A New Player in the Game (Wheel of Time)

[Teebs]

As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.

Interlude II - The 'Modern' World is a Lonely Place

Taija tossed and turned under the scratchy blanket, unable to get back to sleep however hard she tried. While she'd passed out soon enough, once she woke up in the night that was it.

It was the same almost every night. Every time she tried to let go of her worries about the 'modern' world, her mind drifted to her own time, inexorably drawn backwards. Some memories were bad, making her wake up gasping for breath and frantically fumbling for saidar in the darkness until she remembered where she was. Others were of treasured happier times that she missed with bone-deep longing.

All of them were painful though. Everything in them was long gone, consigned to the distant past by millennia of history. Other than the Forsaken of course the very people who'd destroyed everything she loved. Why did they have to be the ones to survive?!

Approximately 3,000 years ago and also two days before Taija woke up and staggered into a field in Andor

Taija had lain back, resting against her partner's broad chest, enjoying the comforting feeling of his thick arms surrounding her. It was a warm summer's night and what was in those days an all too rare moment of peace.

They'd both stared up at the stars in happy, comfortable silence. She'd always loved being able to get away from cities' noise and light, to enjoy a proper night sky. Since they'd met fifteen years ago, getting away from their responsibilities, away from civilisation and the demands of others, had been one of their greatest pleasures.

Gazing up into the night sky had been making Taija wistful and she'd asked him, not for the first time, "what do you think you'll do when the War's over? When we've won."

His short beard had tickled against the side of her face when he answered. "Well… When we win," she'd felt him smile, "I think I'll start a farm and raise chickens. Light knows I've had enough of fighting. No more battles, no more meetings, no more stress. Just fields of corn. And chickens."

Taija had started giggling and sat up, turning to look him in the eyes. It had been a long month since they'd last been together and they really were the loveliest blue. Of course she hadn't been able to see them all that clearly in the dim light of the stars, but she still knew. "Really? You? Start a farm? Come on! It was a serious question! Not even sports?"

He'd smiled back at her, a warm, genuine expression that transformed the otherwise stern lines of his face. He'd never been the most expressive man, but that had made those smiles and jokes he did give her all the more precious. He hadn't answered immediately though, instead pausing to think while Taija had lain back down against him.

Taija had always liked that about him, solid and always considered in his actions. So different to her, but the rock she'd never realised she needed in her life until he'd turned up and filled a hole in it. Well, until Antero had thrown them at each other anyway.

"Fine, being serious, I was telling the truth that I don't want anything to with this anymore." He'd made a vague gesture, ignoring the irritated noise Taija had made when he shifted her with the movement. "I'll resign from the military the day the War ends. They can manage without me. I suppose I could get into coaching, but even that's too close really, let alone getting back into competition. I think I'd like to do something outdoors… Maybe I'll start leading excursions into the Shan'dar Mountains. What about you?"

It wasn't like the two of them hadn't had this discussion many times before, but it had still been comforting to think about a better future and Taija had taken a moment to think, treating the question as if it was the first time it had been asked. Not that it had been much of a dilemma.

"Well, obviously I'll go back to university. Not Jalanda, too many bad memories." She'd shuddered and he'd put a comforting hand over hers. They both had enough bad memories for several lifetimes. "But somewhere, make a new team, get back into it. You know how much I miss research."

She'd felt him nod at that. "Of course. I can sneak off from my tour groups at night and you can come and join me at weekends."

"Ha! I'll come and lead your tour groups at weekends!"

Taija had squirmed back, further into his arms and then they'd lain there in comfortable silence for a while, until Taija had broken it again, speaking in a musing tone. "After the War… I think… Yes I think I'll also marry you." She'd nodded firmly to herself at that, decision made.

He'd let out a surprised bark of laughter, pushing himself up onto his elbows to look down at her. "Taija, are you proposing to me? Like that? Really?!"

After her outraged squawk at sliding from his chest to his lap Taija had smiled widely, looking up at him from what couldn't have been a comfortable position on his legs. "Did you think it would happen any other way? With me?"

He'd huffed in exasperation. "Yes! I'd thought I'd do something romantic when the War was over. Flowers, down on one knee, you know, charming, glamorous, passionate… alright. Fine. I should have expected that, it wasn't going to happen any other way, I admit it."

Taija had looked as smugly pleased as she ever had. "So?"

"Fine. I'll marry you." His voice had been full of mock irritation. "While you might be a bit of a weirdo, there's no one I'd rather spend the next five or six hundred years with."

"Perfect." She'd given him a gentle shove to get him to lie back down before snuggling back against his chest.

Later as the night went on their conversation had inevitably turned back to the War.

"You know, I need to go back to the front tomorrow." His grip had tightened around her as she'd said it.

After a moment he'd sighed. "Yes, I know. The Arikam Sector. I'm worried about it, the Shadow just keeps pushing there, I don't know how much longer we can hold." He'd shifted uncomfortably under her. "I know you can't, but sometimes I wish you'd just stop. Resign. I worry about you out there every day."

Taija had reached up to stroke his cheek, fingers tracing the fine, blonde hair of his beard. "I know you do and you know I can't. I worry about you just as much too, but we have a world to defend. If I stand aside the Shadow gets a step closer to victory. You do what you can and so do I. We both took oaths when we came became aes sedai and it is what it is, being aes sedai."

"I know, I know. We all have our duty and you always make a difference. Taija the Terrible, scourge of darkriends everywhere." They'd both laughed at that, although there was a hint of brittleness to their laughter. "You know, back at HQ they interrogated a captured dreadlord last week, before he was severed, and apparently quite a few of them will try their best to get reassigned if they find you're fighting in their sector."

Taija had shrugged nonchalantly, despite actually being quite pleased. "Smallish, but deadly, that's me. Anyway, you shouldn't worry. Antero's in charge in my sector and he's more than competent." She'd mimed pointing and firing a pistol with her fingers. "He points me at whatever's the most important target and then I blow it up. Boom! Home in time for lunch."

"Oh yes, of course, do say hello to him from me. Ask after Saela too. It's been too long."

"Much too busy to hang out in the mud with us common footsoldiers are you?"

"Ha! Antero commands a whole sector and you… Well anyone stupid enough to mistake you for a common footsoldier would never get the chance to do it twice."

Taija had smiled fondly. "Exactly. Just don't try to give me any special treatment!"

"I wouldn't dare." Then the levity had drained from his voice. "Seriously though Taija, you need to be careful out there. The Shadow's throwing more and more against our lines and we're just not getting the reinforcements we need. I keep asking, but so far nothing." He'd hesitated then, "I know you can more than look after yourself, and frankly you're one of the heaviest hitters we have so we need you out there… but, promise me you won't take any unnecessary risks. If one of the Forsaken turns up, promise me you won't try to stand and fight them. Run. Get help. Call me and I'll come with balefire and deathgates!"

Taija had humphed at him before being cut off. "I could absolutely ta…"

"Please! Promise me. I couldn't take it if the next casualty report has your name on it. It would break me!"

"Alright, alright, I promise sweetheart. If one of the Forsaken comes I'll run."

======

Lying sleeplessly on a cheap, uncomfortable bed in a medieval inn a tear trickled down Taija's cheek and she cursed everything that had brought her there.

 

[Haaret]

Well shit,
Didn't expect her Fiance to be Tel Janin Aellinsar, I mean, I could be wrong. But given what she revealed in the last Chapter, and that description...
That's going to be interesting

 

[SCDMR Aramatha]

So, new to Wheel of time, the premise looks interesting

From what I gather a super-powerful sorceress from an ancient precurser civilisation survived to the modern age where powerful magic and tech is gone. And she is fighting against a group of people called Forsaken?

Still looks to be very interesting indeed, maybe she can rebuild some lost knowledge if she survives

 

[Teebs]

So, new to Wheel of time, the premise looks interesting

From what I gather a super-powerful sorceress from an ancient precurser civilisation survived to the modern age where powerful magic and tech is gone. And she is fighting against a group of people called Forsaken?

Still looks to be very interesting indeed, maybe she can rebuild some lost knowledge if she survives

Click to shrink...

Ha it seems weird to have someone reading who isn't familiar with the series, but welcome aboard. I suppose the two paragraph summary would be this:

Precursor civilisation was a magitech utopia. Magic is split into two halves accessible only to men (saidin) and women (saidar). Mierin Eronaile/Lanfear was a scientist involved in a research project to get access to a new source of magic and drilled a hole in reality called the Bore to get access to it. Unfortunately that source of magic turned out to be the Satan equivalent (the 'Dark One') and a hole was drilled into his prison. Over the next hundred years society gradually became less and less utopian until his forces started the War of Power. This lasted for some years with the forces of the Light gradually losing and society collapsing as a result. In the end, in a desperate strike Lews Therin/the Dragon led a group of male sorcerors to seal the Bore. They succeeded in sealing him back in, along with his 13 most powerful lieutenants (the Forsaken), but in doing so the male half of magic was tainted so that they went immediately and homicidally mad. Every male sorceror is now doomed to gradually go mad. That resulted in the Breaking in which madmen with magic reshaped the whole world, destroying pretty much all civilisation.

The Wheel of Time books are then set 3,000 years in the future in a renaissance level society with scant records of the 'Age of Legends'. The Dark One's forces still occupy the Northern part of the world and fight with borderland nations. Rand al'Thor, the hero of the books is the Dragon Reborn, basically a prophecised male sorceror whose destiny is to defeat the Dark One in the Last Battle and possibly rebreak the world in doing so. Understandably people are a bit edgy about him due to the whole madmen thing.

 

[Teebs]

As usual all text in italics is in the Old Tongue.

With thanks to the late Terry Pratchett for the chapter title.

Chapter XVII - If A Man Has You Entirely At His Mercy, Then Hope Like Hell That Man Is An Evil Man

The next morning Taija felt bleary and run down after another bad night of sleep, not to mention everything that had happened the day before. Still, once she'd had the chance to shake the cobwebs out of her head and have a proper wash she felt a bit better. The benefits of hot water couldn't be underestimated. Of course the inn didn't provide that, but when you could channel, cold water was never a big problem. She still felt the deep weariness that told her she'd been going too hard for too long without a break, but at least she felt more human.

After some haggling she became the proud owner of a rather mediocre looking horse and a much better quality dress. At least she now looked more like an odd merchant rather than an exhausted peasant. As far as she could tell anyway. Really she'd rather have just walked, or Traveled, but she was conscious that having a horse would be seen as a sign of wealth and status.

In the full light of day, Tar Valon was simply stunning. A huge mountain loomed behind it, unnaturally isolated and dominating the skyline with its craggy ridges. The city itself though, that was a true marvel, even to her. Arching bridges crossed the Erinin, shining walls stretched to the sky and above them loomed the White Tower. Taija had seen taller, she'd seen fancier, but this was still a truly beautiful city.

She could already feel her mood improving as she rode towards one of the city's gigantic gates, climbing up the arch of one of the bridges. Once she was inside the walls she saw a happy, wealthy population bustling around, going about their business. There didn't seem to be any of the poverty that stained Caemlyn, Fal Dara or any of the other small towns and villages that she'd visited and every building seemed to be built of proud stone, carefully designed to fit together with the wider city.

Impressed, despite herself, Taija continued on to the inn one of the guards at the gate had told her was the finest inn in Tar Valon. He'd looked sceptical, but when she'd given him one of the small gold coins in the purse Siaun had given her, he'd suggested the Shining Flame. If Siuan was going to go around calling herself the leader of the aes sedai then she could go ahead and pay for Taija to at least have a modicum of comfort.

The Shining Flame itself was a much, much nicer inn than any of the others Taija had stayed in. It was almost opulent in fact. Its centrepiece was a huge common room, decorated with paintings and bookshelves was filled with finely dressed people engaging in quiet conversation over elaborate meals.

The owner, a large man with ruddy cheeks, had kept trying to suggest that another inn might be more suitable to Taija until she'd started pressing gold coins into his hand. After that she was suddenly 'my lady' to him and was quickly set up with a room and recommendations for good tailors.

The rest of the day involved tedious visits to tailors to look for suitable dresses. After some arguments about propriety Taija also managed to convince one to make her some loose, thick trousers, although the tailor had seemed to struggle slightly with the concept of a noblewoman wanting something like that.

By her best guess, Taija had a couple of days to herself before the Amyrlin's boat reached Tar Valon. So, given what she'd been through in the last few weeks and months, she decided that she'd allow herself those days to explore Tar Valon. There wasn't much else for her to do anyway, other than Travel out of the city each morning to exercise by herself away from civilisation. She did need to get back into fighting shape after all.

She was too tired to go looking for conflict and, given the Forsaken seemed to be loose, there was a real risk she might bump into the wrong person while she was in no condition to fight. Trying to get into the White Tower, particularly its library, was also tempting, but it seemed stupid to risk being caught when she'd be welcomed in a couple of days.

Regardless, Taija always had liked exploring new places and being able to walk around Tar Valon without constantly being in fear or trying to work out what was going on was a nice feeling. The city was stunning and she had friendly, normal conversations with a few people. She hadn't realised how much she'd missed people not treading on eggshells around her.

Unlike every other city Taija had visited in this time, she frequently passed women with the ability to channel, although none of them were particularly strong. Still, she assumed they must be aes sedai and was glad of her own inverted webs concealing her ability.

It was early evening on the second day when Taija was returning from a tailor's with their apprentice carrying a load of new clothing behind her that she noticed the inn's common area was fuller than she'd seen it before. As usual everyone was finely dressed, clearly nobility or wealthy merchants and today she was even fairly sure there were a couple of aes sedai there.

It was immediately clear that they were listening to a performance by a finely dressed man at the back of the room sat there on a small stage playing a harp, long curly hair covering his face. Soft notes wafted over the room as he sang a song about a battle of some kind.

Taija was intrigued despite herself. She'd never spent all that much time at gigs, but she did like music and hadn't heard much of what this time produced. The man was pretty good and since she was trying to relax she decided that she'd indulge her curiosity. How similar would it be to what she did know? Hopefully it would be better than the garbage she'd once heard from some historical re-enactors when she went to a show at a pre-War fair.

She quickly asked the apprentice to get the clothes sent up to her room, tipping him a couple of the bigger silver coins before finding herself a space at the back of the room to sit back and listen with a cup of wine.

By the end of the song she had to admit the singer was pretty good. She was only half listening though. Despite her best efforts at relaxing her mind kept going back to trying to work out what her next move should be, but he did create a very nice atmosphere for those musings.

The singer started on his next song and Taija leant back in her chair, smiling to herself. The haunting melody reminded her of home, listening to that tune while she banged out another problem sheet as an undergraduate. Wait.

She sat up with a jolt, actually focusing on the music. She knew that tune! And the words, the words were different, but the tune… She looked harder at the performer on the stage. Surely not.

He looked subtly different, but Taija could remember the poster on her bedroom wall at university. Really?! Even after Mierin she was stunned at the sheer arrogance.

She'd need to make sure of course, but it seemed like her relaxation time was over. Antero had always grumbled that she was a bit of a workaholic, she gave a humourless smile at the thought.

Taija sat through the rest of the performance, clenching her wine glass and taking only tiny sips to avoid suspicion. She couldn't afford anything other than total sobriety now. Thankfully no one noticed her tension, the white showing on her knuckles as she gripped her cup so hard it hurt.

The music was exquisitely done and his voice was as good as it ever was, but Taija couldn't enjoy it anymore. Even when several of her favourite works were played, odd without electronic instruments and a full band, but completely recognisable.

After he finished performing, the singer spent an inordinate amount of time glad-handing the rich and powerful in the room. Roaming around, paying particular attention to the two women Taija thought might be aes sedai. Luckily he ignored her, she wasn't sure she could have acted normally if he'd spoken to her.

Eventually he moved to leave, a bit tipsy. He had one of the prettier serving girls with him as he ambled out of the inn, slipping his arm round her before dropping it down to give her backside a squeeze. Half a minute later Taija casually got up, rechecking the various inverted webs concealing her channeling and identity and followed after him at a suitable distance.

After a couple of minutes she ducked into an alleyway, glad that Tar Valon seemed to be such a safe city, and tweaked the web of illusion over her, her appearance rippling and changing. Then she was following again.

It wasn't long before he reached an inn, almost but not quite as nice as the Shining Flame. This would be the hardest part. Taija followed him in, staying a little way behind and asked the innkeeper for a room for the night. It cost her yet more money and a made up story about being caught away from home, but not too many questions were asked once she'd pressed a couple of gold coins into the woman's hand.

Fortunately her target seemed to have stopped for a drink with his serving girl and they were giggling in the corner, uninterested in the disapproving stares of some of the other patrons, let alone in a random middle-aged woman buying a room for the night.

Deal done with the innkeeper, Taija declared herself in need of a nightcap before she went to bed and found her own corner to sit in, giving herself a view over the room and the canoodling couple. Doing her best to hide her distaste she sat back and pretended to drink.

It felt like an interminably long time before the singer paid up and headed for the stairs with his girl. As soon as their backs were turned, Taija gave a theatrical yawn and headed after them, leaving a silver coin on the table.

She didn't need to follow too closely, she could hear the serving girl's outraged squeal and then the two of them laughing as they went. Their floor only had two rooms and she'd seen that they turned left in front of her as she climbed past. Good, now she knew where he'd be.

Taija reached her own room and breathed out a deep sigh of relief as the tension she hadn't even realised was filling her eased off slightly. She'd been terrified he'd spot her. Actually it was amazing how relaxed he was, particularly in this city with so many aes sedai around.

She settled down to wait. She was too wound up to sleep, and didn't want to risk not waking up, so she lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking of home.

It was a long two hours before Taija decided it was time to move.

Climbing off the bed, she took a deep breath and headed down to his room. Stopping just outside the door Taija tentatively reached out with tiny, inverted flows of spirit. She immediately felt invisible wards, her flows brushing against them, light as a feather, careful not to trigger them.

Taija breathed a sigh of relief. Wards, yes, he wasn't a complete idiot, but they were following the internal contours of the room. It was the natural way to spin a ward, but it did leave certain weaknesses.

She put her hand on the lock and channeled a small, but complex web of earth and spirit into it, careful not to let the flows extend past the door into the room where they'd cross the ward line. After a few long seconds the lock clicked open. Taija paused, but no sound came from the room. He'd probably warded it against sound, in which case he wouldn't have heard even if she'd battered the door down with an axe.

Now she needed to move fast. A flow of air swung the door open and Taija took a long step into the room, her web pushing the door shut again behind her. He was already lurching awake, scrambling up in his bed, the wards clearly triggered by her entrance, but Taija had the drop on him. Before he'd even registered her presence in the dark of the unlit room she slammed an inverted shield into place on him.

Now she allowed herself to smile. She'd already won.

He scrambled out of the bed, completely naked, still clearly confused about what was going on. Taija felt him reach for the Power, pressing against her shield. It was futile, he hadn't a hope of breaking it without help. Help which wouldn't be coming.

"Oh fuck." He muttered the words and slumped back onto the bed, seemingly resigned to defeat. Taija wasn't fooled though, he'd be looking for his angle, how to escape.

"Who's there?" As he called out, the serving girl was sleepily sitting up next to him and looking around in confusion, also apparently as bare as the day she was born.

Taija channeled and a small web of fire and spirit brought the room into low, flickering relief with her silhouetted behind it. "Hello Joar Addam."

With a squeak of surprise the girl pulled the blanket up to cover her chest

Taija saw him jolt at the name and peer nervously at her through the darkness, but he tried to play it cool. "My name's Jasin, who are you and what do you want? You can't just break into a man's room like this!" A quaver entered his voice, "if you want money, it's on the desk. Take it and go! I will not try to stop you."

Taija fed more saidar into the light, making it brighter. "I saw you in town and I thought we could have a little talk. It's been such a long time after all."

Asmodean sighed and dropped the act, straightening up and suddenly looking prouder and more dominant, ignoring his own nudity. "Very well. You seem to have me at a disadvantage. So, tell me, who are you? It is not you Moghedien, is it? If so, this is not at all funny."

The serving girl looked wildly between the two of them, completely confused. "What's going on Jasin? Who is this woman?"

"I'm not Moghedien." Taija laughed humourlessly, her throat dry. "So, would you care to tell me Asmodean, what exactly it is you're doing here in Tar Valon? I certainly didn't expect to see you here replaying your greatest hits to Tar Valon's great and good. Well I say your greatest hits, I'm fairly sure a few of them were borrowed from other artists."

Asmodean winced. "Let me just put some clothes on and we can talk about this." He got up, reaching for his desk.

"Sit. Down." Taija's voice cracked out like a whip. "Don't move a limb unless you want to lose it." She wasn't stupid enough to find out the hard way that he had some sort of ter'angreal of weapon hidden way.

"Jasin I'm scared, why are you talking funny?" The serving woman was whining in the background, but neither of them had any attention to spare for her.

"Ok, ok." Asmodean carefully moved away from the desk, sitting back down and keeping his hands in view, palms placatingly open. "So. Let us talk. An answer for an answer maybe? Who are you and what do you want with me?" Taija felt her web flexing as he pressed against the shield without success. His body language was still relaxed. He was dangerous. She couldn't let her guard down around this man.

Rather than answer his question Taija increased the light in the room until everything was clearly visible.

"Well that is a relief, but I still do not recognise you. It seems you have me at a disadvantage, but given the things you know, you must also know we do the Great Lord's work. You do realise you are speaking to one of his Chosen do you not?"

Taija smiled thinly at that. "As a matter of fact I do." With a thought the web disguising her unraveled. The girl gasped when her form started to ripple, but Asmodean leaned forward, a predatory look in his eyes.

The ripples faded and with it the look in his eyes vanished to be replaced by confusion and then dawning recognition. "Oh." He slumped on the bed, a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"Oh." Taija agreed.

He sighed deeply. "Taija Kosola. I thought you were dead. Obviously."

"Clearly I'm not." She replied dryly, "now I think I had some questions for you."

"No no no, we're not going to go there. Pleasant as it is to see a face from the past, I won't, can't betray my oaths."

"Not even to save your life? You never struck me as the bravest of the Chosen." Taija's voice went from musing at the start to disgusted at the last word.

Asmodean shook his head, looking down, resigned. "It's not courage. We both know how this ends, whether I answer your questions or not." He grimaced. "Ultimately the Great Lord is also known as the Lord of the Grave for a reason. I swore my oaths and if I break them I'll suffer more than anything you can do to me." He hesitated and then looked up to meet Taija's eyes. "Look, Taija Kosola, I know you're not a cruel person, not like us. So I just have one request. Bessa," he nodded at the girl who was frantically mumbling something about aes sedai, "she's not involved, she just wanted some fun for the night. Let her go, she's innocent and there's nothing she can do against you."

Taija was a bit surprised that one of the Forsaken would care about anyone else, but in the end even the worst monsters must have some redeeming characteristics. She thought for a second, but ultimately she wasn't a murderer and the girl had done nothing more wrong than get into bed with a stranger so it wasn't a hard decision. "Fine. You girl. Bessa. Leave. Now. This is aes sedai business and if you breath a word of it to another living soul I will have you wailing for mercy in front of the whole Tower." Taija doubted it would keep her mouth shut forever, but she wouldn't have understood any of what they'd discussed.

With a whimper the girl gasped, "yes aes sedai! Thank you aes sedai!" She practically leapt out of bed, desperately grabbing and pulling on her dress before running out.

Taija turned back to fully face Asmodean as the door swung closed behind the girl. "Well I suppose that puts us on a timer. We both know what you've done. You've been sentenced to death a hundred times over, a thousand, and you've escaped justice so far..." She met his terrified eyes with your own and brought together the web for balefire. It felt like his eyes were still hanging there in front of her as his colours reversed and he faded out of existence. "… but not anymore."

When Taija spun the web to skim back to her room at the Shining Flame and lay down on her bed to sleep, she realised she didn't feel a thing.

 

[Chloe Sullivan]

Welp, there goes Rand's [redacted by order of the history monks].

 

[Wednesday's Jest]

It felt like his eyes were still hanging there in front of her as his colours reversed and he faded out of existence. "… but not anymore."

Click to shrink...

Wow, this is deeply unexpected. "Chains the shadowsworn to his will" is not an unimportant part of the Karaethon Cycle and now the canon path is lost. Given how Asmodean is one of the least objectionable Forsaken (insofar as such a term has any meaning to a collection of mass murderers who are working to usher in extinction) the other options are potential disasters. Though now I'm wondering if Lanfear would qualify. Nothing in the prophecy specifies gender, but that would put a very volatile twist on Rand's relationship with Taija. Which, given how things tend to go in canon, would also make a lot of sense. Hmm...

Anyway, this was awesome and I can't wait to see how the ripples spread out from here.

 

[Teebs]

Welp, there goes Rand's [redacted by order of the history monks].

Click to shrink...

He could always ask Taija to kidnap Mazrim Taim

Wow, this is deeply unexpected. "Chains the shadowsworn to his will" is not an unimportant part of the Karaethon Cycle and now the canon path is lost. Given how Asmodean is one of the least objectionable Forsaken (insofar as such a term has any meaning to a collection of mass murderers who are working to usher in extinction) the other options are potential disasters. Though now I'm wondering if Lanfear would qualify. Nothing in the prophecy specifies gender, but that would put a very volatile twist on Rand's relationship with Taija. Which, given how things tend to go in canon, would also make a lot of sense. Hmm...

Click to shrink...

Taija never really liked prophecy. Far too vague and normally you can only tell it's been fulfilled retrospectively. Better to just try to do the right thing and get on with life. Plus she hasn't read the Karatheon Cycle, not that it names Asmodean.

She'd also question the concept of least objectionable Forsaken!

LanfearxRand would definitely put a strain on Taija's relationship with him. She hates all of the Forsaken, but in Lanfear's case it's actually personal.

Assuming the Karatheon Cycle hasn't just been broken, it doesn't need to be one of the Forsaken. Any darkfriends will do. Maybe if he let High Lord Weiramon use cavalry the way he really wants to...

 

[Darth-Vulturnus]

Amongst this group of mass murderers, which one is the worst at it?

Iirc, the closest canonical Forsaken to turning back to the Light after Asmodean was Demandred, realising as he arrived at the Final Battle that he had in fact now gotten everything he ever wanted (minus proving his superiority to Lews Therin). Lanfear is probably next, there's not-unfounded reason to believe that she would actually truly renounce the Dark One if a Rand who honestly loved her asked her to do so.

But anyways, this is interesting and enjoyable, will follow with great interest.

 

[Teebs]

Amongst this group of mass murderers, which one is the worst at it?

Iirc, the closest canonical Forsaken to turning back to the Light after Asmodean was Demandred, realising as he arrived at the Final Battle that he had in fact now gotten everything he ever wanted (minus proving his superiority to Lews Therin). Lanfear is probably next, there's not-unfounded reason to believe that she would actually truly renounce the Dark One if a Rand who honestly loved her asked her to do so.

But anyways, this is interesting and enjoyable, will follow with great interest.

Click to shrink...

It's an interesting question. I think you can split them between clearly terrible people and people who could have been better in different circumstances. There are also some of them that we just don't know enough about to know what kind of crimes they committed.

Here's my own personal breakdown:

Rotten from the start:
Aginor (Doctor Mengele if he was a wizard), Rahvin (serial rapist), Semirhage (torture sadist), Graendal (serial rapist), Balthamel (he might debatable, but apparently a violent womaniser who was nearly bound).

Might have done better:
Demandred (hero, number 2 in the Light), Sammael (see Demandred), Mesaana (just wanted to be a researcher), Lanfear (career ended by the Bore), Moghedien (not totally sure, but dodgy financial adviser isn't that bad), Asmodean (just seems a bit half-heartedly evil), Ishamael (make him stop reading Nietzsche and he'd be fine), Be'lal (I mean who the hell knows).

In terms of atrocities committed while they were Forsaken you can divide it again, but this may well just be because we're never told what some of them did. When I say atrocities I'm not including things that could be put down as trying to win the War by undermining the Light or whatever (however evil those actions might also have been).

Truly horrific atrocities:
Demandred (fed every single person in two cities to trollocs becuase he felt they'd slighted him), Aginor (trollocs), Mesaana (her thing with children's education), Asmodean (stilled his mother and gave her to the myrddraal, mutilated every artist he thought was better than him), Rahvin (none specified in the War, but his Third Age activities are sufficiently ick), Graendal (see Rahvin), Semirhage (people would commit suicide rather than be captured by her).

No attributable atrocities (doesn't mean they didn't commit any of course):

Be'lal (no one really knows what he did anyway), Moghedien (doesn't quite seem the type for more than petty cruelty), Sammael (none specified, doesn't mean he didn't commit any), Lanfear (denies being a sadist, is probably just trying to impress Rand), Balthamel (never specified), Ishamael (too busy wishing he was dead).

 

[Chloe Sullivan]

Graendal was a serial rapist? Huh, I totally missed that in the books. I should probably go reread or something.

 

[Teebs]

Graendal was a serial rapist? Huh, I totally missed that in the books. I should probably go reread or something.

Click to shrink...

Eh whether she actually did the deed or not is never specified, but Robert Jordan normally did leave the really nasty stuff as just implied. She kidnaps beautiful people, wipes their minds and has them serve her naked while she swans around wearing sod all. She's also famous for over indulgence in every hedonistic pleasure. I'm confident enough to assume that she is!

 

[Teebs]

As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue

Interlude III - The Competent Forsaken Sub-Committee I

With a flicker a woman appeared in the empty space, clothed in smart black trousers and jacket, a deep navy blouse underneath. Her black hair was in a bowl cut and with big blue eyes she cut an incongruous figure, looking more like she belonged in a boardroom than standing on a platform in a world of black nothingness.

A moment later another figure faded into being. A tall, hook-nosed man with an arrogant tilt to his jaw. His breaches and jacket were also black, made of fine, albeit plain cloth, he wore a silk, white shirt underneath. He was swiftly followed by a third, a strikingly tall woman with pitch-black skin and short wavy hair. Like the first two's outfits her dress was also black as night

There was a moment while they surveyed each other and then the empty surroundings faded away to be replaced by a brightly lit room. Glowing strips ran along the ceiling casting a harsh white light onto a large table that appeared to be made of wood, but was as smooth and hard as polished stone. Now each of the three reclined in black leather chairs. The white walls of the room were only interrupted by a pitch black rectangle in front of the table and on another wall what seemed to be an abstract picture of some kind of red cuboid amidst strange buildings on a rainy day.

The man raised his eyebrows at the new setting, ignoring the smaller woman's challenging stare. "Maybe a bit too on the nose, but so be it. Let us keep this quick we are all busy people." He nodded to the dark-skinned woman, "would you like to go first?"

The tall woman absent-mindedly shifted the papers that had appeared in front of her, "the Seanchan Empire is ripe for exploitation. Their social structures would fit well with the Great Lord's and I've had little difficulty in placing myself in a position of influence. A direct takeover is not a realistic option given their society, but I will have no trouble guiding them down the Great Lord's path."

They both turned to the shorter woman, who took on a didactic tone, "like with the Seanchan, an immediate takeover of these so-called aes sedai would be challenging. However, their 'Black Ajah' is surprisingly widespread, it's far worse than during the War. Ishamael's efforts during his moments of freedom seem to have been very successful there. Several other of the Chosen have been sniffing around here too, but while there are challenges even with these half-trained children, I'm confident that I'll be in a dominant position in no time."

"Excellent," the man nodded but didn't smile. "My own plans in the East are also progressing well. Their society is notably backwards, but full of conspiracy and hidden powers. That leaves it weak and vulnerable."

"Ah so you have given up on the southern sub-continent then?" The tall, dark-skinned woman raised her eyebrows. "This 'Land of Madmen'."

"Sadly yes. It seems trying for that was an error of judgment." His face twisted at the admission. "The name is not inaccurate, there is so little organisation there that there was little to gain and much to lose. The East provides far better opportunities."

"So you didn't leave because you got into a losing battle with a pair of half-mad men and their angry lover?" The shorter woman giggled and then quickly turned her laugh into a cough when the man gave her a look that promised murder. "Anyway, it sounds like our plans are progressing well. What about the others. Do we have any intelligence on them?"

This time it was the dark-skinned woman who spoke up, "Ishamael has been sniffing around the Seanchan. At least when he is not pursuing those boys. I have not been able to work out what he's plotting, but he is up to some kind of scheme with their 'Return'. I shall be most put out if he obstructs it in some way."

The other woman gave a musical laugh, "if he wasn't up to something he wouldn't be Ishamael. You'd have to be half mad to be able to fully understand what that man does."

"Sadly you are right." She scowled. "What about the others?"

This time the man spoke, "Sammael has been leaving his base in Illian and sniffing around in the Borderlands. I have not been able to find out what he's scheming, but I would guess something to do with the armies there, perhaps preparing for when the Blight truly awakens."

"He always did like playing with soldiers a bit too much." The shorter of the two women laughed, the light tone of her voice was a contrast to her companions' and she ignored the scowl from the man at her comment. "I too have some interesting information to share. Lanfear has been in an absolute snit recently. We spoke a week ago and she was fuming, barely holding onto her normal serene act."

The taller woman leaned forward with a predatory smile at that, "do you know why she was so angry?"

"Unfortunately not," she shrugged. "I'm not stupid enough to ask her when she's in that kind of mood. If I had to guess though, I'd think it's something to do with one of those boys Ishamael has been going on about. Presumably whichever one she thinks is Lews Therin reborn, but really who knows? The rest of the Chosen can be bad enough, but that woman takes having your own agenda to a whole different level." Both women smirked and the man's mouth twisted downward at that name.

She continued to speak, giving the other two an amused smile. "On a lighter note, I bumped into Asmodean recently, not that he knew it. He's been prancing around Tar Valon's inns, pretending to be a bard of some sort. His music's been the talk of the city, so I took the time to go and see a performance. He's even adapted some of his greatest hits for this Age. I think he might be trying to inveigle his way into the White Tower, although only the Great Lord knows how he thinks that'll work. To be honest, I think he's managed to get himself distracted by his adoring audiences. Not that I'd question the Great Lord's judgment, but if that man wasn't so strong in the Power there's no way he would have been allowed to call himself Chosen." Her laughter tinkled across the room and even the other two seemed to be mildly amused. "Anyway, it was a nice bit of nostalgia compared to the way these barbarians live, but if he keeps poking around the Tower, I'll have to warn him off."

She sat back and folded her arms, clearly finished.

The tall woman immediately stood. "Well that was illuminating, but we all have much to be doing. If there is nothing else?" Neither of the other two spoke. "Good, until next time." She abruptly vanished.

The man gave the remaining woman a flat look, "next time I'll choose the venue." A second later they both faded away too.

 

[Teebs]

As usual any speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.

Chapter XVIII - Living Amongst the Aes Sedai

As Taija had expected, it was a couple more days before the Amyrlin returned to Tar Valon. When she did it was hard to miss. Not only did her procession parade noisily through the city's streets, it was all that people wanted to talk about. There was no recalcitrance in talking about aes sedai here, although every single person was also careful to only speak respectfully about them.

The morning after the Siuan's return, the Lady Alfreda of Houndstooth, a small village in the far west of Andor, presented herself at the White Tower with a request for an audience with the Amyrlin.

A young lady in a white dress with a hem banded in seven colours received Taija, supervising a scribe who noted down her details. She didn't look past her early twenties, although it could be hard to tell with channelers. However, that didn't stop her from looking Taija over as her details were taken, a slight hint of contempt in her eyes.

It was enough to make Taija wince internally. She must have made some kind of mistake in her outfit. Hopefully claiming to be from a small village in the middle of nowhere would excuse her accent and dress. The careful wording of her request for an audience should also make sure that Siuan knew it was her.

Taija sighed to herself when the young woman muttered something to the scribe, if she was going to be treated like a backwoods hick this was going to be even less enjoyable than she was expecting. It was difficult though, she'd never been overly interested in fashion in her own time and, despite the best efforts of the tailors she'd hired, this time's outfits still baffled her. What had been fashionable 3,000 years ago certainly wasn't not, which wasn't all that surprising when she thought about it.

Still, whatever the young woman's thoughts, her words were faultlessly polite and directed Taija to a waiting area where refreshments would be provided, telling her that her petition would be taken to the Amyrlin. She also warned her that the Amyrlin was a busy woman and that it might be a long wait before an audience would be granted, perhaps several weeks, or even months. The young woman's pride at being part of the Tower showed through her tone, with just a hint of smugness underneath it.

Taija gave her a polite smile, despite her irritation, "that's fine, I don't mind waiting. Thank you for your help." She definitely didn't consider tripping young woman up with an inverted web of air.

After the accepted had left, Taija sat there for an hour, then two, then three. Despite what she'd said, she was definitely getting irritated at the wait and her attempt at picking up a conversation with the other women looking for an audience, oddly there were no men, got nowhere. A nervous elderly lady on her left just said "milady is too kind" and looked at her feet, while the other was staring determinedly ahead of herself, ignoring everyone. The girls training in the Tower, accepted and novices, that was what they called them, all seemed too busy to talk and regardless were uninterested in a stranger who couldn't even channel. Taija had some sympathy with that, she could remember her own youth when she'd first been learning how to channel and the sheer overwhelming excitement of it all, she'd barely been able to talk about anything else for at least the first couple of years.

After a while, boredom overwhelming her paranoia, Taija closed her eyes and started working her way through a series of equations in her head, visualising the symbols, their complex beauty, the way they described fundamental interactions in the universe. Eventually even that lost its appeal and she simply couldn't resist channeling.

So Taija amused herself as she sat there, repeating the same exercises she'd learnt in her teens. A bit of nostalgia and also just revision. The fundamentals should never be neglected and it was nice playing around with them with a more experienced touch.

Inverting her flows without thinking, Taija spun a simple web of spirit into the first letter of her name, visible only to her.

Next she reduced the power going into it, drawing the individual flows out as small and narrow as she was capable of before spinning them together again into the simple web. Now the letter seemed to look the same, but instead of being made of a single, thin flow of spirit, the web was made up of myriad incredibly thin flows woven together.

Next was splitting her flows, adding letters to spell out her first name, then her second too. That took focus. Splitting her flows that many ways was one thing, it wasn't like it used much strength. However, maintaining the incredibly fine control she needed to spin infinitesimally small flows together and inverting them even as she channeled was quite another.

Taija allowed the names to fade and started on another set of webs, this time spinning air and fire together with spirit, keeping her control as fine before. First she wrote out her own first name again and then idly started to mix it with another name, making a heart around… She realised what she was doing and released the webs, her vision suddenly blurry. She didn't want to think about that.

=======

Melyena resisted the urge to sniff as she looked down at 'Lady' Alfreda and cleared her throat again. Light only knew why the Amyrlin was willing to see her so quickly. The same day that she arrived in fact! Not that it was the place of an accepted to question the Amyrlin, of course.

First the woman had just been staring into the distance as vacant eyed as a baby and now she suddenly looked like she was about to burst into tears. It was not any of her business, not if she did not want to be paying a visit to Sheriam's study anyway, but she very doubted the woman was in fact nobility of any kind.

"Lady Alfreda!" The small blonde woman jumped.

"Oh uh, yes, sorry I was in a world of my own…" That was another oddity, Melyena had never heard an accent like that one, words clipped short, everything sounding like consonants. She certainly did not sound Andoran, her village must be a true backwater, if she was even telling the truth about where she had come from. Still, she must be at least somewhat familiar with the White Tower, she showed no fear or discomfort at being around Melyena which meant she knew the difference between accepted and aes sedai.

She carefully moderated her tone, being rude to guests to the White Tower was, like so many other things, harshly punished. "Hmm. The Amyrlin will see you now." It was a struggle to keep the surprise out of her voice when she said it.

========

In no time at all Taija was following the snotty accepted through the corridors of the White Tower. She was soon surprised to find herself ascending in some kind of mechanically driven lift. She hadn't thought they had the technology for something like that, but given the height of the Tower, they must have. Well that or thighs of absolute steel. She couldn't really tell under most of their dresses.

When they exited the lift, Taija gave herself a mental shake. She needed to get her head back in the game and stop vacillating. It wasn't far from the lift to what must be Siuan's office, down an ornately decorated stone corridor. The large door at the end had the white flame symbol these aes sedai had taken from her own time above it and as soon as she reached it the accepted nervously knocked.

A barked "enter" came from within the room and the accepted pushed the handle down and gestured Taija in. When she stepped through the door Siuan and Leane were indeed waiting there for her.

"Thank you child," Siuan dismissed the accepted with a glance. The girl gave her a deep curtsy and hurriedly existed. Taija quickly imitated her with her own much more awkward and shallow curtsy. It wasn't that bad though, she'd been practising.

Siuan looked her up and down. "It'll do I suppose, although no one would believe you've ever gone more than ten leagues from your village before. You could also try to speak more like a noble." She sighed ever so slightly. "No matter." The light of saidar appeared around her and she spun a web against eavesdropping.

"Hello to you too Siuan sedai," Taija replied. "I did my best with limited material to work from. I did choose an isolated place to be from so that I could excuse whatever mistakes I might make."

Mmm yes, it would not have been such a bad choice, but why in the Light did you say western Andor?"

"What's wrong with western Andor?" Taija scowled. "I know it's isolated. I heard when I was in Caemlyn that it's barely even part of Andor anymore and Andor's the nation I've spent the most time in, I can actually describe parts of its capital."

"Yes, those would be good points. Except for one thing. Have you heard of the Two Rivers?"

Umm…" Taija paused to think. "Yes! Isn't that where Rand and his friends come from?" Her brain caught up with her mouth and put two and two together a second later. "Ah."

"Exactly. Unfortunately you are now from the same region as the Dragon Reborn. It seems that if the Pattern has a sense of humour it is a cruel one. Well there is not much we can do, that net is already torn. Western Andor is a big place and if we are lucky no one will make the connection."

"Definitely. I've certainly never been to the Two Rivers, long way away, barely heard of it. They make cigarettes or something don't they?"

Siuan gave Taija a look that said she wasn't sure if she was being flippant, but she wasn't impressed either way. Fortunately Leane quickly stepped in before Taija could give an intemperate response. "So Taija sedai, we've discussed the best way to work with you and we think it might be best for you to move into the Tower. We will say that you are petitioning for help with a family dispute and while you wait for a resolution you will live on Tower grounds."

"So you can keep an eye on me?" Taija raised her eyebrows, wishing not for the first time that she could do it with just one at a time.

"Because it will give you relatively free access to the Tower and means money will not be a problem. Neither I nor the Amyrlin has time to waste on watching you in or out of the Tower." She softened her words with a smile, "anyway given your… advantages I doubt it would be much of a constraint for you."

"Alright, makes sense. How about the teaching?"

"At night. We often work late and do not want to be bothered." Siuan answered this time. "I will show you my bedchamber as it connects to my office. If you have seen it you can… Travel…" she hesitated at the word, "directly to it? Correct?"

At Taija's nod she continued, "very good. Come at 9th bell tonight."

It took Taija a second to work out what that was, "that works. I'll come then, be careful not to have anyone in your bedchamber at the time. A gateway will cut through anything or anyone it touches. Now, what about your side of our bargain?"

Siuan looked irritated, "yes. I have not forgotten. However, I am trying to sail the Fingers of the Dragon in the dark. The sisters are riled up and my position is weaker than I would like. Taking an angreal officially is out of the question and, while I have no doubt you could, I am reluctant to have you raid the storerooms, that would truly set the silverpike among the baitfish. However, I know of a sister who has been keeping an angreal she should not have. If I cannot obtain you one in another way I shall have a talk with her."

"You mean you'll blackmail her?"

Siuan didn't blink, "yes. Is that a problem?"

"Given everything, not in the slightest."

"Good. Is there anything else you think we should discuss before tonight?"

Taija thought for a second, "no, that covers it, will you make arrangements for my rooms?"

Their meeting quickly came to a close and she found the accepted waiting outside the door to escort her back down after she gave 'Mother' her best curtsy. Why couldn't these women bow like sensible people?

========

Taija found she quickly fell into a routine in the White Tower, despite the sheer oddity of the place. During the day she was largely free to roam, at least in the public spaces of the Tower. Unfortunately the aes sedai were more than standoffish, sweeping past with barely a glance of acknowledgment as she made herself curtsy to them. At least she'd very quickly realised that was necessary. It was ridiculous really. Aes sedai deserved respect, of course, although she wasn't so sure about this time's incarnation of them. However, the subservience, almost fear, that they demanded here was an obscenity. It made a mockery of their title. Any aes sedai who'd behaved like that in her time would have been ostracised in the Hall.

One plus side of being in the White Tower was the library. While Taija didn't have unfettered access to it, even the public sections were enough to keep her occupied for long hours. So, each morning she'd Travel from her room to somewhere isolated to train and exercise alone and then return to the Tower to wash before heading to the library. She focused on books covering history and culture, it wasn't like there was anything worth calling science there and books on the Power were restricted. Taija did try to seek out books that touched on the Dragon and/or aes sedai, but again many of those weren't available to the public.

At night she Traveled to Siuan's rooms to teach her and Leane. That was yet another source of frustration for her. It wasn't that they were bad students, as such, but they really did seem to struggle to remember that they were students. This meant frequent clashes as they tried to assert their authority as two of the most powerful women on the planet.

======

Siuan sighed internally as the blasted woman looked at her weave with unimpressed eyes before barking "again!"

At first she had actually been a bit excited to be learning secrets from the Age of Legends, even with the unending stress that came from problem after problem piling up on her shoulders every day. However, she now felt like a novice being berated for learning slowly. Ironically that was actually one of the few things she had not been told off for during her years in white.

Channeling the threads of spirit and fire for what felt like the hundredth time that night she brought them together and then gave them the sideways twist that inverted them. She knew they had just faded from sight for the other two women in the room, she also knew Taija would not be satisfied.

The woman was an enigma. A problem and a solution in one body. If Siuan had had more time, not that she had enough of that for anything, she would have brought her to heel. That woman should be, needed to be, under the Tower's protection and, more importantly, its control. If only she could have got her into novice white.

The problems she was already having with the Hall because of Taija were bad enough, but the Light only knew what would happen if she was allowed to keep running loose. It sometimes felt like if she let her out of her sight for a day there would be a new problem for her to keep track of.

They had been talking about the Forsaken on her fourth night in the Tower. That was another thing Siuan was still trying to get her head around. That this woman, who didn't look a day over thirty, actually knew the Forsaken. Some of them anyway. She gave such dry, academic accounts of them, but watching her expressions, reading between the lines, it was clear she had met most of them and even knew some of them well. She certainly had some kind of personal enmity with Lanfear! The insane cherry on her already mad cake of an story.

"Again!" Siuan wove and tried not to fumble the threads.

Taija had just casually mentioned that Asmodean would not be a problem anymore. It made Siuan want to swear like the fisherman's daughter she had been born as. She just dropped it into a lecture like it was nothing!

Siuan had put on her best face for intimidating recalcitrant Sitters and demanded to know why Taija had not told them before and she had muttered something about Aginor and Balthamel.

Then she had blushed and apologised! How could the woman be so powerful and knowledgeable and so, so…

"Again!" The weave came together and vanished, Siuan's fastest yet, which got her a grudgingly small nod of approval.

The problem was, Siuan just struggled to categorise Taija. She did not look or act like an aes sedai. Far too open about her emotions and intentions, mild features, ignorance and simple dress coming together to make her seem more like a novice or freshly raised accepted. Her odd accent and social mistakes did not help either. If Siuan did not know better, she could entirely believe she was the sheltered daughter of some isolated, minor lord.

So, Siuan's every instinct when dealing with Taija told her to put the woman in her place, assert her position and take command like she had with so many women over the years. Women who had seemed far harder, older, more experienced than Taija. Frankly far more frightening women, at least on the surface.

However, every time she tried, a core of steel would show itself in the woman. Mild disposition and the sadness that rarely seemed to leave her eyes would vanish in a flash to be replaced with utterly unyielding certainty, a self-confidence that Siuan could fully believe had been earned with nearly two centuries of life. And hadn't that been a surprise! That this woman was past middle aged for an aes sedai.

Taija could be almost mercurial at times. Switching from relaxed, even naive, absent-mindedness to tense in an instant, or losing her temper at nothings while ignoring something that would have made an enemy for life of some aes sedai. Even her manners were a constant challenge, she oscillated wildly from being insanely casual with address, tone and behaviour one minute to demanding utmost formality and respect the next. Siuan had suspicions about some of it, she'd seen similar things in sisters who had spent too long in the Blight, but much of it just baffled her.

"Again!" Siuan wove and to her irritation Leane's inversion was noticeably faster. "You need to focus more on fine control of every flow. Try to feel each individual flow separately as you bring it out, awareness is key to this. Again!"

Siuan was used to being the most powerful channeler in the room, wherever that room was and in the past, before she had been raised to the Amyrlin Seat, she had not been above demonstrating that power on one or two occasions when necessary. That would not be an option here. When she was not thinking consciously about it, she would see Taija as a naive young woman, not at all frightening and then she would remember…

She still occasionally woke up in a cold sweat thinking about that day in Fal Dara. That, if nothing else, would never let her enjoy the illusion that Taija was just a soft, youth barely past 30 for long. She and Moiraine had had her shielded, slammed her into a wall and they'd still lost, not even after a long duel, but just a brutal, instant reversal.

Siuan suppressed a shudder with long years of practice. She had spent sleepless nights trying to figure out how on earth Taija had done that. Her best guess was some kind of ward, but how she had had it in place and triggered it, the Light only knew. Even if she could work that out, she still had no idea how powerful Taija actually was and she was going to have to give her an angreal, Light help her!

Oddly enough Leane seemed to get on much better with her, perhaps it was just personality or that Leane was more used to following Siuan's lead. No matter.

She would get that woman under control one way or another. For the Tower, for the world and for the Light.

=======

One thing that Taija noticed during her time in the Tower was Egwene in novice white and Nynaeve in an accepted dress, bustling around, busy with various menial tasks. She did her best to avoid them of course. She wasn't really sure how much they were allowed to know and they'd hardly been particularly friendly to her in the past. She'd always hated awkward conversations after all.

That lasted for her first few weeks in the Tower, but then one day, while she was reading, probably her favourite past time in the Tower, particularly given its huge library, Taija noticed Egwene had been working near her. She seemed to be engaged in one of the incessant chores that they subjected novices to in the Tower, but watching Taija out of the corner of her eye. It was a waste of time as far as Taija was concerned, scrubbing floors taught nothing that couldn't be better taught through more productive activities. It wasn't even much use as a punishment. If you wanted to punish someone who wanted to be aes sedai, the work should be pointless to make the point that they were serving nobody.

Still, Egwene's presence put her a bit on edge. In theory the girl shouldn't have been able to recognise her, given the illusion she was under and the false name. However, the girls was definitely watching her. Still, she ha d better things to be doing than worrying about unfriendly youths and the White Tower's training methods.

The next day, when Taija was walking from the Tower's East Gardens towards the Tower library, two novices swung out of a side corridor into place beside her. One was Egwene, the other a pretty red haired girl she didn't recognise.

"Lady Alfreda, might we have a moment of your time?" Egwene's tone was sweet and nothing but respectful.

Taija mentally sighed, this was deeply unsubtle. "Oh umm yes, can I help you miss…?"

"It's Egwene," her smile widened. "I was wondering where you're from? You see, I had heard you were from my area of Andor and I was wondering if you had news of home?"

Taija offered a quick prayer to the Creator for patience in dealing with teenagers who thought they were being clever. "Well, uh it's been a white since I was home, Houndstooth is a long way from here."

Then the other novice spoke up, even Taija could tell her accent was more refined than Egwene's. "Forgive me my lady, but you do not sound Andoran."

Fine. Taija had had enough. Patience exhausted, she whipped round to face Egwene. "Cut the crap girl. What exactly is it that you want?" Her voice was a low hiss and Egwene briefly recoiled before her self-confidence reasserted itself.

The two novices glanced at each other. "We want you to teach her."

"No." Taija didn't break her stride.

"But…"

Taija cut Egwene off, her voice saccharine sweet. "What would I, a lady from a minor Andoran village, be able to teach someone like you? You should ask the aes sedai to help you."

Taija was saved from any further conversation by reaching the library. The girls peeled off to whatever they were meant it be doing, just before she went in. Perhaps they were nervous about being seen bothering her by one of the White Tower's aes sedai.

 

[Teebs]

As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue

Chapter XIX - Teaching and Tedium

It was a couple of weeks into Taija's stay in the Tower when she saw a familiar face sweeping through the corridors, deep in conversation with another aes sedai, both wearing red-fringed shawls. Like the novices, accepted and other non-initiates of the Tower, Taija pressed herself against the wall with a still awkward curtsy at her passing, but her eyes still followed the woman as she glided by. It seemed Elaida was back in the Tower.

That night Taija asked Siuan and Leane about it.

Siuan looked irritated at the question, but she still answered. "Yes, she has returned from Caemlyn. I thought she was never extricate herself from Morgase's palace and at one point I believe she did turn back, although I do not know why. Still, she is here now and it seems it is your fault."

"My fault?"

"Yes Taija sedai, your fault." Siuan's tone implied it wasn't the only thing she blamed Taija for. "It seems you were less than discrete when you were in Caemlyn. I had thought that I could brush off the talk of your presence in Fal Dara as rumours about a sister using an assumed name, but Elaida has other ideas." She gave Taija a sharp look. "She has been spreading tales of being assaulted with the Power by a young red-headed woman named Taija who was impersonating an aes sedai. I would say she is almost obsessive about it and has also been hinting at lost Talents."

"That's uh not quite how it happened…" Taija trailed off. Perhaps she shouldn't have dumped her in the countryside quite like that. Maybe the Blight instead…

Siuan ignored her, "not only that, but now my judgment has been called into question. I gave the Hall my word that I was confident the 'Taija' in Fal Dara was an aes sedai and now my sophistry is coming to back to bite me.

"I'm sorry," Taija offered the apology while trying to work out what 'sophistry' meant. "In my defence she attacked me and I had no idea where I was or what was going on in the world at that time."

"Frustrating as it is, I know that. I accept that you could not have known the consequences." Siuan waved off the apology. "You were navigating the Fingers without a light, but regardless of blame there are rocks in the water. In this case, well… when a boat has one leak it is sure to have others. I have no doubt Elaida knows more than she is saying. I am also dealing with problems due to your killing of Liandrin." She kept talking before Taija could protest. "Not that you did anything wrong there. However, there are suspicions around her death. I told the Hall the truth - that I believe she died as a result of a darkfriend plot, but that begs more questions. Questions that I cannot answer without giving away more than I wish and, even if the story is believed, it raises doubts about my competency in allowing her to die on a mission I led. Despite my best efforts, the Hall has already voted to send sisters to investigate."

She looked tired and settled back into her chair, but at least the mention of Liandrin reminded Taija of something that had been on her mind. "Perhaps I can at least help with one problem. I've been thinking about your darkfriend issue and the 'Black Ajah'." It was irritating the way both Siuan and Leane winced at the term. "Clearly your organisation is compromised, one of the biggest problems we faced in the War was betrayals and traitors and I know the damage it can do. We would be winning, beating the Shadow back and then the general would change sides or the Shadow would know all about our movements or a barracks would be poisoned. Without traitors the Shadow would have lost the War very quickly."

Siuan started to protest, but Taija didn't let her speak. "Liandrin was evidence enough of your problems. Where there's one bad fish there are always more in the barrel." Her attempt at a fish metaphor got her an unimpressed stare and she shifted awkwardly on her feet, "anyway there must be more and the Forsaken are sniffing around Tar Valon too. I was never involved in spying or counter-intelligence, but I do have some skills that might make me good at hunting your Black Ajah. No aes sedai will see an ignorant young noblewoman as a serious threat to them, I can listen and watch in ways that one of your aes sedai can't."

"Of course anyone could do that, but I have two big advantages." Taija held up two fingers. "One, you know I'm not a darkfriend. The fact that you haven't brought anyone else to these lessons tells me you can't say that about many, or even any, of your other aes sedai. Two, if I make a mistake and they catch me, well they might find themselves in a worse position than if they'd left me alone. They expect a non-channeler or some weak, unknown aes sedai and instead they get me." Her smile was predatory.

There was a long silence and then Siuan nodded slowly, "you make a good argument Taija sedai, but how do you plan to find them?"

"Well that's the harder part, but I can watch and listen. Eavesdropping is much easier when you can invert your webs and you must have some you're already suspicious of. Oh, yes and I want the angreal, for my own safety. It's time for you to fulfil your side of our bargain."

Siuan's eyes narrowed, but then she shrugged. "Very well, a deal is a deal. I will do my best to give it to you as soon as possible. Leane, you know who to go and visit ." She turned back to Taija, musing. "I am still not sure how you will find them though, I suppose they must have some way of lying…"

Taija gave her a flat look. "Well of course they can lie. That's obvious isn't it?"

"Well yes, but they must find a way around the three oaths."

"You mean the oaths you aes sedai swear? Surely you just break them?"

"If only it were so easy, but we cannot. Except it seems the Black Ajah."

"You can't? Why?" A horrible thought came to Taija. Oh no… Surely they didn't…

"Of course, I forget how ignorant you are of some things," Siuan ignored Taija's irritation. "We swear the three oaths on the Oath Rod, it is a ter'angreal that…"

Taija cut her off, "a smooth white rod, about 30 centimetres long?" Siuan gave her a blank look. "About two hands long?"

Siuan nodded at that and Taija exploded. "Are you insane?! You're telling me that the whole lot of you are binding yourselves. Like… like murderers or rapists?!"

Anger flashed across Siuan's face, "How dare you!"

"Do you even know what you're doing to yourselves? No of course you don't you you stupid, ignorant barbarians. Light help you bumbling around in the ruins of a civilisation you can't even understand, fighting over scraps of misunderstood knowledge like they're gold nuggets rather than a kebab shop's leavings! What's next? Do you secretly cut off your toes to becomes aes sedai?"

Siuan's aes sedai composure had reasserted itself by the time Taija finished her rant. "I am glad I only understood about half of that. I take it that you do not approve of the Oath Rod? Perhaps you could share your wisdom with us on why?" There was a definite sarcastic tone to Siuan's words, but Taija didn't care.

"Voluntarily subjecting yourself to binding? You do realise it halves your lifespan? No, of course you don't. It was something we only did to the worst criminals. They'd be given the choice, severing or binding and some of them even chose severing. I knew there was something about your faces that bothered me, that ageless look, it's how bound criminals look." Taija shook her head in disgust. "Light only knows what other ter'angreal you're misusing to kill yourselves."

She was worked up enough that she mostly missed the uncomfortable look Siuan and Leane gave each other before Leane spoke, smoothly refocusing on the binding rod. "Alright, we understand you are not well inclined towards the Oath Rod, perhaps a topic for another time, but that does not explain how the Black Ajah circumvent their oaths."

Taija let out another long-suffering sigh. "It's pretty obvious really. A binding rod can bind you, it can also unbind you." Her mood dropped even further when she saw the surprise on their faces. "Surely it's obvious? You have an undercover ajah of darkfriends and you didn't think you could unbind yourselves to lie?" She had to work hard to resist the urge to call them idiots again.

"So… you're saying that with the Oath Rod you can unswear any oaths. Just like that?"

"Yep. Easy. I assume your Black Ajah must have sworn new oaths since they still look bound, but those can be unsworn too. Get an aes sedai in a room, ask her to unswear all her oaths." Taija twisted her mouth in distaste, "get her to reswear your three oaths if you must, and then ask her if she is a member of the Black Ajah."

It took them a few moments to get over their shock, or possibly their cultural inertia and then Siuan met Taija's eyes, a predatory smile growing across her face. "I may not like your tone, but sometimes you remind me of why we are working together."

With that she was all business. "Getting discrete access to the Oath Rod may be difficult, so better to start your observations as soon as possible and we can discuss possible target. We will have to be careful not to give ourselves away, but once we have the Rod we can start." Siuan looked over at Taija and Leane. "We can start with ourselves, unswear all our oaths and then reswear the three oaths before we confirm we are not friends of the dark."

Taija nodded along, until she realised Siuan had included her in that. "Oh fuck no! Asolutely not! I will not under any circumstances swear on a binding rod not even with a shocklance to my head. I won't be treated like a criminal to satisfy your backwards rituals!"

There was a bit more bickering and it all left Taija in a foul mood with the other two women, but eventually the three of them came to an uneasy agreement. Siuan and Leane would obtain the binding rod, then when they were all ready the first target could be brought to a meeting with them. Taija would be there to provide additional firepower if needed.

==========

Amidst the seemingly endless shelves of books in the Tower library Taija became a familiar enough face that she actually went beyond exchanging polite pleasantries with one of the brown sisters that seemed to run the place. Given her white hair, Taija thought Bennae must be one of the older aes sedai, although like with most of them she couldn't quite put her finger on how old she was. It made her shake her head every time she thought about it. The way these people crippled themselves and didn't even know it.

She was a slender woman, normally wearing a relatively simple dress in muted colours and she seemed to spend even more time in or around the library than Taija did, although Taija did occasionally see her teaching groups of bored looking novices.

They'd first ended up talking when Bennae had heard her muttering in disgust over a book about her own time.

"Is something bothering you my dear?"

Taija had looked up and answered without thinking, "it's just… ridiculous, some of these descriptions!"

She was already kicking herself when Bennae smiled and nodded, "oh yes, Barar's works are often of dubious provenance. I think his descriptions of 'parties' in the Hall of the Servants are more lurid figments of his imagination."

Taija had shuddered, she'd read that part with horrified fascination. It had sounded like bad erotic fiction. "Well I'm glad to hear that, history is so fascinating though I can't help reading as much of it as I can, even when it's this ridiculous." She wasn't even lying, much.

Bennae had smiled and said, "my name is Bennae sedai and you are?"

======

Taija watched the glowing flows of spirit and fire hanging in the air before they slowly faded as Siuan inverted them.

With a hiss of frustration she rounded on Taija. "Why am I doing this again for the thousandth time? I can do it, can we move on?"

Taija sighed, she'd already had this conversation several times over the last few days and it was becoming more and more of a struggle to contain her annoyance with the woman. "Yes you can do it Siuan sedai, but barely. A skilled channeler can invert their webs as they form, channeling undetectably wherever they are. You aren't even close to that and what it takes is practice. Just because you're strong enough to quickly and easily pick up the basics doesn't mean you can use the Power properly. Again."

"Fine, but tomorrow night you will teach us to travel."

With a resigned look Taija greed. Siuan also told her that she'd be passing on Taija's knowledge to two senior aes sedai from her former Ajah once they'd been tested with the binding rod. Aniya and Maigan apparently. Taija thought Maigan might be a Sitter, but she wasn't sure she'd met either of them. Nevertheless Siuan assured her that she trusted them, but prefered to keep Taija's presence as a completely secret trump card so she would teach them herself.

=====

A few days later, Siuan was still being a frustrating student. So, when the two girls in white popped up again, boxing Taija in, it took a real effort of will to resist the urge to let her irritation bubble over.

"Can I help you girls?"

This time it was the redhead, the posh one. "Egwene's told me all about you and we need you to teach us, we want to fight the Shadow!"

Taija looked up to meet her eyes, irritated that she had to. "I've no idea what you're talking about. I'm just a simple noblewoman from Houndstooth. All hail good queen Morgase, may she live forever!"

For some reason the sarcastic praise for the queen seemed to irritate her and Egwene hurriedly stepped in. "Come on Taija, please, they're holding us back here and I know you can help us. When the," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "Forsaken are loose surely you need all the help you can get. The Amyrlin won't let us do anything."

"So you've told your friend here, what is her name by the way?"

"Elayne Trakand", the redhead said it like she expected it to mean something to Taija.

"Yes, Elayne, all about me have you?" Taija leant in towards Egwene, unlike Elayne she was about the same height as Taija and she quailed under Taija's gaze. "I'm sure I remember Siuan telling you to keep your mouth shut, do you not understand the importance of keeping secrets? Why on earth would I teach you when you can't even keep the simplest secret?" Taija turned away. "Not that I'd know how to teach you anyway, being just a simple Andoran noblewoman." She didn't even try to sound like she believed it.

With that Taija turned on her heel and stalked away, but as she did she heard Elayne ask "Siuan? Who's Siuan? Does she mean the Amyrlin? She's on first name terms with her?!"

======

When Taija started her search for the Black Ajah she quickly realised, or maybe remembered, that she really really wasn't cut out for intelligence work. She'd managed to befriend precisely one aes sedai and that was a thoroughly harmless seeming brown who just wanted to talk about history. Her conversation with others hadn't gotten her very far at all. One thing that was totally clear was that these aes sedai were utterly closed off to outsiders. It was ridiculous! How could they call themselves servants of all while they swanned around their tower, which was literally ivory coloured, refusing to acknowledge the existence of the outside world?

Taija tried eavesdropping on conversations, but only heard a combination of mundanity and politics. She wasn't interested in hearing aes sedai gossip or their machinations. She really couldn't care less who the next sitter for the Red Ajah would be. It didn't help that it was relatively difficult to do, given the profusion of wards in the Tower and the restrictions on Taija's public movement.

She did seriously consider trying to find out what Elaida was doing, but the woman rarely showed herself in publicly accessibly areas of the Tower and even when Taija was able to work out where she was, she was always on the move. Taija was also nervous about being too close to her. Of course there was no way that Elaida would recognise the face she was using, but she was still, hopefully, the only person in the Tower who would recognise Taija's accent.

Given that Elaida was out of the question for now, after a week of trying to randomly eavesdrop, Taija decided on a different focus. She just didn't know the White Tower's aes sedai well enough to pick up on any signs that one of their own might see. However, she did have one big suspicion. The Green Ajah.

Apparently they called themselves the Battle Ajah and were devoted to studying war so that they could fight the forces of the Shadow. In her heart Taija knew she'd be a brown. However, she'd spent the last few years fighting a war for the very survival of her civilisation, following the professed ideals of the greens, so she should feel a certain kinship. But…

Her mind went back to Fal Dara, the gigantic trolloc army. Where were the greens then? How could they claim to be devoted to the fight against shadowspawn and not even have any members in a major Borderland nation, ready to stand with its defenders when an army of shadowspawn threatened to obliterate the entire nation?

It reminded Taija all too much of certain times during the War. When armies failed to move, much needed channelers didn't arrive or entire fronts changed sides. Most of the Green Ajah were probably well-intentioned, but she strongly suspected it had been heavily infiltrated by the Shadow. It was where she'd have started if she was trying to undermine the Light.

The greens also seemed to be a bit more human than many of the other aes sedai. Less serene composure, more open and direct, which made them at least a little easier to speak to. So Taija started going to the place she most often saw them. The warder training grounds. There was always a gaggle of women, including aes sedai, watching the men training with swords, or their bare hands. Even Taija could admit, on an intellectual level, that their well-muscled, glistening bodies could have a certain distracting influence. However, if she let her mind wander, the sight of them exchanging rapid blows with practice swords just pulled her thoughts back towards the gaping hole in her heart. Some memories were simply too painful, so she did her best not to think about them at all.

Despite her internal turmoil, Taija fitted right in with the other watchers as a youngish looking single lady. More importantly it gave her access to some of the greens. From there she was only an earnest question away from making a connection.

There was one, named Josaine, who was a regular that Taija had been exchanging polite greetings with and who she'd thought would be a good first target, but when Taija decided to make her move, the woman had such a tension about her that she changed her plans on the fly. She'd have asked her what was wrong, but it was clear by then that no modern aes sedai would appreciate that from an outsider.

So Taija smoothly pivoted to another of the greens, who fortunately was there too. Like Taija, Erian was a small woman, but she could easily be described as beautiful with deep, dark brown hair and eyes and an exquisitely shaped, delicate face.

"Good morning Erian sedai," Taija greeted her.

"Oh good morning Alfreda." Her eyes didn't leave the practising men, "a good day to be out is it not?"

"Mmm," Taija agreed, pretending to join her in admiring the men. After a comfortable silence she spoke again, "Erian sedai, may I ask a question?" Without waiting for an answer she continued. "Forgive me, but I don't understand why aes sedai need warders. They're no doubt easy on the eye, but surely you can just rain fire on your enemies and don't need a man with a sword." She did her best to sound as earnestly ignorant as possible.

Erian laughed, not unkindly. "Oh Alfreda, you must understand, not every problem can be solved with fireballs. Even an aes sedai needs to sleep, even an aes sedai can be overwhelmed."

"But could you not just…" Taija gestured vaguely, "make barriers of air or, you know, wards with spirit?"

That got her a sharper look, "what do you know of wards child?"

Taija winced internally, "oh it was just something I had read. Water, air, spirit, fire and earth, right?" She smiled innocently, ignoring her irritation at being called child.

Erian relaxed a little, but still seemed more suspicious, "well yes child, but we do not normally speak of such things with people who are not initiates of the Tower." She looked Taija up and down properly as if seeing her for the first time. "I do not sense the ability in you child."

Of course she didn't. Taija shook her head hurriedly, "Oh no… I always dreamed of being an aes sedai, but I was told that I didn't have the ability."

"Ah. A pity. Well, while an aes sedai can of course fight without her warder, we greens train to coordinate with our warders, together we are greater than the sum of our parts."

"Oh, how fascinating!" Taija didn't even have to feign her interest, it really would be interesting to see how the modern aes sedai's combat specialists fought, although she suspected she'd be disappointed. Would she be able to do better with Aleski with some practice? Hopefully he was alright… "Is there any chance I could see a practice Erian sedai? It would be so exciting!"

Erian gave Taija a cool look, back to aes sedai serenity. "No child that would not be possible. We do not allow outsiders to see the weaves we practice, to do so might lose us a key advantage in our fight against the Shadow." Taija acquiesced as gracefully as she could.

After that conversation Taija ended up spending much of the rest of the day wondering how Aleksi was doing and where he was. If she knew that, she could just go and fetch him, although that might cause Siuan more issues. It didn't matter since she had no idea. Aleksi would just have to look after himself.

That night Taija dreamed of her last day in her time. Fire raining down from above. Her desperate flight from her attacker and shouting to Antero. This time there was no stasis box. The town hall collapsed on her, crashing pressure that suddenly vanished as it was thrown away with the Power. Battered and unable to channel she was dragged by a pair of trollocs to face her attacker. Looking up with terrified eyes at a laughing Ishamael whose eyes and mouth only spewed fire…

Taija woke up with a start sweating and desperately flailing at something that wasn't there. Just a nightmare. As the confusion faded she instinctively reached out beside her in the bed, looking for reassurance and comfort, but he wasn't there either… It took a long while for her to get back to sleep that night.

======

The next night an irritated Siuan handed Taija a thin gold necklace. Finely formed links came together to form a chain with a pendant surrounding a small emerald.

Taija took it, looked it over and then froze, standing there speechless, just staring at the pendant in her hand. It was in the shape of Adanza's crest. The three pointed infinitely looping knot symbolising people, knowledge and industry with the circle of unity through them bringing all three together with unending potential.

Taija must have stood there staring for minutes before Siuan asked, "is there something wrong with it?"

With a start Taija looked up and realised she was having to blink away tears. "Is this what I think it is?"

Siuan didn't seem to notice her emotion. "Yes, never let it be said I do not keep my promises Taija sedai. Believe me I have caused myself no end of problems obtaining this for you. No doubt it will come back to bite me at the worst moment."

Taija slid the necklace over her head and pulled her hair over it, it was just long enough that the pendant hung between the tops of her breasts and when she tucked it under her dress it was barely noticeable. She reached for saidar and drew it through the angreal feeling the Power flood through her, far more than she could handle unaided.

"Thank you Siuan sedai. I appreciate it." Taija's gratitude was genuine, despite her general irritation with the woman and even if Siuan had no idea how much this particular angreal meant to her. She could feel it was a relatively weak one, but it would still give her a significant and unexpected advantage in a fight. More importantly it was one last remnant of the city she had grown up in.

=======

The third time the girls cornered Taija, she was starting to get quite annoyed, although she could grudgingly admire their persistence. Before they could say a word, she just said, "no," before turning to leave.

She paused when Egwene cried out, "wait!"

With a huff of irritation Taija stopped and turned back to face the girl.

"Not here T… Lady Alfreda, meet us at 8th bell in the lower galleries after dinner. It's important!"

Taija forced herself not to roll her eyes at the teenage drama. "Fine. But if you're wasting my time I'll make you regret it."

That night Taija made her way to the empty lower galleries, keeping a nervous watch around herself. She was fairly sure that Egwene wasn't a darkfriend, but not totally, and she really didn't know the Elayne girl.

She tried not to let her nervousness show on her face, but the empty columns felt threatening to her, moonlight playing between them and she was holding as much saidar as she safely could.

"Psst, Taija!" She jumped at the hiss and nearly cut a column in half with the Power.

"What? I'm here." Of course it was the two girls and she relaxed slightly.

"Yes, come along!" She was glad to see they looked as nervous as she felt. "Let's go into one of the classrooms so no one can see us."

Taija quickly followed them in and found a spot that left her back to a wall. At the same time she spun a web to ward against eavesdropping and laid it in place around the room. "So you've pulled me away from my evening, what do you want?" Her voice was flat.

Elayne piped up first, "we want you to teach us."

"I already said no. Several times."

This time Egwene spoke, "yes, but we can help you. We know you're hunting the Black Ajah." She whispered the last two words, "and we want to help fight for the Light!"

"You're what? 16? 17? Why on earth would I put you in that kind of danger?"

"Because you need us! I know you're some kind of operative for the Amyrlin, but you're… you're like a fish out of water. You get so many things wrong, no one would ever be fooled by you!" Elayne's words felt depressingly true.

"I'm not saying I am, but if I was an operative for your Amyrlin, shouldn't you be worried I'd tell her that the two of you've been bothering me and that you've been spreading word about me Egwene? I don't think you'd enjoy her reaction."

Egwene paled momentarily then rallied, "I don't think you're going to tell her though, are you?" She looked far too confident. "I don't know what you are, but I don't really think you work for her. Like Elayne said, you don't quite fit and you're certainly not respectful enough for that."

She had a point, Taija had considered telling Siuan, but then thought about all the times she had irritated or insulted her and decided fuck her. It wasn't like the girls were doing anything Taija couldn't deal with and Siuan could do with having her nose tweaked.

"Mmm perhaps, but all I'm hearing is time wasting. My time specifically. I already said I have nothing to teach you."

Elayne jumped in, sounding like she was just musing out loud. "You know that questions have been asked about you? At least two aes sedai asked if I've heard of a Lady Alfreda of Houndstooth. Then there's Elaida sedai, she's got a bit of a bee in her bonnet about a false aes sedai named Taija. She thinks she may even have murdered other aes sedai! She's been asking about Rand and the Two Rivers too…"

Wait Elayne knew Rand too? And Elaida? Egwene smiled, clearly trying to play good cop, "of course we don't believe any of that rubbish, but we really do want to help you if you can help us."

Taija wasn't even sure if they were actually trying to be clumsily helpful in a roundabout way or were just trying to blackmail her. It didn't matter. This needed to be nipped in the bud.

She put on your friendliest smile. "Alright, you'd like me to teach you?"

They both nodded eagerly. "Thank you Taija!"

"I'll teach you your first lesson right now. So. Observe." Taija took a breath, "first of all, you've both learnt enough that you can see the flows when a woman channels. Correct?"

Again they nodded.

"Good. " Taija drew hard on saidar, inverting webs as she formed them. In half a second she slammed shields between both girls and saidar, wrapped them in flows of air lifting them into the air and also grasped and lifted every desk in the room. "Tell me, do you see anything now?" Her tone was conversational.

"N no Taija," Elayne replied, sudden nervousness painted across her face, "I see nothing."

"Exactly." Taija's tone went from convivial to razor sharp. "You've both put yourself alone in a room at night with a channeler you don't know anything about and tried to clumsily blackmail her."

Egwene gasped, "No Taija! We would nev…"

Taija cut her off, "that's Taija sedai thank you very much. Unlike the sisters here I don't believe in corporal punishment, but I do believe in proper respect. Now as I was saying before you so rudely interrupted, you've left yourself completely at my mercy. Do you think there's anything you could do to stop me if I wanted to kill you?"

Both girls blanched.

"I could do it right now and leave no trace, observe." Taija moved one of the tables hanging in the air in front of them and directed heavy flows of earth, fire and spirit into it. Holding so many webs at once would have been a strain if she wasn't drawing through the angreal, but she wanted to make her point very firmly. The table flared briefly into white-hot fire before dissolving into dust which Taija whisked away with a simple web of air.

"That could just as easily have been both of you." After another moment of hanging there in the air, Taija allowed them to sink back to the ground and released her webs. "Now, what have you learnt from this?"

Both girls scrambled to answer. "Don't have meetings without backups in place?

"Don't cross you?"

"You're stronger than the Amyrlin!"

"Trust nobody."

"That you really do have a lot to teach us."

After a minute Taija stopped them, they really should have been more frightened by that, where was their sense of self preservation? "That'll do. Fine. I'll teach you, be here two days from now, same time same place." It was probably a terrible idea, but she was frustrated with the White Tower, Siuan pissed her off every time she tried to teach her anything and the girls would probably just keep bothering her if she didn't.

"Oh thank you Taija sedai! Thank you!" The girls started gushing and again Taija cut them off.

"Let me be clear, if you want me to teach you then you follow every order I give you. You don't try to go hunting for the Black Ajah, you're too young and they'll kill you without hesitating. You tell no one whatsoever about this and particularly not the Amyrlin."

Egwene protested, "not the Amyrlin?!"

At the same time Elayne demanded, "how can you say we're too young? You're at best ten years older than us!"

"Not the Amyrlin because if she wanted you to be taught she'd have told me or had someone teach you. As for my age, Elayne, I'm a lot older than I look. People weren't always foolish enough to inflict bindings on themselves. 8th bell. Two days."

With that statement Taija strode out of the room.

 

[Wednesday's Jest]

I was wondering when the Oath Rod and its original purpose would pop up and it went about how I imagined it, including the subtext that the Amyrlin is likely far less sanguine over her not swearing that Taija realizes. It makes sense that she keeps falling into the trap of brushing off the "superstitions" of the modern Aes Sedai since we see that same behavior in the Forsaken. Worse, just like the Forsaken she is right more often than not which makes it devastating when she judges wrong.

Not sure that she did that here, but killing one of the Black Ajah to "prove" that she serves the Light is very much the kind of ploy the modern Aes Sedai would engage in. Having to always tell the truth has made the more politically active members very used to twisty plans and convoluted motivations. I'm sure that the Amyrlin didn't fully trust her before and refusing the Oath likely amplified that mistrust. The slow pace of teaching (regardless of actual cause) must also seem suspicious as if she was hoarding the knowledge to keep the Amyrlin subservient.

Granted, this is just the latest round of the misunderstanding conga. Now with Elayne and Egwene involved things will likely accelerate, but not for the better. In canon the Amyrlin reached out to the girls because she didn't know who to trust, but that's rapidly ceasing to be the case as she will likely soon have a few actual Aes Sedai rebound and trustworthy. Moreover, I doubt the nighttime lessons will remain secret which means the girls will fall under suspicion of having been turned.

 

[Teebs]

I was wondering when the Oath Rod and its original purpose would pop up and it went about how I imagined it, including the subtext that the Amyrlin is likely far less sanguine over her not swearing that Taija realizes. It makes sense that she keeps falling into the trap of brushing off the "superstitions" of the modern Aes Sedai since we see that same behavior in the Forsaken. Worse, just like the Forsaken she is right more often than not which makes it devastating when she judges wrong.

Not sure that she did that here, but killing one of the Black Ajah to "prove" that she serves the Light is very much the kind of ploy the modern Aes Sedai would engage in. Having to always tell the truth has made the more politically active members very used to twisty plans and convoluted motivations. I'm sure that the Amyrlin didn't fully trust her before and refusing the Oath likely amplified that mistrust. The slow pace of teaching (regardless of actual cause) must also seem suspicious as if she was hoarding the knowledge to keep the Amyrlin subservient.

Granted, this is just the latest round of the misunderstanding conga. Now with Elayne and Egwene involved things will likely accelerate, but not for the better. In canon the Amyrlin reached out to the girls because she didn't know who to trust, but that's rapidly ceasing to be the case as she will likely soon have a few actual Aes Sedai rebound and trustworthy. Moreover, I doubt the nighttime lessons will remain secret which means the girls will fall under suspicion of having been turned.

Click to shrink...

A good analysis. Taija and Siuan basically don't get each other, there's just a yawning cultural gap. Taija comes from a far more communicative culture and could probably hash things out with a proper, open conversation. However, Siuan's tendency to just to bully anyone who gets in her way and the fact that she (possibly correctly) believes she's the most important person in the world and acts like it seriously gets Taija's back up, which means that she then becomes less helpful.

It doesn't help that she's depressed over never seeing any of the people she loves again while being surrounded by what she considers a perversion of her own institution. She's got too much of a sense of duty to just head off and do her own thing, but her frustration then manifests itself in her behaviour towards Siuan both directly and indirectly.

 

[ClawClawBite]

Siuan is also clearly thrown off by Taija masking her ability to channel. The modern Aes Sadai are so power focused, and Siuan instincts read Taija as normal, and Siuan is also used to being deferred to as one of the most powerful of her generation or any modern generation.

I am amused by Taija trying to fish metaphor back, and her try left rotting on the dock.

 

[Teebs]

Chapter XX - The Black Ajah

While Taija couldn't spy on Elaida and she quickly realised that a minor noblewoman was unlikely to get any information out of aes sedai who spent their lives hiding their affiliation from each other, she did have other options.

She started to shadow aes sedai at a distance in the more public areas of the Tower, carefully trailing them with inverted webs of eavesdropping. That had limited success, so Taija started to take bigger risks. She often noticed wards against eavesdropping around rooms and could only assume that was where the truly secret conversations were taking place.

Of course there was no such thing as an unbreakable ward. She could easily demolish them, but the real trick was breaking a ward without the person who spun it realising. That was why some nights found Taija standing in a corridor, biting her bottom lip with concentration and hoping no one came across her as she oh so carefully broke through a modern aes sedai's best attempts at secrecy.

=========

A few nights of spending an hour with the girls before heading over to teach Siuan and Leane told Taija that they were quick learners. Far less obnoxious than the two aes sedai too.

That being said, the first night Egwene had excitedly told her that she wanted to learn to Travel. It hadn't taken Taija long to disabuse her of that notion. Irritating as the two girls were, she had no desire to see them burn themselves out or accidentally spread themselves across several dimensions trying to spin webs they weren't ready to handle.

Instead Taija had spent time going through basic exercises with them. The teaching methods of this time were safe, she had to admit, but both slow and so very crude. There was a fundamental lack of elegance to the webs they produced, small inefficiencies, hand gestures slowing them down. Unimpressive.

"Can you both make a ball of light?"

"Yes of course we can, look I can make three!"

"Good, I want you to forget about the ball. First I want you to focus on making the letter "E" out of fire, in as fine flows as possible."

Initially there was some confusion about Taija's slightly different terminology for channeling. She'd half realised that they called webs weaves now and talked about threads, but really it was quite obvious what she meant.

Over the next few nights she had them repeatedly practising forming and manipulating the finest flows they could. Her exacting standards always demanded more, better and quicker. Despite herself she was a bit impressed at how fast the girls picked things up. Obviously she could tell they'd never be as strong as she was, but they clearly had a lot of talent nevertheless and even in her time would eventually have been among the upper echelons of aes sedai on strength alone.

=======

It was a tiring life, spending her evenings training the girls and then Siuan and Leane before getting up early to Travel out of the Tower to train. Further chunks of time disappeared into eavesdropping on aes sedai and trying to speak to as many people as possible.

Taija's main source of relaxation was her time spent in the library. Books were reassuringly simple and easy, unlike espionage, and she found she was learning more and more about this time, although she was of course conscious that what was described in a book didn't necessarily correspond with reality.

While she was in the library Taija also found herself spending more and more time chatting with Bennae. She was a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and was able to point her to useful texts from memory. She was also just plain nice.

Bennae seemed to find Taija and her views fascinating too. She'd ask her what she thought of books she'd read, debate with her about historic opinions and events and just chat about her own life. It seemed that once she'd decided Taija was a friend, or at least interesting, she was far more open than most aes sedai. Perhaps she was just lonely. If she was, Taija could certainly sympathise.

Bennae was also kind enough to find Taija a copy of the Prophecies of the Dragon that was unrestricted, although she didn't hide that fact that she thought it was odd that Taija wanted to read it.

The prophecies had clearly gone through multiple translations and she lacked the context to really understand them, but Taija read them nevertheless. One worrying thing that stuck in her mind was the mention of the Dragon Reborn being marked with herons. She remembered Rand showing her the heron burnt into his palm. Probably a coincidence, but…

Taija did find herself occasionally slipping up and getting odd looks from Bennae. There was the time when she absent mindedly said that that wasn't at all how elections worked in the Hall of the Servants. Or the other time when she'd muttered that Akash's laws of momentum were only a useful approximation. In both cases she'd made excuses about having seen a book in Caemlyn, which Bennae had gracefully accepted.

The biggest slip up Taija felt she'd made was with the Prophecies of the Dragon when she asked if there was a copy in the original language as she was sure some of the translations were off. Bennae looked at her strangely and asked how she could speak the Old Tongue so well. Taija laughed it off as a joke, but it was definitely an awkward moment.

Still, despite the hiccups, Taija was very reluctant to miss the cup of tea that she found herself sharing with Bennae each day.

======

After two or so months of teaching the girls, Taija was surprisingly pleased with their progress. She could see how exhausting their days were and they often struggled through her additional lessons, but they were determined and pushed themselves past whatever limits they thought they had.

After the most basic exercises, she had them combining subtle strands of different elements, forming beautiful patterns visible only to a female channeler. They were already at the point where they could write their names in small flows of any element and they were getting faster as they went.

Taija would never tell Siuan and Leane, but she suspected the girls' fine control was already approaching theirs. It was a wonder what proper teaching and a talented student could do together.

She also no longer needed to quell their grumbling about the lessons not being what they wanted. Now they were enthusiastically telling her about how they were progressing even faster in their normal classes and how much the control they were learning was helping them where before they'd just have put more power into whatever they were trying to do, limiting their progress to the slow rate of growth of their strength in the Power. Of course the extra lessons were helping with their strength too.

Taija also found the girls were bringing her information, trying to subtly help with her own hunt for the Black Ajah. Of course they were much less subtle than they thought and she did her best to discourage them. Anyway, none of it had been especially useful for her hunt, although sometimes it could be useful for other reasons.

"Taija sedai!" The words spilled out machine gun fast from excitement or worry, "Elaida was asking me about you again today. She cornered me and wouldn't let me go until Elayne said I had to go to class!"

"Calm down Egwene, speak normally and don't shout. Firstly, was she asking about me or Lady Alfreda?" Taija suppressed her own worry to present the girl with a calm facade.

"Sorry Taija sedai, she was asking about you, uhh you you not the Lady."

"Alright, well we know she has a bit of an issue with me, but that's not something for you to worry about. You're not going to tell her anything, are you?"

"No, of course not, but I didn't think she was going to let me go this time. If Elayne hadn't been there she might have made me talk!"

Elayne jumped in, her worry for her friend trumped by her desire to defend someone who seemed to have been some kind of family friend, Taija wasn't sure about their relationship but they were certainly familiar. "Elaida would not do that!"

"Girls!" Taija interrupted before they could start to squabble. "I'm sure Elaida wouldn't do anything unpleasant to you Egwene, she's just worried and, if she did, well don't worry." She smiled. "You're my student now, she'd regret it. Briefly." Taija knew she wasn't the most intimidating looking person out there, but both girls shivered slightly at that.

======

The webs making up a ward against eavesdropping weren't particularly complex as such things went, but they were relatively fine, draping around whatever they were protecting in colourful drifts, at least to Taija's eyes.

Her own flows had to be incredibly precise. Fire, air spun around a tiny core of spirit in threads barely visible to the naked eye. She brushed them carefully across the ward, it was a delicate balance between feeling it out for weaknesses and pushing slightly too hard and warning the aes sedai inside that something was attacking their ward.

Taija had grumbled about the crude way modern aes sedai channeled, lack of proper training meaning they replaced finesse with power, but at least here it was to her advantage. It would be infinitely harder to do this against a ward she'd spun. Actually, it might make a good training exercise for the girls at some point.

When Taija's probe found one of the tiny imperfections in the web that made up the ward she gently started to slide it in. Achingly slowly and precisely, the slightest twitch or loss of control would disrupt the ward enough to alert the aes sedai within.

Taija knew, well had known, people who could have done it in seconds, but it took her nearly half a minute of tense focus before the conversation inside sprung to life in her ears.

The first time she did it it had just seemed to be gossip, nevertheless she'd listened and found out far too much about someone named Alanna's sex life. How did she have time for it all if nothing else? The second time Taija had heard politics, some dispute between far away lords. The third time had been the same.

Much of what she heard was interesting, but nothing that could point her to signs of the Black Ajah. Over the weeks Taija did make note of some interesting tidbits though, ones that might lead to something worth more investigation.

She heard a green she thought was named Asne speaking with someone she didn't recognise about taking a package to Falme and needing to arrange horses. She'd have dismissed it, but they also mentioned Liandrin in passing, the only aes sedai she knew for a fact was black.

Another night she heard a conversation between two greens, Careane and Eliza? Elsa? These two seemed to turn to the subject of the Dragon Reborn. They didn't mention Rand, but they spoke in careful terms about how when he was found he would have to be turned. It certainly seemed suspicious. However, modern aes sedai did seem to have an obsession with forcing everyone towards their way of thinking.

It was the third interesting conversation that caused the most trouble. That night Taija failed to find any green sisters to spy on, but took the opportunity to eavesdrop on a pair of reds instead. While she was unimpressed by the greens and suspicious of them, she really struggled with members of the Red Ajah. They seemed the most haughty and dissociated of the aes sedai and she'd heard them say some genuinely unpleasant things during her eavesdropping. While it wasn't evidence of them being darkfriends, given this time's bigotry against male channelers, it didn't leave her feeling well disposed towards them.

Taija found herself listening to Javindhra Doraille, who she thought was a Sitter for the Red Ajah, and Duhara B… she couldn't remember, didn't really care either.

"I tell you, the woman is losing her grip. She has never been the best choice for her position, but recently…"

"I fail to see what you are suggesting. Elaida's rantings are neither here nor there, the woman has always been one to see conspiracies where there are none."

Taija leant forward slightly, straining to hear more.

"Come on now you cannot be telling me there is nothing to it. She is attacked by some wilder claiming to be an aes sedai. Liandrin dead in Fal Dara and then the Amyrlin assuring the Hall about this 'Taija'".

Taija jerked at hearing her name and her flow flexed. Only a minute movement, but it was enough.

"Wait, someone is listening" She heard rapid movement towards the door. Fuck! She immediately released her eavesdropping web and stepped back against the wall as quietly as possible before quickly spinning an inverted web to make herself as close to invisible as possible.

The two aes sedai looked at each other before stalking carefully down the corridor looking left and right, the light of saidar around both of them. As Javindhra's eyes passed unseeing over Taija she silently relaxed a touch.

After a minute they came back together outside the room.

"Nobody?"

"No, I saw and heard nothing. Perhaps you imagined it?"

"Hmm no, I know what it feels like when someone probes a ward you're holding. Be ready, I will try something."

Javindhra gestured with her hand and a wall of air blasted down the dim corridor towards Taija.

She briefly consider letting it hit her, but it would reveal her position either way so just before it touched her she lashed out with a sharp web of spirit and fire.

Javindhra squawked as the flows snapped back into her and Taija was already moving, letting the illusion around her dissipate and rapidly spinning several webs.

"Who…" Duhara barely had time to start speaking before Taija slammed a shield between her and the Power and tied her up in air. She never even had time to realise she was in a fight.

Javindhra was a bit more on the ball and fire briefly speared from her outstretched fingers towards Taija before she swept her feet from under her, caught her on a cushion of air and shielded her in one smooth combination. It was lucky lucky both of them were relatively weak even by the standards of this time's aes sedai.

Unfortunately Taija now had to decide what to do with them. She doubted they recognised Lady Alfreda, but she also had no doubt they'd be able to find her if she let them go. They'd seen her assumed face now after all. Oh well. It seemed they'd just volunteered to be the first involuntary test subjects for her Black Ajah clean up program.

No one seemed to have heard the sound of the brief confrontation, at least she couldn't hear any shouts or running feet, so she had a few seconds to think, but she couldn't stay there in a corridor with a pair of trussed up aes sedai for long. They were both squirming in their bonds of air, furiously bulging eyes staring at Taija.

Fine, it was going to be embarrassing, but she was going to have to make this Siuan's problem. Quick webs of earth and spirit, carefully spun around the captive aes sedai's eyes and ears ensured they wouldn't see or hear anything they weren't meant to.

A thought brought a gateway through to Taija's own room, inverted obviously, and she gently floated the women through. For now they were only suspects and it would be wrong to make them any more uncomfortable than she had to. A quick twist tied off the webs on them and, with them safely stowed on her bed, Taija spun another gateway to Siuan's bedroom.

A few minutes of explanation and Taija had a very grumpy Amyrlin, still in her bed clothes, sitting in her office when she brought the two red sisters through another gateway.

Taija placed them in front of Siuan and moved behind them so that they couldn't see her, then at a gesture from Suan she removed the block from their eyes and ears.

Blinking in the sudden light they both looked up at the Amyrlin's stern face.

"Mother!" Gasped Javindhra, "what is the meaning of this? Have you stooped to kidnapping Sitters in the corridors of the Tower? When the Hall hears of this they will…"

Siuan cut her off with a look. Taija was somewhat impressed at how intimidating she could actually be. It was surprising she'd never tried to use that look on her. "The Hall will not be hearing about any of this daughter. For now at least." Her voice hardened further, "do you know what you have nearly done? Interrupted one of the most important operations the Tower has undertaken with your blundering! I am minded to order you to do penance for the next decade!"

"How dare you! I have been assaulte and instead of searching for the perpetrator you sit there threatening me? What kind of 'operation' would justify that?"

Rather than speaking Siuan channeled and a flow of air plucked the binding rod off her desk and floated it to her hand. Both aes sedai went quiet at the sight of it.

Siuan channeled a simple flow of spirit into it and then said, "I swear to speak no word that is not true." She paused. "I am not a darkfriend. Which of you wants to go first?"

Duahara broke her silence. "How dare you! This is the greatest abuse of power by an Amyrlin since since… You cannot dare to suggest that either of us is a darkfriend! We have sworn the three oaths, we are aes sedai!"

Javindhra had looked like she might protest, but somehow the vehemence of Duhara's ranting made her change her mind. Instead she looked sideways at her before looking back at Siuan. "Very well mother. I will do it, but we will be having words when I have."

Siuan nodded, "of course daughter." Taija released the air holding Javindhra in place and spun another web muffling the frantic rant coming from Duhara at the same time as Siuan floated the binding rod on another flow of air.

Without hesitating, her eyes on Duhara, Javindhra took hold of the rod, paused for Siuan to channel spirit into it and repeated the oath. "I swear to speak no word that is not true. I am no darkfriend."

Siuan stood and smiled, looking down at Duhara who'd started to thrash wildly against Taija's web of air. "Thank you Javindhra. Welcome to the hunt. It seems that the first fish has already slipped into our net."

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur and Taija knew the three of them would be exhausted the next day. Siuan gave Javindhra an abbreviated explanation of the Black Ajah hunt, brushing over Taija's involvement and side stepping her questions about her. Taija could tell she was hurrying things along to avoid giving Javindhra the opportunity to question her more, with promises to speak further when there was more time. Before Javindhra left she promised Siuan that she understood the seriousness of the situation and would not seek to bring it before the Hall.

Siuan retreated to her bedroom to summon Maigan and Anaiya and Duahra's shield was quickly transferred to them before she was bundled off to a storeroom somewhere with mutterings about the 'Chair of Remorse'. Taija decided she didn't want to ask. What she wanted most of all was bed.

========

The next few days were particularly tense for Taija. Siuan canceled some of her regular training sessions and when she did have them, both her and Leane seem worried and exhausted behind their aes sedai serenity. When Taija asked about Duhara she was told that she still refused to reswear her oaths and denied being part of the Black Ajah, demanding that they follow Tower law. She could tell that they're getting increasingly unsure about whether Duhara was even black or not.

It was on the fifth day that Taija got good news. Duhara had finally broken and agreed to swear on the binding rod. She had to first unswear her existing oaths, as Taija had expected. What was a surprise was Siuan telling her that apparently it was excruciatingly painful to so.

Unfortunately the blacks seemed to use a cell structure so Duhara could only name two other black sisters. Both were social women so it would be difficult to abduct them without anyone noticing, especially with there already being talk about Duhara's sudden "departure" from the Tower. However, Siuan seemed as happy as Taija had ever seen her, entirely confident that now that they had names they could start to roll up the Black Ajah step by step. She also seemed a bit more relaxed around Taija, which was nice, although they still clashed during lessons.

Apparently Duhara had sworn a fourth oath to obey Siuan and been ordered to keep everything a secret and help with destroying the Black Ajah. Normally Taija would be disgusted at that, but as a darkfriend Durhara should consider herself lucky that she hadn't been executed out of hand. In fact Taija offered Siuan a couple of suggestions on additional oaths, including one not to unswear her current ones without Siuan's permission.

Despite the good news, Taija was a little worried because that evening when she'd arrived for her regular lesson with Egwene and Elayne she found no one there. She'd waited with increasing irritation, but they hadn't come.

The next day Taija kept an eye out for them, but saw no sign of them and again there was no one there for the lesson in the evening.

On the third day she took the opportunity to ask after Egwene at her regular training session with Siuan and Leane.

"The idiot girl has run away, not just her, but Nynaeve and the Daughter Heir of Andor too."

"The Daughter Heir? Do you mean Elayne?"

That got Taija a sharp look, "and how exactly are you on first name terms with her?" Siuan made a frustrated sound, "no do not say anything, it does not matter and I do not want to know, I should expect it around you. I have bigger problems. The three most powerful initiates we have seen for centuries and they have gone. If Morgase finds out before we hunt them down she is going to cause no end of problems for me and the Tower. When I get them back they are going to only wish they were dead." Taija tuned her out as she launched into a fish metaphor.

Taija didn't think it was very likely that they both ran away. Novice life was clearly hard work and they certainly felt it, but they didn't seem unhappy. She couldn't see why Nynaeve would go either, although she didn't really know her.

While she didn't say anything to Siuan, Taija started mulling it over in bed that night. Why would the three strongest students at the White Tower just up and run? It was a very convenient story and she'd heard that novices sometimes did run away, but here they had no reason to and Taija actually felt she knew two of them well enough to have some idea of how they were feeling. It was all deeply suspicious. Powerful channelers, associated with Siuan, political consequences for the Tower…

 

[Wednesday's Jest]

It is a delight to compare Taija's POV to canon and see all the things that she is missing and all the extra details she doesn't have the context for.

On a amusing side note, if I didn't know better I'd have assumed rather nasty things about Bennae. Even knowing otherwise I can't help but see their interactions in a suspicious light.

 

[Teebs]

It is a delight to compare Taija's POV to canon and see all the things that she is missing and all the extra details she doesn't have the context for.

On a amusing side note, if I didn't know better I'd have assumed rather nasty things about Bennae. Even knowing otherwise I can't help but see their interactions in a suspicious light.

Click to shrink...

One can be not a Black and still have an agenda of course.

 

[Teebs]

As usual, all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.

Interlude IV - The Competent Forsaken Sub-Committee II

The three figures faded into existence within seconds of each other. A moment later there was a flicker and the dark, empty space was replaced with a horde of lush greenery. Birds chirped amidst the fronds of tropical trees and the buzz of insects permeated the background.

Instead of standing on platforms in empty space, the three were now sitting on comfortable armchairs, incongruous in the midst of the greenery.

Demandred surveyed the scene with a certain sense of satisfaction, "well that's a bit more convivial than last time. So, Mesaana, Semirhage what updates do you have?"

Semirhage rolled her eyes at the surroundings and leaned back in her chair, "my plans continue. At the moment the focus is on the Return, it is already bringing chaos to the west of the main continent and if we can stoke the flames successfully then a full scale war will serve the Great Lord well. Whichever side wins, the Shadow will be stronger."

Mesaana on the other hand seemed more irritated than bored. "There's something going on in the Tower, I haven't quite gotten to the bottom of it yet, but I'm sure that the Amyrlin is up to something. She's a hard woman, but normally not particularly subtle so this is a change. Of course I'll be able to deal with whatever she's come up with in due course, but there may be some instability in the Tower soon. What about you Demandred?"

"Everything is going smoothly and according to plan for me. Soon I'll be exactly where I need to be. I've got a couple of irons in the fire in the central nations too, but nothing that should concern either of your interests."

"Excellent." Semirhage nodded. "So what about the others? Any news of their movements?"

Mesaana frowned, "I'm not sure it's news as such, but Asmodean has vanished. One day he was in Tar Valon going around doing his silly little shows, the next, nothing."

"Well that is interesting." Demandred sat up a bit straighter. "I'd expect Moghedien or Lanfear to just disappear on some scheme, but Asmodean was always a bit too obvious for anything like that."

Semirhage shook her head in disagreement, "I look down on him as much as any of you, but we should remember even if he is the least of us he is still one of the Chosen. Look at Aginor and Balthamel, they went off to face a farmboy and a half-trained girl, hardly comparable to any of us, and now they're both dead because they underestimated them. Mesaana, do you think maybe Asmodean might have something to do with the difficulties in the Tower? Perhaps he found what he wanted and is now acting against you there?"

"Hmm, I confess that hadn't occurred to me. A worrying thought, the so-called aes sedai of this age are a trivial concern, but one of the Chosen, even Asmodean, is much more significant." She looked up lost in thought for a moment, "well, thank you for the idea. I'll look into it and if that is what he's doing then I'll have to re-educate him." Mesaana's smile was more feral than friendly."

There was a brief silence until Semirhage spoke up, "Ishamael has moved himself to Falme where he seems to be spending time with the Return. At least that will mean less interference in the Empire itself. Last time I spoke to him he said he was waiting for 'the girls' and smiled enigmatically."

Mesaana huffed irritatedly, "well I think that explains one thing. The Tower's been awash with stories about three students running away. Two of them are from Lews Therin's village and all three are among the most powerful students they've had in centuries, not that that's saying much. I wonder if they're what Ishamael's excited about." She continued with an annoyed grimace, "if it wasn't Ishamael, we'd be having a thorough… conversation about why he should stay out of my territory. I had plans for those girls, with proper training they wouldn't have been insignificant. But… since it is Ishamael…" she trailed off to nods of understanding from the other two.

Semirhage's nod even had a tiny hint of sympathy in it, "believe me I know how irritating that man treading on your toes can be. If I could get him out of Falme I would. Still, it is a relief that he's got proper reasons for grabbing them. With his cackling about girls I was starting to worry he might be turning into another Rahvin. Not that I care what he does with the girls, you understand, but he just goes on about them so much."

That brought a look of exasperation to Demandred's face, "speaking of Rahvin, he's set himself up in Andor. It seems he's moved into the royal palace and is enjoying the queen's company, along with any other woman who comes near him."

Mesaana rolled her eyes, "well of course Rahvin chose that way to 'contribute', the Great Lord only knows how that man managed to become one of us. Is he even doing anything useful beyond banging whatever noblewomen catch his eye?" She didn't wait for an answer, shaking her head. "Of course he's not."

"Actually," Demandred replied, "I think he may be plotting something with Sammael." He held up a hand to stop their immediate denials. "I know, I know, but Sammael has definitely been visiting Caemlyn."

"But Sammael hates Rahvin nearly as much as he hates Lews Therin," protested Mesaana.

Demandred shrugged, even as his lips twisted downward at the mention of the Dragon. "That is true, but much as we all despise Rahvin we have all put up with worse when it would benefit us. I do not think we can discount it. I will keep an eye on the situation and if Sammael can actually put up with that man's idiotic preaching for more than a few minutes then so be it. We will find out what they are up to."

Semirhage gave her own shrug, "well I cannot argue with that. Have either of you spoken with Be'lal recently?" When both shook their heads she continued, "well you are not missing out on much of interest. He seems to be incapable of talking about anything other than how he is locking down the 'greatest fortification of the age'," the inverted commas were audible in her tone, "and preparing an ambush 'ready for the prophecies'. He is just refusing to even talk about anything else and when I tried to discuss coordination of the Great Lord's plans he kept asking me how I thought a Seanchan army might try to take the Stone."

"I suppose he always did like playing with soldiers, no offence meant Demandred."

Demandred waved her off. "Be'lal's one-track mind aside, any other updates?"

"One more from me," said Mesaana. "Lanfear seems to have cheered up a bit, much less of a temper on her than last time I spoke to her, so presumably something's going right for her, but I've no idea what."

Semirhage looked annoyed at that, "mmm, what about Moghedien? Do either of you know where she has been crawling around recently?"

"No one ever knows where Moghedien is until she wants them to," Demandred didn't look pleased at the fact, but neither of the other two could disagree.

Conversation trailed off after that and the three soon departed leaving the lush gardens to fade back into blackness.

 

[Random832]

As usual, all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.

Click to shrink...

I am not sure it needs to be, for these forsaken interludes and for flashback scenes set in the age of legends.

 

[Teebs]

I am not sure it needs to be, for these forsaken interludes and for flashback scenes set in the age of legends.

Click to shrink...

I'm not sure either TBH. I don't think it does any harm though.

 

[Teebs]

As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.

Chapter XXI - A Break from the White Tower

Taija's feeling of satisfaction at successfully catching a member of the Black Ajah, even if it was more a matter of lucky incompetence than skill, was quickly replaced by her increasing worry about the girls. Siuan seemed relatively unconcerned, informing her that if she had actionable intelligence then there was something to be done, but until then she had too many fish already in the pot to be worrying about finding more. The fish metaphor didn't improve Taija's mood.

The amount of investigating Taija could do by herself was limited though. She was tempted to drop her disguise and start bashing aes sedai heads together and demanding answers, but that wasn't a realistic option. Instead she had to settle for being the Lady Alfreda, concerned about a pair of novices who had been kind to her.

Her feeling of dread about the girls strengthened as no one she spoke to seemed to have any idea where they'd gone. Three inexperienced girls couldn't simply disappear that easily, not without discovering how to Travel and Taija definitely hadn't taught that to them. Although if, no when, she found them it might be a good idea to.

Taija was worried that she'd attract unwanted attention with her questions, but at the same time she was increasingly driven to the point that she just didn't care. Really she was turning into a ball of frustrated tension in the White Tower. She was deeply outside her comfort zone, trying to work out what was going on with its manipulative women and all the time she could feel an itch between her shoulder blades. At some point she was going to accidentally give herself away, if she hadn't already, and then it would only be a matter of time until someone tried to put a knife between them.

This all came together to make Taija increasingly irritable and more than once she found that her and Siuan were sniping at each other with Leane having to act as peacemaker.

The only source of relief for Taija was her regular chats with Bennae. She was just so nice, particularly for an aes sedai.

"You know Alfreda, I think you're worrying too much." Bennae looked at her with hooded eyes over her cup of tea as she took a sip. "Every time I see you, you look tenser."

Taija sighed, "I know Bennae, I just worry about… home." It wasn't even a lie, Taija tried not to think about home. Everything that had happened to it, the War, the people she loved. "I hope the Amyrlin will be able to help…" She trailed off a little lamely.

Bennae smiled and put her hand on Taija's, "I've no doubt that in the long run things will turn out better for you. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, but you're a talented young woman my dear and things will sort themselves out sooner or later."

Taija offered her a weak smile and changed the subject, "so I've been reading about the Trolloc Wars…"

=====

It was a week after Duhara's surrender that Siuan told Taija that she was making the next move in the hunt for the Black Ajah. Elza Penfell, a green, Taija noted with satisfaction, had been identified by Duhara as one of them and Siuan was ready to take her.

That night Siuan had Taija waiting in her bedchamber, under various inverted weaves to conceal her, when Anaiya and Maigan dragged the black sister through a gateway bound in weaves of air. Siuan didn't want Taija to be known to anyone that she didn't have to be. As she said, "if two people know a secret it is no longer a secret." Actually Taija was a little surprised she didn't manage to bring fish into the saying.

As with Duhara, Elza franticly refusesdto reswear the oaths, feigning outrage to cover her fear, and so she was taken away. A very uneventful night for Taija in the end.

====

The next week Siuan was ready to move again. This time the black sister was Dagdara Finchey. Taija had never heard of her, but Siuan told her that she was a yellow and noticeably stronger than the others that had been taken. Nevertheless she was quickly secured and taken away to face whatever Anaiya and Magian were inflicting on the captured black sisters.

======

Taija sat back and sighed as the warmth of the tea suffused her. "I just don't think that that's a plausible way for aes sedai to have organised themselves in the Age of Legends." She still couldn't entirely suppress a little twitch at calling it that. "The title just didn't mean the same thing then as it does now, of course it was important, but just not as all defining… Or so I've read…" She trailed off a bit awkwardly. She tried to avoid talking about her time, but it seemed to fascinate Bennae more than any other subject and Taija often found the conversation ending up there despite her best efforts.

Bennae's eyebrows rose, "you do have such fascinating ideas sometimes Alfreda dear. One day I will have to leave the Tower again and have you take me to some of these libraries you have visited. Nevertheless, I think the sources are clear, the ancient aes sedai had difficult tests of channeling strength and willpower, I suspect administered through ter'angreal, which meant that only the very strongest and most talented could call themselves aes sedai."

Taija scowled at her lap, desperately wanting to tell Bennae how wrong she was. "I'm sure you're right," she offered through gritted teeth. "So how do the aes sedai decide who gets the title now? I've never seen that in a book." She supposed she could just ask Siuan, but since the 'conversation' about the use of the binding rod, both of them had been reluctant to discuss anything like that.

Something flashed momentarily across Bennae's face and then she was back to her relaxed smiling self. "Well Alfreda, you wouldn't have read anything because it's something of a secret. Perhaps that is more of a guideline though." She laughed sweetly. "If you promise not to tell anyone?"

Taija leant forward and nodded eagerly, "yes of course, I promise."

"Well I will not give you the full details, those truly are secrets of the Tower. However," she paused dramatically, "like in the Age of Legends initiates must take a test with a ter'angreal to be raised to the shawl, also to become accepted, although no one knows whether there was an equivalent position in the Age of Legends."

"There wasn't," Taija muttered under her breath.

"These tests use the ter'angreal to test their courage, dedication, composure and skill. To make sure they are worthy of wearing the shawl."

"Ter'angreal," she didn't have to feign widening her eyes, "isn't that dangerous?"

Bennae nodded sadly, "it can be, but to be aes sedai is to understand danger and yourself, to have faced your fears and chosen the path we walk on."

All Taija could do was think with horror about what kind of idiotic misuse of a ter'angreal these so-called aes sedai were forcing on women barely out of childhood.

=====

It took another week for Elza to break and one of the Black Ajah members she named was Asne. With a sinking feeling Taija remembered the overheard conversation about taking a package to Falme and started making connections in her head.

A few questions of stablehands quickly told her that in fact Asne had secured a number of horses around the time the girls disappeared. Fuck. Taija resisted the urge to spin a gateway there and then and head straight for Falme, she couldn't afford to go on a wild goose chase. She knew she was at risk of jumping to conclusions because of her frustration and the last thing she, the girls or even Siuan needed was for her to go haring off after some red herring.

That night Taija brought up her discoveries with Siuan, who seemed vaguely interested, but told her that she didn't have enough evidence to go on. Siuan would deal with Asne in due course, but there were other priorities, stronger, more senior aes sedai who were Black Ajah, she now had the names of Sitters.

On one level Taija knew Siuan was right, but on another she couldn't stand it. Still, it took her another couple of days of haunting the Tower, in an increasingly foul mood, before she cracked in the face of Siuan's indifference. No, that was unfair. In the face of her other priorities.

Taija wasn't an immature child, she could understand that Siuan's absolute priority was protecting the Tower and rooting out the Black Ajah infestation within it. For her, preserving the Tower was the most important thing. Taija could see that that was important, of course. However, she could also see that the White Tower was a tottering edifice, riddled with darkfriends and women more interested in their own power than in living up to their title. Something to be supported and repaired, probably, maybe, but not the be all and end all that the modern aes sedai thought it was.

Taija had her own priorities. Nynaeve was old enough to look after herself and Taija didn't particularly know her anyway. However, Egwene and Elayne were children, whatever illusions they might have about their maturity. More importantly, they were also her students, so she had a responsibility to them. Anyway, given what she'd seen of the state of this time's aes sedai, three channelers with the girls' potential might be almost as important as keeping the Tower together.


======

A couple of days of scouting told Taija where Asne's rooms were. As it turned out, it was surprisingly easy to walk around the aes sedai's floors when she could look like a servant. The trick, she quickly found, was just to look like she was moving with purpose and to be carrying something mundane, like towels.

If Siuan didn't want to take any action, then Taija could take her own.

Late the next night Taija headed for Asne's rooms, carrying an empty jug in her arms for cover. A quick look down the corridor told her the coast was clear, but to make sure she spun an inverted ward against eavesdropping around the corridor outside the room, tying it off to dissipate after a few minutes.

Job done, it was time to move. A web of earth, spirit and air rotated the lock in Asne's door and at the same time Taija slashed straight through the black sister's wards.

A warning squawk blared as the wards collapsed, but anyone nearby would have heard nothing.

Taija felt Asne embracing saidar as she threw the door open. Her strength was insignificant. It wasn't even a fight. Taija slammed a shield between Asne and the Power before immediately silencing her protests with a web of air cross her face. Another two webs blocked her vision and hearing.

Scant seconds after she'd started, Taija was in Siuan's bedchamber with a silently struggling Asne.

Siuan, as she'd expected, was unamused at being woken up again, particularly when she saw Asne.

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Taija with unconcealed irritation in her tone. "I specifically told you that we would deal with Asne in due course. Do you realise how many different problems I am trying to juggle at the moment? You are only adding to them. If the blacks find out what we are doing then we will be straight into the pot and you risk giving it all away."

Taija shrugged. Her irritation at the Tower in general and Siuan in particular was making her unreasonable and she knew it, but she couldn't bring herself to care all that much. "I accept that it's difficult, but I think it's more vital that we recover the three most powerful channelers in the Tower from the Shadow. You can't tell me it's not important."

"It is important," Siuan stood up from the bed using her height advantage to look down at Taija, "but I can also tell you I have one hundred other fish to catch, each just as important and you lack evidence, her involvement is just conjecture." Siuan raised her voice, snapping at Taija. "I am trying to save the Tower and your disobedience makes every step more difficult, every problem worse."

Taija didn't flinch from Siuan's voice or her hard stare, "I hadn't been aware that I took orders from you Siuan." She knew it was childish of her, but she gestured at Asne, "if you'd prefer I can put her back in her room."

Siuan looked like she wanted to put her face into her palms, but after a deep breath she just nodded. "Fine. I will summon Anaiya and we will work on Asne here," she shot the woman a look of disgust. "However, this situation cannot continue, I cannot sail a ship in a storm when the crew are pulling every direction. We must talk, soon, but tonight I need sleep."

"Thank you Siuan sedai," Taija replied, somewhat mollified by her acquiescence, there was no point in further aggravating her when she had what she wanted. Before long a sleepy Anaiya was gumpily taking over Asne's shield and carting her off to what Taija assumed was yet another storeroom.

She slept better for what was left of the night.

======

The next morning, after her daily training session out in the country, Taija emerged from her room into chaos. Close lipped aes sedai and warders were hustling around with unknown purpose. Guards stomped from place to place and novices and accepted fluttered urgently around. However, no one would tell her what was going on and in the end she was ordered back to her room by an irritated looking red sister.

That night Siuan and Leane were absent for their training and Taija ended up retreating grumpily back to her room after waiting in Siuan's bedroom a while. However, the next night she was there and she was absolutely furious.

"Sisters and warders dead! Ter'angreal stolen! The Black Ajah revealing itself like this." She rounded on Taija, "if I find your actions have triggered this I will…" With a visible effort she brought herself under control.

"What happened?" Taija chose to ignore her unspoken threat, "the Tower's been in chaos and no one will even give me a hint of what's happened."

Siuan somehow looked older that night, despite her ageless, bound face, and she sighed as she sunk into her chair. "Thirteen sisters have disappeared together. Before doing that they raided the ter'angreal storerooms and tried to steal angreal too. Thank the Light they did not succeed in that at least. They left two dead sisters and their warders in their wake along with a number of the Tower guard. Now I have to work out how to explain this to the Hall. Light help us if this is a sign the Black Ajah knows they are being hunted!"

Taija's stomach sunk as her explanation went on.

"Not only that, but at least two of the women we were going to take next have left with that group." Siuan looked straight at her, "I assume you know the significance of thirteen women?"

Taija nodded with a wince. "And the ter'angreal they took? What are they?"

Siuan shook her head, "it is a bit of a mystery. They seem to have ignored ones I would think were more useful and have instead taken an odd array that appear to have something to do with dreaming. Also one where the only records that could be found said it produced balefire." She looked thoughtful for a second, "actually do you know much of balefire? It is forbidden by Tower law, but I confess I do not know much more than that, we have lost much." Taija knew that admission pained her.

Mind racing, Taija offered her most innocent shrug and tried to divert the conversation. There was no way she was teaching any of these women how to spin balefire. "Not really I'm afraid, perhaps something from after my time? Maybe the others though? Dreaming… Do you mean the Unseen World?"

Siuan's look sharpened, "I believe so, what do you know of it?"

Taija breathed an internal sigh of relief at the successful diversion away from balefire. "Some things, not as much as an expert, but certainly the basics. The Unseen World is… a kind of mirror to our world. Everyone enters it occasionally in their sleep, but dreamwalkers can consciously enter it and control it."

"But do you know how to enter it? Can you stop those women from doing whatever it is they want there?"

Taija recoiled, "no!" After a second she continued more calmly, "I'm no dreamwalker. Like I said, I know the basics, but the Unseen World is no more accessible to me than it is to you." That was a half truth, but Siuan didn't need to know that. "It's an exceptionally dangerous place. I know people who've never woken up after going there, others who've returned as mindless shells. It's not a place I would go to by choice. Even if I could." The thought made her shiver, there were worse places to die than the real world.

"Fine, there is nothing to be done about that then."

Taija hesitated and then offered, "do you know which way they went? Presumably they don't know how to Travel, it would be relatively easy to follow them and…"

Siuan shook her head. "No, I would not send even you against thirteen of us at once." Taija scowled at that, as if she'd be stupid enough to go head to head with them. She'd pick them off from a distance, one by one. Travel in, strike, Travel out. "But regardless, they used the Waygate in Tar Valon to escape. Unless you also have some way of tracking them through the Ways they are gone." She looked a little hopeful at the idea.

Taija deflated, "no… the Ways were built after… after the War, so I probably know less about them you do."

The next few days saw little interaction with Siuan. Taija went to their regular meetings, talked briefly and then Siuan would say she was too busy to do any training. At least it meant she got more sleep. Each night Taija also asked her about Asne and each night Siuan told her she was still holding out.

======

Taija carefully poured the tea into Bennae's cup and then her own. She wasn't sure it was a good idea to ask, but she hated being ignorant. Loial hadn't really known all that much on the topic. "Bennae, what do you know about the Ways? I heard there's a Waygate in Tar Valon."

That got her a sharp look, Bennae's characteristically absent-minded gaze gone for a second, "goodness me, what in the Light brought on a question like that Alfreda?"

Taija did her best to look embarrassed. "I just heard things… and I was wondering. I've heard of the Ways, how they were built for the Ogier by the male aes sedai, but I don't really know much more about them."

Bennae shook her head, now looking amused if anything, "you really are a sponge for new information my dear. I must say you probably know as much as most aes sedai already, but let me see what I can think of, hmm…" She thought for a minute before launching into a detailed description of what a Waygate looked like, along with a blood-curdling warning about the dangers of the Black Wind.

"Fascinating," Taija murmured, comparing it to what Loial told her months ago in the Borderlands.

"Yes it is, but I hope you're not thinking of anything so foolish and going and trying to explore them yourself?"

Taija shook her head vigorously, "no absolutely not, you couldn't get me in there at spear point." After all, why bother when she could just Travel.

=====

On the fourth night after Asne's capture things changed. When Taija stepped out of her gateway into Siuan's room the Amyrlin had a particularly grim set to her body.

"Ah, Taija. You will be pleased to know that this particular fish has now been skinned. Asne has resworn the oaths and will not be troubling us any more. However, she has also given me disturbing news about the girls."

Taija leant forward, practically thrumming with tension as Siuan continued. "She did indeed take the girls to Falme. The good news is that they have not been handed over to shadowspawn or others of the Black Ajah." Taija breathed a sigh of relief as her fear for them faded slightly. "However, the bad news is very bad."

Siuan took a breath. "I had been reading reports of problems in the west with rumours of strange invaders and aes sedai fighting for them, but it seems the truth is worse than the rumours. There is an invasion going on from across the Aryth Ocean. An empire calling itself the Seanchan."

Taija shrugged wanting her to get to the point, "are they a big problem?"

"I do not know. We had thought that sailing across the Aryth Ocean and surviving was impossible. Even the Sea Folk do not do it."

"Well that's certainly concerning," Taija said in a tone that suggested the opposite, "but what about the girls?" She struggled to bring herself to care too much about squabbles between this time's nations, although of course any war that weakened the forces of the Light was bad.

"Yes, yes. I am getting to that. So Asne has handed the girls over to the 'High Lady Suroth' of the Seanchan, but," Siuan looked disgusted, "it seems they have some kind of device to control channelers. They call them leashed and put a collar on them connected to a bracelet by that leash."

Taija spoke slowly, chewing over the concept in her head, "how does that even work?" She could think of one or two theories, but the idea was both odd and repulsive.

"Asne said she did not know, just that once the collars are on, there seems to be little one can do. She said Egwene had punched the one holding her leash and instead fallen over in pain herself."

Taija's face lost all expression at that. "I see, and the other two?"

"More good news, Asne said they escaped. Though I do not know whether they are still free. She was clearly afraid of being revealed by them though, she had planned to join the group that fled the night she was captured."

"Mmm," Taija's voice was distant, cold. She was already weighing up how much Siuan really needed her in the Tower to fight the Black Ajah, debating with herself how much she even cared. "Is this Suroth a darkfriend too?"

"Apparently so, the second highest ranked person amidst the Seanchan in these lands and a high ranking darkfriend in her own right. I do not know about the others, but Asne believes they are not"

Taija realised she was unconsciously clenching her fists, clutching at her dress and forced herself to relax.

Siuan didn't notice or at least pretended not to, "I cannot allow the girls to be kept prisoner by a darkfriend like this, but I cannot take action myself. The Tower is at a critical point in time and my or other aes sedais' absence would be too great a risk."

"But!" Taija started to protest.

She lifted a hand, "you on the other hand. You I can spare," she offered Taija a wan smile, "and I think if I said to stay you would agree and then go regardless. You are chafing here in the Tower so go with my blessings. I know we do not always see eye to eye, but believe me, when it comes to darkfriend slavers we are sailing in formation."

There was a bit more discussion. Logistics, plans and more details that Anaiya and Maigan had been able to wring out of Asne. In particular Taija found that, like the other black sisters she used the Ways, confirming that the secret of Traveling was still being kept. However, it wasn't long before she returned to her room to pack and get a last night of rest in a good bed.

Shortly after she woke the next morning Taija headed for the stables. Anaiya met her there to hand her a pack of additional clothes and a couple of bulging coin pouches. A brief thank you and goodbye, a check for witnesses and then she was walking her horse through an inverted gateway onto a skimming platform.

Hopefully everything would be easy, sneak in, grab the girls and sneak out. Then back to the Tower within a couple of days.