Note: Continued at long last. So sorry for the wait! I just didn't get around to this. Had it sitting there, just didn't upload it.
Andrella could barely sit still, but it was her duty as a Lady of the House to uphold the image that became women of her rank. She was squirming on the inside, but outwardly she was calm and reserved, her face smooth. Only those very close to her noticed the fine sheen of sweat that covered her brow, and the brightness in her eyes that revealed her great excitement. She managed quite well for one who had just learned that her long-absent favourite cousin was returning home for a visit.
"We will insist that she stay a few days, at the least."
That was Lady Rianne, Andrella's mother, who could barely walk these days. The Head of House Rosande, Rianne stood with her eldest daughter, Andrella's sister Berissa, near the doorway, conversing quietly. Not quietly enough to prevent Andrella from overhearing, of course.
"Wonderful!" Berissa gushed, belying her years with her youthful exuberance. Rianne did not look pleased that even now, Berissa allowed herself such a lack of constraint, but for once she refrained from chastising her daughter. "I can scarcely wait!" Berissa added. "Why ever did she stay from us so long, mother?"
"I know not, young daughter," Rianne replied, fluttering her scented handkerchief lightly in front of her face. It was really all that she was capable of, although she did manage to stand on her own two feet. Rianne was nearly ninety-eight years old. "But we will remedy that wrongness upon the girl's arrival."
The girl, Andrella murmured inwardly. Cariana must be at least eighty by now. Cariana wasn't sure that she would look it, though. The Aes Sedai they had in the castle at present were all smooth-faced, even though some had Grey hair. One, a woman whose head seemed too heavy for her neck, had snow-white locks that she allowed to fall loose – she was Green Ajah, apparently, although Andrella was not sure if that was supposed to mean anything special.
"I cannot wait!" Berissa cried, her eyes bright with enthusiasm. Andrella couldn't help but grin widely, although that was nothing beside the squeal Berissa loosed next. That was, of course, going too far, and Rianne reminded Berissa of that before demanding that she stand up straighter. Little changes around here, Andrella thought wryly to herself. They were nearing the end of their lives, and were still chastised regularly by their elderly mother.
Andrella stared down at her wrinkled old hand, sighing a little wearily. The day had only just begun, and she was already half worn out. But nothing could sink her good mood, when she knew what the coming week would bring.
Meiora Sedai brought a hand across her forehead, smoothing the annoying fringe away at least momentarily. It would be back soon enough, she knew. She ought to have never let Chenane cut her hair for her. She now felt as great a fool as she looked, although other sisters were careful not to say so – in her hearing, at least.
Just as Meiora was starting to wonder about her sisters' absence, the door opened to admit the first two. Dianis and Chenane entered, lazy smiles on their faces that were only present because no one else was around to see them. These women were two of the coldest, most distant people when not in the presence of teammates, insofar as this group of rag-ends could be called a team. This was a chance for all of them to relax, at least a little. The Lady Rianne had been happy to house them for a few days, while they undertook their enquiries. Their real reason for stopping here was actually to regroup, but the Lady Rianne was not aware of that.
"I trust you two are making the most of this opportunity?" Meiora said immediately, smiling slightly as the two women's gazes fell upon her. Dianis nodded gracefully as she and Chenane took seats, wafting tea cups, the teapot and the little milk jug over in order to prepare themselves drinks.
"Indeed, we are. Chenane took a horse ride, and I took a moment to explore the township a little." Dianis had prepared herself a cup of tea in no time, and now gave it a quick zap to heat it.
Meiora raised a brow. "Fortunate for some."
Chenane frowned a little. "You know that we take turns, Meiora. Next you will have a chance to do what you like, while Dianis or Tilana or I will be stuck indoors waiting for…what was it again?"
Meiora was about to make a sharp reply when a third sister slipped into the room. Ronele Egrend was a relatively young Blue with a temper to suit a Green or a Red. That temper had been tweaked by something, apparently. The woman's blue eyes were flashing dangerously as she swept in and took a seat, seeming to make it all one smooth movement.
"We have a problem," she said even before she had settled herself completely.
Meiora's heart twinged, and she leaned forward ever so slightly. It was Chenane who said, "Go on."
Ronele clapped white-knuckled hands together. "We are alone now, but it will not remain that way long. Does anyone remember Cariana Sevine?"
The question was tinged with sarcasm. Meiora wanted to gasp out loud, but all she did was nod slightly. The other women in the room were white-faced, and she imagined she herself must resemble them in that much.
Cariana walked the halls of the old, familiar castle, knowing that had she been an ordinary woman in this awkward position, she would have been overwhelmed already. The tears would have begun flowing from the moment she stepped inside the castle, if not before. She may well have crumbled to the floor in a snivelling heap already. But she was not ordinary. She was an Aes Sedai of the Grey Ajah, and she was here to do her job.
Or, a twisted version of her job, at least. This entire exercise put a sordid slant on the whole notion of Grey Ajah peacemaking. This was what the Greens usually did, wasn't it: used violence to earn an eventual peace? Today it was one death for another life. Spare this one, and give me that one. Cariana wouldn't even be making the demands. She would be slyly manipulating, twisting, burrowing…and striking when the moment was right. She had never thought of herself as an adder, but she was feeling like one now.
They were waiting for her in the sitting room: Rianne, who had been so kind to her, and Andrella and Berissa, who had looked up to her with awe. Her young cousins had annoyed her when they were little girls and she thirteen years older, but she had outgrown that fairly quickly. They had become favourite cousins, at least from a distance. She hadn't been back here in almost half a century. This realisation crashed home as she rounded the corner and caught sight of the familiar carved wooden doors; magnificent doors commissioned by her own father, the former the High Lord of House Sevine. Doors she had stood goggling up at as a child, and which she had not set eyes on for fifty odd years. The sight of them took her breath away momentarily, but she didn't miss a step. Soon she stood before them, and waited as a guard moved forward to escort her in. The doors seemed to read his mind, swinging inwards on well-oiled monstrous hinges to admit him and Cariana.
It took her a moment to locate her family amongst the cluttered room, but soon enough Berissa was rushing down the stairs – rushing insofar as she was able, at her old age – with her arms outstretched, a look of unadulterated delight on her wrinkled face. She engulfed Cariana in an elated embrace, and the Aes Sedai's instincts took over momentarily, causing her to wrap her own arms around her cousin's frail frame.
"Oh, Cariana, I am so pleased to see you again!" Berissa cried, and by the sound of her voice she was crying. Cariana's heart clenched, but she merely smiled slightly and pulled away, meeting Berissa's gaze. She noticed the other two – her aunt and her other cousin Andrella – approaching in the background, a little less enthusiastic than Berissa but still with faces beaming.
It was a joyous reunion, but at no time did Cariana forget what she was here to do. Duty hung over her like a dark cloud, hurriedly swamping any good mood that threatened to rise against it.
They were on their way now. Cariana expected that her conspirators were waiting somewhere below, even though no word had arrived of any disturbance – if any word did arrive, then something had gone wrong. That was what Cariana could not stand. Having to gamble on assumptions that things had gone according to plan. This was so very delicate.
Earlier they had been sitting with tea cups and honey cakes, and Andrella had asked a question that Cariana had been half-anticipating, yet coming far too close to the truth for Cariana's comfort. "Tell me, cousin. Why is it that you insisted upon absolute secrecy? Are you on secret business in this town?" Andrella had sounded genuinely interested, and Cariana knew that her cousin was utterly unaware of what she said, but Cariana, used to being surrounded by women and men practically drowning in Daes Dae'mar, had wanted to read far too much into the casual comment. It was the paranoia creeping over her, she knew. It didn't surprise her in the least that she was fraying at the edges, when so much depended on her precision.
She had answered the question simply. "Times are uncertain, my dear cousin. Taking a little caution never harmed anyone." That evidently wasn't a lie – at least as far as she believed – since she had been able to say it.
Later she had asked the crucial question, but only after Berissa gave her the lead she was waiting for: "Perhaps you are aware that we house other sisters here?" She had paused and asked, "How many was it, mother?" After a vague answer and laughing comments about how age weakened the mind, Cariana had said, "I should like to meet with these sisters, for it is quiet likely they have information to share with me." She had had to ask that her coming be kept quiet yet again, after Andrella suggested that messengers be sent ahead to give the other sisters warning. The cousins had taken her advice as if she was the wisest woman on earth, and of course she might seem that way to them. They were unaware that she was using them as pawns in the greater scheme, one she would be glad to wash her hands of as soon as possible.
Before that could happen, she must strike. As she and her cousins headed downstairs, to the place where the enemy sisters waited unsuspecting, Cariana imagined what would happen if her co-conspirators were not in position. Precision was everything in a situation where it was not a matter of whether lives would be lost, but of how great the number.