CHAPTER 1: Remembrance in Dreams

Kyriet had long resisted the will to call herself Aes Sedai. Ever since the time of the Breaking, she had made the decision to detach herself from the Tower. She still held onto the serpent ring, a constant reminder of the past she could not escape, for now it was calling her back to everything Kyriet had run from. Had it been long enough? Questions like this ran through her head while she slept, dreams reflecting the past she had almost forgotten.

***

"You can not leave this place, you will be abandoning your people if you do." Her father screamed. Kyriet had been debating with him all afternoon, ever since she told him of her decision to leave the city and study the One Power at Collam Daan.

"Father, the powers of our people are great, but they are not enough. I must study this craft that the humans call channeling." Kyriet was getting tense. Why could he not see that their people would only benefit from the knowledge that she could attain?

"I will not allow you to go. I cannot bear to risk the loss of another one of the Meki." He paused for a moment. "Our people are dying, Kya." His voiced trailed off into a soft sigh.

Kyriet stared at him for a moment longer before she spoke.

"I understand your concerns, Father, for they are my own, but my decision is final. I'm going to prove to you that the knowledge I am going to obtain will not only benefit our race, but the nature that we protect and take care of as well." Her last act of defiance said and done, Kyriet walked out of the door with her satchel in tow and made her way to the caravan waiting outside.

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(Be careful not to sever yourself, Kya.) was all Kyriet could think as she sat in the center of the courtyard inside Collam Daan's walls. The women and men gathered there were circled around, watching her. They were waiting to see if the rumors true. Of a member of the Meki that still existed, a Meki that could channel. Kyriet was being tested.

Kyriet closed her eyes and reached far into the depths of her mind. She brought forth the image of a lotus flower and made the image open and bloom. Her eyes opened as she was filled with the One Power. One by one, Kyriet took a strand of each of the five weaves and formed a simple, harmless glowing orb that floated in front of where she sat. Gasps could be heard from many of the onlookers, for those who could channel and see individual weaves saw that the Meki girl could draw on all five, a feat that proved difficult even for most humans.

She wasn't done yet. Now it was time to show these scholars what her mentor taught her and truly impress them. In a balanced fashion, she drew on all five weaves equally and added them to the orb. As Kyriet's drew on more weaves, the orb grew accordingly, until its width was only a breath's distance away from the closest onlooker, a woman that walked up and gently laid her hand on Kyriet's shoulder, breaking the girl's concentration and causing the orb to disappear.

"That will be enough for today, Miss Gambion." The woman said.

"Have I proven myself worthy of the ring, Lana Sedai?" Kyriet said while looking up at the woman. Lana's head nodded in response.

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It was considered abnormal among her people to even consider the thought of marrying someone who was not Meki. However, it was definitely something that Kyriet was not worried about today, for the exhilaration of her wedding day was enough for her to throw all care aside about strange looks she might receive. Today was both a day of celebration and peaceful bliss, and she laughed loudly as her husband picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Today she became Kyriet Gambion t'Aellinsar, wife to the greatest sportsman in the world, Tel Janin Aellinsar.

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From a distance, Kyriet could hear Lews Therin Telamon's voice above the echoing of steel ringing on steel. She ran in the direction of the fighting, but who was he dueling, and why here? Kyriet rounded the corner of the hallway and went through the doors that led outside. What she saw was like a stopped moment in time as a sword flashed and another man fell to the ground, a hand clutching the side of his face.

***

Kyriet awoke in a cold sweat. Every time she had that dream, she woke up with a start. It was the one moment in time that scared her the most, the time she believed her husband turned away from the Light, herself, and anything else that was considered good. It was the day he walked the path to the Dark One and was henceforth called Sammael.