The Gathering Storm

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.'

The five looked at each other, and Jesse could read their answers to that in their eyes. They were the Ajah heads, the most powerful women in the world. Right now, they were balanced in power, and while they trusted each other more than most, there was no way any of them would allow the elevation of another Ajah head to the Amyrlin Seat. It would give the woman far too much power. After the failure of their plan, trust was wearing very thin.

'If we don't decide soon,' Suana noted, 'the Hall may take the decision from us.'

'Bah.' Adelorna waved a hand. 'They're so divided they can't agree on what color the sky is. The Sitters have no idea what they're doing.'

'At least some of us didn't choose Sitters who were years too young to be placed in the Hall,' Ferane said.

'Oh?' Adelorna said. 'And you got around that how, Ferane? By choosing yourself as a Sitter?'

Ferane's eyes widened with rage. It was not a good idea to rile that woman's temper.

'We all made mistakes,' Jesse said quickly. 'Many sisters we chose were odd. We wanted women who would do exactly as we said, but instead we got a group of squabbling brats with inflated opinions of themselves, too immature for more temperate minds to influence.'

Adelorna and Ferane made a point of not looking at each other.

'This still leaves us with a problem,' Suana said. 'We need an Amyrlin. Healing must begin quickly, whatever the cost.'

Serancha shook her head. 'I honestly can't think of a single woman that a sufficient number of Sitters would support.'

'I can,' Adelorna said softly. 'She was mentioned in the Hall several times today. You know of whom I speak. She is young, and her circumstances are unusual, but everything is unusual at the moment.'

'I don't know,' Suana said, frowning. 'She was mentioned, yes, but by those whose motives I don't trust.'

'Saerin seems quite taken with her,' Jesse admitted.

'She's too young,' Serancha said. 'Weren't we just berating ourselves for choosing Sitters who lacked the necessary experience?'

'She is young, yes,' Ferane noted, 'but you have to admit, there's a certain . . . flair to her. I hardly think that anyone in the Tower stood up to Elaida as effectively as she. And while in such a position as she was, no less!'

'You've heard the reports of her actions during the attack,' Adelorna said. 'I can confirm that they are true. I was there with her for most of it.'

Jesse started at this. She hadn't realized that Adelorna had been on the twenty-second level during the fighting. 'Surely some of what was said is exaggeration.'

Adelorna shook her head grimly. 'No. It isn't. It sounds incredible . . . but it ... well, it happened. All of it.'

'The novices all but worship her,' Ferane said. 'If the Sitters will not stand for someone of another Ajah, what of a woman who never picked an Ajah? A woman who has some experience—however unjustified—in holding the very position we are discussing?'

Jesse found herself nodding. But how had the young rebel gained such respect from Ferane and Adelorna?

'I am uncertain,' Suana said. 'It seems like another rash decision.'

'Didn't you yourself say that we had to heal the Tower, no matter what the cost?' Adelorna asked. 'Can you honestly think of a better way to bring the rebels back to us?' She turned to Serancha. 'What is the best method of appeasing an offended party? Would it not be to give some ground to them, acknowledge what they have done right?'

'She has a point,' Suana admitted. She grimaced, then downed the rest of her tea in one gulp. 'Light, but she's right, Serancha. We have to do it.'

The Gray looked at each of them in turn. 'You aren't foolish enough to assume this woman will be led by the nose, are you? I won't stand for this if we're simply trying to create another puppet. That plan failed. It failed miserably.'

'I doubt we'll find ourselves in that situation again,' Ferane said, smiling faintly. 'This one ... is not the type to be bullied. Just look at how she dealt with Elaida's restrictions.'

'Yes,' Jesse found herself saying, to her own surprise. 'Sisters, if we agree to this, it will end our dream of ruling from the shadows. For better or worse, we'll be setting up an Amyrlin of strength.'

'I, for one,' Adelorna said, 'think that's a splendid idea. It's been too long.'

One by one, the others agreed.

Siuan stood, unmoving, beneath the boughs of a small oak. The tree had been engulfed by the camp, and its shade had become a favored location for Accepted and novices taking lunches. There were none doing so at the