WOT Prequel 02 - New Spring

by New Spring [lit]

  when her temper was up. If Merean or Larelle was part of the search, they must

  have at least part of the list in her little book. Including Jurine Najima here,

  the Lady Ines Demain in Chachin, and Avene Sahera, who lived in "a village on

  the high road between Chachin and Canluum'. To strengthen suspicion, all she

  need do now was say she intended to spend time in Arafel and Shienar next.

  Cadsuane smiled, not at all pleasantly. "You'll leave when I say, child. Be

  silent till you're spoken to. That pitcher should hold spiced wine. Pour for

  us."

  Moiraine quivered. Child! She was no longer a novice. The woman could not order

  her coming and going. Or her tongue. But she did not protest. She walked to the

  hearth — stalked, really — and picked up the long-necked silver pitcher.

  "You seem very interested in this young woman, Cadsuane," Merean said, turning

  slightly to watch Moiraine pour. "Is there something about her we should know?"

  Larelle's smile held a touch of mockery. Only a touch, with Cadsuane. "Has

  someone Foretold she'll be Amyrlin one day? I can't say that I see it in her,

  but then, I don't have the Foretelling."

  "I might live another thirty years," Cadsuane said, putting out a hand for the

  cup Moiraine offered, "or only three. Who can say?"

  Moiraine's eyes went wide, and she slopped hot wine over her own wrist. Merean

  gasped, and Larelle looked as though she had been struck in the forehead with a

  stone. Any Aes Sedai would spit on the table before referring to another

  sister's age or her own. Except that Cadsuane was not any Aes Sedai.

  "A little more care with the other cups," she said, unperturbed by all the

  gaping. "Child?" Moiraine returned to the hearth still staring, and Cadsuane

  went on, "Meilyn is considerably older. When she and I are gone, that leaves

  Kerene the strongest." Larelle flinched. "Am I disturbing you?" Cadsuane's

  solicitous tone could not have been more false, and she did not wait for an

  answer. "Holding our silence about age doesn't keep people from knowing we live

  longer than they. Phaaw! From Kerene, it's a sharp drop to the next five. Five

  once this child and the Sanche girl reach their potential. And one of those is

  as old as I am and in retirement to boot."

  "Is there some point to this?" Merean asked, sounding a little sick. Larelle

  pressed her hands against her middle, her face grey. They barely glanced at the

  wine Moiraine offered before gesturing it away, and she kept the cup, though she

  did not think she could swallow a mouthful.

  Cadsuane scowled, a fearsome sight. "No one has come to the Tower in a thousand

  years who could match me. No one to match Meilyn or Kerene in almost six

  hundred. A thousand years ago, there would have been fifty sisters or more who

  stood higher than this child. In another hundred years, though, she'll stand in

  the first rank. Oh, someone stronger may be found in that time, but there won't

  be fifty, and there may be none. We dwindle."

  "I don't understand," Larelle said sharply. She seemed to have gathered herself,

  and to be angry for her previous weakness. "We are all aware of the problem, but

  what does Moiraine have to do with it? Do you think she can somehow make more

  girls come to the Tower, girls with stronger potential?" Her snort said what she

  thought of that.

  "I would regret her being wasted before she knows up from down. The Tower can't

  afford to lose her out of her own ignorance. Look at her. A pretty little doll

  of a Cairhien noble." Cadsuane put a finger under Moiraine's chin, tilting it

  up. "Before you find a Warder like that, child, a brigand who wants to see

  what's in your purse will put an arrow through your heart. A footpad who'd faint

  at the sight of a sister in her sleep will crack your head, and you'll wake at

  the back of an alley minus your gold and maybe more. I suspect you'll want to

  take as much care choosing your first man as you do your first Warder."

  Moiraine jerked back, spluttered with indignation. First her and Siuan, now

  this. There were things one talked about, and things one did not!

  Cadsuane ignored her outrage. Calmly sipping her wine, she turned back to the

  others. "Until she does find a Warder to guard her back, it might be best to

  protect her from her own enthusiasm. You two are going to Chachin, I believe.

  She'll travel with you, then. I expect you not to let her out of your sight."

  Moiraine found her tongue, but her protests did as much good as her indignation

  had. Merean and Larelle objected, too, just as vociferously. Aes Sedai did not

  need "looking after', no matter how new. They had interests of their own to look

  after. They did not make clear what those were — few sisters would have — but

  they plainly wanted no company. Cadsuane paid no attention to anything she did

  not want to hear, assumed they would do as she wished, pressed wherever they

  offered an opening. Soon the pair were twisting on their chairs and reduced to

  saying that they had only encountered each other the day before and were not

  sure they would be travelling on together. In any event, both meant to spend two

  or three days in Canluum, while Moiraine wanted to leave today.

  "The child will stay until you leave," Cadsuane said briskly. "Good; that's

  done, then. I'm sure you two want to see to whatever brought you to Canluum. I

  won't keep you."

  Larelle shifted her shawl irritably at the abrupt dismissal, then stalked out

  muttering that Moiraine would regret it if she got underfoot or slowed her

  reaching Chachin. Merean took it better, even saying she would look after

  Moiraine like a daughter, though her smile hardly looked pleased.

  When they were gone, Moiraine stared at Cadsuane incredulously. She had never

  seen anything like it. Except an avalanche, once. The thing to do now was keep

  silent until she had a chance to leave without Cadsuane or the others seeing.

  Much the wisest thing. "I agreed to nothing," she said coolly. Very coolly.

  "What if I have affairs in Chachin that will not wait? What if I do not choose

  to wait here two or three days?" Perhaps she did need to learn to school her

  tongue a little more.

  Cadsuane had been looking thoughtfully at the door that had closed behind Merean

  and Larelle, but she turned a piercing gaze on Moiraine. "You've worn the shawl

  five months, and you have affairs that cannot wait? Phaaw! You still haven't

  learned the first real lesson, that the shawl means you are ready to truly begin

  learning. The second lesson is caution. I know very well how hard that is to

  find when you're young and have saidar at your fingertips and the world at your

  feet. As you think." Moiraine tried to fit a word in, but she might as well have

  stood in front of that avalanche. "You will take great risks in your life, if

  you live long enough. You already take more than you know. Heed carefully what I

  say. And do as I say. I will check your bed tonight, and if you are not in it, I

  will find you and make you weep as you did for those mice. You can dry your

  tears afterwards on that shawl you believe makes you invincible. It does not."

  Staring as the door closed behind Cadsuane, Moiraine suddenly realized she still

  held th
e cup of wine and gulped it dry. The woman was . . . formidable. Custom

  forbade physical violence against another sister, but Cadsuane had not

  sidestepped a hair in her threat. She had said it right out, so by the Three

  Oaths she meant it exactly. Incredible. Was it happenstance that she had

  mentioned Meilyn Arganya and Kerene Nagashi? They were two of Tamra's searchers.

  Could Cadsuane be another? Either way, she had very neatly cut Moiraine out of

  the hunt for the next week or more. If she actually went with Merean and

  Larelle, at least. But why only a week? If the woman was part of the search . .

  . If Cadsuane knew about her and Siuan . . . If . . . Standing there fiddling

  with an empty wine-cup was getting her nowhere. She snatched up her cloak.

  A number of people looked around at her when she came out into the common room,

  some with sympathy in their eyes. Doubtless they were imagining what it must be

  like to be the focus of attention for three Aes Sedai, and they could not

  imagine any good in it. There was no commiseration on any sister's face. Felaana

  wore a pleased smile; she probably thought the Lady Alys's name as good as

  written in the novice book. Cadsuane was nowhere in sight, nor the other two.

  Picking her way through the tables, Moiraine felt shaken. There were too many

  questions, and not an answer to be found. She wished Siuan was there; Siuan was

  very good at puzzles, and nothing shook her.

  A young woman looked in at the door from the street, then jerked out of sight,

  and Moiraine missed a step. Wish for something hard enough, and you could think

  you saw it. The woman peeked in again, the hood of her cloak fallen atop the

  bundle on her back, and it really was Siuan, sturdy and handsome, in a plain

  blue dress that showed signs of hard travel. This time she saw Moiraine, but

  instead of rushing to greet her, Siuan nodded up the street and vanished again.

  Heart climbing into her throat, Moiraine swept her cloak around her and went

  out. Down the street, Siuan was slipping through the traffic, glancing back at

  every third step. Moiraine followed quickly, worry growing.

  Siuan was supposed to be six hundred miles away in Tar Valon, working for

  Cetalia Delarme, who ran the Blue Ajah's network of eyes-and-ears. She had let

  that secret slip while bemoaning her fate. The whole time they were novice and

  Accepted together Siuan had talked of getting out into the world, seeing the

  world, but Cetalia had taken her aside the day they received the shawl, and by

  that evening Siuan was sorting reports from men and women scattered through the

  nations. She had a mind that saw patterns others missed. Cetalia equalled Merean

  in the Power, and it would be another three or four years before Siuan gained

  enough strength to tell Cetalia she was leaving the job. There would be snow at

  Sunday before Cetalia let her go short of that. And the only other possibility

  for her being in Canluum . . . Moiraine groaned, and when a big-eared fellow

  selling pins from a tray gave her a concerned look, she glared so hard that he

  started back.

  It would be just like Sierin to send Siuan to bring her back, so their worry

  could feed on each other during the long ride. Sierin was a hard woman, without

  an ounce of mercy. An Amyrlin was supposed to grant indulgences and relief from

  penances on the day she was raised; Sierin had ordered two sisters birched and

  exiled three from the Tower for a year. She might well have told Siuan the

  penance she intended to impose. Moiraine shivered. Likely, Sierin would manage

  to combine Labour, Deprivation, Mortification of the Flesh, and Mortification of

  the Spirit.

  A hundred paces from the inn, Siuan looked back once more, paused till she was

  sure that Moiraine saw her, then darted into an alley. Moiraine quickened her

  stride and followed.

  Her friend was pacing beneath the still-unlit oil-lamps that lined even this

  narrow, dusty passage. Nothing frightened Siuan Sanche, a fisherman's daughter

  from the toughest quarter in Tear, but fear glittered in those sharp blue eyes

  now. Moiraine opened her mouth to confirm her own fears about Sierin, but the

  taller woman spoke first.

  "Tell me you've found him, Moiraine. Tell me the Najima boy's the one, and we

  can hand him to the Tower with a hundred sisters watching, and it's done."

  A hundred sisters? "No, Siuan." This did not sound like Sierin. "What is the

  matter?"

  Siuan began to weep. Siuan, who had a lion's heart and had never let a tear fall

  until after they left Merean's study. Throwing her arms around Moiraine, she

  squeezed hard. She was trembling. "They're all dead," she mumbled. "Aisha and

  Kerene, Valera and Ludice and Meilyn. They say Aisha and her Warder were killed

  by bandits in Murandy. Kerene supposedly fell off a ship in the Alguenya during

  a storm and drowned. And Meilyn . . . Meilyn . . ."

  Moiraine hugged her, making soothing sounds. And staring past Siuan's shoulder

  in consternation. They had learned five of the women Tamra had selected, and all

  five were dead. "Meilyn was . . . hardly young," she said slowly. She was not

  sure she could have said it at all if Cadsuane had not spoken so openly. Siuan

  gave a startled jerk, and she made herself go on. "Neither were any of the

  others, even Kerene." Close to two hundred was not young even for Aes Sedai.

  "And accidents do happen. Bandits. Storms." She was having a hard time making

  herself believe. All of them?

  Siuan pushed herself away. "You don't understand. Meilyn!" Grimacing, she

  scrubbed at her eyes. "Fish guts! I'm not making this clear. Get hold of

  yourself, you bloody fool!" That last was growled to herself. Merean and others

  had gone to a great deal of trouble to clean up Siuan's language, but she had

  reverted the moment the shawl was on her shoulders. Guiding Moiraine to an

  upended cask with no bung, she sat her down. "You won't want to be standing when

  you hear what I have to say. For that matter, I bloody well don't want to be

  standing myself."

  Dragging a crate with broken slats from further up the alley, she settled on it,

  fussing with her skirts, peering towards the street, muttering about people

  looking in as they passed. Her reluctance did little to soothe Moiraine's

  stomach. It seemed to do little for Siuan's, either. When she started up again,

  she kept pausing to swallow, like a woman who wanted to sick up.

  "Meilyn returned to the Tower almost a month ago. I don't know why. She didn't

  say where she had been, or where she was going, but she only meant to stay a few

  nights. I . . . I'd heard about Kerene the morning Meilyn came, and the others

  before that. So I decided to speak to her. Don't look at me that way! I know how

  to be cautious!" Cautious was a word Moiraine had never thought to apply to

  Siuan. "Anyway, I sneaked into her rooms and hid under the bed. So the servants

  wouldn't see me when they turned down her sheets." Siuan grunted sourly. "I fell

  asleep under there. Sunrise woke me, and her bed hadn't been slept in. So I

  sneaked out and went down to the second sitting of breakfast. And while I was

  spooning my porridge, Chesmal Emry came in to . . . She . . . She announced that

 
; Meilyn had been found in her bed, that she'd died during the night." She

  finished in a rush and sagged, staring at Moiraine.

  Moiraine was very glad to be sitting. Her knees would not have supported a

  feather. She had grown up amid Daes Dae'mar, the scheming and plotting that

  dominated Cairhienin life, the shades of meaning in every word, every action.

  There was too much here for shadings. Murder had been done. "The Red Ajah?" she

  suggested finally. A Red might kill a sister she thought intended to protect a

  man who could channel.

  Siuan snorted. "Meilyn didn't have a mark on her, and Chesmal would have

  detected poison, or smothering, or . .. That means the Power, Moiraine. Could

  even a Red do that?" Her voice was fierce, but she pulled the bundle around from

  her back, clutching it on her lap. She seemed to be hiding behind it. Still,

  there was less fear on her face than anger, now. "Think, Moiraine. Tamra

  supposedly died in her sleep, too. Only we know Meilyn didn't, no matter where

  she was found. First Tamra, then the others started dying. The only thing that

  makes sense is that someone noticed her calling sisters in and wanted to know

  why badly enough that they bloody risked putting the Amyrlin Seat herself to the

  question. They had to have something to hide to do that, something they'd risk

  anything to keep hidden. They killed her to hide it, to hide what they'd done,

  and then they set out to kill the rest. Which means they don't want the boy

  found, not alive. They don't want the Dragon Reborn at the Last Battle. Any

  other way to look at it is tossing the slop bucket into the wind and hoping for

  the best."

  Unconsciously, Moiraine peered towards the mouth of the alley. A few people

  walking by glanced in, but none more than once. No one paused at seeing them

  seated there. Some things were easier to speak of when you were not too

  specific. "The Amyrlin" had been put to the question; "she" had been killed. Not

  Tamra, not a name that brought up the familiar, determined face. "Someone" had

  murdered her. "They" did not want the Dragon Reborn found. Murder with the Power

  certainly violated the Three Oaths, even for . . . for those Moiraine did not

  want to name any more than Siuan did.

  Forcing her face to smoothness, forcing her voice to calm, she forced the words