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

Chapter CXXXI - The Land of Madmen

"I know you don't want to hear it, but Lews Therin has every right to be uncomfortable with you being with me."

"You're right, but I still don't want to hear it." Taija scowled at Tel and he sighed deeply.

"There are no excuses and I certainly don't deserve the forgiveness you or anyone else has shown me."

Her scowl deepened. "I said I don't want to hear it."

"Fine, fine." Tel held his hands up in front of him. "So let's talk about what he said. He wants you to figure out a new web?"

She nodded. "Yes… I'm not sure I can, but he seems to be thinking about an improved version of whatever it is he did to seal the Bore the first time round."

"Doesn't that risk tainting both saidin and saidar?"

"Well yes, that's his concern and that's why he wants me looking at the problem. The big problem is, I've got no idea whether I can do it. Light, I don't even know enough about warding to start thinking about what he even did."

Tel gave her thigh a squeeze. "Well maybe I can help there. At least a bit. I was never in Lews Therin's league, but I can give you the basic saidin patterns to work with."

======

A few days later Tel was off doing military things with Rand's army. That was good, it means there were no distractions for Taija. It also meant she could take all the cushions off the chairs and bed in her room and turn them into a nest. She needed to do some really deep thinking.

With a suitable set of webs spun around her room and orders not to disturb her given, she settled back into the soft embrace of the pile of cushions she'd made and started to work. Her taint destruction web did exactly what it was meant to, but it was a stand alone web that needed saidin to be channeled into it.

From what Lews Therin had said, sealing the Bore required touching the Dark One, whatever he was made of, with saidin and that was how the taint affected saidin. She couldn't just apply her taint-cleansing web to the Dark One. Even assuming that was physically possible, it would burst like a bubble under the kind of pressure that it would likely face.

There was a finite amount of taint on saidin, that was a fact. Presumably spinning the seals around the Dark One involved touching him for a limited amount of time and that then led to a fixed amount of contamination. Alternatively, he deliberately struck back, forcing his contamination onto saidin, but could only get a limited amount onto it in the time that it was actively being channeled around him.

Taija had to assume that that was the case, that the full force of the Dark One couldn't be applied to taint saidin all of the time or else the taint would be returning now while the seals still held. So, it had to be that the Power could be tainted while it was being actively channeled into the seals, but not once they were in place. Fine.

But then there was the other side of that equation. The Dark One had clearly been working away at the seals for the last 3,000 years. Buying the world another 3,000 years would be great, if she could avoid tainting both saidin and saidar, but ultimately it just put the world back where it was with just long enough for people to forget to be afraid of the Dark One. So what she needed was a web that would allow saidin and saidar to touch the Bore without being tainted and then also prevent the Dark One from grinding away at the web sealing him in place.

How the fuck she was meant to come up with something like that she didn't know. Still, she had to try, she couldn't just step back and let the world be broken again because she couldn't come up with anything and Rand decided to leap dick first into replicating Lews Therin's plan from last time.

Taija was going to need something that could interact safely with a ward array. She was also going to need something that could be directly touched by the Dark One without simply bursting or carrying his taint through to the Power. Her experimentation with Tel had been helpful, but it was a tiny step on a long road. Tentatively she shaped the outline of a web in the air in front of her. Light only knew how she was meant to work on this when you didn't even have a live example to train with.

======

"Ready?" Egwene raised her eyebrows at Jaer as he hefted his pack. She was learning to tolerate his foibles, but really it would be much simpler if he was willing to use a packhorse like her.

"Always, shade of my heart." For such a stoic man, he really could be very sweet.

"Let's go then." She took one last glance at the Sea Folk map and spun an inverted gateway. Time to go to this 'Land of Madmen', although frankly she did wonder whether it was Taija that was the mad one, sending them there. She gave the hole in the air a dubious look and then tugged on her horse's reins and stepped through onto the skimming platform. With no more than a map to help, all she could do was choose a location to emerge that should be far enough into the continent to account for any mapping errors and then hope for the best. At least she would be able to see their destination when she opened the gateway at the other end so they wouldn't just be dropped into the sea.

After a long journey in the empty black of the space between worlds, the two of them emerged into warm forest. Luscious trees grew high above them and the air was heavy with humidity. All around they could hear the calls of animals. Egwene carefully looked around, but of course Jaer was already moving, tugging on her arm to pull her closer to a tree, his eyes seeming to scan everywhere at once, his head never stopping moving.

After a minute he relaxed ever so slightly. There wasn't much sign of it, but she was starting to be able to tell with him. "I believe we are alone. Although it is hard to tell. This is as far from the Threefold Land as anything I have seen."

Egwene gave him a smile. "Good, at least we haven't been attacked as soon as we stepped out of the gateway. I suppose the first thing we should do is get ourselves out of this forest. It would be too easy to ambush us here and we are less likely to see anyone." Now, what was the best way of doing this? She had no idea of her destination, she couldn't just Travel out of there and the trees meant that her line of sight was almost non-existent. She could skim again, but that would present its own risks. "Perhaps if we just go in jumps of five miles southwards…"

=====

Rand sat on the ornate chair, a throne really, as the emissary from the Whitecloaks bowed before him, watched suspiciously by the maidens guarding the room. He didn't kneel, which Rand wouldn't normally have minded, but he was very conscious of the potential insult in this case, given who it was in front of him.

"You have a message from Pedron Niall?" He kept his words short. These people were not his allies.

"Yes Lord Rand, I do." The man struggled to conceal his distaste as he pulled a letter from his coat and began to read. "The Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light sends his cordial greetings to Lord Rand al'Thor. The Children of the Light have opposed you up to this date as part of our service to the Light; however, the signs are clear and the prophecies have been fulfilled. The Children of the Light, now and always, remain dedicated to defeating the Shadow, wherever it may sit, above all other goals. The Last Battle is coming and the Children of the Light are not willing to stand by the sidelines and watch the Light be extinguished. As such, the Lord Captain Commander is willing to offer an alliance with the forces of the Dragon. The Children of the Light shall fight at his side in the Last Battle."

Rand blinked in surprise. Cadsuane and Avyesh, the Hall's current representative in his court, would be listening in from the next room, it had seemed unnecessarily provocative to have them visible for this talk, but he could imagine they would look shocked too. Well Avyesh would anyway, Cadsuane's facial expression probably wouldn't change if Pedron Niall himself danced naked into the room.

Rand forced his attention back on the man in front of him. "An alliance?"

The man nodded, his unhappiness with the idea clear on his face. "Indeed, the Children of the Light will not, could not, swear allegiance to you or to any other, we serve only the Light. However, until the Last Battle has been completed, we are willing to make accommodations."

"And the Children of the Light are supportive of your Lord Captain Commander's decision?"

The man looked even more uncomfortable. "There have been some… readjustments among the leadership. We are willing to work for the good of the Light."

Ah so they have had a purge.

And there was Lews Therin. Even a couple of weeks after his talk with Taija Rand was still thoroughly annoyed with the man for his behaviour with her, not to mention his own rudeness about Rand. He knew they would need to speak again soon, that much was blindingly obvious, but he wasn't looking forward to it.

Risky, they may turn on you. I know little of these Children of the Light, but they sound like fanatics. That ridiculous prophet of yours was harmful to your cause even though he thought you stood next to the Creator. These ones are fanatics without the worship of you, they will stab you in the back, or the front for that matter, for their delusions without the slightest hesitation. However, you will need every man you can get when you face the Shadow. Infighting helped to doom the Light in my time.

"I see." He would need to discuss this with his advisers, but there would be little harm in opening negotiations. Another army of trained fighting men, under one of the Great Captains too, was not something he would casually throw away. "You may inform the Lord Captain Commander that I will be happy to open discussions on our alliance. I do not require allegiance to me, only to the Light, which we all serve." He hardened his voice for the last words, it helped to remind the Whitecloak emissary of what might happen if Rand decided they did not serve the Light.

=====

Fortuona watched, triumph swelling within her as the High Lord Carlaen was dragged away to face his fate in the Tower of Ravens. The Seanchan Empire was close to reunited. With long practice she suppressed the burst of anger at the thought of the Westlands and what they had done to Seanchan. Once they had destroyed the Imperial Palace civil war had been likely. With the peace treaty that she had signed with them, civil war became an inevitability. However, rebellions were nothing new to her and her family. This might have been worse than most, but it was simply another in a long line. She knew how to deal with them and her victory had been inevitable.

However, now that she had achieved victory, she needed to turn her mind to other things. Being Empress meant her word was law, but she had responsibilities too. Seanchan had been devastated by the battles running across it. She needed to rebuild, to ensure that the good, honest subjects of the Crystal Throne were able to live life once more. Prosperity and safety were the backbone of Imperial power.

There were other concerns too. The Westlands, ruled by marath'damane and in rebellion against Hawkwing's line, were a danger lurking the background. The real s'redit in the room though was the Dragon.

The Westlands had their false prophecies, Seanchan had their true ones. In both cases they agreed that Rand al'Thor was the Dragon. That was a problem in itself, but what it heralded was far worse. The Last Battle was coming.

The boy would need to come and kneel before her for him to win, but that would come. As with all prophecy it was an inevitability. Then, united, they would defeat the Dark One and leash the marath'damane afterwards. Until then, Seanchan would prepare itself.

Her mind went back to the growing reports from the Blight of monsters within it. Not that the occasional monster was unusual there, but these were new. Men shaped like beasts, led by black robed eyeless men who struck fear into soldiers' hearts. Her scholars told her that they matched the mythological stories from the Westlands, but she had her doubts about that. Either way, they were surely another sign that the Last Battle was coming. Seanchan would be ready. While the Westlands failed in its duties to the world, she would prepare and she would preserve Seanchan.

======

Taija had put on her most serious face for her meeting with Aleksi and Alucia. She couldn't say she really approved of the way they were carrying on. Not the fact that they were together, anything that made Aleksi happy was fine by her and Alucia was oddly tolerable for a member of the Red Ajah, but she was worried that his judgment was going to be compromised over this. That wasn't a huge issue though, that was why no single person in the Hall was going to be making the decisions on this. The bigger issue was that when it was presented to the Tower, it was going to be a struggle to get them to take it seriously if they knew what the two of them had been up to.

"So, summarise it for me. Remember, I'm pretty receptive to this. If you can't convince me then you're certainly not going to convince any of the Tower aes sedai." Taija leant back and crossed her arms.

They both nodded and then Alucia looks to Aleksi. At least she wasn't dominating things. Taija needed to keep an eye on her. Discrete enquiries had told her Alucia was about three times Aleksi's age. She seemed to be good for him and he could certainly look after himself better than the vast majority of men, or women, in their twenties, but still... That was a big gap in experience.

Aleksi took a breath and began. "So, we've gone into this in some depth, but I'll summarise first. What we're imagining is a joint command between the Hall and the Tower, so an organisation within the Hall to match the Red Ajah. Then they can send out teams of both Tower and Hall aes sedai as investigators and, where needed, operatives. We're thinking that taking any action would need to be agreed by both Hall and Tower representatives."

Taija nodded at that and gestured for him to continue.

"The focus would be on only the most serious crimes. Things that are unarguable and which both the Hall and Tower, along with other channeling organisations, can all agree are serious crimes. So, murder, rape, compulsion. The other area where we think it would be useful would be in preventing channeling warlords from taking over nations and helping rulers when channelers are defying their authority."

Taija chewed over that for a second. "Alright, that sounds reasonable, ish."

"What does 'ish' mean?" Alucia looked confused.

"Oh." Taija thought for a second. "It means somewhat, but not completely. So one concern I have straight away is, does this group just end up propping up bad rulers against their people?" Her mind immediately went to people like the High Lords of Tear, at least before Rand. If someone from the Hall had gone there and fermented rebellion she'd have been quietly cheering them on, politics aside.

======

Egwene was feeling hot, sticky and miserable. Jaer, to her irritation, seemed to be absolutely fine with the conditions in this wet, hot forest. Frankly anyone living here would have to be mad to enjoy it. But then, she smiled slightly, the Aiel in general and Jaer in particular were all a bit mad.

"Shade of my heart, I have found them." Her smile widened as Jaer seemed to appear from nowhere. He'd deliberately been making noise as he came, so she'd heard him before she saw him. He wasn't given to effusive gestures, but the little ones were all she needed.

"Alright then, let's go speak to them. We need to make sure they see us coming though, I don't want to scare them."

"Of course, but if they wish to dance?"

Egwene's expression didn't change. "Then we'll be ready."

A couple of minutes later they emerged from the forest into a clearing. Egwene was slightly behind Jaer, she might be the better channeler, but he was obviously the more experienced fighter. Two men and a woman were picking fruit from some kind of bush and looked up in shock as they emerged. The locals were dressed strangely. They wore little, which made Egwene want to blush, not that she allowed herself to. However, what they did wear seemed to be a mixture of leather and straw or some other plant. All three wore what seemed to be skirts of straw or grass and then a roughly made leather vest on their top.

"Hello friends," Egwene felt stupid saying that, but felt she had little choice. "We are looking for the nearest town or village, can you help us?"

The locals looked at each other in confusion and then one of the men bent down to pick something off the ground beside him, a spear Egwene realised as he lifted it. She sensed Jaer tense beside her and quickly laid a hand on his arm. It was probably fine, he understood diplomacy, obviously, but it didn't hurt to remind him.

"We mean you no harm." Egwene opened her hands and held them palm out in front of her. "My name is Egwene and this is Jaer." At the same time she prepared a couple more webs, just in case.

The man with the spear hefted it and barked something back at them, a mish mash of harsh sounds that meant nothing to her.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand you. Do you not speak the Common Tongue?" Did these people really not understand it? She'd thought everyone spoke it, that was why it was called the Common Tongue.

The man with the spear shouted something again and the other two turned and ran. Egwene suppressed a wince, this was not going well. Jaer was scanning the greenery around them, clearly worried about an ambush. If they didn't speak the Common Tongue, perhaps…

"We mean you no harm, we are looking for village or town. Do you have a leader? Mayor? General? Boss? We want to talk." Egwene suddenly wished she'd put more work into learning the Old Tongue. While she could hold a conversation in it, she didn't speak it as well as Elayne or even Aleksi. Still better than Nynaeve though.

That certainly got a reaction. The man's jaw dropped and the tip of his spear lowered. Then he seemed to gather himself, his eyes narrowing, before replying in halting, appallingly accented words. "You Paral?" He spat at the second word.

Egwene shook her head, she had no idea what that was. "No."

The man's eyes narrowed further. "Ok. Come. Leader. I take. No harm."

Once Egwene had worked that out, helped by the man gesturing with his spear she looked at Jaer. "I think we should go. I'm not sure how safe it is, but it's what we wanted after all."

"We know nothing of these people, they may be honourless, but I agree. We must complete our mission. We shall be ready for any treachery." He said the last not as a warning, but as a declaration of fact.

=======

It didn't take much more than half an hour of walking for Egwene and Jaer to reach the rest of the man's group. Or perhaps she could call it a tribe? She wasn't sure, it was all deeply alien to her. They were in an encampment on a hillside in another, larger clearing. There couldn't have been many more than a hundred of them, men, women and children. Many of them were armed with crude weapons of wood and stone. The children ran around naked, while the adults were dressed like the ones she'd seen earlier. Most of them looked smaller than she might have expected and hungry too. Something in their eyes told her that they'd seen much hardship.

As she and Jaer were led through the village they were subjected to curious looks from the children, who stopped their play to stare, and hostile glares from the adults. It wasn't a comfortable experience at all, walking under those gazes.

Then, with a jolt of surprise Egwene leant closer to Jaer and muttered, "The taller woman on the left can channel." At least she wasn't very strong. Jaer didn't change his pace or expression, but she felt the tension in him grow.

At the far end of the camp there was a small raised mound with a wooden chair on it and on that chair was sat an older woman, shoulder-length grey hair lining her wrinkled face and feathers decorating her simple clothing. Their escort bowed to her and said something in their incomprehensible tongue. After the first woman, it was less of a surprise to Egwene that this one could channel too. She was clearly a leader of some kind, sitting on her ramshackle throne. She still gave Jaer another nudge though.

Egwene felt rather than saw the rest of the tribe closing in behind them. She didn't want to leave the initiative on their side, so she bowed low, speaking in the Old Tongue as well as she could.

"I greet you, my name is Egwene al'Vere and this is Jaer of the Salt Flat Sept of the Nakai Dedicated," better not to mention aes sedai straight away. "We come from far away and search the leaders of this land."

The old woman gave her a long look before speaking in slow, barely comprehensible Old Tongue. "You speak Common Tongue? Guisab say you not Paral, yet you speak like. Where from?"

It took Egwene a second to remember that the Old Tongue called itself the Common Tongue. It was ridiculous, but when she'd tried to explain how silly that was to Taija, Taija had told her that she thought it was stupid that Egwene's people called their language the Common Tongue. The woman could be ridiculous at times. "I am from Andor and Jaer is from the Dedicated Clans. They are far away to the north, across the ocean." This was at least a far less hostile reception than she'd feared based on the stories. Still, she was glad that she'd concealed the fact that she was holding saidar or could channel at all. This could still turn bad.

"Across… what is ocean?"

"Like a sea but bigger?" That got no reaction from the woman. "Big water, many many kilometres across."

The woman frowned at that, but nodded to herself. "What want from people of Red Rock Tribe? I am leader, say me."

Egwene was quite sure that they wanted nothing from these people, except possibly to help them. They seemed to be in worse conditions than the meanest of Tairen peasants. Nevertheless it wouldn't do to be rude and she might have misunderstood their resources.

"The Last Battle is coming, the Shadow threatens the whole world. We have been sent to search for allies because if the Shadow wins there will be no peace."

"Shadow? Like no Sun?"

Did the woman not understand? "The Shadow, the Dark One. The Last Battle is coming and his hordes of shadowspawn will sweep over the world, killing everyone they find. There will be no peace, no safety for anyone."

"Oh! You have fight, want help?"

Close enough. Egwene nodded. "Yes, that's right."

The tribal chief smiled. "Understand. Red Rock Tribe peaceful, we no want fight. You leave." She gestured away from herself, back towards the forest.

Jaer looked like he wanted to protest, but Egwene had no intention of staying around these people, it was clear they wouldn't be much help and the last thing she wanted was to fight them.

"Thank you for listening to us." She gave the woman another bow. "I must ask though, do you know of anyone who could help us."

The woman's eyes narrowed, but after a moment she replied. "Yes, I know tribe. Very dangerous. They have Paral, may help, but not like strangers. Maybe kill you."

That didn't sound appealing, but they had a mission and Egwene was confident that between the two of her and Jaer there were few things short of the Forsaken that could truly endanger them. "Can you tell us how to reach them? We can pay."

The chief's eye landed on Egwene's belt knife and she pointed at it. "That. Great gift. Will take you for that."

Egwene made sure not to show her surprise, it was just a simple belt knife, but that made it an easy bargain. Thinking about it, she was not sure she had seen any metal among these people, perhaps that was why the chief looked so avariciously at her knife.