As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue

Interlude VI - Reactions

Slowly but surely word of what had happened in Falme started to spread around the world.

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She delicately picked her way through the ruins of Falme's centre. She had already seen the little that was left of the town's second largest palace. Scant as they were, melted walls and little else. That had been terrifying, she could not even start to work out how that had been done.

But now, seeing the street and square outside the damane kennels. That was worse. Everywhere buildings bore scars or simply holes ripped out of them. The ground itself was pockmarked with blackened craters, in front of the main entrance there was a huge gouge torn from the cobbles. That was not what disturbed her though. She was a hard woman, she had seen battles, traveled through the Blight.

On the surface this was no worse, the cobbles were stained dark with blood and bodies lay all around, staring empty eyed at the sky, where they were sufficiently intact to actually be recognisable for what they were anyway. Trollocs taking a village would do just as bad.

What was worse that it had been done with the Power and, as far as she could tell, one woman had done this. Simply swatted a huge palace out of existence, and after looking at the ruins she suspected that at a different angle, from a different direction, that could have been far worse, and then slaughtered her way through a veritable army of channelers and soldiers without even breaking her stride.

Her suspicion that Taija knew how to Travel had been confirmed by the rescued damane, oh how she hated that word. The three girls had been surprisingly tight lipped though. She wished she had the time to give the girls more leeway. What Egwene and Nynaeve had experienced would have broken many sisters. She suspected poor Ryma would never be the same again, but she did not. The Dragon was paramount and everything else would have to be secondary.

As for Taija… She had healed her… of course. The woman had been unconscious by the time she was brought to her, yet surprisingly intact all things considered, no permanent injuries as far as she could tell.

Not for the first time she wondered whether she should have healed Taija. Whether an accident might have better been arranged. She had learned much over the last few months, but was under no illusion as to how a fight between them would go. A shudder at the memory of Fal Dara was expertly suppressed.

It was not that she thought Taija was a darkfriend, that much was clear. The woman had surely proved her innocence of that and, regardless, she was a terrible actor, it was doubtful she could keep even someone as naive as Rand fooled for long.

No, the problem was her influence over Rand and everyone else around her. Her willingness to resort to brutal violence and to kill without hesitation when she deemed it necessary. Rand would need to learn, need to become strong, but were those the lessons she wanted him to learn? Perhaps it would be necessary, but she was not sure she wanted those lessons coming from Taija either

It was fortunate that she had arrived in Falme when she had. Clearly the Wheel weaved as it willed, but in this case its will seemed to be that she would be able to assist and guide young Rand.

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For the first time in weeks she was starting to feel like life might be alright. Egwene and Nynaeve were free, Taija had woken up again and the Seanchan had been pushed back into the sea.

Verin sedai had wanted to start heading for the Tower right away, but Taija had said she would return the three of them herself when she felt up to channeling again. She knew Taija saw her as a girl, she still had not quite forgiven the woman for leaving her behind when she went into Falme, but whatever her age she could read between the lines and spot the political plays well enough. Taija's offer very clearly did not include Verin.

In her heart of hearts she was secretly glad Taija had made her stay behind. She had asked Nynaeve what had happened and the woman had closed off so fast it was like a door slamming in her face.

She still saw Nynaeve staring into the distance sometimes when no one was around, just sitting and staring with haunted eyes. If only she could get her hands on the Seanchan who had done this to her friends!

Egwene had told her some of it though. Certainly not everything, maybe not much, she knew that, but enough. In some ways the worst part had been Egwene describing how much she wanted to kill her sul'dam, the satisfaction of beating her, the feeling of guilt as she did it. She had told her that Taija had stopped her, with a gentleness they just did not associate with the woman and then she had done something while Egwene was not looking, just… just killed the helpless sul'dam. In cold blood.

She struggled to get her head around that. The woman surely deserved to die, but the way Egwene had described it Taija had not even reacted, not shown any sign at all that she was killing someone while she comforted Egwene. Surely that was not right? Not normal? It was not how it was in the stories.

Nyneave on the other hand had firmly told her she did not want to know what the battle had been like. At the time she was furious, she needed to know! Of course she hid it, the poor woman had suffered enough, but she liked to listen and pay attention so she knew enough.

She had seen the Shienarans' queasy looks when they first came back from the direction of the damane kennels, hardened veterans all of them. Heard them talking in whispered tones. They clammed up if she came too close, but even then the snippets she did catch made it seem far less exciting and brave. "Charnel house." "Never seen anything like it." "Sul'dam just smeared across a wall and the smell of burnt flesh…"

Then there was Taija herself, she was still bed-ridden three days later, but at least she was awake. In better condition than Rand really, and was that not mad? Seeing him again and not only that, finding out he was the Dragon Reborn! She still had not quite processed that properly.

It was strange seeing Taija laid up in bed. She was normally so energetic, going from relaxed absent-mindedness to impatient command and back in seconds and it was painful seeing her clearly suffering. She had been healed by Moiraine sedai who had seemed to pop up out of nowhere after the battle, but Moiraine sedai had explained to her and Egwene that some injuries could not be healed so easily and when a woman over strained herself too far with the Power she needed time to recover.

She also still had not managed to work out exactly what Taija was. Clearly she must be an aes sedai. She seemed to know the Amyrlin and neither Moiraine sedai nor Verin sedai denied her status - she knew from her lessons that the White Tower reacted very poorly to impersonators. However, she did not have the ageless face or even a great serpent ring and perhaps more importantly she did not act like an aes sedai. Not in the slightest. Of course some of the greens and browns lacked the composure of most, but they had their own quirks and it just did not fit. It was frustrating and she hated not knowing.

One thing she was sure of though was that without Taija she would eventually have been caught and faced the same fate as Egwene and Nynaeve. Each night she'd hear Egwene stifling sobs late from the room next door when she thought everyone was asleep. It broke her heart, but she knew her friend would be mortified if she knew she had heard.

Regardless, whatever Taija's relationship with the other aes sedai was, it worried her. Verin sedai seemed oblivious to everything that did not come out of a book, but the speculative looks that Moiraine sedai gave the woman were concerning. More, Moiraine sedai regularly went to visit Taija and when she left Taija always seemed more tired, somehow sadder if that was possible. Why did she always seem to have such an underlying sadness to her? Yet another mystery.

That was why on the third day after the battle she decided. Taija clearly was not in a position to look after herself yet and who knew what Moiraine's intentions were. She had heard of Moiraine sedai, of course she had, but reputation told her little. She was not a naive girl, she knew that every aes sedai had their own agenda. She was not sure how she would stand up to an aes sedai like Moiraine if it came to it, but she would try.

That night she gathered her bedding and moved to Taija's room, she might not be able to fight like her, but she could still protect her until she recovered.

To her surprise she found Aleksi standing outside the door, staff in hand, but he just glanced at her and smiled before stepping aside.

She quietly pushed open the door to find Taija propped up in her bed and Egwene sitting on her own bedding on the floor talking to her.

Taija looked up at her and dropped her face into her hands speaking in her odd accent, "oh no, not you too! Fucking paranoid teenagers." She spoke the Old Tongue reasonably well, but she knew she had a lot to learn from Taija who seemed to have a truly colloquial grasp of it.

"Frak, frakin, frak's sake," she almost silently murmured to herself that night. She didn't quite have the pronunciation right, but she would get it.

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She gave the girls a placid smile. "You must be looking forward to returning to the Tower to continue your lessons. It is not good for you children to be away from the Tower. Now, where did I leave my notes? I had asked Tomas to make me a sketch of the town's bell tower and he will be back soon."

She bustled away, nodding absently to various people as she went. She really must find out more about this Taija, she clearly was no aes sedai, but it seemed that she had all of them at a disadvantage. The kind of disadvantage that made you call someone whatever they wanted to be called.

She had visited the town centre, seen the havoc that woman and wrought. There were not many sights that could turn her stomach, not after the things she had done, but it had still been shocking. Fascinating of course, but disturbing that one unknown woman could do that. Of course she said unknown, but intriguingly Moiraine seemed to know more about her. If only that woman was not always so tight lipped. No matter.

Of course Taija was not capable of doing much more than sit up in bed for now, so perhaps it would be opportune to take some action before she recovered. It was important that the boy be guided safely to his ultimate destiny and young Taija might be an obstacle to that.

Perhaps an as yet undetected complication… She considered it as she exchanged a few words with one of the Shienarans. No, better not to. She would see how things came together and maybe this Taija would be a useful piece in the game.

Now where had Tomas got to?

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"So it is finally happening." He sneered, "the boy has revealed himself. This is all as expected though, why are you so angry?" He asked the tall, dark woman.

She really was angrier than he had ever seen her, practically vibrating. Even the other woman had sat further away from her than usual.

"Do you know what actually happened there? Are you blind?" She practically bit the words out.

"Lews Therin reborn, we know." The smaller woman was clearly irritated judging by her tone, "as we agreed, we don't tread on each other's toes, so beyond the headlines, no we don't know what actually happened. Was it Ishamael again? You won't believe what he's just done in the White…"

"No! It was not Ishamael, although it is his fault." The taller woman took a breath and got himself back under control. "The whole Return has been thrown back into the sea, a huge set back, I have been having to piece together reports from fleeing soldiers, barely a servant of the Great Lord among them, but it was a disaster beyond anything I could have expected."

"The boy defeated Ishamael in a duel above the sky above the town and the Seanchan broke?" His tone was unimpressed.

"It was not the boy. Yes, alright clearly that had an effect and there were reports of a mysterious army too. The main power of the Seanchan though is the damane. Their 'Ever Victorious Army'," there was definitely a hint of contempt in her tone, "relies on leashed channelers to crush the opposition."

She continued without stopping for breath. "You remember the last time we met, we worked out Ishamael had kidnapped those girls from the White Tower? Well someone or something came after them."

The other woman waved a hand dismissively, "well that's interesting, but I don't know why it's enough to call an emergency meeting."

"If you let me finish, then you will see why quickly enough. While Ishamael was playing at swords with Lews Therin… Must you scowl every time I say his name," she snapped at him. "As I was saying, when Ishamael was playing at swords someone slaughtered their way through the damane kennels, freed a group of them and proceeded to kill their way through every Seanchan they saw."

He shrugged dismissively, "impressive for one of this Age's so-called aes sedai, but I think any of us could do the same. A painful setback and you have my sympathies, but we have all survived worse."

"I would agree with you, but for two things. One the attack seems to have begun with the obliteration of High Lady Suroth's palace. No let me finish. I mean obliteration. The place was vapourised. The only surviving witness I could find perfectly described a gateway opening in front of the palace followed by blinding light. He will certainly never see again."

"Ah, that is more concerning." He paused. "Do you think it was Lanfear? Or maybe Sammael? I do not think any of the rest…"

"It was not Lanfear. Or Sammael." The tall woman cut him off. "You understand few damane were left to report back after this and trying to extract coherent answers from ignorant non-channelers can be difficult, however willing they are to talk. I did obtain some useful information though. Firstly, while everybody seems to disagree on what they looked like, there does seem to be a consensus that it was a small woman. Certainly saidar was being channeled, although I suspect many of the webs were inverted. Sammael would struggle to spin a convincing illusion of that. I also have my doubts he could have staged the initial attack. Second, this woman used gateways constantly. From what I can tell it was classic Light Bringer tactics, although no sign of a full team. We all know Lanfear prefers to just rely on her strength and then power through whatever is in her way."

There was a long, contemplative pause before eventually the shorter woman broke the silence. "I suppose we'll need to be thinking about anti-traveling wards again." She shuddered ever so slightly. "Those are not experiences I want to relive."

He sighed, "yes indeed, we will all need to adjust our plans. I see what you meant now though," he nodded to the taller woman. "The real question is… who?"

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She sat at her desk, trying to read through the piles of reports she received. Having so many eyes and ears spread out through the world was vital, but it used inordinate amounts of her time. However, regardless of how hard she tried, she kept coming back to one.

A report from Falme, it came accompanied by a sketch of a young man fighting a flaming figure in the sky. Another false dragon declaring himself, another filthy male channeler spreading their curse across the world. This one's support seemed to be spreading incredibly fast, bringing madness to the west at an unprecedented rate. The Red Ajah would need to act fast.

Of course she dismissed the reports of these "Sheenchan" with aes sedai on leashes. A male channeler of this boy's apparent power was bad enough without subscribing to ridiculous rumours.

But then there was one other thing in the report that took it beyond being yet another false dragon. Rumours of a "Tyja sedai" assisting him to free the "leashed aes sedai". Again, ridiculous, but she at least knew that this Taija was real. Wherever she appeared it seemed there were problems and they continued to get worse. She had been sure for a while, but this confirmed it. A darkfriend, like so many others inside the Tower and out. If Taija had this false dragon under influence then things must be worse than she had feared. Action would need to be taken for the Light.

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One thing had been clear as soon as Semirhage turned up in an absolute temper, barking questions at him, there was something going on. However much he assured her he had not been in Falme recently (or ever) and in fact had never heard of the place until she so rudely interrupted his dinner, she seemed particularly difficult to mollify.

Even he shuddered at the thought of what a proper interrogation from her would be like, not that she would ever get the chance. If it came to it he would smash her the same way he had beaten so many other enemies. Regardless, their status protected them both from each other, or at least from over actions, and so she was restricted to angry words and him to irritated retorts.

It seemed that the others were worked up like a flock of akein over Lews Therin's return to this Falme. His mouth twisted downwards, that would be dealt with in due course. He was a patient man and he had known the rebirth was coming regardless. There was no benefit in taking precipitous action.

Much more interesting was what Semirhage's barely polite interrogation had implied beyond the defeat of Ishamael. When he'd heard about that he'd immediately made his way to Falme, suitably disguised of course. There were too many coincidences lining up and he did not like coincidences.

Of course he also had a vague hope of finding Ishamael in a vulnerable state. If he could ever get that man alone, he had plans for him, oh yes. Him and Lanfear. They'd been a long time coming. One day…

But that had been more opportunistic optimism rather than a true plan. Of course the man had fled to lick his wounds somewhere else. Still, he was glad he'd made the effort to visit Falme.

He'd avoided Lews Therin's camp, too many of those so-called aes sedai and he suspected there might be a trap being woven there for him, but there was much to see among the gawkers in the town.

The scar through the centre where a palace once stood was disturbingly familiar, bringing back dark memories of the War. Lanfear could have done it. Maybe Ishamael. Was one of them targeting him, looking to ensnare him with their schemes? Did they know enough to? Lanfear at least did and he'd learned painful lessons about betting that Ishamael didn't know something.

Given that, the damane kennels were of particular interest to him. It was a risk, of course, going into them, but he'd built his life on calculated risks and this was just one more.

Labourers were busily at work, cleaning the place up, not that they were a problem. A judicious web of compulsion on the foreman and he was quickly getting a personal tour.

Despite the work carrying on, there were still distinct signs of battle throughout. Apparently it had been a woman, although no one could agree on her description. Just one though, that much seemed clear.

Removing a glove he traced his hand down a perfectly smooth groove in a wall. There was no question, a gateway had done that. His experienced eyes ran over the scars and gouges torn from the walls and floor.

It looked like the intruder had come in through the main doors then Traveled to behind the defenders and attacked from there… He couldn't be sure, but he was starting to have a painful suspicion that if he'd been there, he'd have seen that mysterious attacker throwing webs from behind and then attacking straight back through the still open gateway at the same time.

It was classic Light Bringer tactics. None of the others fought like that, but he had no doubt at least a few of them could make a decent attempt at pretending if need be.

A memory of a determined face came into his mind, hair gone awry and dark eyes narrowed, lips pursed in concentration as she spun. He pushed it away violently. He still couldn't work out why someone was playing this game, but if they thought they were going to make him stumble they'd soon learn otherwise.

Abruptly he turned to leave, ignoring his guide's protests. First back East, he was a busy man and had much to do. Then, perhaps it was time to start weaving his own net and see which of them fell into it.