As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue

Chapter XLIII - The Dedicated

Taija grumbled to herself as she jogged towards Rhuidean. It was hot, it was dangerous and she wanted some water. This had been a terrible idea. Maybe she'd be able to catch up with Rand and Mat and have some company.

At least she didn't have to be naked for the glass columns ter'angreal the wise ones had told her about. She definitely had a bit of a guilty smirk to herself when Moiraine was told that she would need to go to Rhuidean naked. Presumably it was because of differences with the ringed ter'angreal Moiraine had been directed to. She seemed surprisingly sanguine about it though. That had been a mild surprise after the girls' conservatism, but Taija supposed she was probably just a bit more grown up than them.

The wise ones had told Taija that they were only allowing her to go into Rhuidean for the glass columns, because she needed to understand the Dedicated. They'd said the Dedicated had obligation to her and all like her, ignoring it when she said she didn't think they owed her anything. Regardless they'd made it clear that they weren't keen on her going off and trying out everything in their sacred place. Taija supposed she'd respect that, especially when it involved dangerous, unknown ter'angreal. She could always sneak back later if she really wanted to.

Her mind went back to their warning about glass columns, that some people were unable to handle what they saw. Clearly they felt that they had a terrible history given the weight they put on it, but that at least wasn't too much of a concern. If it even worked for her she wasn't likely to be all that worked up about the history of a group she had nothing to do with. Hopefully it would be more interesting than unpleasant.

========

The fog on the edge of Rhuidean was like a wall with unnaturally defined boundaries. When Taija reached it she stopped to look it over and couldn't resist spinning a web of spirit into it to see if she could work out what was generating it.

Annoyingly, she found nothing, so with a deep breath she plunged into the fog, half enjoying half squirming at its clammy damp feel.

It didn't take her long to emerge and she found herself in a main thoroughfare of what seemed to be a medium sized city, well designed but incomplete buildings lining its streets. The architecture wasn't quite right, but at the same time it was achingly familiar, all glass and steel, with occasional retro marble designs. It was strange to be surrounded by what looked to be office blocks, apartment buildings and even shopping malls again, although the buildings were strangely bare without any labeling or advertisements.

As Taija walked between the buildings so close to home and yet incomplete, uninhabited and just slightly wrong, she feel an aching pang deep in her stomach. She'd spent her time in the Third Age doing her best not to think about home and this place was making it harder by the second. Maybe coming here hadn't such a great idea, but she'd never been one to turn back from something once she'd started.

There was truly beautiful architecture in this time. Caemlyn's inner city and Tar Valon sprang to mind, but they weren't home and Taija didn't think they ever would be. Rhuidean wasn't home either and certainly wasn't one of the Great Cities, but it was so painfully familiar.

She walked down the wide avenue, wide eyed and looking left and right at the buildings until eventually she came across a fountain that was actually flowing. Water spraying out despite the heat and desert conditions. Was the city not completely dead then?

The sight of all that water made her realise how thirsty she was and a quick web of air created a transparent bowl to hold some of the water. Another web of air, fire and water sterilised it and then Taija placed a filtration web of air and water over the top of her bowl to allow her to drink it without any impurities. Normally it would taste horridly flat, but under the circumstances any water was heavenly.

Once she'd slaked her thirst, Taija continued on her way. It didn't take her long after the fountain to reach a plaza, what seemed to be the central square of Rhuidean. Grandish buildings, worthy of a minor provincial capital surrounded it, their tops towering into the fog that encompassed the city.

Around the square Taija saw sculptures and objects scattered around as if at random. Some of them were clearly ter'angreal. Others might be, or might just be street art. She'd have to examine them more closely to be sure. On the far side of the square she could see what must have been the glass columns ter'angreal that the wise ones described to her, but her eyes were drawn inexorably to one thing. In the centre, there was a Chora Tree!

Taija gasped and before she knew it she was hurrying over towards the tree. Picking her way through discarded ter'angreal. A strange red, crystal chair here, a series of long, black rods there. She almost tripped over a pair of statuettes holding crystal spheres, presumably more ter'angreal, but she only had eyes for the tree.

When Taija reached it she couldn't help but cling on to the trunk, pressing her cheek into its rough bark and luxuriating in the feeling of calm and contentment that washed over her, driving away every stress she'd built up in her head. With something between a sigh and whimper she sank down beside it and just leant back with her eyes closed, imagining she was back in Adanza on a hot summer's day. Light she'd missed Chora Trees!

It took Taija a while of sitting, luxuriating in the familiar, but long gone, feelings of contentment brought by the Chora Tree, but eventually duty reared its ugly head and she decided she needed to move on regardless of how much she didn't want to. She came here for a reason after all.

With a sigh Taija heaved herself to her feet and turned her attention to the glass columns. Interestingly there was another twisted red stone doorway nearby, like the one in Tear. The patterns on it told her that it led to the realm of the Eelfinn rather than the Aelfinn. After what happened with them in Tear she'd hardly be inclined to try with questions again. Trying to make a deal with the Eelfinn would be far worse. She'd read enough about the horrible consequences people had suffered from trying to bargain with them to know that the price for anything she'd want would be far too high.

Turning her attention away from the red stone doorway Taija tentatively approached the glass columns. They were actually hugely impressive. Concentric circles of glittering transparent glass rose up perhaps thirty metres into the air. They were so slender that they looked like a stiff breeze would bring them crashing down, yet they must have stood there for thousands of years.

She paused to admire the work. She didn't recognise it, but whoever had built this thing must have been a master, or a team of masters. Long gone now, of course. She sighed quietly.

Taija hesitated, indecision written across her face, did she really want to do this? Again she thought of how the wise ones said some people couldn't handle what they saw and it was after all an unknown ter'angreal, but she couldn't see that the history of the Dedicated would be all that bad for her. It was more a matter of academic curiosity than something that was likely to affect her all that much. Anyway, if she was honest with herself, the decision was already made. She'd decided when she left the wise ones' tents and started jogging towards Rhuidean. She'd never been able to say no to knowledge.

A moment longer and Taija took a deep breath before stepping into the rings. As she did she tensed, waiting for… nothing. Absolutely nothing happened and she was left standing among the rings feeling increasingly frustrated. The wise ones had warned her this might happen, but it wasn't fair! Pretty much everyone must have Dedicated blood after 3,000 years. It wasn't her fault that she was born before they existed! She wanted to know what happened! Where this strange city so reminiscent of her own time came from, and yet again this Light-forsaken time was denying her any satisfaction at all.

With a growl Taija moved to kick one of the columns and then stopped herself at the last second as she thought better of it. Even if they had survived for so long, they still looked delicate, she didn't want to find that she could damage them. With a sulking pout Taija just put her hand on it instead, expecting to feel warm, smooth glass under it.

=======

There was a moment of disorientation and then Taija was standing in a black void surrounded by empty nothingness. It reminded her of the place between worlds used for skimming except there didn't seem to be any sense of up or down.

For a second she had to suppress panic as she was left staring into nothingness and then bright words appeared in the air in front of her, spelled out in her own language. "Welcome aes sedai. Please answer security check for access." There was a pause and then the floating words were replaced. "What is the web used to open the door to the Chamber of the Named in the Hall of Servants?"

It took her a moment to overcome her shock and then Taija bit her lip as she franticly wracked her brains. That grandiose name was essentially a dull meeting room only accessible to aes sedai with third names. Networking with extra pretension. It had had a locking mechanism that could theoretically only be opened by a specially crafted web. Because of course it had.

She'd been in it all of three times in her life and two of them a man had opened the door for her, but she'd been shown the web when she first got her third name. It had been more than ten years since she'd used it… Fuck.

The words in the air started to flash in front of her and Taija felt an ominous pressure building around her. In desperation she spun air and fire in front of her into a vaguely remembered form, a relatively simple web, but useless for anything.

She held her breath as the words stopped flashing and then were replaced again. "Thank you aes sedai. Diagnostic mode activated. Please choose (a) adjust matrices, (b) review experience or (c) shut down."

There was no way that she was fiddling with that. It was hugely impressive and quite unexpected. Someone must have built the thing to detect when a female channeler without Dedicated ancestors touched it, perhaps to help with its construction. However, trying to do anything with ter'angreal beyond use them was wildly outside her expertise and talents, particular a masterpiece like this one. So she channeled a thin flow of spirit at the (b) floating in front of her.

Again there was a pause and then high-resolution images of a series of men and women flashed up in a line in front of Taija. On the left was Rand, followed by various Dedicated that she didn't recognise, mostly women with the occasional man. Based on what the wise ones told her, she suspected that choosing one would allow her to see what they saw.

After a moment's thought, Taija touched the second image with a flow of spirit. She didn't feel comfortable seeing Rand's, it might be intensely personal, but she wasn't sure how to safely get out of this ter'angreal without choosing one. As soon as her flow touched the image everything vanished from around her.

=======

She was there behind someone else's eyes feeling everything they felt. It was worse than linking! She wanted to struggle, but there was nothing to struggle against. All she could do was watch.

She was Aledin, a young sept-chief stood on the mountainside, looking down at a half-built Rhuidean.

No, she was Taija in a ter'angreal at Rhuidean!

She'd come to Rhuidean as the wise ones had instructed, despite her desire to avoid the Jenn Aiel. She could remember the conversation, the arguments they'd had. Danein had insisted that if she did not go and agree to everything that was asked then she would die as would every member of her sept. Not a threat, but a prophecy.

Why are there so many kinds of Dedicated? Was one not enough?

As she made her way down the mountainside with her men, she saw a procession, Jenn Aiel carrying palanquins. Once again her mind went back to why the Aiel had all been called to Rhuidean. How Danein and the other wise ones had told her that she must agree to what the Jenn Aiel asked.

Actually, was this what being a man felt like? How odd.

As she got closer, leaving her men behind, she saw many other chiefs. More than she'd ever seen before. Perhaps a hundred of them. All moving forward. Some friends, some old enemies. None of them were veiled thankfully. Killing in front of a Jenn Aiel was nearly as bad as actually killing one of them, but she wasn't sure how far that would hold.

What made them True Dedicated? Were there False Dedicated? Ambiguously Dedicated? This must have been after the War, but it made no sense, of course people killed in front of Dedicated to Peace during the War, so why was it such a taboo to Aledin? Were the True Dedicated that different?

Despite the tension of being surrounded by so many threats and trying to keep an eye on all of them at the same time, she wasn't able to resist staring at the aes sedai on the palanquins. She'd never seen anyone so ancient looking! Hair so white it was practically transparent and faces covered in deep wrinkles.

Was that Torerin?! She looked so old! She survived! Oh Light someone actually survived! This must have been centuries after the War. Taija desperately wanted to shout to her before she remembered she was just a passenger there.

Along with the other chiefs she stood there, listening to the Jenn Aiel. She was angry when they told her she did not understand why the Aiel did things, angry they even called themselves Aiel. Yet she still listened to how they wanted her to come to Rhuidean, to allow them to choose the chiefs and wise ones.

If they were True Dedicated why did Aledin get annoyed at them calling themselves Dedicated? Was it some sort of schism?

She heard the prophecy whispered by the ancient aes sedai on the palanquin, about the future coming of the Car'a'carn. Eventually Mandein spoke up, volunteering to be the first of the Aiel to go to Rhuidean, she was the second.

=======

Taija blinked as she suddenly returned to the world, lights flashing across the glass columns around her. That was one of the more disturbing experiences she'd ever had with a ter'angreal. She'd been this Aledin, felt everything he'd felt, had his memories.

She still felt his contempt for the True Dedicated, despite having no real idea what they were. Interesting, but not as informative as she might have liked. At least she now know how Ruidean was founded. It was also interesting being a man for that brief time, what an odd feeling that was. Tall too, that hadn't been so bad.

What really stuck in her mind though was Torerin. How long ago must this have been? How long after she left her time? Torerin hadn't been that old then, so this must have been hundreds of years later. They'd been friendly, even if not close friends. Another person Taija had known and liked that was long dead. Another one she'd never share a coffee with again.

As Taija looked around herself she realised she was further into the glass columns than she'd thought. She wasn't sure she wanted to do this anymore, after seeing Torerin the black cloak of depression was hovering over her. However, she strongly suspected the ter'angreal didn't offer much choice once someone had started. Well, there was only one thing to do. She took a step forward.

=======

She was Kollim, an older man.

With her clan she'd traveled far. Despite her age she held her spears with the same easy confidence as any of her fellow warriors. Her fears weren't about attacks at that time though, instead it was lack of water in this parched land. When she was young water had been plentiful, but that certainly wasn't the case anymore.

However she now found herself in the only land where the people had given her group permission to fill their waterbags. She glanced over at the Jenn Aiel, struggling with their wagons and quickly looked away when the aes sedai traveling with them looked down at her with their sad eyes.

Was that Torerin again? She looked younger now, still very old though! The visions must be traveling back in time. She'd been such a cheerful, happy woman. What happened to her? Why was she so sad now? Was it the Dedicateds' fault?

Jeordam, the leader of her group took her and his grandson Rhodric to meet the son of the chief of the local town. He asked about whether the Aiel and the Jenn were the same people and Rhodric said they were the same people, yet not. She knew it was the truth, but she also knew he didn't really know what that truth meant because neither did she.

She also discovered that the people of that town had their own aes sedai adviser and that they planned to have a city built by Ogier.

Hadn't someone mentioned that Ogier had built a lot of Tar Valon? Maybe that was where they ended up. It would make sense with the aes sedai adviser and if they still had proper aes sedai like Torerin around then it would explain why they shared their water with the Dedicated. Maybe that was why the Dedicated were so respectful to aes sedai?

The townspeople pointed the Aiel towards the Dragonwall and she remembered the Aiel's greatest secret, that they were the People of the Dragon. Although she wasn't entirely sure what a Dragon was.

Lews Therin hadn't had any special relationship with the Dedicated to Peace had he? Were there any other Dedicated groups around before he died? If there were they must have appeared after her own displacement. Did they even mean Lews Therin? He was the leader of the Light so maybe everyone counted as part of his people?

The important thing to remember was that in the world there were only Aiel, Jenn and enemies, and perhaps now these people who had allowed her to share their water.

======

Taija gasped as she emerged into the glittering columns once more. Pulses of light seemed to be running up them around her.

Torerin had looked younger in this vision. Maybe one or two hundred years. Why had they been so worried about water? The world had looked so dry and desolate. Were they in the Waste then? She didn't think so.

Surely Torerin or the other aes sedai could have helped them? She was a strong channeler, couldn't she have dealt with the water situation? Taija hated seeing her like this. Why had she looked so sad? What had she been through?

She didn't like any of this in fact. Amys had said some people couldn't handle what they saw, maybe it was just too depressing for them? That didn't seem right though. Still it was fine for her, she was already depressed enough and more bemused than unable to handle what she saw.

There was a bubbling feeling of dread growing in her stomach as Taija took another step forward.

=====

She was Morin.

A woman, finally.

All her life all she had seen was snow and cold. Elders spoke of changing seasons, but then they said that the earth shook and mountains rose and fell like mud in the rain which was ridiculous.

Where was Torerin? What had happened to her? Taija wanted to see her again, not some stupid Dedicated woman!

She'd lived among the wagons for the short years of her life, struggling to hold to the Covenant. Yet every day was harder than the last. Today was the final straw. When she'd tried to trade with the townsfolk they'd taken her daughter. At five years old she'd been the light of her life and she knew what kind of a fate she'd face growing up a slave with them.

So she and two others went to the Aiel for help. A young man leaning on his spear greeted her, calling her Jenn as if to mock her. Of course he was the oathbreaker who had given up on the Way of the Leaf, whatever his claims about never touching a sword.

So the True Dedicated followed the Way of the Leaf? Were they descendants of the Dedicated to Peace? Maybe that was why Torerin was with them, but then why was she not there now? If Taija had been there the townsfolk wouldn't have survived trying to take Morin's daughter. It wasn't fair! Too many Dedicated and not the person Taija actually cared about.

Nevertheless she was taken to his chief, a hard eyed man who said the Aiel would help, but that if the men wished to stay with them they would need to take up spears to defend themselves.

She would be helped regardless, women didn't fight. However, a moment's thought was all it had taken, she was going to get her daughter back, she couldn't live with the Covenant any more.

No woman had taken the spear up before the chief told her, but there was a first time for everything.

======

Taija winced at the blinding light from the glass columns around her.

That must have been how the Dedicated spear maidens got started. It seemed odd that no one had done it before though. Women certainly fought on the front lines in her time, was the ridiculous sexism, a word she'd only really had to start to use after her displacement, that permeated this time something that came about during the Breaking?

Taija still wasn't sure what the Dedicated were actually dedicated to. These True Dedicated, too many Dedicated! The True Dedicated seemed to be more similar to the Dedicated to Peace. The Covenant, the Way of the Leaf, that was their path. It could be a hard one to follow even before the War. She couldn't judge Morin for abandoning it, especially when she could still feel her pain over her kidnapped daughter.

Times seemed to have been even harder in this vision. Elders talking of mountains moving… Huge climatic changes… Was that the Breaking? If this was before Torerin got so old then that might make sense.

Why wasn't she in the vision though? Taija wanted to see more of her, find out why she wasn't there. Perhaps it was selfish, but when the only person she had seen from her time in almost a year was T… Sammael… She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't!

Taija took a deep breath. Obviously the Dedicated broke off from the True Dedicated who were probably an offshoot of the Dedicated to Peace. It wasn't that difficult to work out. Hard times, they had to break the Covenant and defend themselves. Not a surprise. Typical of this time, making everything into a huge, dramatic mystery!

She could see why they'd find it upsetting, breaking the Covenant could be seen as a huge dishonour if they didn't really understand it. People could leave the Dedicated to Peace, it wasn't a prison. Anyway, Taija couldn't see why anyone would judge them in the circumstances. Her mind went back to the more important question. What about Torerin though, what was she doing and what happened to her? That was what she really wanted to know!

She took a step forward.