The Wheel of Time

by Robert Jordan

  “Then perhaps,” Egwene said, “it would be best if the Sea Folk sent some of their apprentices to train with you Wise Ones—and perhaps you could send some back.”

  “To live on ships?” Melaine said, aghast.

  “What better way to conquer your fears of the water?”

  “We aren’t afraid of it,” Amys snapped. “We respect it. You wetlanders…” She always spoke of ships as one spoke of a caged lion.

  “Regardless.” Egwene turned back to the Sea Folk. “The ter’angreal could be yours, should we have a bargain.”

  “You already gave these to us,” Shielyn said.

  “They were lent to you, Shielyn, as was made very clear by the women who delivered them.”

  “And you would give them to us permanently?” Shielyn asked. “With none of this nonsense about all ter’angreal belonging to the White Tower?”

  “It is important that there be a rule to prevent ter’angreal from being kept by those who discover them,” Egwene said. “That way, we can remove a potentially dangerous item from a foolish merchant or farmer. But I would be willing to make a formal exception for the Windfinders and Wise Ones.”

  “So the glass pillars…” Amys said. “I have wondered if the Aes Sedai would ever try to lay claim to them.”

  “I doubt that would happen,” Egwene said. “But I also suspect that it would ease Aiel minds if we were to proclaim it officially, that those ter’angreal—and others you possess—belong to you, and that sisters cannot claim them.”

  That gave the Wise Ones serious thought.

  “I still find this agreement odd,” Bair said. “Aiel, training in the White Tower, but not becoming Aes Sedai? It is not the way things have been.”

  “The world is changing, Bair,” Egwene said softly. “Back in Emond’s Field, there was a patch of fine, cultivated Emond’s Glory flowers near a brook. My father liked to walk there, and loved their beauty. But then when the new bridge was built, people began traipsing across the patch to get to it.

  “My father tried for years to keep them off the patch. Small fences, signs. Nothing worked. And then he thought to build a neat path of river stones through the patch, cultivating the flowers to the sides. After that, people stopped walking on them.

  “When change comes, you can scream and try to force things to stay the same. But you’ll usually end up getting trampled. However, if you can direct the changes, they can serve you. Just as the Power serves us, but only after we surrender to it.”

  Egwene looked at each woman in turn. “Our three groups should have begun working together long ago. The Last Battle is upon us, and the Dragon Reborn threatens to free the Dark One. If that weren’t enough, we have another common foe—one who would see Aes Sedai, Windfinders and Wise Ones alike destroyed.”

  “The Seanchan,” Melaine said.

  Renaile, sitting at the back of the Windfinders, let out a soft hiss at the word. Her clothing changed, and she was wearing armor, holding a sword. It was gone in a moment.

  “Yes,” Egwene said. “Together, we can be strong enough to fight them. Apart…”

  “We must consider this bargain,” Shielyn said. Egwene noticed a wind blowing through the room, likely created by one of the Sea Folk by accident. “We will meet again and perhaps make a promise. If we make it, the terms will be this: We will send you two apprentices a year, and you will send two to us.”

  “Not your weakest,” Egwene said. “I want your most promising.”

  “And you will send the same?” Shielyn said.

  “Yes,” Egwene said. Two was a start. They would probably wish to move to larger numbers once the plan was proven effective. But she would not push for that at the start.

  “And us?” Amys said. “We are part of this ‘bargain’ as you put it?”

  “Two Accepted,” Egwene said, “in return for two apprentices. They train for a period of no less than six months, but no more than two years. Once our women are among you, they are to be considered your apprentices, and must follow your rules.” She hesitated. “At the end of their training, all apprentices and Accepted must return to their people for at least one year. After that, if yours decide they want to be Aes Sedai, they can return to be considered. The same goes for women among us, should they decide to join with you instead.”

  Bair nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps there will be women like yourself who, seeing our ways, will know them superior. It is still a shame we lost you.”

  “My place was elsewhere,” Egwene said.

  “Will you accept this between us as well?” Shielyn said to the Wise Ones. “Should we agree to this bargain, two for two, in a similar manner?”

  “If the bargain is agreed to,” Bair said, looking to the other Wise Ones, “we will make it with you as well. But we must speak with the other Wise Ones about it.”

  “And what of the ter’angreal?” Shielyn said, turning back to Egwene.

  “Yours,” Egwene said. “In exchange, you will release us from our promise to send sisters to train you, and we will let any Sea Folk currently among us return to their people. All of this is subject to the approval of your people, and I will have to bring this before the Hall of the Tower.”

  Of course, as Amyrlin, her decrees were law. If the Hall balked, however, those laws could end up being ignored. In this, she would need to get their support—and she wanted to, particularly considering her stance that the Hall should work together with her more and meet in secret less.

  She was reasonably certain she could get approval for this proposal, however. The Aes Sedai wouldn’t like giving up ter’angreal, but they also did not like the bargain that had been made with the Sea Folk over the Bowl of the Winds. To be rid of that, they would give almost anything.

  “I knew you would try to end the sisters training us,” Shielyn said, sounding self-satisfied.

  “Which would you rather have?” Egwene asked. “Women who are among our weakest members, and who see their service as a punishment? Or instead, your own Sea Folk, who have learned the best we can offer and return happily to share?” Egwene had been half-tempted to simply send Sea Folk Aes Sedai to them to fulfill the bargain anyway; it seemed a proper twisting of the situation.

  Hopefully, however, this new bargain would supplant the old one. She had a feeling she’d lose the Sea Folk sisters anyway, at least the ones who longed to be back with their people. The world was changing, and now that the Windfinders were no longer a secret, the old ways need not be maintained.

  “We will discuss,” Shielyn said. She nodded to the others, and they vanished from the room. They certainly did learn quickly.

  “This dance is a dangerous one, Egwene al’Vere,” Amys said, standing and adjusting her shawl. “There was a time when the Aiel would have taken pride to have served the Aes Sedai. That time has passed.”

  “The women you thought you would find are nothing more than a dream, Amys,” Egwene said. “Real life is often more disappointing than dreams, but at least when you find honor in the real world, you know it to be more than a fancy.”

  The Wise One nodded. “We will likely agree to this bargain. We have need to learn what the Aes Sedai can teach.”

  “We will pick our strongest women,” Bair added. “Those who will not be corrupted by wetlander softness.” There was no condemnation in those words. Calling wetlanders soft was not an insult, in Bair’s mind.

  Amys nodded. “This work you do is a good one so long as you do not presume to tie us in steel bands.”

  No, Amys, Egwene thought. I will not tie you in bands of steel. I’ll use lace instead.

  “Now,” Bair said. “You still have need of us this day? You indicated a battle…?”

  “Yes,” Egwene said. “Or so I hope.” No word had come. That meant Nynaeve and Siuan hadn’t discovered anyone listening. Had her ploy failed?

  The Wise Ones nodded to her, then walked to the side, conferring quietly. Egwene trailed over to the Aes Sedai.

  Yukiri stood. “I don�
�t like this, Mother,” Yukiri said, speaking softly and eyeing the Wise Ones. “I don’t think the Hall will agree to this. Many are adamant that all objects of the One Power should belong to us.”

  “The Hall will see reason,” Egwene said. “We’ve already returned the Bowl of the Winds to the Sea Folk, and now that Elayne has rediscovered the method of crafting ter’angreal, it is only a matter of time before there are so many we cannot keep track of them all.”

  “But Elayne is an Aes Sedai, Mother,” Seaine said, rising, face troubled. “Surely you can keep her in line.”

  “Perhaps,” Egwene said, speaking softly. “But doesn’t it strike you odd that—after all of these years—so many Talents are returning, so many discoveries being made? My Dreaming, Elayne’s ter’angreal, Foretelling. Rare Talents seem in abundance. An Age is ending, and the world is changing. I doubt that Elayne’s Talent will remain unique. What if one of the Wise Ones or Sea Folk manifest it?”

  The other three sat quietly, troubled.

  “It still isn’t right to give up, Mother,” Yukiri finally said. “With effort, we could bring the Wise Ones and Windfinders under control.”

  “And the Asha’man?” Egwene said softly, unable to keep a hint of discomfort out of her voice. “Will we insist that all angreal and sa’angreal created for men belong to us, though we cannot use them? What if there are Asha’man who learn to create objects of Power? Will we force them to give up everything they create to us? Could we enforce that?”

  “I…” Yukiri said.

  Leane shook her head. “She’s right, Yukiri. Light, but she is.”

  “The world as it was cannot be ours any longer,” Egwene said softly, not wanting the Wise Ones to overhear. “Was it ever? The Black Tower bonds Aes Sedai, the Aiel no longer revere us, the Windfinders have hidden their best channelers from us for centuries and are becoming increasingly belligerent. If we try to hold too tightly to all of this, we will either become tyrants or fools, depending upon how successful we are. I accept neither title.

  “We will lead them, Yukiri. We must become a source that women look to, all women. We achieve that by not holding too tightly, by bringing their channelers to train with us and by sending our most talented Accepted to become experts in the things they are best at.”

  “And if they are saying the same thing right now?” Leane asked softly, looking over at the Wise Ones, who were speaking in hushed tones on the far side of the room. “If they try to play us as we play them?”

  “Then we have to play the best,” Egwene said. “All of this is secondary, for now. We need unity against the Shadow and the Seanchan. We have to—”

  A frazzled-looking Siuan appeared in the room, her dress singed on one side. “Mother! We need you!”

  “The battle has begun?” Egwene said, urgent. To the side, the Wise Ones perked up.

  “It has,” Siuan said, panting. “It happened right off. Mother, they didn’t come to eavesdrop! They attacked.”

  Perrin streaked across the land, covering leagues with each step. He needed to take the spike someplace away from Slayer. Perhaps the ocean? He could—

  An arrow hissed through the air, slicing his shoulder. Perrin cursed and spun. They were on a high rocky hillside. Slayer stood downhill from him, bow raised to his angular face, dark eyes alight with anger. He released another arrow.

  A wall, Perrin thought, summoning a wall of bricks in front of him. The arrow punched several inches into the bricks, but stopped. Perrin immediately sent himself away. He couldn’t go far, though, not while carrying the dome.

  Perrin changed so that he wasn’t going straight north any longer, but moving toward the east. He doubted that would throw off Slayer—he could probably see the dome moving and judge its direction.

  What to do? He’d planned to toss the spike into the ocean, but if Slayer was following, he’d just recover it. Perrin concentrated on moving as quickly as he could, covering leagues with each heartbeat. Could he outrun his foe? The landscape passed him in a blur. Mountains, forests, lakes, meadows.

  Just as he thought he might have gotten ahead, a figure appeared just beside him, swinging a sword at his neck. Perrin ducked, barely dodging the attack. He growled, raising his hammer, but Slayer vanished.

  Perrin stopped in place, frustrated. Slayer could move faster than Perrin, and could get under the dome by jumping ahead of it, then waiting for Perrin to move it on top of him. From there, he could jump directly to Perrin and attack.

  I can’t outrun him, Perrin realized. The only way to be certain, the only way to protect Faile and the others, was to kill Slayer. Otherwise the man would recover the spike from wherever Perrin put it, then return it to trap his people.

  Perrin glanced around, getting his bearings. He was on a lightly forested slope, and could see Dragonmount to the north of him. He glanced eastward, and saw the tip of a large structure peeking out over the treetops. The White Tower. The city might give Perrin an advantage, make it easier to hide in one of the many buildings or alleys.

  Perrin leaped off in that direction, carrying the spike with him, the dome it created traveling with him as he moved. It would come down to a fight after all.

  Chapter 37

  Darkness in the Tower

  Gawyn sat on a bench in the Caemlyn Palace gardens. It had been several hours since he’d sent Egwene’s messenger away. A gibbous moon hung fat in the sky. Servants occasionally passed by to see if he needed anything. They seemed worried about him.

  He just wanted to watch the sky. It had been weeks since he’d been able to do that. The air was cooling, but he left his coat off, hung over the back of the bench. The open air felt good—different, somehow, from the same air beneath a cloudy sky.

  With the last light of dusk fading, the stars shone like hesitant children, peeking out now that the uproar of day had died down. It felt so good to finally see them again. Gawyn breathed in deeply.

  Elayne was right. Much of Gawyn’s hatred of al’Thor came from frustration. Maybe jealousy. Al’Thor was playing a role closer to what Gawyn would have chosen for himself. Ruling nations, leading armies. Looking at their lives, who had taken on the role of a prince, and who the role of a lost sheepherder?

  Perhaps Gawyn resisted Egwene’s demands because he wanted to lead, to be the one who accomplished the heroic acts. If he became her Warder, he would have to step aside and help her change the world. There was honor in keeping someone great alive. A deep honor. What was the point of great acts? The recognition they brought, or the better lives they created?

  To step aside. He’d admired men like Sleete for their willingness to do this, but had never understood them. Not truly. I can’t leave her to do it alone, he thought. I have to help her. From within her shadow.

  Because he loved her. But also because it was for the best. If two bards tried to play different songs at the same time, they both made noise. But if one stepped back to give harmony to the other’s melody, then the beauty could be greater than either made alone.

  And in that moment, finally, he understood. He stood up. He couldn’t go to Egwene as a prince. He had to go to her as a Warder. He had to watch over her, to serve her. See her wishes done.

  It was time to return.

  Slinging his coat on, he strode down the path toward the Palace. The opening serenades of various pond frogs cut short—followed by splashes—as he passed them and entered the building. It wasn’t a long walk to his sister’s rooms. She would be up; she had trouble sleeping lately. During the past few days, they had often enjoyed conversation and a cup of warm tea before bed. At her doors, however, he was stopped by Birgitte.

  She gave him another glare. Yes, she did not like being forced to act as Captain-General in his stead. He could see that now. He felt a little awkward stepping up to her. The woman held up a hand. “Not tonight, princeling.”

  “I’m leaving for the White Tower,” he said. “I’d like to say farewell.”

  He moved to step forward, but Birgit
te held a hand against his chest, gently pushing him back. “You can leave in the morning.”

  He almost reached for his sword, but stopped himself. Light! There had been a time when he hadn’t reacted that way to everything. He had become a fool. “Ask if she’ll see me,” he said politely. “Please.”

  “I have my orders,” Birgitte said. “Besides, she couldn’t talk to you. She’s asleep.”

  “I’m sure she’d like to be awakened.”

  “It’s not that kind of sleep,” Birgitte said. She sighed. “It has to do with Aes Sedai matters. Go to bed. In the morning, your sister will probably have word from Egwene for you.”

  Gawyn frowned. How would…

  The dreams, he realized. This is what the Aes Sedai meant, about Egwene training them to walk in their dreams. “So Egwene’s sleeping as well?”

  Birgitte eyed him. “Bloody ashes, I’ve probably said too much already. Off to your rooms.”

  Gawyn stepped away, but not to go to his rooms. He’ll wait for a time of weakness, he thought, remembering the sul’dam’s words. And when he strikes, he’ll leave such desolation as you wouldn’t believe a single man could create…

  A time of weakness.

  He dashed away from Elayne’s rooms, sprinting through the palace hallways to the Traveling room that Elayne had set up. Blessedly, a Kinswoman was on duty here—bleary-eyed, but waiting in case emergency messages needed to be sent. Gawyn didn’t recognize the dark-haired woman, but she seemed to recognize him.

  She yawned and opened a gateway at his request. He ran through and onto the Traveling ground of the White Tower. The gateway vanished right behind him. Gawyn started, spinning with a curse. That had nearly closed right on him! Why had the Kinswoman let it vanish so abruptly, and so dangerously? A split second sooner, and it would have taken his foot off, or worse.

  There was no time. He turned and continued running.

  Egwene, Leane and the Wise Ones appeared in a room at the base of the Tower, where a group of anxious women waited. This was a guard post that Egwene had stipulated as a fallback position.