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Chapter three!
The choice of the Sovereign
My hands were tied up, to a wooden pole. I didn't want to open my eyes; I felt a warm fire (Me: No it's a cold fire!) a little ways a way. A blanket covered me all the way down to my feet, which felt bare. Finally it accrued to me that I was laying on a bed and drooling. I remembered that I was some where in Andor. My eyes cracked over my vision blurred but cleared after a few blinks they cleared. At first I thought no one was in the room then I saw the man that rescued me. If I weren't tied to the bed I would have ran, to were I don't know, it wasn't my world I would just keep going until something happened. I didn't want it to be my world; I wanted it to be nothing like it but it doesn't matter what I want now does it. The boy looked like any other, stork-y, short brown hair, you could see a dozen of him on the streets courting someone or sharing a bed with another. Maybe for that reason or another I didn't trust him.
Someone pounded past the door shouting orders, then walked away. The noise stirred the youth beside me, opening his eyes slowly then jumping with a start as he remembered what had happened. His head swiveled to me and smiled warmly. "Your finally awake, not that you've been asleep long only day, but I never told you my name, I'm Mat, Matrim Cauthon from Two Rivers." He said quickly still smiling. Now that he awoke I thought he looked sad, his smile was warm but his eyes looked extremely sad. And his smile looked a little forced. I just nodded and smiled as he made his introduction, I wondered if he even knew I was tied up. Matrim's eyes lingered a little bit before looking towards the door then going back to me. He saw the ropes a tug and frowned for a second then his face went back to his sad but boyish playful smile, he gave tug on the ropes, whether to see if the were tight enough or if they were loose enough that I could slip out.
"I sorry about the ropes Lan and Moraine insist on them. They're not that bad for a rock and an Aes Sedai, not that your… but um… they want to be cautious you can't be to careful these days with all the bloody Darkfriend and things a like. You know? Here would you like to sit up?" He off the chair and stood beside the bed. I tried to kick the blankets of then I stopped. Apart from for my smallclothes I wore a long white tunic, which scarcely covered half my thighs. I swung my feet off the side of the bed and tried to stand quickly but the rope gave little sovereignty. Mat moved the chair towards me a little and I sat. Which was a little awkward because I tried to face the fire but the ropes twisted my arms so I couldn't get any warmth. Mat heaved a sigh and fidgeted a little, finally he took out a small dagger and came towards me. Yanking at the ropes I panicked and stared wide eyed at him finally I shut my eyes, waiting for the worse. All I felt was the bitter steel of the dagger against my wrist, then the ropes falling free. I opened my eyes as Matrim sheathed the dagger, and looked down at me. He crouched down so he was eye level with me and put a hand in my hair.
"Don't worry," He said and gave another melting smile, but his eyes remained sad. Before I knew what I was doing I held his face in my hands, I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks, but I didn't let go. He was surprised by my actions to and I thought I saw happiness in his eye but it happened so fast I thought I was seeing things. Staying like that we stared at each other, actually I was just spacing out he was just I my line of view. There was a knock on the door; the person who knocked was already opening the door although neither said anything. But quickly Mat stood taking a few strands of hair with him. A woman came in she looked at little older than Mat and she had a long thick braid. Behind her were another women who looked about eighteen, she was slender and blonde, across her shoulders was a shawl. The first woman was frowning at us, slightly shaking her head, like a child had done something wrong.
"She and Lan are not going to be happy about this, you don't know what she can do, and there was a spell on those ropes to temporarily still her," The woman nodded in my direction and before Mat could get a word in edge wise, she continued. "Well what's done is done." She muttered then turned to me and kneeled before me. She placed her hand on my forehead and made sure nothing was wrong with me physically. Finally she looked at my face and she seemed to soften up, giving me a motherly smile she took my hand and lifted me from the chair. The other woman was giving me the same smile and finally she said;
"I'm sorry my dear it's been a very hard day everything was in chaos, we just got everything back to normal…almost."
"Yes, yes, now come let's get you cleaned up and into your own room, this is Mat's room we put you in here because if you escaped you would most likely trip on the garbage on the floor." The women started laughing and Mat just scowled at them. They walked out the room with me in tow; we walked down a high ceiling stone hallway. My feet froze on the cold stone beneath them the ladies said nothing until we were outside a wooden door. The lady in the shawl, which had seven colors on it, opened the door, the room was a little like Mat's except that the bed was a huge four-poster the sheets were white, along with just about every thing else in the save the furnishings, which were made of a very nice wood. The elder one pushed me into the room and they followed. And following the fair-haired one were two servants carrying a tub, and then at least five more servants followed them with pitchers of hot water. The young woman sat on the bed while the other stood not two feet from me. The servants left and shut the door behind them.
"Let me look at that arm, we don't want it to fall off and get infected. Oh and yes my name is Nynaeve," The lady pointed to the woman on the bed, "And this is the Marlin Seat, you know what that is right? Good." I made an awkward curtsy; Nynaeve had a grip on my arm like a python. As I did the Amyrlin Seat gestured her hand up, like she didn't want me to curtsy.
"No need for that here, and my name is Egwene al'Vere, unless there are others around please call me that and when there are others around address me as Mother." A cold feeling came from my arm, when I looked at it there was barely a mark. "Please child meet us in my private dining room, I'll have someone show you where it is," With that they walked out the door. I stared after them for a moment then stripped off the large tunic, and other garments and slipped into the tub. I cleaned quickly then got out, I stood there for two minutes, wondering what to do. I didn't have anything clothes. As soon as I finished the thought a servant woman came in and placed fresh clothes on the bed the then stood in the corner of the room. I got the feeling she wasn't going to leave with out the Amyrlin's order so I quickly tried to slip the clothes on. As I got the orange dress over my head the woman started to pull it down over my head, then she turned me around and started to tie strings in the back and then she took a brush to my hair, finishing off by tying it back with an orange ribbon the left. Again I stared after her then I went to my bag which one of the servants had probably brought earlier, I pulled out my striped orange and black stockings and slipped them on along with simple leather shoes and opened the door opened the door and almost ran into Mat.
I took a huge step back and looked at him, he looked the same as when I first woke up. After smiling at each other he made a mock bow and held his arm in the direction we were going.
"The Amyrlin said we're going to Caemlyn tomorrow not that we'll make it to Caemlyn in one day of course, to see Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, he and the other's, they were just here they left as soon as they found us,
, Thank you by the way," He quieted after that I didn't look at him but I could tell he was in thought and I didn't want to break it. Finally we made it to the private chambers. The Amyrlin was seated at the head of the table along with Nynaeve, two an ageless women, one was shorter than the other, another blonde haired woman and a man seated in between the short Aes sedai and Nynaeve. They all looked at me when Mat and I entered Mat sat beside the blonde and I took the seat opposite of him, which placed me next to the short Aes Sedai. She smiled at me in turn bowing her head and I did the same.
"Thank you everyone the food will be here shortly but for the time being I would like to learn about this young lady," Egwene motioned her hand at me. "What is your name child? Where are you from and how did you get here."
"Egwene one question at a time," said the blonde next to Mat. "My name is Eylane." Before I could speak Mat spoke up.
"Her name is Sadie Ikalnen right? Yes I found her in the grove outside of Tar Valon." They nodded their heads.
"I really don't know how I got here It wasn't on purpose. My brother Aziel he told me to this house to drop off an artifact and then the next thing I knew I was transported to here. But I think I activated the artifact. Mother. " I added quickly. Her eyes were looking at the table, the woman next to me talked with the man beside her and the other Aes Sedai talked with Eylane. Mat sat there silently. After it looked like everyone expressed his or her opinions to the Amyrlin they all went quite, dinner was served as Egwene nodded her head. Everything seemed forgotten as they started eating the array of food; they talked amongst themselves like old friends. Only Mat and I sat there quietly, I had really never tried the foods on the table; it tasted magnificent all the same. Mat only picked at his food and threw sudden glances at me like I was going to disappear. The plates were taken away and the head of the Aes Sedai dismissed us. Luckily Mat walked me back to my room, with a boyish smile and a bow he departed. There was a chest at the foot of my bed now, it looked unlocked but I didn't bother to open it. I undressed and slipped on a nightgown, then hopped in to the feather soft bed. Sleep came quickly with unremembered dreams."
Sparks from the fire rose in the hearth, akin to a thousand orange stars falling to earth. Egwene ordered us to stop just before the sunset. We were on just on the border of Andor and two miles off of River Haevin. We encountered little trouble on the way, only two trolloc attacks and some hatful people. Before we had left the Aes Sedai demanded to know everything I knew about saidar. They said I was very advanced and gave me an hour to prepare myself, as I was to be an Accepted. The trails were hard memories of my brother, my very few friends that had been killed in shootings and car crashes months before, and of the people I loathed to no extent in my world. I came out naked, as with all that go through, that was really all I could remember, Nynaeve said I didn't make a sound, my eyes as empty as a blank book page. I had finished the trails in three and a half hours, a very short time. In irony my experiences seemed to last forever. They then rushed me into becoming a full Aes Sedai; I already knew how to weave but they gave me two and a half hours to prepare. I finished that in three hours, at least it was less frightening then becoming an Accepted. Moraine said that is was really improper but they needed every Aes Sedai they could get there hands on, I was the made an Aes Sedai in hours while it took others years! I felt like I had cheated in someway, I felt guilty. Egwene read me like a book and told me not to cast another thought to it. I grew up around Aes Sedai, and was in a sense trained by them sense I was a toddler. The guilt disappeared after that. That same day Egwene told us that we were to leave at noon, they woke me at two o'clock in the morning so I could be tested, and I finished at eleven. Servants ran around my room collecting my belongings which Egwene had provided me with. I would have done it my self but I felt exhausted, I felt like I had run a hundred mile race without stopping. I was half awake as Matrim shepherded me to my horse- that I later named Canti, which Elayne said meant Sunfire in Old Tongue- and threw me into my saddle. Every time I blinked my eyelids stuck together, I was asleep in my saddle before we were a hundred spans away from Tar Valon walls. That was a month ago.
Mat hardly left my side in the journey from Tar Valon to Caemlyn. The sadness in his eyes seemed to seep away little by little, he became more open and no matter how stupid they were I laughed at his jokes. He told me about Tuon, he broke down and cried on my shoulder and fell asleep in my lap like a child. I never cast a thought to moving him although my legs felt like bags of sand, it was a cold night and he gave me some warmth. During a trolloc attack one clipped me over the head with a club. I blacked out until the next morning. Mat again was right beside me in my undersized tent that was scarcely big enough for two inhabitants. I have a scar there now; Moraine said that if I were hit any hard my head would have split like an egg.
Matrim
Mat watched Sadie as the sparks spiraled down around her. Just about every thought he had as of late turned to her. At first he battered himself relentlessly because he was thinking of Sadie instead of Tuon. He had had dream of Tuon he could feel her there beside him. They were at the circus but absolutely no one was around. She said to him in an echoing voice that it wasn't real and to forget. Mat woke abruptly calm as stone, they were a week from Tar Valon. Although he was calm his throat was as dry as the Waste. He scrubbed his face and quenched his thirst with his water Canteen. He saw Lan sitting against a tree, his back to Mat, working his sword again (Me: That's not supposed to sound dirty - -) A light was glowing inside of Sadie's small tent, he glanced around the rest of the camp it was dark and sounds of snores came from various tents. He knew Lan was aware of him, he didn't care he needed some company and the Warder was not the best company. Mat crawled into her tent she was reading a bluish book by lantern light, thin white pants with odd bubbly cows covered her legs down to her bare feet, and an overly big black shirt covered the rest of her enough to she her figure. She didn't notice him at first, so he gazed at her, tiring not to drool. He remembered something she had said to a loveable lumbering dog that had placed his head in her lap, when he got up there was a big pile of drool. "Its not cool to drool". Mat still didn't understand it but he guessed she didn't like to be drooled on…or at.
Swiftly she looked up from her book, at first her eyes went wide with fear, and her skin paled even more, (she had gotten color from the journey but she was still as white as a sheet). Quickly she recognized Mat, and smiled brightly at him.
"Hey Mat…did you need something, it's midnight?" Her smile got brighter as it did when she was nervous or just in awkward situations, it was midnight and the Amyrlin liked to be up an hour or two before dawn.
"Can I come in?" Said Mat, he knew it was late but he needed her. She answered him with "sure" and he sat opposite of her. The tent was big enough that their legs touched, they were sitting cross-legged. Apparently his face reviled something, for as soon as he looked at her again she asked what was wrong. After a few moments of staring at her, he began slowly with the circus, and then tears stung his eyes as he came to Tuon. Sadie's face turned from concern to sympathy then abruptly changed to uncomfortable, she didn't look him in the face anymore; everything around them seemed to be of her highest concern. When he finished she was fidgeting so much it looked like there ants crawling all over her. She threw glances at the opening of the tent, everything bar the young man in front of her. Mat realized that he had made her uncomfortable. She didn't want to hear this, his story, his sadness; with out trying to tare the tent down he moved quickly to get out of her tent. She grabbed the back of his tunic, which partially choked him.
"Mat I do care, don't think that of me again, I'm…I'm…" She sounded almost angry but it ebbed into the usual timidity. He crawled closer to her (he only took one step really) and laid his head in her lap. The coolness that he had felt washed away from her warmth, he felt her hesitate she didn't know what to do. He remembered that she had said she didn't have many friends from her world, and her brother was often away on business or with the speaker the places had sent. She came to abhor people so much she refused to go out in public unless absolutely necessary (which included getting books and things like that). He felt her hand on his hand, smoothing his hair, uncertainly then she became surer. After awhile he fell asleep.
Lan woke him about three hours later by gently shaking his shoulder. When Mats eyes focused, he looked up at Sadie she was sound asleep slumped over so her head was almost level with her. Lan made a jerking motion with his head to the tent opening. He got up slowly as to not wake Sadie, then moved her until she was curled on the ground and spread her personal blanket over her (she brought it from her world when she came). Quietly he backed out of the tent and stood in front of Lan. The Warder did something out of his usual; he smiled and shook his head, his shoulders quaking with mirth. Then with a smile still on his hard face he regarded Mat.
"Do you just jump from one to another?" Said the Warder. He was talking about Sadie and Tuon.
"No, no well I used to, I love Tuon but I love Sadie a hundred fold more."
Lan looked at him nodded his head at Mat, for a few moments. He looked as if he was trying to decide whether to tell him something, he settled on what he was going to tell him.
"Just don't spend your coins before you throw your dice again. The wheel weaves as the wheel wills farm boy." Then he walked away leaving Mat to stare after him. What's that suppose to mean? Where are my dice anyhow? Mat went to go look for his dice.
