Chapter 2

The Weight of If

I soared through the air, my spread wings catching both wind and sun. There were a few fluffy clouds drifting high above me, and far down below me was the world. Life had returned to it, every tree and shrub a shade of vibrant green. Fields of wild flowers splattered about like a painter flicking his brush.

I had traveled on foot to Fal Moran, the capital of Shienar, to set up a subsidiary of the Caemlyn Times. It took more than a week to find the right partner and explain to them how to make movable type, not to mention the idea of a newspaper.

But that was settled now and they would be sending news from the borderlands to the office in Caemlyn on a weekly basis. Though it would take more than a week for any report to make that journey by dedicated courier. And once Caemlyn knew about the office in Fal Moran, they could send news from Andor and beyond to the north.

I felt inordinately proud of this nascent connection between two peoples that I had a hand in. The first of many, I hoped.

With that taken care of I'd followed the road south. And given the distance I had before me I'd taken to the air first chance I got.

These lands remained sparsely settled, and on this second day after leaving Fal Moran I found myself flying over a vast forest that stretched out east and west of me. The road wound its way through the forest, occasionally disappearing underneath the canopy.

For a solid hour I flew, before the road burst out of the woods and I saw a small village surrounded by long, rectangular fields that crawled with people planting their crops. I didn't stop there, not with so many hours still left in the day.

But after the village had disappeared behind the horizon I saw something else that gave me pause. Slowing down I had to actually flap my wings harder to stay aloft. I looked at the circular stepped depression in the ground a few kilometers east of the road. It was clearly artificial and at the center of this bowl stood a large pillar.

I knew this, how had I forgotten about them?

I dropped down, wings tucked in and nose to the ground. Even using gravity it took me long seconds to reach the ground.

I landed like a cat, or a vampire from the Underworld series, with a little bounce and no ill effect despite the great height from which I dropped. But I barely gave it any thought as I looked at the great pillar before me, easily 5 meters tall and covered in markings.

A portal stone. In the books they'd used these to travel to other worlds, though they hadn't been mentioned after the fourth book when Rand had used one to get to Rhuidean. Not that I recalled, anyway. This could be my way home.

No, I shouldn't get my hopes up just yet. In the books the stones could only be used by channelers and I wasn't one. And if I recall right, every mark I saw on this big pillar was a world. I needed to know more.

Understand the Maker's intent

The wear of millenia fell away, the circular steps leading down to the pillar regained their color. Blue, red, brown, white, gray, green, yellow. Not a rainbow, but the same colors as the Aes Sedai Ajahs.

But I knew this installation was older than the Aes Sedai, older than the Age of Legends. There was a reason the portal stone stood here, on an intersection of the Pattern. Here the Pattern's possibilities were closer together, easier to reach. I could almost see the ancient people that wove this into being, a monumental task done by teams in shifts.

But … this wasn't an artifact. It had been made with the One Power, and it needed the One Power to function. This could not reach outside the Pattern, or travel through time. All it did was shift people from one possible reality to another, but it was all part of this world, this time.

A low rumble grew in my chest as I realized it couldn't help me get home...

Throwing my head back, I roared, driven by loss and instinct. The roar still echoed over the land when I came back to myself and looked about, anxious if anybody had seen. I knew better than to hope none would have heard that.

I shook my head. I couldn't think like that. I'd known getting home would be difficult the moment I realized where I was. That hadn't changed, I hadn't lost anything but a momentary imagined shortcut.

"Just be there. I will come home." I had no hope my words could reach so far, but I had to say them all the same.

With a shuddering breath I crouched down before launching myself back into the sky.

VVVV

The cauldron of the Dragonmount bubbled behind me as I looked over the lip of the caldera. I could feel its heat from here, a sharp contrast with the bitter cold of the air descending down the slopes. Night had cast its blanket over the land, obscuring much of it.

But in that darkness Tar Valon stood out as a beacon. The six bridges were delicate, like the branches of a cherry tree, and glowed in the light of the moon. A village had grown up around the mouth of each bridge and many had some lamps lit still.

There was a harbor at each end of the city, Even at this hour ships still made their way in and out of them, searching their way by lantern.

But in the end it was the tower at the heart of the city that demanded attention. Its white stones reflected the lights from the city as well as that of the moon and stars. The White Tower was gigantic, a stone skyscraper dwarfing anything else I'd seen in this world. Hard to tell how big it was exactly from this distance and at night, but it was impressive nonetheless

One of this world's most powerful organizations resided there and the truth was, it was a mess. The Aes Sedai had been thoroughly infiltrated, and in the books almost all of them had been wrapped up in their own disputes and concerns rather than looking to help the people in the world.

I wish I could see some easy way to change that, but their trajectory had a lot of momentum behind it. That could not so easily be stopped, even by a Godbound. Especially one devoted to Freedom. Because freedom also meant people were free to make mistakes.

But I would try to nudge things, if I saw an opening. Nothing wrong with nudging. But not today. With this as my view I spent some time ruminating on the future. I hadn't had many plans so far because I'd had my eyes on the immediate crisis. But that crisis had come and gone and I needed a little more foresight.

It was hard to judge when things happened, but within a month the Horn should get stolen. If no other angels showed up... but I couldn't operate on that fear. An angel could show up in a lot of places to ruin everything and I couldn't be everywhere.

I comforted myself with the thought that none had shown up in the days after we'd defeated Aginor and Balthamel. The Forsaken had to know that Rand was the Dragon Reborn. Which meant that either no angel was currently here, they couldn't intervene that directly, or the angels and the Forsaken had poor communication. I was betting on a mix of the first and the last.

So, if all things held true, in a month the Horn would be stolen. Rand and the others would go after it and end up on the Toman peninsula. That would take several months. Yes, there was something about traveling by portal stone that didn't go quite right. So in the summer, late summer or early fall, Rand would turn back the Seanchan.

That was book two and book three, the fall of the Stone of Tear, the Forsaken taking over, that happened afterwards. In the winter? No, they hadn't had great issues with traveling. So, spring next year then. I had a year to go before events kicked into high gear.

I tried to think of what I could head off in these few months of calm. Couldn't do much about the Forsaken, I didn't know where they were at the moment. Unless they were at Shayol Ghul, and I did not want to come that close to the Dark One. Not at my current level.

The Seanchan? Not yet, but I wanted to do something about them. They were one of the few civilizations in this world that practiced slavery and they did so on a massive scale. Not only was it wrong, but my tongue curled as my mind revolted at the concept. I would do something about them.

So, I should head to Falme myself. I also need to check that the Seanchan were just as they had been portrayed in the books. Everything I'd seen so far lined up, with the glaring exception of that angel.

And I'd get the opportunity to introduce myself to Verin. That could open opportunities. And if something went wrong with Mat and the dagger, I needed to be there to interfere.

But that was months into the future. Could I do anything right now? Head something off?

There were the Sharans, they went from a few mentions to appearing on the side of the Dark One in the last book. But I didn't know much of how that had happened, it had something to do with Demanded. No, he called himself Demandred.

The Aiel? Paying the Shaido a visit was an idea. It would head off a lot of trouble, but just torching Couladan and Sevarra … Couladin and Sevanna, yes. Killing them for things they hadn't done yet didn't sit well with me.

If their actions were inevitable, then what was I doing here? Nothing I did could change things. And if their actions were not fixed, then I couldn't condemn them for choices they might not make. Not that I expected them to deviate, but again, I had to give people the freedom to make their own mistakes. It wasn't as if they'd sworn themselves to the Dark One, or had their souls replaced like those poor Asha'man …

I froze. The wind howled around the mountain. Male channelers, Aiel male channelers. They went north to fight the Dark One, but in truth many were captured and turned. Just like what happened at the Black Tower. Another revelation from the last book.

Looking up at the stars, I wondered how many would be sent north these coming years. A dozen, several dozen, a hundred? There were quite a lot of Aiel, more than you would expect such a barren land to support. If even one percent of the men were channelers, and you had tens of thousands that would become adults in the next few years, then it was more like hundreds of channelers.

Still a lot of assumptions there, but denying the Dark One all those channelers was something I could do now. Try to, anyway.

I nodded to myself. Tomorrow morning I would head into one of the towns and arrange for a letter to be sent to Master Hagaidhrin. With my notes they should be able to work up the articles about the Green Man and the battle in Tarwin's Gap.

But while the letter would head west, I would go east. East and over the Spine of the World. East, into the Aiel Waste.

VVVV

You couldn't really appreciate the size of this continent until you tried to cross a good portion of it as the landscape rolled on beneath you. I had resolved to head to the Aiel Waste three days ago, if you counted from the night I had done so.

Half a day to reach one of the villages surrounding Tar Valon proper, write my letter, and find someone who could take it. This place desperately needed a postal service, another item for the list. But it had taken half a day and then most of the rest to get away far enough that I could take to the sky again.

Another day to reach as far as Cairhien and on the third I reached Selean, the town I recalled getting sacked by the Shaido. In truth, I had reached Selean after only a few hours flight, but it was my last best chance to get some information on the lands beyond. It wasn't a big town, its wall not in the best of shape, but the food had been good and I had gleaned the barest of directions.

My wings beat against the air as I ascended, the freezing cold nipping at my nose while the mountains still rose higher. These mountains were not as high as Dragonmount, but as I rose above its peaks there was no heat drawn from the heart of the planet to shield me from the cold. Nothing to impede the winds.

Eternal snow covered the high ridges running north-south and reflected the bright light of the sun. A secondary lid slid over my eyes to protect me from the glare and I saw off in the distance the most incongruous sight; a city on top of the mountain.

I banked lightly to my right to head for the settlement. It was clearly abandoned. Nothing had disturbed the blanket of snow that covered it and I saw no movement. But it was a substantial settlement. It had been one, I should say.

Too curious not to, I drifted into a landing at its outskirts and approached on foot. The buildings had been made of a shiny gray stone with many large windows. But the forces that had raised these mountains had destroyed much of the city, including every single pane of glass. Some shards still glittered where they hadn't been covered by snow. Those bare patches also revealed bones. The people that had lived here had died with their city.

Gingerly I moved further into the city. More debris littered the streets deeper into the city, pieces of the buildings, a heap of rust that might have once been a car, scraps of clothing, and other personal items.

Some of these things might be useful, I could repair them. But this felt like a tomb. I would not disturb it. Some future generation could send scientists to study this preserved city of an age long gone. I would leave it to them.

Walking on I came across a dock made of the same material draped down along the slope of the mountain. Beyond that I saw a plain of tough bushes and yellowed grass that clung to life under the baking sun.

The Aiel Waste.

A/N: Yes, this is two chapters in two days but I'm only doing that for the start of this story. My plan from here on out is 1 chapter a week and I expect to be able to keep to that for the foreseeable future.