the Tower, but one couldn't mend years' worth of broken nets in one month.
They finally arrived at the Hall of the Tower. Sisters clustered in the wide hallway outside, divided by Ajah. Chubain hurried to speak with his guards at the door, and Saerin entered the Hall proper, where she could wait with the other Sitters. Siuan remained standing with the dozens outside.
Things were changing. Egwene had a new Keeper to replace Sheriam. The choice of Silviana made a great deal of sense—the woman was known to have a level head, for a Red, and choosing her had helped forge the two halves of the Tower back together. But Siuan had harbored a small hope that she herself would be chosen. Now Egwene had so many demands on her time—and was becoming so capable on her own—that she was relying on Siuan less and less.
That was a good thing. But it was also infuriating.
The familiar hallways, the scent of freshly washed stone, the echoing of footsteps… When last she'd been in this place, she'd commanded it. No longer.
She had no mind to climb her way into prominence again. The Last Battle was upon them; she didn't want to spend her time dealing with the squabbles of the Blue Ajah as they reintegrated into the Tower. She wanted to do what she'd set out to do, all those years before with Moiraine. Shepherd the Dragon Reborn to the Last Battle.
Through the bond, she felt Bryne arrive before he spoke. 'Now, there's a concerned face,' he said, piercing the hallways dozens of hushed conversations as he walked up behind her.
Siuan turned to him. He was stately and remarkably calm—particularly for a man who had been betrayed by Morgase Trakand, then sucked into Aes Sedai politics, then told he was going to be leading his troops on the front lines of the Last Battle. But that was Bryne. Serene to a fault. He soothed her worries just by being there.
'You came faster than I'd assumed you'd be able to,' she said. 'And I do not have a 'concerned face,' Gareth Bryne. I'm Aes Sedai. My very nature is to be in control of myself and my surroundings.'
'Yes,' he said. 'And yet, the more time I spend around the Aes Sedai, the more I wonder about that. Are they in control of their emotions? Or do those emotions just never change? If one is always concerned, one will always look the same.'
She eyed him. 'Fool man.'
He smiled, turning to look through the hallway full of Aes Sedai and Warders. 'I was already returning to the Tower with a report when your messenger found me. Thank you.'
'You're welcome,' she said gruffly.
'They're nervous,' he said. 'I don't think I've ever seen the Aes Sedai like this.'
'Well, can you blame us?' she snapped.
He looked at her, then raised a hand to her shoulder. His strong, callused fingers brushed her neck. 'What is wrong?'
She took a deep breath, glancing to the side as Egwene finally arrived, walking toward the Hall in conversation with Silviana. As usual, the somber Gawyn Trakand lurked behind like a distant shadow. Unacknowledged by Egwene, not bonded as her Warder, yet not cast from the Tower either. He'd spent the nights since the reunification guarding Egwene's doors, despite the fact that it angered her.
As Egwene neared the entrance to the Hall, sisters stepped back and made way, some reluctantly, others reverently. She'd brought the Tower to its knees from the inside, while being beaten every day and doused with so much forkroot she could barely light a candle with the Power. So young. Yet what was age to Aes Sedai?
'I always thought I would be the one in there,' Siuan said softly, just for Bryne. 'That I would receive him, guide him. I was the one who was to be sitting in that chair.'
Bryne's grip tightened. 'Siuan, I…'
'Oh, don't be like that,' she growled, looking at him. 'I don't regret a thing.'
He frowned.
'It's for the best,' Siuan said, though it twisted her insides in knots to admit it. 'For all her tyranny and foolishness, it is good that Elaida removed me, because that is what led us to Egwene. She'll do better than I could have. It's hard to swallow—I did well as Amyrlin, but I couldn't do that. Lead by presence instead of force, uniting instead of dividing. And so, I'm glad that Egwene is receiving him.'
Bryne smiled, and he squeezed her shoulder fondly.
'What?' she asked.
'I'm proud of you.'
She rolled her eyes. 'Bah. That sentimentality of yours is going to drown me one of these days.'
'You can't hide your goodness from me, Siuan Sanche. I see your heart.'
'You are such a buffoon.'
'Regardless. You brought us here, Siuan. Whatever heights that girl climbs to, she'll do it because you carved the steps for her.'
'Yes, then handed the chisel to Elaida.' Siuan glanced toward Egwene, who stood inside the doorway into the Hall. The young Amyrlin glanced over the women gathered outside, and nodded in greeting to Siuan. Maybe even a little in respect.
'She's what we need now,' Bryne said, 'but you're what we needed then. You did well, Siuan. She knows it, and the Tower knows it.'
That felt very good to hear. 'Well. Did you see him when you came in?'
'Yes,' Bryne said. 'He's standing below, watched over by at least a hundred Warders and twenty-six sisters—two full circles. Undoubtedly he's shielded, but all twenty-six women seemed in a near panic. Nobody dares touch him or bind him.'
'So long as he's shielded, it shouldn't matter. Did he look frightened? Haughty? Angry?'
'None of that.'
'Well, what did he look like, then?'
'Honestly, Siuan? He looked like an Aes Sedai.'
Siuan snapped her jaw closed. Was he taunting her again? No, the general seemed serious. But what did he mean?
Egwene entered the Hall, and then a white-dressed novice went scuttling away, tailed by two of Chubain's soldiers. Egwene had sent for the Dragon. Bryne remained with his hand on Siuan's shoulder, standing just behind her in the hallway. Siuan forced herself to be calm.
Eventually, she saw motion at the end of the hallway. Around her, sisters began to glow as they embraced the Source. Siuan resisted that mark of insecurity.
Soon a procession approached, Warders walking in a square around a tall figure in a worn brown cloak, twenty-six Aes Sedai following behind. The figure inside glowed to her eyes. She had the Talent of seeing ta'veren, and al'Thor was one of the most powerful of those to ever live.
She forced herself to ignore the glow, looking at al'Thor himself. It appeared that the boy had become a man. All hints of youthful softness were gone, replaced with hard lines. He'd lost the unconsciously slumped posture that many young men adapted, particularly the tall ones. Instead he embraced his height as a man should, walking with command. Siuan had seen false Dragons during her time as Amyrlin. Odd, how much this man should look like them. It was she froze as he met her eyes. There was something indefinable about them, a weight, an age. As though the man behind them was seeing through the light of a thousand lives compounded in one. His face did look like that of an Aes Sedai. Those eyes, at least, had agelessness.
The Dragon Reborn raised his right hand—his left arm was folded behind his back—and halted the procession. 'If you please,' he said to the Warders, stepping through them.
The Warders, shocked, let him pass; the Dragon's soft voice made them step away. They should have known better. Al'Thor walked up to Siuan, and she steeled herself. He was unarmed and shielded. He couldn't harm her. Still, Bryne stepped up to her side and lowered his hand to his sword.
'Peace, Gareth Bryne,' al'Thor said. 'I will do no harm. You've let her bond you, I assume? Curious. Elayne will be interested to hear of that. And Siuan Sanche. You've changed since we last met.'
'Change comes to all of us as the Wheel turns.'
'An Aes Sedai answer for certain.' Al'Thor smiled. A relaxed, soft smile. That surprised her. 'I wonder if I will ever grow accustomed to those. You once took an arrow for me. Did I thank you for that?'
'I didn't do it intentionally, as I recall,' she said dryly.
'You have my thanks nonetheless.' He turned toward the door to the Hall of the Tower. 'What kind of
