We leave this in written form, for there is no other way for us to tell you this - we love you. You are our brothers and sisters on Earth. I know that our actions make you believe we favor the Elves, but that is not true - we love you no less than we loved them. I shall confess that we struggle to understand you sometimes, but despite all your flaws, we have always known your beauty and we have always known this - you are worth fighting for.

Saidin was clean.

There was no pool of stench and foulness a man had to push through in order to come to it. There was no loud voice of wickedness that threatened to devour a man as he struggled to save his own life. There was no hatred burning, no shadow covering the eyes. There was nothing standing between him and that purity now. The beauty itself coming and embracing Logain with the warmth of a mother touching her child and he clung to it as its babe. Moments of peace that passed through his very soul were not delusions - Logain saw it clearly in everyone's eyes. Welyn, Androl, Evin, Donalo, Mezar, they all had the same eyes and they all said the same thing. "It is clean."

He looked up at the sky. The Creator loves all His creatures, his uncle had taught him. Don't listen to the Aes Sedai and their empty philosophies, lad. He is watching over us - always.

Thousands and thousands of years of suffering. So much pain and death, men going mad and dying when they did nothing to deserve such punishment. All stopped by the merciful hand of the Light.

"Thank You." He muttered to the presence he knew was above. "Thank You for everything."

"I thought you said it was cleansed?" That voice brought him back. Riding on the white horse beside his black one, Gabrelle was still wearing the same brown dress, holding Elaida's symbol on her shoulder. It was small and unless you tried to find it you would not even notice it. But it was there.

"It is." He mouthed. "As clean as the shores of the sea."

"Then why are you still talking to someone who is not there?"

"I am not hearing voices!" He pressed. "I was speaking to the Creator, Gabrelle. Thanking Him for mercy." Though I'm not surprised an Aes Sedai wouldn't know a thing about mercy.

She tsked. "Ah, my mistake! You could as well be speaking to the voices in your head - they would actually answer. And he...well, perhaps you should have listened to the Aes Sedai when you were in the Tower. You would have learned a lot of philosophical truth you wouldn't anywhere else."

"Ah, my mistake. Forgive me for that - I was too caught up in the fact they held me there as an animal." It seemed as if a thousand years had passed since then - when the Aes Sedai all gathered around him, tied him like a beast and cut him off from the Source. He felt like a man without sight, like an eagle without wings.

But it was not just the loss of saidin. They used him like a puppet, threw him down and took everything from him. Gash, Radan, Badel, Jamos...they all died. So many of them died in the war he started. I had no choice. Male channelers have no choice. Go mad, be gentled or proclaim yourself the Dragon. No other choice.

Or so he told himself. He whispered that to himself every night, just before he would fall asleep. Flailing himself with all their names.

Dien's name was the only he could not utter without tears in his eyes.

Gabrelle's expression softened. She recognized it. The Bond had still not developed too strong, but it was stronger with her. "I..." She touched her hand. "I didn't know that."

He chuckled. That is all he could do. "I apologize for not talking about it every day. You see it was not a very pleasant experience..."

She sighed. "Logain, I truly meant..."

"I suppose so. You are an Aes Sedai, after all. Lying is one of the few things you cannot do." If they are the Aes Sedai, after all.

"I am not your enemy, Logain..."

"I am afraid you don't understand something." He said. "Most likely because you're an Aes Sedai, Gabrelle. You see, you hunted me, gentled me, treated me like a dog's waste and then tried to kill me on a couple of occasions." He chuckled again. "And if you still claim not to be my enemy...well, with friends like that, I don't think I need them."

And yet he felt like he owed his life to Siuan, the very woman that ordered to gentle him. It would have ended there. I would have ended it there.

Then, Toveine suddenly turned towards him, eyes widened. A sister of the Red Ajah and yet...even she could not take that lightly.

"Have you seen the Lord Dragon before, Ablar?" Davram Bashere rode on his own horse. The nobleman was wearing the banner of his own heritage on his chest, but that was the only adornment Logain could notice on him, beside the sword that was always simply prepared, hanging by his side. A soldier is what Bashere always was, making no difference out of the fact everyone around him was of lowbirth. Logain had even noticed Bashere knew many of his soldiers by name, and not just chief commanders or generals, but common soldiers, without any rank.

At least someone is sensible here. "Once in Caemlyn, before all of...this, started." Before he was the Dragon, he was about to say. But Rand al'Thor must have always been the Dragon. And yet, comparing that frightened boy to the man that now sowed terror whenever he went with his mere presence...the difference was as between the sky and the earth. "You, my lord?" A needless question for certain.

"Ever since he defeated Rahvin. I have been there and...tried to help him, at least."

"So? What is he like?"

"He is young." Bashere said. "So stubborn, first and foremost. Though I personally believe that is not necessarily a flaw - stubborness does prove that a man has a character and ideals he will not break. Such a man is not likely to lie or manipulate others around him. Dare I say he is the most honest man I have known at least that I can give him. And yet..." He sighed. "I am afraid that stubborness can cost us much more than he realizes."

"We better hope he realizes soon then."

"Logain!" Androl ran towards him, panting and yet with a smile on his face. "Logain! We have arrived."

"What?"

"Tear. We have arrived!"

He and all the others pushed the horses harder, climbing up the small hill and as he passed under the sun, he saw - the Stone of Tear rising and overshadowing the entire city. The structure unlike any built before and taller than any other, with a single - and slight - exception of the White Tower. And yet Logain thought this was more beautiful. "A city worthy of a king." He said clearly. "Or the Dragon Reborn himself."

They galloped down, coming to the very entrance of the city. The Defenders of the Stone stood firm, holding their spears up. "Halt! No one passes."

"We do!" Davram Bashere got down from the horse. He whistled and a soldier ran towards him, holding the banner of the Dragon. "We come in the name of the Dragon."

The commander shook his head. "Say whatever you want. No one is going in."

Bashere sighed. "Tell the Lord Dragon that Davram Bashere has come to see him. Believe me, he will want to."

"Step away." He waved at them. "Get off my gate! I will not spare you if I see you as a threat."

"A threat?" Logain added. "You wouldn't be the first one, my friend."

"That only makes it worse for you."

"I am certain of that."

"Do you really want me to.." A soldier ran towards him, whispering something into his ear. The commander's eyes widened as he looked down from inside the city. Then he stared back at Logain and Bashere, and back at the person below. "Bloody Dragon take her!" He cussed. "Open the bloody gate! The Dark One himself take me..."

As it opened, it was not the Dragon that welcomed them. Rather, a small group of soldiers, led by a tall man whose cloak changed colors as he moved. His eyes as blue as ice, he looked vaguely familliar to Logain. And then, he saw beside her someone even more important. The woman that saved him.

"Nynaeve?" He laughed and got down from his own horse. "Lady al'Meara. I did not expect to see you too. I thought..."

"You were the last thing we needed, boy." Another woman, a sister of the Green Ajah, with her hair put in a bun, came forth. "A False Dragon to ruin little stability we've built here."

Logain narrowed his eyes, turning towards Nynaeve. "Ablar, this is...Sister Cadsuane Sedai."

"As odd of a title as it is, I have always accepted it.' She frowned. "We have no time to waste. Tell us what you have or leave."

Pride. Arrogance. A nose up. Only an Aes Sedai was capable of such self-righteousness. He looked through her. "I refuse to speak with anyone except the Dragon."

"You are in no position to refuse, boy." She said and waved. "Be good and speak, we haven't got..."

"I will not speak with anyone except the Dragon."

"Cadsuane Sedai!" Bashere raised his hand. "Please, the matter is urgent - we need to speak with the Lord Dragon."

"I am sorry that is the case." The man beside Nynaeve said. "He is not here."

Bashere went pale. "Here? In the Stone of Tear?"

"No."

Cadsuane Sedai stared at the man, looking just as if she was about to snap at him.

"He is not here, Bashere. Not in the city at all."

Logain scoffed. "Well, I suppose we did waste our time. Then where is he?"

Nynaeve and Lan, along with all the other Defenders of the Stone, looked at Cadsuane. She held her nose up, but then pursed her lips, looking away. "We don't know."

"What?"

"We don't know where he is." She uttered. "He is lost."

"You are lying. Jesting."

Their eyes were all expressive enough. Some were sad, some angry, but they all said the same thing.

"Blood and ashes!" Logain's eyes widened. "What happened?!"

Min saw nothing.

As Logain passed by her, there was no aura around him. No sign of great glory that was supposed to await him in the future, no sign of what will happen tomorrow or next week. Nothing.

There's nothing to worry about. I don't always see auras around men and women, not always...

She had not seen one for weeks already. Ever since Rand had disappeared, she stopped seeing any of them. The viewings were not unclear or dim - they, quite literally, did not appear anymore. It was as if she never had them before in her life.

But the voices were stronger and dreams more vivid.

Min. We failed...

Forgive us...

Forgive us Min.

We failed.

The realization hit her immediately. Something was happening to her, something different, something wrong. She had not shared this with anyone. Later that day Logain again passed by her and she prayed to see something...but there was nothing.

Light help me!

She had still not told anyone. Cadsuane, Nynaeve, Narishma...no one knew about this. People came to her every day and asked her what she was seeing and she would respond with either the last viewing she had about them or make up something banal and ordinary. "You will get married one day." or "You will be rich if you do this or that." No one asked questions or wondered - instead they just took her at her word.

"I must tell someone." She whispered to herself. "I must go. Now!" She scurried out of the corner of the street, running back to the Stone, even pushing the confused Logain on the way.

Neither of them had noticed a tall figure in a red armor, watching them from the walls.