Winter's Heart

Still, she had seen right away what to do with the sul'dam. Convince them that they could learn to channel, then send them back to the Seanchan. Apart from Nynaeve, only Egwene, Aviendha and a few of the Kin knew her plan. Nynaeve and Egwene were doubtful, but however hard the sul'dam tried to hide what they were once they were returned, eventually one would slip. If they did not just report everything right away. Seanchan were peculiar; even the Seanchan among the damane truly believed that any woman who could channel had to be collared for the safety of everyone else. Sul'dam, with their ability to control women wearing the a'dam, were highly respected among the Seanchan. The knowledge that sul'dam themselves were able to channel would shake the Seanchan to their core, maybe even break them apart. It had seemed so simple, in the beginning.

'Reanne, I understood that you had good news,' she said. 'If the sul'dam haven't started breaking down, what is it?' Alise frowned at Lan, who stood silent guard in front of the door—she disapproved of him knowing their plans—but she said nothing.

'A moment, if you please,' Reanne murmured. It was not really a request. Nynaeve truly had done her job too well. 'There is no need for her to listen.' The glow of saidar suddenly shone around her. She moved her fingers as she channeled, as though guiding the flows of air that bound Marli to her chair, then tied them off and cupped her hands as though shaping in her sight the ward against sound that she wove around the woman. The gestures were no part of channeling, of course, but necessary to her, since she had learned the weaves that way. The sul'dam's lips twisted slightly in contempt. The One Power did not frighten her at all.

'Take your time,' Nynaeve put in acidly, planting her hands on her hips. 'There's no hurry.' Reanne did not intimidate her the way Alise did.

Then again, Nynaeve no longer intimidated Reanne, either. Reanne did take her time, studying her handiwork, then nodded with satisfaction before rising. The Kin had always tried to channel as little as was necessary, and she took great pleasure in the freedom to use saidar as often as she wished, as well as pride in weaving well.

'The good news,' she said, standing and smoothing her skirts, 'is that three of the damane seem ready to be let out of their collars. Perhaps.'

Elayne's eyebrows rose, and she exchanged surprised looks with Nynaeve. Of the five damane Taim had handed over to them, one had been taken by the Seanchan on Toman Head and another in Tanchico. The others had come from Seanchan.

'Two of the Seanchan women, Marille and Jillari, still say they deserve to be collared, need to be collared.' Reanne's mouth tightened with distaste, but she paused for only a moment. 'They truly seem horrified at the prospect of freedom. Alivia has stopped that. Now she says it was only because she was afraid she would be retaken. She says she hates all the sul'dam, and she certainly makes a good show of it, snarling at them and cursing them, but…' She shook her head slowly in doubt. 'She was collared at thirteen or fourteen, Elayne, she's not certain which, and she's been damane for four hundred years! And aside from that, she is… she's… Alivia is considerably stronger than Nynaeve,' she finished in a rush. Age, the Kin might discuss openly, but they had all the Aes Sedai reticence about speaking of strength in the Power. 'Do we dare let her free? A Seanchan wilder who could tear the entire Palace apart?' The Kin shared the Aes Sedai view of wilders, too. Most did.

Sisters who knew Nynaeve had learned to take care with that word around her. She could become quite snappish when it was used in a disparaging tone. Now, she just stared at Reanne. Perhaps she was trying to find the answer. Elayne knew what her own answer would be, but this had nothing to do with claiming the throne, or Andor. It was a decision for Aes Sedai, and here, that meant it was Nynaeve's to make.

'If you don't,' Lan said quietly from the door, 'then you might as well give her back to the Seanchan.' He was not at all abashed by the dark looks given him by the four women who heard his deep voice toll those words like a funeral gong. 'You will have to watch her closely, but keep her collared when she wants to be free, and you are no better than they are.'

'That isn't for you to say, Warder,' Alise said firmly. He met her stern stare with cool equanimity, and she gave a small disgusted grunt and threw up her hands. 'You should give him a good talking-to when you get him alone, Nynaeve.'

Nynaeve must have been feeling her awe of the women particularly strongly, because her cheeks colored. 'Don't think that I will not,' she said lightly. She did not look at Lan at all. Finally condescending to notice the chill, she pulled her shawl up onto her shoulders, and cleared her throat. 'He is right, though. At least we don't have to worry about the other two. I'm just surprised it took them this long to stop imitating those fool Seanchan.'

'I am not so sure,' Reanne sighed. 'Kara was a sort of wise woman on Toman Head, you know. Very influential in her village. A wilder, of course. You would think she'd hate the Seanchan, but she doesn't, not all of them. She is very fond of the sul'dam captured with her, and very anxious that we shouldn't hurt any of the sul'dam. Lemore is just nineteen, a pampered noblewoman with the extreme bad luck to have the spark manifest itself in her on the very day Tanchico fell. She says she hates the Seanchan and wants to make them pay for what they did to Tanchico, but she answers to Larie, her damane name, as readily as to Lemore, and she smiles at the sul'dam and lets them pet her. I don't mistrust them, not the way I do Alivia, but I doubt either one could stand up to a sul'dam. I think if a sul'dam ordered either to help her escape, she would, and I fear she might not fight too hard if the sul'dam tried to collar her again.'

After she stopped speaking, the silence stretched.

Nynaeve seemed to look inward, struggling with herself. She gripped her braid, then let go and folded her arms tight across her chest, the fringe of her shawl swaying as she hugged herself. She glared at everyone except Lan. Him, she did not so much as glance at.

Finally she took a deep breath, and squared herself to face Reanne and Alise. 'We must remove the a'dam. We will hold on to them until we can be sure—and Lemore after; she needs to be put in white!—and we will make sure they are never left alone, especially with the sul'dam, but the a'dam come off!' She spoke fiercely, as if expecting opposition, but a broad smile of approval spread across Elayne's face. The addition of three more women they could not be sure of hardly counted as good news, but there had been no other choice.

Reanne merely nodded acceptance—after a moment—but a smiling Alise came around the table to pat Nynaeve's shoulder, and Nynaeve actually blushed. She tried to hide it behind clearing her throat roughly and grimacing at the Seanchan woman in her cage of saidar, but her efforts were not very effectual, and Lan spoiled them in any case.

'Tai'shar Manetheren,' he said softly.

Nynaeve's mouth fell open, then curled into a tremulous smile. Sudden tears glistened in her eyes as she spun to face him, her face joyous. He smiled back at her, and there was nothing cold in his eyes.

Elayne struggled not to gape. Light! Maybe he did not chill their marriage bed after all. The thought made her cheeks warm. Trying not to look at them, her eyes fell on Marli, still fastened in her chair. The Seanchan woman was staring straight ahead, tears flowing down her plump cheeks. Straight ahead. At the weaves holding sound away from her. She could not deny seeing the weaves now. But when she said as much, Reanne shook her head.

'They all weep if they are made to look at waves very long, Elayne,' she said wearily. And a touch sadly. 'But once the weaves are gone, they convince themselves we tricked them. They have to, you understand. Else they'd be damane, not sul'dam. No, it will take time to convince the Mistress of the Hounds that she is really a hound herself. I am afraid I really haven't given you any good news at all, have I?'

'Not very much,' Elayne told her. None, really. Just another problem to stack up on all the rest. How much bad news could be stacked before the pile buried you? She had to get some good, soon.