As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.
Chapter LXXXII - Life in the Hall
"Eben, could I have a word?" He looked up from the book he'd been working his way through. It was slow going, a history of Andor. At least he'd been able to read before he came here, some of the initiates couldn't. Taija sedai had been visibly shocked when she found out, he supposed in the Age of Legends everybody could read. However, even though he could read the book, it was still a struggle. So many of the words were complicated and he was having to sound some of them out.
A few of the initiates had made fun of their illiterate brethren at first. That had stopped very quickly when Tel sedai had found out about it. A lot of holes had been dug and filled in over the next few days.
Eben slid the feather he used as a bookmark in and looked up at Helena with a smile, "of course you can." She'd been pretty unpleasant when he'd first met her, but once she stopped looking down her nose at the Hall he'd found they actually got on quite well.
She looked a little uncomfortable. "I need your help with something." After a glance around them she continued. "Do you promise not to tell anyone?"
Eben nodded, "of course."
"Vase has been being rather… unpleasant to me."
Vase? Eben had to think for a second. One of the women who'd joined the Hall a bit before Bennae sedai had arrived. He hadn't spoken to her much, but apparently she was quite strong and a quick learner and Helena shared a room with her.
"What did she do?"
"She keeps on telling me I'm useless at channeling and will never be a real aes sedai." Helena really did look upset. She must be to be admitting it to him.
"Well then you should tell one of the aes sedai. They'll put a stop to it." That was certainly true, Taija sedai could be mercurial at times, but he'd come to recognise the sort of things that would trigger harsh punishment rather than amused indulgence. Saying things like that was one of them.
However, Helena just shook her head vigorously. "No! I don't want to do that. It just makes me look weak." He opened his mouth to protest that that wasn't how it worked here and she barreled on. "I know what you're going to say and it does matter. It matters to me! I have my pride!"
"Alright alright," she really did look upset. "What do you want to do? I'll help." As long as it wasn't something truly cruel he added in the privacy of his own head.
She gave him a big smile that immediately made offering to help worth it, "thank you! So this is what I'm thinking…"
That night Eben found himself standing in the corridor outside Helena and Vase's room. "You're sure about this?" He whispered.
She gave a firm nod. Well that was that then, no backing out now. He seized saidin and reached out, pulling at the Power through her. Suddenly she was there in his mind, a little bundle of emotions and the female half of the Power… He'd never felt it before, only had the theory explained. It was so different!
It took him a little while to get the knack of submitting to saidar while dominating saidin, but once he had it they were ready to begin. He needed to lead since it was just the two of them in the link. He was surprised Helena was willing to accept that actually, their friendship really had grown.
It wasn't showing on her face, but he could tell through the link that she was both nervous and excited.
Helena quietly pushed the door open so that he could see and then he reached out with saidin taking hold of Vase's bed, with her fast asleep on it and gently lifted it an inch or so off the floor. Then, ever so carefully, he began to maneuver it out of the door and into the corridor. Saidin had been necessary for this part, apparently Vase warded her bed against saidar. It made him wonder how much had been going on between her and Helena before.
Slowly and carefully he walked his way back down the corridor and out of the building, reinforcing his web with saidar to reduce the strain as soon as the bed was out of the room and its wards.
It took a while, but they managed to get the bed outside without waking Vase. Now for the next part, the harder part. Drawing fully on both his and Helena's strength Eben began to lift the bed up. Higher and higher it went until he could start to maneuver it onto the roof. Delicately he shifted it, sweating slightly from the strain of lifting so much weight that high, but he did it. As soon as the bed settled onto the building's flat roof he breathed out a sigh of relief before spinning air in a barrier round it, using saidar so that Vase would be able to see it when she woke up. It was meant to be a prank, not to actually put her in danger of falling.
He was just finishing up when a hand descended on his shoulder. With a shout of surprise he lost his grip on the Power, both saidar and saidin fleeing him.
"Eben, Helena, what exactly are the two of your doing up at this time of night?" Aleksi sedai glanced up at the roof where Vase's bed was just visible. "Is that what I think it is?"
Eben briefly considered lying and then nodded. "Yes Aleksi sedai, you see Vase was," he saw Helena grimace at him and quickly changed what he was about to say. "Vase and Helena are playing jokes on each other, a sort of friendly prank war, and I was just helping Helena for this round."
Aleksi sedai glanced up again. "I see." Did his lips twitch? "Do you really think that's acceptable behaviour for an initiate of the Hall? What would have happened if your control had slipped or Vase had fallen? What if she'd woken up while you were lifting her? I'll see you both at sunrise tomorrow, now go to bed. I'll get her down."
The next morning Eben found himself noting down a tally of grains of rice on a tablet as he moved them from one basket to another, Helena beside him. Thinking about it, Aleksi sedai couldn't have been too annoyed as he'd set them to do the punishment beside each other.
Helena glanced up at him and gave him a smile and suddenly it was almost worth getting caught. She really was very pretty when she smiled.
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"Semirhage, what in the Great Lord's name happened?"
"A fucking disaster, that is what happened. Gone, a year's work with the Seanchan just gone! I returned to the Imperial Palace and was ambushed by leashed outside rooms. If I did not suffer from a healthy sense of paranoia I would be wearing one of their fucking collars!"
Mesaana hissed. "How did they find out about you?"
"I do not know. Someone must have told them who I was. One of us, one of the Chosen. Who else? After I escaped I found out from my agents that they had captured a leashed who distinctly resembled Graendal, although the description was not quite right. She was wearing too much."
"So it was Graendal?" Demandred scowled, "she has gone too far this time. Action will need to be taken."
"That is the thing!" Semirhage's voice rose in despair, "I do not even know that it was her. This leashed apparently died teaching the Seanchan a new web, possibly Traveling. There was a severely mutilated corpse. I also went to visit Graendal, just to check and the woman was exactly where she should be, looking as pleased with her pets as ever. I just do not know!"
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It was so good to have her mother back with her. Elayne owed Perrin more than she could say for that. That did not stop her from scowling at him now that she had him alone.
"What were you thinking?!" She was too angry to try to swear. "She's my mother Perrin!"
Perrin blushed deeply. "Elayne, it's not what you think, it just sort of happened…"
"Just sort of happened? How exactly does that sort of thing just happen with a woman old enough to be your mother?"
"Ah… your mother is a very… determined woman."
"She what?! How dare you Perrin! Or do you expect me to call you father now?"
"Elayne, please!"
She could not speak to him! With a small shriek of rage, Elayne stormed out. Her and her mother were going to have words.
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"I'm sorry my Queen, the boy cannot be found anywhere."
Morgase sighed to herself. "Very well then, you are dismissed. Send my husband in."
A minute later Perrin came in, closing the door behind him. "You look… annoyed."
They were alone, she could relax. Morgase let her royal mask fall away and grimaced. "I am trying to find your friend, if he is going to insist on courting my daughter then I want to at least have met him."
Perrin put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, he was always like that. If he doesn't want to be found, then he'll make himself hard to find."
"Where is his loyalty to his Queen? How can I trust him to… I am sorry, I know he is your friend." There was no point berating Perrin over this.
"It's alright, I understand. Look, I know him, he's not going to do anything to hurt Elayne. He might not be the most… solid of people, but he never does anything to hurt anyone."
No, he sounded nothing like Perrin. Elayne was still young, had not suffered what she had. Perhaps she should let her have her flighty liaisons, as long as she did not end up with child with the man. Not unless they were properly married anyway and that would not happen without her agreement. For her, there was Perrin. Solid, reliable, everything that had been missing from her life in recent times, everything she needed. She leant into his side, alone with him she could be herself, show some vulnerability.
Eventually Perrin broke the comfortable silence. "I know it's going to be bothering you. Why don't I go and have a word with him. He won't hide from me. Knowing Elayne she's probably telling him exactly how to hide from you, but if I tell him it's important he'll listen."
Morgase smiled and clasped his hand tight, "thank you Perrin. Meeting you really has been a blessing from the Creator."
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Mat looked up from his drink when Perrin came in. Nobility seemed to be suiting him, he was well dressed and looking as neatly groomed as he ever did. Well good for him. Nobility wasn't for Mat though, not bloody likely that he'd be caught dressed up like some bloody lord.
Either way, it would be nice to catch up with his friend. He waved at him and pushed a chair out with his foot before gesturing a barmaid over. A nice looking lady, not that he was looking, not now.
The two of them clinked glasses and took a swig of their drink and then descended into an awkward silence.
Perrin broke it eventually. "So you're courting Elayne?"
"I'm not bloody court..." Mat scowled. "I suppose after this long perhaps I am. Fine, yes." Mat raised his eyebrows. "And you're flaming well married to her mother?"
"Yes..."
"Well this is weird..."
"Yes..."
They both looked down at their empty mugs.
"Another drink?"
"Yes please."
They took another swig.
"I'm not going to call you da you know."
Perrin spat a mouthful of beer across the table. "For Light's sake Mat, that's not funny!"
"I'm just saying. You can take on all the airs you want, but not that."
"Light Mat!" Perrin took another aggrieved swig of ale. "Look, since you brought it up, you really should go and see Morgase… the Queen."
"Not flaming likely!" He shook his head vigorously. "I've had more than enough of nobility."
"You're courting a princess!"
"Exactly. Anyway, why does Morgase want to see me? Nothing good can come of it."
Perrin groaned. "She just wants to make sure you're not going to hurt her daughter. Nothing more. She's not looking to imprison you or execute you or… turn you into a 'flaming noble'. If you keep avoiding her guardsmen she might change her mind about at least one of those though."
Mat studied him for a moment. "You promise that's all. Just a conversation? Nothing more?"
"I promise."
"Fine. I'll go." He'd need to get a nicer coat, something with a little lace, but not too much. Normally he wouldn't bother, but this was Elayne's mother, he should at least try to make a good impression.
"There's a good son."
Mat considered throwing his mug at Perrin.
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The five initiates sat around a small fire on the edge of the Hall's grounds. Earth channeled into seats and a barrier of air up to keep the wind off them. Eben was trying not to stare at Helena too obviously, so instead he watched Inalle take a sip from the skin of wine Jaer had found somewhere and then pass it to Damer.
"So what are you going to do now that the taint's gone, when you become aes sedai?" Inalle was a broad faced Andoran woman, probably in her thirties.
Damer took a deep pull from the skin, his leathery face twisting slightly at the taste. Wiping his mouth he thought for a second. "I'm going to be a healer." That made sense, he'd already shown a great deal of talent for it. "Not just any healer though. I'm going to bring healing back to where it was in the Age of Legends. Taija and Tel sedai might not know so much about it, but if Nynaeve sedai can do that with saidar, well when I'm aes sedai they'll talk about us in the same sentence." He gave a slightly embarrassed smile.
He made as if to pass Eben the skin and then hesitated. "Are you sure you're old enough to be drinking Eben?"
"I'm twenty!" He lied, grabbing the skin off Damer and quickly taking a big gulp of it to hide the way his face heated.
"As you say. So what about you Eben, what do you want?"
"Me… I want…" How to say this without sounding stupid… "When Taija sedai told us about the crystal spires in the Second Age…" he'd learnt by now not to call it the Age of Legends, "helping build the Hall… I want to be a builder. But not just any old builder, I want to build new wonders of the world. Towering spires, beautiful bridges, a palace for every man and woman!"
He passed the wineskin to Helena who was sat between him and Jaer. "Your turn Helena."
She looked dubiously at it for a second and then took a drink. She really had loosened up since she'd come to the Hall. It was strange to think of how full of herself she'd been when he first met her. The light of the flames cast flickering shadows across her delicate face and he reminded himself again not to stare.
"Hmm… All I really thought about was becoming aes sedai… But, I think I want to be a diplomat. Bringing peace between kingdoms, traveling the world, making new friends and bashing heads together. Making the world a better place without war. What about you Jaer?"
She passed the skin to the Aielman. He took a long swig. "I will serve, without thought of honour or glory."
They all stared at him for a second until Damer spoke up, Eben suspected the rest of them were a little scared of Jaer, despite his mild mannerisms, but Damer was made of tougher stuff. "Alright, but we all plan to serve. That's what being aes sedai is about, but… How will you serve. What do you really want?"
Jaer didn't show any expression as he considered his answer. "It is hard to explain to one who is not Aiel." He hesitated, "but I shall try. When a man of the Aiel finds that he can channel he goes to spit in Sightblinder's eye. This means he travels to the Blight to fight the shadowspawn until he dies. It is all a man can, could, do with the curse of the taint upon him."
Eben winced at the idea, although was that any worse than being taken and gentled by the Tower aes sedai? At least there'd be some purpose to losing your life that way, not just quietly dying in misery.
"Now that Taija sedai and the Car'a'carn have cleansed saidin that fate is no more. I would have gone anyway, but the wise ones were… firm. So now I am here. When I first touched saidin they told me I was also touched by the point of destiny's spear. My dream was over, so now I must find a new dream. Before I would have spat in Sightblinder's eye until I woke from the dream. Now I shall thrust my spear through Sightblinder's heart."
That got a round of 'hear hears'. Finally the skin made its way back to Inalle and their eyes turned to her.
"I want to teach. Saidar is a gift I never thought I would have. I would have lived and died working on my family's farm. Now I'm learning, how the world works and how to change it. I want to show that to other people too." Her words had a quiet intensity to them.