As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.

Interlude IX - You Were Loved and You Will Be Remembered II

Approximately 3,000 years ago.

Tel stood in the grassy field staring empty eyed into the distance. She wouldn't have wanted this to be here, Taija would have wanted to be in the mountains.

The seven spoked wheel had been carved into the grass, a candle placed in the middle of it. He didn't know who by. The expediencies of the War limited what could be done.

A few other mourners stood behind him. She had no family left, Lanfear had seen to that. The woman's mad grudge culminating in… yet another thing he didn't want to think about. Antero had died with her of course. There were just a few soldiers, comrades who'd fought beside her, and one or two officials. Saela was there too, quietly sobbing at the back. He appreciated her coming when she was already mourning her own husband. He'd also been there when she'd said the words for Antero. Finally, a couple more of her friends, they'd had kind words for him.

Of course there were more people out there, so many who'd known or cared about her, but everyone else was either dead or locked in place by the War. Even he'd had to fight to make time to be here.

Tel knelt down in front of the wheel, head bowed, unable to stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks. With her ancestors and siblings gone and no descendants the duty fell to him to end the ceremony.

"Go peacefully into the night Taija Kosola Miranen. May the light of the Creator bless your soul and may you soon be reborn to live again. You were loved and you will be remembered."

He just about managed to stop his voice from breaking as he said those final words. He needed to set an example, the whole front relied on him holding it together. He couldn't start sobbing, couldn't let his shoulders start to shake when the others solemnly repeated. "You were loved and you will be remembered."

He stayed kneeling as the other mourners slowly dispersed, giving him the privacy that he needed for his own last words. "I'm sorry Taija, I'm so sorry I wasn't there. Maybe I could have saved you. Instead I did my duty and now you're dead."

"I told them we needed reinforcements, I told them again and again, but they never came. All reserves were needed for the Cylaxian front, they had a great victory there. Lews Therin beat back the Shadow, again." He laughed bitterly. The man had sent him a message of condolences, kinder words than he expected, but empty nonetheless.

"They told me it was Ishamael. Intervening directly to break our lines. Why were you always so brave? Why didn't you run? You couldn't beat someone like him. You should have run." His hands clenched at his trousers. "If only I'd been there too…"

"I'm trying to fight on, I know the Light needs me, I know it's what you'd have wanted, but I don't know if I can do it. I love you and the world is so empty without you." His voice cracked. "Everything I see reminds me of you, your smile, the look in your eyes, every moment we spent together."

"I know I need to press on. I need to keep pushing in the Hall and with the Rods of Dominion, but I don't know if I can. Without you the whole world seems grey. Sometimes they just make me so angry and I want to burn it all down. I know I can't, I know the people need me; however, corrupt, weak or indecisive their leaders are… I know I need to go on, that I can't just leave them all to be slaughtered by the Shadow, but I hate it. I hate it so much."

"You were my foundation, you held me together. I need you and all I can think about is that madman Ishamael, laughing over your corpse while I pray to an uncaring Creator that you didn't suffer." He scowled, "I promise you this. I will kill him. I will make it slow and painful and when I do, I'll tell him you sent me."

"Without you I feel so empty, there's no happiness, no laughter, no smiles left. I know an aes sedai never gives up, but without you it's so hard."

He paused, just staring into the candle's small flame trying not to think of her dark eyes shining up at him.

Tel wasn't sure how long he knelt there before an aide came hurrying up to him, apologetic but insistent that he was needed at headquarters. With an effort of will, Tel pulled himself together and got up from his knees. He took a last look at the flickering candle and muttered the final words, "you were loved and you will be remembered."

He turned away, face hard, already spinning a gateway back to his headquarters and stepped through it. Back to the War.

Then there was only a small flame left, flickering on top of the seven spoked wheel in an empty field. Yet another hero of the Light, soon to be forgotten.

=======

The present day

Sammael stared up at the ornately painted ceiling above his huge bed. His plans were progressing well, the Great Lord's victory would be inevitable and once he was nae'blis he would be able to shape the world as he desired. Make it the way it should be.

So why was it that when he closed his eyes all he saw was her face, looking up at him, denial on her lips and despair painted across it?

Of course he was shocked, thrown off his game. He prided himself on his self-awareness and he could admit that. Who wouldn't be? But it had been years. He'd moved on, the world had moved on. She was an anachronism, a relic of a failed system, a memory of a failed earlier life.

He considered, not for the first time, maybe he should try to turn her. She'd understood him, understood what he'd been trying to do and the problems that penetrated to the heart of the Light. She'd always been the optimistic one, but if he could make her see the truth… The dysfunction of this time was in many ways even more obvious. She'd met 'so-called' aes sedai, she must see that. For all her foolish love for the aes sedai philosophy, it wasn't like she'd had much patience for fools.

He didn't have space left in him for love, but it seemed he still remembered it. So, he'd offer her a chance, in memory of what they once had. If she didn't take it, well, then he'd leave her to the others.

She was a dangerous woman, but she had her flaws. Lack of interest in politics, clever in so many ways and yet so blind when it came to strategy, a sense of duty that forced her into making worse and worse mistakes. He'd seen Falme, impressive, but if the slightest thing had gone wrong she'd have been dead, or worse a damane.

She'd alienate the wrong people, make too many missteps, gradually get herself into more and more situations she couldn't handle and then she'd be dealt with. Yet another 'hero' of the Light, soon to be forgotten.