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,"
Elayne stared at her fiend. Aviendha thought she was brave? Light, she was no coward, but brave? Strangely, Aviendha was staring at her in disbelief.
"Courage is a well," Viendre said at Elayne's ear, "deep in some, shallow in others. Deep or shallow, wells go dry eventually, even if they fill again later. You will face what you cannot face. Your spine will turn to jelly, and your vaunted courage will leave you weeping in the dust, The day will come." She sounded as though she wanted to be there to see it come, Elaine gave a curt nod. She knew all about her spine turning to jelly; she fought it every day, it seemed.
Tamela was speaking to Aviendha, in a voice almost as satisfied as Viendre's, "Ji'e'toh binds you like bands of steel, For ji, you make yourself exactly what is expected of you, to the last hair. For toh, if necessary you will abase yourself and crawl on your belly. Because you care to your bones what everyone thinks of you,"
Elayne nearly gasped, That was harsh, and unfair. She knew something of ji'e'toh, but Aviendha was not like that, Yet Aviendha was nodding, much as she herself had. An impatient acceptance of what she already knew.
"Fine traits to love in a first-sister," Monaelle said, liking her shawl down to her elbows, "but what do you And worst in her?"
Elayne shifted on her chilling knees, licked her lips before speaking. She had dreaded this. It was not just Monaelle's warning. Aviendha had said they must speak the truth, Must, or what was sisterhood worth? Again the weaves held their words captive until they were done.
"Aviendha...," Elayne's voice said suddenly, hesitantly. "She... she thinks violence is always the answer. At times, she won't think beyond her belt knife. At times, she's like a boy who won't grow up!"
"Elayne knows that..." Aviendha's voice began, then gulped and went on in a rush. "She knows she is beautiful, knows the power it gives her over men, She exposes half her bosom sometimes, in the open air, and she smiles to make men do what she wants."
Elayne gaped. Aviendha thought that of her? It made her sound a lightskirt! Aviendha frowned back and half-opened her mouth, but Tamela pressed her shoulders again and began to speak.
'You think men do not stare at your face in approval."
There was an edge in the Wise One's voice; strong was the best anyone would ever say of her face, "Do they not look at your breasts in the sweat tent? Admire your hips? You are beautiful, and you know it. Deny it, and deny yourself! You have taken pleasure in men's looks, and smiled at them. Will you never smile at a man to give your arguments more weight, or touch his arm to distract him from the weakness of your arguments.'You will, and you will be no less for it."
Red flooded Aviendha's cheeks, but Elayne was having to listen to Viendre, And fight blushes of her own. "There is violence in you. Deny it, and deny yourself. Have you never raged and struck out? Have you never drawn blood? Have you never wished to? Without considering another way? Without any thought at all,' While you breathe, that will be part of you." Elayne thought of Taim, and other times, and her face felt like a furnace,
This time, there was more than one response.
'Your arms will grow weak," Tamela was telling Aviendha. 'Your legs will lose their swiftness, A youth will be able to take the knife from your hand. How will skill or ferocity avail you then', Heart and mind are the true weapons, But did you learn to use the spear in a day, when you were a Maiden? If you do nor hone mind and heart now, you will grow old and children will befuddle your wits. Clan chiefs will sit you in a corner to play cat's cradle, and when you speak, all will hear only the wind. Take heed while you can."
"Beauty flees," Viendre went on, to Elayne. "Years will make your breasts sag, your flesh grow slack, your skin grow leathery. Men who smiled to see your face will speak to you as if you were just another man. Your husband may see you always as the first time his eyes caught you, but no other man will dream of you. Will you no longer be you? Your body is only clothing. Your flesh will wither, but you are your heart and mind, and they do not change except to grow stronger,
Elayne shook her head. Not in denial. Not really. She had never thought on aging, though, Especially not since going to the Tower. The years lay lightly even on very old Aes Sedai. But what if she lived as long as the Kinswomen? That would mean giving up being Aes Sedai, of course, but what if she did? The Kin took a very long time to grow wrinkles, but grow them they did. Whar was Aviendha thinking? She knelt there looking... sullen.
"Whar is the most childish thing you know of the woman you want for a first-sister?" Monaelle said.
This was easier, not so fraught. Elayne even smiled as she spoke. Aviendha grinned back, sullenness gone. Again the weaves took their words and released them together, voices with laughter in them.
"Aviendha won't let me teach her to swim. I've tried, She isn't afraid of anything, except getting into more water than a bathtub."
"Elayne gobbles sweets with both hands like a child who's escaped her mother's eye. If she keeps on, she will be fat as a pig before she grows old."
Elayne jerked. Gobbles? Gobbles? A taste, now and then, was all she took Just now and then, Fat? Why was Aviendha glaring at her.' Refusing to step into water more than knee-deep was childish.
Monaelle covered a slight cough with one hand, but Elayne thought she was hiding a smile. Some of the standing Wise Ones laughed outright. At Aviendha's silliness? Or her... gobbling?
Monaelle resumed dignity, adjusting her skirts spread out of the floor, but there was still a touch of mirth in her voice. "What is your greatest jealousy of the woman you want for a first-sister',"
Perhaps Elayne would have hedged her answer despite the requirement for truth. Truth had jumped up as soon as she was told to think on this, but she had found something smaller, less embarrassing for them both, that would have passed muster. Perhaps. But there was that about her smiling at men and exposing her bosom. Maybe she did smile, but Aviendha walked in front of red-faced serving-men without a stitch on and seemed not even to see them! So she gobbled candy, did she? She was going to get fat? She spoke the bitter truth while the weaves took her words and Aviendha's mouth moved in grim silence, until at last, what they had said was loosed.
"Aviendha has lain in the arms of the man I love. I never have; I may never, and I could weep over it!"
"Elayne has the love of Rand al'Th... of Rand. My heart is dust for wanting him to love me, but I do not know if he ever will."