Before she had time to chuckle at the image that came to mind of plump Bela running like the wind, the mare was doing so. The landscape blurred, streaking by. For a moment Egwene clung to the pommel of the saddle, her mouth hanging open. It was as if Bela’s every trotting step carried them miles. With the first she had an instant to realize they were on the riverbank below the city, with ships floating out on the dark waters amid streaks of moonlight, and even as she tried to jerk at the reins, to stop Bela running headlong into the river, another step took them into thicketed hills.
Egwene threw back her head and laughed. This was marvelous! Except for the blurring, there was little real sensation of speed; her hair hardly had time to stream back in the wind of that rush before it was gone, only to come again a moment later. Bela’s gait felt the same plodding trot she recalled, but the sudden leap of everything around her was exhilarating, one moment a village street, moon-dark and silent, the next a country road winding through hills, the next a meadow with hay standing almost to Bela’s shoulders. Egwene only paused now and again to orient herself — no trouble at all with that marvelous map in her head, the one the woman with Siuan’s name had made — and otherwise let Bela trot. Villages and towns appeared and vanished in a blur, great cities — one she thought sure was Caemlyn, walls silvery white in the night — and once, in forested hills, the head and shoulders of a huge statue rearing out of the earth, a remnant of some land lost in history, appearing so suddenly at Bela’s side with a weathered grimace that Egwene nearly screamed, only it was gone before she could. The moon did not move at all between leaps, and hardly any as they sped along. A day or two to reach Salidar? That was what Sheriam had said. The Wise Ones were right. Everyone had believed for so long that Aes Sedai knew everything that Aes Sedai believed it, too. She was going to prove them wrong tonight, but it was not likely they would take any real notice of her proof. They knew.
After a time, when she was sure she was somewhere well into Altara, she began letting Bela make smaller jumps, reining her in more often, even riding normally for a bit, especially if there was a village nearby. Sometimes a night-shrouded inn had a sign that named the village, the Marella Inn or the Ionin Spring Inn, and moonlight added to the odd sense of light in Tel’aran’rhiod made reading them easy. Bit by bit she became absolutely certain where she was in relation to Salidar and began to take still smaller leaps, then none at all, only letting Bela trot normally through forest where tall trees had killed most of the undergrowth and drought most of the rest.
Still, she was surprised when a considerable village appeared suddenly, silent and dark in the moonl
ight. It had to be the right place, though.
At the edge of the thatch-roofed stone houses, she dismounted and took down her belongings. It was late, but people might still be about in the waking world. No need to startle them by popping out of the air. If an Aes Sedai saw that and mistook what she was, she might have no chance to face the Hall.
“You did run like the wind,” she murmured, hugging Bela a last time. “I wish I could take you with me.” A useless fancy, of course. What was made in Tel’aran’rhiod could exist only there. This was not really Bela, after all. Even so, she felt a twinge of regret as she turned her back — she would not stop imagining Bela; let her exist as long as she could — and wove her shimmering curtain of Spirit. Head high, she stepped through, ready to face whatever came with her Aiel heart.
One step she took, and came up short with a sharp, wide-eyed, “Oh!” The changes she had made in Tel’aran’rhiod existed in the real world no more than Bela did. The flames returned with a rush, and with them, it was almost as though Sorilea spoke to her. If you take what you did to meet your toh and make it so it might as well never have happened, how have you met toh? Remember your Aiel heart, girl.
Yes. She would remember. She was here to do battle whether the Aes Sedai knew it or not, ready to fight for the right to be Aes Sedai, ready to face . . . Light, what?
There were people in the streets, a few moving between houses where lighted windows made golden pools. Walking a little gingerly, Egwene approached a wiry woman with a white apron and a harried expression. “Excuse me. My name is Egwene al’Vere. I am Accepted” — the woman gave her riding dress a sharp look — “and I’ve just arrived. Can you direct me to Sheriam Sedai? I need to find her.” Very likely Sheriam was asleep already, but if she was, Egwene intended to wake her. She had been told to come as soon as possible, and Sheriam was going to know she was here.
“Everyone comes to me,” the woman muttered. “Does anybody do anything for themselves? No, they want Nildra to do it. You Accepted are the worst of the lot. Well, I don’t have all night. Follow me, if you’re coming. If not, you can find her for yourself.” Nildra strode off without so much as a backward glance.
Egwene followed silently. If she opened her mouth, she was afraid she would tell the woman what she thought, and that would hardly be the way to start her stay in Salidar. However short it might be. She wished her Aiel heart and her Two Rivers head could get together.
The distance was not long, up the hard-packed dirt street a little way and around the corner into another, narrower street. Sounds of laughter came from some of the houses. Nildra stopped at one that was silent, though light shone in the windows of the front room.
Pausing just long enough to knock on the door, she went in before there was any answer. Her curtsy was perfectly proper, if quick, and she spoke in a somewhat more respectful tone than before. “Aes Sedai, this girl says her name is Egwene, and she — ” She got out no more.
They were all there, the seven from the Heart of the Stone, not a one looking ready for bed, though all but the young woman with Siuan’s name wore robes. From the way their chairs were pulled together, it seemed that Egwene had walked in on a discussion. Sheriam was the first to leap from her chair, waving Nildra out. “Light, child! Already?”
No one paid any mind at all to Nildra’s curtsy, or her put-upon sniff on going.
“We never expected,” Anaiya said, taking Egwene’s arms with a warm smile. “Not so soon. Welcome, child. Welcome.”
“Were there any ill effects?” Morvrin demanded. She had not risen, and neither had Carlinya or the young Aes Sedai, but Morvrin leaned forward intently. All the others’ robes were silk of various hues, sometimes brocaded or embroidered; hers was plain brown wool, though it did look soft and finely woven. “Do you feel any changes from the experience? We had precious little to go on. Frankly, I am surprised it worked.”
“We shall have to see it work to know how well it does.” Beonin paused for a sip of tea, then set cup and saucer down on a rickety-legged side table. The cup and saucer did not match, but then, none of the furniture matched, and most looked as lopsided as the small table. “If there are ill effects, she can be Healed, and they will be done with.”
Egwene stepped away from Anaiya quickly, setting her belongings beside the door. “No, I’m quite well. Really, I am.” She could have hesitated; Anaiya might well have Healed her without asking. That would have been cheating, though.
“She appears healthy enough,” Carlinya said coolly. Her hair really was short, dark curls barely covering her ears; it had not been just something she did in Tel’aran’rhiod. She wore white, of course; even the embroidery was white. “We can have one of the Yellows check her thoroughly later, to be sure, if need be.”
“Let her get her feet on the ground,” Myrelle said with a laugh. Lush flowers in yellow and red so covered her robe that hardly any green showed. “She’s just come a thousand leagues in a night. In hours.”
“You’ve no time to let her find her feet,” the young Aes Sedai put in firmly. She truly looked out of place in that gathering, in her yellow dress with the skirts slashed with blue and the deep round neckline blue-embroidered. That, and being the only one it was possible to put an age to. “Come morning, the Hall will swarm around her. If she’s not ready, Romanda will gut her like a fat carp.”
Egwene gaped. That voice registered more than the words. “You’re Siuan Sanche. No, it’s impossible!”
“Oh, it is possible, all right,” Anaiya said dryly, giving the young woman a long-suffering look.
“Siuan is Aes Sedai again.” Myrelle’s look was more exasperated than long-suffering.
It had to be true — they had said so — but Egwene could hardly credit it even when Sheriam explained. Nynaeve had Healed stilling! Being stilled was why Siuan looked no older than Nynaeve? Siuan had always been a leather-faced taskmistress, and leather-hearted as well, not this pretty, creamy-cheeked woman with an almost delicate mouth.
Egwene watched Siuan while Sheriam talked. Those blue eyes were the same, though. How could she have seen that gaze, strong enough to drive nails, and not known? Well, the face was answer enough there. But Siuan had always been strong in the Power, too. When a girl first began, it required testing to tell how strong she would be, but not once she had gained that strength. Egwene knew enough now to weigh another woman in moments. Sheriam was clearly the strongest woman in the room aside from Egwene herself, and Myrelle next, though it was hard to be certain; the rest all seemed close, except for Siuan. She was weakest by a fair margin.
“This truly is Nynaeve’s most remarkable discovery,” Myrelle said. “The Yellows are taking what she has done and making their own marvels, but she began it. Sit down, child. It is too long a story to hear standing.”
“I prefer to stand, thank you.” Egwene eyed the straight-backed chair with a wooden seat that Myrelle indicated, and barely repressed a shudder. “What about Elayne? Is she all right, too? I want to hear all about her and Nynaeve both.” Nynaeve’s most remarkable discovery? That implied more than one. It seemed she had fallen behind with the Wise Ones; she was going to have to run hard to catch up. At least she thought now that she would be allowed to. They would hardly have greeted her so warmly if she was going to be sent away in disgrace. She had not curtsied or called anyone Aes Sedai once — more because she had had no chance than for any other reason; defiance was no way to face Aes Sedai — yet no one had called her down. Maybe they did not know after all. But then, why?