Faile lay on her side staring at the wall of the tent, careful not to roll on her back because of the tender red welts that were covering it. Not for the first time, she thought that she would never ware white again. She was sick and tired of the white robe that was all she was allowed to wear. Never again! Not even for Perrin.

That thought hurt. She had to keep her thoughts off him, but once they started down that path there was no stopping them.

The tears came and she did not try to stop them. She missed her husband dearly. She knew that he loved her just as much, if not more, than she loved him, but she did not like being away from him. There were woman who threw themselves at his feet.

Even though she knew that he would not so much as look at those hussies, she could not help but be jealous. They were with the man she loved and she was here being beaten almost daily for trying to escape and many other small reasons that the Aeil found for beating people.

As this thought crossed her mind she got up and checked that she had everything that she needed for her plan to work plus a kitchen knife that she kept under the mat she slept on.

She put the clothes she had snuck from the laundry in an oiled sack along with everything else except for the knife, which she kept in her hand.

Then she roused the others quietly so that they could get their oiled sacks ready. The change of clothes needed to stay dry.

With knife in hand, she slowly and quietly lifted the tent flap and let the others creep out ahead of her. Just as the tent flap closed behind her a lone wolf howled.