CHAPTER 45
Elayne woke in her bed, bleary-eyed. 'Egwene?' she said, disoriented. 'What?' The last memories of the dream were dissolving like honey consumed by warm tea, but Egwene's words remained firm in Elayne's mind. The serpent has fallen, Egwene had sent. Your brother's return was timely.
Elayne sat up, feeling a surge of relief. She had spent the entire night trying to channel enough to make her dream ter'angreal work, to no avail. When she'd found out that Birgitte had turned away Gawyn—while Elayne sat inside, furious but unable to attend the meeting with Egwene—she'd been livid.
Well, Mesaana had been defeated, it seemed. And what was that about her brother? She smiled. Perhaps he and Egwene had worked out their problems.
Morning light peeked through the drapes. Elayne sat back, feeling the powerful warmth through the bond with Rand that had appeared there. Light, but that was a wonderful sensation. The moment she'd begun feeling it, the cloud cover around Andor had broken.
It had been about a week since the testing of the dragons, and she'd put all of the bellfounders in her nation to work on creating them. These days, one could hear a steady sound in Caemlyn, repeating booms as members or the Band trained with the weapons in the hills outside of the city. So far, she had let only a few of the weapons be used for training; the different teams rotated practicing on them. She'd gathered the larger number in a secret warehouse inside Caemlyn for safekeeping.
She thought about the dream sending again. She hungered for specifics. Well, Egwene would probably send a messenger by gateway eventually.
The door cracked, and Melfane looked in. 'Your Majesty?' the short, round-faced woman asked. 'Is everything all right? I thought I heard a cry of pain.' Ever since lifting her ban on Elayne remaining in bed, the midwife had decided to sleep in the antechamber outside Elayne's bedroom to keep a careful watch on her.
'That was an exclamation of joy, Melfane,' Elayne said. 'A greeting for the wonderful morning that has come to us.'
Melfane frowned. Elayne tried to act cheerful around the woman, to persuade her that more bed rest wasn't needed, but perhaps that last part had been a little much. Elayne couldn't afford to appear as if she were forcing herself to be happy. Even if she was. Insufferable woman.
Melfane walked in and pulled open the drapes—sunlight was good for a woman with child, she'd explained. Part of Elayne's treatment lately had been to sit in her bed with the covers drawn back, letting the spring sunlight bake her skin. As Melfane moved, Elayne felt a little tremble from inside. 'Oh! There was another. They're kicking, Melfane! Come feel!'
'I won't be able to feel it yet, Your Majesty. Not until they're stronger.' She began the normal daily routine. Listen to Elayne's heartbeat, then listen for the babe's. Melfane still wouldn't believe there were twins. After that, she inspected and prodded Elayne, performing all of the tests in her secretive list of annoying and embarrassing things to do to women.
Finally, Melfane placed hands on hips, regarding Elayne, who was doing up her nightgown. 'I think you've been straining yourself too much lately. I want you to be certain to take proper rest. My cousin Tess's daughter had a child not two years ago who was birthed barely breathing. Light be thanked that the child survived, but she had been working the fields late through the day before and not taking proper meals. Imagine! Take care of yourself, my Queen. Your babies will be thankful for it.'
Elayne nodded, relaxing. 'Wait!' she said, sitting up. 'Babies?'
'Yes,' Melfane said, walking to the door. 'There are two heartbeats in your womb, sure as I have two arms. Don't know how you knew it.'
'You heard the heartbeats!' Elayne exclaimed, elated.
'Yes, they're there, sure as the sun.' Melfane shook her head and left, sending in Naris and Sephanie to dress her and brush her hair.
Elayne endured the process in a state of amazement. Melfane believed! She couldn't stop herself from smiling.
An hour later, she settled into her small sitting room, windows all thrown open to let in the sunlight, sipping warm goat's milk. Master Norry entered on long spindly legs, tufts of hair sticking up behind the backs of his ears, face long and peaked, leather folder under his arm. He was accompanied by Dyelin, who didn't usually attend the morning meeting. Elayne raised an eyebrow at the woman.
'I have the information you requested, Elayne,' Dyelin said, pouring herself some morning tea. Today it was cloudberry. 'I hear Melfane heard heartbeats?'
'She did indeed.'
'My congratulations, Your Majesty,' Master Norry said. He opened his folder and began arranging his papers on the tall, narrow table beside her chair. He rarely sat down in Elayne's company. Dyelin took one of the other comfortable chairs beside the hearth.
What information had Elayne requested of the woman? She didn't recall asking for anything specific. The question distracted her as Norry went over the daily reports on the various armies in the area. There was a list of altercations between sell-sword groups.
He also talked of food problems. Despite the Kinswomen making gateways to Rand's lands to the south for supply—and despite the caches of unexpected food stores that had been discovered in the city—Caemlyn was running low.
'Finally, as for our, um, guests,' Norry said. 'Messengers have arrived with the anticipated responses.'
None of the three Houses whose nobility had been captured could afford to pay ransom. Once the Arawn, Sarand and Marne estates had been among the most productive and extensive in Andor—and now they were destitute, their coffers dry, their fields barren. And Elayne had left two of them without leadership. Light, what a mess!
Norry moved on. She had a letter from Talmanes, agreeing to move several companies of soldiers from the Band of the Red Hand to Cairhien. She ordered Norry to send him a writ with her seal, authorizing the soldiers to 'lend aid restoring order.' That was, of course, nonsense. No order needed to be restored. But if Elayne was ever going to move for the Sun Throne, she'd need to make some preliminary moves in that direction.
'This is what I wanted to discuss, Elayne,' Dyelin said as Norry began to pack up his papers, arranging each one with meticulous care. Light help them if one of those precious pages tore or got a stain on it.
'The situation in Cairhien is… complex,' Dyelin said.
'When is it not?' Elayne asked with a sigh. 'You've information on the political climate there?'
'It's a mess,' Dyelin said simply. 'We need to talk about how you're going manage the maintenance of two nations, one in absence.'
'We have gateways,' Elayne said.
'True. But you must to find a way to take the Sun Throne without letting it look as if Andor is subsuming Cairhien. The nobility there might accept you as their queen, but only if they see themselves as equals to the Andorans. Otherwise, the moment they're out of your sight, the schemes will grow like yeast in a warm bowl of water.'
'They will be the equals of the Andorans,' Elayne said.
'They won't see it that way if you go in with your armies,' Dyelin said. 'The Cairhienin are a proud people. To think of themselves living conquered beneath Andor's Crown…'
'They lived beneath Rand's power.'
'With all due respect, Elayne,' Dyelin said. 'He is the Dragon Reborn. You are not.'
Elayne frowned, but how did one argue with that?
Master Norry cleared his throat. 'Your Majesty, Lady Dyelin's advice is not born of idle speculation. I, um, have heard things. Knowing of your interests in Cairhien…'
He'd been growing better at gathering informants. She'd turn him into a regular spymaster yet!
'Your Majesty,' Norry continued, voice lower. 'Rumors are claiming that you'll soon come to seize the Sun Throne. There is already talk of rebellion against you. Idle speculation, I'm certain, but…'
'The Cairhienin could see Rand al'Thor as an emperor,' Dyelin said. 'Not a foreign king. That is a different
