The Gathering Storm

The Wise Ones seemed surprised to hear her speak the words, but Cadsuane nodded again, as if she’d expected that response. Who could expect Nynaeve to be so … well, reasonable?

"Sit down, child," Cadsuane said with a wave of the hand. "Let’s see if you can follow orders. You might be the only one of the current crop who is salvageable." That made Merise flush.

"No, Cadsuane," Amys said. "Not the only one. Egwene has much honor."

The other two Wise Ones nodded.

"What is the plan?" Nynaeve said.

"Your part in it is—" Cadsuane began.

"Wait," Nynaeve said. "My part? I want to hear the whole thing."

"You’ll hear when we’re ready to tell you," Cadsuane said curtly. "And don’t make me regret my decision to speak in your behalf."

Nynaeve forced her mouth shut, eyes aflame. But she did not snap at them.

"Your part," Cadsuane continued, "is to find Perrin Aybara."

"What good will that do?" Nynaeve asked, then added, "Cadsuane Sedai."

"That is our business," Cadsuane said. "He has been traveling in the south recently, but we can’t discover exactly where. The al’Thor boy might know where he is. Find out for us, and perhaps I’ll explain the point."

Nynaeve nodded reluctantly, and the others turned to a discussion of how much strain from balefire the Pattern could take before unraveling completely. Nynaeve listened in silence, obviously trying to glean more about Cadsuane’s plan, though there didn’t seem to be many clues.

Min only half-listened. Whatever the plan, someone would need to watch out for Rand. His deed this day would be destroying him inside, no matter what he proclaimed. There were plenty of others worrying about what he would do at the Last Battle. It was her job to get him to that Last Battle alive and sane, with his soul in one piece.

Somehow.

CHAPTER 38

News in Tel’aran’rhiod

Egwene, see reason," Siuan said, faintly translucent because of the ter’angreal ring she had used to enter Tel’aran’rhiod. "What good can you do, rotting in that cell? Elaida will see that you’re never let free, not after what you said you did at that dinner." Siuan shook her head. "Mother, sometimes you just have to face truth. You can only repair a net so many times before you need to toss the thing aside and weave a new one."

Egwene sat on a three-legged stool in the corner of the room, the front part of a cobbler’s shop. She’d chosen the location at random, just in case, eschewing a location in the White Tower itself. The Forsaken knew that Egwene and the others walked the World of Dreams.

With Siuan, Egwene could be more relaxed, more her real self. The two of them both understood that Egwene was now the Amyrlin and Siuan her lesser, but at the same time, they shared a bond. A camaraderie due to the station they both had filled. That bond, strangely, had turned into something akin to friendship.

At the moment, Egwene was nearly ready to strangle her friend. "We’ve been over this," she said firmly. "I cannot flee. Each day I spend imprisoned—but do not break—is another blow to Elaida’s rule. If I disappear before her trial, it will undermine everything we’ve worked for!"

"The trial will be a sham, Mother," Siuan said. "And if it isn’t, the punishment will be light. From what you’ve told me, she didn’t break any bones when she beat you—why, she didn’t break the skin."

That was true. Egwene’s bleeding had been from broken glass, not Elaida’s stripes.

"Even a formal censure from the Hall will undermine her," Egwene said. "My resistance, my refusal to break my imprisonment, means something. The Sitters themselves come to visit me! If I were to flee, it would look as though I’d given in to Elaida."

"Didn’t she declare you a Darkfriend?" Siuan asked pointedly.

Egwene hesitated. Yes, Elaida had done that. But she didn’t have proof for it.

Tower law was intricate, and sorting out the proper punishments and interpretations could be complicated. The Three Oaths would have prevented Elaida from using the One Power as a weapon, and so Elaida must have thought that what she was doing wasn’t a violation. Either she had gone farther than she’d planned, or she saw Egwene as a Darkfriend. She could argue for either position to defend herself; the latter would relieve her of the most guilt, but the former would be much easier to prove.

"She could succeed at having you convicted," Siuan said, apparently thinking along the same lines. "You would be slated for execution. What then?"

"She won’t succeed. She hasn’t any proof that I am a Darkfriend, and so the Hall will never allow it."

"And if you’re wrong?"

Egwene hesitated. "Very well. If the Hall decides that I am to be executed, I will let you get me out. But not until then, Siuan. Not until then."

Siuan snorted. "You might not have an opportunity, Mother. If Elaida cows them, she will act quickly. The woman’s punishments can be swift as a stormwind, take you unaware. I know that for certain."

"If that happens," Egwene said pointedly, "my death would be a victory. Elaida would be the one who gave up, not I."

Siuan shook her head, muttering, "Stubborn as a mooring post."

"We are finished with that discussion, Siuan," Egwene said sternly.

Siuan sighed, but said nothing further. She seemed to have too much nervous energy to sit, and ignored the stool on the other side of the room, instead going to stand by the shop window to Egwene’s right.

The cobbler’s salesroom showed signs of great traffic. A stout counter divided the room in half, the wall behind pocketed with dozens of shoesized nooks. At times, most of these were stuffed with sturdy work shoes of leather or canvas, laces hanging down the front or buckles gleaming in the phantom light of Tel’aran’rhiod. Yet each time Egwene glanced at the wall, the shoes had shifted, some vanishing, others appearing. They must not stay long in their cubbyholes in the real world, for they left only vague images behind in the world of dreams.

The front half of the shop was crowded with stools for customers to use. The shoes on the back wall were of different designs and patterns, along with test shoes for sizing. A person came into the shop, tried on the sizing shoes, then picked a style. The cobbler—or, likely, his assistants— would then craft a pair for later pickup. The wide glass windows at the front proclaimed the name of the cobbler in white painted letters to be Naorman Mashinta, and a smaller number "three" had been painted beside the name. This was the third generation of Mashintas to run the shop. Not uncommon at all among townsfolk. In fact, the part of Egwene that was still influenced by the Two Rivers found it odd that anyone would consider leaving their parent’s trade for another, unless they were a third or fourth child.

"Now that we’ve dealt with the obvious," Egwene said, "what news is there?"

"Well," Siuan said, leaning on the window and staring out at the eerily empty Tar Valon street. "An old acquaintance of yours recently arrived in camp."

"Really?" Egwene asked absently. "Who?"

"Gawyn Trakand."

Egwene started. That was impossible! Gawyn had sided with Elaida’s faction during the rebellion. He wouldn’t have come over to the rebel side. Had he been captured? But that wasn’t how Siuan had phrased it.

For a moment, Egwene was a trembling girl, caught in the power of his whispered promises. She managed to keep her form locked into that of the Amyrlin, however, and forced her thoughts back to the moment, driving herself to be casual as she responded. "Gawyn?" she asked. "How odd. I wouldn’t have thought to find him there."

Siuan smiled. "That was nicely handled," she said. "Though you paused too long, and when you did ask for him, you were overly uninterested. That made you easy to read."

"Light blind you," Egwene said. "Another test? Is he really there?"

"I hold to the oaths, thank you," Siuan said, affronted. Egwene was one of the few who knew that, as a result of her stilling and healing, Siuan had been released from the Three Oaths. But, like Egwene, she chose not to lie anyway.

"Either way," Egwene said, "I should think that the time for testing me has passed."

"Everyone you meet will always be testing you, Mother," Siuan said. "You must be prepared for surprises; at any moment someone could throw one at you just to see how you respond."

"Thank you," Egwene said coldly. "But I really don’t need the reminder."

"Don’t you?" Siuan said. "Sounds a little like something Elaida would say."

"That’s unfair!"

"Prove it," Siuan said smugly.

Egwene forced herself to be calm. Siuan was right. Better to take the advice, particularly when it was good advice, than to complain. "You are right, of course," Egwene said, smoothing out her dress across her knees as she also smoothed the frustration from her face. "Tell me more of Gawyn’s arrival."

"I don’t know much more," Siuan confessed. "I really should have mentioned it yesterday, but our meeting was cut short." They were meeting more often now—each night of Egwene’s imprisonment—but yesterday something had awakened Siuan before they had finished talking. A bubble of evil in the rebel camp, she had reported, involving tents coming alive and trying to strangle people. Three had died, one of them Aes Sedai.

"Anyway," Siuan continued, "Gawyn hasn’t said much that I could hear. I think he’s here because he heard that you were captured. He arrived with a spectacular flurry, but now he stays in Bryne’s command post, visiting the Aes Sedai regularly. He’s mulling over something; keeps going to speak to Romanda and Lelaine."

"That’s troubling."

"Well, they are the obvious power in camp," Siuan said. "Save when Sheriam and the others can wrench some authority away. Things haven’t gone well without you; the camp needs leadership. Actually, we crave it, as a starving fisherman craves a catch. Aes Sedai are a people of order, I suppose. It—"

She stopped herself. Likely, she had been about to bully Egwene again to accept rescue. She glanced at Egwene, then continued. "Well, it will be good for us when you return, Mother. The longer you stay away, the stronger the factions become. You can almost see the lines down the middle of the camp now. Romanda on one side, Lelaine on the other, with a shrinking slice that doesn’t want to take sides."

"We cannot afford another division," Egwene said. "Not among ourselves; we have to prove stronger than Elaida."

"At least our splits aren’t along the lines of Ajah," Siuan said defensively.

"Factions and breaks," Egwene said, getting up. "Infighting and squabbling. We are better than this, Siuan. Tell the Hall that I wish to meet with them. Perhaps in two days. Tomorrow, you and I should meet again."

Siuan nodded hesitantly. "Very well."

Egwene eyed her. "You think it unwise?"

"No," Siuan said. "I worry about how hard you’re pushing yourself. The Amyrlin needs to learn to ration her strength; some in your place have failed not because they lacked the capacity for greatness, but because they stretched that capacity too thin, sprinting when they should have walked."