The Gathering Storm

The woman smiled. "Yes, Mother. Thank you."

Egwene nodded. "Go, then. Pass on my message. Alviarin must be taken." She glanced at Verin's body. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to take her with you as well. It will be better if she vanishes, as opposed to my having to explain her death in my room."

"But—"

"Use a gateway," Egwene said. "Skim if you don't know the area well enough."

Meidani nodded, then Embraced the Source.

"Weave something else, first," Egwene said thoughtfully. "It doesn't matter what; something that requires a lot of power. Perhaps one of the hundred weaves one takes in the test to become Aes Sedai."

Meidani frowned, but did as asked, weaving something very complicated and power-intensive. Soon after she began, Turese poked her head into the room suspiciously. The weave blocked her sight of Verin's face, fortunately, but Turese wasn't focused on the "sleeping" Brown. She focused on the weave, opening her mouth.

"She is showing me some of the weaves I will need to know if I take the test to become Aes Sedai," Egwene said curtly, cutting off Turese's words. "Is that forbidden?"

Turese glared at her, but pulled the door shut and withdrew.

"That was to prevent her from poking in and seeing the weaves for gateways," Egwene said. "Quickly now. Take the body. When Turese looks in again, I will tell her the truth—that you and Verin left through a gateway."

Meidani glanced at Verin's corpse. "But what should we do with the body?"

"Whatever seems appropriate," Egwene said, growing testy. "I'll leave that to you. I don't have the time to deal with it now. And take that cup with you; the tea is poisoned. Dispose of it carefully."

Egwene glanced at her flickering candle; it was burned nearly all the way down to the table itself. To the side, Meidani sighed softly, then created a gateway. Weaves of Air moved Verin's body in through the opening, and Egwene watched her go with a pang of regret. The woman had deserved better. Someday, it would be known what she had suffered and what she had accomplished. But not for a time yet.

Once Meidani was gone with the corpse and the tea, Egwene lit another candle, then lay down on her bed, trying not to think of the body that had occupied it previously. She relaxed herself, thinking of Siuan. The woman would be going to sleep soon. She needed to be warned about Sheriam and the others.

Egwene opened her eyes in Tel'aran'rhiod. She was in her room, or at least the dream version of it. The bed was made, the door closed. She changed her dress to that of a stately green gown fitting an Amyrlin, then moved herself to the Tower's Spring Garden. Siuan wasn't there yet, but it was probably still a little early for their meeting.

Here, at least, one could see none of the filth that piled up in the city or the corruption that worked at the roots of Ajah unity. The Tower gardeners moved like natural forces, planting, cultivating, and harvesting as Amyrlins rose and fell. The Spring Garden was smaller than most of the other Tower gardens; it was a triangular plot of land pressed between two walls. Perhaps in another city, this plot would have been used for storage or simply filled in with stone. But in the White Tower, both options would have been unsightly.

The solution was a small garden full of plants that thrived in the shade. Hydrangeas ran up the walls and surged around planters. Bleeding hearts sat in rows, with their tiny pink blossoms drooping from delicate three-pronged compound leaves. Flowering bristleboughs, with their thin, fingerlike leaves, and other small shade trees ran along the insides of the triangular walls, meeting in a single point.

Walking up and down the lines of trees as she waited, Egwene thought of Sheriam being Black. How many things had the woman had a hand in? She'd been Mistress of Novices for years during Siuan's tenure as Amyrlin. Had she used her position to bully, perhaps to turn, other sisters? Had she been behind the attack of the Gray Man so long ago?

Sheriam had been part of the group that healed Mat. Surely she could have done nothing malicious while in a circle with so many other women— but anything involving the woman was suspect. That was so much! Sheriam had been one of those in charge of Salidar before Egwene's rise to power. What had Sheriam done, how much manipulation had she exerted then, how much had she betrayed to the Shadow?

Had she been aware ahead of time of Elaida's plans to depose Siuan? Galina and Alviarin were Black, and they had been two of the main instigators, so it seemed likely other Blacks had been warned. Were the exodus of half of the Tower, the gathering in Salidar, and the subsequent waiting and debating all part of the Dark One's plan? What of Egwene's own rise to power? How many of the Shadow's strings did she dance on without knowing it?

This is an exercise in futility, she told herself firmly. Don't go down that path. Even without Verin's books, Egwene had suspected that the breaking of the Tower was the Dark One's work. Of course he would be pleased that the Aes Sedai had split in two, rather than unifying behind one leader.

It was just more . . . personal now. Egwene felt dirtied, she felt duped. For a moment, she felt herself to be the country girl many thought her to be. If Elaida had been a pawn for the Blacks, then so had she. Light! How the Dark One must have laughed to see two rival Amyrlins, each with one of his loyal minions at her side, pitting them against one another.

I can't be certain exactly what he wants or why he wants it, Verin had said. Even after years of study, I can't be certain. . . . Who knew whether the Dark One laughed?

She shivered. Whatever his plan, she would fight him. Resist him. Spit in his eye, even if he won, just as the Aiel said.

"Well, that's a sight," Siuan's voice said.

Egwene spun, realizing with chagrin that she no longer wore the dress of the Amyrlin, but a full suit of armor like a soldier riding to battle. In her hand, she carried a pair of Aiel spears.

She banished armor and spears with a thought, resuming the dress. "Siuan," she said curtly. "You may want to summon yourself a chair. Something has happened."

Siuan frowned. "What?"

"First off, Sheriam and Moria are Black Ajah."

"What?" Siuan said, shocked. "What nonsense is this?" She froze. "Mother," she added belatedly.