As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.
Chapter XXI - A Break from the White Tower
Taija's feeling of satisfaction at successfully catching a member of the Black Ajah, even if it was more a matter of lucky incompetence than skill, was quickly replaced by her increasing worry about the girls. Siuan seemed relatively unconcerned, informing her that if she had actionable intelligence then there was something to be done, but until then she had too many fish already in the pot to be worrying about finding more. The fish metaphor didn't improve Taija's mood.
The amount of investigating Taija could do by herself was limited though. She was tempted to drop her disguise and start bashing aes sedai heads together and demanding answers, but that wasn't a realistic option. Instead she had to settle for being the Lady Alfreda, concerned about a pair of novices who had been kind to her.
Her feeling of dread about the girls strengthened as no one she spoke to seemed to have any idea where they'd gone. Three inexperienced girls couldn't simply disappear that easily, not without discovering how to Travel and Taija definitely hadn't taught that to them. Although if, no when, she found them it might be a good idea to.
Taija was worried that she'd attract unwanted attention with her questions, but at the same time she was increasingly driven to the point that she just didn't care. Really she was turning into a ball of frustrated tension in the White Tower. She was deeply outside her comfort zone, trying to work out what was going on with its manipulative women and all the time she could feel an itch between her shoulder blades. At some point she was going to accidentally give herself away, if she hadn't already, and then it would only be a matter of time until someone tried to put a knife between them.
This all came together to make Taija increasingly irritable and more than once she found that her and Siuan were sniping at each other with Leane having to act as peacemaker.
The only source of relief for Taija was her regular chats with Bennae. She was just so nice, particularly for an aes sedai.
"You know Alfreda, I think you're worrying too much." Bennae looked at her with hooded eyes over her cup of tea as she took a sip. "Every time I see you, you look tenser."
Taija sighed, "I know Bennae, I just worry about… home." It wasn't even a lie, Taija tried not to think about home. Everything that had happened to it, the War, the people she loved. "I hope the Amyrlin will be able to help…" She trailed off a little lamely.
Bennae smiled and put her hand on Taija's, "I've no doubt that in the long run things will turn out better for you. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, but you're a talented young woman my dear and things will sort themselves out sooner or later."
Taija offered her a weak smile and changed the subject, "so I've been reading about the Trolloc Wars…"
=====
It was a week after Duhara's surrender that Siuan told Taija that she was making the next move in the hunt for the Black Ajah. Elza Penfell, a green, Taija noted with satisfaction, had been identified by Duhara as one of them and Siuan was ready to take her.
That night Siuan had Taija waiting in her bedchamber, under various inverted weaves to conceal her, when Anaiya and Maigan dragged the black sister through a gateway bound in weaves of air. Siuan didn't want Taija to be known to anyone that she didn't have to be. As she said, "if two people know a secret it is no longer a secret." Actually Taija was a little surprised she didn't manage to bring fish into the saying.
As with Duhara, Elza franticly refusesdto reswear the oaths, feigning outrage to cover her fear, and so she was taken away. A very uneventful night for Taija in the end.
====
The next week Siuan was ready to move again. This time the black sister was Dagdara Finchey. Taija had never heard of her, but Siuan told her that she was a yellow and noticeably stronger than the others that had been taken. Nevertheless she was quickly secured and taken away to face whatever Anaiya and Magian were inflicting on the captured black sisters.
======
Taija sat back and sighed as the warmth of the tea suffused her. "I just don't think that that's a plausible way for aes sedai to have organised themselves in the Age of Legends." She still couldn't entirely suppress a little twitch at calling it that. "The title just didn't mean the same thing then as it does now, of course it was important, but just not as all defining… Or so I've read…" She trailed off a bit awkwardly. She tried to avoid talking about her time, but it seemed to fascinate Bennae more than any other subject and Taija often found the conversation ending up there despite her best efforts.
Bennae's eyebrows rose, "you do have such fascinating ideas sometimes Alfreda dear. One day I will have to leave the Tower again and have you take me to some of these libraries you have visited. Nevertheless, I think the sources are clear, the ancient aes sedai had difficult tests of channeling strength and willpower, I suspect administered through ter'angreal, which meant that only the very strongest and most talented could call themselves aes sedai."
Taija scowled at her lap, desperately wanting to tell Bennae how wrong she was. "I'm sure you're right," she offered through gritted teeth. "So how do the aes sedai decide who gets the title now? I've never seen that in a book." She supposed she could just ask Siuan, but since the 'conversation' about the use of the binding rod, both of them had been reluctant to discuss anything like that.
Something flashed momentarily across Bennae's face and then she was back to her relaxed smiling self. "Well Alfreda, you wouldn't have read anything because it's something of a secret. Perhaps that is more of a guideline though." She laughed sweetly. "If you promise not to tell anyone?"
Taija leant forward and nodded eagerly, "yes of course, I promise."
"Well I will not give you the full details, those truly are secrets of the Tower. However," she paused dramatically, "like in the Age of Legends initiates must take a test with a ter'angreal to be raised to the shawl, also to become accepted, although no one knows whether there was an equivalent position in the Age of Legends."
"There wasn't," Taija muttered under her breath.
"These tests use the ter'angreal to test their courage, dedication, composure and skill. To make sure they are worthy of wearing the shawl."
"Ter'angreal," she didn't have to feign widening her eyes, "isn't that dangerous?"
Bennae nodded sadly, "it can be, but to be aes sedai is to understand danger and yourself, to have faced your fears and chosen the path we walk on."
All Taija could do was think with horror about what kind of idiotic misuse of a ter'angreal these so-called aes sedai were forcing on women barely out of childhood.
=====
It took another week for Elza to break and one of the Black Ajah members she named was Asne. With a sinking feeling Taija remembered the overheard conversation about taking a package to Falme and started making connections in her head.
A few questions of stablehands quickly told her that in fact Asne had secured a number of horses around the time the girls disappeared. Fuck. Taija resisted the urge to spin a gateway there and then and head straight for Falme, she couldn't afford to go on a wild goose chase. She knew she was at risk of jumping to conclusions because of her frustration and the last thing she, the girls or even Siuan needed was for her to go haring off after some red herring.
That night Taija brought up her discoveries with Siuan, who seemed vaguely interested, but told her that she didn't have enough evidence to go on. Siuan would deal with Asne in due course, but there were other priorities, stronger, more senior aes sedai who were Black Ajah, she now had the names of Sitters.
On one level Taija knew Siuan was right, but on another she couldn't stand it. Still, it took her another couple of days of haunting the Tower, in an increasingly foul mood, before she cracked in the face of Siuan's indifference. No, that was unfair. In the face of her other priorities.
Taija wasn't an immature child, she could understand that Siuan's absolute priority was protecting the Tower and rooting out the Black Ajah infestation within it. For her, preserving the Tower was the most important thing. Taija could see that that was important, of course. However, she could also see that the White Tower was a tottering edifice, riddled with darkfriends and women more interested in their own power than in living up to their title. Something to be supported and repaired, probably, maybe, but not the be all and end all that the modern aes sedai thought it was.
Taija had her own priorities. Nynaeve was old enough to look after herself and Taija didn't particularly know her anyway. However, Egwene and Elayne were children, whatever illusions they might have about their maturity. More importantly, they were also her students, so she had a responsibility to them. Anyway, given what she'd seen of the state of this time's aes sedai, three channelers with the girls' potential might be almost as important as keeping the Tower together.
A couple of days of scouting told Taija where Asne's rooms were. As it turned out, it was surprisingly easy to walk around the aes sedai's floors when she could look like a servant. The trick, she quickly found, was just to look like she was moving with purpose and to be carrying something mundane, like towels.
If Siuan didn't want to take any action, then Taija could take her own.
Late the next night Taija headed for Asne's rooms, carrying an empty jug in her arms for cover. A quick look down the corridor told her the coast was clear, but to make sure she spun an inverted ward against eavesdropping around the corridor outside the room, tying it off to dissipate after a few minutes.
Job done, it was time to move. A web of earth, spirit and air rotated the lock in Asne's door and at the same time Taija slashed straight through the black sister's wards.
A warning squawk blared as the wards collapsed, but anyone nearby would have heard nothing.
Taija felt Asne embracing saidar as she threw the door open. Her strength was insignificant. It wasn't even a fight. Taija slammed a shield between Asne and the Power before immediately silencing her protests with a web of air cross her face. Another two webs blocked her vision and hearing.
Scant seconds after she'd started, Taija was in Siuan's bedchamber with a silently struggling Asne.
Siuan, as she'd expected, was unamused at being woken up again, particularly when she saw Asne.
Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Taija with unconcealed irritation in her tone. "I specifically told you that we would deal with Asne in due course. Do you realise how many different problems I am trying to juggle at the moment? You are only adding to them. If the blacks find out what we are doing then we will be straight into the pot and you risk giving it all away."
Taija shrugged. Her irritation at the Tower in general and Siuan in particular was making her unreasonable and she knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to care all that much. "I accept that it's difficult, but I think it's more vital that we recover the three most powerful channelers in the Tower from the Shadow. You can't tell me it's not important."
"It is important," Siuan stood up from the bed using her height advantage to look down at Taija, "but I can also tell you I have one hundred other fish to catch, each just as important and you lack evidence, her involvement is just conjecture." Siuan raised her voice, snapping at Taija. "I am trying to save the Tower and your disobedience makes every step more difficult, every problem worse."
Taija didn't flinch from Siuan's voice or her hard stare, "I hadn't been aware that I took orders from you Siuan." She knew it was childish of her, but she gestured at Asne, "if you'd prefer I can put her back in her room."
Siuan looked like she wanted to put her face into her palms, but after a deep breath she just nodded. "Fine. I will summon Anaiya and we will work on Asne here," she shot the woman a look of disgust. "However, this situation cannot continue, I cannot sail a ship in a storm when the crew are pulling every direction. We must talk, soon, but tonight I need sleep."
"Thank you Siuan sedai," Taija replied, somewhat mollified by her acquiescence, there was no point in further aggravating her when she had what she wanted. Before long a sleepy Anaiya was gumpily taking over Asne's shield and carting her off to what Taija assumed was yet another storeroom.
She slept better for what was left of the night.
======
The next morning, after her daily training session out in the country, Taija emerged from her room into chaos. Close lipped aes sedai and warders were hustling around with unknown purpose. Guards stomped from place to place and novices and accepted fluttered urgently around. However, no one would tell her what was going on and in the end she was ordered back to her room by an irritated looking red sister.
That night Siuan and Leane were absent for their training and Taija ended up retreating grumpily back to her room after waiting in Siuan's bedroom a while. However, the next night she was there and she was absolutely furious.
"Sisters and warders dead! Ter'angreal stolen! The Black Ajah revealing itself like this." She rounded on Taija, "if I find your actions have triggered this I will…" With a visible effort she brought herself under control.
"What happened?" Taija chose to ignore her unspoken threat, "the Tower's been in chaos and no one will even give me a hint of what's happened."
Siuan somehow looked older that night, despite her ageless, bound face, and she sighed as she sunk into her chair. "Thirteen sisters have disappeared together. Before doing that they raided the ter'angreal storerooms and tried to steal angreal too. Thank the Light they did not succeed in that at least. They left two dead sisters and their warders in their wake along with a number of the Tower guard. Now I have to work out how to explain this to the Hall. Light help us if this is a sign the Black Ajah knows they are being hunted!"
Taija's stomach sunk as her explanation went on.
"Not only that, but at least two of the women we were going to take next have left with that group." Siuan looked straight at her, "I assume you know the significance of thirteen women?"
Taija nodded with a wince. "And the ter'angreal they took? What are they?"
Siuan shook her head, "it is a bit of a mystery. They seem to have ignored ones I would think were more useful and have instead taken an odd array that appear to have something to do with dreaming. Also one where the only records that could be found said it produced balefire." She looked thoughtful for a second, "actually do you know much of balefire? It is forbidden by Tower law, but I confess I do not know much more than that, we have lost much." Taija knew that admission pained her.
Mind racing, Taija offered her most innocent shrug and tried to divert the conversation. There was no way she was teaching any of these women how to spin balefire. "Not really I'm afraid, perhaps something from after my time? Maybe the others though? Dreaming… Do you mean the Unseen World?"
Siuan's look sharpened, "I believe so, what do you know of it?"
Taija breathed an internal sigh of relief at the successful diversion away from balefire. "Some things, not as much as an expert, but certainly the basics. The Unseen World is… a kind of mirror to our world. Everyone enters it occasionally in their sleep, but dreamwalkers can consciously enter it and control it."
"But do you know how to enter it? Can you stop those women from doing whatever it is they want there?"
Taija recoiled, "no!" After a second she continued more calmly, "I'm no dreamwalker. Like I said, I know the basics, but the Unseen World is no more accessible to me than it is to you." That was a half truth, but Siuan didn't need to know that. "It's an exceptionally dangerous place. I know people who've never woken up after going there, others who've returned as mindless shells. It's not a place I would go to by choice. Even if I could." The thought made her shiver, there were worse places to die than the real world.
"Fine, there is nothing to be done about that then."
Taija hesitated and then offered, "do you know which way they went? Presumably they don't know how to Travel, it would be relatively easy to follow them and…"
Siuan shook her head. "No, I would not send even you against thirteen of us at once." Taija scowled at that, as if she'd be stupid enough to go head to head with them. She'd pick them off from a distance, one by one. Travel in, strike, Travel out. "But regardless, they used the Waygate in Tar Valon to escape. Unless you also have some way of tracking them through the Ways they are gone." She looked a little hopeful at the idea.
Taija deflated, "no… the Ways were built after… after the War, so I probably know less about them you do."
The next few days saw little interaction with Siuan. Taija went to their regular meetings, talked briefly and then Siuan would say she was too busy to do any training. At least it meant she got more sleep. Each night Taija also asked her about Asne and each night Siuan told her she was still holding out.
======
Taija carefully poured the tea into Bennae's cup and then her own. She wasn't sure it was a good idea to ask, but she hated being ignorant. Loial hadn't really known all that much on the topic. "Bennae, what do you know about the Ways? I heard there's a Waygate in Tar Valon."
That got her a sharp look, Bennae's characteristically absent-minded gaze gone for a second, "goodness me, what in the Light brought on a question like that Alfreda?"
Taija did her best to look embarrassed. "I just heard things… and I was wondering. I've heard of the Ways, how they were built for the Ogier by the male aes sedai, but I don't really know much more about them."
Bennae shook her head, now looking amused if anything, "you really are a sponge for new information my dear. I must say you probably know as much as most aes sedai already, but let me see what I can think of, hmm…" She thought for a minute before launching into a detailed description of what a Waygate looked like, along with a blood-curdling warning about the dangers of the Black Wind.
"Fascinating," Taija murmured, comparing it to what Loial told her months ago in the Borderlands.
"Yes it is, but I hope you're not thinking of anything so foolish and going and trying to explore them yourself?"
Taija shook her head vigorously, "no absolutely not, you couldn't get me in there at spear point." After all, why bother when she could just Travel.
=====
On the fourth night after Asne's capture things changed. When Taija stepped out of her gateway into Siuan's room the Amyrlin had a particularly grim set to her body.
"Ah, Taija. You will be pleased to know that this particular fish has now been skinned. Asne has resworn the oaths and will not be troubling us any more. However, she has also given me disturbing news about the girls."
Taija leant forward, practically thrumming with tension as Siuan continued. "She did indeed take the girls to Falme. The good news is that they have not been handed over to shadowspawn or others of the Black Ajah." Taija breathed a sigh of relief as her fear for them faded slightly. "However, the bad news is very bad."
Siuan took a breath. "I had been reading reports of problems in the west with rumours of strange invaders and aes sedai fighting for them, but it seems the truth is worse than the rumours. There is an invasion going on from across the Aryth Ocean. An empire calling itself the Seanchan."
Taija shrugged wanting her to get to the point, "are they a big problem?"
"I do not know. We had thought that sailing across the Aryth Ocean and surviving was impossible. Even the Sea Folk do not do it."
"Well that's certainly concerning," Taija said in a tone that suggested the opposite, "but what about the girls?" She struggled to bring herself to care too much about squabbles between this time's nations, although of course any war that weakened the forces of the Light was bad.
"Yes, yes. I am getting to that. So Asne has handed the girls over to the 'High Lady Suroth' of the Seanchan, but," Siuan looked disgusted, "it seems they have some kind of device to control channelers. They call them leashed and put a collar on them connected to a bracelet by that leash."
Taija spoke slowly, chewing over the concept in her head, "how does that even work?" She could think of one or two theories, but the idea was both odd and repulsive.
"Asne said she did not know, just that once the collars are on, there seems to be little one can do. She said Egwene had punched the one holding her leash and instead fallen over in pain herself."
Taija's face lost all expression at that. "I see, and the other two?"
"More good news, Asne said they escaped. Though I do not know whether they are still free. She was clearly afraid of being revealed by them though, she had planned to join the group that fled the night she was captured."
"Mmm," Taija's voice was distant, cold. She was already weighing up how much Siuan really needed her in the Tower to fight the Black Ajah, debating with herself how much she even cared. "Is this Suroth a darkfriend too?"
"Apparently so, the second highest ranked person amidst the Seanchan in these lands and a high ranking darkfriend in her own right. I do not know about the others, but Asne believes they are not"
Taija realised she was unconsciously clenching her fists, clutching at her dress and forced herself to relax.
Siuan didn't notice or at least pretended not to, "I cannot allow the girls to be kept prisoner by a darkfriend like this, but I cannot take action myself. The Tower is at a critical point in time and my or other aes sedais' absence would be too great a risk."
"But!" Taija started to protest.
She lifted a hand, "you on the other hand. You I can spare," she offered Taija a wan smile, "and I think if I said to stay you would agree and then go regardless. You are chafing here in the Tower so go with my blessings. I know we do not always see eye to eye, but believe me, when it comes to darkfriend slavers we are sailing in formation."
There was a bit more discussion. Logistics, plans and more details that Anaiya and Maigan had been able to wring out of Asne. In particular Taija found that, like the other black sisters she used the Ways, confirming that the secret of Traveling was still being kept. However, it wasn't long before she returned to her room to pack and get a last night of rest in a good bed.
Shortly after she woke the next morning Taija headed for the stables. Anaiya met her there to hand her a pack of additional clothes and a couple of bulging coin pouches. A brief thank you and goodbye, a check for witnesses and then she was walking her horse through an inverted gateway onto a skimming platform.
Hopefully everything would be easy, sneak in, grab the girls and sneak out. Then back to the Tower within a couple of days.