As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue

Chapter CXXXVII - Hearth, Home, City

Rand rode towards Caemlyn's gates surrounded by his maidens, suppressed rage flowing through his veins, warring with emptiness. He'd avoided his father, even when he'd wanted to see him. It had been the only way to protect him and now he was dead, he'd never see him again.

Enaila jogged closer to him, leaning in so that they could not be overheard. "Only a fool sees a viper has bitten his loved one and decides to thrust his hand inside its den." It would be nice if the Aiel could show a little more respect to his status as the Car'a'carn, but by then he knew that was a forlorn hope.

She is right of course boy. You know this is a trap so why do you risk yourself?

He didn't bother to answer Lews Therin, speaking instead to Enaila. "I'm angry, but I'm no fool, we will go to the Hall first. I know it's a trap, but I intend to turn it on whoever made it. I won't be going alone. We'll see how they like their little scheme when I have a pair of sa'angreal at my side."

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Taija emerged from the metro at the station that had been creatively named 'Central' feeling like her head was spinning. A metro, even a somewhat run down one, in this time. It felt like it should have been impossible, but there it was.

At some level she was aware of the others' abject discomfort. They couldn't have seen anything like a metro network, but frankly at that point the burning desire to find out what was going on in 'Paral' just overrode any concern she might have had for them. It was filling her, overflowing from her. She needed to know what had happened here. Was this actually Paral? Even though that made no sense. Why was everything just slightly wrong?

Taija scanned her ticket on the reader, thankfully followed by the other 'modern' aes sedai and emerged up a bank of escalators into sunlight. It certainly looked like Central was the right name for the station. She was standing in a large square, surrounded by skyscrapers towering up, all glass and steel. They looked like something from her time, albeit they wouldn't be winning any prizes for architecture. Their harsh lines made it clear that the Power hadn't been used in their construction and so they lacked the beauty she'd expect. But beyond that, they were another reminder of a lost time.

Taija's eyes roved across the open space, taking in the numerous people moving here and there across the square eyes fixed ahead of them, the gigantic banner hanging from the front of one building, depicting the same goateed man as was on the advert screens in the metro, another showing a happy family, the woman leading the children to a beach. Lamp posts dotted the square, flags hanging from them with the crossed silver keys and golden wreath on black of Paral prominent. She couldn't believe her eyes and then they landed on the monument in the centre. Surely not. Taija started to walk towards it, feet moving without thought.

As she made her way across the square Taija couldn't help but see numerous men in black clothing dotted around it, like the one who'd approached her in the metro station. Police she assumed, best not to interact with them. They all spoke a slightly odd version of the Common Tongue and she was conscious that she risked giving herself away if she spoke too much.

As she got closer her suspicions were confirmed. It really was... in the centre of the square was a plinth. One Taija recognised. Her feet came to a stop and she stood staring up at it. It wasn't the biggest or the most dramatic sculpture out there, but it was the only thing she remembered from her one visit to Paral. 'Potential'. That was what the sculptor had called it. A beautiful expression of everything that was great about her time. Two children, caught in motion as they played together, a dove taking flight between them.

Taija wasn't sure how long she stood there staring at it. A remnant from her time. A recognisable one, one that half the planet would have known. Something that wasn't a weapon or a horrifically misused ter'angreal. Why was her vision getting blurry?

Taija's reverie was only broken by Egwene putting her hand on her shoulder and leaning in to whisper. "Taija, are you alright?"

She gave herself a shake. She didn't have time to have a breakdown about this. She needed to hold herself together. "Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Why was everything so familiar and yet so wrong? Maybe if she could visit a cafe. She could talk to the waiters, take a moment to think, to pull herself back together.

Taija gave herself another shake and turned to the other aes sedai. "Come on, I want to sit down somewhere." Then she headed for the edge of the square. There were places with seats there, probably cafes and she had the money she'd stolen from the woman. she needed to be careful though. This really did seem to be some twisted, preserved remnant of Paral, but she still needed to avoid asking questions that would make her sound like an outsider.

They were soon all sat down round a table outside the 'Secretariat Cafe'. It wasn't the catchiest name Taija had ever heard, but oh well. A young lady came bustling up and glanced over all of them before turning her attention on Jaer and Jahar, who were sitting next to each other. "What would you like?"

They looked at each other in momentary panic and Taija quickly intervened. "Sparkling waters, for all of us please." Surely they had sparkling water, that must be a safe order. She didn't want to risk asking for something that had been lost in the Breaking.

The young woman looked a bit surprised at Taija's order, but then nodded and hurried away. Taija saw her passing it on behind the counter and then stopping to chat with the barman, occasionally glancing back at her table. Taija dismissed her from her mind and turned her attention to the other aes sedai.

"I just want to have a quick break here. What we really need to do is to find whoever's in charge here and speak to them. There's something very off about this place."

Egwene shook her head. "Are you sure? It's incredible, is this how you lived in your…"

Taija cut her off, suppressing a surge of irritation. "No. There's so much that's not right here. Can't you see it?!" It was like a drab, poor imitation.

As Egwene opened her mouth Taija saw the girl returning, fortunately Egwene saw her too and kept quiet.

"Here are your drinks," she handed them round, "that'll be twenty two fifty." For some reason she spoke to Jahar, who looked a bit confused, his grasp of the Common Tongue was a bit weaker than Egwene's Taija supposed.

"I'll get this," Taija pulled out the wallet she'd stolen and fumbled with it for a second before pulling out what she hoped was a bank card and handing it to her. The woman looked surprised for a moment and then pressed it against something. With some relief Taija heard a beep and she handed it back to her. No First Bank of Adanza here. Ha. taija tried to ignore the empty feeling inside her at that thought.

Now, she needed to try to get some more information out of the girl. "Beautiful day, isn't it?" The weather was always a safe topic to open up conversation.

She looked at Taija blankly for a second and then noded. "I suppose it's been nice the last few days. Although it's good that things have cooled down a bit too."

Taija resisted the urge to tell her she was welcome. "Mmm yes, it's pleasant. Busy day today?"

She shrugged, a bit awkwardly. "Quite quiet right now, but it'll open up once the Council finish for the day."

"Of course," Taija nodded. "We need to file some papers there in fact, we're just having a break to get ready to grapple with the bureaucracy."

The girl let out a small giggle and then clamped down on it looking around herself nervously. "Well you'd better not take too long, it'll close at four." She glanced over at one of the buildings on the square. Bingo, that would be the government offices.

"No, of course not." Taija gave her a smile and watched her head off back to the counter.

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Egwene hurried after Taija. She'd have liked to have stayed at the strange inn a little longer. That sparkling water had been distinctly odd, but intriguing. However, after her slightly strange conversation with the serving girl Taija had stood and told them they needed to get moving. Remembering Taija's commands they hadn't questioned her, but she could practically sense the disappointment from some of the other aes sedai. There were so many miracles to see, even in that little place.

They hurried across the square towards a towering building, all dark stone and at least one hundred spans high. It was both imposing and impressive, although disappointingly unornamented. The square seemed to have emptied out while they were at the inn, which meant there weren't many people to see. It was a pity, she'd wanted to watch the inhabitants of this incredible place, see how they lived, even if she couldn't ask them. However, the gigantic buildings surrounding the square were still very interesting. Most of them were taller than anything she'd seen before. The shortest was matched by some of the towers of Cairhien although not many, and regardless none were made of these materials or in these styles and certainly not so many in one square. As Egwene tried not to gawk too obviously, one of the few remaining people in the square glanced at a square object in his hand and then looked around himself with an urgent motionbefore hurrying away at a rapid pace eyes fixed directly ahead of him.

The entrance to the building was surrounded in stone columns and they had to climb a surprising number of steps to reach it. More black uniformed men stood watching them suspiciously as they approached it.

Egwene hesitated when she saw the entrance itself. Strange, turning constructs of glass, looking more like a dangerous ter'angreal than anything else. However, Taija just strode straight in between two moving panes of glass and after a moment Egwene and the others followed behind her.

They emerged into a cavernous hallway. The floor seemed to be marble and Egwene wasn't sure what the walls were made of, but they appeared to be mostly covered in large windows showing changing images. She tried to take them in, but there were so many and they kept flicking to something new.

A beautiful woman cradled a baby, 'Hearth, Home, City' declared the words under it. Another showed a broad shouldered man in the strange green and brown clothing of her attackers from a few days ago, 'Defend Paral, Keep Your Families Safe'. There were more, happy families, topless men working, women with babies, the same older, bearded man she'd seen in the tunnels. Egwene had to drag her eyes away before the moving images overwhelmed her.

For such a large room, the place seemed rather quiet. There were desks, but they were unoccupied. There were a few more of the black uniformed men too, watching them. Maybe they'd finished business for the day? There was, however, one woman, oddly dressed in a scandalously short skirt that only reached her knees who greeted them, next to a metal arch of some kind. A ter'angreal?

"Metal items in the tray and ID please." She seemed oddly nervous as she asked, her eyes flicking around her. Was something wrong?

Taija hesitated and then pulled out the little pouch she'd stolen from the woman earlier. For woman of such firm ideas about morality she could be surprisingly flexible at times. She pulled out a small square of firm material and handed it to the woman before depositing the pouch in the tray.

The woman looked at it closely before handing it back to Taija. "Thank you, what is the purpose of your visit?"

"I need to visit the records department."

The woman frowned and then nodded. "Very well. I will just need to see ID for…"

There was a clattering sound and then the world went white around Egwene.