As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.
Chapter LXXXI - Building the Hall
After Taija's beatdown of Taim the day went by quickly. In no time at all it was evening and she was drinking tea with Bennae in her small room. The Hall was expanding incredibly fast, but it was coming from nothing and so there was no space for luxuries. For now anyway.
"So when are you planning to head for Siuan's village? I assume Cadsuane's told you where it is? I expect they'll be glad to see you and all of those novices and accepted."
"Mmm actually, I had been thinking. I might stay here for a while. If you do not mind of course?"
"Stay?! Why? Not that I wouldn't welcome that, obviously, you're welcome to stay as long as you want, but I thought you'd want to be back among the Tower aes sedai."
"Yes, well, Siuan has her ways, but between you and me I cannot say I particularly like the woman and she has made rather a mess of her time as Amyrlin. You, on the other hand, are doing something interesting and frankly Taija dear, I think you need someone to keep an eye on you before you do something else foolish. What were you thinking, fighting Taim like that, without your angreal?"
"I knew I could beat him. You saw, I didn't even break a sweat." Taija tried not to sound petulant.
"That is not the point. Anyway, I can see the burdens on you, so maybe I can help in my own way while giving my girls somewhere safe to learn."
"So you'd keep the girls here?" Taija blinked a few times. "Well they'd be welcome too, but if they're training at the Hall then they need to follow the Hall's rules. Is that a problem?"
"Not at all, as long as they can return to the White Tower when it is deemed necessary."
Taija nearly agreed and then hesitated. Just because she liked Bennae didn't mean that the way things worked at the Hall should change. "They're welcome to leave at any time if it's their choice, but once they have started in the Hall, if they wish to stay then they may stay and they will be protected from any retaliation by the Tower aes sedai."
Bennae's look sharpened and Taija met her eyes without blinking. Then she smiled and relaxed, "of course, Nynaeve and the other girls. Hmm. Well I cannot speak for other aes sedai, but that is acceptable to me."
Taija nodded, relieved. She didn't particularly care what the other Tower aes sedai thought about it. "I'm perfectly happy for people to train at both the Tower and the Hall, Light, I see no reason why someone could not be raised to be aes sedai in both organisations separately. Or a Dedicated wise one. The Hall isn't like the White Tower, it's about philosophy and attitude, not controlling people. No offence."
Bennae gave Taija a long look. "You know, you are a very dangerous woman."
"What's that meant to mean?"
She smiled, "just that you are full of surprises. Now what could I offer to your Hall to earn my keep? History?"
"We actually have a history tutor, a scholar from Caemlyn. Perhaps politics and etiquette?"
"Hmm yes, that could work." Bennae leant back in her chair with a smile, "now tell me about Tel Janin, he seems a very useful and competent fellow."
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Life running the Hall was endlessly busy. Taija had to teach classes of course, but she was also doing far too much management and administration, as well as dealing with the initiates. At least since their fight Taim had been keeping his head down and behaving.
A few days after Bennae's arrival Caern was leading one of initiates' basic self-defence classes. The man was a surprisingly good 'hire', although he wasn't actually being paid as such. Not by Taija anyway, he just insisted it was his honour. Amys had sent him her way a couple of weeks ago and, ever since, the aging Dedicated warrior had been teaching non-channeling combat, both at a personal level and also classes on 'modern' tactics. Much as Taija didn't like it, the Last Battle was coming and so the curriculum had to be more martial than it otherwise might have been.
She watched the tall, grey haired man leading the men and women through some kind of fighting form. No doubt he'd soon have them facing off against each other. The women looked a bit ridiculous doing it in their dresses, but that was their choice. A couple of the girls had actually started emulating the way Taija dressed, but none in this group.
There had been some protests when she'd said that everyone, male or female, would need to do basic self-defence classes. Covering how to fight with a knife and how to fight unarmed.
While it had been Tel's suggestion to run the advanced fighting classes, for swords and more advanced unarmed combat, compulsory basic training was Taija's. She was certainly no fighter, not in that sense, but just having some basic knowledge gave far more options and made people much safer. The more advanced classes… To be honest, Taija suspected they were just Tel having fun, but his arguments had been good enough that she'd let it go.
After their forms, the group of initiates moved on to some light sparring, trying to wrestle each other to the ground. Caern moved between them, shouting corrections and advice. Taija was a little surprised at how good a teacher he was actually. She'd been a bit nervous that a Dedicated warrior would be too harsh on 'soft wetlanders', but he seemed to have excellent judgment for how far he could push people. Not that that stopped every temper tantrum.
One of the White Tower accepted, was thrown, tumbling to the ground with a thump. Caern hurried up to her as she lay there staring frustratedly at the sky. He offered her a hand up which she refused, angrily hauling herself to her feet.
"Helena, you must try to curve your body to absorb the impact, like I have shown you."
She rounded on him, fury on her face and then thought better of saying anything and turned away, stalking off. Caern looked like he was about to say something and then caught Taija's eye as she moved to intercept her.
"Helena!" Taija raised her voice slightly, "stop a second, let's talk. Why are you storming off like this?"
She stopped, but she was clearly still livid. "I don't see why I have to do this. It's undignified, it's got nothing to do with channeling or being an aes sedai, it's just rolling around like… like barbarian men!"
Rude. Many of Bennae's novices and accepted were struggling to adapt. Especially the accepted. They'd had the benefit of years of practice channeling, so Taija's own initiates were behind them, even if they were catching up fast, and it was fueling their superiority complex. "You're learning because it's important that you're able to defend yourself." Taija kept her voice mild. "No one is making you learn to fight like a warrior, those classes are optional, but channeling won't always be there to protect you. What if you're shielded? Or blinded? Or caught by surprise?"
"All these classes are stupid," Helena muttered, but not quietly enough.
"Would you say that to Bennae sedai?" Taija allowed some sharpness to bleed into her tone. "Or anyone else at the White Tower?"
"Well they're real aes sedai!" Taija suppressed a flash of anger, but her voice became colder.
"I'm not forcing you to be here, you're welcome to leave whenever you want. Although Bennae sedai might have something to say about it. Until then, you will learn what you're taught. I'll see you at sunrise tomorrow morning for your lack of respect."
"You can't!"
"I do believe I can, as I said, if you don't like it, you're free to leave, you have enough control that you're not a danger to anyone else."
Perhaps moving water from one barrel to another using a cup for the day. That would be suitably pointless. Helena seemed to be one of the slower learners, although she at least wasn't stupid enough to try to appeal to Bennae. The last girl who did that had had her punishment doubled by Bennae and Taija had received a lecture afterwards on how she'd been too soft.
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A couple of weeks later Tel grabbed Taija at the end of the day.
"Taija," he gave her a small, polite bow, appropriate for a respected, senior colleague, "I'm sorry to bother you, but there was something I wanted to discuss with you."
Taija sighed, again and again they were pushed together by the need to run the Hall. She couldn't do it without him, but every time they spoke it was another nail driven into her. "Sure Tel, what's up."
"Is there a reason you're holding the girls and Aleksi back?"
"What do you mean?" Taija tried not to snap at him, suppressing the flash of irritation that bubbled up inside her.
He gave her a look, the one he always used when she was being deliberately obtuse. After a moment she cracked. "I'm not holding them back, they're just so young, so new to channeling. I… We're rebuilding this, we can't start lowering standards, it needs to be different to the half-trained women in the Tower."
Tel sighed and nearly reached out to squeeze her shoulder, stopping himself as Taija took a step back out of reach. "You don't think they're good enough?"
"I…" She wasn't sure why she was thinking like that and his sympathetic look was annoying her. There were too many other things to worry about.
"Look, let's talk this through, if you're not convinced by the end of it, just tell me to piss off."
"Fine." Taija huffed and crossed her arms. Annoyingly Tel just smiled. He shouldn't be smiling at her like that, it was too affectionate and she wasn't in the mood anyway.
"Ok, first, channeling. I think it's undeniable they meet the standard. Aleksi's the worst of them just because he's been channeling the least time, but their skill is better than plenty of aes sedai from our time. They've had good teachers."
He should have tried to look less smug, but he was right. "True, but we need to be better. I don't want to recreate the average aes sedai from our time, not now."
Tel gave Taija another of his looks. "Taija, they're well beyond the average. All three of them are strong, more importantly they're talented and they've worked extremely hard. They could do the test with their eyes shut."
Taija wanted to argue, she needed high standards, but he was right. "Ok, fine." She really should try to be more graceful about it, he hadn't actually done anything wrong other than being right.
"Good, now what have they done that's worthy of the title? Plenty of people got it for basically volunteering an evening a week for charity. They've fought and risked their lives for the Light, repeatedly. Aleksi gave up his whole life to follow and protect you."
He'd just wanted an adventure. No! That was a churlish thought that she was only having because Tel was annoying her. "That's true," Taija grudgingly allowed.
"Attitudes and goals," Tel ticked off the final point. "They've basically devoted themselves to you and this project and fighting for the Light. They're all good kids. What more can you ask for?"
"That they're not kids!" Taija couldn't help but snap. "I know Aleksi's older, but what about the girls? I can't just do that, throw teenagers into this, leave them to live or die by themselves! I'm not going to produce child soldiers!"
Tel grimaced. "I know… But they're involved regardless. They've been fighting practically since you met them. They've risked their lives for you and for the Light. I don't like it any more than you do, but they've earnt the right to be treated as adults, to be rewarded as adults."
Taija wanted to argue, she wanted him to leave her alone so that she could go back to her room and sulk, but he was right damn him. Before she could reply he kept going.
"You've done something special with those girls. They've had to grow up fast, but you've made sure they've turned into the kind of people who'll change the world. I'd be proud to call them aes sedai."
Suddenly Taija's anger faded, she was just tired, with too many competing things pulling on her at once. Why did he have to do what he did back before everything? If he hadn't, she could just tell him that, tell him that she was just so tired and lonely and wanted someone to look after her. "Ok Tel, you're right. I don't like it, but you're right. We'll raise them. I suppose we could do with more full aes sedai anyway. Maybe we can palm off more of the teaching on them too." Taija gave a weak chuckle. Did she just make a joke to him? For fuck's sake she must be tired.
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"Wear the badge of the aes sedai with pride for all who meet you shall know that stand a representative of the Hall of Servants, but remember to be aes sedai is to serve." With those words Taija embraced Aleksi with a tight hug. "Welcome brother." When she released him he quickly embraced the girls too, all of them congratulating each other. It was lovely, touching. Tel was right, damn him, she had been holding them back.
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Eben was practically bouncing as he bonded bricks in place with the Power under the watchful eye of Tel sedai. Bennae sedai was beside him supervising the women. Another man promoted to aes sedai! It was like the Age of Legends all over again. Also Aleksi, no Aleksi sedai now, was just so nice. When he'd been having problems working out how to spin air for an exercise, Aleksi had sat down and talked him through it, in so much detail too, until he really understood. Aleksi hadn't had to do that, but he did. He always had a nice word for everyone, men and women, and his smile brightened every room.
It did mean that there were no more aspirants in the Hall though. Just initiates and aes sedai. For now. He would be aes sedai, he'd work and work until he got there and could wear that badge just like Aleksi and Tel and the Lord Dragon. The first step would be to get the plain red badge of an aspirant though.
He spun earth and fire together to bond a few bricks to the others. It was a bit of a strain, even with the small bricks, but he was making himself useful and that was what mattered. Also, Taija sedai had told them that the Power was like a muscle. The more you exercised it, the stronger you got, as long as you didn't overstrain it.
He shot a smile at Helena as she lifted bricks onto the wall. The way that her brown curls framed her face really did make her quite pretty, not that he'd ever admit that to her. She'd probably bite his head off and call him a wool-headed boy or something. At least she'd become more willing to deign to speak to him over the last few weeks.
"Isn't it amazing? Three new aes sedai!" He knew she wouldn't be as enthusiastic as him, but he just needed to talk to someone about it!
Helena sniffed. "I suppose it is nice for them." She seemed less than enthusiastic about the bricks she was lifting, probably thought it was below her or something. He knew she'd been punished more than once when she'd first joined in with the initiates of the Hall. Apparently discipline in the Tower was much harsher than in the Hall, but directly disrespecting an aes sedai wasn't tolerated here either, particularly not by Taija sedai. She could be quite scary when she was angry.
Carrying water from one barrel to another in a small cup for a day certainly hadn't improved her mood, neither had digging holes and then filling them in again, although she was certainly more careful about what she said now. The problem was, he wasn't sure she really understood the difference between what she was doing now and the punishment. Tel sedai had explained it all in detail of course. Now they were doing useful work, joining together channelers and non-channelers to build the Hall, it was honourable and respectable. Just the kind of thing aes sedai should be doing. On the other hand, if they were punished they were assigned useless work, that benefitted no one. A waste of their time and shamefully pointless for an aes sedai, or someone who wanted to be one.
Still, he wasn't going to let her get him down. "Oh come on, the third male aes sedai in three thousand years! It's amazing! And Egwene and Elayne sedai are incredible too. They're so young, even younger than me," he lied, "but they're so skilled. I've seen them practising with the other aes sedai, even if I can't see their webs I can see the effect."
"They're called weaves." She huffed, but then softened a little. "I suppose they are quite impressive people I saw Egwene… sedai demonstrating yesterday, she really can split threads a lot of ways, more than I've seen from anyone else." She paused, "other than Taija sedai of course."
"Well some of it's just a matter of practice isn't it? Maybe if you tried lifting bricks with separate flows rather than in clumps it might help you?"
She looked like she was about to sniff and then her expression became thoughtful. "Perhaps you have a point there Eben."
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A few weeks after the raising of Aleksi, Elayne and Egwene the Hall was growing fast. Recruits were flooding in and Taija was half run off her feet keeping track of it all. She was starting to think it might soon be time for some active recruitment though. Especially once some of the initiates were strong enough to spin gateways, which probably wouldn't be long with how hard some of them were pushing themselves. She and Tel were having to hold quite a few of them back to stop them from putting themselves into danger before they could handle it.
Rand had also suggested doing outreach missions to other kingdoms once more of the initiates are trained. He needsed to be getting the support of the world's rulers and the Hall could also establish its own legitimacy at the same time while helping him by providing healing and other services.
Taija was walking back from teaching a class on fine control to the initiates, one which shecould teach to both men and women, given that she was more interested in the results than the actual flows and knew enough to give advice to the men and boys too. Tel suddenly swung in out of nowhere beside her. He was underdressed, again, in some kind of vest that was all tight around his shoulders. She really needed to tell him off about that before he started distracting the initiates. He was looking pleased with himself, although Taija could tell he was trying not to. She wished she could be enjoying life as much as he seemed to be.
Before Taija could say anything he gave her a big smile, "so, have you heard about Rand's plans for schools in Caemlyn and Tear?"
"Yes…" Taija wasn't not sure where he was going with it. "It's a good idea." It really was. Another example of what a good kid Rand was. Not everything was about the aes sedai and channeling. They'd need thinkers, scientists, engineers to take the world back towards what it once was.
"Mmm, well I've been talking to him about it and one of the things that's really lacking is an understanding of the scientific method. So," Tel hesitated. Why? Oh Light he thought she wasn't going to like whatever he had to say, "I volunteered you to teach them."
"What."
"I just thought that well, what you dream of, it's basically science, research. We both know you don't really want to be doing this, or fighting and I can see how stressed you are and how much you're struggling and I just thought a couple of hours a week, just rebuilding your own passions, you know, it would make you happy and that was all I wanted." It all came out in a rush, he actually looked very worried.
It was hard to be angry, however frustrating he was right then.
"Oh…"
"So I thought you'd enjoy it, just sitting down with them, pointing them in the right direction, helping them stop flailing at random. We're so focused on surviving the next year or two, you've got over 500 years left in you. You can be building the foundations for that and well, just doing something your passionate about." Tel shrugged awkwardly.
"You shouldn't have been making decisions for me. That died, you…" Taija stopped yourself from saying it. This was nice, he'd done a nice thing for her. She should be happy. Why couldn't shebe happy?! She slumped, "I don't have time anyway." She was already overwhelmed. She wanted to do this, he was right for fuck's sake, but she couldn't just go neglecting things that need edto be done because she want edto.
Tel looked at her, why didhe look so sad? "I know, I thought of that too. I've also hired two people as assistants for you from Caemlyn. Lots of experience running households between them, they can take some of the administrative burden off you."
"It's not just that it's…"
"Also a new tutor for the Old Tongue. After you made the last one storm out," he held up his hands, "I know, they were terrible it was justified, but you shouldn't be having to teach it. This one's good. Not a native speaker, obviously, their accent's odd and vocabulary isn't quite there, but they speak it pretty much as well as Elayne."
"Oh. Well I suppose I should speak to them too to check, but that does free up some time, maybe I can…" Taija gave herself a shake and forced herself to behave appropriately. "Thank you Tel, I appreciate it." His tentative smile in response to that made her want to go and hide in her room and scream at the world for what it had done to her.