Happousai sat on the dojo roof, looking out across the city 
and quietly smoking his pipe.  
Something...something was wrong.  Missing.  He couldn't 
remember what.  Something he had possessed in his youth.  
Perhaps just the shadow of what he had become.

	For months now, he had been saner than he had been for 
years, possibly decades, maybe even centuries.  He wasn't sure 
how old he was; anything before World War II was a blur, 
although he had dim memories of stealing underwear from 
Russian nurses during the 1905 war.  The Saint Point had stripped 
him of the madness he had suffered, the mad craving for contact 
with the female body, the desire which had driven him to steal 
underwear because of that contact.  It had driven out the demon; 
with most people, it would had made them unbearably perfect, but 
with him, the ending of the possession was the most it could do.  
There was something wrong with him, something that Tofu had 
told him was some kind of illness, some sort of deep disturbance 
to his chi.

	There was something he needed, something that underwear 
and perversion had somehow assuaged.  Not contact with women, 
but...something.  The holes in his memories, the way they faded 
more and more as he tried to think about the earlier part of his life, 
before the demon Kinseius had gotten into him...it was a clue to 
something.

	He didn't know where he was born, who his parents were, 
where he had grown up, who had trained him, nothing.  He didn't 
know where to start looking.  But he had to find it.  The clock was 
ticking; death was approaching.  Maybe not for years, but...He 
had lost the insane purpose that had driven him on.  Now he 
needed a new one.

	Someone was sneaking up on him.  She was quiet and subtle, 
but not quiet or subtle enough.  Better than most of the clumsy 
fools who surrounded him, however.  "Hello, Cologne."

	She laughed; it was rare for him to hear that.  Even when she 
was young, she hadn't laughed too often.  He blinked, wondering 
how he knew that.  

	"Hello, Happy.  It's time for you to go home."

	He turned around and blinked.  "I am home.  As much as I 
have one."

	She sighed.  "So you don't remember."

	"I hardly remember anything.  Nothing before the demon.  I 
remember...stumbling into the middle of some ritual in 1937.  I 
think that's how it got into me...I was...the most...it liked me best 
because..."  He frowned.  "I can't remember.  I think I was 
already...like that.  I..."

	"That's because I finally caught you again and brainscrubbed 
you as part of an attempt to...fix your problem.  I had forgotten 
how clever you were.  Do you want to remember, Happousai?"

	His eyes narrowed.  He liked Cologne sometimes, but 
he rarely trusted her; he was sneakier than her.  "Why 
are you going to do this?"

	"For over a hundred years, I have been preparing for this day.  
Pulling strings and nudging lives, following the half-understood 
guidance of dreams and ancient prophecies.  My purpose has 
enabled me to go on, just as the purpose given you by your 
madness enabled you to go on.  But you had a different purpose 
once, before the madness took you."  Her voice was quiet, but 
firm.  "I will not make you do this; I did not bring you here to 
fulfill prophecy.  But I...you deserve to know.  What you do with 
that knowledge is your own business.  But I may not be alive to 
do this after I do what I must do next."

	He frowned.  "There is none here but me who could possibly 
best you.  Perhaps Taro on a good day or Ranma if you were 
drunk and asleep.  Perhaps.  What must you do?"

	"Well, next is perhaps not quite the proper term.  I have a 
few more visits to make first, but then...it depends on how far she 
runs before I can catch her."

	"Stop being evasive!  WHAT are you going to do?"

	"Do you remember Ishar Ahmid Cho?"

	Happousai blinked.  "Who?  Wait...there was a book.  Or 
something."  He stared at his pipe, seeking its wisdom.  "Ahh, yes.  
He thought all of history was a repetition of certain stories; that 
certain kinds of stories are told over and over, with the names of 
the players changing, and often the scale of events, but that if you 
knew the right stories, you could examine any situation and know 
how it would come out, because each story could only end in 
certain ways.  A lot of vague meaningless claptrap."  He shrugged 
and took a puff from his pipe.  "If he's right, you can't change the 
way the story ends.  If he's wrong, then it doesn't offer any useful 
guidance."  A second puff; a second thought.  "What's that got to 
do with anything?"

	"Part of his theory was that certain people were linked, 
playing out similar roles in similar stories, and that by 
manipulating the person playing role A in story X--version 1, you 
could influence the outcome of story X, version 2 by affecting the 
person playing A in version 2."

	Happousai's head throbbed.  "Can we skip to the part that 
makes sense?"

	"I'm going to see about doing some rewriting."

	"And how does this relate to my memories?"

	"Do you want them back?"

	"Yes."  Maybe that will help me understand.

	He was too busy trying to cope with the flood of memories to 
try to figure out what she had been talking about once she undid 
the memory suppression.  He remembered what had happened to 
him, how he had become the panty-stealing maniac.  He 
remembered that was an improvement on what he had been doing 
before that.  He remembered how...  "Nemene!  What happened to 
Nemene?  And Darin?  And...Ciri?"

         "Ciri was killed by the Red Army in 1947.  Nemene and 
Darin...very tragic story."

************

Parallel Lives #8:
Book One:  For Remembrance Lost

Lessons

A Wheel of Time / Ranma 1 / 2  crossover, 

by John Biles

Other chapters available at
http://www.thekeep.org/~wombat/PL/


************

	"You want to WHAT?"  Rand asked dubiously.

	"You've got a good dozen Aes Sedai sitting around picking 
their noses because you won't do anything with them.  And while 
I'm sure this Taim guy is doing his best, I know more about the 
Power in my left foot than he knows in his entire body,"  Kaneda 
said.  "We all do.  But on the other hand, some of my people aren't 
very strong channelers.  I think you'd be better served if my 
people acted as a sort of school, teaching your Aes Sedai and 
Ash'aman, instead of splitting my group up among them.  
Especially since my people know how to actually link men and 
women and how to do the things that take both groups working 
together."  Not to mention I suspect the Aes Sedai, at least, would 
probably try to turn them into novices, knowledge or not, Kaneda 
thought.

	They were having a semi-private conference.  Semi-private 
meant that there were only three Ash'aman, three Wise Ones, 
Merana (an Aes Sedai), Alyssa, Min, Rhuarc, and a dozen or so 
Maidens of the Spear.  They were all seated (or standing) in one 
of the nicer conference rooms, seated around an oval table.  

	"I need to introduce you to Taim," Rand said, then fell silent, 
staring off to one side of Kaneda in a way that reminded him of 
the way Min looked when doing her aura readings.  I wonder if he 
has the same Talent, Kaneda thought.  I wish I did.  Rand looked 
over at Merana.  "Are you interested in this offer?"

	"So you possess the knowledge of the Aes Sedai of the Age 
of Legends?"  Merana asked.  She glanced over at Alyssa with a 
faintly disapproving look.  Alyssa did her best to just stare cooly 
back, but she felt herself blush.

	Kaneda looked over at Alyssa and smiled.  "With your 
permission, my Lord Dragon?"

	"A demonstration?"

	"Yes."

	"Go ahead."

	He and Alyssa looked at each other, then grasped the Source 
and linked.  He led the link; in a one to one male-female link, the 
male always did.  Weaving Air and Spirit, he touched Merana's 
mind with the threads.  She was watching Alyssa and the air 
around her, her brow furrowed.  He spoke into her mind.  [Hello, 
Merana]

         Merana jumped and nearly fell out of her chair.  "You..."

        "The Mind Touch.  Lost by the Aes Sedai since the Breaking.  
We also know how to make something like this."  He put a pair of 
small folding boxes on the table.  One was roughly made, the 
other smoothly polished.  "Farspeakers.  One we found in a cave, 
the other one newly made.  Anyone can use them.  And we can 
make more.  The only limits are raw materials and the fact that 
some weaves require more men and women than we have.  
Interested now?"

        "Yes," she said, then blinked.  "I'm sure the others will be 
interested.  And if you can teach Samitsu more about healing..."

	Min laughed.  "She might offer to have your baby like she 
did to Flinn."

	Flinn, who was standing nearby, blushed.

*************

	Alyssa finished the elaborate weave of Fire and Earth.  The 
end product was the reshaping of several pieces of cloth into a 
plain, but functional yellow dress with long pleated sleeves and an 
ankle-length skirt.  She would have to do the embroidery by hand; 
she had tried using the Power and had just made a mess.  Her 
control wasn't quite that fine with Earth.  Not that her embroidery 
skills were much better.  The most important thing, however, was 
the cloth.  She, Mai, Alya, and a reluctant Balin were making 
outfits of seracloth, which was fire resistant and quite warm.  
Balin, in fact, had a knack for it, but didn't like it; he saw it as 
women's work.  He also, however, lost all his willpower when 
Alya fluttered her eyelashes at him; he had a quite obvious liking 
for her.  

	"Do I REALLY need to make so much of this stuff?  We're 
going to use up all the spare cloth in the Palace.  Yeah, that's it," 
he said.  The things I do for love.  I'm a peddler, not a weaver.  He 
ran his hands through his short black hair; he did this when he was 
aggravated.  He looked over at Mai, who was sitting on Alya's 
bed, sewing a long blue banner by hand.  "What's that?"

	"I'm making Lord Kaneda a new banner.  A yellow hammer 
on a blue background.  Ranko  suggested it."  Mai held it up.  She 
was clearly the best seamstress of the group; she had three 
completed outfits to one side as well.  "How's it look?"

	"Looks great,"  Alya said.  "So we're gonna be teaching the 
Power to a bunch of Aes Sedai and Ash'aman, Alyssa?"

	"Yeah.  I don't know how Kaneda talked Rand into it, 
but...classes start as soon as we get the students organized.  I'm 
kinda scared."  Alyssa said.  "I dunno about the Ash'aman, but full 
Sisters don't listen to anyone else very easily.  And since the last 
they knew of me, I was a failed novice..."  She stared at the floor, 
remembering how Merana had looked at her.  

	Alya shrugged.  "Compared to Tyr kicking me in the head 
five times yesterday, they're nothing.  It's not like we don't know 
more than them."  She blinked.  "We have training this afternoon.  
What time is it?"

	Mai blinked.  "Time for us to be late, I think."

***********

	Alya lead the pack as they sprinted into the courtyard, where 
Rand, a pack of Maidens, several male Aiel warriors, Ranma, and 
Ukyou were watching Akane conducting her afternoon martial 
arts lessons.  Cerise, Tyr, and Alain were acting as sub-instructors, 
trying to help Akane run herd over the group.  "I'm sorry we're 
late!"  She launched a flying kick at Akane as an apology.

	Akane caught the foot and spun, tossing Alya into a wall.  
"You need to get faster if you want that to work."

	Alya grinned, bouncing off the wall with a move Ranma 
recognized, although he was better at it than she was, and began to 
glow a faint red to those who could perceive chi.  This attack was 
much faster than the other one, and she sent Akane tumbling.  
"I've been working on that."  

	Her followup, however, needed work, as Akane proceeded to 
methodically pummel her.  While Alya was faster, she couldn't 
take the pounding, and her blocks were often not effective 
enough.  She fell back, fighting defensively, and now Akane had 
the short end of the stick, unable to hit her.  "Better,"  Akane said.  
"Hey, Ranma, got time to spar with Alya?  I think you can teach 
her better than me.  She fights like you."

	Ranma's instinctive response was to announce he didn't fight 
girls, but he choked it down.  He'd look scared, and he didn't want 
to look scared with all these people watching.  "Come and get 
me."

	Akane turned to the rest of the latecomers.  "Took a nap after 
lunch?"

	Mai still wasn't used to Lord Kaneda also being a woman.  "I 
was making you a new banner."  She unfurled it.  "What do you 
think?"

	Akane blinked.  "..."

	"It wasn't MY fault,"  Balin said, trying to cover himself.  
"I'm just going to go practice with Tyr now."  He slinked off.

	"Do you like it, Kan...Akane?"  Alyssa asked.

	"How did you..."  She shook her head.  "It's fine.  As good a 
symbol for me as any."

	Mai frowned slightly.  "You don't like it."

	"It's...It's fine."  She took the banner, folding it up.  "Now, it's 
time for us to all beat each other into the ground."

***********

	"So what is Chi?"  Rand asked Akane.  He had assumed it 
had something to do with channeling, but this wasn't the case.  
Not unless she could somehow punch through the shield he had 
put on her without him even noticing it.  

	"It's...uhh..."  Akane tried to figure out how to explain it.

	Ranma interrupted her.  "Chi is the power of human life 
force, sort of.  Everyone has it, but most people don't understand 
how to use it.  By careful exercises and a lot of practice, you can 
learn to use your chi to enhance your normal abilities, and as you 
use more chi, your chi gets stronger.  Some people learn ways to 
draw on the Earth's chi too, but I've never figured out how.  You 
gotta meditate under a mountain for a hundred years  or 
something.  People with strong chi radiate a battle aura when they 
draw on it, and it can get stronger with your emotions.  You can 
learn to run faster, jump farther, hit harder, and stuff."

	"How hard?"  Rand asked.

	Cerise, who had been standing nearby quietly with the rest of 
Kaneda's best students, stepped forward.  "I can shatter a stone 
wall with one finger."

	Muttered whisperings went through the crowd, many of them 
sounding dubious.  Rand said, "How hard is it to learn to use?"

	"Well, I spent years learning to..."  Ranma began.

	"I figured out how to break rocks in about three 
months,"  Cerise said.

	Ranma said, "I was counting from when I started my 
training."

	"So was I,"  Cerise said, smirking at him.

	Smoke rose from Ranma's ears.  "In three months, you 
learned to..."

	"Hey, you learn new stuff fast, Ranma,"  Akane said.  "I 
remember you learned the Tenchi Amaguriken in days."

	After spending years learning to fight and building up my 
chi, Ranma thought.  "And Akane taught you?"

	Cerise nodded.

	"She taught you something she can't do?"

	"I can do it now, Ranma,"  Akane said, irritated.

	"You started training them...what, five months ago, maybe?"  
Ranma asked.  A thought was tickling his mind, but he couldn't 
quite get it out.

	"And?  Are you insinuating something?"  He's just jealous, 
Akane thought.

	"Akane, were you able to do chi attacks after five months?"

	"..."

	"For that matter, I guess I did pick up on channeling pretty 
fast."  He frowned.  "I feel like I'm not getting something 
important."

	"Ta'veren," Rand said quietly.  "I would be willing to bet that 
Kaneda is ta'veren.  I once caused everyone in a village to get 
married by walking into it.  To cause people to learn faster...quite 
plausible."  He turned to Akane.  "I would be interested in 
learning more of this chi.  Is it the same for men and women?"

	"I can't tell any difference between when I'm male and 
female, using chi.  You can't link, as far as I know.  Umm...I could 
teach you some meditative exercises..."

	"That would be good.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of the 
Aiel were interested as well."

	One of them frowned.  "It is not channeling?"

	Ukyou said, "I can do it.  It's not channeling."

	Maiden hand-talk flickered back and forth.  Then the sky 
boomed with thunder, and rain began to fall, gently, but with signs 
of getting harder.  Akane, Ranma, Alyssa, and Ukyou scurried for 
cover.

        "Time to adjourn this discussion,"  Rand said.  "I must go to 
Caemlyn again."  He frowned.  "What is taking Mat so long to get 
her there..."

************

	"Great.  Just Bloody Flaming Great."  Mat said to himself.  
Being shackled upside down was a new experience; Mat hadn't 
liked very many of his new experiences since arriving in Ebou 
Dar at all.  Mat was wishing desperately he could go back to being 
Tylin's 'duckling' after what they had put him through, however.  

	I hope she's all right, he thought.  The woman has no flaming 
sense at all; she probably challenged the High Lord Suremoth or 
whatever her name is to a duel by now.  Or gotten blown up by a 
damane.  

	Mat hadn't had to worry about that before, but he did now.  
He'd lost everything he'd bargained with the Foxes to get.  
Everything.  The spear, the foxhead amulet were both in the hands 
of High Lady Spuregoth.  Or whatever her name was.  
Understanding the Seanchan was nearly impossible.  His hat was 
gone.  His money.  Only the ring he had bought remained, and 
that only because it was stuck on his finger and they hadn't felt the 
need to bother pulling it off.  He wouldn't have put it past them to 
chop off his hand to get it.

	At least Olvar wasn't in their hands.  As far as he knew, 
anyway.  He was sure they would have used Olvar to threaten him 
if they knew.  Not that they likely would have known of any 
connection.  Only a handful of odd men who were tatooed had 
actually talked to him.  And some slave who brought him food.  
The snootiest slave he had ever seen; not that Mat had seen many 
slaves.  Still, from the vague rumors he had heard of such among 
the Sharans and past history, slaves usually didn't look at you as if 
they were superior.  Or complain that such work was beneath 
them.  The woman looked disturbingly familiar as well.  Blonde 
with a pouty face.  

	Mat had an eye for women; he could remember every woman 
he had ever kissed.  And a lot more that he had kissed in the 
memories planted in his head.  Much as he hated them at times, he 
was glad he had at least one thing that could not be taken from 
him.

	And the dice that sometimes rolled in his head.  They were 
silent, though he pleaded at them to start.  They might not tell him 
what to do, but they always meant something was going to 
happen.  Something important.  

	Well, at least I won't die of starvation, he thought.  They feed 
me well enough; but what do they want of me?

**************

	Alyssa liked Min.  She, Min, Ranma, and Ukyou were 
wandering the palace looking for something to do.  Akane had 
gone off with Vanin and Alain to visit Rand's school, along with 
several of the artisans among Akane's followers.  Apparently, she 
was going to teach them to make something called 'gunpowder'.  

	The reason Alyssa liked Min was that she liked people who 
were tough, but friendly, in part because she never felt tough 
herself.  Alyssa's parents had screamed at their children far more 
often than they ever hit them; the screaming left more scars than 
beatings would have.  Her recent successes made her nervous; 
she'd never gone this long in her life without something going 
horribly wrong; the only question was when.  Being around 
people who could take care of her made her feel safer.  

	"Hmm, how about a game of poker?"  Ranma asked.

	"You feel like losing, eh, Ranchan?"  Ukyou asked, smiling.

	"I ain't gonna lose!"  Ranma proclaimed loudly, startling a 
passing gai'shain, who blinked and lithely dodged around Ranma's 
flailing arms.

       "What's poker?"  Min asked.

        Ranma whipped out a deck of cards.  "Time to introduce you 
to a great game."

        Ukyou grinned.  "Make him bet clothing."

        Alyssa blushed.

**************

	Samitsu bustled through the halls of the palace.  She had to 
see for herself.  Merana had emphasized that the girl had grown 
stronger, but Samitsu was quite dubious.  While Alyssa would 
have made an adequate Aes Sedai, and indeed, a good recruit for 
the yellows with her talent for healing, the girl was no stronger 
than most Aes Sedai.  Merana had to have been imagining things.  

	The servants and Gai'shan made way for her, while the Aiel 
often did not, until it became apparent that she not so much 
expected them to get out of the way as that she would simply walk 
right over them if they didn't.  

	She wouldn't have been half so irritated if she hadn't had to 
follow a trail of directions to find her; everyone she had asked had 
pointed her to someone else who might know, and half of them 
had been from that false Dragon's infernal 'Hall of the Servants'.  
Merana might have been impressed by the Kaneda boy and his 
goon squad of washouts and future madmen, which was likely 
another sign Merana was going senile, but Samitsu found the 
whole story quite unbelievable.  

	When she found the right door, she didn't bother knocking.  
Of all the things she might have expected to see, the sight of a 
man in his underwear playing cards with three women in various 
states of undress, one of them the woman she was looking for, 
was not one of them.  Well, two women missing articles of 
clothing, and one woman who only had her socks off.  At least she 
thought it was a woman.  Hard to be sure.  The boy looked 
somewhat familiar, but she couldn't think of where she would 
have seen him.  Braided hair, though; probably a Kandorian.  

	As she opened the door, Alyssa, who was down to a slip and 
some jewelry, took off one of the rings.  "I...is this...really a good 
idea?"

       "Well, since Ranma's down to his last article of clothing, we 
can start extorting favors from him,"  the woman who might be a 
man said.

        Samitsu stared in surprise, then pulled herself together, 
giving them a withering glare.

        "Hey!  I ain't no gigolo!"  Ranma said.

	The third woman laughed.  "We can see how your mind 
works,"  she said.  Samitsu recognized her, but was shocked 
again.  It was the Dragon's woman.  I suppose I should have 
expected this, she thought, but ...

	They started the next hand of the game, and Samitsu realized 
they either were ignoring her, or else they hadn't noticed.  I 
suppose this game would be rather distracting.  She squashed that 
line of thought and said, "Ahem."

	Four heads swivelled.  Ranma and Alyssa turned red.  Alyssa 
vaulted backwards over the bed somehow; Samitsu couldn't quite 
figure out how it was possible without using the Source.  Ranma 
grabbed a nearby set of pants and jumped into the wardrobe, 
shutting the doors on himself.  Min looked up and smiled.  "You 
want us to deal you in, Samitsu Sedai?"  Her smile was 
infuriating.

	Frostily, Samitsu said, "I've come to see Alyssa."

	Ukyou tossed Alyssa her clothing.  "You guys started 
tutoring them already?"

	"Not yet."  Alyssa said from behind the bed.  Frantic getting 
dressed noises continued to spring forth.

	"So when are you gonna bear Flinn's baby?"  Min asked, not 
bothering to put on the few items of clothing she had off.  

	Samitsu made a mental note to find some way to make 
everyone forget that incident.  Her discussions with Flinn had 
been useful, however.  She had been trying to figure out how to 
do male/female links; the potential for new Healing methods was 
enormous.  That had broken her own resistance to the existence of 
male channelers; she still feared what would eventually happen to 
them, but...he had done something she could not.  She could be 
proud, but she wasn't so proud as to let it shut off her mind.  
Permanently, anyway.

        Alyssa popped up about the same time as Ranma staggered 
out of the closet, now wearing one of Min's shirts and vests.  He 
looked down at his chest and blinked.  "Uh...oops."

	Min laughed.  "Feel free to borrow it."

	Alyssa said, "What did you...want to see me about?"

	"Come with me.  I'll leave your friends to their...games."  She 
turned to go, then turned back, looking at Ranma.  "Have you ever 
been in the Tower?"

	Ranma laughed nervously.  "You probably met my twin 
sister.  Ranko."

	Samitsu nodded.  "She had a lot of talent.  So how did 
she...learn that cat fist thing?"

	Ranma shuddered.  "It was awful.  I wish I'd never learned 
it."

	Samitsu decided not to pry.  "Come, Alyssa."

	Alyssa quietly followed her out and into the hallway.  "How 
can I help you, Samitsu Sedai?  Do you need help healing 
someone?  Though really, I can't imagine I could heal someone 
you couldn't, but..."

	"I understand you have grown stronger in the power."

	The vague fear that had been eating at Alyssa faded.  
"Yes, I have."  She smiled a little.  "I've gotten much stronger 
since I left the Tower."

	"We all grow somewhat stronger for a while from using the 
Power, but I remember you were not very strong at all, except for 
Healing."

	"Seize as much of the Power as you can,"  Alyssa 
said quietly.

	Samitsu's eyes narrowed.  She'd sworn to obey the Dragon, 
not a washed out novice, but...it was the logical way to test.  She 
grabbed as much Power as she could, safely.

	She saw Alyssa grab the power, saw the weaves.  Alyssa had 
been adequate, nothing more, at weaving when last Samitsu saw 
her.  The weave was one of spirit, air, and fire, which suddenly 
turned in on itself and vanished.  She could feel Alyssa 
channeling.  But she couldn't see it.  Something invisible was 
hacking at her connection to the source.  Multiple somethings.  
Five knives chopped away.  She tried to build knives to attack 
Alyssa's link, but her weaves were chopped to ribbons.  

	What amazed her most was that Alyssa looked terrified as if 
this was some sort of desperate struggle.  Samitsu knew better; 
she'd lost the fight the second Alyssa's weaves had turned 
invisible, had begun to realize it the second she had felt how much 
power Alyssa was using.  It was utterly impossible.  Only a 
handful of Aes Sedai in the Tower could have matched it, and 
they would have burnt themselves to flinders.  The Nynaeve girl 
had this much power, had been stronger than Alyssa was now, and 
likely had grown stronger.  But Alyssa was close; most Aes Sedai 
would have been shielded by now, but Samitsu was strong, 
stronger yet in Healing, but fairly strong at almost anything.  

	It was the invisible weaves that boggled her.  Men's weaves 
were invisible; there were ways to fight them, ways she had never 
learned because she was not a Red.  At least, she assumed there 
had to be a way; given that the Reds usually won, there had to be 
something that could be done.  She'd never known women could 
do it too.  

	She heard footsteps, dozens of them.  The girl's probably 
given every Aes Sedai and all the so-called Wise Ones a 
headache, Samitsu thought.  Verin was the first to arrive, just as 
Alyssa finished cutting off Samitsu from the Source, with three 
Wise Ones a few inches behind her.  Within what seemed like 
seconds, Dragonsworn Aes Sedai, Aiel, and Wise Ones nearly 
literally popped out of the woodwork.  Verin looked at Alyssa.  
"Fascinating."

	She blushed slightly.  "Hello, Verin Sedai."

	It took about twenty times longer to explain everything and 
get the horde to back off and go home.  Finally, Samitsu found 
herself alone with Alyssa in the hallway.  "How is this possible?"

	"I made a bargain with the Foxes.  I wanted to be strong 
enough to fight a Forsaken if one of them...came for Kaneda."  
She let go of the Source.  "And Kaneda bargained to get us all the 
full training of the Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends."

	Samitsu cocked an eyebrow.  "Full training?  As in?"

	"As in, each and every one of us knows more about 
channeling and the Age of Legends than every Aes Sedai in the 
Tower combined.  And the Ash'aman.  And the Wise Ones and 
the Seanchan thrown in for good measure."  Alyssa frowned.  
Samitsu doubting her word was starting to aggravate her.  "You 
know the Oath Rod?"

        "What about it?"

	"We have one, I know how to make another, and...they used 
them to bind criminals in the Age of Legends.  Only a criminal 
ever touched an Oath Rod, except to hand it to a criminal."  She 
gave Samitsu her best glare, which might have scared a three day 
old puppy.  Maybe.

	Samitsu frowned.  "I am not a criminal."

	"You're no Aes Sedai, either.  An Aes Sedai isn't a tyrannical 
self-centered beast like most of the people in the Tower.   I didn't 
fail my Accepted test.  I wanted to leave, and that was the best 
way."  Her glare got a little better.

	"We don't MAKE people stay."

	"I tried to leave, but they found ways to make me stay.  So I 
forced them to throw me out."

	"The life of an Accepted is much better than that of a Novice, 
as you would have discovered."  

	The glare went up two more notches.  Now it might have 
scared small children.  "A gilded cage is still a cage."

	"Novices and Accepted are not slaves!"  Now Samitsu was 
starting to get mad.

	"That's true.  Ex-slaves don't usually become slave masters."

	Samitsu simmered.  In her younger days, she would likely 
have picked up Alyssa and thrown her, but she had become more 
mellow over time.  "Why did you ever come to the Tower?"

	"Slave Traders...oh, I mean a group of Aes Sedai found me 
and decided I wanted to be one.  You people have so utterly 
perverted the name of the Aes Sedai, it makes me SICK!  I'm not 
surprised you all put Rand in a cage; I'm just surprised you took 
so long to do it."  Alyssa was getting madder and madder, and her 
mouth was starting to run ahead of her brain.

	"That was NOT us!  That was Elaida and her embassy!"  
Samitsu said.  "We were sent as a true embassy by the true Hall!  
Not to kidnap and torture him!  You may think I'm a beast, but I'm 
a HEALER!  I swore the Oaths!  I do NOT use the Power to hurt 
people for my own whims!"  Her control was slipping as well, and 
she fought to rein herself in.  "Do not compare me to those 
damnable fools."

	"The Oaths didn't stop them from torturing someone.  From 
breaking diplomatic trust.  From kidnapping the DRAGON.  
From...The Oaths are worthless.  No one trusts you.  No one 
thinks you won't use the Power to hurt them.  And I know the 
Tower is chock full of weapons that could hurt people.  Damn you 
all,"  Alyssa said, turning and stalking off.

	Samitsu frowned.  This was NOT how it was supposed to go.

************

	Alyssa tried to go backk to Min's room, but once she started 
crying, which happened as soon as she got out of sight of Samitsu, 
she got totally lost, and found herself going round the same four 
corners over and over.  Giving up, she sat down on a bench and let 
the tears flow.  A tiny part of herself wondered if she could 
transform herself if she cried too much.  The rest just bawled.  

	Corwin found her.  He was a tall man, with a broad frame 
and well muscled arms and legs.  His sister Alya was a close 
friend of Alyssa, and she had grown to like him as well.  She 
wasn't sure what he was doing; he was a teamster by trade, and 
had happily gone to work doing that for the Dragon on their 
arrival; she wouldn't have expected him to be wandering the halls.  
"What's wrong, Alyssa?"  He sat down by her.

        "Nothing."  It was stupid to cry, she thought.  But she 
couldn't help herself.

	"Nothing happens for no reason," he said.  It was an 
Amadician saying that he liked to use all the time.  Corwin was a 
veritable font of Amadician sayings.  "As my grandmother used to 
say."  She was supposedly the source of all of them, but Alya had 
told her that he made half of them up.

	"I had a fight with Samitsu Sedai," she said, 
rubbing her eyes, trying to turn off the tears.

	"I heard about that.  Caused quite a panic.  You won, right?"

	"Well, then we had a screaming match.  She just...she thinks 
I'm a failure.  Just a washed out Novice.  A...coward."  Sometimes 
Alyssa felt that way herself.

	"You're not.  I know you'd do anything for the...for Lord 
Kaneda."  Like many of Kaneda's followers, he hadn't gotten over 
calling Kaneda the Dragon yet.  She wasn't sure if he ever would.  
She was quite sure Corwin would throw himself off a mountain 
top into Shaol Ghul if Kaneda hinted that he needed someone to 
do that.  "He wouldn't love a coward."

	I wish I could believe that, she thought.  If he knew how 
scared I get, how much I...  She shivered and was glad no one 
could read her mind.  "I don't know...if I'm going to be able to 
teach the Aes Sedai.  They're not going to want to believe I can 
teach them anything."

***********

	"Well?"  Merana said.  She had been reading up on Andorian 
noble families when Samitsu arrived.  Rand had told her to 
prepare herself; he was hoping that together they could hammer 
out some kind of agreement to keep the Andoran nobles from 
finally going renegade before Elayne arrived.  She was happy to 
finally be doing something useful.  Beyond the agreement she had 
hammered out with the Sea Folk.

	"The girl is strong.  And arrogant."  Samitsu frowned.  "She 
was making wild accusations about how we..."

	"All Aes Sedai are arrogant,"  Merana said.  "I had never 
fully realized that, until I saw what happened to the embassy."

	"I..."  Samitsu began.

	"It galls me that she and the others have gained the 
knowledge we have lost.  It galls me that they're lead by an ex-
false Dragon and a Tower washout.  But the knowledge they 
possess...They do know more than us.  And several of them are 
very, very strong.  And even the weakest knows more than the 
most knowledgeable person in the Tower.  And we'll never get 
that information by acting superior."  She sighed.  "The Dragon 
may break the world, but he begins by breaking all our certainties.  
We have forgotten one of the greatest of all secrets.  Now, I must 
learn it again, and so must all of you."

	"What is that?"

	"You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."

	Samitsu cocked her head.  "Why would I want to catch 
flies?"

	Only because Merana was Aes Sedai did she not bang her 
head on her table.

*************

	Kaneda prattled on about how well the 'gunpowder' 
experiments had gone.  Alyssa was only half listening, but it took 
him quite a while to notice.  Finally, he said, "What's wrong?  I 
heard there was some sort of something with you and Samitsu, 
but..."

	"We had a fight."  Alyssa said quietly. 

	"What, a duel?"

	With a lot of stumbling verbally, Alyssa managed to explain 
everything.  More or less.

         Kaneda sighed.  "You really shouldn't have started chewing 
her out."

        "I was miserable in the Tower!"

        "It's not her fault.  We've got to work with these people, 
Alyssa.  We can't get in stupid fights like kids,"  Kaneda said, 
thinking about all the times he had done that.  "Like I used to do 
all the time with Ranma."

	"She wouldn't take me seriously!"

	"She'll come around, once she sees everything you can do.  
But please, don't abuse them."  

	Alyssa frowned.  She'd expected sympathy, not a lecture.  "I 
can't believe you're on their side."

	Now, Kaneda frowned.  "Alyssa.  Just because you now have 
the upper hand on someone who used to torment you doesn't mean 
you can torment them back.  That's just...wrong."

        "I was not tormenting her!"  Alyssa frowned, getting angry.  
"She was rude and insulting to me!"

	"You kicked her ass and called her a criminal!"

	"They act like criminals!"

	They were both standing and shouting at each other.  
"Dammit!  They work for the Dragon too!  We have to get along 
with these people if we're going to convince them they're wrong in 
how they go about being Aes Sedai!"

	"They won't listen!  They're a bunch of stuck up 
bossy...Damn them!"  Alyssa shouted.  "They made my life a 
LIVING HELL!  I had days where I wanted to DIE!"

	"You're overreacting!  It couldn't have been THAT bad!"

	"It was worse...it...dammit!  You're defending them again!"

	"They sure don't act like rampaging monsters as far as I can 
tell!  They're bossy, but you can't give someone huge amounts of 
power and expect them to not notice!"  

	Alyssa ground her teeth.  "Oh forget it.  I'm going for a 
walk!"  She stalked out.

	"Dammit, Alyssa!  You know I'm right!"  Kaneda shouted 
after her, then started to cry as soon as she was out the door and it 
closed between them.  I could use a walk myself, he thought.

	Dinner quietly cooled and congealed in their absence.

**************

	Having not gotten the layout of the palace down yet, Ranma-
chan was wandering the halls mindlessly, trying to find the baths 
or the kitchen so she could get some hot water.  The rain was 
getting worse, as she'd found out when she stepped into the 
courtyard without paying attention.  

	She found Alyssa instead, as Alyssa rounded a corner and 
slammed into her.  Alyssa was crying; Ranma-chan was used to 
this; they had had many such encounters back in their Tower days.  
"What's wrong, Alyssa?  Samitsu mad because you kicked her 
butt?"  She smiled a little; she'd heard about what happened to 
Samitsu.  Not that Ranma-chan disliked Samitsu, but seeing an 
Aes Sedai humbled after all the arrogance they dished out pleased 
Ranma-chan.  

	"Kan...Kaneda's mad at me because...I don't even know 
why!"  She sobbed with her head on Ranma-chan's shoulder.  
"We've never had a fight before...I don't know what to do!  I can't 
understand why he's on her side."  She tried to speak more, but her 
sobs became too powerful.

	Ranma-chan patted Alyssa on the back, trying to figure out 
what to do.  "He probably just didn't understand why you had the 
argument with Samitsu.  He used to beat me up all the time 
because he thought I was picking fights with people."  She sighed.  
"It ain't easy to convince Akane you're innocent once she decides 
you're guilty."  A thought troubled him.  "She didn't hit you, did 
she?"

	Alyssa's eyes widened.  "Kaneda would never hit me!"

	"She used to beat me up all the time."

	Alyssa's jaw dropped.  "He WHAT?"

	"Yeah, she'd get mad, and then WHAM, I'd get hit."  Ranma-
chan sighed.  "It wasn't so bad when I deserved it, but 
sometimes...She couldn't really hurt me.  Even when she knocked 
me into the stratosphere...I mean, Pop would do worse to me 
during our training sessions, but...It really drove me nuts when she 
wouldn't even listen to me."

	Alyssa didn't really NEED the creeping fear that was now 
coming over her.  The thought of Kaneda hitting her wouldn't get 
out of her mind.  She must be exaggerating, she thought.  Kaneda 
wouldn't hit someone he cared about.  He wouldn't.  The tears 
came over her again, and she just couldn't stop.

************

	Kaneda found Alain in his room, going over a list.  "Got a 
minute?"  Kaneda asked.

	"Yes."  Alain said, putting down the list.  "I've heard a rumor 
that the Seanchan have taken Ebou Dar."

	"So have I,"  Kaneda said.  "I don't know what the Dragon 
plans to do about it.  But what I really need to ask you 
is...I...umm.."  He stared at the floor.  "This is gonna sound really 
ridiculous."

	"Not half as ridiculous as the lunatic general I served under 
during the Aiel War.  I should have known better than to go to 
Murandy, but...anyway.  What's the question?"  

	Kaneda sat down on Alain's bed.  "I had a fight with Alyssa, 
and I don't know how to apologize."

	Alain smiled a little.  "I suppose saying you are sorry would 
be a good start."

	"I know that!  I just...I didn't mean to have a fight, but I need 
to convince her that she is wrong.  I'm sorry I yelled at her, but I 
still think I was right.  In what I said.  We have to get along with 
the Aes Sedai.  I can't see why she hates them so much.  I've only 
really talked to Merana and Verin, but they both seem okay.  
They're not all like those Aes Sedai who..."  He blinked.  "Hey, 
what did we do with Dora and Else, anyway?"

       "We've been taking turns keeping them shielded.  As you 
commanded.  And some of the Ash'aman have been doing it too.  
Didn't I tell you about this?"  He frowned.  

	"I suppose I should go see them after this...we can't keep 
them shielded forever."  He stared at the floor.  "How do I make 
Alyssa see they're not all bad?"

	"I suggest you apologize for having a fight, then find the 
nicest Aes Sedai you can find as a student.  And tell the Aes Sedai 
what she is getting into."

	Kaneda nodded.  "Let's go see Dora and Else."

***********

	Haile and Basel were standing guard over Dora and Else.  
Else was sitting at the room's table, reading a book, while Dora 
stared out the window, drumming her fingers on the sill.  Her 
blonde hair was less scraggly than usual, possibly because she 
seemed to be brushing it over and over and over with her left 
hand.  She wore a dignified red dress, with a high square cut 
collar, embroidered with green leaves and yellow flowers and 
belted at the waist.  Else, on the other hand, wore a plain brown 
wool dress only marginally different from a sack, and had wavy 
brown hair that went down to mid-back and dark brown eyes.  
The only real color on her came from the three brightly colored 
scarves of red, blue, and yellow which twined around her neck 
and her left arm, a fashion statement that Kaneda had seen 
nowhere else.  Neither of them noticed the new arrivals.

	Haile and Basel sat near the door, talking about their 
homeland, Tarabon; it was about all they had in common besides 
channeling.  Basel had been a peddlar, and he still dressed like 
one.  He had a thick black moustache and wore a dark green 
conical cap on top of his curly black hair.  He wore a plain white 
woolen shirt and a slightly more elaborate blue coat over that, 
with embroidered white scrollwork on the shoulders.  Baggy 
white wool pants completed the ensemble.  Hazel eyes glinted 
with amusement as he told an elaborate story about how he 
convinced the mayor of a small town that he really needed to give 
his wife a complete set of pots and pans as a present to appease 
her wrath at his philandering.  

	Haile had been a Taraboner noble once, and she too, still 
tried to dress the part.  Like Dora, she wore red silk, although her 
dress was cut to reveal her figure, unlike Dora's.  The dress was 
simple, except for the pleated sleeves, cut low in front in a v shape 
and slit up the sides to a little above the knee, probably to allow 
more motion as well as a view, since the skirt was fairly tight as 
skirts go.  Her hair was dyed a bright red and tied back in a long 
pony-tail, and her eyes were green.  In only one respect would her 
appearance have been out of place in her home country, and the 
same went for Basel; neither of them wore the customary veils 
which Taraboners often would not discard even to eat.  

	Basel looked up.  "Ahh, Lord Kaneda.  Come to say hello to 
our guests?"  He looked Kaneda up and down.  "I know where I 
can get you some better clothing than that.  And cheap too.  I don't 
know how he got all the way to Cairhien, but my old friend 
Annias is in town and..."

	Kaneda cut him off with a gesture.  Basel had been trying to 
sell his boots to the Whitecloak who was about to hang him when 
Kaneda met him; he would likely try to sell something to the Dark 
One himself if he ever ended up in Shaol Ghul.  He was strong in 
the Power as well as having a quick mouth.  Indeed, Kaneda 
sometimes wondered if he had worked out some kind of trick with 
the Power that wasn't part of the knowledge they had acquired 
from the Foxes to help him sell goods; Kaneda had seen him 
wheeling and dealing with just about every group in the Palace, 
even the Wise Ones, who seemed to find him amusing, especially 
when he tried to flirt with them.  

	"Dora.  Else."  Kaneda said, doing his best to use a voice of 
command.

	Else looked up, while Dora continued to stare out the 
window.  "Yes?"  She put down her book.

	"I've come to decide what to do with you."

	"Where is Karla?"  Else asked.  "We haven't seen her and no 
one will tell us what happened to her."

	"Because we don't have a clue,"  Basel said.  "We don't have 
her as a prisoner."

	Kaneda sighed.  "She was eaten by a wolf."

	Dora visibly tensed, but did not speak.  Else's eyes widened.  
"I saw the wolves, but...Did you compel them with the Power?"

	Kaneda shook his head.  "I know how it might be 
done, but I did not do it.  I was unable to use the Power at the 
time.  Thanks to Karla."

	"Do you know...how did Karla turn you into a girl?  I did not 
think such a thing was possible,"  Else said.  "There are stories of 
how the Aes Sedai could alter creatures in the womb so they grew 
up differently from the path the Pattern had chosen for them, but 
my understanding was that fundamentally altering someone's 
Pattern like that once they reached maturity was not possible."

	Kaneda smiled.  "Karla did not do that; it was the hot water.  
A long story, but not one I came here to tell.  Why did you three 
come hunting me?"

	"Oddly enough, we originally started out looking for four 
runaway Accepteds.  Egwene al'Vere, Nynaeve al'Meara, Elayne 
of House Trakand and Ranko Saotome."  Else paused when 
Kaneda laughed.  "Then we heard rumors of a False Dragon and 
decided to investigate.  It was a foolish decision, but some of the 
rumors indicated he had an Aes Sedai ally and we hoped to find 
the Accepteds.  Which we did.  Well, one of them.  Normally, we 
would not have been crazy enough risking challenging a False 
Dragon with just three sisters, but when you went out and exposed 
yourself to us...we became overconfident."  Dora snorted.  "I have 
studied the false Dragons of the past; it is one of my specialties, 
and I must say you are one of the more powerful ones."

	"I never really believed I was the Dragon,"  Kaneda said 
quietly.  "But I wasn't even sure what the Dragon was supposed to 
do and..."

	"You did not stop them from calling you such.  But that's 
water under the bridge.  You are ta'veren.  You pull the Pattern, 
and it pulls you.  You pulled us, though why the Pattern chose us, 
I do not know.  You pulled the others as well, and now al'Thor has 
pulled you to him.  What is done is done."  Else sighed.  "Now 
what?"

	"So why did you beat my sister?  And my friends?"  
Kaneda's voice turned harsher.  He had half forgotten that until he 
thought of it now.  "And why should we not do the same to you?"

	"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."  Else said.  
"If you condemn our action, by doing it yourself, you condemn 
yourself.  We did what we thought was necessary.  None of us can 
compel another to tell the truth by the Power; and we panicked.  
People were beginning to vanish when they could not have 
possibly channeled and we thought...we became frantic to get the 
truth and started trying to beat it out of them.  We didn't know if 
one of us would vanish next and...It was wrong."  

	She stared intently at Kaneda.  "Normally, none of us would 
have been so cruel, I hope, but we panicked and everything they 
told us sounded like blatant lies.  Talk of other worlds and claims 
of ignorance."  She frowned.  "If the girl was your sister, why did 
she claim she didn't know who you are?"

	"Because she only knew me as a girl,"  Kaneda said.  "I was 
born female."

	Else's eyes widened, while Dora simply snorted.  "But 
how...how can you channel Saidin?"

	"Because I have a boy body."

	Else frowned.  "But you can't channel as a girl?"

	"Nope."

	She scratched her head.  "That just...doesn't seem right."  She 
sighed.  "I will face my penance for what I have done.  Not that I 
have a real choice; you have trained your followers well.  Is it true 
that...you found a way to imbue them with the knowledge of 
the..."

        "Yes.  The Hall of the Servants holds all the lore of the 
ancients."  Haile said.  "We are the heirs of the ancient ways."

        Dora snorted again.  Kaneda turned to her.  "And what of 
you, Dora?  Will you accept a penance for your deeds?"

	"You have no authority over me except that given you by 
force.  I did what was necessary to carry out the commands given 
me by the Amyrlin Seat, Elaidado Avriny a'Roihan.  You were a 
false Dragon, and they were your followers.  You must be gentled 
before you can prove a threat to humanity as all male channelers 
are.  Your leader murdered the Queen of Andor and brought the 
Aiel, killers all, across the Dragonwall to pillage the lands of the 
West."  Still, she would not look at Kaneda, and he frowned, 
finding this annoying.  "I reject your authority.  I cannot stop you 
punishing me, but I reject any validity it might have.  It will be the 
action of a bully beating up a helpless person.  I demand you turn 
me over to the Tower.  If I have done wrong, I will be judged by 
them."

	Basel began to laugh, while Haile snorted.  "That's like a 
bandit demanding he be tried by his fellow bandits.  I think not."  
Alain simply shook his head, while Kaneda frowned.  "Well, as 
you like it.  Since you were in Amadicia at the time, I suppose we 
have no choice but to turn you over to the Amadicians so they can 
try you for channeling."

        That finally got Dora to turn around.  "What?"

	He shrugged.  "Haile is right.  To turn you over to the Tower 
would be to insure you were not punished.  Yet, if you reject my 
authority, then you must be tried by the courts of the land in 
which the crime was commited.  Amadica.  It will be a quick trip; 
I know several villages which would do the trick.  And I know 
several ways to keep you from channeling without actually having 
to still you.  Of course, a channeler in an Amadician court doesn't 
have a snowball's chance in hell, but..."

	"Rumor has it the Seanchan control Amadicia now,"  Basel 
said.  "I'm sure they could find a good use for Dora."  

	"Damn you,"  Dora said.  "That's just another way to bully 
me."

	"I will not send you to the Tower, Dora, and I cannot turn 
you loose.  Nor will I set my friends to keeping you shielded 
forever.  We have better things to do.  You've beaten innocent 
people and even admitted to it.  Your choice, Dora.  I can give 
you to the Amadicians.  I can give you to the Ash'aman.  I can 
give you to the Wise Ones as Rand did to those who kidnapped 
them.  Or I can punish you myself.  You can thank Else that I'm 
not going to just beat you until you bleed like I VERY much want 
to do."  His hands were clenched into fists; he very, very much 
wanted to pound her flat for what she had done for Kasumi, but 
Else had been right, less satisfying as this was.  

	Dora stared frostily at him.  "You are nothing but another 
petty tyrant.  Do what you will; whatever you choose will be 
unjust."

	Else frowned.  "Why are you so foolishly stubborn?"

	"I am not weak like you, Else.  You bow to whoever has the 
most power. I do not.  I will not grovel before any man."

	"Woman,"  Kaneda said.  "I am both."

	"Impossible,"  Dora said.  "And you act more like a man than 
a woman.  Whatever.  I would not grovel before any woman, 
either."

        Kaneda frowned, then turned to Alain.  "Bring me the Oath 
Rod."  He nodded and departed.  

        Else's eyes widened.  "You...have the Oath Rod?"

	"An Oath Rod.  They were used to bind criminals in the Age 
of Legends.  I suppose the first use we shall have for it is to do 
such again."

	Dora laughed bitterly.  "I shall swear no oath for you."

	"I am tempted to still you, so that you could then be turned 
loose; that would be punishment enough."  Several people gasped; 
the thought of being stilled was abhorrent to all of them.  "And if I 
could do it without it slowly killing you, I would.  But you have 
done nothing to merit death, whether swift or slow."  He paused, 
trying to decide where his thoughts were running.  "Much as I 
hate to pin down any of my people doing this...I sentence you to a 
year of imprisonment in the dungeons."  He paused.  "This place 
does have dungeons, right?"

	Basel laughed.  "I hope I never find out, but yes, I'm sure it 
does."

	"You will be shielded and kept in solitary confinement.  If 
you do not like this punishment, you may appeal to the Dragon, 
but I suspect he will be less merciful than I."  Kaneda hoped she 
would appeal; he wanted her to suffer more, but now he couldn't 
bring himself to do it.  

	Alain returned with the Oath Rod.  Dora shrugged and turned 
back to the window.  Else stared at the rod.  "Just like the one in 
the Tower."

	"You'll know how to use it then.  You must swear two oaths.  
You will not channel without my express command for a year 
except to defend yourself.  Or your warder.  Nor will you place 
yourself in danger without my express command in order to 
bypass that oath.  And you will not leave the Palace without my 
express consent or command, except to prevent your own death or 
that of your warder.  For a year.  Consider it house arrest."

	"Technically, that's three oaths."

	"Whatever.  Consider it house arrest.  In a year, if you cause 
no more trouble, you will be free to go."

	"You should make her swear obedience to you as the Lord 
Dragon did with the Aes Sedai who are now sworn to him,"  Haile 
said, frowning.  

	Else took the rods and pronounced the oaths, then handed it 
back.  "I would...My Ajah seeks knowledge.  I would study under 
you, if I may.  There is so much...I wish to know."

	Kaneda frowned.  He wasn't sure if her repentance was true 
or feigned, but he was sure she probably knew much that might be 
useful to him; there was so much he did not know about this 
world, and the Browns knew much of it.  "I will consider it."  He 
turned to Basel.  "I will see about a cell for her.  You and Haile 
can take her to it once it is arranged."  Basel and Haile nodded.  
"Let's go, Alain."

	Once they were out of the room, Kaneda sagged.  "Did I do 
the right thing, Alain?  Keeping her shielded for a year...is going 
to be hard."

	"It was that, kill her, or hand her over to someone else.  Since 
the only way to keep her from escaping with the power is to shield 
her or still her, and that would eventually kill her, I don't see what 
else could be done.  You tempered your rage, Kaneda.  I'm..."  He 
hesitated.  "I'm proud of you.  Justice has to be untouched by hate.  
I know you wanted to do worse; if she had beaten my sister, I 
would have done worse."  Shaking his head, he said, "You did the 
best you could."

	Kaneda wished he could be sure of that.

***********

	When Alyssa finally calmed down, she was in Ranma and 
Ukyou's room, although not sure how she had gotten there.  
Ranma-chan was still holding her gently, making soothing noises.  
"I guess...I must seem pretty silly to you."

	Ranma-chan's face was reassuringly compassionate.  "I've 
done some silly stuff myself in the past," she said.  "Really silly 
stuff.  Like the time I dressed up as Ryouga's sister."  She 
laughed.  "What amazes me is that he actually fell for it."

        Alyssa blinked.  "You ddon't look like his sister, Iguess?"

        "He doesn't have one."

         Alyssa found the stories which followed to be very hard to 
believe.

***********

	Ukyou-kun was working out in the rain; while the rain was 
fairly intense, he didn't care; only outside could he really cut loose 
and practise.  Two women were watching him and not watching 
an Aielman who stood nearby, who also watched Ukyou and quite 
deliberately was not watching the two women.  All three of the 
Aiel stood at the fringe of the courtyard, standing under small 
roofs over the doors that lead out into the courtyard.  The rain did 
not frighten them, but neither would they enter it without need.  

	Ukyou-kun knew the women but not the man; he recognized 
Bain and Chiad.  They had been planning to meet him here before 
the rain started; like many Aiel, they had taken an interest in the 
strange abilities that Kaneda's warriors demonstrated.  

	The rain had put an end to that, but Ukyou-kun wanted to 
practice anyway.  As he finished one kata, another door opened 
and Lori stepped out of one of the doors.  He only knew her 
vaguely; she was the second strongest woman in the Hall of the 
Servants, one of Kaneda's earliest followers.  Her skin was 
coppery, for she was Domani, and she wore a sheer gown of green 
clinging silk that showed off her figure to great effect, though it 
covered her from head to toe, leaving only ankles, hands, neck, 
and face bare.  Her eyes were a light blue and her hair was long 
and black, tied back into a pony-tail, with large arching bangs.  
Ukyou couldn't see her channeling, but he could see the results; 
the rain bent around her, leaving her dry as she slinked across the 
courtyard to him.  There was something about how she moved; it 
reminded Ukyou of a movie star.  He could feel his pulse speed up 
as he looked at her; her way of moving was very inviting.  He 
slipped his mega-spatula into its holster.  "Hello, Lori.  What's 
up?"

	She smiled a smile that seemed meant just for him; he had to 
concentrate on Ranma to drive various thoughts out of his head.  
"Why are you practicing in the rain?"

	"Because I can't practice indoors without breaking things 
unless I use the throne room, which wouldn't be wise."  He 
smiled.  "And I'm not scared of any rain."

	The rain parted around him; more channeling he was sure.  
"Especially not now."  She glanced over at the Aiel.  "Friends?"

	"Yes."  He tried to think of something to say and failed.

	"Do you plan to practice through dinner?"

	He blinked.  Food.  Yes, that would be good.  "I could use 
some food."

        "Would you like to join me for some dinner?"  The way she 
pronounced it insinuated that dessert would be...interesting. 

	He knew he should just flat out tell her that he was already 
engaged, but somehow, his mouth would not form the words.  
Instead, he said, "That would be good.  I'll go get Ranma."  He 
bounded off to say goodbye to Bain and Chiad before he could 
say something more stupid, leaving Lori bemused in the rain.

***********

	Alyssa laughed as Ranma-chan related a long story about the 
time that Gosunkugi had tried to control her with a voodoo doll, 
but had ended up controlling Genma instead, who had ended up 
proposing to Kunou.  "You really had a crazy life."

	Lying back on the bed, Ranma-chan laughed.  "Yeah.  It's 
been fun, when I wasn't getting clobbered.  What about you?  
What was your childhood like?"

	Alyssa sobered up.  "Not much fun.  I grew up in Gheri, a 
small farm village in Ghealdan.  For some reason, my village 
produces a LOT of Aes Sedai; there's at least four others I know 
of from my town, and periodically, they send someone to look for 
potential novices, which is how they found me.  My father was a 
blacksmith and my mother was a weaver from Ebou Dar.  He had 
been a soldier for a while, which is how they met.  They used to 
have the most hideous fights; I sometimes thought the house 
would fall down.  My younger brother and I would go hide in the 
smithy.  Jarel is still there; he's my father's apprentice.  He's 
seventeen."  

	Like me, Ranma-chan thought.  I'd forgotten Alyssa 
is a good four years older than me.   "Did they just yell 
or..."

	"Usually yelling.  Sometimes, they would get really mad and 
just beat the snot out of each other.  Mom gave as good as she 
got."  She shuddered.  "Do your parents fight, Ranko?"

	"My parents haven't seen each other since I was five.  Dad 
took me away to train me."  Ranma-chan sighed.  "Well, they 
have seen each other a few times, but Mom didn't know the panda 
was her husband, or that Ranko Tendo was me."

	Alyssa's eyes widened.  "Are you hiding from her?"

        "Pop swore an oath that he and I would commit suicide if he 
didn't make a man out of me."  Ranma-chan poked her own right 
breast, and said bitterly, "You can see how well that went."

       "Yeah, I never would have guessed you were male if you 
hadn't told me."

	Ranma-chan's eyes flashed with anger for a moment.  "Gee, 
thanks."

	She sighed.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean it like that...I mean..."  
Her voice became more timid.  "I apologize, Ranko."

	"Ranma.  I'm Ranma.  Ranko's just a front to trick people.  
I'm a man.  Even when I've got a female body."  She rolled over to 
face Alyssa, who was sitting on a chair by the bed.  "Alyssa, you 
gotta stop apologizing every time someone disagrees with you, or 
you're gonna get walked on."

	"I...but I was wrong."

	"Yeah, but even if you were right, you would have 
apologized."

	"I..."

	"I'm going to make you stand up for yourself, or die trying,"  
Ranma-chan announced.  

	"When I stood up to Samitsu, Kaneda got mad at me,"  
Alyssa said quietly.

	"Kaneda gets mad when people tell him his cooking sucks 
rocks, even though it's true,"  Ranma-chan said.  "He...She can't 
handle people telling her the truth sometimes."  Gotta stop 
thinking of Akane as a guy, she thought.  And gotta get Alyssa to 
stop thinking of me as a girl.  I suppose lounging around in girl 
form doesn't help, but it seemed to make her more comfortable 
and...we always used to have talks like this, back in the Tower.

        "I just...how can I convince him that I wasn't bullying 
Samitsu?"

	Ranma-chan laughed.  "Alyssa, you couldn't bully a small 
child, let alone an Aes Sedai.  I don't think the Dark One himself 
could bully most Aes Sedai.  If he thinks that, he was just being an 
idiot.  I'll straighten him out if you want me to, but you really 
need to do it yourself."

	"Would you?  I'd be really grateful."

	Ranma-chan sighed.  "Let's go find him."

**********

	Ukyou found Ranma-chan and Alyssa on their way to Alyssa 
and Akane's apartments.  Finding Ranma was pretty easy with the 
bond; one of its more useful functions, Ukyou had decided.  "Hey, 
Ranma, Lori wants us to eat dinner with her."

	"Okay.  I gotta go beat Akane in the head first."  She 
explained why on the way there.

	Kaneda sat at the now empty dinner table, reading a book.  
He looked up.  "Hi, there, Ranma, Ukyou."  He turned to Alyssa, 
"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Alyssa.  I shouldn't have done that."

	Ranma-chan opened her mouth to chew Akane out, then shut 
it.  She...apologized?  Ranma-chan boggled.  She couldn't think of 
one time that Akane had ever apologized to her.

	Alyssa ran over to Kaneda, crying.  "I'm sorry I yelled at you.  
I just...I was so angry about Samitsu and everything and you and 
..."  She was babbling.

	Kaneda stroked her hair.  "Don't worry.  We can talk about it 
later."

	Ranma-chan frowned, feeling a surge of jealousy.  Before 
she could say anything, Ukyou tugged her out the door, shutting it 
behind them.  "Let's go eat."

	Ranma-chan frowned.  "And let's get me some hot water."

***********

	The smell of the food had Ranma salivating before he could 
see it; it smelled just like Kasumi's home cooking.  It looked like 
it too, three bowls of beef cut into slivers, fried vegetables, rice 
and a sweet smelling orange sauce.  Even the chopsticks looked 
just like the ones from home.  A pang of homesickness washed 
through him for a few seconds.  

	Lori sat down across the table from him, next to Ukyou; it 
was a small square table.  "I had to make this myself; the cooks 
here don't know much about Domani cooking.  Have you ever had 
Domani style food?  I have some cutlery if you're not used to 
sursa."

	Ukyou laughed.  "We eat stuff just like this at home."  She 
picked up the chopsticks.  

	Ranma was already eating energetically, but slower than 
Ukyou was used to him eating; possibly the fact that no one was 
likely to steal his food here contributed to slowing him down.

         Lori glanced over at Ranma contemplatively.  "Does 
everyone from your world change sex?"

         Ukyou blushed as she began to eat.  The food was good.  I 
wonder if she is a chef, Ukyou thought.  "No.  Ranchan and 
Akane and I are kinda special that way."

        Lori nodded and began to eat slowly.  "Were you born like 
that?"

	"No, I got thrown in a cursed fish pond."  Ukyou laughed.  
"Along with Akane's sister Nabiki."

	Ranma tried to say something through his food, failed, and 
gave up, apparently prefering to concentrate on his food.

	"Were you born a boy or a girl?"  Her voice was casual, but 
her gaze was serious.

	"I'm female; Ranchan is male.  When we're in our normal 
bodies."

	"Ahh."  Lori sounded disappointed.  "I suppose it makes you 
a good couple."

	Ranma choked on his food for a second, so Ukyou whacked 
him on the back.  He coughed.  "Urgh."

	"Yeah.  Ranchan and I have been engaged since we were 
six."

	Lori smiled, the same smile that made Ukyou feel fluttery 
before, but it didn't do anything for her when she was in her girl 
body.  It was somewhat surreal.  "Arranged marriage?"

	"Yeah.  But we really do love each other, right, Ranchan?"

	Ranma grunted, then finished off his food.  "No more four 
fiancees for me."

	Lori's eyes widened.  "FOUR?"

	This took quite a while to explain, and Ukyou never was sure 
if Lori actually believed any of it.

***********

	Ukyou had a strange dream that night.  She dreamed she was 
floating in a starry void full of millions of dots of light.  Her 
lessons with the strange teaching machine she had found in T'A'R 
had not prepared her for this; indeed, she had been intending to 
seek it out.  She knew she still had a lot to learn about this strange 
realm, and since it was her special gift, she intended to make the 
most of it.  Only Ranma-chan knew she could do it; she had been 
loath to tell others, although she wasn't sure why.  Some nameless 
fear had held her back.

	She tried focusing her thoughts on LINA; that was the way 
she usually got to it.  The void of stars shifted around her, but she 
was still in it.  One of the lights was strangely different from the 
others; where they were soft lights, it seemed harsh.  She looked 
at it more closely, and it expanded.  She could see a city, a 
beautiful place of glass and crystal and metal with wide streets 
lined with trees on which smokeless vehicles glided to and fro.  It 
reminded her of her homeland with the bad parts removed.  Where 
am I?  Ukyou wondered.  Maybe this is just a weird dream and I 
didn't make it into T'A'R 
at all.  

	She tried looking at another of the spheres, and it grew 
somewhat as well, becoming a vision of a tall red haired man 
hunting some kind of large lizard with a spear through a dry 
landscape.  The man was clearly Aiel, and veiled.  

	After examining several more spheres, she realized what she 
was looking at.  Dreams.  Somehow, she was actually seeing what 
people were dreaming.  There was no logical order to the dreams; 
looking at four in a row produced an Aielman, a Taraboner, some 
peasant who could have been in almost any country with 
premodern technology and some sort of raving beastman who 
dreamed of ripping cows apart with his bare hands.  

	I wonder if I can find Ranma's dreams, she thought.  Or 
Akane's.  The void flickered around her, and she felt a vague 
tugging.  Hundreds, no, thousands of lights drifted about her; any 
of them could be the dream she wanted.  She still felt the tugging, 
but it was too vague and directionless for her to be sure which 
way to go.  Still, she was closer.  She found several dreams of 
Cairhien, although she recognized none of the dreamers.  Then 
she found a dream which was sealed off, hidden behind a wall of 
darkness which she found disturbing.  

	Wondering why it was sealed off, she soon concluded the 
dreamer must be in non-REM sleep or some such thing; probably 
the lights went dark when you weren't actively dreaming and 
vanished entirely when you woke up.  Or something.  Another 
check found a dream that interested her.  It was Alyssa's dream.  

	Alyssa was walking through some sort of building, an 
endless maze of stone corridors with that flame symbol thing 
everywhere.  It wasn't the palace; it was full of women, most of 
them dressed in simple white dresses.  The rest were Aes Sedai, 
Ukyou guessed from the shawls they wore and the huge gold rings 
on their fingers; the rings were bigger than any real ring, more 
like wearing a bracelet on your finger.  Chains ran out from the 
rings to everyone, tying together everyone in the building with an 
elaborate web of silver chains.  Some of the women controlled the 
others through the chains, but all of them were also controlled by 
chains, in a 'chain of command' that ran off through the corridors 
to some unseen spider.  

	The women kept trying to snare Alyssa with chains, but she 
dodged them frantically, working her way through the maze, ever 
upward and inward.  Several small chains managed to snag on 
her; she couldn't keep this up forever.  Still, she plowed onwards, 
until finally she emerged into a huge circular room with a domed 
roof and the white teardrop of flame embossed in its center.  A 
woman stood in shadows on the teardrop, holding seven chains 
which ran out through the seven doors.  She jerked them about in 
what looked like some kind of coded message.  The woman was 
clearly Aes Sedai; you couldn't see the color of the shawl, but you 
could recognize the style.  The woman had long hair, but it was 
too shadowy to see what color.

         Alyssa staggered towards the woman, more and more chains 
locking onto her and slowing her as she moved forward; she 
ignored them, forming a sword in her hands, a sword of flame.  
Finally, she reached the edge of the teardrop.  She spoke, but 
Ukyou could not hear the words.  It was clearly something 
defiant.  She raised the sword and its light dispelled the shadows.  

	The woman wore an odd shawl unlike any Ukyou had seen 
on an Aes Sedai; it incorporated seven different colors, not just 
one.  Ukyou recognized the woman; it was Alyssa herself.  

	The dream had been silent to Ukyou's hearing, but she heard 
Alyssa scream as the sphere of light flared then faded away.  She 
must have scared herself so much she woke up, Ukyou thought.  
That dream was seriously bizarre.

	Looking around, her gaze settled on another dream.  This one 
seemed to be Akane's dream.  She was seated at a table in the 
Palace, writing a letter.  She wore her usual garb in this world, a 
buttoned white shirt and dark blue trousers of wool with a red 
jacket.  The clothing fit her oddly; it was cut for a man, not a 
woman, and sized for a man several inches taller.  To be more 
precise, it was sized wrongly when Ukyou started watching.  As 
Akane wrote, the clothing slowly changed, becoming fuller in the 
upper chest to accomodate her breasts and shrinking to match her 
height.  The trousers grew together, turning into a dark blue skirt.  
That would be pretty useful, Ukyou thought.  If our clothing 
would alter to fit when we changed.

	A shadow moved on the wall; Ukyou could see a man was 
coming up behind Akane.  She could see Akane's lips move, but 
could still hear nothing.  The sphere got larger when she tried to 
listen harder, but it was still silent.  The previous sphere had 
gotten bigger the more she watched it too.  

	The man, who Ukyou couldn't see clearly, came up behind 
Akane, who apparently didn't mind.  In fact, she didn't even turn 
around.  He was taller than Akane, and well muscled.  As he 
wrapped his arms around Akane, leaned down, and kissed her, 
Ukyou recognized him.  It was Ranma.

        Ukyou's eyes widened.  Ranma, you monkey!  What are you 
DOING?  Her brain forgot she was watching a dream; she'd 
feared this too much.  The sphere grew larger, beginning to engulf 
her vision as Akane wiggled around in the chair and kissed 
Ranma, then began to unbutton her shirt.  

	Ukyou's anger flared and she charged forward; the sphere 
engulfed her and she found herself in Akane's room.  But she 
wasn't in her girl body; she was in her boy body.  Along for the 
ride in her boy body, that is; it wasn't responding to her 
commands.  Instead, it was sitting on Akane's bed, next to Alyssa, 
who was also in boy form.  Ukyou had only seen that form once; 
Alyssa, unlike Ukyou and Akane, and even more so than Ranma, 
tried very hard to avoid changing.  

	Ukyou-kun's body asked, "When do I get my turn?", 
although that was NOT what Ukyou wanted to say.  

	Alyssa-kun nodded.  "Yeah, we don't have all night."

	"Well,  Ranma-kun won the coin toss, so he's first.  You can 
armwrestle for seconds."  Akane said, inbetween unbuttoning 
Ranma's shirt with her teeth.

         Ukyou-kun soon found himself armwrestling with Alyssa-
kun.  Ukyou-kun won easily.  It was entirely surreal for Ukyou, 
who struggled to control the body she was experiencing as her 
own, but couldn't.  This isn't right!  It's not right!  It's not...

         Suddenly, she was back outside the sphere, watching a now 
female Alyssa get it on with Ukyou-kun while Ranma was making 
love to Akane on the desk she had been sitting at.  Ukyou stared, 
unable to stop watching, but not sure why.  Is this...what she 
wants?  It almost sucked her in a second time, when Ranma and 
Ukyou were on the table while Kaneda and Alyssa were in the 
bed.  

	Finally, she wrenched herself away.  I shouldn't be spying 
like this.  Especially when it shows me things I didn't really want 
to know.  So, of course, she looked again.  Now Ranma was with 
Alyssa and Kaneda was with Ukyou.

	She could feel herself getting a little aroused as she watched.  
Kaneda was handsome, but this was the first time Ukyou had 
really fully thought of Akane's boy form as a man.  Curiousity 
began to tug at her as she wondered what it would be like to make 
love to Akane.  Surely she doesn't have dreams this ecchi all the 
time, Ukyou thought.  This could be my only...what am I 
thinking?  She closed her eyes.  I won't look.  I won't look.  I 
shouldn't look.  But the image of Kaneda formed in her mind.  A 
naked Kaneda.  She could feel herself blushing, and she forced 
herself to think of a naked Ranma instead, which still made her 
blush, but which she felt was more acceptable.

	Finally, she drove the image of naked Kaneda out of her 
mind, focusing her brain clearly on Ranma.  She opened her eyes 
and the sphere of Akane's dreams was gone; but another one was 
zooming right at her.  More trouble, she thought.  How do I get 
out of here?  The sphere engulfed her while she was still trying to 
get her bearings.  

	She was in a field, somewhere in a valley in some set of 
mountains.  There was a stream nearby, and a small village a good 
mile downstream.  Someone was being chased through a field.  It 
was Ranma.  He wore a blue gi, and he was being chased by a 
pack of men with buckets.  She recognized most of them.  Kunou.  
Kaneda.  Toma.  One of the Foxes.  Various boys from Furinkan.  
Sasuke.  Some of them were female.  Ranma's mother.  Alyssa.  
Min.  They were all chanting the same thing.  "You're a girl!  You 
have to love men!  You should dress pretty and be a good cook 
and a good housekeeper!  Frills and pink things!"  The men also 
chanted "Marry me!"

	Ranma looked utterly terrified.  He saw Ukyou and ran over 
to her.  "Hide me!  Help me, Ucchan!  They want to turn me into a 
girl!"

	It's just a dream, Ukyou thought.  It was hard to remember 
that, and growing harder.  When she picked Ranma up and ran 
with him, it grew harder and harder.  By the time the dream ended 
with them running off a cliff and falling forever, she had forgotten 
entirely.

	Flicker.

	Ukyou, Ranma, Akane, Min and Rand stood inside some sort 
of huge cavern lit only by glowing magma which roiled at the 
bottom of a huge crevice which filled the far half of the vast 
chamber, hundreds of feet wide.  The air smelt of sulfur and the 
heat was oppressive.  There were two other women with Rand, 
but the tiny part of Ukyou's mind that was still herself didn't 
recognize them.  One of them had long red-gold hair and was 
dressed as an Aiel.  In fact, she probably was Aiel, and she carried 
a twenty foot long spear.  How she could fight with such a huge 
spear, Ukyou had no idea.  The other was beautiful, one of the 
loveliest women she had ever seen, with long honey blonde hair 
and a regal look, dressed as an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah.  She 
wore a huge crown of gold, decorated with enough gems for a 
small army.  All three of the women had a red string running from 
the ring finger of their right hand to the ring finger of Rand's right 
hand.  Red strings ran from Ranma to Ukyou and Akane as well.  

	Rand said, "Shayol Ghul.  This will be the fight of our 
lifetimes."  He turned to the women.  "You shouldn't be here.  I 
don't want to put you in danger."

	Ranma nodded.  "Yeah, let us handle this."

	The tiny part of Ukyou's mind that was still her true self was 
quite shocked when all five of the women meekly nodded and 
stepped back.  Rand and Ranma looked at each other and nodded, 
then Rand said, "Yo!  I'm the Dragon Reborn!  We've come to 
kick your ass, Dark One!  Come on out!"

	The Dark One looked suspiciously like Happousai in black 
robes with glowing eyes.  He popped up from behind a huge 
mound of black panties which hadn't been there a few seconds 
ago.  "HOHOHOHOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!" he 
laughed with Kodachi's voice pitched three octaves deeper.    
"Come my Forsaken!  Destroy them and bring me their panties!"

	Ranma and Rand tensed, but nothing happened.  Min, who 
was helping Ukyou cook some okonomiyaki for the victory 
celebration while they were waiting, said, "They're all already 
dead."

	"Come, endless Trollocs!"  The Trollocs swarmed out of the 
tunnel the girls were in the entrance of.  The Aiel woman impaled 
them all with one spear thrust, thus demonstrating what a 20 foot 
spear was good for.

	"Umm...Come, my dreadlords!"   Gosunkugi, dressed as a 
member of KISS, stepped out from behind a rock with a voodoo 
doll of Rand.  

	"Die, Saotome!" he shouted, stabbing the doll with a 
jewelled dagger.  While nothing happened to Ranma, Rand fell to 
his knees, clutching his side, which was now producing enough 
blood for an entire Sam Peckinpah movie.  Every second.  

	"My wound which would not heal...Now I know how THAT 
prophecy comes out..."  He moaned.  "Didn't think it would be this 
much blood, though..."

	The blood was already an inch deep.  Ranma charged at 
Gosunkugi, knocking him off his feet with a sweeping kick, then 
punted him into the Dark One, who fell down.  He picked up the 
voodoo doll.  "Any of you know anything about sewing?"

	"Everyone here but Akane does,"  Ukyou said.

	Akane pouted.

	Ranma tossed the doll to another woman, who stepped out of 
the shadows.  She had long black hair in a braid like Ranma's, and 
she kept compulsively tugging on it like she was trying to pull her 
own hair off.  This behavior ceased when she caught the doll.  
"Me?"  she asked.

	"You're girly enough to sew this up.  And you've got the 
Healing talent, right?  Fix Rand with this."

        Nynaeve neatly sewed up the doll and the blood, now four 
inches deep, stopped.  Rand stood up.  "My wound!  It's gone!  
Nynaeve CAN heal anything!"  He drew his Sword That Is Not a 
Sword (which looked suspiciously like a lightsabre to Ukyou).  
"Let's rumble!"

	The Dark One pulled out his pipe.  "Bring it on!"

	Ranma and Rand both charged the Dark One.  Ranma 
jumped on his head, knocking him down, then shouted to Rand, 
"Cut off his hand!  That's where he wears the One Ring!"

	Rand nodded, and chopped off the Dark One's hand.  The 
Dark One screamed and turned into a cloud of mist, drifting away.  
Rand bent over and picked up the ring.  "I shall keep this as a 
memento of my adventures."

	Ranma shook his head frantically.  "Don't do it!  If you do, 
you'll get shot up by Trollocs while swimming across a river, and 
die!  And then a Ogier will find it and..."

         Rand blinked.  "Why would I swim across a river?  And 
Aviendha killed all the Trollocs, anyway."

	"Just throw it in the volcano now and spare yourself a lot of 
work when you come back as a hobbit in the next age, okay?"

	Rand shrugged.  "I suppose being the Dragon Reborn means 
I can get all the jewelry I want, anyway."  He tossed the ring into 
the volcano.  "Well, now the really hard part starts."

         "The hard part?"  Ranma asked.

	"Yeah, you have to decide who to marry.  Being Aiel, I can 
just marry all three of mine."

	Ranma bigsweated.  "Maybe the Dark One will attack again 
soon."

	"Hey, wanna become Aiel?  Then you can marry both of 
yours.  Your girl body has the hair for it.  I'm sure we can find 
some ji'e'toh law that lets me make you Aiel."

	"Sounds like a plan."

	Flicker.

**************

	Bair floated in the space between dreams.  Another 
Wetlander Dreamwalker, she thought.  And one of the strange 
people who uses this thing called 'chi'.  She must have been 
practicing for quite a while to enter the dreams of others, however 
clumsily.  

	Still, she is clumsy; she must be taught.  She glanced at the 
sphere of light that held Ranma's dreams.  I have not beheld such 
strange dreams since Seanna asked me to enter that Medb's girl's 
dreams.  Giant flaming Wise Ones...

************

	Kaneda was groggy in the morning.  Alyssa had woken up 
screaming in the middle of the night, and he wasn't sure why.  She 
had tried to explain, and it had clearly been a nightmare, but she 
couldn't remember it coherently.  

	After finishing breakfast, he dumped hot water on his head 
and became Akane.  They were going to experiment.  She wanted 
to see if she could learn to channel Saidar as well as Saidin. 

	The test was simple.  Alyssa conjured a tiny flame that 
hovered over her hand.  Akane had to concentrate on trying to feel 
the resonance of the Power.  It could take a while to do, so when 
nothing happened in the first few minutes, they weren't surprised.  
Akane began to get nervous as the minutes dragged by, although 
not being able to channel in female form didn't surprise her 
entirely.  I probably fell in the pool of drowned male wilder, she 
thought.  Ukyou got her curse from another source, so that's why 
her boy form doesn't channel.  And the same for Ranma.  Pool of 
cursed female channeler.  Except...how did any channelers get to 
our world?  If no one can channel in our world because they can't 
reach the source...  Finally, after nearly an hour, they gave up.  

         They then switched forms, both becoming male so Kaneda 
could test Alyssa-kun.  The male test involved a similar use of the 
Power, but instead of the candidate feeling the resonance, the 
tester had to try to sense if such a resonance existed.  After nearly 
an hour, it still didn't.  "Well, that concludes that test."

	"We probably should test Ukyou to see if her cursed form 
can channel,"  Alyssa-kun suggested.

	"And her girl body too,"  Kaneda said.

	Ukyou couldn't, as the testing soon proved.  Neither could 
Ranma's boy body, which Ranma wasn't sure if it was a good 
thing or a bad thing.  Ukyou kept giving Akane funny looks the 
entire time, and afterwards, Akane took Ukyou aside.  "Why do 
you keep staring at me, like that?"

	Ukyou's eyes widened.  "Am I...staring?"

	Akane stared at Ukyou as strangely as she could manage.  
"Like that."  It wasn't really like that; it was more like some kind 
of weird compulsion to look, then look away, then look again, like 
she expected Akane to suddenly strip naked or sprout fur or 
something.

	Ukyou stared at the ground.  "I...uh...had a weird dream last 
night.  I'm sorry."

	Akane remembered several dreams.  One of them, in which 
her father had married Berelain, had made her laugh when she 
woke up.  The incredibly ecchi group sex one, on the other 
hand...She flushed slightly at the memory.  "Well, I've had some 
weird dreams myself at times."  Ukyou blushed herself now.  
"That's all?"

        "Yeah, just some weird dreams...so like...what IS the Dark 
One?  Some kind of evil overlord or what?"

	"Some kind of virtually invincible evil god.  The Creator 
imprisoned him a long time ago, but he keeps trying to break out 
and destroy reality."

	"He doesn't live in a volcano?"

	Akane blinked.  "I dunno.  Maybe Shaol Ghul is a volcano.  
The Dragon is supposed to defeat his forces and reseal the hole in 
the Dark One's prison that accidentally got bored during the Age 
of Legends.  Somehow.  I hope Rand knows what he's doing 
better than I do."

	"Not like face him in hand to hand combat?"

	Akane laughed, leaning against the wall.  "Tarmon Gaidon 
isn't gonna be a martial arts tournament or like what happened 
with Kirin or Toma."  At least I HOPE the Dark One doesn't try to 
make me marry him.  Although it would be par for my luck.  
"Even the Dragon can't go one on one with the Dark One any 
more than Ranma could beat the Sun.  Not that Ranma wouldn't 
try."  She laughed, and after a little while, Ukyou laughed too.  
"Why do you ask?  Is Ranma planning to challenge the Dark One 
to a duel?"

        Ukyou frowned, flipping one of her mini-spatulas idly 
between her fingers.  "I think he has that general idea."

	Akane's mood deflated somewhat.  "This is going to be a 
war.  We'll be lucky if any of us survive, and it's going to be a 
long brutal fight.  Rand...he expects he is going to die.  He may be 
right; I'm not much good at interpreting prophecy."

	Ukyou continued to flip the mini-spatula back and forth, now 
using both hands.  "Then why...I can't understand...why you all 
want to stay here.  If it's going to be so...I mean...this isn't our 
world."

	"If the Dark One breaks free on one world, he breaks free in 
all,"  Akane said.  "If it's going to happen, I at least don't want it to 
be a surprise.  And also importantly, I love Alyssa and don't want 
to leave her.  And she's not the only one counting on me.  I can't 
leave my people."

	"You sound like a king,"  Ukyou said quietly.

	"I am a lord now.  I have people who depend on me,"  Akane 
said.  "And I like it.  I like being important.  My life here means 
something.  I miss a lot of things back home, like my family, but I 
don't miss being kidnapped by every idiot who wandered by and I 
don't miss my life not mattering."

	"Your life didn't not matter!"  Ukyou exclaimed.

	"In the big picture, I was a flyspeck,"  Akane said.  "Tokyo 
has enough dojos.  I can make a difference here.  And so can 
you."

	"I'm just Ranma's goon."  She sighed.  "I mean...I can read 
any language, but we don't have anything that needs reading, and I 
suppose I could have a chat with the Forsaken in the Old Tongue 
if they drop by, but..."

	"Actually, I can think of somewhere that COULD use your 
help, Ukyou.  Rand's school is stock full of books that almost no 
one can read.  You could read all of them, and probably help them 
out a lot.  And there's a lot of simple technological things you 
could teach them how to do.  Like how I showed them 
gunpowder, although it's pretty crude since I don't know how to 
make it well; you can probably show them how you make your 
tempura flake bombs.  Plus...you dreamwalk, right?"

	"Yeah," Ukyou said quietly.  "I'm still learning."

        "Well, we've got three dream ter'angreals that let people enter 
Tel'arian'rhiod.  I want you to teach me and Alyssa and Lori.  And 
probably Alain and the others eventually."  She thought a 
moment.  "And, didn't the Snakes tell you that you had to beat 
Mesaana to save Rand?  And that only YOU could do it?"

	"Uh, yeah, there is that."  

	Akane smiled.  "See, you ARE important!"

	Having to duel one of the Forsaken without being able to 
channel was not the kind of importance Ukyou wanted.

************

	Ukyou was somewhat gratified to have attracted her own 
band of students that afternoon during the martial arts practice 
sessions.  Rand had departed for Caemlyn to take care of some 
business, and Bain and Chiad had departed for...somewhere, but 
apparently they had recommended Ukyou to some friends.  A 
small army of Aiel (with Aiel, twenty was easily enough for an 
army) was gathered around Ukyou.  About half of them were 
female, the rest were evenly divided between two warrior 
societies, the 'Stone Dogs' and the 'Black Eyes'.  All sat intently 
and listened as she tried to explain the concept of chi and did 
some demonstrations.  It made her feel good to have her own 
students.  

	It felt even better when a group of daughters of Cairhien 
nobility came to her and expressed interest in learning her fighting 
style; they had formed their own warrior society in imitation of 
the Aiel, but none of them actually knew much about fighting.  
Their leader was a woman named Mara of House Casalin.  She 
was short and wiry, more muscular than the rest of her 'society', 
which was still trying to decide on a name, let alone anything else.  

	The hardest part was going to be to find enough grills and 
spatulas, she thought.  And a raging ocean, although that was 
optional.  Plans ran through her head as she headed towards 
Rand's school; she had decided to take up Akane's idea and see if 
she could help them out; she was no great scholar, but if she could 
read any language, she wanted to USE her skill.  And her ability 
to 'think clearly'.  Although she wasn't so sure about that; it 
seemed to come and go.  She had to focus on thinking clearly to 
do it.

	Bair found her at the doors of the school.  How Bair had 
known where she was, Ukyou had no idea.  She only vaguely 
knew Bair; a Wise One, wife of Rhuarc, who seemed to be Rand's 
right hand man in Cairhien.  Perhaps Rand sent her, Ukyou 
thought.  "Um, good afternoon, Bair-sama."

	"You are a Dreamwalker.  Self-taught?"

	Ukyou blinked.  "Did Akane tell you?"

	"I saw you stumbling around into people's dreams last night.  
I assume you have had no training."

	"LINA has been training me, but I've only gotten through 
three instruction modules out of forty-two."

	Bair blinked.  "Lina?  Instruction modules?"

	"LINA is a...machine that teaches people to Dreamwalk.  She 
lives in Tel'aran'rhiod.  I found her by invoking need."  Ukyou had 
learned that much at least.  "I dunno how I got into these dreams.  
I haven't gotten to that module yet.  It just...kinda happened."

	Bair frowned.  "A human teacher is better than a machine."

	"I dunno, LINA is pretty thorough.  Why?  You offering to 
teach me?"

	"Tel'aran'rhiod is full of many dangers; we do not like to see 
people stumble into them.  We have taught Wetlanders before.  
Egwene Al'Vere trained with us."

	"Well, I'll stick with LINA for now, but thanks for asking."  
She stepped around Bair.  "See you around!"

	Bair frowned after her.  LINA.  Something to look into, she 
thought.

************

	It wasn't easy for Alyssa to find Samitsu; she was teaching 
various healing techniques to a group of Wise Ones, who were 
riding her fairly hard.  Alyssa watched quietly from a distance and 
approached when it was done.  Samitsu didn't say anything, just 
looked at her.  Alyssa took a deep breath.  "I'm sorry I compared 
you to Elaida's embassy.  I still don't like the Tower or its 
methods, but I shouldn't have humiliated you like that and I 
shouldn't have called you a beast."  It all came out in a rush.

	Samitsu stared at her in silence again, then finally spoke.  "I 
accept your apology.  As for the Shielding, it was a fair enough 
way to show you had grown.  If you know so much about 
something you were poor at before, I'm sure you must know more 
about Healing than you did before as well."

	"I'd be happy to teach you,"  Alyssa said.  "We'll be starting 
lessons as soon as Kaneda gets the scheduling set up."  She 
smiled.  This had gone far better than she had expected.  

**************

	Ukyou was amazed at the large number of books that the 
library at Rand's school had.  Many of them were even printed 
rather than manuscripts; in fact, most of them were.  The oldest 
and the newest books were printed; those which were intermediate 
in age  were hand copied.  

	Unfortunately, whoever had organized them apparently 
believed in the stream of consciousness technique; there was no 
card catalog and no call numbers.  The man with the best 
knowledge of the library had died horribly recently; however, the 
head of the school, a stern woman, was able to dredge up one of 
the old Royal Librarians, a man named Kuranes Dwei, to help 
Ukyou find some likely works to examine.  

	Kuranes Dwei started visibly the moment he saw Ukyou.  He 
was a tall man, and thin, with black hair turning grey, who dressed 
in a simple grey linen shirt and black trousers.  "You...oh my."

	Ukyou blinked.  "What?"

	"You look remarkably like..."  He shook his head.  "Probably 
just a fancy."

	"Like what?"

	"Come with me."  He lead her through the endless rows of 
books to a tall wooden bookcase, five racks high.  Climbing onto 
a small stepping stool, he pulled a battered wooden book off the 
top shelf.  It was basically a series of pages bound together with 
strips of cloth run through holes in the paper and the two wooden 
covers.  The pages were stiff with age, but the ribbons remained 
flexible and looked brand new.  Kuranes noticed Ukyou looking 
at the ribbon.  "I don't know what those ribbons are made of; 
they've never been replaced as far as I know, but they don't seem 
to age at all.  The book's title was stenciled onto the cover, 'Name 
Earners of Ne Oedo'.  He carried the book over to a reading table 
and laid it down, pulling out a chair for Ukyou, then one for 
himself.

	"This book has the oldest printed pictures we know of.  I 
have no idea how they printed such realistic pictures; it must have 
involved the Power."  The book consisted of pages which had 
been glued to thicker, tougher pages; the pages glued to the tough 
ones were often torn or damaged by water.  It seemed to alternate 
between highly realistic full page pictures that looked to Ukyou 
like printed photos and one to three pages of text after each 
picture.  "The book was bound around 500 AB, but the author 
claims that the pages he bound into the book predate the 
Breaking; I'm not sure about the text pages, but since they didn't 
have printing in those days and the text pages he didn't write 
himself ARE printed, it seems plausible."

	"What's it about?"  Ukyou asked.  As he turned the pages, 
she caught glimpses of the written text, but not enough to get the 
sense of it.  It looked like biographies.

	"Apparently, those who did great deeds earned a third name.  
This book describes the inhabitants of Ne Oedo who had earned 
one.  The person who bound the book surmised the book was 
printed shortly before the War of Power.  Anyway, here's what I 
wanted to find..."  

	The page showed a picture of a woman who looked strongly 
like Ukyou assumed she would look in another ten years, dressed 
in a long purple dress with highly embroidered sleeves, belted at 
the waist.  She was seated in a nice green plush chair, her eyes 
closed in a meditative position.  The picture was labelled Sherin 
Loys Delerini.  Ukyou remembered that name; she had gotten a 
package from that woman, who had claimed to be her past self.  
That claim seemd a lot more plausible.  "She does look like me."

	He turned the page.  "Apparently, she was a powerful 
Dreamer, one of the strongest of the non-Aes Sedai Dreamers.  
She aided Restorers, whatever those were, in helping to heal 
people with mental problems by entering their dreams and 
surmising what the problem was from that; she was so good at it 
that she earned a third name.  Also a noted chef."  He shrugged.  
"There's a good four pages on her if you're interested.  I like to 
read through this book for the pictures at times; they're just so 
vivid, but the biographies are pretty thorough."  He looked over at 
her.  "So you really read the Old Tongue?"

	"I can read anything.  I have the knack."  Ukyou smiled.  
"<And I speak them too.>" she said in the Old Tongue.  

	"Hmm.  I've got something that might interest you.  Take a 
look at this while I find it."  He wandered off, scratching his head.

       She read through the biography of Sherin Loys Delerini.  
Born in Devaille, her parents had moved to Ne Oedo when she 
was little, where they ran a restaurant.  Her talent for Dreaming 
had been discovered when she was a child, and she had gone to a 
special school, where her talents had flowered.  She had wanted to 
be an Aes Sedai, but couldn't channel a drop, so she had become 
an assistant to several Restorers, who she aided in the healing of 
minds.  Her skills in that endeavour, including the healing of a 
man who had been insane for over fifteen years and thought 
incurable had earned her a third name.  She was a noted player of 
Three Dimensional Gaira, and had won the Paaran Disan World 
Tournament of it four times.  She had married someone named 
Basel Kurinin and had eight children.  Currently age eighty.  
Ukyou boggled.  EIGHTY?  The woman in the picture didn't look 
a minute over thirty at most.  

	While waiting for Kuranes, she paged forward.  Sherin's 
brother, Darin Loys Pax, had a picture and a heavily damaged 
biography.  All she could make out from it was that he had been a 
Restorer who had pioneered a technique for projecting images of 
what people were thinking about or their memories.  He had been 
a handsome man, tall and blond with grey eyes and a thick beard 
that reminded Ukyou of her father's beard, but without her father's 
moustache.  

	There were a lot more people.  One of them looked a lot like 
Principal Kunou might have looked if he hadn't been a madman 
(and didn't have a pineapple tree growing from his forehead).  
Another one reminded her of one of Akane's friends, Yuka.  A 
third was somewhat evocative of Shampoo, with purple hair, but 
taller and not quite as lushly built; her name was Mishi Noto 
Tadai, a noted Aes Sedai researcher.  Several more were 
completely new to her.  The seventh one, however, caught her 
eye.  It was a woman, short and dressed in a blue tunic with a 
diagonal yellow stripe and green leggings.  Her eyes were bright 
blue and her hair was a stark red, tied back in a long braid.  She 
looked exactly like Ranma-chan.  Only her stance was wrong; she 
didn't stand like a martial artist.  She was leaning against a pillar 
in front of some huge white marble building.  

	Ranma...was a girl?  No way, Ukyou thought.  It can't be.  
The woman's name was Nemene Barth Chari.   She had earned 
her third name by emerging as the champion of the World 
Gymnastics Competition at an early age and by developing 
various forms of unarmed combat for self-defense against the 
increasing levels of crime that seemed to be plagueing the cities in 
the last few decades.  She had what the writer called 'photographic 
reflexes'.  If she saw something, she could learn to do it incredibly 
swiftly, no matter how complex it was.  This had made her an 
incredibly versatile Aes Sedai, although there were ones much 
more powerful.  At the time of the printing, she was engaged to be 
married to Derin Loys Pax.  

	Sounds like Ranma, Ukyou thought, but...no way.  Surely 
Ranchan wouldn't hate his girl body so much if he had been a girl 
in a past life.  But it looks so much like him.  And yet...I wonder if 
Akane's in here.  She paged through the book, but couldn't find 
Akane, although she did find a picture of a man who looked 
suspiciously like Genma labelled Dirin Barth Uila.  Paging back, 
she saw that was the name of Nemene Barth Chari's father.  It 
mentioned she had several brothers and sisters, but none of them 
had made it into the book, and the pages for Dirin Barth Uila's 
biography were missing.

	Kuranes finally returned.  He was carefully carrying a cloth 
bag with a silken rope drawstring.  Putting it down, he opened it 
and extracted five pages of paper, each embedded in glass.  The 
glass looked seamless; how the paper had been put in it without 
damaging it, Ukyou couldn't figure out.  "It uses two character 
sets that look completely different; it's not the Old Tongue.  It was 
dug up about a hundred years ago by some farmer trying to dig a 
well.  The glass plates, not the bag."

	Ukyou examined them.  Photographed blown-up manga.  
The odd thing was that someone had apparently filled in the 
bubbles and rewritten the dialogue in some European language.  
While Ukyou could read it, her Fox-granted Talent didn't tell her 
what language she was reading.  There were still some Japanese 
characters on the pages, however, which she could recognize.  She 
knew the manga too; it was Dragonball Z.  How in God's green 
Earth did Dragonball Z manga get into this universe?  A hundred 
years ago, no less.  "It's a story for small 
children with no taste,"  Ukyou said.  "But how it got 
here...anything else like this?"

	"We've a few more oddities, and lots of books in the Old 
Tongue if you have a taste for such.  I'll get them for you."

	Nothing else was quite so weird as that.

**********

End Part 8