Egwene sat on the throne of the Amyrlin Seat with great boredom. At first she had taken on all the tasks of her position, but countless late nights had changed her mind. Now, any Aes Sedai who proved her talent in one of the administrative tasks had been assigned to it, and now Egwene was left with nothing to do except review some unproductive petitions which proved to be quite difficult to deflect. Gawyn was away on some Andoran business for his sister, and therefore an interesting debate about the intrigues of Seanchan politics this hot afternoon was ruled out.
Elayne. Hmph. She had indeed given birth to a boy and a girl, as Min had foreseen, but instead of cool-headed children whom Egwene thought the babies would grow up into, they had instead become twin terrors, rampaging through the palace in Caemlyn. It turned out Elayne had been as much of a brat in her youth, like Rand, who always got into trouble with Mat back home at the Two Rivers. Every child was a blessing, an age-old idiom stated. Egwene chose to remain skeptical about that.
To add unto her troubles, Sheriam had pronounced Egwene's proposal to marry her Warder scandalous. Scandalous! Nynaeve and the great numbers of Aes Sedai marrying were all right, but the idea of the Amyrlin Seat thinking of marrying was scandalous! It was all the rage now, going to the Black Tower to net a husband. A few Aes Sedai had asked for extended trips to the Black Tower, giving quite ambiguous reasons by which Egwene was not fooled. However, she let them go, for she understood the need for physical and emotional comfort. Besides, the Asha' man are the only men who live as long as us aside from wilders, Egwene thought. Couples like Nynaeve's were pitied, for she would outlive her husband by a couple of hundred of years.
Egwene thanked the Light once more that Gawyn had passed the test, even though his ability with the Power was weak, like his mother's, he would still be able to live as long as herself. She shivered at the thought of Gawyn white-haired and bent-backed, while she remained youthful and sprightly, and then grieving through the centuries after his death.
She decided to take a walk. Her limbs were aching from sitting in that hard chair and on the lumpy cushion provided – it was time to get a new cushion! – And besides, she was the Amyrlin Seat, and not even kings and queens could claim to be of a higher rank than her, and so who could stop her from taking an innocent walk?
As she stood, she happened to notice the newly-arrived group of men at the Tower gates. Could it be? She quickly focused flows of Air on the spot to bring her a close-up view of Gawyn before releasing the Power, shocked. It had worked! The Power was working again! Quickly she rushed to the door, flung it open, lifted up her skirt and ran down the corridor. The fact that Gawyn had arrived also helped to add to her euphoria. Quite the twin blessings, indeed.
Turning round a corner, she nearly knocked into a White, who was shocked out of her reverie by the sight of the Amyrlin. The woman looked mightily offended, before she recognised Egwene. Hurriedly, Egwene cut in before the other woman managed to curtsey. "The Power's working again!"
She turned to the window facing the courtyard, and drew on the Power to magnify her voice. "The Power's working again!" It rang out across the courtyard loud and clear, and the sisters and Warders training there looked up.
--
Well. She was back to her former self again. Rapping him on the head with a seriously heavy fan she got from the-Light-knows-where, giving him the cold shoulder whenever she felt like it. It was a good thing Pips was a good-natured horse, for he did not think most would be able to stand her current exuberant mood. What was so nice about looking at the Black Tower's armaments? They were ridiculously huge, and looked to be – manned by one person! He could not think of many weapons THAT large that required only one person to use…his own Dragons required a good three men, maybe two if you were short of them.
He decided to have some fun. Looking back to make sure that Selucia was sufficiently a goodly way behind so that he could accomplish his misdeed without her interfering, he was immediately struck with a cool gaze when his head turned back. "Are you planning to do something funny, Matrim? You know I do not like most of what you deem as funny."
Mat gave her an innocent look, by which she was not fooled. As she tried to jump off Pips, he grabbed her waist and pulled her against him. He was well aware that the thing she feared and hated most was public affection, and only little things like sharing a saddle or an arm were acceptable. She only tolerated it in some cases when she wanted to gain a upper hand over somebody, most usually himself. So he kissed her. Deeply. She resisted at first, of course, but it was futile, since he already knew all her tricks of getting out of his hold. At the cost of many bruises all over, in fact. In the end when they parted she was gasping for breath, and so was he.
He knew without a doubt that she was embarrassed and angry, and very much so, for her face was now harder than well forged steel. "You did not have to do that."
"I know." He gave her his best well-polished grin, and put his arms around her waist, and held onto the reins. She shifted a little to show that she was not going to give in so easily, and then settled in the saddle. No Seanchan were around to see anyway, and Selucia was considered a confidante. She was considerably more uptight when any of her subjects were around.
As he was about to get more comfortable, they stopped. He quickly dismounted, and offered to help his wife down. Tuon hopped off the saddle lightly, and ignored his hand beside her. Mat grimaced. As he handed the reins to a groom, he saw Cadsuane eyeing Nynaeve like a child looking at his first bit of candy. She turned the full prowess of her gaze upon him. He grinned weakly at her. That was one to look out for.
He walked casually to Nynaeve's side, and whispered, "Look out. The cranky Aes Sedai has her eyes on you. I think she is about to pull you into some absurd scheme of hers. You know those Aes Sedai."
Nynaeve sniffed and walked off. "Mind your own business." Mat was about to follow her when Lan casually stood in his way, and Mat stood back. He was not one to invite a beating, and besides, she obviously did not care for his valuable advice.
Women. Mat thought. They just didn't appreciate what you did for them. He took out his waterskin and took a long draught of the finest Tairen wine, and followed them in.