“How are the Kin?” Elayne asked.
The two women glanced at each other. Blast. Elayne was being too formal with them. They knew something was up.
“We are well, Your Majesty,” Alise said. “The fear seems to be leaving most of the women. At least, those who had enough sense to feel it in the first place. I suppose those who didn’t were the ones who went off on their own and found themselves dead.”
“It is good not to have to spend so much time Healing, either,” Sumeko noted. “It was becoming very fatiguing. So many wounded, day after day.” She grimaced.
Alise was made of stouter material. She sipped her tea, face mild. Not calm and frozen, like an Aes Sedai. Thoughtful and warm, yet reserved. That was an advantage these women had that the Aes Sedai did not—they could be regarded without as much suspicion, as they were not tied directly to the White Tower. But they didn’t have its authority, either.
“You can sense that I have something to ask of you,” Elayne said, meeting Alise’s eyes.
“We can?” Sumeko asked, sounding surprised. Perhaps Elayne had given her too much credit.
Alise nodded in a matronly way. “You’ve asked much of us while we’ve been here, Your Majesty. No more than I felt you had a right to ask. So far.”
“I have tried to welcome you in Caemlyn,” Elayne said. “As I realize you can never return home, not while the Seanchan rule Ebou Dar.”
“That is true,” Alise agreed. “But one can hardly call Ebou Dar our home. It was merely a place where we found ourselves. Less a home, more a necessity. Many of us rotated in and out of the city anyway, to avoid notice.”
“Have you considered where you will stay now?”
“We’re going to Tar Valon,” Sumeko said quickly. “Nynaeve Sedai said—”
“I’m certain there will be a place for some of you there,” Elayne interjected. “Those who wish to become Aes Sedai. Egwene will be eager to give a second chance to any Kin who wish to try again for the shawl. But what of the rest of you?”
“We spoke of this,” Alise said carefully, eyes narrowing. “We will become associated with the Tower, a place for Aes Sedai to retire.”
“Surely you will not move to Tar Valon, though. What good would the Kin be as a place to retire from Aes Sedai politics if they are so near the White Tower?”
“We had assumed we would remain here,” Alise said.
“That was my assumption as well,” Elayne said carefully. “But assumptions are weak. I wish to give you promises instead. After all, if you were to remain in Caemlyn, I see no reason to not offer you support directly from the Crown.”
“At what cost?” Alise asked. Sumeko was watching with a confused frown.
“Not much of one,” Elayne said. “Really, not a cost at all. An occasional favor, as you have done the Crown in the past.”
The garden fell still. Faint calls from the city below rose up into the air, and the branches shivered in the wind, dropping a few brown leaves between Elayne and the Kin.
“That sounds dangerous,” Alise said, taking a sip of her tea. “Surely you’re not suggesting that we set up a rival White Tower here, in Caemlyn.”
“Nothing of the sort,” Elayne said quickly. “I am Aes Sedai myself, after all. And Egwene has spoken of letting the Kin continue as they have before, so long as they accept her authority.”
“I’m not certain we want to ‘continue as we have before,’” Alise said. “The White Tower left us to live our lives in terror that we would be discovered. But all the while, they were using us. The more we consider that, the less…amused that makes us.”
“Speak for yourself, Alise,” Sumeko said. “I intend to be tested and return to the Tower. I will join the Yellow, mark my words.”
“Perhaps, but they won’t have me,” Alise said. “I’m too weak in the Power. I won’t accept some halfway measure, forced to scrape and bow every time a sister comes along and wants me to wash her clothing. But I won’t stop channeling, either. I won’t give it up. Egwene Sedai has spoken of letting the Kin continue, but if we do, would we be able to work the One Power openly?”
“I assume you would be able to,” Elayne said. “Much of this was Egwene’s idea. She certainly wouldn’t send Aes Sedai to you to retire if they were to be forbidden to channel. No, the days of women outside the Tower channeling in secret have passed. The Windfinders, the Aiel Wise Ones, have proven that times must change.”
“Perhaps,” Alise said. “But giving our services to the Crown of Andor is a very different matter.”
“We would make certain not to compete with the Tower’s interests,” Elayne said. “And you would accept the Amyrlin’s authority. So what is the problem? Aes Sedai provide service to monarchs across the land.”
Alise sipped her tea. “Your offer has merit. But it depends on the nature of the favors required by the Crown of Andor.”
“I would only ask two things of you,” Elayne said. “Traveling and Healing. You need not enter our conflicts, you need not be part of our politics. Simply agree to Heal my people who are sick, and to assign a group of women each day to create gateways when the crown wishes.”
“That still sounds an awful lot like your own White Tower,” Alise said. Sumeko was frowning.
“No, no,” Elayne said. “The White Tower means authority, politics. You would be something else entirely. Imagine a place in Caemlyn where any person can come to receive Healing, free of charge. Imagine a city free of disease. Imagine a world where food can travel instantly to those who need it.”
“And a queen who can send troops wherever she needs,” Alise said. “Whose soldiers can fight one day, then be free of wounds the next. A queen who can earn a tidy profit by charging merchants for access to her gateways.” She took a sip of her tea.
“Yes,” Elayne admitted. Though she wasn’t certain how she was going to convince Egwene to let her do that part of it.
“We will want half,” Alise said. “Half of anything you charge for Traveling or Healing.”
“Healing is free,” Elayne said firmly. “For anyone who comes, regardless of station. People are treated in order of the severity of their ailment, not in order of their rank.”
“I could agree to this,” Alise said.
Sumeko turned to her, eyes wide. “You cannot speak for us. You yourself threw in my face the Knitting Circle having dissolved, now that we have left Ebou Dar. Besides, by the Rule—”
“I speak only for myself, Sumeko,” Alise said. “And those who would join me. The Kin as we knew them are no more. We were dominated by our need to remain secret, and that is gone now.”
Sumeko grew silent.
“You mean to join the Aes Sedai, my friend,” Alise said, laying a hand on her arm. “But they will not have me, nor will I have them. I need something else, and others will as well.”
“But to tie yourselves to the Crown of Andor….”
“We tie ourselves to the White Tower,” Alise said. “But live in Caemlyn. Both have their benefits. We aren’t strong enough to stand on our own. Andor is as good a place as any. It has the favor of the White Tower, and the favor of the Dragon Reborn. Mostly, it is here, and so are we.”
“You can reorganize,” Elayne said, growing excited. “The Rule can be crafted anew. You can decide to let Kin marry now, if you wish. I think that would be for the best.”
“Why?” Alise asked.
“Because it will tie them down,” Elayne explained. “That will make them less of a threat to the White Tower. It will help differentiate you. It is something that few women in the White Tower do, and it gives you something to make the Kin more attractive as an option.”
Alise nodded, thoughtful; Sumeko seemed to be coming around. Elayne was sorry to admit that she wouldn’t miss the woman when she left. Elayne intended to push them to restructure how they chose leaders. It would be much more convenient if she could work with one like Alise, as opposed to whomever happened to be the oldest among them.
“I still worry about the Amyrlin,” Alise said. “Aes Sedai do not charge for services. What will she say if we start doing so?”
“I will speak with Egwene,” Elayne repeated. “I’m certain I can convince her that the Kin, and Andor, are no threat to her.”
Hopefully. There was a chance for something incredible in the Kin, a chance for Andor to have constant and inexpensive access to gateways. That would put her on nearly equal ground with the Seanchan.
She spoke with the women for a time longer, making certain they felt she was giving them due attention. Eventually, she dismissed them, but found herself lingering in the garden, standing between two planters holding bluebells, their clusters of tiny, vaselike blossoms drooping and wiggling in the breeze. She tried not to look at the planter beside them, which was empty. The bluebells there had flowered in the color of blood, and had actually bled something red when cut. The gardeners had pulled them out.
The Seanchan would come for Andor eventually. By then, Rand’s armies would likely be weakened and broken from the fighting, their leader possibly dead. Again, it made her heart twist to consider that, but she couldn’t shy away from the truth.
Andor would be a prize to the Seanchan. The mines and rich lands of her realm would tempt them, as would the proximity to Tar Valon. Beyond that, she suspected that those who claimed to be Artur Hawkwing’s successors would never be satisfied until they held all that had once belonged to their ancestor.
Elayne looked out over her nation. Her nation. Full of those who trusted in her to protect and defend them. Many who had supported her claim to the throne had had little faith in her. But she was their best option, their only option. She would show them the wisdom of their choice.
Securing the Kin would be one step. Sooner or later, the Seanchan would be able to Travel. All they needed to do was capture one woman who knew the weaves, and soon each and every damane with the requisite strength would be able to create the portals. Elayne needed access to them as well.
What she didn’t have, however, were channelers to use in battle. She knew she couldn’t ask this of the Kin. They’d never agree to it, nor would Egwene. Nor would Elayne herself. Forcing a woman to use the Power as a weapon would make her no better than the Seanchan themselves.
Unfortunately, Elayne knew full well the destruction women using the One Power could cause. She’d been bound in a wagon while Birgitte led the attack on the Black Ajah who had kidnapped her here in Caemlyn, but she’d seen its aftermath. Hundreds dead, hundreds more wounded, dozens burned away. Smoking, twisted corpses.
She needed something. An edge against the Seanchan. Something to balance their channelers in combat. The only thing she could think of was the Black Tower. It was on Andor’s soil. She’d told them that she considered them part of her nation, but so far she’d gone no further than sending inspection parties.