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

Chapter LXXIX - A Vigorous Application of Logic and Reason

"Great." Taija turned to face the crowd. "Please watch and listen carefully, there'll be a lot to learn." She turned back to Taim, "feel free to start whenever you're ready."

Taim's eyebrows rose and then the smirk vanished as he focused his attention fully on Taija. Bennae did her best to suppress her concern. Surely the man must be at least a little worried by Taija'sconfidence? Apparently not. While he was clearly taking this seriously, he oozed calm, casual confidence. It was a contrast to Taija's restrained fury.

Four fireballs, impressively large suddenly appeared, flying towards Taija. Bennae did not think she could have made even one that big. However, her friend did not blink. Blindingly fast, four huge weaves of air engulfed the fire, stifling it before it even got close to her.

Taija's voice rang out. Bennae thought it was slightly louder than it should have been, although she could see no weave to cause that. "Taim has chosen to open with potentially lethal attacks. Crude, using strength as a crutch for skill." A weave of spirit and fire lashed out through something Bennae couldn't see.

"No subtlety, no intelligence to it. Just brute strength looking to dominate those he sees as weak."

With a growl Taim let loose. A storm of weaves directed towards Taija. Bennae was sure she could only see some of what he was doing, but that was enough. It was more than any woman in the Tower could have channeled, more than any two. No wonder he had been able to escape his captors. Taija however, did not even bother to move. The intense look in her eyes had been replaced by one of almost boredom. Weaves flashed out from her, too fast for Bennae to follow, but everything that Taim sent her way, seen or unseen, was sliced, deflected or simply blocked before it even came close.

"The first lesson for today is that you should never assume that you're the most powerful person in the room. People hide their strength for all sorts of reasons. If you always rely on being the strongest, treat other people as less than you because they happen to be weaker in the Power, eventually you're going to meet someone who can do the same to you."

Taim's composure was definitely cracking. He leant forward, narrowing his eyes. Saidar was a whirlwind of weaves around Taija, an impenetrable storm of protection. Nothing came close to touching her.

"Goodness, I am glad I put enough in her tea," Bennae muttered to herself without realising she had spoken out loud until she got a sharp look from Tel.

"The second lesson for today is that you should treat others the way you would like them to treat you. I've extended the hand of friendship to Taim, welcomed him into the Hall of Servants, treated him with respect. He's been nothing but rude to me, other initiates and my guests. The only person he has shown any respect tois Tel sedai." Taim's attacks, both visible and invisible had not let up and neither had the storm of weaves around Taija, how could she even speak while splitting her threads that many ways and at that speed, let alone look so utterly unconcerned by it?

"Now that we're having this little lesson, he could have chosen to be careful, to treat me with respect and I would have responded in kind. Instead he is using webs that would kill or seriously injure me if I make the slightest mistake. I would be within my rights to do the same back to him. A tragic accident, one small miscalculation and poof," she made a hand gesture to accompany the noise, "no more Taim. As it is though, that would be like beating a child, he acts like a child and here he might as well be one." She pretended to think, "still he seems to be a fan of corporal punishment and he's not a child, but a man in his thirties who thinks he should be leading, so…"

Taija wove air, a small simple thread that she snuck along the ground, a moment later it hooked around Taim's ankles and pulled hard, yanking them from under him. As his feet left the floor she hit him, hard, with a fist of air sending him flying backwards into a tumbling roll.

Beside her Tel Janin winced and muttered, "well she's pissed." An interesting expression that Bennae had not head before. Clearly this man was worth some investigation even if it was difficult to overcome long-standing feelings about men channeling.

"You did not seem very worried about Taija going up against this man?"

Tel Janin glanced at her as if considering whether to answer or not and then shrugged. "She could break him in half. He's very strong, almost as strong as a man can be, but he's a barely-trained wilder without all that much practical experience… and he's decided to see how far he can push her."

Well now, that was fascinating. Not so much for his assessment of Taija's capabilities, although he did seem to know them well, but for the way he described Taim a man who had been channeling as long as any other man alive. Or so she had thought.

Taim was picking himself up off his feet, wincing from the pain. Hardly a surprise, he had flown far enough that she was surprised his ribs were not cracked.

He spat on the ground and raised his voice. "You say I was going for lethality, that iss just because of your own weakness. You stand there prattling on, mistaking a duel for battle." A moment later lightning arced from the sky towards Taija, a veritable storm of it and Taim started to run towards her.

Beside Bennae Tel sighed and muttered something like, "well he decided to fuck around and now he's going to find out." Was that the Old Tongue? Her hearing was not what it used to be.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh I was just thinking that he can't seem to stop provoking her. She's already in a complete snit with him, but she's actually being very restrained. If it were up to me I'd have done this a couple of weeks ago. I think she feels sorry for the man, Light only knows why, but if she loses her temper any more than she already has she might actually hurt him badly."

Tel seemed to realise after a moment that he had said more than maybe he meant to and shuffled away from her slightly. He did seem to know Taija very well.

Taija's voice rang out from the field. "Dull, predictable, pedestrian. Is that really all you have Taim? You fought battles against helpless idiots who have no idea how to fight a channeler." Did she mean aes sedai? Surely not! Taija still had not moved from her spot. "I fought in the War of Power. I've gone toe to toe with the Forsaken. Two of them are dead at my hand. You think you can lecture me about fighting? The third lesson for today. True aes sedai prefer not to fight, but that doesn't mean they can't fight."

Taim was getting close to her, his storm of lightning not abating. Suddenly the ground heaved under him, some kind of weave of air and earth, throwing him off balance and a moment later a fist of air took him in the stomach for the second time, sending him tumbling.

"Still want to keep going Taim? You haven't even made me take a single step."

"I'm going to flaming kill you you aes sedai witch!"

Taija's eyebrows rose. "I thought you might be a slow learner. To be honest, this is getting boring though. What's the word in your language? Ah yes, tedious." As Taim picked himself up again, she struck. A wall of fire, threads of the Power weak enough that it was practically an illusion, but visually impressive shot towards him. It vanished, presumably sliced even as Taija sent a bar of air thickly overcharged with saidar at his legs. It met unseen resistance for a moment and then powered through, smashing his legs out from under him so that he slammed face first into the dirt. Another weave of air immediately settled on his shoulders, pressing his face down.

He tried to push himself up and Taija forced him further down, watching him struggle for a few seconds. Eventually she moved, ambling over to him as he continued to fight the weave. Of course he could not channel effectively with his face mashed into the dirt, he would not be able to see a thing.

"So, Taim, I think we're done with this. Do you yield?"

Taim muttered something into the dirt and kept struggling.

Taija looked up at the audience. "Well, here's a lesson from Taim for you. If it's important enough, you should never give up, even when everything seems lost. Unfortunately for him, this isn't important enough and he really has lost."

Bennae felt no sympathy for the man, nevertheless she sidled after Tel Janin. "Has she always been like this?"

"She's had a temper on her as long as I've known her, if you push her far enough. Hates arguing right up until the moment she explodes. It can really catch people out. Back in the day people didn't tend to push as much though." He was staring at Taija, almost uncomfortably intensely.

"Back in the day?"

"Oh when I first entered Rand's service." That was an obvious lie, there was only one real conclusion to draw. How had the boy managed to find two of them? He must be ta'veren, but something like that?

Eventually Taim's struggles started to weaken and Taija took a step back releasing the weave on his back. The fight seemed to have left him, for he when he scrambled to his feet he just gave her a hate filled glare and turned to storm away.

"Wait a minute Taim, we're not done here yet." Taija's voice cracked out like a whip, holding him in place. "This has been a bit unfair on you. Initiates of the Hall, the fourth lesson of the day is to never let yourself get into a fair fight. If you find yourself in a fair fight your planning has gone wrong. Taim foolishly accepted my challenge without setting any terms or thinking about what advantages I might have. You might say his planning went wrong."

She paused to scan the crowd. "Nynaeve sedai! Please could you come over here."

The girl quickly jogged over to Taija and gave her a small bow. To think she had been a newly raised accepted in the Tower only months ago. It was clear that much as she liked the young lady, it was necessary to reassess Taija's capabilities. Nynaeve's time with Taija also seemed to have mellowed her somewhat, the scowl that Bennae remembered was gone, as was her defiant body language. There was still some tension, but she was more relaxed, confident.

Taija reached into her blouse and pulled out what looked like a pendant. "Would you mind looking after this and healing Taim? I think he might like a rematch on fairer terms."

Was that an angreal? Now where had she obtained that? Purloined during her time in the Tower? It certainly explained her victory against Taim, she had just over powered him. Impressive, even with an angreal, but now she was giving it to someone else. Bennae wanted to put her face in her hands in despair at her friend's foolishness. But then, when she glanced over at Tel Janin he was just watching Taija without the slightest hint of worry. In fact she would say something closer to admiration or even adoration was in his eyes.

"I don't like to fight. I'm a woman of peace, but if I'm forced to fight then I will win that fight." Bennae's attention was drawn back to Taija who was still lecturing the crowd while pretending to speak to Taim. "You might think it was unfair of me to beat you with an angreal Taim, so here you go. Gloves off, no assistance, let's go again."

This time the man had at least a modicum of sense, because he hesitated in the face of Taija's confidence. Not for long though, his arrogance quickly reasserted itself. "I shall enjoy this." Nynaeve's rather impressive healing weave seemed to have dealt with all of his injuries and left him as strong as ever.

"Well, that's good because I will too."

Taim did not wait for any further words, he just struck without warning, the space around Taija erupting into fire, earth exploding around it. Only she had already moved, weaving a gateway and stepping through it, emerging behind him. "Slow. Crude. Unskilled. You're incredibly strong Taim, but this is still a total mismatch."

Taija wove a series of webs as she spoke, bombarding Taim with fire, then air, then lightning, then earth, then a shield of spirit as she spoke, rotating through each element. She was circling too, never staying in the same spot. Slicing anything that came her way "I'm not as strong as you, probably no woman other than perhaps Lanfear is. Yet it doesn't matter." She knew how strong Lanfear was? It was logical, but still a disturbing though.

Taim was doing an impressive job of countering her weaves, each time they reached out he would cut or block them, sending his own attacks back at her with considerably less refinement.

"If combat is all you value then you don't measure up to a single one of the Hall's aes sedai. Man or woman."

Suddenly Taija doubled the number of weaves she was throwing at him, attacking from two sides at once, still rotating round the elements. Was she trying to be predictable? Taim had no choice but to go on the defensive. He still sent attacks flailing at her, but they were deflected or sliced casually.

"Does the fact that I can do this, go toe to toe with you make me a better leader? Back in what you call the Age of Legends, one of my best friends was an aes sedai, but weak in the Power, comparable to the weaker sisters in the White Tower. Yet he was far more suited to leadership than me. A natural leader with a head for strategy. Should I have been telling him what to do because I could beat him? Ironically, given my strength and your weakness, my fifth lesson for you today is that strength does not make you a good leader."

She added a third weave to her attacks, suddenly mixing the elements together. Taim was immediately on the back foot starting to retreat under the onslaught. His own attacks petering out.

Taija's voice rose. "Do you start to understand me Taim? Shall I have Nynaeve come up here and continue the lesson? She's not as good as me. Obviously, but she's still better than you. Does that mean she should be in charge? If a drooling idiot happens to be stronger in the Power than you, does that mean you should bow to him?"

Taim pulled himself together, suddenly running to the side and going on the attack. He must have been splitting his threads as many ways as he could. Lightning flashing down and a stream of fireballs curving in towards Taija.

She weathered the storm, a whirlwind of weaves slicing everything he threw at her. "Strength is a terrible way of deciding who leads, it's one of the great failings of the White Tower's aes sedai. Funny that you look to copy people you despise so much. You think you can come and throw your weight around in the Hall of Servants. Take advantage of our generosity. Well, even by your own metric you don't rate."

She shot a glance at the crowd, just for an instant before her eyes returned to Taim and Tel Janin grimaced. After a second a slight haze appeared between them and Taija and he covered his ears. There were no threads of the Power visible, did that mean he did it? He really did know her well if he could read that as a cue, Bennae quickly copied him and covered her own ears.

It was not a moment too soon. There was a flash of light, almost blinding despite the haze, and a bang so loud it hurt even through her hands. Taija had already moved by the time Bennae worked out was going on, stepping through a gateway and sending fire at Taim. A smaller pair of gateways opened beside her and she sent weaves of air through them slamming into Taim unexpectedly from the side and behind. Either she was running out of strength, which seemed unlikely, or she had very much pulled her blows with those. They still sent Taim staggering to the floor.

"We have been nothing but polite to you, but you were very clear that you only responded to strength." Taija stalked towards him. "Is this better? Is this what you want? Is this how I should treat you very time there's a disagreement?"

He tried to rise and she smashed him into the ground again.

"Grow up Taim. We're here working to build a better world. One where violence is not the basis for leadership. It existed once. We will ensure it exists again."

Taija stood over him, panting slightly, but otherwise untouched by anything other than anger.

"Men like you will never need to be hunted again. You'll never need to lash out to protect yourself. But equally you can't, you won't, be allowed to exploit your fellow men and women. You can be better than this Mazrim Taim. The world has hurt you, grow past that and we can help you become truly strong. We can build a better world together, if you'll only reach out to meet us."

The weave holding Taim in place vanished and Taija leant down, holding a hand out to the man.

He lay there on his back emotions moving across his face in a distorted, conflicting mixture of anger, confusion and fear, staring up at Taija his chest heaving. Bennae hissed quietly, she was a small woman, if he grabbed her he could…

Slowly Taim reached out and took her hand. With a visible effort Taija hauled him up, helping him to his feet. For a long moment he stared down at her, his face now expressionless, sardonic smile long gone.

"You have given me much to think about Taija sedai. I expect I will see you during the initiates' classes." He gave her a bow, not a deep one, but respectful enough to pass and turned towards to the Hall's buildings, not looking back. Bennae let out a breath she had not realised she was holding.

A moment later Taija turned to face the crowd. "Right, show's over, back to work everyone!"

That had been one of the most fascinating few minutes of Bennae's life. Both Taija's… demonstration and also this Tel fellow. Mmm. Yes, perhaps it would be best to stay here for a while.

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It had been possibly the worst week of Graendal's life. Trying to pretend to be a defiant, but weak and cowardly leashed. Fighting back just enough to be punished and then surrendering. It was unpleasant, excruciatingly so at times. She would have much preferred to have just complied for the week or refused outright, either would have been easier, but a balance needed to be struck.

Reading the leash-holders was easy, they were transparent to her, but concealing her own intentions while they held that ter'angreal was rather harder. Not beyond her of course, but harder.

They had not told her anything about Semirhage or her fate and she had been punished for asking, but that was an answer in itself, it seemed unlikely that they had caught her. A pity really, but the key point was that her situation likely remained a secret. If it did not, she would already be dead. Or worse, in Semirhage's tender care.

Still, every day longer that she spent leashed tempted fate. Any of the Chosen might discover her situation and decide to take advantage.

That was why today was going to be the day. The leash holders were already confident she would break soon. More fool them, so they would be receptive to her words.

The next time Setulin donned the leash Graendal immediately dropped to her knees in front of her, allowing a quiver to enter her voice. "Please, this is wrong. I have secrets, I will exchange them for my freedom. I know the secrets of gateways, I will teach you how to Travel if only you will let me go free. You will be able to roam freely, instantly anywhere you wish to go. Is this not worth my freedom?"

Setulin just smiled sweetly down at her. "Oh Lina, you still do not understand. You are leashed there is no bargain to be made. You will show us the secret of Traveling and if you speak truly then you will be allowed to put a ribbon in your hair. However, first you will be punished for your attempt at bargaining. Leashed do not bargain, they obey."

A moment later Graendal was writhing on the floor, choking off screams that she had no need to simulate. The agony felt like it lasted for an eternity, but eventually it stopped.

"Will you share the knowledge of Traveling with us now Lina?"

"N n not unless you set me free, that was the offer." Graendal made herself stare defiantly upwards from where she lay on the rough floor.

Setulin sighed. "I do not like that you make me do this Lina, but you will be punished until you learn that you are leashed."

It felt like Graendal's limbs were being plunged into boiling water. It was worse than anything she had ever felt before and Setulin kept the pain going for even longer this time.

Then, suddenly, it was gone. Leaving Graendal a gasping, tear stained tangle on the floor.

"Do you understand now Lina?" Setulin's voice was gentle, almost comfortable.

Graendal nodded frantically. "Yes, yes! I will show you, please! No more pain!" She choked the words out, pleading for mercy.

Setulin smiled down at her. "Well done Lina. See, there is no need for punishment. If you are a good leashed then you will enjoy serving the Empire."

An hour later Graendal was stood in her disgustingly boring grey dress in front of a group of other leashed and leash holders in the grey drizzle of a field outside the palace.

"You may show us your weave Lina." Setulin glanced at the other leashed. "Observe closely."

Graendal took a deep breath and spun saidar. A hole in the air rotated open in the air in front of them.

========

Setulin's mouth dropped open as the hole in the air appeared. Even after all of the punishment and cowardice she had not been sure that Lina was telling the truth, even with the threat of dire punishment for wasting so many sul'dams' time, it was not unheard of for newly caught damane to have such fantasies. But this… this was a treasure, magnificent! The implications for the Empire… She might be raised to the Blood for the discovery!

She took a step forward and Lina spoke up in a quavering voice. "It works by allowing you to move rapidly until you open another gateway to emerge at your destination. May I show you great mistress?"

She nodded absently and tugged on the leash as she stepped through the hole in the air to be followed by Lina. As soon as she was through she was struck by the strangeness. She stood in the same field, but there were no people. An odd, ambient light illuminated everything from every angle. And she felt like she was being watched. Unseen eyes everywhere and nowhere.

She jumped as the… gateway Lina had called it vanished behind her. Was Lina smiling? She focused her attention on her, keeping the nervousness out of her voice. A sul'dam must never show weakness to a damane. "Where did it go Lina? Bring it back!" She sent a warning jolt of pain down the a'dam, but it seemed to have no effect.

She looked back behind her, searching for the gateway again, but there was nothing there. "What have you…" She trailed off as Lina reached up to the collar round her neck and unfastened it with a click. But that was not possible! The damane did not look like a damane anymore. Her posture was somehow different, more regal, more predatory.

Lina smiled, her clothes flickering until her grey dress was replaced by something so see-through that it would have been an obscenity on anyone other than a da'covale.

"Oh Setulin, I am afraid it is not Lina anymore. Now you can call me Graendal." Her smile widened. "Do not worry, you and I are going to be spending a good deal of time getting to know each other, better than we ever did before. Still, I think Lina is a good name, I may let you have it instead. Mmm, yes, by the time we are done I think you will even love it."