Chapter 13 - Taija Did Not Have A Pony When She Was A Child

  

  The morning after her meeting with the Amyrlin, Taija made an early departure from Fal Dara with Aleksi, accompanied by a couple of pack horses carrying her much increased wardrobe and possessions. Lord Agelmar really had been generous after the battle at Tarwin's Gap.

  Given the events of the previous day, sticking with Rand and getting far away from this pack of paranoid lunatics whose leader somehow overlooked that one of her lieutenants was a darkfriend sounded like a fantastic idea. Taija had, very briefly, considered whether to teach the Amyrlin and Moiraine how to Travel, but given how heavily infiltrated the aes sedai seemed to be, it was abundantly clear to her that they could not be trusted with it.

  As for Aleksi, Taija had been a bit surprised that he was coming with her. There was no way she was leaving him in Fal Dara with the other aes sedai after what he'd heard and seen. Based on the behaviour she'd seen from them, it was even odds that they'd just have him killed to keep their secrets. However, after seeing how ill he looked at what happened to Liandrin and knowing his fear of Aes Sedai, she didn't want him feeling forced to accompany her.

  Taija had offered to spin him a gateway back to Caemlyn or Ramshorn if he wanted it. He hadn't even hesitated though. She'd pressed him, pointing out how dangerous it would be and that just seemed to excite him more.

  "I'm getting a taste for adventure!" He'd earnestly insisted. "I've gotten much better with my staff and bow. Anyway, who'll protect you from the world… and yourself, if I let you go off on your own? How on earth you managed to get the Amyrlin bloody Seat to attack you I don't know." It was at least nice that he felt comfortable enough to poke at her now.

  In fact Aleksi had been outraged when they'd left the audience chamber and he'd accompanied a limping Taija back to her inn. While adrenaline was a powerful drug, once it wore off she knew that she'd be feeling her impact with the wall for a while. It was just luck that nothing had been broken.

  Taija didn't want to give the aes sedai any credit, but to be fair Moiraine had offered to heal her. However, after her attempt at killing her, the chances of her letting that woman touch her with the Power were less than zero.

  As the two of them rode away from the city Aleksi kept on chewing over what had happened the day before.

  "So you really didn't do anything to provoke them?" It wasn't the first or even the second time he'd asked that. "I thought you were friends with Moiraine."

  Taija nodded wearily. "No, I didn't. You were there and so did I. She somehow got it in her head that I was one of the Forsaken. Lanfear of all people!"

  Again, not the first time, he muttered, "the Dark One and all of the Forsaken are bound in Shayol Ghul."

  "Apparently not." Taija's voice was dry. "To be honest with you Aleksi, I'd thought they were all dead once I found out when this was. In the War, or failing that dead of old age although that would be too good a fate for any of them. None of them could have lived past 800, surely." She ignored his choking cough at the number. "Now I've found out that Lanfear is probably alive. I can't think of many worse things to learn. Presumably the others too. Light only knows what's they're doing now. I suppose once Rand gets this horn back I'm going to have to start thinking about about hunting them down." She sighed. As if it would be that simple or easy.

  Aleksi goggled for a second at the idea of someone actually seeking out the Forsaken. "I… just find it hard to believe. My mother used to tell me Semirhage would get me if I didn't go to sleep on time. If I had a bad dream, it was Lanfear trying to break free…"

  "I know, well knew anyway, someone who killed themselves with their own teeth when they heard they'd been captured by Semirhage's forces," Taija mused out loud. "They bit through they own wrist rather than wait to be delivered to her."

  With a start she realised that Aleksi was looking ill. "Sorry… It's… I don't quite know how to explain. These people are myths to you. They're real people to me. I've met most of them at one time or another. You have your stories about the Forsaken. Friends, family, places I've been to and lived in were the victims in those stories!"

  Taija forced herself to stop as she realised her voice was rising and Aleksi was looking more and more uncomfortable. "Again, I'm sorry. If you want to go home, I'll spin you a gateway right now. There's no shame in it."

  Aleksi's face hardened. "No. I said I'd protect you, I'm not turning back. I just need to get my head round what's going on."

  It was heart-warming that there was at least one person who had her back.

  =====

  A few kilometres out of Fal Dara Taija was pleased to be able to dismount and walk around on her own two feet. She knew there was going to be plenty of riding in her future, but if she never had to climb on a horse again she'd be delighted.

  The two of them had a couple of hours to wait before a group of horsemen came trotting towards them. As they got closer Taija recognised Rand his two friends riding amidst a group of plate-armoured Shienaran horsemen. The Ogier, Loial, was also with them towering on top of an impressively large horse. The kind of creature Taija had seen pulling carts at historic reenactments. She sighed quietly to herself at the realisation that Loial would be traveling with them for the foreseeable future.

  When the Shienarans reached her and Aleksi they reined up and their leader, a Lord Ingtar she thought, did a double-take before he bowed in the saddle placing a clenched fist across his heart. "Honour to serve Taija Sedai, it is good to have you with us. I was warned you might look different, but your disguise is impressive."

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  "The honour is mine," Taija murmured, before she awkwardly mounted her horse and guided it into their party. "Shall we go?"

  As the group started back up again and Taija tried to adjust once more to the uncomfortable bouncing of her horse, she called out, "By the way Lord Ingtar, for now, please call me Alisa or Lady Alisa if you must be formal. The darkfriends mustn't know that I am with you and if you can avoid using my name then they might not realise you have an Aes Sedai with you at all. Especially with me disguising myself." She gestured vaguely towards her now blonde hair. "If the Light wills it, that could give us an edge if or when things come to battle."

  Taija found the talk of lords and ladies more than a little awkward. It just wasn't the way the world should be. Why should some accident of birth give you power or status? What mattered was what you did for society. Another strike against this time's societies.

  However, whatever she wanted the world to be like, she had to adapt to the realities of the time she was in, so she would do her best. At least Aes Sedai seemed to sit at or near the top of the hierarchy in this time.

  Traveling with another face really did seem like a good idea. The number of times Taija had been caught by surprise since she found herself in this time was bothering her and she sincerely hoped that the next time something went wrong she would be the one catching out the enemy. She'd met a servant in Fal Dara named Alisa and it seemed like as good a name as any. Promoting a commoner to the nobility felt like a discrete way of thumbing her nose at the concept anyway.

  Taija was also more than a bit worried by the revelation that at least one of the Forsaken was free. She didn't know any better until yesterday, but now she was kicking herself for being so blasé about using her real name and face. Hopefully she wouldn't come to regret it and, if she was very very lucky, one of the Forsaken might even make the same mistake.

  =====

  Ingtar was setting a punishing pace and Taija was not enjoying it at all. Not being used to horses made it bad enough, but when she was already in some pain from her confrontation with the aes sedai it was like her own personal hell.

  The fact that Aleksi seemed to have taken to the saddle rather well only added to Taija's irritation, although that was unfair to him of course. In fact he'd busied himself talking to anyone and everyone in the party. He did get a few jokes from the Shienarans about how a warder could be such a bad rider, but they were clearly banter and even the sullen Masema seemed to be willing to exchange a few words with him. He seemed to have the kind of easy way with people that she could only wish she could replicate.

  Of course no one made jokes about Taija's riding, at least not where she could hear them.

  While Aleksi seemed to be having a surprisingly good time, there was definitely something eating up Rand and his friends. They were avoiding him in what Taija assumed must be a teenage spat and in turn he was extremely untalkative.

  She did notice that Rand seemed to be wearing much nicer clothing than before. Presumably Lord Agelmar had gifted him some the same way he had with her, which was nice. Regardless, he seemed to need space for now, so Taija gave it to him for the first couple of days, instead 'enjoying' the way she could feel aches in what must be every muscle and bone in her body.

  In fact Taija ended up talking with Loial more and, despite her initial irritation when she first met him and her general grumpiness due to being forced to ride all day, he did grow on her. He was clearly a bright boy and a bit of a motormouth by the standards of the Ogier.

  "So you say that the Ways were grown by male Aes Sedai during the Breaking using a ter'angreal?" The whole concept of the Ways was fascinating, although clearly far inferior to Traveling or even just going by plane.

  "No no, well not entirely." Loial shook his huge head. "They started the process, but mostly they were formed using the Talismans of Growing, ter'angreal which they made for the Ogier."

  Taija leant foward eagerly. "How fascinating! But you don't know how it works?"

  "No sadly, that knowledge is lost. It's been many generations even among the Ogier, let alone in the short-lived lives of humans."

  "You do realise I'm twice your age Loial?"

  "Well you don't look it Lady Alisa."

  Taija laughed. "You're too kind. Anyway I wasn't around when the Ways were made, obviously. However, from what you've said, I think those ter'angreal, you called them Talismans of Growing, yet? Those Talismans probably combine a dimensional breaching web with the reality altering properties of Ogier tree-singing to form a stable uhh self-perpetuating dimensional bridge to a pre-made sub-space micro-dimension. Or at least that's how I'd do it."

  Taija clamped her mouth shut as she realised she'd said far too much in her enthusiasm. Loial gave her a look that said she'd completely lost him, it was a look she'd grown used to seeing over the years even without the added language barrier.

  Then to her surprise Loial switched to her own language too. "I have cognisance that Aes Sedai possess myriad talents Lady Alisa, but you appear to speak the Old Tongue better than most. I am not sure I understand many of the words you use. Where did you say you were from?"

  Taija was thrown by the sudden switch and a bit worried that she'd given herself away, but Loial mostly seemed to be excited at the chance to have someone to speak to in what he'd call the Old Tongue. "Thank you friend Loial, you speak it very well."

  It wasn't a complete lie. Loial's accent was distinctly odd and his speech patterns and vocabulary were rather stilted, but he was clearly far more fluent than Elaida. That being said, Taija wasn't willing to give away her secrets to yet another person. So as Loial peppered her with questions she was careful to give away as little as possible, pretending to have to search for vocabulary to give herself time to choose her words.

  =====

  The other bright point of those first two days of riding was learning about Hurin's talent. It was intriguing! Taija had never heard of anything like it in her time. However, the man wasn't very willing to talk about it. Like far too many people in this time, he was very wary about Aes Sedai, even if he was respectful. Taija suspected he might have a point, she could see some of those women carting him off to Tar Valon to study him. It was annoying though, she had no intention of doing that and she wanted to know more!

  Still, she didn't want to push him too far. He was clearly uncomfortable with being asked about it, but at the same time too polite or respectful to just tell her to piss off. She'd have to make sure to be friendly to him whenever she got the chance and maybe he'd loosen up after a while.

  Although Hurin was a bright point, the remains left behind by the trollocs whenever the party reached their camps were sickening. Taija wouldn't hesitate to kill them herself, but even darkfriends didn't deserve to be eaten by their erstwhile allies.

  It was made worse by the fact that however fast and hard they all rode, they didn't seem to be gaining ground on the trollocs. Taija wondered whether she should offer to make a gateway for the group to get ahead of the darkfriends. Or even to just go and kill them all in the night without the rest of the party knowing.

  In the end she decided not to. For the moment anyway. Travelling was possibly her best trump card now that she was sure the 'modern' aes sedai didn't know how to do it. Also anyone looking for signs of a channeler from her time could just look for gateways. Sickening fates aside, she didn't really care all that much about shadowspawn killing darkfriends. They'd made their bed and they could lie in it.