POV Moiraine
Hearing the voices at the door on the ground floor at the same time as Moiraine, Lan looked to her, she bid him to greet their hosts and convey her recovery to them.
In a few minutes all of them arrived at her doorstep. Kari al'Thor looking much recovered with rosy cheeks, watering eyes and a joyous smile on her lips, handed the boy, Rand, to her husband from her arms and approached Moiraines bedside and kneeled.
Kari took Moiraines hands into her own and kissed her knuckles and started sobbing, Moiraine grew awkward, while it was not the first time that Moiraine received gratitude for healing someone, most of the Healing she performed was for soldiers and they are often reserved in expressing their thanks, so this is a first for her.
In a minute Kari mastered herself, freed Moiraines hands and dried herself and said, "Moiraine Sedai, I am in your debt, you gave me life when I had no hope of seeing the next day much less the next year. I will say this with complete confidence that Tam will agree with me, everything we have is yours if you wish it. You are always welcome at our home and in our lives." And bowed her head.
Moiraine took Kari's hand into her own and said sincerely, "I did what I could and I will gladly do it a thousand times more to save a life. While your gratitude is appreciated, I am incredibly sorry to say, I have not cured you completely, I already spoke of this before the Healing with the others, but I want you to hear it coming from me too. What you have, is not something completely curable by Healing Weave known to Aes Sedai in this Age. My Healing made it so that your body is healthy as it should be. But it cannot fix the bodys own inclination to malfunction. I am not saying that your cancer will have a resurgence, from what I know of the subject, in four cases out of five, the Cancer never comes back once Healed, but the chance for resurgence is undeniable. You will need to be Delved every three months to check whether it has comeback. I have thought of this since I woke up and I think I have found a solution for this predicament. I will need your Wisdoms help for it." And here Moiraine looked to Mistress Barran.
And the Wisdom replied without hesitation and answered the unasked question firmly, "Kari is family, everything I can do, I will."
At the Wisdoms declaration Kari suppressed a sob and Moiraine gently squeezed Karis hand and continued, "I intend to explore the ruins of Manetheren, while several groups have explored the ruins before, the Aes Sedai did it only once, that too a cursory one after the Trolloc Wars have ended, more to confirm the city is indeed gone than to do any kind of rigorous exploration. But I intend to go through those ruins with a fine comb and such a search can last onto years. While most of our time will be spent in the mountains, we will have need of some supplies, so I hope we can depend on your aid during those times. While the Wisdom is indeed too weak learn the Healing Weave, she is powerful enough to learn Delving, especially since she will have the knowledge of exactly what she is looking for. It will probably take her a while to learn it. But you will have me for a while yet to Heal if it resurges and when I am no longer around, the Wisdom will have the tool she needs to diagnose you. But let me assure you while there is a risk, it is most probable that the cancer is gone. And even if it resurges, with regular Delvings you will have ample time to get to an Aes Sedai who can Heal, Cancer is not something thats lethal in a short time frame. Let me tell you, Kari, by the Lights grace, you will have a long life ahead of you yet."
Kari tears streaming down her eyes and a smile on her lips said, "Thank you, Moiraine Sedai. Light Bless You."
"Call me Moiraine, as friends do", Moiraine replied with a smile.
It took another day for Moiraine to completely recover from the absurd amount of Saidar she channeled. After that Moiraine took a rest of another three days on Lans and Siuans insistence, she was gracious enough in admitting that she did indeed need the rest after the bone tiring journey she undertook. During the last day of her rest time the Wisdoms apprentice once again visited the al'Thor farm. Even though Lan and Moiraine remained in the room in the first floor, out of sight, the sitting room was directly below the room Moiraine was resting in and she was shocked to realize that she could feel another woman who could channel, Light, two women who are born with the Spark, found within a week of coming to this backend of nowhere? . Moiraine felt the other channeler leave her sensing range after the Wisdoms apprentice went beyond the barn.
The Wisdom herself appeared in another hour, as she usually did to talk about One Power theory in preparation to teaching the Wisdom to voluntarily embrace the Source. As soon as she sat down in the only chair in the room, Moiraine asked the burning question, "Do you feel a sense of kinship with your apprentice, Mistress Barran, same as you feel with me?"
The Wisdom hesitated a moment and answered cautiously, "Yes, I do. Are you saying that she too could channel."
Moiraine nodded in lieu of answering before asking another question, "Did she recently suffer any sudden bout of illness, nausea, dizziness, fever, chills, body pains, only to get better in a few hours, but after getting better she acted like a fool, taking unnecessary risks, being giddy like after having too much to drink. After all that crashing down in exhaustion."
The Wisdom, whose face became paler and paler as Moiraine listed the symptoms, croaked out, "Yes, twice, once six months ago and another such episode two months ago."
Having her theory confirmed, Moiraine sighed out and said, "She is born with the Spark, Wisdom and she already Channeled, at least twice. She too needs to be taught how to embrace the Source voluntarily. Girls born with the Spark channel whether they want to or not, same as you and I, if not taught three out of four do not survive, those who do almost always develop a block on their channeling ability. It is called Channeling sickness and it happens closer and closer to the time of channeling, the first time being a week to ten days after the day of channeling and the last one coinciding with the actual time of channeling. Its not a pretty death, as much as any death could be called such. Convulsions, screaming and what seems like unending agony."
The Wisdom sent her a pleading look and begged, "Will you teach her? Please."
"I will, its not a death I wish on my worst enemy, much less a fellow woman and channeler, we are a dying breed as it is. Whats her name? How old is she?", Moiraine asked quietly.
"Ella Barstere, she is nineteen, I chose her as my apprentice because of that feeling of kinship, she could Listen to the Wind, same as me, unlike many other Wisdoms who only claim that they could", Mistress Barran answered.
"Nineteen, Light, by all rights I should be dragging her to the White Tower and entering her into the Book of Novices, whatever she or anyone says, she is young enough become a Novice, even if she did not have the strength to become Aes Sedai. But I need my presence in this region to be a secret for a while yet. Yes, Wisdom, I will teach her, arrange a meeting in a week, and please, make sure she understands the importance of secrecy", Moiraine said out loud, with a touch absent mindedness.
Once the Wisdom left the room after a bit of One Power theory, Lan quietly requested a Silencing Ward, which Moiraine applied smoothly after all the practice she had with this Weave and asked, "You purposefully gave her leverage over you, when you said that teaching the girl, Ella, yourself, instead of taking her to the White Tower would get you in trouble with Aes Sedai. Or did you really said that out loud by mistake?" And raised a brow in slightly mocking way.
"The Wisdom does not hold Aes Sedai in high regard, that's evident enough, but I did earn a measure of trust with her for what I did for Kari. Even so, she is old, a thing I observed in older Aes Sedai, they are very secure in their sense of power, they are set in their ways, more so than younger Aes Sedai and they are, more often than not paranoid, untrusting. Much the same behavior patterns we observed in the Wisdom. She already knows I want my presence here kept secret, but she does not really know just how much I value that secrecy. But me teaching someone to channel One Power and admitting from my own mouth that doing so is against the Tower Policy and I am doing so because I want my presence a secret, now, she has at least some measure of how much I value it and she has two things that she can hold over my head. Now she can trust me to act in her interests, if I do not do so, she has a way to keeping mr in line, as it was. And now she too has a vested interest in keeping my secret. Because, once again, she does not hold Aes Sedai in high regard and does not want her apprentice to become one, so I teach her and her apprentice, there by earning more of her trust and gratitude by practically saving the girls life, thats two lives she values that I save. So giving the Wisdom leverage over me is a Win-Win for us both", Moiraine ended the explanation with a smirk.
Lan stared at her with that stone look of his, damn, she was at least hoping for a moment of slack jawed shock, even the bond conveys nothing, damn that man, he has self control to shame Aes Sedai, and sighed out a quiet, "I often forget that you probably learnt Daes Dae'mar at your mothers teat in Cairheinan court, Moiraine Sedai."
And returned to his post by the door.
