"Ina?"

Neya woke up with a start to find Demian hunched over her with a burning candle in his hand. The boys had taken to calling her that after she'd announced her pregnancy, just a few days ago. It was a shortened version of inahan, which meant 'mother' in isleh. Neya was fairly certain that Kalayaan had started it; no one else could speak Ancient, besides Mintel. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, but it was probably good practice. "What's going on?" she whispered thickly, sitting up on her cot.

"Ina, I think Kematian is dead." Demian looked very pale. He was only twelve, one of the youngest Ayyad in her care.

Neya blinked, trying to dispel her sleep-induced haziness. Kematian was a healthy boy of eighteen, a channeler completely untouched by the taint. "What happened?" she asked as she rose to her feet.

She gestured for Demian to lead the way as he explained. "I got up to go to the latrines and I stumbled on something. It was him. He's…" He cut off, shivering violently.

Neya put an arm around his shoulders. They were practically the same height. "It's alright, nak." That was what Mintel called the male channelers - and Bao, most of the time. And in fact pretty much every man who happened to be younger than he was. It was an endearing term for 'boy' in isleh. "Just show me where he is."

They made their way to one of the larger tents where the boys slept. Kematian was lying on his stomach on the ground, blood pooling around him. Neya crouched beside him and put a hand on his neck to Delve him. He was dead, his body already getting cold; all spark of life had deserted him. There was nothing she could do. She closed her eyes for a moment. "Demian, can you fetch Kalayaan and Torn, please?" It shouldn't take long; the two men were sharing the same tent.

When Neya was certain the boy was gone, she gently flipped Kematian over. There were…holes…all over his body, set at regular intervals, as though he'd fallen in a pit filled with short, thin spikes. She checked the ground under him and found holes of the same diameter. She widened one of these and put a finger inside but felt nothing.

Kal and Torn arrived just a minute later, trailed by Demian. They stared at the young Ayyad's lifeless body. "Another snag in the Tapestry," Neya told them sadly. That was what the Sharans called the Pattern. There had been other incidents in the past few weeks, although thus far no casualties had been reported. One of the younger boys had awakened to find a nest of bright yellow snakes under his bed. Only days ago, the fires they had set up to cook dinner had suddenly flared fifty yards up in the sky and exploded into an Illuminator's fireworks display. The world was slowly unravelling, a sure sign that Tarmon Gai'don would soon be upon them.

Neya asked Torn to carry Kematian to her own tent for the time being. She told Demian to go back to bed, though the Light knew the boy was unlikely to find sleep again after this. She turned to Kalayaan, who was staring blankly at the blood. "What do you usually do with…" she began hesitantly.

"Corpses?" he supplied helpfully. She nodded wearily. "We burn them. At least, that's what they did with the dead Ayyad, back in the village. I don't know what regular folks do with their dead."

"Then we'll burn him. Do you think we should gather everyone?"

"Yes. The caretakers never let us attend a cremation, but I believe the others would like to pay their respects. We can do it tomorrow."

"I wish Mintel were here," she said wistfully. The old man had left just the day before. Bao had sent him to recruit men and women for his army, which made little sense to Neya. Why would he sent Mintel? Surely he had other people to see to such things – younger people. Preferably people Neya didn't need.

Kal shrugged. "There's not much he could have done. Should we warn Bao?" he asked with a grimace. He didn't approve of…what had happened the previous week. Neya couldn't really blame him. She still wasn't sure how she felt about it herself.

"Probably." She hadn't seen Bao since they had spent the night together. "Not now, though. There's no point bothering him in the middle of the night for this. There's nothing he can do about it, either."

The next morning Neya asked Abrazo to open a gateway for her. The male channelers had been taught how to weave gateways, but they were not supposed to use them except at Bao's command. But surely he wouldn't mind; those were exceptional circumstances.

Neya stepped into the Magnificent Palace of Supremacy – as Mintel called it. She couldn't decide if the abrishi had been joking or not. She would have to ask Shendla. The woman had no sense of humour, so Neya knew she could always expect the harsh truth from her.

She knocked on Bao's bedroom door. She didn't know if she would find him here, even so early in the morning, but it seemed like a good place to start. She had no clue what his schedule was, or where he usually spent his days when he wasn't visiting the camp or severing the limbs of helpless Ayyad.

The door opened wide and revealed Saseko, the beautiful Darkfriend with whom Neya had practiced linking. The woman was very obviously naked underneath the blanket she'd draped around herself. Neya stared at her blankly - had she gotten the wrong room? - before noticing Bao sitting at his desk on the other side of the room, his bare back to her. He was covered with welts. For a moment Neya simply stood there, speechless. She wasn't sure how to react, didn't know what to do or even think; there were too many emotions whirling around in her head. That must be how Mazrim feels most of the time, she thought irrelevantly. This was no time to bring up Mazrim, she chided herself.

Bao suddenly rose from his chair and turned to face the door. She saw him scowl, an impressive display of expression for him. He walked up to them and nudged Saseko aside. The Darkfriend gave Neya a snooty sneer before walking away, swaying her hips in an alluring manner – though why she'd do that solely for Neya's benefit was beyond her grasp. "What are you doing here?" Bao demanded, still frowning.

Neya blinked, slowly recovering her senses. Why had she come, again? Oh, right. "Kematian is dead," she told him flatly. She was glad to hear that her voice didn't shake. She noticed absent-mindedly that Bao hadn't asked anyone to fix his nose since last week; the swelling had decreased, but he bore a rather conspicuous scar.

His scowl deepened. "What happened? And how did you get–"

"Does it matter?" Neya cut him off sharply. "He's dead. I just thought you should know, since he's one of the stronger channelers," she went on, ignoring his glare at the interruption. "Now take me back to the camp. Please," she added as an afterthought. She would show him that she could be polite no matter the circumstances, even when the only thing she truly wanted to do was to strangle that flaming hussy and wipe off that smug smile off her gorgeous face. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do to Bao himself. What could she do to him? He was too likely to enjoy any sort of physical torture.

Burn the bloody man! Then again, what had she expected? He was one of the Forsaken, after all. Light, after everything that had happened to her, how could she still be so naïve?

"Neya–"

"Bao, don't make me repeat myself." She could be polite, but it wouldn't last indefinitely. "Open the flaming gateway." Well, it had lasted a good thirty seconds. Not too bad, considering.

A gateway appeared on her right. Bao was apparently too taken aback to even admonish her for using such an unlady-like word. "Thank you kindly."

She stalked away without looking back.

Bao frowned after the girl as she made her way through the cluster of tents on the other side of the gateway. He had not expected her to come here today, or any other day, for that matter. He had forbidden the male Ayyad to open gateways without his express consent. Was he losing them? Had they decided to shift their loyalty to the girl, instead of him? He could not afford that, not now. It was past time he made his final move and rallied the whole nation for good. He had to accomplish the last Prophecy and become the Wyld. Time was running short.

Shaking his head slightly, Bao closed the gateway. Saseko moved closer to him, grinning wickedly. He dismissed her with a gesture of the hand without a glance. Truth be told, he would have preferred to have Neya with him last night, but Saseko had been closer at hand.

Not only had he not particularly enjoyed his time with the Friend of the Dark, but he knew it had been a mistake from the beginning. Once he had started, however, he would have been hard-pressed to stop. The woman was happy enough to make him suffer, but she did not go the right way about it. She was harsh and inept and had no idea where to strike for the pain to be pleasurable. He had done his best to finish as soon as possible. And now he had most likely ruined his budding relationship with Neya. She, unlike Saseko, was as apt as Semirhage when it came to dealing exquisite pain.

He and Nemene had spent quite a lot of time experimenting after Bao turned his back on the Light. She thirsted to uncover new ways to hurt and she was without equals in her knowledge of the human body. He had been more than willing to be her test subject. It had lasted a few months, until they grew bored of each other. Her interest was purely academic, of course, and he had only agreed out of sheer lust. In any case, two Chosen could never last as lovers, even two as pragmatic and devoid of emotion as they were. There was too much at stake. They could not afford any distraction, something that Balthamel – or Aran'gar, as she called herself these days – seemed to have trouble understanding, or even Graendal, to a lesser extent.

It was different with Neya. He could tell she had enjoyed it as much as he had, as odd as that may seem. But that was beside the point. Shendla said that she was important to his plans, and he had to make sure she remained at his side. She could become quite dangerous, if she decided to turn against him. She was as strong as Lanfear ever was, if his ter'angreal could be believed, even though she did not possess even a hundredth of the knowledge Mierin did. And she might have the male Ayyad on her side, should she choose to act.

Bao had to make up with her, before he left for the Hearttomb. He would have to ask Shendla for advice on the best way to proceed. He really could not afford to make it any worse.