"No, son. I don't like some of the things he is doing, but I promise you, he is a good man."
"Then the trial will prove that," Galad said.
"Good men can make mistakes. If you proceed with this, it could end in a way that none of us wish."
Galad froze, frowning. "Mother, are you implying that he should be allowed to escape his crime?"
"Come," she said, gesturing. "Sit back down. You're dizzying me with that pacing about."
Perhaps he'd risen to the position of Lord Captain Commander only recently, but he already seemed to bristle at taking an order. He did sit, however.
Oddly, she felt like a queen again. Galad hadn't seen her during the hard months. He thought of her as the old Morgase, so around him, she actually felt like the old Morgase. Almost.
Niall had held her as a prisoner, but had respected her, and she had begun to think t
hat she might be able to respect him as well. What had happened to the board where she and Niall had played stones so often? She hated to think of it broken in the Seanchan assault.
Would Galad become a Lord Captain Commander like Niall, or perhaps someone better? The Queen in her, the Queen reawakened, wanted to find a way to bring his light out and stifle the shadow.
"Galad," she said. "What are you going to do?"
"About the trial?"
"No. With this army of yours."
"We will fight at the Last Battle."
"Admirable," she said. "But do you know what that means?
"It means fighting alongside the Dragon Reborn."
"And the Aes Sedai."
"We can serve alongside the witches for a time, if it is in the name of the greater good."
She closed her eyes, breathing out. "Galad, listen to yourself. You name them witches? You went to train with them, perhaps to become a Warder!"
"Yes."
She opened her eyes. He seemed so earnest. But even the most deadly and violent of hounds could be earnest. "Do you know what they did to Elayne, Mother?" he asked.
"You mean losing her?" Morgase still harbored anger over that.
"They sent her out on missions," he said, voice laced with disgust. "They refused to let me see her, probably because she was out being put into danger. I met her later, outside the Tower."
"Where was she?" Morgase asked, eager.
"Here in the south. My men name the Aes Sedai witches. Sometimes, I wonder how far off from the truth that is." "Galad . . ."
"Not all women who wield the One Power are evil inherently," he said. "That is a mistaken tradition of the Children. The Way of the Light doesn't make that claim; it just says that the temptation to use the One Power can corrupt. I believe that the women who now run the White Tower have let their schemes and selfish plots blind them."
She nodded, not wishing to argue the point. Thank the Light Elaida wasn't here to hear that logic!
"Either way," he said. "We will fight alongside them, and the Dragon Reborn, and this Perrin Aybara if need be. The sttuggle against the Shadow outweighs all other concerns."
"Then let us join that struggle," she said. "Galad, forget this trial! Aybara intends to disband some of his army and give the rest to al'Thor."
He met her eyes, then nodded. "Yes. I can see now that the Pattern has led you to me. We will travel with you. After the trial has finished."