I felt guilty after that meeting with the last of the Nym. I had sent fifty men and fifty women to their deaths. But the Eye was made pure. The remaining Aes Sedai who were left, and remembered the time before the Bore was created were dwindling. There were at least one dying every year, and we were finding less and less girls who had the ability to channel.
It was also hard for us, for we were constantly attacked by Shadowwrought and Darkfriends. I had followed the style of my dead friend Lews Therin, and faced the enemy in battle myself. I had done this so many times, I had earned the nickname "Shadar Nor." Cutter of the Shadow, in the cultured tongue. But I was growing old now, I was nearing six hundred, and my hair was more white and grey than it was brown. It was the same of Vaerlin, Deindre, Oselle and the others. We wished that we could have been placed inside a stasis box, so we could cure our aches and pains. But we were guarding the World from the Shadow, and we had to fight for every beat of our heart. We had started to call ourselves the "White Tower", and we also used the name "Tar Valon", which was Vaerlin's idea six decades ago, before all of this happened. Before the Bore was created. Deindre had also started to Foretell more often, so we started to write them down. We did not know when they would come into play, but they would, like the pieces on a sha'rah board, so we wrote them down, for the hope that someone would understand them in a later Age. Deindre had fondly called them "The Prophecies of the Dragon." None of us wanted to change it, so the name stuck.
Vaerlin entered my chambers. Her eyesight was going now, and she was also losing her hearing, but her wits were still as sharp as ever.
"Latra, have you any idea what we have lost in the ways of knowledge in the last sixty-odd years? Yes, of course you have. I ask you this every time I see you." She always had her head stuck in a book now." I smiled at the absent-minded person in front of me.
"Come sit down Vaerlin. How have you been these past three days, my oldest friend?" She stared at me with her small wrinkled face, and I realised for the first time in my life that we were really ageing. It scared me. The girls that we were finding were unable to hold a tenth of the Power that we were once able to hold, when we were younger. My health was also deteriorating. My joints ached in the winter, and I was also developing some heart problems, that no Restorer could cure.
"I have been fine, Latra, just fine. I have been keeping myself in my room, with my books, and my knowledge. Why, Latra? Have you someth..." She stopped as I clutched my heart in pain, and collapsed to the floor in agony.
I awoke in my bed, with seven of my sisters around me. I could see Vaerlin and Oselle clearly, but not the five others, but I guessed that they were Solinda, Farenila, Jerian, Glyndis and Darelle. I tried to sit up, but had continuing spasms in my chest. I guessed that this would be the way I died.
"Listen to...me. I want...you to...follow my...instructions." I gasped. I was finding it extremely hard to breathe. "We must...protect the...World. The...White Tower...must be...a building. The sisters...will be made...into Ajahs. Oselle will...be the...start of the...Red Ajah. Guard...against male...channellers until...the Dragon is...reborn" I had planned how I wanted the Ajahs to be formed, but I did not imagine telling my sisters like this.
"Solinda...you are Green Ajah...Battle Ajah. Stand...guard until...the Battle...the Guards is here." Solinda nodded, crying. She knew I was dying, as did the others. So did I. The Battle that Guards: Tarmon Gai'don. I told each of the others what Ajah they would become, and what they would follow.
Farenila was White Ajah. She would seek logic throughout the world, trying to answer questions.
Jerian was Yellow Ajah. She was the best Restorer I knew, and their philosophy was in the study of healing.
Glyndis was Blue Ajah. She was a great diplomat, and a confident speaker in the White Tower.
Darelle was Grey Ajah. She would teach meditation, and the other ways to seek answers. Then I came to Vaerlin.
"Vaerlin...my oldest friend...You are to be...Brown Ajah...You will...forsake this...world in...search of...knowledge. You will...also be...the first...Amyrlin Seat...You will...wear the...Great Serpent...ring as will...every girl who...enters through...our doorway...Now I want...all of you...to swear...with me this oath." My chest pains stopped for a moment, and I was able to get this out with the tone of voice that was like the Latra Posae Decume of old.
"We swear to be the first eight members of the Eight Ajah, known as the Purple Ajah. We will guard all knowledge that we can to do with the Dragon and the Age of Legends. This we can present to him when he is reborn. Each of us will pick one successor from our Ajah to follow us when we go to the Creator. This way, we can be remembered forever." They all swore this, and I saw that they were all crying, especially Vaerlin and Solinda. I broke off and my chest pains came back.
That was then Lews came and crouched by my side. When he spoke, my pain was gone.
"Latra, my oldest friend, come with me to the Creator. You have done more than enough on this World."
"Lews..." I murmured. All my memories started to come back to me.
When I graduated from the Collam Daan.
When I became Aes Sedai.
Meeting Lews Therin Telamon for the first tie, when we were young, in our thirties.
Diving of the mountains of Comelle as a child.
Sitting in the Hall of the Servants.
Then came the bad memories. Lews and I arguing about how to seal the Bore. The split of the Hall of the Servants. Lews dying. The constant fighting against the Shadowwrought. The death of my friends, who I had laughed and cried with over the decades and centuries.
"Lews, I don't feel pain. Wait for me. That light is beautiful, Lews..."
"Here ends the story of Latra Posae Decume. She who had worked alongside the Dragon, and has fought with in the Hall of the Servants. She had always been known as a fighter, a warrior. But she was a woman who changed the way the World. For it was she who formed Tar Valon, the White Tower, and it was she who took on the Creator's role, and shaped the World with her own two hands."
This record was found in a stasis box in what is now known as the Mountains of Mist. It is believed that the person who wrote the comment at the end was none other than Vaerlin Sha'raelle, the first Amyrlin Seat, and friend of Latra Posae Decume. Inside the stasis box as well were a number of items, including several letters, and a sheaf of papers, believed to have been written by the Dragon. But if these are to be released, please review this story that I have retold for you.