New Spring: The Novel

the door firmly.

Elis stared at Moiraine wide-eyed. 'I can show my Lady Aes Sedai to her own rooms now,' she said uncertainly, 'if-' She squeaked when Moiraine pushed open the door and went in.

The gray-haired serving woman and a younger leaped up from where they had been sitting, apparently darning shirts. A bony young man scrambled awkwardly to his feet beside the fireplace, looking to the women for instruction. They simply stared at Moiraine until she raised a questioning eyebrow. Then the gray-haired woman pointed to one of the two doors leading deeper into the apartments.

The door she pointed to led to a sitting room much like Moiraine's own, but all of the gilded chairs had been moved back against the walls and the flowered carpets rolled up. Shirtless, Lan was practicing the sword in the cleared area. A small golden locket swung at his neck as he moved, his blade a blur. Sweat covered him. And the wounds she had Healed him of had been replaced by? Claw marks from some wild animal on his back? Or marks left by a woman. Could this cold man actually inspire such passion in a woman that she would? She felt her cheeks heating at the image that popped into her head. Let him have as many women as he wished, so long as he did what she wished.

He spun gracefully out of the forms to face her, the point of his sword grounding on the floor tiles. He still did not quite meet her gaze, in that strange way he and Bukama had. His hair hung damply, clinging to his face despite the leather cord, but he was not breathing hard.

'You,' he growled. 'So you are Aes Sedai and a Damodred today. I've no time for your games, Cairhienin. I am waiting for someone.' Cold blue eyes flickered to the door behind her. Oddly, what appeared to be a cord woven of hair was tied around the inner handle in an elaborate knot. 'She will not be pleased to find another woman here.'

'Your lady love need have no fear of me,' Moiraine told him dryly. 'For one thing, you are much too tall, and for another, I prefer men with at least a modicum of charm. And manners. I came for your help. There was a pledge made, and held since the War of the Hundred Years, that Malkier would ride when the White Tower called. I am Aes Sedai, and I call you!'

'You know the hills are high, but not how they lie,' he muttered as if quoting some Malkieri saying. Stalking across the room away from her, he snatched up his scabbard and sheathed the sword forcefully. 'I'll give you your help, if you can answer a question. I've asked Aes Sedai over the years, but they wriggled away from answering like vipers. If you are Aes Sedai, answer it.'

'If I know the answer, I will.' She would not tell him again that she was what she was, but she embraced saidar, and moved one of the gilded chairs out into the middle of the floor. She could not have lifted the thing with her hands, yet it floated easily on flows of Air, and would have had it been twice as heavy. Sitting, she rested her hands on crossed knees where the golden serpent on her finger was plain. The taller person had an advantage when both stood, but someone standing must feel they were being judged by someone sitting, especially an Aes Sedai.

He did not seem to feel anything of the kind. For the first time since she had met him, he met her eyes directly, and his stare was blue ice. 'When Malkier died,' he said in tones of quiet steel, 'Shienar and Arafel sent men. They could not stop the flood of Trollocs and Myrddraal, yet they came. Men rode from Kandor, and even Saldaea. They came too late, but they came.' Blue ice became blue fire. His voice did not change, but his knuckles grew white gripping his sword. 'For nine hundred years we rode when the White Tower called, but where was the Tower when Malkier died? If you are Aes Sedai, answer me that!'

Moiraine hesitated. The answer he wanted was Sealed to the Tower, taught to Accepted in history lessons yet forbidden to any except initiates of the Tower. But what was another penance alongside what she faced? 'Over a hundred sisters were ordered to Malkier,' she said more calmly than she felt. By everything she had been taught, she should ask a penance for what she had told him already. 'Even Aes Sedai cannot fly, however. They were too late.' By the time the first had arrived, the armies of Malkier were already broken by endless hordes of Shadowspawn, the people fleeing or dead. The death of Malkier had been hard and blood-soaked, and fast. 'That was before I was born, but I regret it deeply. And I regret that the Tower decided to keep their effort secret.' Better that the Tower be thought to have done nothing than to have it known Aes Sedai had tried and failed. Failure was a blow to stature, and mystery an armor the Tower needed. Aes Sedai had reasons of their own for what they did, and for what they did not do, and those reasons were known only to Aes Sedai. 'That is as much answer as I can give. More than I should have, more than any other sister ever will, I think. Will it suffice?'

For a time he simply looked at her, fire slowly fading to ice once more. His eyes fell away. 'Almost, I can believe,' he muttered finally, without saying what he almost believed. He gave a bitter laugh. 'What help can I give you?'

Moiraine frowned. She very much wanted time alone with this man, to bring him to heel, but that had to wait. She very much hoped he was not a Darkfriend. 'There is another sister in the Palace. Merean Redhill. I need to know where she goes, what she does, who she meets.' He blinked, but did not ask the obvious questions. Perhaps he knew he would get no answers, but his silence was still pleasing.

'I have been keeping to my rooms the past few days,' he said, looking at the door again. 'I do not know how much watching I can do.'

In spite of herself, she sniffed. The man promised help, then looked anxiously for his lady. Perhaps he was not what she had thought. But he was who she had. 'Not you,' she told him. Her visit here would be known throughout the Aesdaishar soon, if it was not already, and if he was noticed spying on Merean? That could be disaster even if the woman was as innocent as a babe. 'I thought you might ask one of the Malkieri I understand have gathered here to follow you. Someone with a sharp eye and a close tongue. This must be done in utter secrecy.'

'No one follows me,' he said sharply. Glancing at the door once more, he suddenly seemed weary. He did not slump, but he moved to the fireplace and propped his sword beside it with the care of a tired man. Standing with his back to her, he said, 'I will ask Bukama and Ryne to watch her, but I cannot promise for them. That is all I can do for you.'

She stifled a vexed sound. Whether it was all he could do or all he would, she had no leverage to force him. 'Bukama,' she said. 'Only him.' Going by how he had behaved around her, Ryne would be too busy gaping at Merean to see or hear anything. That was if he did not confess what he was doing the moment Merean looked at him. 'And do not tell him why.'

His head whipped around, but after a moment he nodded. And again he did not ask the questions most people would have. Telling him how to get word to her, by notes passed to her maid Suki, she prayed she was not making a grave mistake.

Back in her own rooms, she discovered just how quickly news had spread. In the sitting room, Siuan was offering a tray of sweetmeats to a tall, full-mouthed young woman in pale green silk, little older than a girl, with black hair that fell well below her hips and a small blue dot painted on her forehead about where the stone of Moiraine's kesiera hung. Siuan's face was smooth, but her voice was tight as she made introductions. The Lady Iselle quickly showed why.

'Everyone in the Palace is saying you are Aes Sedai,' she said, eyeing Moiraine doubtfully. She did not rise, much less curtsy, or even incline her head. 'If that is so, I need your assistance. I wish to go to the White Tower. My mother wants me to marry. I would not mind Lan as my carneira if Mother were not already his, but when I marry, I think it will be one of my Warders. I will be Green Ajah.' She frowned faintly at Siuan. 'Don't hover, girl. Stand over there until you are needed.' Siuan took up a stance by the fireplace, back stiff and arms folded beneath her breasts. No real servant would have stood so-or frowned so-but Iselle no longer noticed her. 'Do sit down, Moiraine,' she went on with a smile, 'and I will tell you what I need of you. If you are Aes Sedai, of course.'

Moiraine stared. Invited to take a chair in her own sitting room. This silly child was certainly a suitable match for Lan when it came to arrogance. Her carneira? That meant 'first' in the Old Tongue, and plainly something else here. Not what it seemed to, of course; even these Malkieri could not be that peculiar! Sitting, she said dryly, 'Choosing your Ajah should at least wait until I test you to see whether there is any point in sending you to the Tower. A few minutes will determine whether you can learn to channel, and your potential strength if you-' The girl blithely broke in.

'Oh, I was tested years ago. The Aes Sedai said I would be very strong. I told her I was fifteen, but she