The Gathering Storm

'Doing what was necessary to protect you, your lands and your people, Gareth Bryne. You blame me for the loss of a barn and some cows. Well, then I suggest that you consider the cost to your people should the Dragon Reborn fail. Sometimes, prices must be paid so that a more important duty can be served. I would expect a soldier to understand that.'

'You should have told me,' he said, still meeting her eyes. 'You should have explained who you were.'

'What?' Siuan asked. 'Would you have believed me?'

He hesitated.

'Besides,' she said frankly, 'I didn't trust you. Our previous meeting had not been particularly . . . amicable, as I recall. Could I have taken that risk, Gareth Bryne, on a man I did not know? Could I have given him control over the secrets I alone know, secrets that needed to be passed on to the new Amyrlin Seat? Should I have spared even a moment when the entire world was wearing the hangman's noose?'

She held those eyes, demanding an answer.

'No,' he finally admitted. 'Burn me, Siuan, but no. You shouldn't have waited. You shouldn't have made that oath in the first place!'

'You should have been more careful to listen,' she said, finally breaking his gaze with a sniff. 'I suggest that if you swear someone into service in the future, you be careful to stipulate a time frame for that service.'

Bryne grunted and Siuan whipped the final shirt off of the drying line, causing it to shake, making a blurry shadow on the back wall of the tent.

'Well,' Bryne said, 'I told myself I'd only hold you to work as long as it took me to get that answer. Now I know. I would say that—'

'Stop!' Siuan snapped, spinning on him and pointing.

'But—'

'Don't say it,' she threatened. 'I'll gag you and leave you hanging in the air until sundown tomorrow. Don't think that I won't.'

Bryne sat, silent.

'I'm not finished with you yet, Gareth Bryne.' She whipped the shirt in her hands, then folded it. 'I shall tell you when I am.'

'Light, woman,' he muttered, almost under his breath. 'If I'd known you were Aes Sedai before chasing you to Salidar . . . if I'd known what I was doing. . . .'

'What?' she demanded. 'You wouldn't have hunted me down?'

'Of course I would have,' he said indignantly. 'I'd have just been more careful, and perhaps come better prepared. I went off hunting boars with a rabbit knife instead of a spear!'

Siuan set the folded shirt on top of the others, then picked up the stack. She gave him a suffering look. 'I will do my best to pretend that you didn't just compare me to a boar, Bryne. Kindly be a little more cautious with your tongue. Otherwise, you'll find yourself without a maidservant, and you'll have to let those ladies in the camp take up your laundry.'

He gave her a bemused look. Then he just laughed. She failed at keeping her own grin to herself. Well, after that exchange, he would know who was in control of this association.

But . . . Light! Why had she told him about the Foretelling? She'd rarely told anyone about that! As she packed the shirts in his trunk, she glanced at Bryne, who was still shaking his head and chuckling.

When other oaths no longer have a hold on me, she thought. When I'm certain the Dragon Reborn is doing what he is supposed to, perhaps there will be time. For once, I'm actually starting to look forward to being done with this quest. How remarkable.

'You should be bedding down, Siuan,' Bryne said.

'It's early yet,' she said.

'Yes, but it's sunset. Every third day you bed down uncharacteristically early, wearing that odd ring you have hidden between the cushions of your pallet.' He turned over a paper on his desk. 'Please give my kind regards to the Amyrlin.'

She turned toward him, slack-jawed. He couldn't know about Tel'aran'rhiod, could he? She caught him smiling in satisfaction. Well, perhaps he didn't know about Tel'aran'rhiod, but he'd obviously guessed that the ring and her schedule had something to do with communicating with Egwene. Sly. He glanced over the top of his papers at her as she passed, and his eyes had a twinkle to them.

'Insufferable man,' she muttered, sitting down on her pallet and dismissing her globe of light. Then she sheepishly fished out the ring ter'an-greal and put it around her neck, turned her back on him and lay down, trying to will herself to sleep. She made certain to rise early every third day so that she'd be tired at night. She wished she could put herself to sleep as easily as Egwene did.

Insufferable . . . insufferable man! She'd have to do something to get back at him. Mice in the bedsheets. That would be a good payback.

She lay for too long a time, but eventually coaxed herself to sleep, smiling faintly to herself at the prospect of an apt revenge. She awoke in Tel'aran'rhiod wearing nothing but a scandalous, barely covering slip. She yelped, immediately replacing that—through concentration—with a green dress. Green? Why green? She made it blue. Light! How was it that Egwene was always so good at controlling things in Tel'aran'rbiod while Siuan could barely keep her clothing from switching at every idle thought? It must have something to do with the fact that Siuan had to wear this inferior ter'angreal copy, which didn't work as well as the original. It made her look insubstantial to others who saw her.

She was standing in the middle of the Aes Sedai camp, surrounded by tents. The flaps of any given structure would be open one moment, then closed the next. The sky was troubled by a violent, yet strangely silent, storm. Curious, but things were often strange in Tel'aran'rhiod. She closed her eyes, willing herself to appear in the study of the Mistress of Novices in the White Tower. When she opened her eyes, she was there. A small, wood-paneled room with a stout desk and a table for strappings.

She would have liked to have the original ring, but that was carefully kept by the Sitters. She should be thankful for even a small catch, as her father had been fond of saying. She could have been left without any of the rings. The Sitters thought this one had been with Leane when she'd been captured.

Was Leane all right? At any moment, the false Amyrlin could opt for execution. Siuan knew all too well how spiteful Elaida could be; she still felt a stab of sorrow when she thought of poor Alric. Had Elaida felt a single moment of guilt over murdering a Warder in cold blood, before the woman she was tearing down had been properly deposed?

'A sword, Siuan?' Egwene's voice suddenly asked. 'That's novel.'

Siuan looked down, shocked to find herself holding a bloody sword, likely intended for Elaida's heart. She made it vanish, then regarded Egwene. The girl looked the part of the Amyrlin, wearing that magnificent golden gown, her brown hair in an intricate arrangement set with pearls. Her face wasn't ageless yet, but Egwene was getting very good at the calm serenity of an Aes Sedai. In fact, she seemed to have grown measurably better at that since her capture.

'You look well, Mother,' Siuan said.

'Thank you,' Egwene said, with a faint smile. She showed more of herself around Siuan than she did the others. They both knew how heavily Egwene had relied on Siuan's teaching to get where she was.

Though she'd probably have made it there anyway, Siuan admitted. Just not quite as quickly.

Egwene glanced at the toom around them, then grimaced faintly. 'I realize I suggested this location last time, but I have seen enough of this room lately. I will meet you in the novices' dining hall.' She vanished.

An odd choice, but very unlikely to conceal unwanted ears. Siuan and Egwene weren't the only ones who used Tel'aran'rhiod for clandestine meetings. Siuan closed her eyes—she didn't need to, but it seemed to help her—and imagined the novices' dining hall, with its rows of benches and its bare walls. When she opened her eyes, she was there, as was Egwene. The Amyrlin settled back and a majestic stuffed chair appeared behind her, catching her gracefully as she sat. Siuan didn't trust herself to do anything so complicated; she simply