Chapter 6 - No I Really Am an Aes Sedai!

  Sat in her armchair, shielded and vulnerable, Taija desperately tried to suppress the panic that was welling up inside her. She knew what happened to aes sedai that were captured by the forces of the Shadow. Torture and death were at the better end of possible outcomes.

  Even as she was forcing herself to keep breathing steadily, she was still looking for weaknesses, opportunities. She hadn't survived years of war by giving in to fear and indecision.

  Tentatively Taija probed at the shield blocking her from saidar. Surprisingly it felt… for lack of a better word, sloppy. Without taking her eyes off her assailant, she carefully felt her way around the shape of the shield, hunting for weaknesses. She needed to stall for time!

  "W w who are you?" She deliberately stammered. It wasn't difficult to allow a frightened quiver into her voice. "I I was just trying to read."

  The woman frowned slightly, her face impassive beyond that. "Do not try to play games with me girl. Answer me or you will suffer for it." Taija didn't need to pretend to wince when the woman channeled and a web of air lashed across her back.

  Still, that wasn't important, she'd had worse. She pushed gently at the shield, feeling the tangle of saidar that was holding the web together. There was just a little bit of give, larger spaces than she expected between the flows. She was so close, if she could just…

  "Ouch! W w what was that for?" Taija tried to make her bottom lip tremble and sound even more afraid. "W w why are you hitting me? J j just tell me who you are and I p promise not to tell anyone." If she could mix her genuine fear with false bravado she might be able to tempt the woman into… Oh, yes!

  The woman diverted more of her strength, dividing her flows into a web of illusion as well as her switch of air. Taija yelped as pain bloomed across her back from two more hard strikes and the woman seemed to swell in size in front of her, looming ever larger.

  "Answer me girl, do not try to defy me." Her voice boomed out unnaturally loudly, shaking the glass in the windows. However, Taija was barely listening. Channeling even a small amount of her strength into the illusion and air switch reduced the amount she had to hold the shield and that momentary weakness was all Taija needed.

  Fear and indecision vanished from her face, replaced by hard focus. Decades of channeling experience, years fighting on the frontlines, came together and Taija struck, instantly attacking the knot at the centre of the woman's shield. Exerting the full force of her ability as a channeler, focused precisely on the weak points in the woman's shield, prying into the sloppily large gaps between flows.

  Taija wasn't sure if it would have worked without the woman having diverted a small part of her strength, it was such a close run thing. However, as it was, she felt the shield bulge briefly under the pressure she exerted and then a moment later it burst like a soap bubble.

  The world moved in slow motion. As saidar flowed back into a her, Taija saw the woman flinch from the shock of her web breaking. She started to react, but Taija was far faster. In a fraction of a second she was spinning a torrent of saidar, splitting her flows four ways.

  Fire, air and spirit formed a ball between the two of them exploding into blinding light with a loud thump even as Taija screwed her eyes shut and dived out of her chair to dodge any retaliation. A complex web of all five elements sprang out across the room to block attempts at Traveling, a wall of air, spirit and fire appeared between them to absorb any webs from the woman and finally an overpowered fist of air into her stomach sent her crashing noisily into a bookshelf.

  Even as the woman sunk to her knees Taija was following through with an overpowered shield. She nearly spun the web with a razor sharp edge with the aim of severing the woman, but just held herself back. She still didn't know whether this was truly an enemy or not, she wasn't on the battlefield now.

  It was as effective as Taija could possibly have hoped. The woman had no time to recover from the shock of her own shield breaking. She was blinded and flung across the room with a squawk of surprise, briefly losing her connection to saidar before Taija could even slam the shield into place.

  A moment later Taija was picking herself up off the floor, brushing dust from her dress and wincing slightly at the bands of pain across her body where the woman had hit her with her webs of air. She'd probably be feeling those for at least a week as it wasn't like she'd be able to get any healing here.

  Having checked herself over, Taija fixed her attention on the woman who was also slowly pulling herself to her feet, using a shelf for support and clutching her stomach. There was a faint touch of pressure as the woman tested the shield, but Taija could feel the woman's strength, she hadn't the faintest hope of breaking it.

  For a second Taija considered binding the woman in air, but decided she'd hold off, for now. The woman wasn't much of a threat given that she was shielded and Taija could spin a web of air faster than the woman could possibly do anything to her at that distance.

  Taija thanked the Light that the woman hadn't been a bit more skilled with saidar, or just a little stronger, or she might have been in a lot more trouble. As it was, perhaps now she could get some answers for her questions. Based on the quality of her dress and her presence in the palace woman was clearly rich and obviously she was a channeler, so hopefully she'd actually have some education and be able to tell Taija about this world.

  Leaving her able to move freely might even help them resolve things peacefully. Also, now that Taija had a moment to think, she had to admit that the woman had had reason to be suspicious of her. She had snuck into the palace after all, so she opted for a conciliatory tone when she spoke to the woman.

  "I'm very sorry about that… unpleasantness. You caught me by surprise and I panicked a bit." Taija gave her an awkward smile and tried to ignore the pain she felt from the woman's switches and the simmering anger that that generated in her. Anger wouldn't serve her well now.

  Despite being shielded and surely knowing she was completely at Taija's mercy the woman just gave her a haughtily impassive stare, looking down her nose at her.

  Taija stared back for a second and then sighed, "Look I really…" before she could finish she was interrupted by the sound of shouts and running boots.

  In hindsight maybe she could have been a bit quieter. Thinking fast, Taija bound the woman in air and yanked her closer, ignoring her shout of outrage. She could keep any non-channelers out of the library pretty much indefinitely, but she had no idea whether there were more channelers in the palace. She'd already put herself in a difficult situation by letting herself become complacent once.

  After a moment of consideration Taija quickly spun an inverted gateway. Reading residues was a rare talent, so unlikely to be an issue, but she certainly didn't want to find out the hard way that someone could track her gateway. The hole in the air rotated open behind her and she stepped back through it, straight into her room at the inn, before dragging the woman through after her with her web of air.

  As soon as the gateway rotated closed behind her, Taija warded the small room against sound, she didn't want the woman calling for help. She kept her shielded and bound with air, obviously. The room was far too small to keep any distance and she'd heard of too many channelers who'd been complacent and ended up being punched or stabbed.

  With the room cut off from the sounds of the outside world, Taija turned her attention back to her captive. "Right," she hesitated, her tone awkward. "I'm sorry about that. I don't want to hurt you, but I also don't want to end up in some sort of dungeon. It's just too, too cliché if nothing else…" She trailed off as her mind went back to some of the lower quality "historical" fiction she'd used to read when she was younger.

  The woman was still looking around, blinking with surprise, her arrogant composure finally broken. "What was that?" There was a hint of worry in her voice. "Where are we? How did we get here?"

  Taija blinked at her, surprised. "We Traveled…" her words were slow as if speaking to a child. Did the woman not know how to make a gateway? She was certainly strong enough.

  For a moment the woman looked even more shocked and then she pulled herself together, drawing her composure around herself like a shield. "I see," she replied. "I must have been confused. May I ask who you are?" While she still sounded as arrogant as a freshly minted member of the Grand Council, her tone had become somewhat more conciliatory.

  Taija couldn't see any reason to lie to the woman, if she recognised her name then that would tell her something, but she didn't expect her to. "My name is Taija Kosola Miranen," even years later she couldn't help the little flash of pride that came with saying her third name. "Most people call me Taija Sedai, or Professor Kosola." Well at least before the War they did. "What's your name?"

  Rather than answering the woman raised an eyebrow. "Sedai girl? You claim to be Aes Sedai?" Her aggressive tone had returned.

  Taija shrugged, suppressing a flash of irritation at being called 'girl'. She'd thought it was fairly obvious given the shield she was holding on the woman. It was possible she supposed, not every channeler became Aes Sedai even if it was rare not to for strong ones. "Are you not one?"

  The woman allowed herself a measured smile, "My name is Elaida do'Avriny a'Roihan and yes, you may call me Elaida Sedai."

  Taija gave her a genuine smile. "Oh, well that's a pleasant surprise." It really was, not only an Aes Sedai, but one with a third name too! How fortunate to have found someone who would almost certainly have the knowledge and connections to be genuinely helpful. Although she'd still have to be careful, she hadn't forgotten some of what the villagers and Aleksi had said about Aes Sedai here. "I really do have so many questions! Maybe you can help me with some of them? Aes Sedai to Aes Sedai."

  Elaida's response was more measured. "Perhaps I can, although I will tell you nothing that could harm the White Tower or Andor." She paused, "I will also warn you now, the consequences of claiming to be Aes Sedai are not light. The longer you maintain your pretense the harsher the punishment will be and you must know that the reach of the White Tower is without limits - you saw the False Dragon Logain as he was brought through Caemlyn, that is the fate that awaits all those who oppose the White Tower. If you will release the shield you hold on me and come peacefully to the palace then I will ensure that any punishments are not overzealous."

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  Taija blinked, confused by that. She might have heard the name Logain once or twice in other people's conversations, although she wasn't sure. It hadn't seemed particularly important or interesting at the time. As for this talk of claiming to be Aes Sedai, it was offensive! Although if she was fair to Elaida perhaps this world had some sort of tests or signs for Aes Sedai. "Well obviously I'm not impersonating an Aes Sedai, but that's neither here nor there right now. Maybe we can discuss that later. First, please tell me, what year is it?"

  This time Elaida looked nonplussed, clearly not expecting the question. "Ah, it is the year 998."

  Taija already knew that from Ramshorn. "Yes, but 998 of what?

  "Of the New Era," Elaida's reply was slow as she tried to work out where Taija was going with her questions.

  "Alright, fine, but the New Era of what? What was the Old Era? Was there an Old Era? Are you at least aware of the circular nature of the space time continuum?" Taija realised after a second that she'd dropped into her own language due to her lack of vocabulary. "Uh the… circle of time?"

  "You refer to the Wheel? Weaving our lives through the pattern and the Ages?" Elaida seemed to be halfway between asking and stating, but at Taija's nod she continued. "Yes, of course, even the meanest peasant knows about that. Where are you from girl? I cannot place your accent."

  "I'm not from around here, also please don't call me girl, it's rude." Taija's reply was vague, but after a second she thought maybe she should offer more if she wanted to learn anything useful from Elaida. "I was born and raised in Adanza." Elaida's blank face made it clear that hadn't rung any bells. "I worked with many people in Paaran Disen too before I ended up living in Jalanda. Maybe you know of them?"

  The second name, the greatest city of Taija's world, seemed to have some impact on Elaida, although she only gave a small twitch on hearing it. "I must say I am not familiar with any of those places."

  "But have you heard of them?" Taija leant forward pinning her with her eyes.

  "I thought perhaps I had heard of this Paren Dicen place," she mispronounced the name badly, "but it would be difficult to say where." Elaida paused and then asked, "you say you worked there for some years, how long for and what is it that you did?"

  Taija couldn't see any reason to obfuscate. "I didn't work there, but I collaborated with people from there. I worked around twenty five years at the… I'm not sure how to say it in your language. I was a… again I don't have the words. At that time I was a... post-doctoral researcher in theoretical physics." She said the last few words in her own language.

  Elaida's eyebrows rose. "That sounds like the Old Tongue girl, although it appears you do not speak it as well as you think. Your pronunciation is atrocious and you are telling me you spent twenty five years as," her voice took on a sarcastic tone, "'an after scholar explorer of thought about world motion.' I am surprised you know any words of the Old Tongue given your dress and accent, but clearly whoever taught you did not do it very well. You will also need to learn not to lie to an Aes Sedai or things will go far worse for you." She sniffed loudly. "There is no way that you could have spent twenty five years working already at your age. Did you start when you were five?"

  With a humourless laugh Elaida continued, speaking over Taija. "Now, for your own good, you must release me and accompany me to the White Tower. You will be punished for your impersonation of an Aes Sedai, of course, that cannot be overlooked. However, your obvious ignorance will speak in your favour if you can overcome your foolishness. You are not weak in the Power girl, once amends have been made for your behaviour I have no doubt that you could find your life much improved from this." Her eyes contemptuously took in the shabby room and Taija's cheap dress.

  Taija was a little impressed, despite herself. Elaida was completely at her mercy and yet she seemed to expect her orders to be followed as if she was the one in command. Fortunately, she wasn't.

  Taija said something vaguely conciliatory and tried to keep digging into the history of the world she found herself in. While she didn't get anything like the level of information she wanted out of Elaida, she was starting to be able to build more of a picture of things. She heard more about the nations and their histories. It seemed like they used to be united by a man named Artur Hawkwing, which was an excellent name she had to admit. Before him there were huge trolloc wars. Both Hawkwing and those wars resulted in new calendars being adopted.

  Then something like 3,000 year ago there had been this "Breaking". Apparently mad men had destroyed the world with the Power. It just didn't sound very plausible. Even the worst destruction during the War never came close to what Elaida described. Regardless, Elaida didn't seem to want to talk about that in any detail and Taija wasn't all that interested in exploring ancient myths.

  While Taija had learned more about the world, she was still only scratching the surface. There had to be be some connection between their worlds. If nothing else their 'Common Tongue' was clearly related to her own language and Elaida had recognised it, even had some vague idea of how to speak it, calling it the 'Old Tongue'.

  Taija found herself yawning more and more as her questioning went on, which contrasted irritatingly with Elaida's unruffled composure. Eventually she decided to try naming some things from her world to see if Elaida recognised them. Names of other cities got her nothing, so in desperation she tried some of people as well. The first few got her nowhere, but Elaida's eyes narrowed when she said 'Lews Therin Telamon'.

  "I am confused as to why you have been throwing these names without any purpose at me, but that one… yes I am aware of the Dragon as would be any educated person. However, no civilised person wishes to speak of him." Elaida's mouth twisted into a grimace.

  Taija gasped, a smile growing on her face. Maybe she wasn't as far from home as she'd feared if Elaida had heard of Lews Therin. She seemed to put a lot of weight on the title Dragon though. People had only started calling him that maybe a year ago, but really as far as Taija was concerned it was just another thing to feed the man's undeniably large ego.

  Eagerly she tried to get more information out of Elaida, but all it revealed was that she was unwilling to give more answers on the topic. All she would do was lead the conversation back to unspeakable fates like the one apparently to be faced by that Logain man she'd mentioned and how Taija should be releasing her for her own good.

  It was at that point that Taija realised that the sun was shining through the tiny window to her room. She didn't hear any of the normal morning noise from the inn, but that made sense given the ward against sound. Unfortunately there was no way to make that particular ward one way. Not as far as she knew anyway.

  Aleksi was probably panicking at her not having emerged from her room. For all Taija knew he might be hammering on her door right now. Also she was exhausted from lack of sleep. Annoyingly Elaida looked completely unruffled.

  She needed to decide what she was going to do with Elaida quickly. She couldn't have Aleksi get into her room and find she was holding one of this world's aes sedai prisoner with the Power. She'd have to explain things to him at some point anyway, but that would really not be a good way to start the conversation.

  Taija looked back at Elaida who seemed to think she was making headway with her threats. The woman was unquestionably dangerous. Almost certainly highly influential given she was in the palace and had a third name and she was an aes sedai of non-negligible strength in the Power. She also seemed to feel Taija should be submitting to her authority.

  There was no real reason to think Elaida was a darkfriend, but Taija clearly couldn't just release her. Equally, keeping her prisoner would be difficult. Morals aside, she didn't have a good idea of Elaida's capabilities and regardless she didn't have anywhere to put her.

  She could kill her of course. Elaida did attack first and that would be one problem solved. However, while it might be the easy way out, Taija was no darkfriend. She wasn't that kind of person and never would be. She could be ruthless of course, when she needed to be, had seen and done far too much on the battlefield. There were times she'd wake up in a cold sweat reliving those things. However, as far as Taija knew, this Elaida hadn't actually done anything wrong, other than the beating with the Power.

  Luckily all Elaida had seen was a false face and the inside of a shabby room, which could no doubt be in any one of hundreds or even thousands of low quality inns. She wouldn't even know it was an inn, so she'd have no chance of finding it again.

  It would be easy enough to just spin a gateway back to the palace, push Elaida through it and then allow it to close again. However, Taija was feeling a bit petty. Elaida had attacked her without warning. She'd also beaten her without justification and wouldn't stop threatening her with unspecified punishments.

  Decision made, Taija gave her a thin smile. "I think I've lost track of time a bit." Aleksi had said these Aes Sedai couldn't tell a lie, although that sounded implausible, but Taija certainly could. "I don't bear you any ill will. However, equally I'm not an idiot. I'm no darkfriend so I can't just make you disappear, easier as that might be."

  Taija channeled saidar, spinning the flows into a complex, inverted web and a gateway opened against the far wall of her room. Carefully she lifted Elaida on flows of air and moved her through it before following herself, keeping it held open behind her. A deft bit of work with the Power lowered Elaida to the ground and tied off the air holding her in place along with the shield blocking her from saidar.

  Elaida was left sitting on a grassy hill, looking out over a lovely vista of rolling green hills with an occasional farmhouse or copse of trees punctuating them.

  "I thought this was one of the prettier places I saw on my way here." Taija's tone was wistful. "Nothing compared to home of course, if you could see the mountains around Adanza… Well, anyway…" She awkwardly smoothed her dress down with her hands, feeling the loss of her world even more acutely. "You should just about be able to see the road to Caemlyn that way." She pointed off to the left. "Perhaps an hour's walk to the road and then a day or so on your feet should see you back there." Taija looked doubtfully down at the soft slippers on Elaida's feet, "maybe a bit faster if someone with a wagon will give you a lift."

  She turned to leave, ignoring the aching feeling at the idea of going back to the shabby little room, leaving behind the only other channeler she'd met in this world. "Oh yes, don't worry about the shield and bindings. They'll dissolve in the next few minutes."

  Without further ado Taija stepped back through the gateway to her room. Maybe if they met again Elaida wouldn't call her 'girl'.

  It had been an exhausting night, but Taija thought she'd better check on what had been going on in the inn, so she allowed the ward around her room to fade and opened the door, to find a furious looking Aleksi pacing outside it.

  "Blood and bloody ashes, what in the Light is going on?!" He demanded, barely restraining himself from shouting. "Not a sound from your room, the door locked and hours into the day!" I was this close to breaking the door down in case you needed help!

  =======

  Elaida sat on the back of a cart, outwardly perfectly composed. On the inside it was a different story. She was fuming to herself, angrier than she had been in years. That night had been probably the most humiliating experience she'd had since being raised to the shawl.

  She still had no idea how it had happened, she'd had the wilder shielded and then Taija had just casually broken it and overwhelmed her like it was nothing. None of it made any sense. No other woman in the Tower could have done that, so how could an untrained wilder?

  That wasn't to mention the rediscovery of Traveling. As soon as she'd seen that hole in the air she'd known she needed to take a less aggressive approach with this Tajia. If she could be the one to bring that back to the Tower… Yet nothing had worked. Taija had just asked and asked ever odder questions while ignoring every promise and threat Elaida made.

  It was like she was from a different world, some of the questions she had. What calendar did they use? Light! The woman must have grown up under a rock. At least that would explain her strange, clipped accent. It was like every word had to be cut off short.

  As for what she'd said about Paaran Disen and the Dragon, what tosh! She clearly had an economical relationship with the truth. Elaida thought back to her first foretelling and suppressed a shiver. The Forsaken might know of the Age of Legends, but they were bound in Shayol Ghul and, even if they weren't, the idea that that small, nervous looking woman and her awkward questions could be one of them was so laughable that it wasn't worth considering.

  At best the woman needed to be apprehended and brought under control, at worst she was some kind of darkfriend, whatever her denials, in which case she would still need to be stopped. Either way Elaida needed to be back in Caemlyn.

  She looked down at the ruins of her slippers before, not for the first time, snapping angrily at the cringing farmer driving the cart, "Can this thing not go any faster?!"