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

With thanks to the late Terry Pratchett for the chapter title.

Chapter XVII - If A Man Has You Entirely At His Mercy, Then Hope Like Hell That Man Is An Evil Man

The next morning Taija felt bleary and run down after another bad night of sleep, not to mention everything that had happened the day before. Still, once she'd had the chance to shake the cobwebs out of her head and have a proper wash she felt a bit better. The benefits of hot water couldn't be underestimated. Of course the inn didn't provide that, but when you could channel, cold water was never a big problem. She still felt the deep weariness that told her she'd been going too hard for too long without a break, but at least she felt more human.

After some haggling she became the proud owner of a rather mediocre looking horse and a much better quality dress. At least she now looked more like an odd merchant rather than an exhausted peasant. As far as she could tell anyway. Really she'd rather have just walked, or Traveled, but she was conscious that having a horse would be seen as a sign of wealth and status.

In the full light of day, Tar Valon was simply stunning. A huge mountain loomed behind it, unnaturally isolated and dominating the skyline with its craggy ridges. The city itself though, that was a true marvel, even to her. Arching bridges crossed the Erinin, shining walls stretched to the sky and above them loomed the White Tower. Taija had seen taller, she'd seen fancier, but this was still a truly beautiful city.

She could already feel her mood improving as she rode towards one of the city's gigantic gates, climbing up the arch of one of the bridges. Once she was inside the walls she saw a happy, wealthy population bustling around, going about their business. There didn't seem to be any of the poverty that stained Caemlyn, Fal Dara or any of the other small towns and villages that she'd visited and every building seemed to be built of proud stone, carefully designed to fit together with the wider city.

Impressed, despite herself, Taija continued on to the inn one of the guards at the gate had told her was the finest inn in Tar Valon. He'd looked sceptical, but when she'd given him one of the small gold coins in the purse Siaun had given her, he'd suggested the Shining Flame. If Siuan was going to go around calling herself the leader of the aes sedai then she could go ahead and pay for Taija to at least have a modicum of comfort.

The Shining Flame itself was a much, much nicer inn than any of the others Taija had stayed in. It was almost opulent in fact. Its centrepiece was a huge common room, decorated with paintings and bookshelves was filled with finely dressed people engaging in quiet conversation over elaborate meals.

The owner, a large man with ruddy cheeks, had kept trying to suggest that another inn might be more suitable to Taija until she'd started pressing gold coins into his hand. After that she was suddenly 'my lady' to him and was quickly set up with a room and recommendations for good tailors.

The rest of the day involved tedious visits to tailors to look for suitable dresses. After some arguments about propriety Taija also managed to convince one to make her some loose, thick trousers, although the tailor had seemed to struggle slightly with the concept of a noblewoman wanting something like that.

By her best guess, Taija had a couple of days to herself before the Amyrlin's boat reached Tar Valon. So, given what she'd been through in the last few weeks and months, she decided that she'd allow herself those days to explore Tar Valon. There wasn't much else for her to do anyway, other than Travel out of the city each morning to exercise by herself away from civilisation. She did need to get back into fighting shape after all.

She was too tired to go looking for conflict and, given the Forsaken seemed to be loose, there was a real risk she might bump into the wrong person while she was in no condition to fight. Trying to get into the White Tower, particularly its library, was also tempting, but it seemed stupid to risk being caught when she'd be welcomed in a couple of days.

Regardless, Taija always had liked exploring new places and being able to walk around Tar Valon without constantly being in fear or trying to work out what was going on was a nice feeling. The city was stunning and she had friendly, normal conversations with a few people. She hadn't realised how much she'd missed people not treading on eggshells around her.

Unlike every other city Taija had visited in this time, she frequently passed women with the ability to channel, although none of them were particularly strong. Still, she assumed they must be aes sedai and was glad of her own inverted webs concealing her ability.

It was early evening on the second day when Taija was returning from a tailor's with their apprentice carrying a load of new clothing behind her that she noticed the inn's common area was fuller than she'd seen it before. As usual everyone was finely dressed, clearly nobility or wealthy merchants and today she was even fairly sure there were a couple of aes sedai there.

It was immediately clear that they were listening to a performance by a finely dressed man at the back of the room sat there on a small stage playing a harp, long curly hair covering his face. Soft notes wafted over the room as he sang a song about a battle of some kind.

Taija was intrigued despite herself. She'd never spent all that much time at gigs, but she did like music and hadn't heard much of what this time produced. The man was pretty good and since she was trying to relax she decided that she'd indulge her curiosity. How similar would it be to what she did know? Hopefully it would be better than the garbage she'd once heard from some historical re-enactors when she went to a show at a pre-War fair.

She quickly asked the apprentice to get the clothes sent up to her room, tipping him a couple of the bigger silver coins before finding herself a space at the back of the room to sit back and listen with a cup of wine.

By the end of the song she had to admit the singer was pretty good. She was only half listening though. Despite her best efforts at relaxing her mind kept going back to trying to work out what her next move should be, but he did create a very nice atmosphere for those musings.

The singer started on his next song and Taija leant back in her chair, smiling to herself. The haunting melody reminded her of home, listening to that tune while she banged out another problem sheet as an undergraduate. Wait.

She sat up with a jolt, actually focusing on the music. She knew that tune! And the words, the words were different, but the tune… She looked harder at the performer on the stage. Surely not.

He looked subtly different, but Taija could remember the poster on her bedroom wall at university. Really?! Even after Mierin she was stunned at the sheer arrogance.

She'd need to make sure of course, but it seemed like her relaxation time was over. Antero had always grumbled that she was a bit of a workaholic, she gave a humourless smile at the thought.

Taija sat through the rest of the performance, clenching her wine glass and taking only tiny sips to avoid suspicion. She couldn't afford anything other than total sobriety now. Thankfully no one noticed her tension, the white showing on her knuckles as she gripped her cup so hard it hurt.

The music was exquisitely done and his voice was as good as it ever was, but Taija couldn't enjoy it anymore. Even when several of her favourite works were played, odd without electronic instruments and a full band, but completely recognisable.

After he finished performing, the singer spent an inordinate amount of time glad-handing the rich and powerful in the room. Roaming around, paying particular attention to the two women Taija thought might be aes sedai. Luckily he ignored her, she wasn't sure she could have acted normally if he'd spoken to her.

Eventually he moved to leave, a bit tipsy. He had one of the prettier serving girls with him as he ambled out of the inn, slipping his arm round her before dropping it down to give her backside a squeeze. Half a minute later Taija casually got up, rechecking the various inverted webs concealing her channeling and identity and followed after him at a suitable distance.

After a couple of minutes she ducked into an alleyway, glad that Tar Valon seemed to be such a safe city, and tweaked the web of illusion over her, her appearance rippling and changing. Then she was following again.

It wasn't long before he reached an inn, almost but not quite as nice as the Shining Flame. This would be the hardest part. Taija followed him in, staying a little way behind and asked the innkeeper for a room for the night. It cost her yet more money and a made up story about being caught away from home, but not too many questions were asked once she'd pressed a couple of gold coins into the woman's hand.

Fortunately her target seemed to have stopped for a drink with his serving girl and they were giggling in the corner, uninterested in the disapproving stares of some of the other patrons, let alone in a random middle-aged woman buying a room for the night.

Deal done with the innkeeper, Taija declared herself in need of a nightcap before she went to bed and found her own corner to sit in, giving herself a view over the room and the canoodling couple. Doing her best to hide her distaste she sat back and pretended to drink.

It felt like an interminably long time before the singer paid up and headed for the stairs with his girl. As soon as their backs were turned, Taija gave a theatrical yawn and headed after them, leaving a silver coin on the table.

She didn't need to follow too closely, she could hear the serving girl's outraged squeal and then the two of them laughing as they went. Their floor only had two rooms and she'd seen that they turned left in front of her as she climbed past. Good, now she knew where he'd be.

Taija reached her own room and breathed out a deep sigh of relief as the tension she hadn't even realised was filling her eased off slightly. She'd been terrified he'd spot her. Actually it was amazing how relaxed he was, particularly in this city with so many aes sedai around.

She settled down to wait. She was too wound up to sleep, and didn't want to risk not waking up, so she lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking of home.

It was a long two hours before Taija decided it was time to move.

Climbing off the bed, she took a deep breath and headed down to his room. Stopping just outside the door Taija tentatively reached out with tiny, inverted flows of spirit. She immediately felt invisible wards, her flows brushing against them, light as a feather, careful not to trigger them.

Taija breathed a sigh of relief. Wards, yes, he wasn't a complete idiot, but they were following the internal contours of the room. It was the natural way to spin a ward, but it did leave certain weaknesses.

She put her hand on the lock and channeled a small, but complex web of earth and spirit into it, careful not to let the flows extend past the door into the room where they'd cross the ward line. After a few long seconds the lock clicked open. Taija paused, but no sound came from the room. He'd probably warded it against sound, in which case he wouldn't have heard even if she'd battered the door down with an axe.

Now she needed to move fast. A flow of air swung the door open and Taija took a long step into the room, her web pushing the door shut again behind her. He was already lurching awake, scrambling up in his bed, the wards clearly triggered by her entrance, but Taija had the drop on him. Before he'd even registered her presence in the dark of the unlit room she slammed an inverted shield into place on him.

Now she allowed herself to smile. She'd already won.

He scrambled out of the bed, completely naked, still clearly confused about what was going on. Taija felt him reach for the Power, pressing against her shield. It was futile, he hadn't a hope of breaking it without help. Help which wouldn't be coming.

"Oh fuck." He muttered the words and slumped back onto the bed, seemingly resigned to defeat. Taija wasn't fooled though, he'd be looking for his angle, how to escape.

"Who's there?" As he called out, the serving girl was sleepily sitting up next to him and looking around in confusion, also apparently as bare as the day she was born.

Taija channeled and a small web of fire and spirit brought the room into low, flickering relief with her silhouetted behind it. "Hello Joar Addam."

With a squeak of surprise the girl pulled the blanket up to cover her chest

Taija saw him jolt at the name and peer nervously at her through the darkness, but he tried to play it cool. "My name's Jasin, who are you and what do you want? You can't just break into a man's room like this!" A quaver entered his voice, "if you want money, it's on the desk. Take it and go! I will not try to stop you."

Taija fed more saidar into the light, making it brighter. "I saw you in town and I thought we could have a little talk. It's been such a long time after all."

Asmodean sighed and dropped the act, straightening up and suddenly looking prouder and more dominant, ignoring his own nudity. "Very well. You seem to have me at a disadvantage. So, tell me, who are you? It is not you Moghedien, is it? If so, this is not at all funny."

The serving girl looked wildly between the two of them, completely confused. "What's going on Jasin? Who is this woman?"

"I'm not Moghedien." Taija laughed humourlessly, her throat dry. "So, would you care to tell me Asmodean, what exactly it is you're doing here in Tar Valon? I certainly didn't expect to see you here replaying your greatest hits to Tar Valon's great and good. Well I say your greatest hits, I'm fairly sure a few of them were borrowed from other artists."

Asmodean winced. "Let me just put some clothes on and we can talk about this." He got up, reaching for his desk.

"Sit. Down." Taija's voice cracked out like a whip. "Don't move a limb unless you want to lose it." She wasn't stupid enough to find out the hard way that he had some sort of ter'angreal of weapon hidden way.

"Jasin I'm scared, why are you talking funny?" The serving woman was whining in the background, but neither of them had any attention to spare for her.

"Ok, ok." Asmodean carefully moved away from the desk, sitting back down and keeping his hands in view, palms placatingly open. "So. Let us talk. An answer for an answer maybe? Who are you and what do you want with me?" Taija felt her web flexing as he pressed against the shield without success. His body language was still relaxed. He was dangerous. She couldn't let her guard down around this man.

Rather than answer his question Taija increased the light in the room until everything was clearly visible.

"Well that is a relief, but I still do not recognise you. It seems you have me at a disadvantage, but given the things you know, you must also know we do the Great Lord's work. You do realise you are speaking to one of his Chosen do you not?"

Taija smiled thinly at that. "As a matter of fact I do." With a thought the web disguising her unraveled. The girl gasped when her form started to ripple, but Asmodean leaned forward, a predatory look in his eyes.

The ripples faded and with it the look in his eyes vanished to be replaced by confusion and then dawning recognition. "Oh." He slumped on the bed, a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"Oh." Taija agreed.

He sighed deeply. "Taija Kosola. I thought you were dead. Obviously."

"Clearly I'm not." She replied dryly, "now I think I had some questions for you."

"No no no, we're not going to go there. Pleasant as it is to see a face from the past, I won't, can't betray my oaths."

"Not even to save your life? You never struck me as the bravest of the Chosen." Taija's voice went from musing at the start to disgusted at the last word.

Asmodean shook his head, looking down, resigned. "It's not courage. We both know how this ends, whether I answer your questions or not." He grimaced. "Ultimately the Great Lord is also known as the Lord of the Grave for a reason. I swore my oaths and if I break them I'll suffer more than anything you can do to me." He hesitated and then looked up to meet Taija's eyes. "Look, Taija Kosola, I know you're not a cruel person, not like us. So I just have one request. Bessa," he nodded at the girl who was frantically mumbling something about aes sedai, "she's not involved, she just wanted some fun for the night. Let her go, she's innocent and there's nothing she can do against you."

Taija was a bit surprised that one of the Forsaken would care about anyone else, but in the end even the worst monsters must have some redeeming characteristics. She thought for a second, but ultimately she wasn't a murderer and the girl had done nothing more wrong than get into bed with a stranger so it wasn't a hard decision. "Fine. You girl. Bessa. Leave. Now. This is aes sedai business and if you breath a word of it to another living soul I will have you wailing for mercy in front of the whole Tower." Taija doubted it would keep her mouth shut forever, but she wouldn't have understood any of what they'd discussed.

With a whimper the girl gasped, "yes aes sedai! Thank you aes sedai!" She practically leapt out of bed, desperately grabbing and pulling on her dress before running out.

Taija turned back to fully face Asmodean as the door swung closed behind the girl. "Well I suppose that puts us on a timer. We both know what you've done. You've been sentenced to death a hundred times over, a thousand, and you've escaped justice so far..." She met his terrified eyes with your own and brought together the web for balefire. It felt like his eyes were still hanging there in front of her as his colours reversed and he faded out of existence. "… but not anymore."

When Taija spun the web to skim back to her room at the Shining Flame and lay down on her bed to sleep, she realised she didn't feel a thing.