own face was red with anger, she tried to talk softly. "I'm sorry Seira, but I can't believe such a wild tale. So, since there's no way to prove it, we'll have to let it rest. Those Arafelin scouts must have seen some crazed wanderer who will soon be—"

"No."

"What?"

"No." Seira leaned over and seized Mierelan's shoulders. "I've waited ten years to learn more about this girl. I believe she's real, and you can't talk me out of that. Now I know where she is, and I'm going to find her." She straightened abruptly. "Miere, I am going to the Blight!"

Mierelan gasped. "You can't! It's too dangerous, and you'll find nothing!"

"I'll find Sila! And if I don't, I'll find Shadowspawn!"

"You don't know what you're saying. Reading about them is one thing, but you'll die trying to study them in life! You are Aes Sedai, with a responsibility to the entire world, and you can't go chasing dreams!"

"I don't care." Her voice was very quiet now. "Studying Shadowspawn is all I care about. You've been to many hostile places, studying dangerous creatures. You know how to survive it." She smiled. "And that's why you are coming with me."

Mierelan's heart began pounding. Her brain buzzed, sweat trickled down her back. To calm herself, she gazed down, concentrating on the blue flowers embroidered on the cuffs of her deep-brown linen dress. Swamp beauties, pretty plants that grew in all manner of wet places. Their tubers were a favored food of waterfowl, and a tea made from their downy leaves soothed pain and fear. Her wits gathered, she looked up into Seira's wild eyes.

"Listen. I've been to the Black Hills, the Mountains of Mist, and both of Andor's coasts. I've explored forests and swamps, lakes and rivers. I've faced wolves, leopards and bears. But the Blight is different. Andoran trees won't try to grab me; Andoran lakes aren't home to monsters. Wolves and bears have no interest in raping me; they don't go looking for humans to kill. Neither of us would survive there, and I'm not going.

Seira didn't look even slightly abashed. In fact, she wagged a finger teasingly! "You're trying to talk yourself out of this. Well, it won't work. You've told me that you want to see every land in the world, and the Blight is certainly a land! I'll find us a guide if you want, but I'm going."

Mierelan sighed. She's the one who should have been White. Her idea of logic, plus bull-headed stubbornness, makes her an excellent candidate. And she's right. The Blight frightens me to my bones, but I do want to see it. Besides, if I don't go, she's sure to get herself killed there, and I'll never forgive myself. I do know a thing or two about surviving in the wilds; maybe I can save her without killing myself. "I'll think about it."

In a moment, her hands were being painfully squeezed by Seira's sweaty ones, as her friend whispered fiercely, "Thank you. Oh, thank you."

Seira lay on her bed, trying to keep from capering madly. It wouldn't do for anyone to find an Aes Sedai acting like a fool. But it was hard to contain her excitement. She was going to the Blight!

Her room was lined with objects of her passion. Maps of the Blight covered the walls, sent to her from all four Borderlands. A ram-horned Trolloc skull, borrowed from another sister for study, sat on her desk, flanked by a pair of carved ebony dogs with silver eyes.

She had corresponded with Borderland rulers for five years, taking Narika's place after the Green sister was killed by lightning. Their letters were interesting, but they had never told her what she wanted to know—if Sila was real. At last, her dream was going to come true.

"Please, Aginor," she whispered to the ceiling. "If I can meet the blessed guardian of your creatures, I will serve you forever. Please, let me know my sister in shadow."

A/N: I know, that ended rather abruptly. But I was tired of dragging it out. Here we go, into the Blight!