Interlude XV - Wait, is that a landmine? Nah, everything's fine.
Cadsuane tutted to herself as she steadily moved the knitting needles, listening to the conversation going on around her. The rediscovery of Traveling really was fortuitous. If not for that, she would probably still be trundling around the west chasing rumours of a false dragon, rather than sitting here an adviser, although perhaps not yet a trusted one, to the Dragon Reborn.
She had been thinking about returning to her farm after the rather disappointing experience that had been helping with the capture of Mazrim Taim. Then she had heard rumours about a new false dragon, this Rand al'Thor who was making a name for himself in Toman Head. That had sounded far more interesting than going back to tending plants in the obscurity of retirement so off she had gone.
It had not been long after that that news of the split in the Tower had also come to her. And what madness that had been! She certainly had better things to do than to get involved in such foolishness. Next they would be asking her to become Amyrlin as a compromise or some such rubbish. No, she had decided it was much better to see about dealing with al'Thor.
Still, she had made a diversion to Siuan Sanche's exiled Tower as it had not been so far out of her way. She was still, arguably, the Amyrlin seat after all. It was disappointing really, there could not have been much more than one hundred maybe sisters there, she had expected better of the woman.
Siuan herself had been irritatingly tight lipped. She simply would not share any more than the most basic of information with Cadsuane. The woman was hard too, so she could not simply be pushed into giving way to Cadusane in the manner some of her predecessors had, more was the pity.
Still, what had Elaida been thinking? Cadsuane doubted the woman was a darkfriend like Siuan claimed, more likely just an idiot. However, that was bad enough. Once al'Thor had been dealt with perhaps she should do something about the woman. As long as they did not try to make her Amyrlin in her place.
What had truly astounded her though was that Siuan had been sitting on the greatest discovery of the last thousand years. She had refused to speak about it. It was clear that Siuan did not trust her and she supposed the woman had no reason to, but it was most inconvenient. Regardless, it had been easy enough to extract the secret of Traveling from one of the other sisters there.
Once she had had that, there had been no particular need to stay around Siuan's Tower in exile. So it had been on to Falme, suddenly a journey of weeks turning into seconds.
Falme had been an education. The people there were convinced that al'Thor was the Dragon Reborn. Of course that was a story she had seen too many times before with false dragons. If they were unable to take people in then they would hardly see any success.
The wreckage of the centre of the town was interesting though. The boy was clearly a strong channeler and these Seanchan would bear some thought if even half the stories about them were true.
It had been easy enough to find out that young al'Thor had made his way on to Tear. Apparently Moiraine Damodred was accompanying him which had been perplexing. Cadsuane had wondered what kind of game could she have been playing? It had certainly explained the stories of an aes sedai fighting the Seanchan, but it had been difficult to think that she could actually believe he was the Dragon.
When she had arrived in Tear Cadsuane had discretely established herself in the city's finest inn, right in the shadow of the Stone, ready to commence her investigations in the morning. She had thought the main priority would be stopping the boy before he turned the city to chaos.
The next morning it had not taken long for her to receive one of the greatest shocks of her life. Before she could do much more than look at the Stone she had seen the Dragon's banner flying above it. It had been hard to believe, but she was nothing if not grounded in reality and that banner had said it all. Perhaps the al'Thor boy really was the Dragon Reborn.
She had ended up making a rare retreat back to her inn for a complete rethink.
Once she had straightened herself out Cadusane had had a number of plans for how she would introduce herself to al'Thor. He had fulfilled the prophecies, or at least enough of them that it was clear he was no false dragon. He would need guidance though and she would need to be there to provide that. This was far more important than hunting down false dragons or even putting that fool woman Elaida in her place. It would likely be the most important work of her life in fact.
However, those plans had fallen apart when that very night she heard the sound of fighting and screams on the wind, coming from the Stone. The citizenry of Tear had been out on the streets around the Stone staring at it and muttering to each other about what was going on. She had heard more than one person confidently saying that the Dragon must have gone mad and was going to kill them all.
Regardless of the cause, it had been clear that the time for waiting was over and she needed to be inside the Stone.
She had quickly found herself fighting her way through hordes of shadowspawn, with no idea how they had reached the place. Of course the vile creatures had fallen before her, but they should not have been anywhere near this far south.
However that had not been the real surprise of the evening. That had come when she found the two young runaways, and more importantly their opponent. A man, channeling.
As far as she had been able to tell he had been even stronger than Logain or Taim. It had felt mad to think it, but faced with his strange clothing, his strength and his shouting in the Old Tongue, she had seriously considered that she might be facing one of the Forsaken. Even now, thinking about that made her want to shudder, not that she allowed herself to.
The two runaway girls fighting him had been impressive, when she had finished with their punishments she would have to have them show her some of their tactics. It would not do to encourage them to get above themselves before they were properly reminded of their position though. Truly a pity that they had been allowed to leave the Tower at all, let alone continue to run free. It all seemed to come back to Moiraine's laxity and this Taija woman.
Of course the girls had been losing, how could they have hoped to take on one of the Forsaken? They had been lucky that she had arrived when she did and had been able to drive the man off. She thanked the Light, not for the first time, that she had her angreal and ter'angreal collection. That would have been a far harder fight otherwise, one she was less sure the three of them would have won or even survived.
The girls' reaction to her had been disturbing too. No curtsy, none of the respect that a novice and an accepted should show to an aes sedai. Clearly they needed to be taken in hand.
Then there was the boy she had come for. Rand al'Thor had not quite been what she had expected. He was clearly an incredibly powerful channeler though, his display with the weave to kill the shadowspawn was enough to tell her that.
As usual she'd tried to put him off balance as soon as she spoke to him. She had obviously succeeded at that, but he had quickly bounced back. It seemed the boy was strong. Nervous about his position as one might expect, but willing and able to push back. Good, he would need to be. Not arrogant though, that was unexpected.
Of course she had changed tactics as soon as this became clear. She would never give way to people or be shy and retiring, but she was perfectly capable of calibrating her behaviour. The boy needed a strong supporter someone he would listen to and rely on to speak the truth without fear, but who would also boost his confidence and position. The ability to adapt was something so many of her sisters sadly lacked. It certainly explained the current parlous state of the Tower.
That brought her to the meeting she was sitting in a few weeks later. Part of what seemed to have become Rand's inner circle of advisers. There was Moiraine, obviously, the woman had not made such a mess of things that she was excluded from that. Her warder Lan too, although he rarely had anything to say.
There was also Rhuarc, the Aiel clan chief. Now there was an interesting man, but his presence made sense.
The runaway novice, Elayne was also there. Perhaps for her royal blood? She did not seem to be in a relationship with young al'Thor, which would be the obvious explanation.
Then there were the two conundrums. Aleksi and Taija 'sedai'. She snorted internally at the title and glanced over at the small woman who seemed to be staring into space yet again.
Aleksi had been difficult at first. As far as she could tell he was an Andoran peasant. His accent, the way he held himself, his views. They all but shouted country boy made good. Not so far off al'Thor in fact.
She had assumed he was just an old friend of the boy, like the slippery young Mat, and was in the council because of that. However, that changed when she got close enough for one of her ter'angreal to solve the mystery of his position. He could channel too. Something would have to be done about that at some point, but not now, not when things were still delicate with al'Thor.
It also explained the bigger mystery in the group. Taija Kosola Miranen, the woman had placed an odd emphasis on the full name when they were properly introduced.
Everyone treated her as an aes sedai, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Ignoring the fact that Cadsuane had never heard of her, the woman did not have the face for it, she wore no Great Serpent ring and most damning of all she could not even channel.
Cadsuane had spent centuries being able to assess the strength of a woman at a glance and Taija gave her nothing. Of course that did not fit with what people had said about her.
Moiraine had been characteristically tight lipped, as unforthcoming as ever. All the woman had said was, "I leave her be for a very good reason, you can take my advice to do the same or on your own head be the consequences." Ultimately it had just made Cadsuane all the more determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.
However, others were more than willing to talk about Taija and her various achievements. If they were to be believed she was a channeler of prodigious strength and talent, an inspirational aes sedai many had assured her.
It was ridiculous. Cadsuane was not stupid enough to underestimate a powerful wilder. Her experiences after attaining the shawl had put paid to that. However, a woman who could not even channel was hardly a concern on the same level.
It was not even just a question of ability to channel. She had met plenty of strong women over the years and Taija was simply not one of them. She avoided conflict, allowed herself to be snubbed and half the time did not even pay attention to what was going on around her.
She was like the worst of the brown sisters, except that it was obvious she had only a fraction of their knowledge. Cadsuane could not place the woman's odd accent, but her vocabulary was entirely Andoran peasant. Even Aleksi seemed more well-spoken than she was. As for her education, why a few days before she had actually asked what the sea folk were and looked surprised at the answer! Perhaps it was the way she would occasionally use appallingly accented phrases in the Old Tongue that helped fool people? They would often mistake a surface level of knowledge as a sign of sophistication.
Whatever the case, everyone continued to refer to her as Taija sedai. Even Moiraine who should have been furious at the insult to the White Tower.
It was of no matter. She had been careful in case the true reason was some unforeseen danger. However, when she had finally realised that Aleksi could channel it had all become clear. The Dragon Reborn might be permitted to walk free as a male channeler, but the same could not be said for any other man. A friend of his who could channel would need help covering it up. That was where Taija came in. What better cover for a hidden channeler than to have a public one there to take credit for his deeds?
Of course Moiraine must be aware. Further evidence of her failings really. Although, if Cadsuane was going to be fair, it was probably a sensible decision not to confront al'Thor about his friend when the man could potentially be unstable.
The runaways would go along with it because, instead of the harsh lessons and discipline of the White Tower, they would be allowed to play around doing whatever they wanted while pretending to be taught by someone barely older than them. They clearly already thought of themselves as above the Tower's tutelage.
She was not sure what Taija got out of covering for a male channeler. Perhaps it was simply the prestige of being acknowledged as an aes sedai and being able to go around doing whatever she wanted, wearing whatever she felt like too. She tutted at the thought of Taija's deeply inappropriate dress-sense.
Still, that would not be enough by itself. There must be some relationship with Aleksi too. They spent far too much time together for anything else. They could not be related, despite their Andoran syntax, she looked nothing like him, more like a Taraboner.
Perhaps lovers then? That made sense. A desperate woman protecting her lover the only way she could. It was certainly a more sympathetic story than a power-hungry girl taking advantage of the forbearance of the aes sedai.
Regardless, it would have to be nipped in the bud. Al'Thor could be allowed his friend, she was not foolish enough to try to interfere with that. For now anyway. However, she could not tolerate Taija taking the Tower's name in vain. Especially not when she was doing such a bad job of it. Every day she continued with her pretense she damaged the reputation of aes sedai that little bit more.
Al'Thor finished speaking. "Does anyone have anything they wish to add?" He looked around the room and everyone shook their heads except Taija who was slumped slightly in her chair, biting her bottom lip and staring into space. An unedifying display from the girl.
She could not resist speaking up, "I am not sure Taija heard you Rand. Perhaps the girl should pay more attention if she is going to attend these meetings?"
Everyone winced at her comment and she could have sworn those next to her leant away slightly. Yes, she must be Aleksi's lover if people were that worried about his reaction.
After a moment of everyone staring at her Taija seemed to jolt in her seat and look up, blinking owlishly for a second before mumbling, "oh umm, no nothing from me, sorry." A moment later she was back in whatever fantasy world she was inhabiting.
Something would have to be done about this. If nothing else the runaways could not be left to stagnate under Taija's charge. They needed disciplining for running away from the Tower and then to be properly trained so that their talent did not go to waste. She had little time for it herself, but she supposed she would have to make some.
As for Taija, Cadsuane needed to maintain her relationship with al'Thor and hence Aleksi, but they would also have to understand that this was Tower business. She would treat the girl gently, at least compared to what she deserved, there was no need to alienate them further than necessary, but this farce could not be allowed to continue.