The Gathering Storm

The women fell silent. None of them wanted to admit outright that the plan had backfired. Adelorna settled back in her chair, arms folded, smoldering but no longer flinging out accusations.

"It was Elaida," Ferane said. "She wasn't ever . . . very logical."

"She was a bloody disaster is what she was," Adelorna muttered.

"It was more than that," Jesse admitted. "Directly choosing Sitters we could control to replace those sent to the rebels was a good decision, but perhaps too obvious. The women of our own Ajahs became suspicious; I know of several comments made by women of the Brown. We are not so oblivious as others would like to think us."

Serancha nodded. "It smelled of conspiracy," she said. "That made the women less trusting. And then there were the rebels. Far more difficult to control than presumed."

The women nodded. They, like Jesse, had assumed that with proper direction, the rebels would find their way back to the Tower and ask forgiveness. This division should have ended with no more damage than a few bruised egos.

But they hadn't counted on how resilient, or effective, the rebels would be. A full army, appearing on the shores around Tar Valon in the middle of a snowstorm? Led by one of the greatest military minds of the Age? With a new Amyrlin and a frustratingly effective siege? Who could have expected it? And some of the Sitters they had sent had begun siding with the rebels more than the White Tower!

We never should have let Elaida disband the Blue Ajah, Jesse thought. The Blues might have been willing to come back, had it not happened. But it was such a dishonor that they dug in. Light only knew how dangerous that was; the histories were filled with accounts of how dogged the Blues could be at getting their way, particularly when they were forced into a corner.

"I think it is time to admit that there is no hope to save our plans," Suana said. "Are we agreed?"

"Agreed," Adelorna said.

One by one, the sisters nodded their heads, and so did Jesse herself. Even in this room, it was difficult to admit fault. But it was time to cut their losses and begin rebuilding.

"This has its own problems," Serancha said, voice more calm now. The other women looked more assured as well. They didn't trust one another, these five, but they were far closer to doing so than any other group with any authority in the Hall.

"Care must be taken," Ferane added. "The division must be mended."

"The rebellion was against Elaida," Adelorna said. "If she is no longer Amyrlin, then what is there to rebel against?"

"So we abandon her?" Jesse asked.

"She deserves it," Adelorna said. "She said time and time again that Seanchan were no threat. Well, now she is paying for her foolishness firsthand."

"Elaida is beyond rescue," Ferane added. "The Hall has already discussed this. The Amyrlin is buried somewhere in a mass of Seanchan captives, and we have neither the resources nor the information for a rescue."

Not to mention our total lack of desire, Jesse added to herself. Many of the Sitters who had brought those points before the Hall were ones who had been sent to penance by Elaida. Jesse wasn't one of those, but she did agree that Elaida had earned her reward, if only for the way she had driven the Ajahs to one another's throats.

"Then we need a replacement," Serancha said. "But who?"

"It has to be someone strong," Suana said. "But someone cautious, unlike Elaida. Someone whom the sisters can rally around."

"What about Saerin Asnobar?" Jesse asked. "She has shown uncanny wisdom of late, and she is well liked."

"Of course you'd choose a Brown," Adelorna said.

"And why not?" Jesse said, taken aback. "You all heard, I think, how well she did assuming command during the attack last night?"

"Seaine Herimon led her own pocket of resistance," Ferane said. "I should think this would be a time for a woman to lead who is of an unemotional temperament. Someone who can provide rational guidance."

"Nonsense," Suana said. "Whites are too emotionless; we don't want to alienate sisters, we want to bring them together. Heal them! Why, a Yellow—"

"You're all forgetting something," Serancha interjected. "What is needed now? A reconciliation. The Gray Ajah is the one that has spent centuries practicing the art of negotiation. Who better to deal with a divided Tower, and the Dragon Reborn himself?"

Adelorna gripped the armrests of her chair and straightened her back. The others were growing tense as well. As Adelorna opened her mouth to speak, Jesse cut her off.

"Enough!" she interjected. "Are we just going to squabble as the Hall has been doing all morning? Each Ajah offering its own members, and the others summarily rejecting them?"

The room fell silent again. It was true; the Hall had been in session for hours and had only just gone into a short recess. No one Ajah was close to getting enough support for one of its candidates. The Sitters would not stand for anyone not of their own Ajah; there was too much animosity between them. Light, but this was a mess!

"Ideally, it should be one of us five," Ferane said. "That makes sense."