Perhaps spurred by Elaida's presence, Siuan and Myrelle did their very best. Which meant their very worst for startling slaps and pinches, sudden bangs beside Moiraine's ear and switch-like blows across her legs, always just when she needed her concentration most. She tried not to look at Elaida, but the sister stood where she could not avoid seeing her. Elaida's judgmental gaze made her nervous, yet maybe it inspired her, as well. Or drove her. Focusing herself, concentrating with all she had, she managed to complete sixty-one weaves before the sixty- second collapsed in a tangle of Earth, Air, Water and Spirit that left her skin clammy until she let it dissipate. Not a wonderful performance, but neither was it so terrible. She had come close to completing all one hundred on numerous occasions, but she had actually done it only twice, once by the skin of her teeth.
'Pitiful,' Elaida said, cold as ice. 'You'll never pass like that. And I
Wetting her lips, Moiraine turned her back. Myrelle gave her an encouraging smile, and Siuan nodded confidently, but she could see their worry. What would Elaida do? She began. As soon as she embraced the Power, flashes of light began streaking across her line of vision, leaving black and silver flecks dancing in her eyes. Bangs and piercing whistles made her ears ring. Blows as from hard-swung straps or switches struck her one after another. It was all continuous, with no letup until she completed a weave, and then only a short pause until she began to weave again.
And all the while, Elaida harangued her in a cold, matter-of-fact tone. 'Faster, child. You must weave faster. The weave must almost leap into being complete. Faster. Faster.'
Clutching at serenity with her fingernails, Moiraine reached only the twelfth weave before her concentration broke completely. The weave not only collapsed, she lost
'Thank you, Aes Sedai,' Siuan said quickly. 'We see what we must do, now.' Myrelle's hands were clutching her skirts in fists; her face was ashen, her eyes wide with horror.
'Again,' Elaida said. It took everything Moiraine had in her to make herself turn her back once more.
The only difference was that she finished just nine weaves this time.
'Again,' Elaida said.
On the third try, she completed six weaves, and only three on the fourth. Sweat rolled down her face. After a while, the flashing lights and ear-piercing whistles hardly seemed more than annoyances. Only the incessant beating mattered. Only the endless beating, and the endless pain. On the fifth attempt, she fell to her knees weeping beneath the first shower of blows. The pummeling ceased instantly, but huddling in on herself, she sobbed as though she would never stop. Oh, Light, she had never hurt like this before. Never.
She was not even aware of Siuan kneeling beside her until the other woman said gently, 'Can you stand, Moiraine?' Raising her head from the rug, she stared up at Siuan's face, full of concern. With an effort she had not thought in her, she managed to master her weeping, barely, then nodded and began to push herself up laboriously. Bruised muscles did not want to lift her. Every movement scrubbed her shift against the sweat-stung welts, clothing her in burning agony.
'She will live,' Elaida said dryly. 'A little pain tonight will drive the lesson home. You must be fast! I will come back in the morning to Heal her. And you, too, Siuan. Help her to the bed and begin.'
Siuan's face paled, but when an Aes Sedai commanded Moiraine did not want to watch, yet Siuan had been forced to, so she held her eyes open by force of will. It made her want to begin weeping all over again. Often when they practiced, Siuan managed to complete every last weave despite anything Moiraine could do. She never failed less than two-thirds of the way through. Tonight, under Elaida's strict tutelage, she managed twenty the first time. The second, it was seventeen, and fourteen on the third. Her face was drained of color and slick with sweat. Her breath came raggedly. But she had not shed a tear. And when a weave failed, she started from the beginning again without so much as a moment's pause. On the fourth try, she finished twelve. And twelve on the fifth, the sixth. Doggedly, she began to weave once more.
'That's enough for tonight,' Elaida said. Not one drop of pity touched her voice. Slowly, painfully, Siuan turned, the light of
Siuan waited until the door closed behind the Aes Sedai, then threw back her head. 'Oh, Light!' she wailed, falling to her knees with a thud, and the tears she had held back came in torrents.
Moiraine bounded from the bed. Well, she tried to bound. It was actually more of a pained hobble, and Myrelle reached Siuan first. The three of them knelt there, holding one another and weeping, Myrelle as hard as she or Siuan.
Finally, Myrelle pushed back, sniffing and wiping tears from her cheeks with her fingers. 'Wait here,' she said, as if they were in condition to go anywhere, and darted from the room. Soon she returned with a red-glazed jar the size of her two fists, and also Sheriam and Ellid to help get Siuan and Moiraine undressed and apply the ointment in the jar.
'This is wrong!' Ellid said fiercely once the pair of them were naked and she was opening the jar, all the time gasping over their welts and bruises finished. Sheriam and Myrelle nodded quick agreement. 'The law forbids using the Power to discipline an initiate!'
'Oh?' Siuan growled. 'And how often have you had your ear flicked with the Power by a sister, or gotten a stripe across your bottom?' A gasp broke from her mouth. 'There's no need to rub that clear to the bone, is there?'
'I'm sorry,' Ellid said in contrite tones. 'I'll try to be easier.' Vanity was a powerful fault, but that was her only real fault. Her only one. It was very hard to like Ellid. 'You two should report this. We could all go to Merean.'
'No,' Moiraine breathed hoarsely. Going on, the salve stung worse than the welts. It was better after. A little better. 'I think Elaida really is trying to help us. She said she
Siuan stared at her as though she had sprouted feathers. 'I don't recall hearing her say that. Myself, I think she's trying to make us fail!'
'Besides,' Moiraine added, 'who ever heard-? Oh! Oh!' Sheriam muttered an apology, but the ointment still stung. 'Who ever heard of an Accepted complaining without paying for it?'
That brought three nods. Grudgingly given, yet they nodded.
Novices who complained received a gentle if firm explanation of why matters were how they were. Accepted were expected to know better. They were required to learn endurance every bit as much as history or the One Power.
'Maybe she'll decide to leave you alone,' Sheriam said, but she did not sound as if she believed it would happen.
When they finally departed, Myrelle left the jar of ointment behind. Only Verin's vile-tasting concoction let them sleep, huddled beneath the blankets in Moiraine's narrow bed, and it was the grim reminder of that jar sitting on the mantel that warred with sleep as much as their welts and bruises.
Elaida was as good as her word, appearing before daybreak to use Healing on them. And it
Sheriam, Myrelle and Ellid must have kept watch, for each night, after Elaida left, they appeared to offer