AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Thanks to those who have reviewed.
Again, special thanks to AliasKelly who pointed out a mistake in previous chapters.
Previous chapter may have been bit slow, but mostly setting scene for this one, hold on to your pants ladies and gents ;-)
-Chapter 13: Out of the frying pan-
I awoke to a now very familiar ceiling. Lying in bed, with the barest slivers of sunlight coming in through the window I reflected upon the previous almost five months.
Five months. I hadn't forgotten my promise to free the people of Aridhol, nor my supposed purpose for being in this word and although a part of me wanted to go home most of me kind of wanted to stay forever. I was unsure how to do any of the things that I needed to do and for the most part I was just enjoying my time in Emond's Field. I was enjoying the feeling of having something resembling a family. I helped out most mornings around the Inn, Loise and I worked very well as a team. There was probably a lot more flirting happening than is usual between sisters (or whatever we were), but I knew enough that I shouldn't mess up the new relationship we were developing for something else. Sometimes I thought that it was just fear that was stopping me, but that was usually only after having an extremely memorable dream featuring Loise. Which seemed to happen about once a week on average.
The feeling of family was never stronger than just after the first week. Marin had mentioned that my help wouldn't be needed for a few days and so I decided to go off exploring. I figured that the quarry road that crossed the South Road headed into a quarry in use during the time of the Ten Kingdoms. I decided to go and have a look. By the time I got there it was already late afternoon so I made camp. I rested that night on the edge of a granite rock pool, surrounded on three sides by high granite cliffs overgrown with vines and flowers. I set off for Emond's field to find that in my absence a search party was being formed to look for me. I hadn't even thought that anybody would miss me, I just wasn't used to it. Once I actually understood, I was so overwhelmed with emotion and Marin with relief that we just hugged and cried for about an hour.
I had met two of my other sisters as well. Berowyn, the eldest, was in her thirties and had lost her husband and son to breakbone fever a long time ago. She managed a small farm by herself but often visited the Inn. Her face was well worn, almost more than her mother's, the sorrow of her losses etched there. Elisa was the middle child and married to Len al'Seen, a cabinet maker. They had three children: Kari, Gareth and baby Del. Berowyn welcomed me into the family almost immediately, like a long lost little sister, Eisa though was a little more wary.
Marin had occasionally called me Egwene, the sadness and sorrow that immediately possessed her on these occasions made my heart wrench. The past month or so had been the worst, ever since Tam al'Thor and Abell Cauthon had returned empty handed from Tar Valon.
When they had ridden into town, weary and dirty from their travels, Bran bustled them straight upstairs into a room with a mug of hot cider and some honey cakes while word was sent out to the families of those missing. Even though he desperately wanted word of his own daughter's fate, he would not allow them to say a word until everyone was gathered. No news, it turned out, was possibly worse than bad news. No word from the Aes Sedai on the children's whereabouts. I was the one sent up to the room with the tray of cider and cakes. Abell Cauthon reacted with surprise at an unknown face, but Tam al'Thor's reaction surprised me. He was searching through a backpack when I entered the room, but as soon as he saw my face he sprung backwards whilst drawing his dagger from his belt. While still obviously tired and weary, his face showed a grim determination. I just stood there in shock, holding a tray.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"Emi Wilson." I squeaked out, "Bran and Marin al'Vere adopted me, kinda."
"Why are you so far from the Wastes?" he asked, putting his knife back into its sheath then clarified at my look of confusion, "The three-fold land."
"Oh." I let out a sigh. Abell looked to Tam with wide eyed look of understanding, "I'm not Aiel, I'm Australian." I'm not sure why I continued to correct people like this, as if any of them had ever heard of my homeland. "I wandered into town half starved and with a fever, Marin and the Wisdom fixed me up and decided to, I don't know… Look after me? I don't really have anyone else here."
"I'm sorry." Tam apologised, "I should not have reacted that way."
"That's okay." I replied, "I'm still not sure why everyone behaves that way when they first see me. I've only met one Aiel, Tanil of the Far… darres may? She was a great woman."
"Many years ago." Tam began, and I inwardly scoffed at his idea of 'many years ago', "The Aiel invaded the westlands because of Laman's Sin. Laman was the King of Cairhienin, he chopped down the Avendoraldera to build himself a throne. I fought in the Aiel War, many people of the Western Kingdoms still remember it."
I occasionally visited Haral Luhhan at his smithy, just to watch him work. He hadn't decided upon another apprentice yet and he continued to describe everything that he did. I think that he enjoyed it and it sated my curiosity.
I served behind the bar some nights and waitressed at other times (especially when a couple of merchant caravans came into town). Both were fun and challenging in their own ways. The village council met once and Marin, Loise, Berowyn and I went out to pick flowers (to give the menfolk some space). The women's circle met as well and Bran took me for a walk around the village, pointing out who lived where and who did what. During the tour, Bran was pestered almost continuously by people with minor problems that they wanted the Major to fix (by Wit Congar on no less than three separate occasions!) When we returned it was announced that Daise Congar would be the new Wisdom of Emond's Field. It was on this walk that I met Bodewhin Cauthon, the younger sister of Mat (who had disappeared with Egwene, Rand and Perrin). We instantly 'clicked', and became fast friends in a heartbeat. There was little chance of anything other than friendship, her younger sister Eldrin informed that she was always making "calf eyes" at Dav Ayellin. How Eldrin could tell, I did not know. Bode had such large brown eyes that just seemed to capture me whenever I looked into them. I caught myself a few times just staring into those eyes as we talked, not paying any attention to what she was saying. Sometimes I imagined that the tingling sensation that I felt on these occasions was somehow coming from her and wasn't just my body responding to my fantasies. We spent almost every spare moment together once we had been introduced, such that I would often have dinner with her family and her with mine. During occasional sleepovers, we would stay up late talking. She would tell me about life in the Two Rivers and I confided in her the truth of what had happened to me. The revelation of my sexuality was a touchy subject for a few days and I honestly don't think that she believed at all that I was a Princess' lover, but those hurdles were soon jumped in the name of friendship.
I went downstairs after getting dressed and washed to let the chooks out and check for eggs. I returned to the kitchen with the basket of eggs and a handful of basil that I gave to Marin so that she could add it to the soup forming in a large pot over the low fire. I helped Loise put the loaves of dough into the oven, that would soon become bread and washed my hands ready to do some other work as needed.
"Loise," Marin directed as she stirred the large pot, "can you and Egwene go and tidy the picture room?"
Loise and I both started, knowing what she meant and unwilling to cause her pain by drawing attention to her slip. I realised however that Marin had stopped stirring the pot and was just staring into the fire. When we came back from the picture room she was sitting down against the legs of the bench crying.
Loise and I immediately knelt down to comfort her and I immediately ignored all of my fears and regrets.
"Can I?" I asked, "Can I try to find her?"
The shudders wracking her body stopped and she looked up at me with such hope in her eyes that I immediately regretted saying anything. Loise looked at me in confusion.
"I don't know if it will work," I said, trying in vain to prevent the hope I knew was already there, "It may do nothing."
"What may do nothing?" asked Loise, beginning to get a little angry at me.
"I can kinda use the One Power," I tried to explain, "Like an Aes Sedai. But it doesn't always work properly."
"You can… you can do this?" Marin asked me, her eyes pleading.
"I will need a map, one with everywhere on it." I said, thinking about something I saw in a movie or tv show once, "I'll need to do it in Egwene's room, too, with some of her things."
As Loise ran off to fetch one of her father's maps, Marin almost dragged me upstairs into Egwene's room. I sat myself cross legged on her bed, holding a metal comb in one hand with a scarf wrapped around my neck and ribbon wrapped around my wrist. Loise burst into the room carrying a map, which was quickly unfurled in front of me.
I concentrated on the owner of the possessions I had on me and on the map in front of me. I tried to merge the two things together and let the weave spring out from me. It struck the map, leaving a glowing dot. I felt myself follow the weave, it almost felt like my consciousness was leaving my own body, I fell into the map as if I were sucked down a drain.
I found myself floating over a small room. Egwene sat there on a small plain bed wearing a plain silver grey dress. I could tell immediately that it was Egwene, the similarities between her and Loise and Marin were too many to be coincidence. She looked worn and tired and… defeated? A silver collar encased her neck, with a long shimmering silver chain snaking across the floor and up a bare wall to where it was attached to a small silver bracelet hanging on a peg. The narrow room had one tiny window, a washstand with pitcher and bowl, a small table displaying a scattered sample of different rocks and a chair. Another woman was standing in the room with short curly hair wearing a dark green dress of strange design with a green cloak over one arm and a green ribbon in her hair. She looked kind of familiar to me but I couldn't pinpoint where I could possibly know her from. Egwene and the woman were arguing, but I could not hear a thing. The door swung open and a short woman with pale brown hair wearing a dark blue dress with red panels entered, the argument ceased immediately. Egwene jumped to her feet, both her and the curly haired woman bowed low towards the newcomer. The woman took down the bracelet from the wall and attached it to her wrist. More words were said and the curly haired woman left the room after looking at Egwene with a worried look. I began to float closer towards Egwene and as I did, I could almost feel the worry and fear coming from her. In the blink of an eye I had rushed right into Egwene and was looking at the world through her eyes. Suddenly, I could hear. A cacophony of sounds surrounded me, but I couldn't concentrate on that, two other things demanded all of my attention. The woman in front of me who appeared to be in complete control and Egwene's emotions swirling around inside of me. I could feel her fear permeating every fibre of my being.
The woman sat down in the chair and frowned at me, "I must punish you severely for this. We will both be called to the Court of the Nine Moons, you for what you can do; I as your sul'dam and trainer and I will not allow you to disgrace me in the eyes of the Empress. I will stop when you tell me how much you love being damane and how obedient you will be after this. And, Tuli. Make me believe every word." Her words were said in a slow drawl, kind of like an American cowgirl.
The woman did nothing, she hardly moved, but all of a sudden I felt like I was being whipped with a flaming cane. The sharp, burning pain rapidly appeared all over my body. I cried out in agony but the pain continued. It did not stop, every so often it would slow down so that I thought it might end, but it just started up again. It kept going, in a never ending torture that I was powerless to prevent. My thoughts were scrambled and every time I tried to gather them together the pain would sear itself into my body and they would be scattered to the wind.
When I came to, I was looking up into the worried faces of Marin and Loise. My body ached all over and I lifted up the sleeve of my dress surprised that there was weren't any scars on my arms.
"Emi" Marin asked with worry, "Light, but you gave us a fright."
"I saw her." I rasped and Loise lifted up a mug of water so that I could wet my mouth, "I saw Egwene."
"Is she all right? Is she safe?" Marin asked, eager for any information.
"No." I stated, "No, she is not."
"She's in Falme, if that's what the mark on the map meant." said Loise.
"There was a strange woman there, who tortured us… her with the One Power." I said, sorting through the fractured mess of memories and pain.
"An Aes Sedai is torturing her?" asked Marin in shock.
"No, not an Aes Sedai I think." I said, "Someone else. They had her captive in a tiny room, with a collar around her neck. In any case, she needs to be freed."
"I'll send off for Tam al'Thor and ask Bran to organise a Council Meeting." Marin suggested.
"No." I said, studying the map, "If that is where Falme is, I can get there quicker than they can."
"Are you sure?" Loise asked, worried.
"Yes. I can travel by the ways and be there tomorrow, or the day after, if I leave now."
It was a sad farewell, with saddlebags filled with my belongings and enough food to keep me well fed for the next two weeks. The horse was named Tamika and was a beautiful black mare. I think that she belonged to the al'Vere's, but I didn't question it. A horse would get me to wherever I was going quicker than my own legs could. I was back to wearing my jeans and t-shirt, had a bow unstrung attached to my saddle in front of where my left leg would sit and a quiver of arrows across my back. I don't know how they expected me to string their giant Two-Rivers Long Bow as I could barely string the one at Caemlyn. I carried the Spear that I had found in Jara'Copan and had a long dagger sitting in a sheath on my belt. I gave Bran, Marin and Loise a hug.
"I'll be back." I said simply, "I'm going to miss you while I'm gone though."
It was a quick trip over to Jara'Copan to the Waygate in the swamp and thanks to memories left over in my head, I had a fair idea of the best route to Miereallen in Safer, or where it seemed Falme now rested. I entered the Waygate in the mid-afternoon, and although these parts of the ways were in no better state of repair than those leading to Manetheren I managed to find the WayGate that once rested on the outskirts of Miereallen. I opened the waygate and rode through, closing it behind me. The Waygate sat inside a wooded area, the trees from the Ogier grove apparently now spreaded over the land where Miereallen once stood. I could see the hills where sat the palaces of Miereallen, so I rode towards them. As I began to get closer, I made out a group of people on horses on top of one of the hills. They were underneath a copse of bare branched trees, looking intently towards Falme.