A/N: I did a very very minor edit in Chapter Six, but I won't say what it is. Cheers.
POV Moiraine
"He is right."
"Mmmmm"
"Lan is right."
"I understood that the first time, Siuan"
"Then why are you dejected? Light knows, the fact that Aes Sedai are not much trusted is something known to us from day one. I was practically shoved into a boat with only clothes on my back after my first channeling, what with channeling being illegal in Tear and you, who grew up in court of Cairhein definitely know how Aes Sedai are thought as among nobility. So why are you so dispirited?", Siuan sent, concerned.
"Truth be told, I kind of forgot how we are actually seen. Remember our Novice days, without knowing when it happened we started to practically worship the Sisters, initially it was only fear of chores and switchings from Mistress of Novices, but after a short while we hung on their every word, we were in so much awe, I did not even respect and trust my own parents as much as I did the Aes Sedai. We desperately wanted to be just like them. And once we became Full Sisters, once we became Aes Sedai, I knew with bone deep conviction that I am a woman to be respected and trusted, perhaps even feared. True, the tests for Accepted and Sisterhood showed me that my Will is strong as I always hoped it to be, that I am worthy of respect and admiration I demand and rightfully deserve as an Aes Sedai, but not an insignificant amount of that self esteem comes from the image of an Aes Sedai from a Novices point of view."
"Moiraine, you are the strongest woman I know. You are undoubtedly worthy of every ounce of respect and admiration you are shown. But I know you well enough to know, you did not say all that fishing for a compliment, so there is something deeper on your mind. What is it?"
"It is this, even we, me, a woman practically raised on court intrigues, trained to discern fact hidden behind biases and deceptions and you, a Tairen fishergirl who was raised to fear and despise channeling and all that comes with it, have succumbed to this sweet false image of Aes Sedai that Novices have. Even though some corner of my heart knew the sweet lie for what it is, I readily assumed that having White Towers support will somehow magically remove all the obstacles in our path for Last Battle, ignoring the fact that the Towers support while may ease some troubles, will only bring newer set of problems. So, if even we are this out of touch with reality, then just how blind is the White Tower as a whole."
"Oh dear heart, there is some harsh truth in what you just said, yes, we do hold an idealized version of ourselves in our hearts, but none of that negates all the good we did and continue to do in the world, Moiraine, why, you yourself embody the very best of we Aes Sedai aspire to. And how ever much special you are to me, you are not unique, so many of our predecessors gave up so much of themselves in service of humanity and the Light. It is no exaggeration to say that the White Tower stopped hundreds of wars in the last three thousand years of its existence, we have been and continue to be a bastion of civilization and a bulwark against oncoming Dark. We are the major if not the only reason that humanity flourished again after the Breaking wracked the world and that the world even has modicum of an idea about the coming Tarmon Gai'den. I am not saying that we do not have our failings and have not mis-stepped in the past but none of those in anyway diminish the sheer amount of good we did and continue to do in the world, it only means we should learn from our mistakes and do better."
"Thank you, Siuan. The ruins of Manetheren and Lans words seem to have put me in a melancholic mood. Anyway, the truth of Lans words need to frame any plan we make, until Black Ajah is purged from the Tower in entirety, Aes Sedai support cannot be central to any plan we make regarding the Dragon Reborn, that means we need to hack at this problem from the other end. We need to start with the nations of the continent, Lan alone is enough to bring all of the Borderlands, his word will be enough to bring Borderland Monarchs to heel, even in the unlikely case it is not, the man is a living legend among the people of Borderlands, if he raised the banner of the Golden Crane, the Borderlander nobles and commoners alike will flock to it and force Borderland Monarchs to side with Lan, the problem there is to convince Lan to use his influence in the first place, he will die for me without a second thought, but convincing him to become the leader of Borderlands not just in spirit a fact he vehemently denies, but in actuality, that will be like uprooting an old oak with bare fingers, I am already dreading it."
"Hmmm, I am sure you are up to it, thats Saldea, Shienar, Kandor and Arafel, the all four Borderland Nations taken care of. And since Lan is right in that Callandor is the one undeniable proof of the legitimacy of the True Dragon Reborn, he needs to claim it, claiming Callandor means taking the Stone of Tear and whoever holds the Stone holds Tear, the city and the nation. But the Prophecies of the Dragon state that the Stone will not fall until the People of the Dragon come, whatever that is supposed to mean, even so, the Stone WILL fall, there is no point in questioning the how of it. Thats five out of fourteen nations of the continent. Where else do we already have leverage, hmmm, Moiraine, you are not going to like it, but your connections to the Sun Throne of Cairhien and Lion Throne of Andor need to be cultivated, they are gossamer thin threads as they are now, but they are two of the richest and militarily strongest nations of the continent. The Dragon Reborn will need them behind him."
"Haaa, I feared it might come to this, my half brother Taringail will be a problem not an asset when it comes to Andor and there is Elaida to consider, you know how she is, she would not suffer another Aes Sedais influence on Morgase Trakand, we will have to pry Andor out of Elaidas cold dead hand before she relents and she loathes us both with a passion. Unless we can lure Elaida away somehow, I cannot see what I can do about Andor. And about Cairhein, it will not be hard to gain influence in Cairhein for me, but the problem comes from keeping that influence, balance of power is ever shifting in courts of Cairhein, I will need to be actually present to play the Game of the Houses to keep any of the influence I gain, something I cannot do."
"I understand, you need to stick to the boy, educate him, make sure of his character and most importantly protect him. He is our only hope, the worlds only hope. I will start drafting plans for dealing with remining nations, start looking for more leverage and we will refine those plans together. There is time yet to tackle our problems, even if they seem insurmountable, we will chip away at them. I am keeping an eye on the Oath Rod, I managed to gain access to the rolls recording the Sisters who took out the Oath Rod and am in the process of matching those rolls with records of the new Sisters raised in last hundred years. It is not an easy thing, While records of raising Sisters is very accurate, the same is not true for records of the Oath Rod, there are several holes in it, I am in the process determining whether it was shoddy recordkeeping or deliberate sabotage. I know it is thin thread to tug at, but its the only one I found so far. Is there anything else I can do for you Moiraine?"
"I feel guilty for asking, you do so much already, but I need you to research Ta'veren. I read upon the subject in our Accepted days same as you, but there is surely more material that only full sisters have access to, I never had the chance to do more reading after that initial one, what with practically running away from the Tower as soon as I was raised to the shawl, read upon everything you can find on the subject, lives of the past Ta'veren, treaties on their effect on history, even philosophical analysis on the nature of Ta'veren and how they effect the Pattern, anything and everything you can find on the subject. And Siuan, make notes, while we can easily exchange information via our bond, you have particular talent for investigation and analysis, your personal insight without my biases coloring your interpretation will be immensely helpful."
"High praise, coming from you. And Moiraine you are going to hate my next idea, but I want you to give it due consideration before saying anything. I want to secretly inform the Amyrlin about the Black Ajah and that they killed the previous Amyrlin and her searchers for Dragon Reborn, without mentioning the Dragon Reborn of course."
"Are you out of your mind Siuan?!"
"Moiraine listen to me! I know it is a risk, an enormous one even, but we have to try something, investigating Oath Rod is not enough, it is a thin thread to hang the fate of the world to. I know a way to get the information to the Amyrlin without exposing myself. You are the one who give me the idea actually. I managed to shrink the size of your Folded Light Ward and tweaked it so that in can be anchored to an object instead a place. The smaller size makes it so that Saidar required to weave it is almost negligible, near impossible to feel without being within a foot of it. Now I just need to time it just right so that the Amyrlin will find it in her bed chambers. Moiraine, she is the only person with any ability to do something about Black Ajah, its a risk we need to take."
"Are you sure that the information cannot be traced back to you Siuan? Absolutely sure?"
"Yes I am, I even practiced writing with my off hand so that the writing cannot be linked to me. Everything will be done in at most secrecy Moiraine, I promise you."
"Very well, have it you way, but please be very very careful. The Light guide your path, Siuan."
"That is the hope. Good night, Moiraine"
"Good night, Siuan."
