POV Kari al'Thor

Moiraines words came true and the Wisdom did arrive by the time the Aes Sedai was done with her bath. Once again the thought of an Aes Sedai in her home made Kari want to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, but no, it was real, all of it was. Even Moiraine insisting that Kari call her by given name was something she could not wrap her head around, but Moiraine was genuine in extending her friendship though, an Aes Sedai could not lie, that was something she knew from the stories and a fact even the Wisdom confirmed, and the Wisdom should know, she was more than two hundred years old, two hundred, Moiraine coming into her life turned so many things up side down and sideways, her head was still spinning even after near three months after meeting Moiraine.

The year before Moiraine came into her life was a waking nightmare though, the fact that she was dying, painfully, slowly and watching the anguish in Tams eyes and fear and confusion in her little boys beautiful face and hearing his frightened whimpers was a agony worse than any pain that the cancer inflicted on her body though. And the sheer pain was so bad that the Wisdom had to give the highest dose of milk of poppy she could without killing her just so that Kari could manage to sit in her own bed and spend some time with her son, by the end of it even that was not enough. Kari was sure that the time she had left could be counted in days if not hours.

Then came Moiraine and in a night her life changed, the pain was gone, her strength returned in matter of days and future was once again bright and full of hope. As though the Creator Himself has stretched forth His Hand to shield her from the ravages of illness. Even with all that Kari is ashamed to admit a small part of her heart is fearful and wary what price Moiraine would extract for this deliverance, even if Moiraine said straight out that the only thing she asks for return is to keep her presence quiet and she neither expects nor wants anything else from them and even if Kari herself offered Moiraine everything they had. Kari is still wary, after all the popular saying of 'what an Aes Sedai says might not mean what you think it does' is popular for a reason, all those stories about Aes Sedai are known far and wide for a reason, there could be no smoke without a fire somewhere. So Kari turned around every word Moiraine ever spoke to her and Tam in her mind again and again, still she could not find how she could have hidden something in her words, however Kari twisted them. Moiraine said exactly what she said, she helped because she could, she wants nothing else as recompense but their silence.

For that matter Moiraine is remarkably honest and straight forward in answering every question they asked, something even the Wisdom grudgingly admitted to. She was very open with her own life, she laughed and smiled and frowned like any woman, but most of the time she was very even keeled though, calm and serene, giving the impression of a woman with near infinite patience. And she was perhaps the most beautiful woman Kari ever saw, beautiful, royalty and an Aes Sedai to boot, however Moiraine insisted that she was minor royalty at best and even lost that when their House lost the Throne of Cairhein, Kari wondered how her life turned in to a gleemans tale. Even so Kari is grateful for it, all of it.


By the evening the three women gathered in the sitting room around the lone table in the house with a basket of cloths that need mending and Moiraine with a saddlebag stuffed full for some reason, while Tam, Lan and Rand took care of herding the sheep into their pens, the chicken into their coops, the sows into their pigsty and the horses to their stables, after which Tam and Lan would chop firewood and Rand would no doubt bother the men.

It is wonder to see Lan and Moiraine so seamlessly merge into their simple life of farmers and sheepherders. Moiraine and the Wisdom helped around the house as they discussed One Power freely, a subject which Kari thought she would never even get a passing familiarity with, the thought that both the Wisdom and her apprentice could channel was mindboggling. Moiraine helped with cooking and cleaning, even with laundry, though Kari was quick to make sure that Moiraine only hung the clothes to dry instead of actually washing the things, she was not about to let an Aes Sedai wash her small clothes, Light forbid. But the woman was entirely nonchalant about doing things that usually no doubt a legion of servants did for her, even smiling and saying that the work reminded her of her Novice days in the White Tower. Apparently the Novices were often ordered to do chores as punishments and switched quite often if their teachers deem it necessary, by the stories that Moiraine told she and her friend, one Siuan Sanche, were punished often.

Moiraine finally took out whats in the saddlebag which turned out to be fine made beige cloth, why beige? That looks fine as silk, who would dye silk in beige?! Just as she had the thought Moiraine placed the cloth on the table and the color somehow shifted and matched exact shade of brown as the table.

Perhaps seeing their stunned faces and hanging mouths, Moiraine almost smirked, a barely there quirk of her lips, "The cloth that famous Color Changing Cloaks of Warders is made from. It takes a lot of channeling and a very specific Ter'angreal to make it, Siuan gifted me a lot of it and I am making full set of clothing for Lan out of it, the tunic is already done, I am starting on britches now."

"How is it doing that?!", the Wisdom demanded, gathering her wits faster than Kari.

Here Moiraine deflated somewhat and shrugged, "Nobody knows. There is a Ter'angreal in the Tower, height of four feet and twice as wide, box shaped, with a narrow slits in the front and back, slide a bolt of cloth from one end to the other and a woman just needs to start channeling, the cloth comes out changed for the length that was fed into it while channeling. The cloth that comes out does not show any signs of One Power, its nature is just changed. And the Tower lost the Talent for making Ter'angreal millennia ago, nobody even truly studies them anymore. Too many deaths and Burn Outs." Moiraine shivered at the last word and Kari knows why, an Aes Sedai loses the ability to channel when she Burns Out, a fate they consider worse than death.

The atmosphere became subdued after that conversation and they got back to work until the menfolk finally returned.

Rand took one look at what Moiraines working on and shot to her side, shrieking, "What is that?"

Tam just took a look at it, he definitely knows what the cloth was, he has seen Warders before and turned to Lan rising a wry eyebrow, obviously questioning why Moiraines working on it when Lan surely had a cloak and got a half hearted shrug in return, just as obviously answering Moiraine does what she pleases. And men accuse women of having silent conversations with their eyes, when men can communicate with each other using just grunts, shrugs and eyebrows. Kari hasn't seen Tam and Lan speak three full sentences with each other yet they understand each other as though they are life long friends, brothers even.

Moiraine ruffled Rands hair with a fond look on her face and answered, "Its a special cloth, I am making britches for Uncle Lan with it."

"Why do the colors changes?", Rand asked curiously almost touching his nose to the cloth peering at it.

"Because its a very special cloth made using a very special method with a very special tool. I will tell more of it when you grow older", Moiraine replied in a gentle tone, methodically storing the needles and folding the cloth.

"Will you make clothes for me too with it, please, Auntie Mo, please", Rand begged Moiraine. And Kari could see Moiraine visibly softening, practically melting, as she always did whenever Rand called her 'Auntie Mo'. Just as Kari was gathering herself to intervene and say no to Rand, Moiraine shook herself and said, "You are growing boy aren't you?", once again ruffling Rands hair, "if I make one for you now, you will quickly grow out of them."

Rands pout got more pronounced before he nodded his head seriously, obviously thinking over what Moiraine said and asked with same serious look on his face, "So you will make one for me when I stop growing bigger?"

Moiraine with that same indulging look on her face said, "We will see."

"Its a promise, Auntie Mo", and ran off just as Tam called his name, no doubt Tam drew a tub of hot water for Rand.

"He will remember that", Kari warned Moiraine.

Moiraine slowly shook her head and said with amusement, "He is a little boy, in a day he will forget all about it, as all little boys do, they don't have that big of an attention span, you know ."

Now the Wisdom snorted and shook her head with amusement and said, "I thought you learned by now, he is a Two Rivers lad, we are a stubborn folk."

That is an understatement, Kari thought and they started on the preparations for dinner.