Chapter 2

Forging Ahead

We didn't get that far after Haerelar. With the snow drifts coming up to our horses knees, we'd struggled into a larger town called Etycun. That's where our journey stalled as it kept snowing on and off for the next day and the one after that.

That first day, I was grateful for the respite from horse riding, especially my backside. But even then, I couldn't help but consider just how many miles lay between us and Tar Valon. We would have to go further north, to the capital of Saldea Maradon, before we could use the road south that led straight to Tar Valon. It had been Spring by the time the group had reached the White Tower in book 3 and I could see why.

But should I spend all that time guarding Mat and the Horn, or could I use this window before events accelerate for a more productive venture? Well, potentially more productive.

On the second day we were stuck in Etycun, I knew I couldn't just wait around. But I wasn't the only one who had to make a decision. And after Haerelar that couldn't wait either. So I went looking for Gemiad in the common room.

She still looked troubled, even now. And I could guess why after Elayne had revealed that it had been Gemiad who had acted first when the villagers had sneaked into their room. She'd been the one I'd heard.

"Gemiad," I said, standing next to her table. It was in the corner and the common room was fairly quiet. Etycun was on the main road, so it got more traffic, but not at this time of year. The inn didn't have many many guests besides us at the moment. And nobody in the town went out in these conditions unless they needed to.

"Ron," she replied. She took a deep breath, her eyes darting about. "Is something going to happen? Here?"

"Not that I know," I said. "But we need to talk. I've been putting it off, I wanted to give you the time and space you needed, but I expected you to come talk to me sooner rather than later."

She drew back. "And what if I don't want to talk to you?"

"Then, after today, you will get your wish."

Gemiad frowned. "And what do you mean by that?"

"I've found a lead on a possible way home," I said. "So I'll be heading south to pursue it, but before I do, I want to talk to you about the fact that you're a channeler."

"You're leaving me," Gemiad said, her fingers turning white around her cup as it rested on the table.

I sighed and gestured at the other chair. "May I sit with you?" She pressed her lips together but then nodded. "Thank you. And whether we continue traveling together is up to you. We've not spoken for weeks now. You are angry with me for good reason, but there's something that can't be delayed anymore."

"I already know I'm a channeler," Gemaid said. "The Seanchan saw to that."

"Yes, but that means you need training. Not what the Seanchan did," I hastened to add. "That was abuse. But there's nothing more addictive than the One Power. Once you're aware of it, felt the Source, a channeler can't help but channel. Even the male channelers after the Breaking," I said, lowering my voice. "Some fled to steddings so they couldn't touch the Source, but they couldn't stay even knowing it would mean madness and death. One by one, they left in the vain hope that the corruption was gone."

"I'm not a man," Gemiad said. "I won't go mad."

"No, you won't. But using the One Power when you don't know what you can do can be just as dangerous. You need training on how to use it, you need to know what weaves to use in what situation or you'll react in a crisis again rather than act. And next time, you might kill someone."

Gemiad drew back. "They were going to rob us. They'd already stolen from others. And just because Hurin didn't smell a murder doesn't mean all their victims survived after they'd been thrown out of the village with nothing but the clothes on their backs."

"True." I leaned forward and looked her in the eye. "But it should be a decision you make, not something you have to justify after the fact. So, training. I assume the Aes Sedai have already approached you about becoming a Novice?"

She made a face. "Sheraine has, though she made clear I'm barely strong enough to be an Aes Sedai in the first place. And that it would take many years."

I nodded. "If you want to become an Aes Sedai, it would take that long. But my question to you is, do you want to be an Aes Sedai? Because there are other options for training."

"There are?"

I nodded again. "Oh yes. Aes Sedai might not like competition, but that just means other groups have avoided them. Now, convincing them wouldn't be easy, but money isn't a problem and I've got some secrets that should sweeten the pot. It depends on what you want." I had also considered the Kin, but they would never accept what they considered a wilder and had strict rules about learning, too.

"I … I don't know." She slowly twisted the cup around on the table as she stared at it. "Becoming a journalist, I thought it was the best way I could make a difference in the world. But I could do more as Aes Sedai. Couldn't I?" Her eyes moved up to meet mine.

"It is hard to say. The White Tower has a lot of authority, but also a lot of traditions. It can be a shield or a set of chains. I personally view many of those traditions as … a detriment. But I have advantages few have. And I don't look good in a shawl."

I leaned forward as Gemiad let out a snort. I lowered my voice further. "But if you're thinking of going to the Tower, I need to warn you. Darkfriends have infiltrated the Aes Sedai, it's how Egwene and the others ended up in Falme. If you go to Tar Valon, any Aes Sedai might have sworn herself to the Shadow. The only ones you could trust there are those three, the Amyrlin Seat, and her Keeper."

Gemiad worked her jaw for a second or two before she managed to utter a word. "Even Sheraine Sedai? Or Verin Sedai?"

Actually, Verin was a member of the Black Ajah. Even if she was, or would turn out to be, a double agent in the end. And while I was almost certain Sheraine wasn't given there had been no hint of it in the books, I couldn't truly be certain given how little she had been on the page. "Sheraine is less likely than Verin, I think. She wouldn't have gotten so close to the Seanchan if she'd had any warning of the danger. But if you go, you're going to be in danger every moment you're in the tower."

Including a Forsaken, though Mesaana shouldn't have any interest in a new Novice of unremarkable strength. But if they found out her connection to me and it would only be a matter of time before they learned about me if the Forsaken hadn't already.

Gemiad closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "I-I think I-I need to think about this. Where will you go? What's the lead."

I leaned back. "I need to find a specific Portal Stone. There might be a way to find it in Ebou Dar so that's my first destination. After that, depends on how successful I am."

"Ebou Dar?" She frowned. "That's in the south, far south."

"Shouldn't be any snow there, at least. Though who knows where I'll end up?"

Gemiad squared her shoulders and rose from her seat, I did the same. "How long do I have to decide?"

"A day," I said, deciding then and there when I would leave. "I've got some arrangements to make myself. But when I leave, it will be at the early dawn." I lowered my voice. "And not on horseback"

"So I would have to leave Blaze behind then. In that case, you'll have my answer this evening." With those words, Gemiad went back up to our rooms. I, however, put on some gloves and wrapped a scarf around my face before braving the cold.

VVVV

The fire roared as I worked the bellows, but even after my foot had left the pedal it kept going for a few more moments. Some Gifts grew with the overall power of the Godbound, and Ten Thousand Tools was one of them. Where before Falme, my labor had been the equivalent of three thousand laborers, now it was five thousand.

It meant that I should have enough time to finish everything before night fell, even when the day was short. Renting the blacksmith's forge for a day had taken quite a bit of gold. Not that there was much work for him in this season, with this weather, but he had wanted to keep an eye on things. I basically had to pay him enough to build a whole new smithy, but gold truly wasn't an obstacle for me.

Really, if I put some effort into it, I could be the richest person in this world. But the most important things couldn't be bought for any amount of money.

Pulling the first piece of steel out of the glowing coals, I started hammering it to shape, only to falter when the door opened. The door I had barred shut from the inside, but that wooden plank wasn't in place anymore.

A short, plump woman with graying hair slipped in and shut the door behind her, though not before a gust of cold air stormed through the room and tugged at my coat that I had hung on a peg near that door.

"Oh, it's warmer in here than at the inn," Verin said, removing her cloak with ink stained fingers.

My heart was beating faster now. I liked Verin in the books, but the reasons I liked her also made this real dangerous. She was smart, observant despite the way she acted, and currently bound to the Oaths of the Black Ajah. "Steel's rather hard to forge at low temperatures, Verin Sedai."

Deliberately, I turned my attention back to the knife taking shape on the anvil and swung my hammer again. I did make sure to slow down even further, but still the steel moved with every blow.

"I wasn't aware you were a blacksmith as well, Master Shen," the Aes Sedai said as she crossed the smithy.

"I'm a craftsman." The knife went back in the fire.

"For most people, learning just one craft takes a lifetime." She tilted her head a little to the right like an owl examining a puzzle. "But I've heard you posed as a weaver and a carpenter back in Falme? Well enough to become quite wealthy in a short time."

"Not a weaver, I just made thread. Or should I say, I came up with a device that could make more of it efficiently." I pulled the knife out of the coals and resumed forging. I'd based it on a seax design so it was single edged. Where modern smiths would forge thick and grind fine, the blacksmiths of this Age had to forge as much of the edge as they could. Steel was too precious to waste it and grindstones were muscle-powered.

"Are you alright? You're not sweating."

I paused my work to regard her with a frown, puzzled for a moment what that was supposed to mean. But then I recalled that neither she nor Sheraine had minded the cold of the last few days. And Verin wasn't sweating either, though the smithy was hot. Because Aes Sedai had this trick to ignore heat and cold, didn't even have anything to do with the One Power supposedly.

And I wasn't sweating because no amount of heat could bother me. I settled for a shrug and resumed my work. It was too much to hope Verin wouldn't notice anything amiss. "Heat's not an issue for me. Cold's another matter, though. If I hadn't thought to bring gloves when we left Falme, I would have had to spend half an hour just to warm my fingers before I could get started."

Mixed with the smells of the burning coal and the hot steel, the scent of a wildflower entered my nose. Precaution or preparation?

The knife went back in the coals. It was almost finished but I did need to drift a hole into the tang for the pin I was going to use to help fix the scales. And speaking of the hilt, better go find some wood for that.

"You haven't yet told me why you braved the cold, Verin Sedai? Unless you just wanted to warm yourself in the hottest place in the village?" Moving through the pile of wood pieces, I stumbled on something darker. Rosewood? That would work nicely.

"I hoped to interview you about your time in Falme. I understand you spied on the Seanchan for two months? You must surely have learned a good deal about them in that time," she said, pen poised over her notebook.

I returned to the fire to pull the knife out. "I might disappoint you, I'm not much a spy. But I like to think I'm a decent journalist, so what would you like to know?"

Verin's questions started innocent enough, asking about any and all Seanchan leaders I'd heard about. Not just the late but not lamented High Lord Turok or High Lady Suroth, there were several that just hadn't made it into the books. There was a reason why Suroth had managed to slip out of Falme without getting too much attention. She hadn't been the only Seanchan noble with the Forerunners but just one of many that had populated Turok's court.

Though she didn't comment on the Daughter of the Nine Moons when I mentioned her despite the fact that title got mentioned in the Karaethon Cycle. Then again, all I did was mention she was supposed to be with the main force.

Verin's pen stopped scratching on the paper. "So this wasn't the invasion army?"

I shook my head, but kept my eyes on the handle as I shaped it with another knife. I didn't need to remove much material, but a knife needed to fit both comfortably and securely in the hand. For the comfort part I'd finish by sanding and polishing the wood.

"No, the Seanchan I spoke with were clear about that. Proud of it, really. They were just the advanced force, the scouts. The real army, the big one, it hasn't arrived yet. And I don't think what happened at Falme will be enough to convince them to stay on their side of the ocean."

"Perhaps, though given how their … leashes failed. They might think twice before risking another expedition. They won't know we can't easily replicate such a feat. Why, I don't even know how it happened in the first place. Did you see anything?"

Something skittered along my mind, like a cobweb dragged along by a breeze, but it found nothing to stick to and fell away as I flinched at the feeling running down my spine. That Compulsion weave Verin had cobbled together, had she actually tried it on me?

I patted my head, then looked up, doing my best to act puzzled.

"Anything wrong?" Verin sounded calm, but the flower smell had gotten stronger.

"I think a spider landed on my head." I chanced a look at her. "You didn't see it?"

"No, I saw no spider." She blinked. "Though it's no surprise. Spiders and other insects only become active when it's warm enough, and you've had the fire going for some time now." Verin looked around. "It would be interesting to measure that activity as related to distance from the fire. Is there a threshold below which they slumber, or does activity diminish gradually along with the temperature?"

"I've hired the smithy for the entire day," I said. "Feel free to study the arachnids in here as much as you like." If she wanted to act like an absent-minded scholar, I was quite happy to play along. "As to what happened at Falme, a lot happened at Falme all at once. Might be one of the heroes of the Horn who did it. In any case, the Seanchan will be cautious, yes, but unless every a'dam was broken, then there's a limit. They'll test and search for those limits, which means invading elsewhere. We haven't seen the last of the Seanchan."

Verin nodded, looking quite serious. "I fear you are right. Which means the Tower needs to know as much as possible. So perhaps this interview should take precedence. Could you tell me more about these creatures the Seanchan use?"

"I stayed away from them," I said, still on edge. "I got some names and descriptions, which I suppose isn't nothing." I risked returning to my work, but made sure to go slow. "Let's see, maybe I should start with the raken. That's a flying creature the Seanchan use for scouting. I think that might cause the most problems in the future. Only Borderlanders think to look up."

Verin stayed for another hour, asking questions, making notes, before she finally left. And she'd channeled twice more, though I didn't feel anything those times.

It didn't help my nerves.