She shook herself. Find Nynaeve and Elayne. She might be Shipless, but she would not let herself slip into the depths and drown. She set her course and started walking. Bayle hunched down slightly, suspicious, and tried to watch all around them at once. He also glanced at her a few times, lips drawn to a line. She knew what that meant, by now.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Leilwin, what do we be doing here?"
"I’ve told you. We need to find—"
"Yes, but why? What do you think you will do? They do be Aes Sedai".
"They showed me respect before".
"And so you do think they’ll take us in?"
"Perhaps". She eyed him. "Speak it, Bayle. You have something on your mind?"
He sighed. "Why do we need be taken in, Leilwin. We could find ourselves a ship somewhere, in Arad Doman. Where there do be no Aes Sedai or Seanchan".
"I wouldn’t run the kind of ship you prefer".
He regarded her flatly. "I do know how to run an honest business, Leilwin. It would no be—"
She raised a hand, quieting him, then rested it on his shoulder. They stopped on the pathway. "I know, my love. I know. I’m speaking words to distract, to set us spinning in a current that goes nowhere".
"Why?"
That single word scratched at her like a splinter under a fingernail. Why . . . Why had she come all this way, traveling with Matrim Cauthon, putting herself dangerously near the Daughter of the Nine Moons? My people live with a grave misconception of the world, Bayle. In doing so, they create injustice".
"They did reject you, Leilwin", he said softly. You do no longer exist".
"I'll always be one of them. My name was revoked, but not my blood".
"I do be sorry for the insult".
She nodded curtly. "I am still loyal to the Empress, may she live forever. But the damane . . . they are the very foundation for her rule. They are the means by which she creates order, by which she holds the Empire together. And the damane are a lie".
Suldam could channel. The talent could be learned. Now, months after she had discovered the truth, her mind could not encompass all of the implications. Another might have been more interested in the political advantage; another might have returned to Seanchan and used this to gain power.
Almost, Leilwin wished she had done that. Almost.
But the pleas of the suldam . . . growing to know those Aes Sedai, who were nothing like what she’d been taught . . .
Something had to be done. And yet, in doing it, did she risk causing the entire Empire to collapse? Her movements must be considered very, very carefully, like the last rounds of a game of shal.
The two continued to follow the line of servants in the dark; one Aes Sedai or another often sent servants for something they had left in the White Tower, so traveling back and forth was common—a good thing for Leilwin. They passed the perimeter of the Aes Sedai camp without being challenged.
She was surprised at the ease of it until she spotted several men alongside the path. They were very easy to miss; something about them blended into the surroundings, particularly in the darkness. She noticed them only when one moved, breaking off from the others to fall into step a short distance behind her and Bayle.
In seconds, it was obvious that he’d picked the two of them out. Perhaps it was the way they walked, the way they held themselves. They’d been careful to dress plainly, though Bayle’s beard would mark him as Illianer.
Leilwin stopped—laying a hand on Bayle’s arm—and turned to confront the one following them. A Warder, she assumed from descriptions.
The Warder stalked up to them. They were still near the perimeter of the camp, the tents organized in rings. She had noticed with discomfort that some of the tents glowed with a light too steady to come from candle or lamp.
"Ho", Bayle said, raising a friendly hand to the Warder. "We do be seeking an Aes Sedai named Nynaeve al’Meara. If she is not here, perhaps one named Elayne Trakand?"
"Neither makes their camp here", the Warder said. He was a long-armed man, and he moved with grace. His features, framed by long, dark hair, looked . . . unfinished. Chiseled from rock by a sculptor who had lost interest in the project partway through.
"Ah", Bayle said. "That do be our mistake, then. Could you point us to where they do be making camp? It do be a matter of some urgency, you see". He spoke smoothly, easily. Bayle could be quite charming, when necessary. Much more so than Leilwin could.
"That depends", the Warder said. "Your companion, she wishes to find these Aes Sedai, too?"
"She do—" Bayle began, but the Warder held up a hand.
"I would hear it from her", he said, inspecting Leilwin.
"It do be what I wish", Leilwin said. "My aged grandmother! These women, they did promise us payment, and I do mean to have it. Aes Sedai do not lie. Everyone do know this fact. If you will not take us to them, then provide someone who will!"
The Warder hesitated, eyes widening at the barrage of words. Then, blessedly, he nodded. "This way". He led them away from the center of the camp, but he no longer seemed suspicious.
Leilwin let out a quiet breath and fell into step with Bayle behind the Warder. Bayle looked at her proudly, grinning so widely he’d certainly have given the two of them away if the Warder had looked back. She couldn’t help a hint of a smile herself.
The Illianer accent had not come naturally to her, but both had agreed that her Seanchan tongue was dangerous, particularly when traveling among Aes Sedai. Bayle claimed that no true Illianer would accept her as one of them, but she was clearly good enough to fool an outsider.
She felt relieved when they moved away from the Aes Sedai camp into the dark. Having two friends—they were friends, despite their troubles with one another—who were Aes Sedai did not mean she wanted to be inside a camp full of them. The Warder led them to an open area near the middle of the Field of Merrilor. There was a very large camp here, with a great number of small tents.
"Aiel", Bayle said softly to her. "There do be tens of thousands of them".
Interesting. Fearsome stories were told of Aiel, legends that could not all possibly be true. Still, the tales—if exaggerated—suggested that these were the finest warriors this side of the ocean. She would have welcomed sparring with one or two of them, had the situation been different. She rested a hand on the side of her pack; she’d stowed her cudgel in a long pocket on the side, easily within reach.
They certainly were a tall folk, these Aiel. She passed some of them lounging by campfires, seemingly relaxed. Those eyes, however, watched more keenly than the Warders’ had. A dangerous people, ready for killing while relaxing beside fires. She could not make out the banners that flapped above this camp in the night sky.
"Which king or queen do rule this camp, Warder?" she called.
The man turned to her, his features lost in the night shadow. "Your king, Illianer".
At her side, Bayle stiffened.
My . . .
The Dragon Reborn. She was proud that she didn’t miss a step as they walked, but it was a near thing. A man who could channel. That was worse, far worse, than the Aes Sedai.
The Warder led them to a tent near the center of the camp. "You are fortunate; her light is on". There were no guards at the tent entrance, so he called in and received permission to enter. He pulled back the flap with one arm and nodded to them, yet his other hand was on his sword, and he stood in fighting posture.
She hated putting that sword to her back, but she entered as ordered. The tent was lit by one of those unnatural globes of light, and a familiar woman in a green dress sat at a writing desk, working on a letter. Nynaeve al’Meara was what, back in Seanchan, one would call a telarti—a woman with fire in her soul. Leilwin had come to understand that Aes Sedai were supposed to be calm as placid waters. Well, this woman might be that on occasion-but she was the kind of placid water found one bend away from a furious waterfall.
Nynaeve continued to write as they entered. She no longer wore braids; her hair was loose around the top of her shoulders. It was a sight as strange as a ship with no mast.
"I'll be with you in a moment, Sleete", Nynaeve said. "Honestly, the way you lot have been hovering over me lately makes me think of a mother bird who has lost an egg. Don’t your Aes Sedai have work for you to do?"
"Lan is important to many of us, Nynaeve Sedai", the Warder-Sleete—said in a calm, gravelly voice.
"Oh, and he’s not important to me? Honestly, I wonder if we should send you out to chop wood or something. If one more Warder comes to see if I need—"
She glanced up, finally seeing Leilwin. Nynaeve’s face immediately grew impassive. Cold. Burningly cold. Leilwin found herself sweating. This woman held her life in her hands. Why couldn’t it have been Elayne that Sleete had brought them to? Perhaps they shouldn’t have mentioned Nynaeve.
"These two demanded to see you", Sleete said. His sword was out of its sheath. Leilwin hadn’t seen that. Domon muttered softly to himself. "They claim that you promised to pay them money, and they have come for it. They did not identify themselves in the Tower, however, and found a way to slip through one of the gateways. The man is from Illian. The woman, somewhere else. She’s disguising her accent".
Well, perhaps she wasn’t as good with the accent as she’d assumed. Leilwin glanced at his sword. If she rolled to the side, he’d probably miss a strike, assuming he went for the chest or neck. She could pull the cudgel and—
She was facing an Aes Sedai. She’d never stand up from that roll. She’d be caught in a weave of the One Power, or worse.
"I know them, Sleete", Nynaeve said, voice cool. "You did well in bringing them to me. Thank you".
His sword was sheathed at once, and Leilwin felt cool air on her neck as he slipped out of the tent, quiet as a whisper.
"If you’ve come to beg forgiveness", Nynaeve said, "you’ve come to the wrong person. I’ve half a mind to give you over to the Warders to question. Maybe they can bleed something useful about your people from that treacherous mind of yours".
"It is good to see you again too, Nynaeve", Leilwin said coolly.
"So what happened?" Nynaeve demanded.
What happened? What was the woman talking about?
"I did try", Bayle suddenly said, regretfully. "I did fight them, but I was taken easily. They could have fired my ship, sunk us all, killed my men".
"Better that you and all aboard should have died, Illianer", Nynaeve said. "The ter’angreal ended up in the hands of one of the Forsaken; Semirhage was hiding among the Seanchan, pretending to be some kind of judge. A Truthspeaker? Is that the word?"
"Yes", Leilwin said softly. She understood now. "I regret breaking my oath, but—"
"You regret it, Egeanin?" Nynaeve said, standing, knocking her chair back. " ‘Regret’ is not a word I would use for endangering the world itself, bringing us to the brink of darkness and all but shoving us over the edge! She had copies of that device made, woman. One ended up around the neck of the Dragon Reborn. The Dragon Reborn himself, controlled by one of the Forsaken!"