Snow: The Prologue to Winter's Heart

  "I will ally Andor with the Dragon Reborn in due course," she told him coldly, "but Andor is not a conquered province, nor for him or anyone else." She made her hands stay relaxed on the arms of the chair. Light, talking the Aiel and Saldaeans into leaving had been her biggest achievement yet, and even with the flareup in crime, it had been necessary! "In any case, Master Taim, it is not your place to call me to task. If Rand objects, I will deal with him!" Taim raised an eyebrow, and that odd quirk of his mouth lingered.

  Burn me, she thought indignantly, I shouldn't have used Rand's name! The man clearly thought he knew exactly how she would deal with the anger of the bloody Dragon Reborn! The worst of it was, if she could trip Rand into a bed, she would. Not for this, not to deal with him, but because she wanted to, What sort of gift had he sent her?

  Anger hardened her voice. Anger at Taim's tone at Rand for staying away so long. At herself, for blushing and thinking of gifts. Gifts. "You've walled in four miles of Andor." Light, that was more than half as large as the Inner City! How many of these fellows could it hold', The thought made her skin crawl. "With whose permission, Master Taim? Don't tell me the Dragon Reborn. He has no right to give permission for anything in Andor." Dyelin shifted beside her, No right, but enough strength could make right. Elayne kept her attention on Taim. 'You've refused the Queen's Guards entry to your... compound." Not that they had tried before she came home. "The law in Andor runs over all of Andor, Master Taim. Justice will be the same for lord or farmer - or Asha'man. I won't claim I can force my way in," He began to smile again, or nearly so, "I wouldn't demean myself. But unless the Queen's Guards are allowed in, I promise you not so much as a potato will go through your gates, either. I know you can Travel, Let your Asha'man spend their days Traveling to buy food," The almost smile vanished in a faint grimace; his boots shifted slightly.

  Annoyance lasted only an instant, though. "Food is a small problem," he said smoothly, spreading his hands. "As you say, my men can Travel. To anywhere I command. I doubt you could stop me buying whatever I want even ten miles from Caemlyn, but it wouldn't bother me if you could, Still, I am willing to allow visits whenever you ask. Controlled visits, with escorts at all times. The training is hard in the Black Tower. Men die almost every day. I would not want any accidents."

  He was irritatingly accurate on how far from Caemlyn her writ ran. But no more than irritating. Were his remarks about Traveling anywhere he commanded and "accidents" meant to be veiled threats? Surely not. A wave of fury ran through her as she realized that she was certain he would not threaten her because of Rand. She would not hide behind Rand al'Thor. Controlled visits? When she asked? She ought to burn the man to a cinder where he stood!

  Abruptly she became aware of what was coming through the bond from Birgitte, anger, a reflection of hers, joining with Birgitte's, reflecting from Birgitte to her, bouncing from her to Birgitte, feeding on itself, building. Birgitte's knife hand quivered with the desire to throw. And herself? Fury filled her! A whisker more, and she would lose saidar. Or lash out with it.

  With an effort she forced rage down, into a semblance of calm. A rough, seething semblance. She swallowed, and struggled to keep her voice level, "The Guards will visit every day, Master Taim." And how she was to manage that in this weather, she did not know. "Perhaps I will come myself, with a few other sisters." If the thought of having Aes Sedai inside his Black Tower upset Taim, he did not show it. Light, she was trying to establish Andor's authority, not goad the man. Hurriedly she did a novice exercise - the river contained by the bank - seeking calm. It worked, a little. Now she merely wanted to throw all the winecups at him. "I will accede to your request for escorts, but nothing is to be hidden. I won't have crimes concealed by your secrets. Do we understand one another."

  Taim's bow was mocking - mocking! - but there was a tightness in his voice. "I understand you perfectly. Understand me, though. My men are not farmers knuckling their foreheads when you pass. Press an Asha'man too hard, and you may learn just how strong your law is."

  Elayne opened her mouth to tell him exactly how strong the law was in Andor.

  "It is time, Elayne Trakand," a woman's voice said from the doorway.

  "Blood and ashes." Dyelin muttered. "Is the whole world just going to walk in here?"

  Elayne recognized the new voice. She had been expecting this summons, without knowing when it would come. Knowing that it must be obeyed, though, on the instant, She stood, wishing she could have a little longer to make matters clear to Taim, He frowned at the woman who had just entered, and at Elayne, clearly uncertain what to make of this. Good. Let him stew until she had time to set him straight en what special rights Asha'man had in Andor.

  Nadere stood as tall as either of the two men by the door, a wide woman, as close to stout as any Aiel Elayne had seen. Her green eyes examined the pair for a moment before dismissing them as unimportant. Asha'man did not impress Wise Ones. Very little did, Adjusting her dark shawl on her shoulders in a clatter of bracelets, she walked over in front of Elayne, her back to Taim. Despite the cold, she wore only that shawl over her thin white blouse, though oddly, she carried a heavy wool cloak draped across one arm. 'You must come now," she told Elayne, "without delay." Taim's eyebrows seemed to be climbing his forehead; no doubt he was unaccustomed to being so thoroughly ignored.

  "Light of heaven!" Dyelin breathed, massaging her forehead, "I don't know what this is about, Nadere, but it will have to wait until -"

  Elayne laid a hand on her arm, "You don't know, Dyelin, and it can't wait. I will send everyone away and come with you, Nadere."

  The Wise One shook her head disapprovingly. "A child waiting to be born cannot take time to send people away," She shook out the thick cloak. "I brought this to shield your skin from the cold, Perhaps I should leave it, and tell Aviendha your modesty is greater than your desire For a sister." Dyelin gasped in sudden realization, The Warder bond quivered with Birgitte's outrage.

  There was only one choice possible. No choice, really, Letting the link to the other two women dissolve, she released saidar herself. The glow remained around Renaile and Merilille, though. "Will you help me with my buttons, Dyelin?" Elayne was proud of how steady her voice was. She had expected this. Just not with so many witnesses! she thought faintly. Turning her back on Taim - at least she would not have to see him watching her! - she began with the tiny buttons on her sleeves. "Dyelin, if you please? Dyelin?" After a moment Dyelin moved as if sleepwalking and began fumbling with the buttons down Elayne's back, muttering to herself in shocked tones. One of the Asha'man by the doors snickered.

  "About turn!" Taim snapped, and boots stamped by the doors.

  Elayne did not know whether he had turned away as well - she was certain she could feel his eyes on her - but suddenly Birgine was there, and Merilille and Reene, and Zaida, and even Renaile, crowding shoulder-to-shoulder, scowling as they formed a wall between her and the men. Not a very adequate wall. None were as tall as she, and neither Zaida nor Merilille stood higher than her shoulder,

  Focus, she told herself. I am composed. I am tranquil. I am.... I'm stripping naked in a room full of people is what I am! She undressed as hurriedly as she could, letting her dress and shift fall to the floor, tossing her slippers and stockings on top of them. Her skin pebbled in the cool air; ignoring the chill just meant she was not shivering. And she rather thought the heat in her cheeks might have something to do with that.

  "Madness!" Dyelin muttered in a low voice, snatching up the clothes. "Utter madness!"

  "What is this about?" Birgitte whispered. "Should I come with you?"

  "I must go alone," Elayne whispered back. "Don't argue." Not that Birgitte gave any outward sign of it, but the bond carried volumes. Taking the golden hoops From her ears, she handed them to Birgitte, then hesitated before adding her Great Serpent ring. The Wise Ones had said she must come as a child came to birth. They had had a great many instructions, first among them to tell no one what was coming. For that matte
r, she wished she knew. A child came to birth without foreknowledge of what was to happen. Birgitte's muttering began to sound like Dyelin's.

  Nadere came forward with the cloak, but simply held it out; Elayne had to take it and wrap it around herself hastily. She was still sure she could feel Taim's gaze. Holding the heavy wool close, her instinct was to hurry from the room, but instead she drew herself up and turned around slowly. She would not scurry out cloaked in shame.

  The men who had come with Taim stood rigidly, facing the doors, and Taim himself was peering at the fireplace, arms folded across his chest. The feel of his eyes had been imagination, then, Excepting Nadere, the other women looked at her in variations of curiosity, consternation and shock Nadere merely seemed impatient.

  Elayne tried for her most queenly voice. "Mistress Harfor, you will offer Master Taim and his men wine, before they go," Well, at least it did not tremble, "Dyelin, please entertain the Wavemistress and the Windfinder, and see if you can allay their fears. Birgitte, I expect to hear your plan for recruiting tonight." The women she named blinked in startlement, nodded wordlessly,

  Then she walked from the room, followed by Nadere, wishing she could have done better, The last thing she heard before the door closed behind her was Zaida's voice. "Strange customs, you shorebound have."

  In the corridor she tried to move a little faster, though it was not easy while keeping the cloak from gaping, The red-and-white floor tiles were much colder than the carpets in the sitting room. A few servants, warmly bundled in good woolen livery, stared when they saw her, then hurried on about their tasks. The flames of the stand-lamps flickered; there were always drafts in the hallways. Occasionally the air stirred enough to make a wall hanging ripple lazily.

  "That was on purpose, wasn't it." she said to Nadere, not really asking a question, "Whenever you called me, you'd have made sure there were plenty of people to watch. To make sure adopting Aviendha was important enough to me." It had to be more important that anything else, they had been told. "What did you do to her?" Aviendha seemed to have very little modesty sometimes, often walking around her apartments unclothed and unconcerned, not even noticing when servants entered. Making her undress in a crowd would have proved nothing.

  "That is for her to tell you if she wishes," Nadere said complacently. 'You are sharp to see it; many do not." Her large bosom heaved in a grunt that might have been a laugh. "Those men, turning their backs, and those women, guarding you. I would have put a stop to it if the man in the embroidered coat had not kept looking over his shoulder to admire your hips. And if your blushes had not said you knew."

  Elayne missed a step and stumbled, The cloak Bared, losing the little body warmth it had trapped before she could snatch it closed again. "That filthy pig-kisser!" she growled, "I'll...! I'll...!" Burn her, what could she do? Tell Rand? Let him deal with Taim? Never in life!

  Nadere eyed her quizzically, "Most men enjoy looking at a woman's bottom. Stop thinking about men, and start thinking about the woman you want for a sister."

  Flushing again, Elayne put her mind on Aviendha, It did nothing to settle her nerves. There were specific things she had been told to think on before the ceremony, and some made her uneasy.

  Nadere kept her pace to Elayne's, and Elayne took great care not to let her legs flash through the cloak's opening - there were servants everywhere - so it took them some little time to reach the room where the Wise Ones were gathered, more than a dozen of them in their bulky skirts and white blouses and dark shawls, decked with necklaces and bracelets of gold and silver, gems and ivory, their long hair held back with folded scarves. All the furnishings and carpets had been cleared out, leaving bare white floor tiles, and there was no fire on the hearth. Here, deep in the palace, with no windows, the crash of thunder was barely audible.

  Elayne's eyes went straight to Aviendha, standing on the far side of the room. Naked. She smiled at Elayne nervously, Nervously! Aviendha! Hurriedly throwing off the cloak, Elayne smiled back. Nervously, she realized. Aviendha gave a soft laugh, and after a moment, Elayne did, too. Light, the air was cold! And the floor was colder!

  She did not know most of the Wise Ones in the room, but one face jumped at her, Amys' prematurely white hair combined with features that appeared short of their middle years to give her something of the look of an Aes Sedai, She must have Traveled from Cairhien. Egwene had been teaching the dreamwalkers, to repay their teaching about Tel'aran'rhiod. And to meet a debt, she claimed, though she had never made clear what debt.

  "I hoped Melaine would be here," Elayne said, She liked Bael's wife, a warm and generous woman. Not like two others in the room she recognized, bony Tamela with her angular face, and Viendre, a beautiful, blue-eyed eagle. Both were stronger in the Power than she, stronger than any sister she had met save Nynaeve. That was not supposed to matter among Aiel, but she could think of no other reason why they always sneered and looked down their noses when they saw her.

  She expected Amys to take charge - Amys always did, it seemed - but it was a short woman named Monaelle, her hair yellow with hints of red, who stepped forward. Not truly short, yet still the only woman in the room shorter than Elayne. And the weakest in the Power, too, barely strong enough, had she gone to Tar Valon, to have earned the shawl. Perhaps that really did not count with Aiel.

  "Were Melaine here," Monaelle said, her tone brisk but not unfriendly, "the babes she carries would be part of the bond between you and Aviendha, if the weaves brushed them. If they survived, that is; the unborn are not strong enough for this. The question is, are the two of you?" She gestured with both hands, pointing to spots on the floor not far from her. "Come here to the middle of the chamber, both of you."

  For the first time, Elayne realized that saidar was to be part of this. She had thought it would be just a ceremony, pledges exchanged, perhaps oaths given. What was going to happen? It did not matter, except.... Her steps dragged as she moved toward Monaelle, "My Warder.... Our bond.... Will she be... affected... by this." Aviendha, coming to face her, had frowned when Elayne hesitated, but at the question, she swung startled eyes to Monaelle. Clearly, it was something she had not thought of.

  The short Wise One shook her head, "No one outside this chamber can be touched by the weaves. She may sense some part of what you share with each other, because of her bond with you, but only a very little." Aviendha heaved a sigh of relief that Elayne echoed.

  "Now," Monaelle went on, "There are forms to be followed. Come. We are not clan chiefs discussing water-pledges over oosquai." Laughing, making what seemed to be jokes about clan chiefs and the strong Aiel liquor, the other women formed a circle around Aviendha and Elayne. Monaelle settled gracefully to the floor, sitting cross-legged two paces to one side of the bare women. Laughter ceased as her voice became formal. "We are gathered because two women wish to be first-sisters. We will see whether they are strong enough, and if they are, help them. Are their mothers present?"

  Elayne gave a start, but the next moment Viendre was behind her. "I stand for Elayne Trakand's mother, who cannot be here," Hands on Elayne's shoulders, Viendre pushed her forward and pressed down until she was kneeling on the cold tiles in front of Aviendha, then knelt behind her. "I offer my daughter to her testing."

  Tamela appeared behind Aviendha, pressing her down with her knees almost touching Elayne's, kneeling at her back. "I stand for Aviendha's mother, who cannot be here, I offer my daughter to her testing."

  Another time, Elayne might have giggled. Neither woman looked more than a half-dozen years older than Aviendha or her. Another time. Not now. The standing Wise Ones wore solemn faces. They were studying her and Aviendha as if weighing them, unsure they would measure up,

  "Who will suffer the pangs of birth for them?" Monaelle asked, and Amys stepped forward.

  Two others came with her, a fiery redhead named Shyanda, whom Elayne had seen with Melaine, and a graying woman she did not know. They helped Amys strip to her skin. Proud in her nakedness, Amys faced Monaell
e and slapped her nut belly, "I have borne children, I have given suck," she said, cupping breasts that looked as if she had done nothing of the kind. "I offer myself."

  At Monaelle's dignified nod of acceptance, Amys went to her knees two paces on the other side of Elayne and Aviendha and settled back on her heels, Shyanda and the graying Wise One knelt flanking her, and suddenly the glow of the Power surrounded every woman in the room except Elayne, Aviendha and Amys.

  Elayne took a deep breath, and. saw Aviendha do the same, Occasionally a bracelet clicked against another among the Wise Ones, the only sound in the room beyond breathing, and faint, distant thunder. It was almost a shock when Monaelle spoke.

  "You will both do as you are instructed. If you waver or question, your dedication is not strong enough. I will send you away, and that will be the end of it, forever. I will ask questions, and you will answer truthfully. If you refuse to answer, you will be sent away. If any here think you lie, you will be sent away. You may leave at any time on your own, of course, Which also will end this for all time, There are no second chances here. Now, What is the best you know of the woman you want for a first-sister?"

  Elayne half-expected the question. This was one of the things she had been told to think about. Choosing one virtue among many had not been easy, yet she had her answer ready. When she spoke, flows of saidar suddenly wove together between her and Aviendha, and no sound came from her tongue, or Aviendha's. Without thought, a part of her mind tucked away the weaves; even now, trying to learn was as much a part of her as the color of her eyes, The weaves vanished as her lips closed.

  "Aviendha is so confident, so proud. She doesn't care what anyone thinks she should do, or be; she is who she wants to be," Elayne heard her own voice say, while Aviendha's words suddenly were audible at the same time, "Even when Elaine is so afraid that her mouth dries, her spirit will not bend. She is braver than anyone I have ever known,"