Follows on from "Entanglements" (The Shadow Rising timeframe), but should stand alone.

Cowinde had been a Maiden once-Egwene could tell from the brief defiance when she brought it up-but insisted that to a gai'shain, there was no past nor future. Perhaps, Egwene thought with a chill, she was right. Rand had shattered the image of the Aiel's glorious past, and prophecy foretold that he would break them in a future. Those who had run away, to join the Shaido or fleeing into the depths of the Waste, were proof enough of that.

"I apologize if I am rude," Egwene said, "but I am still a foreigner and ignorant of your customs." Yes, the Wise Ones taught her much, sometimes deliberately and sometimes by assuming she knew more of the Aiel than she did. But there were questions she did not feel comfortable asking them, especially when Aviendha was joining in her lessons. "First-sisters are women who share a mother. Second-sisters are women whose mothers are first-sisters. And near-sisters, what are they?"

"Near-sisters can become first-sisters, when they are born again in the ritual," said Cowinde docilely. "Until then, they are dear friends. Arrows from the same quiver, tracks from the same beast."

"Born again?"

"It is a thing of the Wise Ones. I do not know it."

"But there's a ritual. I see," said Egwene. Well, she would see. "What difference does it make?"

"You cannot be sister-wives unless you are first-sisters, by your mother's blood or the bonding," Cowinde explained.

"Sister-wives," Egwene echoed. "That is when two women are wed to each other?" The Aiel had many strange customs. Very strange.

"To each other, and the same husband," said Cowinde.

This did not help Egwene much, but Cowinde took no notice. "Becoming near-sisters, is there another ritual for that?"

"Not always. Sometimes they will exchange gifts. Not a debt, but a token of steadfastness."

So she could give Aviendha a gift, but would that mean the woman saw her as a sister? Surely even the Aiel did not marry their blood kin. "Thank you again."

"I serve where I am called, Egwene Sedai," said Cowinde.

Sedai. That word again. The Egwene of only a few months before would have not dared imagine that she could be like one of the fabled witches in the White Tower, who called down lightning from the sky and healed mortal wounds at a touch. This Egwene was accustomed to the lie, if only so that the Wise Ones would think her even slightly worthy of their time. But it chafed to be untrue to Aviendha.

The woman had pressed flowers on her in a fluster just that morning. Egwene wished she knew how to return the favor in kind, but the Aiel had so many strange customs it was hard to tell honor from insult. Where else could you find yourself taken captive for bringing up a woman's mother-in-law?

When Egwene joined the Wise Ones in the sweat tent, she was disturbed to see that Aviendha had been beaten. "For telling a lie," said Bair offhandedly, "and wasting our time with it." It was indecent, even if the Aiel could be casual about nudity. Well, it was only natural given the heat. Perhaps someday, when her wounds were healed, Aviendha would have no shame in showing her her backside...Light, what's gotten into me? I'm as bad as Isendre.

"You do not look for my dreams," Aviendha noted, as they were running laps.

"The Wise Ones have not directed me to."

"You would be welcome," she said. "Sometimes I dream of you, but I know it is not the Dreamwalker."

"I'll try," said Egwene. Forty-eight laps to go.

Mat's dreams were easy to find. They stuck out almost as vividly as Rand's, but while touching Rand's was like clawing at cuendillar, reaching into Mat's was like throwing a snowball. Liable to explode as soon as done, but still amusing even when it fell apart.

Mat was dancing with a fox, and seemed worried that it would step on his feet. "May I cut in?" Egwene asked.

"Of course," dream-Mat answered without thinking, and the fox spun away and started playing a flute. But Mat gave a start when she took his hands. "Egwene! Burn me, you don't want to marry me, do you?"

"I'm afraid not," she said politely. Did he know it was her, or just take it for granted as part of the dream?

"Afraid? You'd better not be flaming afraid."

"Mat, it's me, it's really me."

"It's really you?" he said. "Well, who else would it be? I'm Mat, I'm not-not anyone else."

First Rand and now him. "I know you, Mat." She squeezed his hands, as if to steady him, but he looked disgusted.

Egwene stepped out of the dream to the field of floating stars. Was Perrin out there somewhere? When did he sleep? She could find no trace of Elayne and Nynaeve. And Aviendha-a dream pulsed with the bright green light she knew had to be Aviendha's, but Egwene fled from it. It was dangerous to be too strongly in the dream of someone who cared deeply about you, for good or ill. The woman Aviendha thought she cared for was a full-grown Aes Sedai; Egwene did not want to get into a battle of wills with an echo of herself. Instead, she sought out the dream that shone like Moiraine's blue pendant.

She was in a forest. Moiraine looked even smaller than usual next to the vast trees that blotted out the sky. "Moiraine?" Egwene called softly, but she did not seem to notice the intrusion.

Something stank of death-a man's body hung from the branches of a tree. Another man was laughing as he strode towards Moiraine, heedless of the corpse, and then he too fell dead, as if shot by an unseen arrow or struck down by a single blow of the One Power.

Then Moiraine was struggling to climb a tree, while vines crept up from below, giving chase. A dark figure reached out through the leaves to offer Moiraine a hand, and she unsteadily reached further as the tendrils pursued her.

A moment later, the forest was gone, and Egwene was looking down on an ocean. There was no sign of shore, and she feared calling out or drawing herself any further into the dream. Below her, Moiraine and another woman were in a small rowboat, surrounded by fish of many colors. They made no effort to row as a whirlpool dragged boat and fish alike into its depths. Despite herself, Egwene screamed a warning, but the wind muffled her voice.

She woke, and wondered again how the Waste could be so cold in the nights when its days were so brutally hot.

The Aes Sedai did not treat her any differently the next day. But the next time Egwene tried to look in on dreams, Moiraine's were carefully warded like Rand's, sealed behind a wall of power.

The story of Dunsinin and Rogosh Eagle-eye was invigorating on its own, but presented as the seventh such tale of heroic escapes, daring rescues, and a men and a woman braving danger to fall into each other's arms at the end, Egwene was beginning to find it a bit derivative. She ought to return The Flame, the Blade and the Heart to Aviendha, she told herself. Books were rare enough in the Waste that the Aiel hoarded even the trite ones dearly. Perhaps journeying through Cairhien would give them some new reading material, though if the desolate villages they had passed through were any indication, literature was not currently a priority.

She made her way to Aviendha's tent, but stopped in surprise when she saw what Aviendha had strapped to her back: an elaborate scabbard, etched with intricate craftwork and even set with gems. Was this her way of succumbing to the bleakness, ridiculing the Aiel's heritage? "Aviendha?" Egwene asked cautiously.

"Yes?" she said. "Did you like the book? I thought Gaidal Cain's introduction was a bit sparse at first, but he grew on me."

"I came to give it back," said Egwene. "What are you wearing?"

"A cadin'sor and shoufa like you," said Aviendha. "Mine fit better."

"The...weapon, behind you."

Glaring, Aviendha whipped the scabbard off in a single motion, surprisingly elegant given that she was clearly unaccustomed to holding one. She showed it to Egwene; it was empty, save for the glint of gems inside. "Do you see a blade? I have not dishonored myself, have I?"

"Of course not," said Egwene. Was it relief that settled into her? She was no Aiel, so how could Aviendha's embracing or rejection of her own culture move her so? "It was just surprising."

"It is only a cheap trinket," said Aviendha, which sounded entirely false. "You can have it, if you wish."

"That's very kind, but I don't think I would have much use for it out here."

Aviendha muttered something under her breath as she resecured it in place. "I do not know if any of the treekillers will recognize it. Perhaps it will warn them to keep their distance."

The Aiel who followed Rand had no compunction about fighting the Shaido-the latter had, apparently, betrayed ji'e'toh by taking so-called "wetlanders" as gai'shain. But they had no love lost for Cairhienin, either. "Should they?"

"It was the sword of the oathbreaker," said Aviendha, "Laman Damodred."

It had been less than two years since Egwene had been an innkeeper's daughter, barely sure who her own queen was and much less how other countries marked their history. Yet she found herself considering all the nuances of the situation, if unwilling to disagree with Aviendha outright. "Not all the Cairhienin are Laman."

"All were welcome for their ancestors' gift of water," Aviendha said. "All have shame for the sin of their king."

"When one Taardad strikes a Goshien, do you also incur toh?" Egwene challenged.

Aviendha's face hardened even further. "I will take that book back, now."

Egwene gave it to her, but could not stay silent. Perhaps the day's journey had eroded her strength of will. Perhaps it was the way Aviendha still looked at her with fervor-for all she felt the same longings, Egwene could not be true to her until she was true with the Wise Ones. To put distance between them, remind Aviendha that she was still a wetlander, might be worth it in the end. "I saw Moiraine's arrest warrant," she blurted.

"What?"

"In Tel'aran'rhiod. The new Amyrlin, after the coup, she had a paper for Moiraine's arrest."

"And they did not seek you?"

There she went again. "They probably did, you can't focus on one paper for too long. Aviendha, the paper was for Moiraine Damodred. She's Laman's blood kin."

Aviendha gave her a long, level look, her eyes as sharp and expressionless as the sapphires and emeralds on the blade hilt. "You are as hard as Rand al'Thor, in your fashion."

Not until she had retreated to her tent did Egwene remember she had not told Aviendha what she'd meant to, that in the westlands books were so prevalent that there were even some where two women went on adventures together and kissed each other.

Rand was feeling quite pleased with himself. Having the voice of Lews Therin Telamon in the back of his head did make for some questionable stratagems, but this plan was all his own. Instead of a "Roof of the Maidens" where only members of the warrior society could enter, he had declared one of the abandoned houses in Eainrod the "Roof of the Winespring Brothers." Only those who had drunk from the river in Emond's Field were welcome. The Maidens had glanced at him knowingly, but they had not followed.

There were, however, some drawbacks to this plan.

Mat was his first guest, twirling the strange weapon he had gotten on the other side of the doorframe in Rhuidean. "Don't you have a lady companion to entertain?" Rand asked.

"Don't you?" Mat rejoined.

"Aviendha...I'm not sure what she is. She's a spy, but she makes no secret of it. She hates me for bringing the bleakness upon the Aiel, but I think she hated me before that."

"Being the bloody Dragon Reborn seems a good enough reason to have people hate you," Mat pointed out. "When did you get particular about it?"

"Around the time she started sleeping in my bedroom."

"Well, Melindhra seems to think there's something valuable in this ruin that the Shaido haven't picked over. I've learned my lesson," said Mat. "No more scavenging in abandoned cities for me."

Though Rand had not meant the building's temporary name to be an invitation, he admitted that it was nice that Mat had stopped by. Someone knew him as just a friend to smuggle badgers with.

But then Moiraine walked in. "What do you want?" asked Mat. "You haven't drunk from the Winespring."

"As I recall, I have," she said politely. "The Manetherendrelle it may not be, but it was sweet. Of course," she said, with a slight nod to Rand, "if you wish to dismiss me, you need only say so."

The Aes Sedai's traps were subtler, perhaps, than the Wise Ones', but she could not lie. And he did not want to see her desperate to teach him. "You are welcome to stay."

"House Saighan was not always strong," she said without preamble, "but they have gained wealth in recent years. That will likely have bought them the loyalty of the refugees who still trust the city..."

Mat shook his head. "If you'll pardon me." He stepped back into empty Eainrod, no doubt in the hopes of finding some unwitting Aiel who didn't yet know the perils of gambling with him.

Rand tried to grasp what Moiraine was telling him, but strength in the Power did not translate into the mental contortions necessary to remember who was High Seat of what house, what colors they wore, and what they had made of King Galldrian prior to his untimely demise. For all Moiraine went on about how a bird could not teach a fish to fly, one would think she would have some cynicism about how much an Aes Sedai could teach a sheepherder about the ways of nobility.

When Aviendha stepped in, Rand was almost relieved at her for breaking up the monotony, until he realized what her arrival meant. "Tell the Wise Ones you cannot keep guard tonight," he said. "I'm afraid you are not part of the Winespring Brotherhood."

"I will be," she said calmly, "when Egwene Sedai takes me. When I have a ter'angreal of my own to reach Tel'aran'rhiod, she will take me to your Emond's Field. Or if I must ask her mother for her permission to wed, then I would travel there in the waking world."

That Egwene was calling herself an Aes Sedai Rand vaguely recollected, but permission to wed? At least it was better than her nonchalance about seeing him in his bedclothes. "Why are you here? Other than to spy on me."

He did not expect a real answer-if anything, she would launch into a digression about how it was not really espionage. Instead, she said awkwardly, "There are no...tents in the city. I thought I might...your roof is very large. Might there be some other room where I could have some...privacy?"

"If the gai'shain want to embarrass you, I'm not sure I'll be able to stop them," Rand admitted.

"A Wise One apprentice is not ashamed of seeing the bodies of her people," said Aviendha. "It is wetlanders like you who would squirm to see me tend to myself."

This, Rand granted, was probably true. "There's room upstairs." At least if he knew where she was, neither he nor the Wise Ones would have to worry about her. Hopefully.

She promptly climbed past them, awkwardly holding a small bundle under her arms.

Moiraine tried to resume her lecture, but despite Rand's attempts to focus, he had little energy for her. "Look," he said. "This isn't an order, but-"

At which point Egwene stepped in, greeting Moiraine with a nod. "Melaine wishes to see you."

"Did you really tell Aviendha-"

"-you wanted to marry her?" Rand continued at the same time Moiraine was finishing "-you were going to give her a ter'angreal?"

Moiraine gave him a small glance. "The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills."

While Rand was privately dubious that the Wheel wove in that level of specificity, Egwene replied, "Elayne and Nynaeve have more than they need, and they'll reclaim more once they-recover some missing White Tower property." Was there something she didn't want to tell him? "As for the caravans, Rhuidean is an Aiel city, not something of the White Tower. If there's something in those wagons the Wise Ones can put to use, they have the right to it."

She could not know about the access key ter'angreal. Could she? But it was Moiraine that spoke. "Those caravans must reach Tar Valon. If anyone knows how to discover what those objects do, it is Aes Sedai."

"Moiraine, Elaida rules in Tar Valon!"

"Never mind that," Rand interjected, "you can't seriously be thinking of bringing her to the Two Rivers to marry! Burn me, I suppose Mat will want to bring Melindhra. Where's Perrin? Maybe we can set him up with a nice Sea Folk captain."

"Not today," said Egwene, "and not tomorrow either. But I know enough to know that I care for her, and that life can be fleeting. Take what you want, in the time you have."

Moiraine half-smiled, but Egwene went on, "When did she tell you that?"

"Just now," said Rand, "she's upstairs if you need to discuss wedding arrangements."

"Rand-" Moiraine began.

Egwene, her lips pursed, walked up the stairs. Out of Rand's field of view, her footsteps grew quieter, then stopped. Then someone screamed.

Rand took the stairs two at a time, Moiraine a step behind. Egwene was frozen in fright, and the goosebumps on Rand's arms told him that she was embracing the Source. Aviendha was nowhere to be seen, but a tall, empty void hung in the middle of the room, the way Asmodean had described a gateway.

Seizing saidin, Rand hurled a weave of Earth and Spirit at the gate. It trembled slightly and lingered open to wherever Aviendha had fled. Egwene snapped into action, reaching for a small rug that the gai'shain hadn't borrowed. Moiraine, as if listening to her, grabbed a discarded cadin'sor that was bundled on the ground. Rand had barely tied off the flows before they were plunging in after her. Women!

He followed, and emerged into a howling blizzard. Aviendha had surely never seen snow, yet she ran through it as if she were a Borderlander. "Aviendha!" Egwene wailed, and the dark form seemed to recede even faster.

Rand held saidin, and tried to burn a path forward. Melting the snow was not much use, however, because as soon as it receded, the wet ground underneath turned to chilly mud that was almost as difficult to progress through.

But then Egwene was beside him, using a weave of Earth to shore up the ground ahead. A few paces closer, and they repeated the cycle of Fire and Earth. Without words, they wove in tandem, slowly gaining on Aviendha.

The long walks across the waste had built Egwene's stamina, or perhaps holding saidar gave her strength. They must have pursued Aviendha nearly a mile before they came across her-was she naked? "Not the Car'a'carn," she stammered. "You should have let me die-"

"You are no fool," said Moiraine, her voice clipped in anger, "so stop playing one." She threw the cadin'sor around Aviendha as Egwene hastened to adjust it.

"Can you link with me?" Rand asked. "She needs Healing, warmth-if we can combine, I think there's a way-" It would be a pity to betray Asmodean's secret, but he would not let Aviendha die on his watch.

"You would need to lead," said Moiraine. "Let me join with Egwene and then see if I can pass you the flows. I confess I have little experience in this sort of link."

He could not tell the goosebumps that marked them joining forces from the frigid air that surrounded him. Aviendha had gone silent, and it seemed only Egwene was keeping her upright.

Then he felt the unfamiliar weave surround him. Holding saidin, he tried to bundle it together with Moiraine and Egwene's melded saidar. It was like trying to force a sword through a fine fishnet, or balance a bucket of water on his head from the back of a kicking horse. It was all he could do to not let the taint subdue him while he confronted the enormity of pure saidar. And yet, once he had the One Power at his touch, it seemed effortless. Like everything Asmodean had taught him had been climbing uphill, and that he'd reached the peak.

The snow flooded away from them where he wove, and a temporary warmth filled the ground. He could not warm Aviendha as directly, but he could try to Heal her, even if he had little strength in that talent. Remembering the lifeless girl in the Stone of Tear, Rand touched the top of Aviendha's head, slowly willing her to an equilibrium. He felt his energy sap, but not as much as it would have alone; Egwene and Moiraine were aiding him, even if they could not feel his flows.

"She needs to stay warm," Moiraine said. "Can you build a snow-house, to trap the air?"

This had not been significant enough to make it into her brief lectures on Shienar customs. "If you know the weave, you should."

"A woman cannot control a weave containing only one man," she said.

"I'll try," said Rand. It was all any of them could do. Move the snow with Air. Hold it in place with Earth. Bind it to the next block with Water. Warm the air around them, briefly, with Fire. And with all his spirit, will Aviendha to keep breathing.

"Did you learn that in the Tower?" Egwene asked, almost conversationally. "When did they think you would need to link with a man?"

"There was plenty of miscellany they thought might be useful," said Moiraine. "The Brown Ajah could be even worse than the White, sometimes. Verin was my instructor in the Old Tongue, the way she read it you'd think she might as well be a gleeman in High Chant. Yet that was useful, too."

"The Karaethon Cycle," said Egwene knowingly.

"Light!" Rand snapped. "If you're going to talk about my prophesized death or something, at least don't do it behind my back! Here I am guiding your weaves!"

But that only made Moiraine laugh, and after a moment, Egwene and Rand could not help but join her. They had faced down Draghkar and Darkhounds only to be in danger battling a snowstorm. Heroes in stories may have been valorous and triumphant, but the real road to Tarmon Gai'don apparently passed through some very circuitous destinations.

Aviendha breathed. Thank the light, Aviendha breathed.

They had taken it in turns to hold her close, sharing their body heat with her, but Moiraine and Rand had not protested when Egwene's turns ran long. It was her fault Aviendha had fled in panic, somehow. Her fault that she could not be honest, had signalled desire and rejection in the same breath, and that Aviendha had been too bewildered to speak to her.

They had seen each other naked before, of course, in the sweat tent. But after the things they had spoken of-Egwene pledging her loyalty, yet refusing to explain why she could not say more-Aviendha must have been too startled to see reason.

How, under the light, had she formed the gateway? They must be in the lands beyond the Waste; everywhere from Toman Head to the Blight was burdened by an oppressive summer.

"You should not have come," Aviendha murmured. "I have toh."

"You can have all the toh you like once you get back to Eainrod in one piece," said Egwene.

"What is..." She reached out, slowly, and touched the wall.

"Snow," said Egwene. "It...it's like rain, it falls from the sky when it's cold."

Aviendha blinked as if this was some enchantment that Gaidal Cain and Birgitte had endured in The Flame, the Blade and the Heart.

"In the winter, we have this in the Two Rivers, too. Someday you'll see it, it and the Winespring and-"

"No more," said Aviendha. "You bring my heart cool water and pierce it with fire. Speak no more of what will be."

Rand opened his mouth, but cut himself off before speaking.

"How did you form the weave?" Egwene asked. "Do you know this place?"

"I don't think-" Rand began.

But Aviendha was already answering. "Of course not. How would I know this, this snow? I only knew I had to get away, so I reached for saidar, and it opened the flap here."

"We'll need to return that way," said Rand. "Even if I knew this place well enough to Skim from it, I don't know what direction Cairhien is from here."

"I am ready," said Aviendha. "I would not delay you from the day's march."

When they stepped outside, fresh snow had covered their tracks. "This way," Egwene nodded, feeling the weave she was using to hold open the gate. It was daylight-had hours passed in the shelter?-and the sun was rising over a vast ocean. Aviendha gaped. "It's salt water," said Egwene. "Not good to drink."

"They do not have...ships...that travel on that?"

"Someone does, probably. I don't know where we are, but Elayne says the Sea Folk could sail on anything." There were small birds that occasionally called from leafless tree branches that might have been at home in Andor or Cairhien, but there were also tracks from some sort of enormous cat. Had the bones that Elayne and Nynaeve saw in Tanchico left those, too?

Then the gateway came in sight. But ahead of it stood a group of people. Most were men in thick armor with gaudy helmets. Egwene paid them little mind, though, because there were women mounted on horseback beside them. Two of them wore silver bracelets, which extended to collars worn by women on the ground. This was Seanchan.

Egwene seized saidar.

"Egwene," said Rand. "We need to go."

"They are evil, Rand," she whispered. "Evil."

"I may be strong in the Power, but I do not want to fight two dozen soldiers who have no quarrel with me. The world has seen enough bloodshed."

"Then let the men be. But the sul'dam use the Power to keep slaves. I will not stand by-"

"These are like the women who captured you?" Aviendha said quietly.

"Yes," said Egwene.

The glow of saidar surrounded her. "Your enemies are mine, Egwene al'Vere."

"Egwene," Moiraine began. The Aes Sedai could be as exasperating as Rand, if she wanted.

"And what do you propose?" Egwene said. "That we use the Power to turn ourselves into those enormous cats and return to Cairhien? Did the Brown Ajah teach you that?"

"You said-how can we harm the ones who wear the bracelet, without it doubling back on the ones in the collar?" Aviendha asked.

"Kill them swiftly," said Egwene, "and don't linger."

"There are four of us," Rand said. "Egwene, you can split weaves-can you tie off the two sul'dam? Moiraine, can-would you shield the farther damane, and Aviendha, the one nearer me? I will distract the infantry."

There was something in the way he spoke to Moiraine that piqued Egwene's mind, but she could see little beyond the monsters that were the sul'dam. "Yes," she said.

"I can split weaves too," said Aviendha. "Egwene al'Vere has been teaching me." Then she shrunk back, as if embarrassed to admit they had been fast friends for some time.

"Save your strength," said Rand, as gently as he could under the circumstances. "Now!"

Moiraine and Aviendha called down saidar to disable the damane, while Egwene threw two shields between the sul'dam and their hold on the Power. They surged forward, where a fragment of the upstairs room in Eainrod still glittered beyond the gateway.

"You release the collars," said Egwene, "or you will wish you had."

One of the sul'dam twitched; Rand must still have been holding her in place, but he quickly let her go. She paused, no doubt reaching for saidar, but made no move even when she saw it was beyond her reach.

"We can do worse," said Egwene, "though no worse than you deserve. Open the collar."

The damane chained to her did not seem concerned about the threat. Instead, she was looking up at Rand. "Mistress," she said. "It is he."

"You were at Falme," Rand said.

"I will not tell you again," said Egwene. "Let her go."

The sul'dam dismounted and took a step towards the damane. Then she jerked away, reaching for a spear held by a paralyzed soldier.

Egwene wove Fire. This was not the sort of heat she had tried to send to Aviendha, one slow heartbeat at a time; it consumed the sul'dam from below, and the damane in a torrent the next instant, only nearly avoiding the now-empty horse.

"Egwene," said Moiraine, "you forget yourself."

"I know myself," said Egwene. "Better to be dead than be as she was."

After Rand adjusted the weave, the other sul'dam needed no urging to dismount and immediately undo the collar. "Good," Egwene said. Then she called down Fire again, and destroyed the a'dam where it lay.

Then someone was shielding her. Rand? "Go, Aviendha," he commanded, and Egwene gave a brief nod. Aviendha plunged through the gateway, Moiraine a step behind.

"You will need to be quick," said Rand, "once I release them." Egwene nodded again, and Rand dove for the gateway. In a rush, Egwene dropped her remaining shield and stepped through, reaching out with saidar as she did to reclaim the weave that had locked Aviendha's in place. Emerging at the top of the stairs, she closed the gateway just as a raven-marked spear was hurled through, flying over Moiraine's head.

"We do not harm women," Rand said. "Not when they do not provoke us. Never!"

"You may be the Chief of Chiefs, but you are not a king," Egwene echoed. The Wise Ones' lessons had been good for something, after all. "I do not need your permission to seek justice."

"There is no ji in killing an adversary who cannot fight back," said Aviendha. She had not shielded Egwene, had she?

"Have a care," said Moiraine. "You may go your own way, but there is a price for everything."

"What do you mean?" Aviendha asked.

"What do you know of Aes Sedai, daughter?"

"That we failed you," said Aviendha, "after the Age of Legends."

"No Aiel who lives has failed me," said Moiraine, with a touch of emphasis on the last word. "But how are they different from your Wise Ones?"

"You speak no word that is not true," Aviendha rattled off. "You can make no weapon, and-" her voice caught. "Cannot use the Power as a weapon. Except against Darkfriends, or in the last extreme..."

Moiraine arched one eyebrow, and Aviendha turned to Egwene. "What are you?"

"I'm an Accepted," Egwene stammered. "A-a young one, an apprentice like you. The Wise Ones would not respect me if they knew I was not full Aes Sedai, so I lied, I've lied to you as long as I've known you, Aviendha, forgive me."

"This is what you would not tell me."

"Yes."

"And now?"

"And now what?"

"And now, are there any more secrets between us? Or are you free to be mine, as I have wanted you?"

"That's what you're worried about? Right now?"

"Now and every moment, until you answer me plainly."

"I want you, Aviendha. No more secrets."

Aviendha wasted no time in kissing her, the cadin'sor still cold against her skin, and it was no dream.

"Burn me," said Rand. "What does a man have to do to get some privacy under his own bloody roof?"

"There are Maidens of the Spear among the Shaido," said Aviendha, matter-of-factly, as she bandaged a Knife Hand's leg. "And of the other clans, who have gone to join them after the bleakness."

Egwene nodded, helping a Thunder Walker sit up and drink water.

"Why does Rand al'Thor not honor them as a worthy foe? Far Dareis Mai carries his honor."

"It's...not easy for him to see it that way," Egwene said. "In the west, women do not often go to war."

"What was the last war your Two Rivers fought in?"

"Well, it would have been long before I was born," said Egwene. She touched the cheek of a Mountain Dancer, listened for his breath. Nothing. A nod to Aviendha, and they worked together to carry him outside the tent. "Tam al'Thor went to fight in the Aiel War, of course-I suppose that was how he found Rand."

"And we sent Maidens to fight there, as well. So you ought to have known that women carry spears."

"Tam didn't exactly talk much about the war," said Egwene. "I didn't know he carried a sword until Rand showed up with it."

Aviendha glowered as they re-entered the tent and returned to treating the wounded. Best not to mention swords, perhaps.

"I know he's the Dragon Reborn, but he's also my friend from Emond's Field. It's hard to see him leading anyone to war, man or woman."

"There are Seia Doon who knew Couladin as a young man," said Aviendha. "It is no easier for them, to see him with the false dragons on his arms." Natael, the gleeman, nearly spilled his water bag on an unconscious Red Shield.

"And what will your spear-sisters make of you?"

"They laughed when the Wise Ones made me give up the spear, and they will laugh now when they see you with me, if only to keep from weeping."

Egwene had given little thought to what the White Tower would make of Aviendha. Well, even if Siuan Sanche had been deposed, the Black Ajah was still out there. There would be long roads ahead for all of them before she saw Tar Valon again.

"You did not eat breakfast, did you?" Aviendha scolded her.

"No, Aviendha," said Egwene patiently. "I think Moiraine ate with Lan, you can go chide them for it."

"Moiraine Sedai is only a-a Cairhienin," said Aviendha. Well, it was probably better than what she had been intending to say. "You are not only Andor's daughter, you are my heart's companion."

"I like the sound of that last one," said Egwene, placing her hand in Aviendha's.

"It is well for you to avenge your queen. I follow the Car'a'carn and dance the spears to kill any Shadowrunners, but you will fight for your homeland."

"We never really paid much attention to the queen," Egwene began for what felt like the dozenth time. "Out in the Two Rivers, we only-"

The wagon exploded.

A woman was descending as if from out of the sky. She had long black hair and pale skin, and was as beautiful a woman as Egwene had ever seen. It almost seemed as if Egwene had in fact seen her before, but surely she would remember seeing a woman this entrancing?

"He told me, Lews Therin," she was yelling, and then hurling something down to the docks. Egwene winced at the figure of Hadnan Kadere, who must have been flayed alive. He had not been a pleasant man, but no one deserved such a fate. "You let another woman touch you! Again!"

Saidar surrounded her, a serene glow at odds with her contorted demeanor. Egwene and Aviendha seized the Source and barrelled forward alongside Rand.

But they were not alone. Beyond them, dozens of Aiel raised their spears, hurling themselves at the Darkfriend as if they could blunt her flows. She wove Fire carelessly, setting the docks alight, and even the river seemed to burn.

Dawn faded. Above them, Rand had called down a dome of clouds, sealing them within and the Aiel warriors outside. For all her strength, the woman was alone; they would not even need to split weaves to shield her.

"One of them?" she howled. Before Egwene could channel, pain had gripped her, split her from head to foot. I am free, she told herself as she futilely reached for saidar. I am alive, and I am free. And Aviendha is with me- "Which is Aviendha?" Aviendha was being lifted above her as if swinging from a gallows.

"Life is a dream-" she mouthed.

"Which?"

"What is it to you?" Rand said. His voice was cool, distant. Egwene had heard him talk about the void that Tam used to teach him archery. Maybe that was how he focused, as if outside a gateway, as distant as the snow.

"You are mine, Lews Therin! Not the chull's, mine!"

Pain surged through Egwene. She could barely feel herself leaving the ground. Rand still towered over her as she was borne up alongside Aviendha.

"I do not love her," Rand spoke, "but I will never, ever, love a Forsaken."

Egwene fell, and darkness consumed her.

Rand had led the Aiel to Caemlyn, said the Wise Ones, when she awoke. Aviendha had recovered enough to join him, but Moiraine had also stayed back, badly wounded by the wagons that had exploded as Lanfear had fled in anger.

"Lanfear?" Egwene repeated. It was hard to imagine the Forsaken as weakened by jealousy as anyone else. But if Rahvin could seduce the queen of Andor, and Sammael seize the throne of Illian, why couldn't Lanfear moon over a ghost?

Egwene had been unconscious for so long that it was hard getting back to sleep, but she had to know what was happening in Andor, whether the Wise Ones approved of it or not. At last, she found the peace of the expansive starfield. Rand's dreams were shielded, but he slept peacefully. Mat dreamed of an Illuminator's fireworks and getting a small boy drunk on oosquai. Aviendha's dreams were there, too, brilliant and undiminished. Egwene did not need to intrude upon them to know that she still lived.

But for all the good news Egwene reported from Cairhien, Moiraine still seemed troubled. "Wait for a pigeon if you don't believe me," said Egwene.

Moiraine shook her head. "What has Aviendha told you of the three rings?"

"She saw futures there. Some that might be, some that shouldn't be. It's like our arches test."

"Yes," said Moiraine. "The Wise Ones bade me go, too."

"I know," said Egwene. For all the woman seemed to treat her as an equal at times, she was not about to ask what Moiraine had seen there, or in her arches. She hadn't needed to share anything with Elayne beyond their grief.

"The futures I saw-many were bleak, but I was prepared for them. To pay what price I had to for the Light. Now I find myself in a future I am not ready for, and I cannot be sure when the memories will return to guide me."

"The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills," Egwene parroted, and Moiraine gave a soft laugh. "Some of those visions are ludicrous. I married Rand in one of my trips through the arches. I think Aviendha did in some of hers."

"You know, I went to his bed in one of the futures," said Moiraine. "It was warning enough not to ever try that in reality."

"Well, maybe the ter'angreal just show everyone the Dragon Reborn."

"That would explain," Moiraine quipped, "why the Aiel men don't go."

Egwene laughed, but then faced Moiraine soberly. "Ordinary people, who don't have ta'veren pulling at them, they have to live without knowing their fate. And most of them make the best of it." She had to believe that. No matter how many Forsaken or slavers or despots reigned, there were still innkeepers and sailors and glassmakers doing their trade, living humble lives. "You can do at least as well as they do."

Moiraine toyed with her pendant. "You will do well, Egwene. I need no vision to tell me that."

I didn't really plan for Moiraine to live until I got towards the end and was like...Lanfear only went berserk because of the Darkfriends' gossip about Aviendha, so what if Rand was just like "nah, we're not that close"? I love a good heroic sacrifice as much as the next melodramatic person, but the "we must, because prophecy" aspect of the storyline doesn't really work for me. So this is a world with slightly more free will.