POV Moiraine

Moiraine spent another month at the Tower and Tar Valon, yet only met Siuan in person twice and both those times were brief and in public, but practically Siuan is with Moiraine for every second of every day, Moiraine came to immensely enjoy this feeling of closeness with Siuan, they continuously bounced off ideas off each other. Siuan filled in all the happenings of the Tower and the wider world, while Moiraine has better grasp of political environment of the Borderlands, the White Tower has more up to date information on everywhere else.

Cairheinan political situation is as stable as house of cards, since majority of the common folk refugees, who fled from their homes near the Spine of World as Aiel flooded over it and through Jangai Pass, sacking and burning everything in their path, refused to return to their homesteads and farms in fear of Aiel returning, this left the city of Cairhein itself overburdened with population it is not designed to house, furthermore the lands near Spine of the World are some of the most fertile in Cairhein this reduction in cultivation necessitated imports of grain from Tear and Andor, who demanded a premium price for those imports, which in turn led to expenditure of wealth that Cairhein accumulated by almost monopolistic trade with Shara in past five hundred odd years it had due to free passage through the Aiel Waste that Aiel granted to Cairheinan merchants before Laman Damodred cut down Avendoraldera in pride, in a foolish quest make an unique throne and reaffirm his power and glory, which incensed Aiel and precipitated the invasion.

Galldrian Riatin seems to be as foolish as a king as Laman was, since instead of encouraging the people to return to their homes and reassuring them by establishing some fortified military outposts at the foot of the Spine or even just expanding the City of Cairhein to house some of the refugees and encouraging the remainder to clear some of the forests of Cairhein by providing financial incentives to start new villages, Galldrian seems happy to placate the populous with meaningless extravaganzas and too busy with the Game of Houses to truly rule his people. With the way Galldrian is spending the treasury, Cairhein Monarchy will be bankrupt within two decades if not sooner. Even as Moiraine distanced herself from Cairhein for near ten years, her heart still ached for her hurt homeland.

Cairheins misfortune seems to have benefited Andor and its Queen, Morgase of House Trakand, without House Damodred on Cairheinan Throne, Moiraines half brother Taringail Damodred has apparently lost a lot of his influence in Andoran Court, and Morgase gained a stronger grip on her Throne, she has even took up her Court Bard as her lover, which has become something of an open secret. With the support of the White Tower and an Aes Sedai advisor Moiraine would have said Morgase has as good a hold on her Throne as any Monarch ever has on their throne, but since Elaida is that particular Aes Sedai advisor, Moiraine sincerely doubts the Tower support truly helped. Not to say Elaida is a fool or that she won't have some sage advice to give on politics, its because of Elaidais demeanor, how she behaves and interacts with people, while every Aes Sedai has pride enough for a queen and can act just as imperious if they want, Elaida has no tact, Elaida by her very nature will undermine Morgases authority, Moiraine is surprised that she even took up an Advisory position, when Moiraine was sure in her Accepted days that Elaida will be here at the Tower, politicking to become the Amyrlin, Siuan speculates that Elaida had a Foretelling, her Talent, that prompted her to remain close to Andoran Throne. Siuan is probably right.

High Lords of Tear are apparently growing fat on Cairheinan gold, since majority of Cairhein grain imports come from Tear. Even with that unnecessary improvement to High Lords of Tears coffers, political situation of Tear and Illian remains much the same, passionately hating each other and waiting to recover from losses incurred during Aiel War before starting another war between themselves. And Mayene continues to play Illian and Tear against each other to continue to remain independent.

Arad Doman and Tarabon are still squabbling over Almoth Plain, even though neither have the military strength or the population to hold it, at least there has been no armed conflict over it, once gain thanks to Aiel War draining manpower for any conflict for another decade at least. Altara, Murandy and Ghealdan remain weak states with no real change in status quo. And Amadicia remains a puppet state for White Cloaks and Pedron Niall remains Lord Captain Commander of the so called Children of the Light.

When Moiraine had caught upon all the news she missed due to being on the road, she returned to her secret research of Karaethon Cycle, the prophecies of the Dragon. A secret because if Moiraines interest became known there will be questions and even danger from the Black Ajah. Stealing one of the White Towers copy of Karaethon Cycle is one of the first things that Moiraine did after she along side Siuan and the then Amyrlin Tamra Ospenya heard her Keeper Gitara Morosos last prophecy, the prophecy of such potency that uttering it killed Moroso, the prophecy heralding the rebirth of the Dragon. Gitaras last words still reverberate in Moiraines skull, "He is born again! I feel him! The Dragon takes his first breath on the slopes of Dragonmount! He is coming! He is coming! Light help us! Light help the world! He lies in the snow and cries like the thunder! He burns like the sun!", even remembrance of those words is enough make Moiraine break out in shivers.

Alongside Karaethon Cycle Moiraine researched and reacquainted herself with the history of the Ten Nations, specifically Manetheren, disguising her research of the latter with the study of the former while she was in Tower Library, not to mean that she was less diligent during her study of Ten Nations, if her hunch on Manetheren did not pan out, additional study of Ten Nations might well come in handy, but it is necessary that Moiraine does not show undue interest in any one topic, Tower being what it is, talk of Moiraines interest will spread and Aes Sedai are more curious and nosy than cats.

While Moiraine did not have any new insights into Prophecies of the Dragon, her research on Manetheren bore some fruit, she remembered some facts she forgot from when she studied the topic as an Accepted and re-familiarized herself with the geography of Ten Nations, and particularly borders of Manetheren, modern day Ghealdan and Andor claim sovereignty over the most of the land which once belonged to Manetheren, Amadicia claiming a very small southern most part of it. Andor claimed northern half of Manetheren, which included a portion of Mountains of Mist and Andor profited very much from that claim, since Andors famed mines of gold, silver, iron and copper are situated in those mountains, and the Town of Baerlons sole reason for existence is those mines.

Yet it is not Baerlon that is of interest to Moiraine, but the area south of it, the region of Two Rivers, a region that is at the feet of the mountains that once housed the City of Manetheren, the destroyed nations annihilated Capital, annihilated in a conflagration of One Power that is almost impossible to even imagine in this day and age, so vast was the power drawn by Manetherens last Queen in her grief and rage that a city said to be home of more than a million is said to have melted. Even though the Two Rivers tabac and wool are famous for their quality throughout the length and breadth of the continent, the region never gained any fame or prominence after destruction of Manetheren. The region seemingly faded into obscurity. Even during Hawkwings time when the Emperor Artur 'Hawkwing' Paendrag Tanreall strove to make a more connected continent by building roads, towns and even entire new cities when he deemed it necessary, the Two Rivers region was left alone and the nation of Andor, formed in the wake of Hundred Years War after Hawkwings Empire collapsed on itself and descended into a frenzy of madness and bloodshed with his death, too left Two Rivers region to its own devices for the most part. All of these facts screamed Old Blood to Moiraine.


As Aes Sedai, Moiraine technically does not need to have permission to go somewhere or do something, Aes Sedai are supposed to be wise enough not to need a minder, if some action of an Aes Sedai while she was out in the World is deemed detrimental to White Tower interests then that Aes Sedai will be called upon to give an accounting of her actions before the Hall of The Tower and the Amyrlin Seat and then they can decree any punishment they deem fit after they render their judgement. Any directive or an order an Aes Sedai is Required to follow needs to come directly and explicitly from either the Amyrlin Seat or the Hall of the Tower, not a Sitter of the Hall, not even a Sitter directly from her Ajah, but the entire Hall acting in concert. An Aes Sedai does not even need to follow any directives or orders from her Ajah Head, because technically Ajah Head is not a Tower recognized position but an informal one maintained by each Ajah individually and privately, hence why even an Amyrlin would not ask to disclose the information regarding Ajah Heads.

All of that matters because, even though the Amyrlin Seat, several Sitters of Hall and even her own Ajah head have often hinted during this stay that it is their preference that Moiraine stayed in the Tower at least for a little while, which is for Aes Sedai who live long lives can mean anywhere between next two to five years, nobody with the actual authority over her Commanded that Moiraine remain in the Tower for the foreseeable future, so by all rights Moiraine is free come and go as she pleases. Not that a command to stay is the one Moiraine would follow, but it is nice to have a loophole to wriggle out of an undesirable situation, it comforted her professionalism as an Aes Sedai.

By the end of month since Moiraine came back to the Tower, Moiraine achieved all her objectives for this visit, she caught up with Siuan, now due to their bond will always be close to Siuan, however far away Moiraine physically might be, even if Sending has a range limit, Moiraine is pretty sure that embracing the Source which puts them in a circle automatically will render that range limit on Sending null and void. Moiraine read upon everything she has access to about the Ten Nations and Manetheren, got a handle on the political environment of the continent and Lan had a chance to truly familiarize himself with the Warder Culture, Warders are a kind of their own and that sense of camaraderie and community seems to help them better handle the stresses of being bonded to an Aes Sedai, even though a Warders first loyalty will always be to his Aes Sedai, every Warder seems to recognize a brother and have an instinctive understanding with each other without a word being spoken when they meet another Warder.

Moiraine was happy for Lan, because for his entire life Lan was always singular, the uncrowned King of Malkier, in Borderlands a mans age is always counted from the day they were given a live blade after they were deemed ready to wield it by their elders, by that tradition al'Lan Mandragoran is twenty nine years old, because the blade of Kings of Malkier is placed in his hand when he is less than an year old as his parents the king and queen of Malkier anointed him as Diademed Battle Lord of Malkier and swore the the oaths of Kings of Malkier in his name. He had no play mates only followers, no parents only trainers, no brothers or sisters only a scattered broken people, no home only a Blight tainted wreck and no peers because even those Kings and Queens of Borderlands are forever ashamed and their heads are bent before him for failing in coming to Malkiers aid in its hour of need, when Malkier was ever their prompt ally in their times of need. All he ever had is a War against Shadow he could not win yet was determined to fight it to his last breath anyway. Hence for the first time in his life Lan had peers, a place amongst a brotherhood of equals, because a Warder is always a warder First, everything he is no longer matters for them as long as he is a Warder.

Moiraine envies the Warders this feeling of kinship and brotherhood, she tries not to, but that is what she feels anyway, because even though every female channeler feels a sense of kinship when in presence of another female channeler, and perhaps it is the reason why they started calling each other sisters, apprently even during the Age of Legends, yet the Aes Sedai training somehow grounds down even this sense of empathy to a small bump. Moiraine missed her ability to extend even a small bit of trust towards her 'sisters'.

Anyway, with all her objectives achieved Moiraine is well prepared for her departure at the false dawn next day, that is when Siuan sent Moiraine to meet her once again at their clearing in the Ogier Grove.

Moiraine found Siuan in an already well Warded clearing, with a saddlebag that seemed to be stuffed full, Moiraine with a crooked smile at the edge her lips said, "If this is you indirectly saying that you are here to ask me to elope with you, then I am entirely willing", and sent along with Moiraines genuine emotion of adoration mixed with lust, "I even have a destination in mind for the honeymoon."

Siuan with a flush creeping upon her cheeks because of Moiraines teasing said out loud, "Oh, shut up you. Its a gift, because you are leaving tomorrow and even you don't know when you will return."

"Thank you, Siuan", Moiraine said sincerely with a smile and asked, "What is it?"

Siuan sent with unrestrained glee, "Why don't you open it and find out?"

Moiraine taking the permission for what it is, opened the bag and promptly got confused because what the saddlebags seem to hold is thin fine woven cloth thats exact shade of the bags interior, it took half a minute and Siuans raising pride and glee to finally click what exactly the cloth is.

"You made me a Warder Cloak!", Moiraine exclaimed out loud.

Siuan sent with pride, "No, not a Warder Cloak, I made you the cloth that Warder Cloaks are made of. After you gushed about how dead useful Warder Cloaks are for an hour, I thought why not make you one, technically you are a Warder."

"Oh Siuan, when did you even have the time to make this, it takes a lot of One Power and time to make even enough cloth for one cloak. And how is this cloth so thin, Lans cloak is made thicker cloth," Moiraine sent while rubbing the cloth between her fingers.

"You forget we both have access to more of the One Power now", Siuan said, then Moiraine sent, " So this is what you have been using Saidar for so long in last two weeks and masked our bond for", Siuan continued as though there is no discontinuity, because there isn't, "I started working on it in the last two weeks as you deduced, I would have preferred to turn it into proper clothing, but as you well know I can't sew to save my life and I don't trust any tailor to work on it, especially in this city and with this cloth. As for why this is so thin, because I used finest of Sharan Silk with tightest weave as input for the Ter'angreal instead of wool or linen our Sisters use when making Warder Cloaks. Because, apparently, it does not matter what kind of cloth you put inside the Ter'angreal, the cloth that comes out of it will have the exact same qualities at the exact same standard. The cloth that comes out is undoubtedly strongest known cloth to us, it takes a lot to tear it, like a blade driven point first lot, of course slashes by swords tear it too, but this cloth definitely takes impacts better than any other kind of cloth. It insulates better against both heat and the cold, I am not saying you won't get frostbite in Shienaran cold and won't bake in Aiel Waste heat, but this performs a damn sight better than anything else. By the Light, we should be using this damned thing for everything, whenever we could. I know, I know, you are going to say that Aes Sedai unnerve people enough without floating heads and limbs when the cloth blends into background. But we could just line inside of our dresses with this, all the benefits no downsides. It doesn't stain easy, even if stained it washes out easy, dirt doesn't stick, most sticky things don't really stick to it. Sweat doesn't really sink into it either, it slides off, just like blood, it probably will start stinking in a year if its not washed but before that, I doubt it. And see this", stopping her rant in the middle while huffing deep breaths, Siuan took out a small patch of bright red and placed it on the cloth in Moiraines hand, in half a minute, the red bloomed and spread like a wave to the entirety of the cloth starting from the edges of the patch Siuan placed, "See, if something so visually obvious is stuck to it and it doesn't slide off, the cloth assumes that color, not just color, place a patch with intricate designs and different colors on it, it mimics all of it. Blood and Bloody Ashes. We Aes Sedai can be light-blinded fools sometimes."

Moiraine still stunned, asked slowly, "Siuan, how much of this cloth is in the bag."

"Enough to make three tents out of it", Siuan answered absently, still stewing over stupidity of Aes Sedai.

Moiraine gently placed the cloth back inside saddlebag, closed the flaps and put the saddlebag against tree and said, "This is the best gift I ever received. Siuan, I hope those Silencing Wards you put up are upto it, because woman, I am going to make you scream to high heaven in ecstasy."

And pounced on Siuan before she completely registered what Moiraine said, Moiraines lips crashed into Siuans and they both toppled into a cushion of air Moiraine wove.

Siuans wards were sorely tested that night.