- These scenes don't all happen at exactly the same time, but they're not too long before or after the last chapter.
- As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.
Interlude XXVI - What's Going on Outside Taija's Head?
Aleksi stalked towards Edram? Tel? Sammael? He didn't care what the man called himself right now. Giving a quick glance to the two gai'shain moving supplies around he barked. "Out!"
They didn't seem afraid of the furious expression on his face, but they still bowed obediently before withdrawing. Aleksi barely gave them time to leave before rounding on the other man. "You complete and utter flaming bastard!" As he spoke he strode forward until he was well into Edram's personal space, looking down to stare aggressively into his eyes.
The man barely seemed flustered. He supposed it wasn't surprising he was so calm, given everything. He must have ice cold instincts. Without warning, Aleksi punched him as hard as he could in the stomach.
Edram? Tel? Folded around Aleksi's fist. He was a tough man, but he hadn't been expecting it and Aleksi had spent the last year training with the best.
The former-Forsaken collapsed to the floor, wheezing for breath rage flashing through his eyes for a second before suddenly vanishing.
"I suppose I deserved that, for lying to you." He coughed painfully as he rolled over onto his front, pushing up onto his hands and knees. "Light you punch hard!"
Aleksi looked down at him for a long moment before he answered. "That wasn't for me. I understand why you had to lie to me. That was for using me to lie to Taija." With that he turned on his heel and stormed out. Surely she'd be back at her tent by now.
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Perrin stood amidst the sharpened stakes that surrounded Emond's Field, looking out across the open ground, watching as villagers dragged dead trollocs and myrddraal to the huge piles of burning corpses. It had been a hard fought series of battles, but now that they'd managed to seal the Waygate he could finally be sure that it was over and his home was safe. At least for now.
"Lord Perrin!" He winced as Abel Cauthon called for him. The man was old enough to be his father. In fact he was Mat's father and yet he was calling him a lord! Rand would be getting the same treatment, but worse. Still at least he seemed to know how to handle it. Light, what had the world come to? At least Mat would be able to escape all the bowing and scraping and everyone calling him a lord.
"Yes, what is it?"
"You're needed at the inn, Verin sedai is asking for you."
"Tell her I'll be along shortly." With a sigh he looked back out at the bodies and muttered, "what could Verin want with me now?"
A warm hand slipped into his and gave it a squeeze. "I am sure she will let you know my lord," her voice took on a teasing tone at the last two words, "but best not to keep an aes sedai waiting."
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Bennae tutted to herself when she heard the knock at her door. She had been expecting this for a while now. Ever since Cadsuane's rather brash announcement in fact.
In hindsight she really should have been more circumspect with her questions. Why, she would end up as subtle as Taija if she was not careful. She did hope Taija was doing well and maybe had found a modicum of happiness. Such a nice young lady, if terribly naive at times. If only the Tower could have had her as a novice rather than whatever training she did receive, she would surely have joined the Browns. Still, no point in crying over spilt milk.
Bennae smoothed down the skirts of her dress and opened the door with a smile. "Oh Doseine, Elin, how nice to see you. To what do I owe the honour of this late visit? I had just been thinking about retiring for the night."
Doseine, taking precedence of course, spoke first. "Bennae, we are sorry to bother you so late, but the Amyrlin has requested your presence urgently." It was sad, but just as she had expected, their eyes had that deadness in them, like so many other sisters did now.
"Oh, the Amyrlin?" She allowed herself to sound flustered. "What could she possibly want with me? We must leave at once, of course. Let me just grab a cloak my dears, the winter weather rather affects my bones these days and it is ever so cold in the corridors." She bustled deeper into her rooms and glanced back to them. "Please, come inside, it will only be a moment, but you will let the cold in."
"You must come immediately Bennae, you know the Amyrlin, she is an impatient woman." Elin sounded almost sympathetic, the poor dear. What had those monsters done to her?
Bennae stopped and turned to face them. "Of course, of course. It is a little darker than I would like in here, let me just light the lamps." Ignoring their growing impatience she embraced saidar and channeled, just small threads of fire, no threat to anyone. Just like her.
One thread to the lamp hanging on the wall on the left, another to the one on the right and then, with those lit, one more small thread to the tightly woven basket hanging above the two aes sedai.
Bennae quickly looked away. It was such a pity really, that basket represented one of her favourite adventures from her younger more impetuous days. Someone like Taija would probably just break the two sisters in two and then go hunting for more, she was not the most subtle of women, but when one was in Bennae's position, well needs must.
"What are…" Doseine's words were cut off by a sudden flash of blinding light as the basket above them caught fire so fast it almost disappeared. The two aes sedai barely had time to scream before the white hot mass fell on them.
A few seconds later Bennae turned back to look them over with a small frown. "Good gracious, I may have overdone that a little. I suppose I really will have to leave now and at my age too." It really was amazing what secrets one could find with enough reading and very fortunate that the Tower had an easy supply of such a rare metal.
With a tut she bustled to her wardrobe to fetch a warm cloak and a satchel holding bulging purses and letters of rights.
Bennae paused briefly to gaze around her rooms. She had lived here for the best part of a century, but there was no time for delay, not if she wanted to survive the night. With a final sad look she headed for the door, pausing only to glance at the remains just inside the threshold, almost headless charred bodies lying on blackened stone that had even started to bubble in places before her little mixture cooled. The poor dears had never even known what had hit them. If she could ever find whoever was doing this in the Tower. Well they would have a long conversation, without tea.
Now, she would need go the accepted quarters first. There was no time to waste. With an absent smile Bennae closed the door to her rooms and hurried off down the cold, dark corridor.
It was around an hour or so later that Bennae found herself leading a gaggle of sleepy novices and accepted, wearing ill-fitting servants' dresses out of the White Tower's gates. There were no sisters around at that hour and the gate guards would hardly seek to stop an aes sedai. Thankfully really, she did so hate to have to order people around.
It was a real pity though, she had only been able to collect a few of the Tower's already diminished numbers. The most sensible ones, who could keep their wits about them and would not make her departure any harder than it had to be. It was a sad part of being aes sedai, sometimes one had to decide who would live and who would die.
Now which berth was it that her ship was docked at? Captain Ertrim really had been most accommodating, although she would have hoped so given how much she was paying him.
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"Nynaeve, I need to ask you a favour."
She looked up at Tel from where she was sitting, the idiot man wasn't even using that illusion anymore. "No. I don't do favours for people like you."
"Alright, alright, not a favour a deal."
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Demandred paced back and forth in the Unseen World. Mesaana had called an emergency meeting, he did not know what for, but he was sure it would be nothing good.
Fortunately for his patience it was not long before both she and Semirhage faded into existence in front of him.
The shorter woman did not waste any time. "Demandred, Semirhage," she gave them quick nods. "We have a problem. The man that supported Rand when we attacked him in the Dedicated Waste. It wasn't one of their false dragons like Moghedien thought."
"Well who was it then? I cannot think of many people that it would be worth wasting our time like this." Semirhage was always impatient with such things, but Demandred kept his silence. For all of her irritating habits, Mesaana had good judgment.
"It was Sammael." She paused after dropping that bombshell, watching their faces.
"Don't be ridiculous. Sammael is dead and even if he were still alive, the last place he would be is supporting Lews Therin of all people."
Demandred was inclined to agree. "What evidence do you have for this? It seems rather… far-fetched."
"Three things." Mesaana held up three fingers, putting them down one by one. "Firstly Graendal was not punished for apparently killing him. Secondly one of these new, resurrected, formerly dead, I'm not even sure what to call them, Chosen told me that he was the one that killed Ishamael. Temporarily anyway."
"So Ishamael is back?" Demandred scowled, the man was a lunatic and for some reason seemed to hold the Dark One's favour above all others.
"Apparently so." Mesaana did not let the interruption phase her. "Thirdly, Aran'gar, who I'm fairly sure is actually Balthamel by the way, fought Taija Kosola along with Rahvin until Lews Therin's man intervened."
"Wait they what?" Also what in the Great Lord's name was Balthmel doing prancing around as that scantily clad parody of a woman? He could appreciate the sight, but the man? woman? was meant to be one of the Chosen. It was almost as bad as Graendal, except he knew Graendal was actually dangerous under it all. Perhaps that was why Rahvin was willing to work with him? Her?
Mesaana scowled. "From what I could gather Rahvin decided that he wanted to replace his queen with her daughter, as is his wont. The man isn't a complete fool, so in case he was followed he enlisted Aran'gar's help to ruin anyone who did come after him's day. What he would have done if Taija Kosola, Lews Therin and their pet aes sedai had all come at once I don't know though."
"Anyway, it seems that his idea worked, he got Taija Kosola, who admittedly did an impressively thorough job of demolishing his palace while running away from the two of them. Before they could finish her off another man intervened. Based on the description, it seems to have been Lews Therin's swordmaster, so Moghedien was right about him being the channeler. That would be neither here nor there, we know that there are occasional channelers of not insignificant power thrown up in this time," she cast a significant glance at Demandred. "However, his tactics were pure War of Power and he coordinated perfectly with Taija Kosola. Rahvin is dead, to her balefire, and reading between the lines Aran'gar barely escaped with his, her life. Not that she would admit it."
"So you are telling me that Sammael has successfully defected to work for the man he hates most in the world and also somehow reconciled with his girlfriend, despite his betrayal of the Light?"
Mesaana nodded.
"Fuck!" This was a disaster! He needed to think, to plan. "So either he is playing a subtle, long game beyond anything he should be capable of, or we have a genuine defector who has been teaching Lews Therin everything he knows. Fuck!" They needed to start planning around this.
"It gets better. Moghedien is fairly sure that Taija Kosola has been working on cleansing the taint."
Semirhage sniffed. "She can work all she wants. If our own civilisation could not do it," Demandred decided not to point out that it could hardly be called their civilisation after what they had done to it, "then that woman has not got the slightest chance of succeeding by herself."
Mesaana spoke slowly when she replied, forcing the words out. "Ah… Hmm… I would not be completely confident of that. She was poorly known due to a lack of interest in politics, but her academic credentials in high energy particle physics… she was of more than average talent in her field." Reading between the lines of that, she was probably one of the best in the world. Mesaana's jealousy of anyone who had gone into research after her own rejection from the Collam Daan was hardly secret. Although Demandred did wonder why she had not just applied to a lesser university, it was not like there was only one prestigious research institute in the world. He vaguely remembered hearing from Sammael, before their defections of course, that his girlfriend had worked in Jalanda after all.
"And these credentials are relevant?" He hated to admit ignorance, but after Lanfear, who he certainly would not be asking about Taija Kosola, Mesaana was the closest thing he had to a living expert.
"There… may be direct applications." Mesaana must really have been hating any suggestion of success for the woman, even if unlike Lanfear her grudge was not personal. "Moghedien has indicated that LewsTherin's lackeys seem to have been particularly pleased about something recently. Probably not just Rahvin's death."
"I suppose her efforts will have been motivated by her desire to save her love. Possibly a weakness to exploit, but inconvenient for us. I too am sceptical about her chances of success, but I take your point Mesaana and we must remember that a woman will go a long way to save the man she loves. We shall have to consider how to work against this too."