Note: Guydin's companion will be referred to as Blue (because she's dressed in blue and has blue eyes). Can't be bothered writing "Guydin's companion" every time. *S*

A Distant Silver Glow

Rayel followed the woman's gaze, unable to decide which could represent the greatest threat: the woman she had just liberated or the "company" now joining them. She decided that it must be a contest of two evils, and what remained to be seen was which was the greater.

Guydin and her companion, Blue, remained stone-faced. Guydin opened her mouth to speak, and Rayel embraced saidar. On some strange impulse she made a fireball and sent it flying right at Guydin. She was dismayed to see the fire spread and crackle against a shield that the target or her companion had erected just in time.

I know who my enemy is, but do I have any friends here? Rayel thought frantically, throwing another fireball from her fingertips and darting sideways. She had no time to think, though. She had to act.

Be steadfast. The words came to her over space and time, sounding as calm as they ever had. It was fitting that a mysterious "voice" telling her to be steadfast would sound steadfast itself. The way back will come but once.

She blinked at what she saw next. Beyond Guydin and Blue there was a silvery glow, but she could not see the source of it. She remembered seeing an arch earlier, remembered feeling almost compelled to go towards it, but she could see no arch now – only sense that she had to get past these women, had to in order to save herself. She had no idea how she could possibly know any of this…but deep down, she just knew.

"Fool!" she heard someone cry. "Do not let down your guard!"

Rayel blinked as a breeze ruffled a few loose strands of her hair. The breeze was what had assaulted her instead of the deadly barrage of ice arrows that had just been deflected from its path towards Rayel – and she saw the woman she had freed turning away from her, turning on Guydin and loosing some strange, deadly-looking weave of her own. That woman saved me, Rayel realised. She saved me, and yet earlier… Earlier, she thanked the Lord for her good fortune. The Great Lord.

Blue had clearly set her sights on Rayel, assuming for some reason that Guydin could take care of herself. The latter and Rayel's former cellmate were now locked in a fierce battle with saidar. To any ordinary observer it would seem like they were merely standing opposite one another, engaged in an intense struggle of wills, assaulting each other with nothing but hard stares.

Now Rayel had her own fight on her hands. She managed to duck out of the way just in time to avoid a strange series of fiery splinters showered at her from Blue's hands. For the briefest moment she struggled to think of what she should do. For a very short moment she had what felt like her very own block, and in that moment she thought that her mind might burst and crumple under the pressure. But then bit-by-bit it came flooding back – the knowledge she had accumulated over the years, knowledge of every single deadly or semi-deadly weave she had ever been taught. Seizing on the first one she stumbled across, she prepared to enter into the battle of her lifetime. She knew it would be a fight to the death.

She channelled heavily with Fire and Spirit, weaving a small pattern that transformed itself into something far greater – as the caterpillar becomes the butterfly. An immensely beautiful Fire Flower, a magnificent plume of reds and golds and yellows, exploded into the dark hallway with a strange lack of noise. She saw Blue's face as the plume unfolded before her, saw the woman's eyes widen, her mouth becoming a wide 'O' of surprise. She felt a rush of elation at the expression saw there – she was winning!

But wait; it was hardly over. Blue was the furthest thing from incompetent. She had, somewhat predictably, prepared her own defence, perhaps having anticipated Rayel's actions, or perhaps merely taking advantage of incredibly honed reflexes. Rayel's Fire Flower was enveloped in a miniature tidal wave of moisture, a tidal wave suspended there in the middle of the hallway and flowing from Blue's fingertips. The fire she had generated crackled, hissed and dulled until it no longer existed.

Rayel knew the woman would begin channelling immediately, coming up with some other weave to throw at her. She had to get there first, but she had to do something unpredictable, and buy herself some time. Clearly she could not hope to defeat the woman with strength alone – she must be on her toes constantly if she was to have any hope of countering Blue's greatest strength – the fluidity with which she channelled, and the agility of her thought processes.

She began to construct two weaves at once, being very careful not to let the two of them come into contact with one another. The first was a fireball, far quicker to make than the second. When she had completed the first weave she held it there, suspended, trying to keep a close eye on Blue's own movements at the same time as paying adequate attention to her own. She could feel her strength draining from her already, but refused to let it get to her. Too much was at stake here, in this battle of a lifetime.

Be steadfast, the voice murmured. The way back will come but once.