A hand fell on Siuan's shoulder. She didn't jump; she'd sensed Bryne approaching. The general walked with stealth, although there was no need. He was going to make an excellent Warder.
He stepped up beside her, hand still comfortably on her shoulder, and she allowed herself the luxury of taking just a small step closer to him. His height and sturdiness felt good beside her. Like knowing that though the sky stormed and the sea raged, your hull was caulked and your sail crafted of the strongest cloth.
"What do you think she will tell them?" Bryne asked, his voice subdued.
"I honestly have no idea. She could call for my stilling, I suppose."
"I doubt that she will," Bryne asked. "She is not the vengeful type. Besides, she knows that you did what you felt you had to. For her own good."
Siuan grimaced. "Nobody likes being disobeyed, least of all the Amyrlin. I will pay for last night, Bryne. You're right that it probably won't be in a public way, but I worry that I've lost the girl's trust."
"And was it worth the cost?"
"Yes," Siuan said. "She didn't reali2e how close this band was to slipping away from her. And we couldn't know that she'd be safe within the Tower during the attack. If there's one thing my time in the White Tower taught me, it's that there is a time for gathering and planning, but one also has to act. You can't always wait for certainty."
She could feel Bryne's smile through the bond. Light, but it was good to have a Warder again. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed that comforting knot of emotions in the back of her mind. That stability. Men thought differently from women, and things she found complicated and baffling, Bryne saw as straightforward and simple. Make your decision and go. There was a helpful clarity to his way of reasoning. Not that he was simple—just less inclined to regret decisions he'd already made.
"And what of the other costs?" Bryne added.
She could feel his hesitation, his worry. She turned to him, smiling in amusement. "You're a fool, Gareth Bryne."
He frowned.
"Bonding you was never a cost," she said. "Whatever else happens because of this fiasco, that aspect of the night's events were pure profit on my part."
He chuckled. "Well, I'll have to make extra certain that my second^ demand is more unreasonable, then."
Fish guts, Siuan thought. She'd almost forgotten about that. Burning unlikely that Bryne would, though. "And when, precisely, are you going to make this unreasonable demand of me?"
He didn't respond immediately, instead looking down at her, rubbing his chin. "You know," he said, "I think I actually understand you now, Siuan Sanche. You are a woman of honor. It's just that nobody else's requirements of you can ever be more harsh or more demanding than your own requirements of yourself. You owe such a self-imposed debt to your own sense of duty that I doubt any mortal being could pay it back."
"You make me sound centered on myself," she said.
"At least I'm not comparing you to a boar again."
"So you do think I'm self-centered!" she said. Burn him! He could probably sense that she was actually bothered by his statement, rather than making argument for the sake of it. Burn him again!
;Care must be taken," Ferane added. "The division must be mended."
"The rebellion was against Elaida," Adelorna said. "If she is no longer Amyrlin, then what is there to rebel against?"
"So we abandon her?" Jesse asked.
"She deserves it," Adelorna said. "She said time and time again that Seanchan were no threat. Well, now she is paying for her foolishness firsthand."
"Elaida is beyond rescue," Ferane added. "The Hall has already discussed this. The Amyrlin is buried somewhere in a mass of Seanchan captives, and we have neither the resources nor the information for a rescue."
Not to mention our total lack of desire, Jesse added to herself. Many of the Sitters who had brought those points before the Hall were ones who had been sent to penance by Elaida. Jesse wasn't one of those, but she did agree that Elaida had earned her reward, if only for the way she had driven the Ajahs to one another's throats.
"Then we need a replacement," Serancha said. "But who?"
"It has to be someone strong," Suana said. "But someone cautious, unlike Elaida. Someone whom the sisters can rally around."
"What about Saerin Asnobar?" Jesse asked. "She has shown uncanny wisdom of late, and she is well liked."
"Of course you'd choose a Brown," Adelorna said.
"And why not?" Jesse said, taken aback. "You all heard, I think, how well she did assuming command during the attack last night?"