The next week went well enough thanks to them setting up a collection of portkeys that took people back and forth from the portal stone to the base with a password. Various groups were sent out to different worlds with the help of several dozen male channelers. It was rather impressive how many people they could bring back just on the promise of a location safe from the breaking.

Sadly most of the groups took some losses as several groups proved more hostile than expected. Still, they were mapping the groups out and getting better at recruiting which meant that by the end of the week they had only lost eight wizards and twenty channelers of middling strength and little talent. In exchange they brought in over two thousand rather powerful female channelers and thirty five hundred more males that could channel as well as several warehouses full of ter'angreal and a storeroom with angreal and sa'angreal.

In short while raiding doomed worlds was certainly a useful idea, it was also problematic. By the end of the fourth week various factions in the female camp wanted to sever the males even if they were harmless while the dampening field was up. Needless to say none of the males appreciated this view at all. On top of that mess, various male channelers were complaining about not having better access to more untainted power. It was a powder keg ready to explode, everyone was making more demands, such as wanting to meet up with their factions on this world which couldn't be allowed for various reasons. Still, Harry had managed to put a lid on everything by going through and using the Loliblade on everyone that wanted to be younger and was willing to copy their memories. The promise of a longer life kept most of the people on their best behavior at least until he left with the Loliblade.

Once that happened the factions went back to arguing and bitching and sniping at each other. In short it was a mess which is why no one was all that surprised when things came to violence a couple of days after Harry's group left which cost the group another wizard before Arcturus said enough was a fucking enough and activated the female side of the dampening field.

Once the field was up the remaining wizards and witches laid into the group with stunners. From there it was just a matter of tossing all of the channelers into prisons so that they could go through one at a time and obliviate just about every channeler until they had little personality left though he left their knowledge of weaves. After that Arcturus used the gender flipping belt Harry had left and turned most of the males into females. From there it was a simple matter to use Kreacher and the sperm he'd stolen from Lews Therin to impregnate half of them.

0o0o0

Harry yawned as he reappeared in the living room with the rest of his group. "I'm looking forward to a burger."

Tony laughed. "I could go for a couple of hamburgers and a milkshake."

James said, "Let's get some lunch then check on things. I have a feeling that Minerva wouldn't mind spending nine years in another world exploring the new wizarding world before she comes back to teach at Hogwarts. Hagrid would be another person that could benefit from being reduced in age and sent back to school."

Sirius said, "Madam Pomfrey might like to spend nine years learning different magic spells."

Lily shook her head. "This is assuming that Arcturus actually managed to create a wizarding world worth anything."

Tony said, "I'm curious what they managed to accomplish with my city designs."

Anna said, "It's worth looking into."

Hermione glanced at the clock on the wall. "I should call my parents."

Lily said, "That's probably a good idea."

Hermione headed to the kitchen to call her folks.

Harry smirked. "Either way, we should draw up some more plans now that we're getting close to the main timeline. The main players are born, the stage is set which means we can interfere a lot more."

Beth cackled as she rubbed her hands together. "How much do you think it would cost to flat out buy the entire Two Rivers area from the queen?"

Sirius asked, "Are we sure it's worth it?"

"Considering the queen hasn't sent a tax collector there in decades, I have a feeling that we'll be able to buy it for a few chests of gold and gems or maybe a couple sets of heartstone plates. Besides, buying the land would let us make improvements to the area. We should buy out Taren Ferry while we're at it."

James said, "I guess it could be fun."

Remus rubbed his chin. "We could probably enchant a town map to keep track of people or even a map of the surrounding area."

"That would certainly help."

Lily asked, "Putting aside plans to buy the town for a minute, how many people do you think we could take to Hogwarts with us?"

Moody shook his head. "That depends on how well the project went. We might get there and find nothing or get there and find it overflowing with wizards. Either way, I need to check in at the office now that my vacation is done."

James laughed. "You've been stockpiling vacation days for decades, live a little."

"I did and how I have to go back in and make sure no one killed themselves in my absence."

Tony said, "Speaking of money, I don't suppose someone can float me some startup cash?"

Harry said, "Sure, how much do you need?"

"Ten thousand?" Tony asked hopefully.

"I'll get you a bunch of pirate coins and gems to sell, that should cover your start up costs."

"Thanks."

Nymphadora looked at the clock. "I should probably go visit my parents for a bit if we're going to back to the Wheel of Time world tomorrow."

James said, "Sounds good to me."

0o0o0

McGonagall raised her eyebrows as she studied James' face. "Let me get this straight, you're jumping into a world that might have an entire society of wizards and witches because you put them there three thousand years ago?" She looked at Lily. "Did he lose his mind?"

Lily laughed. "He's as sane as ever."

"That's not saying much."

James mock pouted. "Hey, now."

Lily patted James' arm. "It's okay, we still love you." She turned back to look at McGonagall. "James' sanity aside, the offer is actually legitimate."

"If I go and don't leave when Harry leaves, I'll have eight or nine years to explore around and only a couple of days will pass in this world?" McGonagall asked.

"That's the long and the short of it. I know that nine years away from Hogwarts is a while but it would give you the chance to take a break, practice your skills for real and maybe even pick up something new."

McGonagall considered her options, she didn't really see a problem with taking a nice long vacation from Hogwarts, especially since she'd still get to come back in September. Being able to travel around and enjoy life again had a certain amount of appeal. Her summers were normally spent relaxing with family but even that was bittersweet the last couple of years after her husband died. Besides, she was thirteen again, it was the perfect time to explore a strange new world and have some fun. "I bet we could talk Pomona and Poppy into jumping with us if you restored their youth."

James nodded. "I don't see a problem with that."

"In that case, when do we leave?"

Lily glanced at the clock. "As soon as you can get Pomona and Poppy here and as soon as Nymphadora gets back from visiting with her parents."

"I'll call them on the floo. You should consider telling Albus about this opportunity, I have a feeling that he'd enjoy having another world to explore. Besides, it would give him a chance to clear his head and get out of the office."

James considered the pros, another wizard on their side if the wizarding world in the book turned out to be insane, a chance for Albus to explore and have some fun and hopefully relax a bit and a chance to get Albus to focus on something other than Voldemort for a couple of years. "If you want to tell him about the idea, go for it. Feel free to use the fireplace."

"Thank you."

0o0o0

Albus stared at 'his' reflection in the mirror. In a weird way the strangest thing about his appearance was that 'his' nose was perfectly straight for the first time since his brother broke it all those years ago. Of course the lack of beard was a bit disconcerting but it wouldn't really have fit with 'his' baseball sized breasts or the youthful look of 'his' face. "I wonder if they would let me study the magic bracelet."

McGonagall finished adjusting Albus's robes with her wand. "That should do it for your robes. As for the bracelet, they might as long as you can promise that your tests won't damage it. Then again, they might not. If people knew they had the bracelet they'd be almost as hunted as Nicholas for his stone."

"Perhaps." He turned and walked out of the bathroom and back to the living room. He smiled at Sirius. "I'd be honored to join your adventure though I do wish you'd tell me where you found such an interesting magic item."

Sirius laughed. "Of course not, it's part of the mystery and thus the fun. Speaking of fun, we should be on our way as soon as Madam Pomfrey gets back with Hagrid."

Albus asked, "Speaking of adventure, can you give us more detail about where we're going?"

"The world knows of magic or at least the local style of magic. It's set in the late middle ages or so for technology. Men that can use magic are tainted and doomed to go insane for the most part, don't worry the taint doesn't affect us. When we left, Arcturus Black was working on creating a town of magic users. It might have prospered, it might not have, thus the fun. Most of us will be jumping in and exploring for a day or two then jumping out. Some of you will be staying behind for the next eight years and change. At which we'll pick you back up and only a day or two will have passed out here."

"In other words we should be careful about using magic in front of people."

Sirius shrugged. "You'll be fine, you're a girl, at least currently."

Albus asked, "Who all is staying?"

"Provided the wizarding world is worth staying for, Minerva, Hagrid so he can complete his education, Moody because he wants to grow up, Nymphadora because she wants to work on her auror training with Moody off the books, Pomfrey because she's interested in learning anything new they've come up with and Sprout because she's curious about any strange plants."

McGonagall said, "I'm looking forward to exploring the world a bit and getting out of the classroom for a while."

Sirius grinned. "You've been teaching nonstop for decades, it's okay to let your hair down."

"I'm looking forward to it." The more McGonagall thought about it the more she was looking forward to having some time off. She loved teaching but at the same time, she hadn't taken enough time for herself in years.

0o0o0

Egwene al'Vere jumped in shock and dropped her water bucket when a large group of strangely dressed people appeared out of thin air in front of her. "Light!"

Harry grinned as he saw the nine year old girl with long dark hair. "Egwene al'Vere?"

"Ah, yes?" Egwene answered uncertainly. It wasn't everyday that people appeared out of thin air that knew your name.

Harry said, "Ah, good, we're in the right place. Is today the shearing?"

Egwene stared at Hagrid as she was the tallest girl she'd ever seen. "You're tall."

Hagrid smiled down at the child. Even with using the bracelet 'he' was still well over six foot. "Just a bit but don't worry your pretty little head, you're safe enough."

Anna giggled. "Perfect."

Beth glanced down at the bucket that their arrival had most likely caused the girl to drop. "Let's go get your bucket filled up."

"Ah… thank you," Egwene said as Anna and Beth marched her off to help fill her bucket.

Albus glanced around at the locals as the twins walked off with a local. "A local festival?"

Hermione said, "It's the day the sheep are sheared and the merchants come and buy the wool."

Moody asked, "Where is the wizarding island?"

Sirius said, "A few thousand miles to the south. I've got a portkey that should take us close. We'll fly the rest of the way."

Remus glanced in the direction Anna and Beth wandered off. "What about the girls?"

"I'll stay and make sure they're staying out of trouble," Nymphadora replied.

Harry shook his head. "Good luck with that."

Lily said, "Let's create some portkeys so we can return here if there's a problem with the wizarding town."

0o0o0

The first sight of the island took the group's breath way. There were hundreds of people flying around above the wondrous city, everything from brooms and carpets to unassisted flight or at least apparently unassisted flight, it was a bit hard to tell from the distance they were at. Harry laughed. "I guess that answers the question of them surviving."

James asked, "Shall we fly closer?"

Tony still wasn't sure about riding a broom but his power armor was a bit too noticeable so it was shrunk and packed away unless he actually needed it. "We might as well."

Instead of the humble beach they'd last seen when they left, the beach had been replaced by an even larger beach. The rock of the surrounding area had been fused into massive two hundred foot tall terraced cliffs with glasslike quarter domes over each level. There were paths for the rainwater to flow and everything looked to have been crafted with loving detail. Past the beach was a series of terraced landings with ramps between the levels. There were various buildings made of a black stonelike substance and glasslike domes that looked remarkably sane considering the insanity of the building material. In short the port city didn't look like anything that should exist in a medieval setting. It also didn't didn't look like the haphazard or at least individualistic construction most of them were used to from the wizarding world.

Sirius frowned slightly as a group of twenty women in their early twenties flew up to greet them on brooms. Each of them wore fabric that shifted through the rainbow at random, sometimes a color lasted almost five seconds in patches and other times shifted between multiple colors almost quicker than the eye could follow. "Hello?"

The lead girl said, "Welcome to Blackgate Port, you've been expected."

"Is that a good thing?" Sirius asked.

The woman laughed. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you to the council chambers."

Lily whispered, "We might as well see how bad things are."

Harry kept glancing between the various people flying around and the city as they followed the team of twenty woman toward a large tower. The layout looked a bit strange until you remembered that the wizards had brooms and other types of flight then it started to make more sense. "This place is awesome."

The leader of the guards laughed as the other girls spread out into what was rather obviously a lobby. "This is a mere port city, you should see the capital. Feel free to leave your brooms on the stand or shrink them." She turned and walked through the lobby and over to where two naked woman were standing at attention in front of a large ornate black metal door. "They're here."

The naked women smiled as they pulled ropes and the doors swung open as the crew finished putting their brooms away. "May we introduce Selena Potter, a.k.a the Lady of Death."

A stunning almost six and a half foot tall woman with blazing red hair walked through the doors wearing a shimmering silk like gown that danced with dark smokey colors. "I have been waiting a very long time to meet you grandpa."

Harry asked, "Grandpa?"

"Anna and Beth donated a lot of sperm and it was used to impregnate a decent number of people. My mother was the offspring of one of the original telepaths and Lews Therin."

Harry blinked, "Wait, what? Lews Therin?"

"Apparently the founder harvested some of his genetic material when he first arrived."

Sirius asked, "I probably shouldn't be asking but how old are you?"

Selena mock pouted at Sirius. "Don't you know that you're not supposed to ask a lady her age?"

"You look like you're in your twenties…"

"I'm three thousand four hundred and eighty one. I look good for my age don't I?"

Albus blinked in surprise. "You're how old?"

"Three thousand four hundred and eighty one years old, I'm one of the oldest channelers around." She gestured toward the two naked girls. "You're free the rest of the day."

The two girls flashed a smile at Selena then snapped their fingers and vanished.

Albus stared at the woman. "Wizards typically don't live that long."

"Actually, when you take a wizard or a witch and give them channeling they live a very long time unless they die in battle or by misfortune. Some of the channelers lasted two thousand years. Some are still alive though they look rather ancient. That said my half sisters or cousins have held up the best of any of the island's citizens."

Sarah said, "You can blame that on the elf blood, we're immortal or near enough."

"Define near enough?"

"About 10,000 years to a human year after we hit maturity then factor in magic. So yeah, nigh immortal."

"Good to know." Selena looked over the group. "Let's see, great grandma and grandpa Lily and James Potter, Mr. Tony Stark, Lady Hermione Granger, Miss McGonagall, Moody, Remus, Lord Black and I'm not sure about the rest of you I'm afraid. I don't see the twins either."

Hermione spoke up, "They're making friends with some local talent."

Albus raised an eyebrow as he looked at Lily and James. "Something you want to tell me?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Fine, we came back from the dead, deal with it, we have. Moving on, the red haired girl is Albus Dumbledore, the tall girl is Hagrid, the other two are Poppy and Pomona."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Now that you're here, I'm guessing you'd like a summary of our history?" Selena asked.

Albus blinked in surprise as he hadn't expected Lily to admit to coming back from the dead. He was going to have to ask about that later.

Harry nodded. "That would be useful."

0o0o0

Selena gestured and conjured a fluffy aim chair for everyone. "Keep in mind, I wasn't around for the first part of the story so this is taken from secondhand accounts and the archives. Basically, after you left, Arcturus and the rest of the magic users created a number of temporary towns and used Mr. Stark's plans for the great cities. That helped with the population pressure and the various factions that they were having problems with."

Albus sat down in the chair next to him. "What type of factions?"

"The details are a bit sketchy on that part of history but by the time I was born the factions had mostly vanished save for some interesting holidays that the original wizards incorporated. Anyways, they spent the next year working on creating domed farms for growing food and keeping the various magical creatures and plants alive. It was far colder back before we put in all of the thermal vents."

Lily sat down in her chair. "Sorry about that, I guess we should have tried harder to sort things out before we left."

Selena shrugged. "It's ancient history. Anyways, we managed to acquire an interesting number of items over the years trading with other worlds."

Albus asked, "Other worlds?"

"We used the portal stones, they're large stationary magical devices that allow travel to alternate worlds. The wizard council used them to trade with other worlds and recruit magic users and craftsman. They managed to recruit a large number of channelers and people that could learn to channel the first couple of years before the Breaking started to get serious then they scaled things back to almost nothing. They shifted focus and poured a lot of effort into recording all of the wizarding magic books and recovered history books into forms that would last as well as recording their memories so the knowledge would be available for the future generations. Because of the number of non-wizards at that point in history the schools were mixed schools. Everyone took the theory classes and the people with the talent took the classes that helped."

Pomona asked, "Why take classes for stuff you couldn't use?"

"Mostly because at that point, we really needed to learn to work together and to know what everyone else could do. No matter what your level of skill is, your talents limit what you can do with this world's magic."

Harry asked, "Did anyone ever figure out a way to duplicate weaves with wizarding magic?"

"No but they discovered a number of spells that weren't in the books by studying the effects of channeling and other things. If you're going to be sticking around, I can suggest some classes."

Albus said, "I'm looking forward to it."

Lily said, "Some of us are going to be sticking around and some of us aren't."

Selena nodded. "Anyways, back to the story. It was considered a rite of passage in my youth to travel to a different world using the portal stones and see how many people you could recruit."

Lily winced. "How many people died?

Selena said, "More than a few but typically speaking only the insane risked their lives traveling to blind addresses. There was a lot of glory in finding a new address and bringing it back so that you could raid it with your friends. Typically when we did it we used a luck potion and recorded as many safe addresses as we could then picked one to explore after coming back with a list."

Albus asked, "How often did you use it?"

"Rather sparingly over the years, the stuff isn't the safest elixir around but it's safer than a blind jump without it. I was young and less wise than I am now. It was certainly a risk but every world we knew of allowed us to skim the cream of the crop for items and power. As our numbers grew and our cities filled in with channelers or wizards we cut back on the recruiting and just went for the best of the best to help keep our bloodlines viable. We also kept trade up with various groups both for secrets and for sanity."

Poppy asked, "Wasn't there anything you could do about the madness?"

"The taint can be slowed down but not cured with a ring of protection from evil. Various potions help but don't cure it. We did what we could but sometimes the best solution was to cut them off from magic and go on your way."

Hermione asked, "And the naked girls?"

"Ah, they're called house girls. Arcturus used Kreacher to create a few thousand half elves with channelers over the first couple of years."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure if he was trying to breed house elf magic into the population or make a large group of loyal channelers. The results look human eventually but they have a house elf's magic and a strong desire to work and take care of a wand user or family of wizards."

Hermione asked, "So they're slaves like house elves?"

"No, they can leave and they aren't property. They're family. As for the lack of clothes, you'll find that people dress however they like on the island. Most house girls dislike clothes, it might be a quirk of the magic or it might just be a cultural thing."

Lily asked, "Are there house boys?"

"Not in this house." Selena stuck her tongue out at Lily.

Tony spoke up, "What about the technology level?"

"We can repair the technology we have and replicate more parts for various systems but we haven't pushed things forward because we didn't want to be noticed and had other things to worry about. There are a couple of science bases on alternate worlds that are running experiments and doing more with science but that's not my department, I'm the Lady of Blackgate."

McGonagall asked, "How many magic schools do you have?"

"At least a couple per city and there are a decent number of cities."

"So many?"

Selena shrugged. "We have around twenty five million people on our island. While a fair number aren't wand users, they all have magic."

Albus asked in disbelief, "What about the squibs?"

Selena sighed. "The law is rather clear on that. We've noticed that there are two types of squibs, some of them pass on magic genetics just fine, some don't. We merely watch the first type and check on their children with glasses. Typically though that's not a problem as incompatibility is something we can screen for. The second type are typically banished through the portal stone to an alternate world or temporarily castrated with a charm so they can't pollute the bloodlines."

Albus winced. "That's rather harsh."

"It's temporary, if they leave the charm is reversed and they're free to mix in magical genetics on other worlds. We have a watcher stationed on the world we send them to. If any wand users pop up we sweep in and recruit them or at least monitor things. We've also spread some genetics in various alternate worlds for the purpose of creating more magic users and to keep our island from getting too inbred. It's not a perfect system but we have nearly twenty million wizards on our island which isn't too shabby."

Hagrid asked, "How do you keep them from wandering off?"

"We're raised to believe in the mission, to know in our bones that one day we will raise up and sweep the darkness from the land and kick the dark one in the nuts until he dies. We have spent three and a half thousand years working toward this one goal. That and we have other worlds that we can wander around in. That said, we've been keeping a quiet eye on things in this one."

Lily said, "Now that the main players are born, I think it's time to unleash the dogs of war. I'm planning on buying the Two Rivers from the Queen and then buying out Teran Ferry. We have eight years to turn it into a fortified area and teach everyone to channel that can before the main players start on their quest."

Selena rubbed her hands together. "I actually have some good news on that front. One of my earliest raids netted me a domination band which is an item that lets two females control a male's channeling. This isn't really all that useful except for a quirk. They can't force him to draw more than he safely can while he's wearing it. He can't draw more than he should be able to while wearing it. I managed to design training bracelets based on it that let someone draw up to their limit safety. They're some of the best ways to train people we've ever found."

Poppy said, "The more I hear about this world's magic the less safe it sounds."

"Everything has dangers and yes, my telepathic abilities work just fine Sirius and no you can't fuck me while in dog form."

Sirius gulped. "I wasn't thinking that!"

"I know, you were thinking doing other inappropriate things with you tongue." She stuck her tongue out at Sirius to show that she wasn't offended.

Sirius sighed. "I can't win this can I?"

"Not really, I've been doing this a long time. Speaking of time, I'll call for lunch and we can discuss our strategy for the next eight years."

Albus said, "I could eat though, if you don't mind-"

"I'll have the gender flipping belt sent for."

"That's disconcerting," he admitted.

"You'll get used to it," Selena replied.

Lily said, "Actually, speaking of, can you help-"

"Help with the queen? Of course, I have several sets of heartstone that I believe she'd be interested in as well as a decent war chest."

"Thank you."

"I've been looking forward to the next step for a very long time."

0o0o0

Harry felt his heart lurch as he realized that everyone else wanted to stay for the eight years that he'd be skipping. He clamped down on the urge to shout and gnash his teeth and tried to look at it objectively. His parents wanted to see what they could turn the Two Rivers into and Hermione wanted to go to a school that actually taught computers, science and technology alongside magic without anyone putting her down for being 'muggleborn'. He glanced over at Anna and Beth. "Are you sure that you want to stay?"

Anna smiled as she glanced over at the very cute naked girl that had served the food then back at Harry. "Yes. I mean we'll miss you but we'll have Hermione and I really want to try to seduce Egwene and some of the other girls."

Beth snickered. "Besides, we can always use the Loliblade and two youth potions and go to Hogwarts with you when we get back."

Lily spoke up, "We're going to miss you but it's a chance to brush up on our skills and oversee the Two Rivers Project."

"She's right, we're going to miss you but this is a great chance to have some fun. Besides, like Beth said, we'll still be going to Hogwarts with you." James was hoping that another eight years would help him wrap his head around having a son that was only ten years younger than he was.

Harry sighed. "I guess I can understand, if I could stay without time advancing I would."

Hermione asked hesitantly, "You're not mad are you?"

Harry pulled Hermione into a hug. "Of course I'm not mad at you Mione. I just don't want you to forget about me."

Hermione hugged Harry tightly. "That's not going to happen." She whispered into his ear, "Besides, I'll be thinking about you every time I have sex with your daughters."

Harry smiled as she lifted Hermione up and spun her around before he set her down. "Don't have too much fun while I'm gone."

"I'll try," she replied with amusement.

Harry looked over at Lily and James. "Stay safe, I don't want to have to bring you back from the dead again any time soon."

Lily smiled as she stepped forward and pulled him in for a hug. "Don't worry, we'll be as safe as we can."

"I'll make sure of it this time," Sirius stated firmly.

Remus stated, "We'll make sure of it."

James pulled his wife and son into a hug. "You've got the easy job, in and out and you're back."

"You're right, in and out and I'll catch you on the flipside." Harry pulled the Loliblade out of his pocket and handed it to Hermione once James stopped crushing him. "Keep it safe and use it on anyone you need to."

Hermione smiled as she put the bracelet in her pocket. "This should help a lot."

Anna and Beth ran forward and hugged Harry being careful not to crush his ribs with their supernatural strength. "We'll miss you."

"I'll be back on Winternight." Harry jumped out of the book before he lost his nerve.

Lily sighed. "Eight years…"

James winced. "We'll just have to stay busy. Speaking of busy, we should talk to Selena about the queen and their plans for the rest of the world."

"I guess we should get started on that."

0o0o0

Dealing with the Queen of Andor was easier than Lily had been expecting, it had taken two large chests of gems and gold and several sets of heartstone place settings but they now owned the Two Rivers as their own kingdom. She knew it was little more than legal fiction at this point as the region hadn't seen a tax collector in generations but a couple of chests of trinkets, gold and replicated gems was a small price to pay for legitimacy and good relations as far as she was concerned. Another small cask of gold and the queen was willing to send fifty soldiers to inform the various Two Rivers townsfolk of that fact.

The next step in Lily's plan involved having a group of wealthy 'merchants' walk into Taren Ferry and offer to buy various farms and homes for gold. They didn't get all that many takers but that wasn't the point. The point was to pass the offer around, buy up any land that people wanted to sell then 'vanish' for a couple of days inspecting property until the Andorian soldiers came through and informed the townsfolk that someone had bought the land from the crown.

Amusingly enough once Gareth Bryne came through with fifty Andorian guards a lot more people were willing to take the gold and move north to the city of Baerlon than were willing to put up with some crazy new 'king'. Of course that attitude had been helped along by certain rumors that Sirius had planted but either way, they managed to acquire a decent amount of the town by buying off the people that lived there with gold and gems.

From there it was a simple matter of marching two hundred half naked battle trained combat girls in and setting up shop. The remaining woman's council had a hissy fit and demanded that they cover up. The girls had laughed at them and told them they had a right to wear whatever they wanted in their kingdom. After that most of the woman dragged their husbands to Lily's group and sold their homes and or lands and left for saner pastures north of the river.

The owner of the ferry had resisted leaving until a few of the girls had built fused stone towers on each side of the river then created a magic drawbridge. Once he realized that his livelihood was dust in the wind, he packed up everything he owned and left after selling what he had.

From there it was as simple as most of the girls putting on their uniforms and going south to talk to the mayors of Watch Hill, Emond's Field and Deven Ride while the rest worked on building crystal pillars around the village that would violently deal with an shadowspawn that tried to enter the region. It wasn't nice and tipped their hand a touch but at this point they didn't really care.

Amusingly or not depending, people got rather polite when you showed up with two hundred combat trained soldiers. The mayors complained a bit about the transfer of power and about how they'd been governing themselves for generations but at the end of the day, Lily's group wasn't changing much of anything that mattered to the menfolk. The only change was cleaning up Taren Ferry by offering a more than honest amount for the various farms and buildings. No one could really complain about that other than some of the Coplins but they complained about everything.

The women's council on the other hand was livid about the law that said people could wear whatever they wanted. Still, after some gnashing of teeth and some glares, they handled it better than the Taren Ferry folk by merely making it known that just because it was allowed, didn't mean the villagers were allowed to dress scandalously. A couple of girls decided to push things and the guards laughed their asses off when various mothers and grandmothers chased the girls off with switches. The guards stepped in a couple of times when said girls got harassed by other people but eventually things calmed down to a dull roar on the part of the women and little more than passing amusement by the men.

0o0o0

Doral Barran looked up at the knock on her door. "Enter."

Lily smiled as she stepped inside the Wisdom's house and looked around the orderly home/place of work.

"You look healthy so I'm guessing you didn't come for a cure Lady Potter."

Lily glanced over at the seventeen year old young lady that was preparing herbs then back at the white haired old Wisdom. "I came to talk to you about Nynaeve and a fair number of the young folk in the region."

Nynaeve squeezed her braid as she tried to figure out how the supposed lady of the region even knew her name but kept her mouth shut with an effort of will.

Doral asked, "What about her?"

Lily said, "I'll be blunt, she can channel."

Doral narrowed her eyes as she looked at Lily. "I'd wondered."

Nynaeve demanded, "What do you mean?"

"I mean you have the potential to heal people with magic."

"I'm like an Aes Sedai?" She asked with disbelief and some annoyance.

"You can channel, aside from that, not particularly. I've found most Aes Sedai to be annoying people, they twist words into lies of omission and generally think they know what's best for everyone."

Doral smirked. "See, nothing alike."

Nynaeve scowled at Doral then looked back at Lily. "What of it?"

Lily said, "I'd like to provide a teacher to teach everyone in the village with the potential. That is why I'd like the Wisdom's help."

Doral asked, "To what point?"

"The last battle is coming, the Dragon has been reborn and unless certain people play their parts the world will head down a very dark path."

"Why tell us?"

"Because several key players in the last battle are from here."

Doral said, "I noticed that you didn't say born here."

"You're right, I didn't but I'd ask you not to mention that little detail. None of them are ready to take their place in the wider world yet."

Nynaeve's mind flashed to Rand, the only child she knew of that hadn't been born in the Two Rivers. "Are you sure you're not crazy?"

Lily held up her hand and conjured a ball of fire over it. "I'm not insane. I'm not lying though I can and I'm trying to save the world."

Nynaeve stared at the flame. "I thought Aes Sedai couldn't lie."

"Yes and no." Lily dismissed the ball of fire. "Channelers are human which means they can lie which I'm sure you well know."

Nynaeve though about some of the times she'd had to tell people it would be okay when she knew it wouldn't. "Yes, I try not to but sometimes the only thing to do is hold someone's hand and tell them it will be okay."

"Aes Sedai are different, they swear on a ter'angreal that binds their vows to their flesh. In their eyes and the eyes of most in this part of the world, the oaths are what make them Aes Sedai. To put it bluntly, the oaths are foolish. No one with a lick of sense believes an Aes Sedai without carefully picking apart exactly what they said thus what's the point in promising to be honest if people still can't trust you?"

Doral nodded. "She has a point."

"The oaths also robbed them of the knowledge of making weapons to use against the dark one because they might be used by men against men. I'll be honest, swords are swords until you're fighting monsters then I'd take a power wrought sword any day of the week over a piece of steel."

Nynaeve asked, "Couldn't you make a blade if you specifically intended it to be used against shadowspawn?"

"You'd think but they haven't, either because they're too stupid or because they believe that people might use it against other people eventually."

Doral asked, "You've made your point about Aes Sedai, why train the children?"

"I want them to survive, without training some of them will die of a wasting sickness."

Nynaeve snorted. "You want us to help you against the White Tower?"

"It's not illegal in this land to channel, it's not illegal in Andor to channel. It's illegal to claim to be Aes Sedai in Andor and other places but that's not what we're doing. What we're doing is preparing for the last battle and training children to channel."

Doral asked, "How many of the girls can channel?"

Lily said, "There are dozens of them in the Two Rivers. You'd be a treasure trove for the tower but I'd rather that not happen. They failed this nation before so I'd rather see them trained by someone that doesn't have their insane need to be in charge."

Nynaeve asked, "I could heal people if I was trained?"

"Yes."

Doral asked, "What do you want from her in exchange for training?"

"You mean beyond following the rules while she's a student? I'd only ask that she uses her power as her heart desires. It's a gift from the creator and hers to use as she desires. Of course, training the power might cut into her free time a little."

Doral said, "I'm sure we can make it work."

"I'd rather not abandon my training here."

"I wouldn't want you to. That's why we'll be bringing in a healer to train you and learn from Doral if that's acceptable?" Lily replied.

Doral asked, "And the other children?"

"That's why I need your help, I'm not sure how to convince everyone's parents that they should have special education."

"I'm sure I can think of something, I'm assuming you're doing the same in the other villages?"

Lily shrugged. "Other than Taren Ferry, the blood was so diluted that only one of the girls could channel and her family had just moved there. We ended up hiring her to help keep track of the merchants and such things, at least officially."

Doral asked, "Do you know how many of the boys can…"

"Can channel? We know several of them can."

Nynaeve stared at Lily. "Who?"

Lily said, "I know a couple of names but we won't know the complete list until we visit all of the farms and check."

"What are you going to do to them?"

"That depends on the male in question. If they have the spark they'll channel regardless of anything else. We have an island set up where the male half of the source is blocked. They can get training there so they can control their abilities using untainted magic. Once they complete their training they'll have two options. Sign up with the magic guild who will provide untainted power or be prevented from using magic again until the source is cleansed."

Doral asked curiously, "You have a way to keep them from going insane?"

Lily nodded. "It's not the best but it works for now."

"I'm sure we can work something out."

Nynaeve asked, "When can I start?"

"I'll send the healer with dinner if that's okay?"

Doral smiled. "Thank you."

Lily pulled out a mirror and set it on the table. "If you need to contact me, simply pick up the mirror and say my name."

Doral stared at the mirror. "You're trusting me with a ter'angreal?"

"You're the village wisdom, I'm certainly not going to give the mayor a way to bother me about every little detail. You've been doing fine on your own for generations, other than starting a few mines in the mountains I don't really see things changing all that much the next couple of years. Now if you'll excuse me, people to see and all that." She smiled then apparated to Deven Ride to talk to the wisdom there.