I've been told that this story is impossibly far-Fetched. Well, that's sort of the point. I'm not trying to be realistic or credible, but to suggest my own vision of the Blight's inner life--which RJ left largely untold--while playing with a villain-nonvillain pairing that would shock and bewilder most canon characters. That's what my fanfics do. If Sila's story were less than unthinkable to "real" Randlanders, I probably wouldn't write it.

I do appreciate thoughtful critiques, though...just want to make sure my motives are clear.

To Raven Lake

Seira couldn't stop grinning. Tingles of anticipation cascaded down her spine. I'm going to live with Sila! I'm going to see lots of creatures! I'm—

"—so hold them still, all right?"

Mierelan nudged her. "Come on."

"What?"

"Haven't you been listening? Sila said to restrain our horses, so she can do something to keep them from going mad at the smell of Shadowspawn."

They hurried to the tethered animals, gripping each by its bridle. As Sila approached, the horses whinnied and pranced fearfully, trying to jerk free. She drew a pouch from beneath her cloak, took a pinch of something from it, and dabbed it into the horses' nostrils. They calmed immediately.

"There," she said. "The herbs will mask our scent for many hours, though I'll have to reapply them eventually. Shaila has gone back and told the Trollocs not to attack you when you come. Take down your tents and we'll go."

Minutes later, they had packed and untied their horses. Sila vanished like a Myrddraal into the forest shadows, and they followed.

Moving among the trees, trying to keep sight of Sila's dark form in the dimming light, Seira listened to her own thundering heart. A thrill of fear trickled into her excitement, but she ignored it; she had come too far for second thoughts. She emerged from the forest at the base of an open hill that sloped up eastward, red-gold in the setting sun. Before her lay a spectacular sight.

Trollocs! Great animal-headed women, many with babies peeking from their arms, turned to look at her. Others, slightly smaller, grasped the weapons at their sides, then lowered their hands and sneered. Downy children ran squealing about. It was nearly too glorious to be real.

Mierelan screamed. An enormous black dog came hurtling toward them, snarling. Sila hurled herself at it, clinging at a rope around its neck while trying to dig her heels into the ground. Two Trollocs came to her aid, seizing the beast by nape and hindquarters to hold it immobile.

"Sorry about that," Sila panted, letting go. "I forgot that Mashadara would attack strangers. Come pet her."

"Is that a Darkhound?" asked Seira, hardly daring to believe it. Such creatures were so rare and elusive that few believed in them, even in the Borderlands.

"Yes, and she's defensive of her adopted pack. But she'll get used to you soon. Come. She's harmless now, if you avoid her head."

Hauling a trembling Mierelan by the arm, Seira slowly approached the Darkhound. She felt nervous as well—to touch a legend! She laid a reverent hand on its flank. Warm and firm, yes, this was a true living creature. Mierelan copied her, eyes wide.

Sila grinned. "Anyway, welcome to my home."

Shaila ran up and tugged Seira's sleeve, crying. "Come meet my family!"

The Sisters followed her as she pranced among the Trollocs, pointing and naming. "Dvlon, Kelrra, Mama Saemirte, Niltti, Ghek, Mama Raka—ai! Thari!"

An odd-looking young woman detached from the crowd and approached them. She was taller than either Sister but shorter than the other Trollocs, with sparser fur on her well-muscled limbs. Lank dark hair fell to below the hem of a short garment that appeared to be made of hide. She had no animal muzzle; her jaws were long but human.

"This is my sister Thari," said Shaila. "She's half human and half Trolloc."

"Your sister?!" Mierelan sounded appalled, and Seira felt mildly sick. Could Sila have—?

"Well, not really. Her mama died when she was born, so my mama raised her. Nobody knows how she happened and mama says not to ask."

Thari ran a hungry gaze over the Aes Sedai, and then said something in the Trolloc language, pointed teeth showing in a grin. Shaila slapped her playfully, and she ran off.

"She's more Trolloc than human in her mind, mama says. I wouldn't know. But other Trollocs won't want her for a mate so she has to stay here even though she's grown up."

"Is that a Myrddraal?" asked Mierelan, gawking at a small, slender, palely-hairless boy among the furry forms. Hearing her, the child looked around to reveal an eyeless human-like face. Seira trembled slightly despite herself.

"Yes, that's Mhir'ot, son of Kaean. He's the first Myrddraal born to this colony since Shai'sirri." Shaila looked suddenly pensive.

"Since who?"

"Shai'sirri, son of Raka. He grew up when I was small, and we were friends." She looked to the side as if feeling guilty. "More than friends, really. We thought we were, uh, going to be mates. But he went to Shayol Ghul four years ago, and I never saw him again."

Seira grinned inwardly. Ah, young love among Shadowspawn.

"This forest, which we call the Blightwood, runs for many hundreds of miles along the border. We move through it east to west and back again, foraging in the Borderlands. Now we're going east, toward the Thousand Lakes. To the south is western Arafel, though I guess you knew that. To the north lies the great Trolloc breeding ground of Zaraanth, and after that the Mountains of Dhoom and Shayol Ghul."

"A Trolloc breeding ground," Seira murmured. "I always wanted to see one of those."

Sila's face was grave. "You must never go there. Rutting Trollocs are death to any creature that approaches save each other, and even they often don't survive a visit."

"Thish stuff ish wongerfull!" Shaila mumbled around a wedge of cheese.

The four of them were sitting around a small fire. A cauldron sat on the ashes of a larger fire; the Trollocs had cooked and eaten a sort of root stew from it, and now continued about their business despite the darkness. Sila was also eating the stuff, from a bowl that looked suspiciously like the top of a Trolloc skull. The Aes Sedai kept to the contents of their food-packs, which were rapidly and ecstatically being emptied by Shaila.

"So how does the breeding system work?" asked Seira.

"Well, when a female matures at about two years of age, she leaves her home colony and goes to—"

"How do you make this?" demanded Shaila, thrusting the cheese in Mierelan's face.

"Um, you milk a cow, or a goat, and uh, let the milk ferment…"

"What's ferment? And how do you get milk from a wild animal?"

"What do you normally eat, Shaila?" asked Seira, to save Mierelan from struggling for answers.

"Roots like mama's eating, leaves, little animals like Sticks and cafar, fruit from trees near the border in summer. Sometimes meat that Da and his raiders bring from the Borderlands."

"What kind of meat?"

"Oh, cow, pig, sheep, horse, human—"

"You eat people?" Mierelan squealed.

"Sometimes. You don't taste very good."

"B-but how can you eat other humans?"

The child shrugged. "Trollocs eat Trolloc."

"There's logic for you," Seira murmured to Mierelan.

"And I'm only half human. Mama, is Lenar visiting soon?"

"Probably not, dear," said Sila. "He was living by the Dead Sea last time we saw him, remember? That's too far away."

"Who's Lenar?" asked Seira.

"He's a Dragkhar," said Shaila. "He sometimes comes when Da's away and gives me rides."

"He's a friend of ours," added Sila. But her gaze slid guiltily away, just as her daughter's had when lying.

Friend indeed, thought Seira smugly. From what I've heard of Dragkhar, they're good for more than friendship. The lucky woman!

Mierelan squealed again. A pig-faced Trolloc child was pulling her hair, trying to extricate a lacquered green pin. Shaila grabbed a fallen branch and jabbed the creature in the belly, sending it sprawling. It crawled off, growling.

"You do that to your own playmate?" Shaila asked.

"Why not? He was taking her pretty thing."

"Because it's not…well…" How do I explain right and wrong to someone with completely different values? This is why I chose not to be Blue.

Having finished eating, Shaila joined her Trolloc friends in game of chase and tackle. Her guttural shrieks mingled with theirs, and her night vision was as keen.

"Isn't she afraid of getting stomach ache, running around after eating so much?" Seira asked Sila.

"She fears nothing," said Sila. "Few creatures of the Blight ever harm her; they are all her playmates. I taught her how to speak with humans in case they ever capture her, but I think that even they would be charmed. She never gets sick, and she knows how to take advantage of everything in the land."

"That's as it should be, for the daughter of Sila Darklover."

"Darklover? Is that what humans call me?" She rubbed her face ruefully. "Well, it's more fitting than my title here, Daughter of the Blight."

"Daughter of the Blight," Seira breathed. "What a wonderful name!"

"Perhaps, but it's untrue. I wasn't born of the Blight, and it really isn't my rightful home. I flung myself into its embrace as a passion-blinded girl, and was just lucky that my recklessness didn't kill me then and there. Zear'ell would likely have killed me, I realize that now, but my healing skills proved immediately useful, and…"

"And he loved you. But what about the Trollocs?"

"I befriended them one by one at first. Later generations grew up with me, and knew me for a leader like Zear'ell. "

"Generations? You haven't been here that long."

"Trollocs grow fast. Only Raka—"she pointed to a huge female with a grizzled wolf-muzzle—"was alive when I arrived. The rest have known me all their lives, as a midwife, healer and second mother. Still, I'm not a Trolloc and I don't really understand them. I'm just a crazy lover of darkness, earning my place here as best I can."

A very small Trolloc curled catlike in Seira's lap. She rubbed its silky muzzle gently. "You've done better than most people would dream of."

"But Shaila won't need to try. She's a Blight-child to the bone."

"You know, I'm impressed that you bore her at all. According to everything I've read, Myrddraal are supposed to be sterile."

Sila grinned. "Obviously, those experts didn't do the right experiments."

Both women laughed.

"The lakes, Mama! I see the lakes!"

"Yes dear, so do I. Don't stand in our path, now."

"Lakes, lakes, lakes!" Shaila bounded off.

Seira guided her horse to Mashadara's side. "Someone likes the Thousand Lakes of former Malkier, I see."

"We all do," said Sila. "They're a great asset to the Blight's creatures."

"I'm sure the Malkieri would be thrilled to know that," Mierelan muttered.

They had traveled together for ten days, the Trollocs marching more or less in a column while Sila and the Aes Sedai rode abreast at the front. Mierelan wasn't happy about turning her back on two hundred Trollocs, but she distracted herself by watching the Shadow-twisted landscape go by. It was fun to try identifying plants, looking beyond the disease-spots and crookedness for marks of what they had once been. Strange creatures flickered at the edges of sight, offering tantalizing glimpses without coming too close.

Seira was also enjoying herself. In Sila he had found a kindred spirit and a hero, one who loved the Blight and had truly given her life to experiencing it. In every way. The things the woman had told her…she giggled.

"What's so funny?" asked Mierelan, drawing near.

"You don't want to know."

"No, I probably don't. Listen, our fortnight here is nearly up. Sila says her Fade will be meeting us at the lakes in a few days. We've got to leave soon, so we don't encounter him on the way out."

"Hmph. I want to see a full-grown Myrddraal."

"Well, I don't. He wouldn't know we've been her guests, and would probably kill us on sight. I'm glad we've made it alive this far, and I'm not pushing our luck. I suggest leaving tomorrow."

"Let's at least not discuss this tonight."

Lakes began to appear, gleaming blue amid the trees. The Trolloc horde scattered, making in groups for various lakes. Sila called her daughter over.

"Do you remember the rules?"

Shaila sighed. "Stay out of Ligu, Rocknerry and Aelara, don't pull the kimmok's tentacles, and keep away from brajagi nests. I know, mama."

"What?" asked Mierelan and Seira together.

"Lakes and creatures," Sila said as Shaila vanished again. "Ligu and Rocknerry lakes are poisoned, and Aelara is home to a ravenous creature that even Shaila can't charm. The kimmok tolerates her if she leaves its sensitive tentacles alone, and brajagis are friendly but very defensive of their eggs."

"Fascinating."

The humans set up camp by a crescent-shaped lake, on the round peninsula between its points. Seira sat taking notes. Sila took dried meat from a saddlebag—she had insisted it was goat, but Mierelan was in queasy doubt—and the sisters choked it down; it tasted foul, but their food packs were empty. Soon, a few Trollocs joined them, children splashing in the shallows. So did Shaila, sopping-wet and grinning blissfully. "Mama, I saw the biggest—"

Screeching in terror, a bird-headed Trolloc girl ran out of the water and flung herself at Shaila. A huge green eel pursued her, slithering with small fins that looked almost like legs.

"Oh, you." Shaila seized the fish by its gills and flung it at a nearby group of children, who tore it apart with delighted squeals.

"Yakha is stupid," she told the Sisters, stroking the girl's brown and white feather crest. "She does not know a good thing when it chases her."

"The lakes are fine training grounds for young Trollocs learning to hunt," said Sila. "They are full of small, weak animals, but some younglings don't recognize prey. I fear Yakha's fate when her mother stops bringing her food."

"If someone catches another fish like that, may I have its skin?" Mierelan asked. "Or would you teach me how to catch one?"

"The fish of Lisski Lake are easily caught," said Sila. "But you won't keep anything in one piece near this hungry lot. Why not wander around and find a lake with no Trollocs near, where you can do your sampling?"

Because most of them contain vicious creatures? "Er—"

"Tell me about it before going in, and I'll tell you if you shouldn't."

"All right." She strode southward, lakes on all sides. If this place weren't so dangerous, it would be paradise. A thousand lakes full of unique life, and no human property to worry about trespassing on! Hmm, that one is shaped like a—

Cresting a hill, she stopped and stared. A lake lay below: small, oval…and black. Jet black, despite the blue sky above it. Smooth as glass, it seemed to shine faintly from within rather than reflecting the sun.

Mierelan hurried back to the camp, where Sila was washing clothes in a Trolloc cookpot. Grabbing the woman's arm, she whispered, "What is that black lake to the south?"

"I named it Raven Lake, for its color. The Trollocs call it Klkarchh"—she made a choking sound—"but Shaila and I find 'Raven' easier to say."

"What lives in it?"

"I don't know. Nothing has ever approached Shaila as she swam in it. She claims to see something flickering far down, a faint glint, but cannot hold her breath long enough to penetrate the depths."

Seira looked up. "You could do it, Miere."

"What?"

"Didn't you tell me you knew a weave for breathing underwater?"

"I—yes, I do. What are you saying?"

"You could explore the black lake to its floor and see what Shaila couldn't."

"Are you mad? It's an unknown part of the Blight!"

"Nothing attacked Shaila in it. Come Miere, you know you want to."

She's right again. I can't resist a mystery, and this lake intrigues me. But…although Eleara had taught her such a weave, she had only ever used it in mountain lakes and clear ocean shallows where nothing evil lurked. If something attacks or hurts me, help is a long, long, way away. Except Sila and Shaila, and they've kept us safe so far. I'll bet no Sister has ever explored a Blight lake before. Light, I want to do this! But—but—

"All right, I'll do it!"

"Good for you, Miere. I wish I could."

"But if I die, I hope to get reborn as a wasp and sting you somewhere painful."

Shortly afterward, she stood in her shift at the lake's edge, trying not to think about being half-naked in the Blight. Sila, Shaila and Seira stood beside her. "If I'm attacked, I'll send up a fountain—"

"And we'll drag you out of the water," said Seira.

"It gets deep right away," said Shaila. "You can jump in from here."

"All right, I'm going." Closing her eyes, she opened her mind to the One Power. Saidar flooded her with life and wild strength; sweet fire poured through every vein. Fighting for self-control amid the glory, she wove solid strands of Air into a tight net across her face, tinged with a touch of fire. Water that passed through the net would turn to air, allowing her to breathe and see in the depths.

Fear banished in Power-wrought euphoria, she dove into the lake.