Give me your trust, said the Aes Sedai.
On my shoulders I support the sky.
Trust me to know and to do what is best
And I will take care of the rest.
   But trust is the color of a dark seed growing
   Trust is the color of a heart's blood flowing.
   Trust is the color of a soul's last breath.
   Trust is the color of death.

Give me your trust, said the queen on her throne,
for I must bear the burden all alone.
Trust me to lead and to judge and to rule,
and no man will think you a fool.
   But trust is the sound of the grave-dog's bark.
   Trust is the sound of betrayal in the dark.
   Trust is the sound of a soul's last breath.
   Trust is the sound of death.    


 	The room full of novices yawned.  It was time for 
another boring lecture class with perhaps the dullest person 
in the White Tower, at least from their perspective.  Like 
apprentices in all times and places, novices spent most of 
their time doing petty tasks to reinforce their position as 
bottom of the heap, but they did get to learn things too.  
The White Tower strives to do more than just teach women 
to channel--it teaches them about the world and about what 
to do with their abilities in the world.  

	This meant that one of the important aspects of their 
training was ethics.  Once a week, they would gather in the 
classroom on the fifth floor and one of the white sisters 
would come and talk about ethics.  There were four white 
sisters who rotated this duty, known to the students 
informally as "the mean one, the boring one, the really 
boring one, and the one who talks too fast."  They had real 
names, but since calling them by name was a good way to 
end up in the kitchen scrubbing pots, they hardly ever 
referred to them by their real names.

	This time, it would be "the really boring sister" who 
would be teaching them.  Like almost all white sisters, she 
almost seemed to radiate cold as she swept into the room, 
but it was a gloomy cold, rather than a triumphant one.  She 
had never even been seen to smile in triumph, let alone 
from joy.  Her voice was usually a monotone, unless she 
grew irritated, at which point just a hint of venom leaked 
through.

	She stood behind a podium upon a table, not that she 
needed it, for she never spoke from notes.  The class fell 
quiet, practicing the art of appearing alert while their minds 
wandered off thinking about more pleasant things, like 
being beaten with a stick.  Certainly more pleasant than 
another abstract lecture about duty.

	The sister looked out upon the classroom, noting 
which ones were basically lost in space, which ones were 
paying some vestige of attention, and a single student who 
actually seemed alert.  She noted that student in her mind... 
potentially she might be headed for the White Ajah one 
day...or at least she was both polite and a good faker if not.

	"So what did Alviarin tell you about last time?"  the 
White sister asked.

	"Why our devotion to the tower should be absolute, in 
relation to the philosophical writings of Hugo the Blind, 
who was the warder of Katya Sedai in 102 NE,"  said the 
one alert student, a young Borderlander with black hair 
down to the middle of her back.  Her name was Olwen, and 
she hailed from Arafel.   

	"Something about trust too..."  another student said, 
frowning and staring at the ceiling as if perhaps the answer 
was written there.  She was tall and blonde, a Ghealdinin 
named Lune.  

	"Ah yes.  All very abstract, I suppose..."

	"Yeah.  I mean, yes, Sedai.  It was very abstract,"  
another student said.  "I can't ever see how we're supposed 
to apply any of this stuff... It seems like a waste of our 
time...uh..."  She paled.  Maybe if I'm lucky I'll only scrub 
pots for a week, she thought.  No one had ever accused 
Anya of thinking before she spoke; her pale face grew even 
paler.  

	To her surprise, the white sister sighed and nodded.  "I 
sometimes wonder if Alviarin Sedai ever actually thinks 
about how one is supposed to actually apply philosophy... 
Let me give you a concrete situation, and see what you 
think the ethical questions involved were."

	The students blinked and wondered if this was all 
some kind of dream.

***********

The Color of Trust

by 

John Biles

A work of fanfiction set in the world of the Wheel of Time 
Series, by Robert Jordan. 

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

	Jinai was a Borderlander once.  He had been born in 
Fal Dara, in Shienar, a twin, with a sister he hadn't seen in 
twenty years.  She thought he was dead.  He only wished he 
was.

	His hair was starting to grey now.  He had long 
abandoned the hair styles of his homeland, for that of his 
new home, Murandy.  Now his hair was short and covered 
all of his head, along with a beard and a moustache.  His 
body still screamed warrior of the Borderlands, though.

	He looked like he'd been carved from a tree trunk.  His 
body was built like a barrel, and his arms and legs still had 
well defined muscles, despite the fact that he was nearly 
fifty now.  

	His neighbors knew little of him, except that he was 
an honest dealer, a quiet man who stayed on his farm with 
his wife, his brothers, and his children.  Bandits stayed 
clear of the area.  The last group of bandits that had tried to 
raid his farm were found with their bodies strewn in pieces 
along the road.  

	No one knew for sure he was responsible, but they 
didn't want to risk that he was.  They told stories about him.  
Some thought he might be an Aiel in disguise, others that 
he was a nobleman in hiding.  None quite reached the truth 
of the matter.

	He sat now in his dining room, such as it was, with his 
wife Eile, his daughter Mayle, and his brother Janis, and 
some guests.  Janis was a year older than him, and 
unmarried.  He looked much like Jinai, except for the scar 
on his right hand, an extra inch in height and a wrinkle or 
two more.  

	Eile was a year younger than him, but looked half his 
age.  She was still fair of face and form, though he 
remembered her glory of years gone by, and knew this was 
but the shadow of the beauty she had had, or might have 
again, if it had been worth the effort of beautification for 
these guests.  They loved each other with a fire that had 
sustained them through many years, especially in the years 
since their mutual disgrace and exile here.  She was 
Taraboner, with hair like honey and bronzed skin.Now she 
wore a simple dress of peasant homespun, where once she 
had worn velvet and lace.

	Mayle had grown older since last he saw her.  She 
wore the white of a novice, and had for the last four years 
since she had been tested and taken away.  He had hated 
them for that, for taking his daughter from him, but he had 
said nothing.  Deep down, he knew that it was for her own 
good, no matter how much he despised them now.  She had 
the talent, stronger than her mother had possessed it, and 
she needed the training, or she would burn herself out one 
day.  Her mother couldn't teach her.  Not well enough.  

	Even so, they'd had to restrain him last time.  He 
hadn't seen an Aes Sedai in four years.  He'd have been 
happy never to see one again.  


	Unfortunately, there were now two Aes Sedai and 
three warders sitting in his living room.  There was nothing 
he could do... getting an Aes Sedai to go away before she 
wants to is as difficult as trying to empty the ocean with a 
spoon.

	One of the sisters was White, the other was Green.  
Making this harder was the fact that the White sister was 
his wife's cousin.  They hadn't seen each other in four years 
either, and they had much to talk about.  While he, his 
daughter, and the warders sat silently and stared at each 
other, Dorine Sedai (the green) and Patri Sedai (the white) 
rattled on about their relatives, people Eile had known in 
the tower, world politics, the recent fireworks display in 
Tarabon, the elevation of a new Amyrlin seat in the wake 
of the Aiel War, the rumors of war between Tear and Illian 
again, and many other matters great and small.

	He noticed that several times his daughter tried to say 
something, and was simply ridden over by the 
conversation, or fell silent before uttering more than a 
syllable.  His wife spoke some, but mostly the two Aes 
Sedai spoke at her, while she uttered encouraging words, or 
asked a few simple questions.  It took all the self-control 
imbued by his upbringing and his old training to restrain 
himself.  That and the three huge men who sat, weapons at 
their belts, and listened to the conversation, watching him 
while trying to look like they weren't.  

	He recognized one of them, who had just finished his 
training when Jinai... ceased to be associated with the 
tower.  Jinai strove to banish the memory.  It was over.  
There was nothing he could do about it.  That had been 
twenty years ago, when he was still young, and there was 
still hope.  No, to say there was no hope in Jinai's life 
would be to exaggerate.  His son was his hope, now.  His 
son would not see the things he had seen, but neither would 
he suffer as his father had suffered.

	It amazed Jinai that his own son had taken to farming 
so well.  Not that Dornar had ever known any other life.  
He had been born on the farm, raised on the farm, and 
might well die there.  Yet until his father had come to 
Murandy, not a member of his family had even touched a 
hoe in generations.  His wife had to teach them both what 
to do and when to do it.  She had grown up on a farm, 
before...when she was young.  

	They had both had to start over.  That his brother had 
chosen to come with them amazed him and gratified him 
more than he could ever express.  Janis hadn't had to leave.  
Nothing had happened to him.  There were no stains on his 
record.  Yet, he had chosen to come and help them find a 
reason to go on living, and with his help, they had.

	He wondered again why Janis hadn't gotten married 
yet.  His brother had had several love affairs with some of 
the local women, but he had not tied the knot.  Maybe he 
just doesn't want children, Jinai thought.  They're a 
blessing, but they can be a pain too, at times.

	Dornar was out working in the fields right now.  The 
Aes Sedai were supposed to stay over night and leave 
tomorrow. He'd get to see his sister at dinner.

	Jinai sighed and tried to focus on the conversation.  He 
didn't want to hear it, but it couldn't be any worse than 
having to listen to himself think.

	Janis looked over at him and smiled faintly, then said, 
"Perhaps we ought to go help Dornar.  You want to come 
with us and see your bother, Mayle?"

	Eile smiled.  "That's a good idea.  He's been very 
eager to see you, Mayle.  You can tell him and your father 
all about your adventures in the Tower."

	Mayle looked over at the two Aes Sedai, who smiled 
and nodded at her.  "Go say hello to your brother, Mayle.  I 
can tell all this talk is boring you."

	Dorine nodded.  "Four years is a long time to go 
without seeing your kin."  Dorine was a Borderlander also, 
from Saldea.  Family is very important, in the north.  
They're the ones you know you can trust.

	Jinai, Janis, and Mayle got up and left.  As soon as 
they were out of the building, Mayle's emotional mask 
crashed down.  She rushed to her father and hugged him.  
"I've missed you so much, papa..."

	He held her awkwardly, wrapping his arms around 
her.  He had missed her so much...he'd written her off for 
dead when the sisters took her.  Most novices were lucky 
they got to write home periodically.  He'd had a few letters 
from her, but they both knew the sisters would be watching 
any correspondence like a hawk.  It would be better for her 
in the Tower if they weren't reminded about her mother and 
father any more than they had to be.  A burned out green 
sister and her husband, a stilled channeler and ex-warder 
were not people you would want associated with you there.  
Of course, they'd call me gentled, he thought, but it was 
about as gentle as being beaten to death with a small rock 
instead of a large one.

	Most men died after being stilled, but he wasn't most 
men.  They had told him he had to find a purpose, 
something to keep him going.  He had one, his wife.  A 
year before he started channeling, she'd burnt herself out 
fighting a horde of Trollocs in the blight, with him, Janis, 
and her other warder Tarin.  Tarin had sacrificed himself so 
that he and Janis could get her out of the Blight.  They 
hadn't been able to help her.  The Yellows simply shook 
their head and said, "Nothing can be done.  Stilling, 
whether deliberate or accidental, can't be healed."  

	He knew they wouldn't lie, that they couldn't lie, that 
they'd have helped her if they could.  They couldn't, but he 
could.  He had loved her for a long time, and now he finally 
told her.  Together they decided to start a new life.  The 
sisters had been glad to see her go, though they hid it, if not 
very well.  They were almost afraid of her, as if it might be 
infectious.

	But then...the Power had come upon him.  Perhaps it 
had started earlier, there was no way to be sure.  Normally, 
you were younger when it started, but it seemed every rule 
held its exceptions.  They had gone home to his home, to 
Shienar.  He was only the fourth son of a minor noble, but 
they had lived well for those few months.  

	When it became obvious that he was a channeler, he 
didn't know what to do.  He wasn't given a choice.  The 
Reds came for him, and stripped him of the power to make 
that choice.  He was stilled, and sent back to his wife.  

	He couldn't stay at home any more.  Not with the 
whispers, the fear.  His own parents didn't want to see him, 
the channeler, even if he couldn't do it anymore.  He said 
goodbye to his sister, and slipped out in the middle of the 
night.

	From there, the road had eventually lead them here.  
They had two children, and raised a family.  His brother 
had come with them from the start.  His help had been vital 
in making a go of it in the early years.  Janis was the only 
relative his children had, effectively.  

	Janis reached over and ruffled Mayle's hair.  "We've 
missed you, niece."

	"I've missed you too.  I've missed everyone.  I have 
lots of friends in the Tower, but they're so mean to novices 
and ..."  She began rattling on about all the difficulties of 
life as a novice.  Janis and Jinai smiled.  They had seen 
how hard life was for novices back when they had been 
training as warders.  Warders had a hard time of it, but 
never as bad as the novices.  At least not bad in the same 
ways.

	Soon, they reached the field where Dornar was busy 
weeding.  He heard them approach and stood up.  He was a 
big lad, almost seventeen now, though not as big as his 
father or uncle. He had ash-blond hair and his mother's eyes 
of blue, with his father's lighter complexion, although with 
the tan he had from hours of outdoor work, one could 
hardly tell.  


	"I...sister, is that you?"  They had both grown up quite 
a bit since the last time they saw each other.  He had been 
thirteen and her fourteen on that day when the Aes Sedai 
took her away.  They were both almost adults now.  He ran 
over and hugged her.

	"I've missed you, Dornar."  

	"I've missed you too, Mayle."

	They spent several hours out in the fields weeding and 
passing time together, knowing it might be years again 
before Mayle might get to see them again. 

	Finally, it was time to go back for dinner.  Dornar 
asked Mayle, "So how did you talk them into letting you 
out of the Tower, anyway?"

	Mayle paused for a few seconds.  "I don't know.  I 
think it might be because I have a talent.  I can see 
ta'averen.  A lot of sisters can't 
do that.  We're going on to the capital tomorrow."

	Dornar looked around, then turned to his father and 
said, "I think someone is following us."

	His father nodded.  "The Green sister sent one of her 
warders to follow us.  Unfortunately, she forgot that I used 
to serve a Green and I know their hand signals...Not to 
mention, he's not good at being stealthy."  Jinai turned and 
shouted into the woods, "Hello!  Come on out and join us!"

     The warder chose to keep his dignity and not come 
forth.

	Dinner was basically two parallel meals.  Jinai, Janis, 
Mayle, and Dornar sat at one end of the table and talked, 
while Eile, the Aes Sedai, and the warders sat at the other 
end and talked.

	Finally, the meal ended and they all retired to their 
beds.  The warders had to do without beds, for the family 
had only one extra bed.  For that matter, Dornar had to give 
up his bed for Mayle, while Patri took her old bed.  Dorine 
and her two warders had headed back into town to the local 
inn, since there simply weren't enough beds here.  Patri's 
warder slept on the floor of her room.  

	As Jinai was preparing for bed, Eile turned to him and 
said, "They think our son may be or may become a 
channeler."

	Jinai paled.  "They...what?"

	"The Whites and the Browns think that the child of 
two channelers should be almost guaranteed to be a 
channeler.  I'm afraid they may be right..."

	"But he hasn't channeled at all.  At least not that 
anyone could tell and..."  Jinai felt the grip of fear closing 
on his heart.  Not both my children.

	"You were thirty, remember?"

	"What are they going to do, put him in a room for the 
rest of his life and wait for him to channel?"  That would be 
no way to live, Jinai thought.

	"I don't know..."  She stared silently at her husband.  
"We have to...do something.  I don't know what.  I don't 
want to lose both our children..."

	"Does the other Aes Sedai know we know?"  Jinai 
asked.

	"I hope not.  Patri slipped a note into our room 
somehow.  There's more Aes Sedai in the village.  They're 
not taking any chances."  She handed him the note.

     It said:

          Aleis, Karla, Dora, and Hirine Sedai of the Red Ajah 
are in town, along with Katarina Sedai of the Browns and 
Miriya Sedai of the White.  Katarina and Miriya believe 
that the children of two channelers is almost guaranteed to 
be a channeler, so they have come to take Dornar for study 
and so that they will be ready to deal with him when he 
does start, however long that takes.  They plan to be here in 
the morning when you wake up.  They won't take no for an 
answer.  I thought you should know.  

	Destroy this note, they don't know I wrote it.

                                        Your cousin,
                                                 Patri.

	Jinai crumpled the note up.  "What can we do...I can't 
possibly fight that many Aes Sedai...nothing short of death 
will stop them. If it was just one or two...but they'll have 
warders.  Well, the Green's warders, plus a few more.  They 
might actually have been loaned some warders for this."  
He started to pace back and forth.  The only way to stop 
them would be to strike first.  But if we actually kill them, 
he thought, the tower will hunt us to the ends of the earth.  

	His wife watched him pace and tried to think.  How 
could they stop such a powerful group?  Eile wasn't even 
sure if her own daughter would help them or not.  I know 
she loves him, she thought, but she might decide it's for his 
own good.  I can't tell Jinai that, he'd be crushed to think his 
daughter might choose the interests of the Tower over him.  
I...if Dornar can channel, he has to be gentled...but I don't 
want them experimenting on him, and he might never start 
channeling.

	The longer Jinai thought about it, the more he felt he 
had to do something...anything.  I can't let them take my 
son.  I can't.  We can't fight them...And if we kill them...Is 
there some way we could slow them down?  Long enough 
to slip away...They could try to track us...but...We should 
talk to the others...maybe they'll have an idea...We're all 
going to have to work together to make this work.

	Jinai slipped to his brother's room, then to the room 
where his children slept, and assembled them all in his 
room, explaining the situation.  "I don't think we can stop 
them, father,"  Mayle said.  "If there's that many of 
them...Maybe if Patri Sedai helped us...but I don't know if 
she will...it would mean being hunted by the Tower 
forever.  I...would it be so bad if Dornar went with them?  I 
mean...I..uh..."

	She wilted before her father's angry gaze.  He saw her 
shrink back, and sighed, trying not to glare at her.  "I...what 
do you think, Dornar?  If you...If you're willing to go...I 
won't say anything.  I don't want...to lose you...I had hoped 
it would never come to this...that you wouldn't...have to 
worry about this."  He paused for a long while, then said, 
"But it could be years of waiting and waiting...You might 
never channel...And we have no way of knowing how long 
they'll want to keep you and watch you to see if you start.  I 
don't want you to spend your life becoming the topic of 
some book for a Brown."

	Hesitantly, Mayle said, "We have a cousin in the 
Tower.  Uncle Ilyan sent his third son to the tower to 
become a warder.  His name is Janis.  He didn't even know 
we existed until I told him...they all think our father is 
dead."

	Dornar looked around the room, then said, "I...I don't 
want to go, but I'm not sure if we have a choice.  They 
won't take no for an answer..."He sighed.  "If I don't go, 
and we somehow get away, we may have to spend the rest 
of our lives running from them."

	"It's the Reds and the Warders who are the real threat,"  
Janis said.  "I don't think Patri will do anything unless she 
has to, and the Green looks young and inept to me.  Whites 
and Browns aren't noted for their valor or their fighting 
skills.  If we strike, we'd have to strike now, while most of 
them are asleep.  There's probably at least one watching the 
house to make sure we don't leave."

	They all fell silent for a few minutes.  None of their 
options seemed very palatable.  The silence was broken by 
the sound of faint footsteps outside their window.  Eile 
turned to her husband.  "Could it be..."

	He frowned.  "Either bandits or they decided to come 
early."

	"We'd best assume it might be bandits.  We'd best arm 
ourselves."

	The men went to arm themselves.  Janis and Jinai still 
had their swords and a few other weapons.  Dornar got the 
axe that his father had trained him with.  He'd worked with 
the sword also, but there hadn't seemed to be a need to 
actually buy him one, given they'd had to do only a little 
real fighting in the last twenty years, although Janis and 
Jinai still practiced every day.  It was a link to their past 
they had been unwilling to sever.

	Eile snuffed the lights and got her knives, handing two 
to Mayle, who hesitantly grasped the source.  She knew she 
shouldn't, but if it was bandits, she wanted to do her part.  It 
still took her long enough to grasp the source that she didn't 
want to have to wait until she saw bandits to do it, if it 
wasn't the warders and the Aes Sedai.

	"Should I wake Aunt Patri, mama?"  she asked.

	Her mother hesistated.  "If it's bandits, we'll deal with 
them.  If it's not...better she not have to choose sides.  One 
wrong word...and your father will try to rip them apart, 
especially if he recognizes any of the Reds.  I think he's 
forgotten, but Aleis was one of the thirteen who..."

     Mayle blinked.  "Surely they wouldn't send..."

     "A Grey sits as the Amyrlin seat now, Mayle.  A Grey 
who everyone thought should have been a Red when I was 
in the tower.  She undoubtably thinks your father is a 
broken man, weak and helpless.  Perhaps the Reds wanted 
someone who had shown she was experienced in dealing 
with him.  Maybe Aleis enjoys pushing people when 
they're down.  Maybe it's just some strange weaving of the 
Pattern, pulling people together.  I just hope your father 
doesn't recognize her...because if he sees her while he's 
armed...she'll either die or have to kill him."  Eile left her 
greatest fear unspoken.  Maybe they want him to kill 
her...or her to be able to kill him.  He had enemies in the 
Tower, and the way we left didn't make him any friends.  
An Aes Sedai cannot kill with the power...unless you try to 
kill her.  

	Aleis had been proud of her beauty, once.  Unlike 
most Reds, she took an interest in men--A rather predatory 
interest, but an interest none the less.  She was probably 
still beautiful, but Eile didn't think she'd forget the scar he'd 
marked across her face when the Reds came for him.  Did 
he remember?  Eile's body tingled faintly with nervous 
tension.  

	The door into the house began to open.  Janis 
concealed himself behind the door, while Jinai took up a 
position in full view, sending Dornar to hide in the kitchen 
and listen.  

	Two cloaked figures stood in the doorway, with others 
behind them.  From the hallway, Mayle sensed channeling.  
Unless the Dark One had created new Dreadlords just to 
harrass her family, the Aes Sedai had to be out there.  

	Jinai smiled faintly and cried out, "Greetings, Sedai.  
Have you decided to turn to banditry in your spare time?  Is 
the Amyrlin having trouble making ends meet?"

	The two cloaked men stepped inside and threw off 
their no longer needed hoods, revealing themselves as two 
of Dorine's warders.  She entered, followed by more 
warders and by the Aes Sedai Patri's letter had warned 
them of.  

	Aleis stared at Jinai with ice cold eyes for a moment, 
then said, "We have hardly come to steal, only to deal with 
a problem before it can develop.  Where is your son?"

	Jinai lied.  "Long gone.  I'll never let you take him."

	In the hallway, Eile sighed.  It seemed likely her fears 
would come to pass.  

	"I think not.  We've been watching your house, and 
those who watched saw no one leave."

	"Like the man who followed us out the fields so 
sloppily that a five year old would have spotted him?  I 
think you've been getting lax in Warder training since I 
left."

	One of the men flinched slightly at the exposure of his 
own lack of luck earlier in the day.  

	Aleis turned to the other Red sisters.  "Search the 
house.  We'll find him."

	Jinai suddenly realized that while Dorine had come, 
the White and the Brown mentioned in the letter were not 
here.  "Where are Katarina and Miriya?  Wasn't this their 
idea?  Or were they too cowardly to come themselves?"

	The three Reds who had been about to search the 
house with two of the warders paused, while Aleis simply 
stared at Jinai with unblinking eyes.  Eile swore silently in 
the hallway and pulled Mayle back towards her bedroom.  
Aleis cocked her head towards the hallway.  "I suppose you 
convinced your daughter to tell you?  Or did Patri betray 
us?  I can tell one of them is channeling there."

     Jinai flinched.  Mayle had known?  And hadn't said 
anything...no, surely this had to be some kind of a trick.  
Aes Sedai couldn't lie...but she hadn't actually said Mayle 
knew...and even if Mayle had known the other Aes Sedai 
were there, it didn't mean she knew why they were there.  

	The hallway suddenly lit up, revealing Eile and Mayle 
in the hallway.  Aleis laughed contemptously.  "The novice 
and a burnt out weakling.  Even when you still had the 
power, you couldn't use it correctly.  If you'd known what 
you were doing, you never would have burnt yourself out.  
Now let go of the Source, Mayle, and you won't be 
punished too harshly when we go back to the tower."

	Jinai concentrated and restrained his urge to run Aleis 
through for taunting his wife.  Only the knowledge that any 
attack would almost certainly mean his death kept him 
from slaying her for what she had done to him and what she 
was doing now and intended to do.  "This isn't the Tower, 
Aleis, and I don't care about your stupid Tower rules."

	He was about to go on when Aleis cut him off.  
"Sisters, search the house.  Bring out his son.  Mayle, come 
over here."

	She hesitated.  

	Aleis repeated the command, walking towards Jinai as 
she did so.  "Mayle, come here now."

	The sisters and some of the warders followed her 
command, while Dorine and one of her warders stayed near 
Aleis, who stopped just out of arm's reach of Jinai.  "I 
suppose you've forgotten me,"  she said.

	He grimaced.  "I have forgotten nothing.  I see you 
managed to get your face healed."

	"Too bad your injury can't be healed as easily as mine 
was, eh?"  She smiled coldly at him.  "We should have 
killed you so you couldn't pass on your tainted power to 
another generation."

	"The same applies to your soul, if not your power."  he 
replied.  "But if we killed everyone vile, your entire Ajah 
would be dead."

	"We do what must be done to protect the innocent.  
Not that you'd know what innocent is.  I still don't know 
how you convinced them to let you live after what you did 
to me."  

	He stared at her in silence for a long time.  "I don't 
know how they convinced me to let you live, either."

	Aleis laughed.  "So did Mayle blab or did Patri?"

	"I said nothing to them!  I thought we were going to 
the capital!"  Mayle said, twitching nervously.

	"Don't play games with me, Mayle,"  Aleis said.  "I 
know all about the little ways one can weasel around the 
oath against lying.  So does everyone else here, except 
maybe the person we're looking for.  Not to mention you 
haven't sworn the oaths anyway, so I know you can lie.  
Did you tell them, whether by sign language, writing, 
speech or whatever?"

	Jinai suddenly realized they still hadn't noticed Janis 
yet, and that they hadn't thought to look in the kitchen for 
some reason.  He still didn't know why they'd left two Aes 
Sedai behind...or were they just outside?  Yes, that made 
sense.

	Mayle asked the question for him again.  "Where are 
Katrina and Miriya?"

	"They thought it could wait until morning.  I 
disagreed."  

	"We can't seem to find him anywhere,"  one of the 
Reds said to Aleis.

	Aleis sighed.  "There's a room over there.  Go check 
it."  She pointed to the kitchen door.

	Jinai tensed.  If he was going to do something, 
anything...this was the moment to do it.  He glanced across 
the room and tried to think of some way to signal Janis.  It 
all depended on what Patri would do...if she helped...maybe 
they could stop the Reds somehow...Otherwise, they were 
doomed.  We should have risked waking her, asking her for 
help.  But I just couldn't trust her enough...

	The waiting was too much for Jinai. He leaped at 
Aleis, drawing his sword.  I'll die, but maybe I'll at least 
take her with me, he thought.

	Wrong answer.   Someone bound him in air and let 
him tumble to the ground.  

	Aleis said to him.  "I thought you'd try that.  If I'd been 
any closer, it might even had succeeded...if your daughter 
hadn't saved me.  Good job, Mayle, although you were 
supposed to stop channeling.  Tsk, tsk.  I win again, Jinai."

	Mayle's mother began to cry onto her shoulder.  Did I 
do the right thing?, she thought.  If he killed Aleis, he'd 
have just been killed himself.  This way, he'll live...they'll 
all live.  They don't want to hurt my brother, they just have 
to make sure he doesn't channel....

	The Reds hauled Dornar out into the living room, 
bound with air like his father. He also had a nasty sword 
wound in the gut and one of the warders was busily 
cleaning his sword.  Another warder staggered over to 
Dorine, with a nasty axe wound in his arm.  Dorine 
prepared to heal him.

	Eile said, "Aren't you going to heal my son?"

	Aleis laughed.  "Why bother.  He hasn't long to live, 
anyway."

	"What?"  Mayle said.  "That wound's hardly fatal."

	"I'm afraid it was decided that it would be better to 
simply prevent him from passing on his tainted blood, than 
to have to keep him around for days, months, or years 
waiting for him to show it.  He can't pass on the trait if he 
doesn't live to pass it on.  If we gentled him, he might go on 
to have children like his father to pass on the trait."

	Mayle paled.  "No one said anything about that when 
we came on this trip!"

	"Of course not.  I expected you to warn them, and 
we'd be able to kill him while he was fleeing justice, so to 
speak.  Well, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.  
You'll have to go too, now, but then, I never liked you 
anyway.  I suppose history will simply remember Dornar as 
a particularly dangerous channeler, nipped in the bud by the 
Red Ajah, who were also forced to slay his sister who tried 
to help him escape."

	Mayle started to weave desperately, but it was too late.  
The Reds slammed down a shield on her before she could 
do anything.  She turned to Dorine, but Dorine simply 
looked coldly at her. "We do what must be done.  I hoped 
to avoid dragging you into this...but we can't always get 
what we want."

	Eile watched in shock.  The same fear and 
hopelessness that had oppressed her when she first realized 
she could no longer channel swept over her, crushing her 
ability to act, to speak, to do anything.  Her entire family 
was going to die, and there was nothing she could do.

	Janis stood behind the door still, trying to decide what 
to do.  Aleis turned.  "You might as well come out, Janis.  
It's not like we don't all know you're there."  

	He sighed and stepped out.  She continued, "It is a pity 
to reward such faithful service as yours, keeping an eye on 
them for us all these years with death, but you've also heard 
too much.  Besides, you might carry the same potential as 
your brother.  Better to make a clean sweep.  Your family 
can't be touched, but you can."

	Perhaps she's gone mad, Mayle thought.  The Red 
Ajah may seem cruel, but they don't normally operate like 
this.  Or maybe she's just more vengeful than I ever 
realized.  I should never have come...but I wanted to be 
able to try to warn them...and I wanted to see Dornar again, 
and papa and mama.  My mistake.  I should have known 
she wouldn't wait until morning...but I had to be cautious so 
they wouldn't realize I'd spilled the beans.  If only Katarina 
and Miriya had come...they'd be able to restrain Aleis...or at 
least we'd have a fighting chance.  No one would dare defy 
one of the Brown sitters so openly.  But now Katarina will 
never know...If only Patri would wake up...we should have 
woken her up.  She must sleep like a rock.

	Jinai stared at his brother.  He's been spying on us for 
the Aes Sedai all these years?  It had to be true...Aleis 
Sedai couldn't have said it if it wasn't true.  He betrayed 
us...no, it has to be some kind of a trick...somehow.

	Janis stared back.  "I'm sorry, brother.  I never thought 
it would come to this...I didn't realize the Red Ajah had 
sworn to the Dark One."

	Aleis flinched.  "I do not serve the Dark One.  The 
Black Ajah is a myth.  I do this for the good of all of 
humanity.  A few must die that others might be safe.  While 
men who channel or can pass on the ability run free, the 
world risks another Breaking.  If you see a mole in the 
garden, do you wait for it to destroy the garden, or do you 
get rid of it first?  Men destroyed the world once.  I do not 
intend to let them do it again, whatever the cost of stopping 
them, even if it is my own life."

      For a moment, no one spoke.  Mayla said, "Did...did the 
Amyrlin approve this?  Does this happen with ...all men 
who channel now?"

	"Not yet.  We have to move carefully, subtly, or those 
who cannot understand why we must do what we must do 
would protest and hamper our work.  Indeed, many within 
the tower do not yet understand the necessity of this."

	"But did the Amyrlin approve this?"  Eile said, 
repeating her daughter's question.  

	"I don't have to answer your questions, Eile."  Aleis 
said.  "You're not one of us any more, nor have you long to 
live."  She frowned briefly.  "I'm surprised Patri Sedai is 
still asleep, but it does mean one less casualty.  That 
woman can sleep through anything."

	Eile found herself nodding in agreement.  Patri had 
slept through her house being on fire, once.  At least they 
won't kill Patri...

	Mayle blinked as she felt a surge of channeling from 
the room Patri slept in, and heard two screams from 
outside.  Dorine howled and collapsed, clutching her head.  
"Martin, Corwin...no!"

	Aleis's triumphant smile turned into a frown.  "It 
seems someone is not asleep after all.  Dora, Hirine, take 
two warders and check outside.  I do believe someone's 
slipped out a window. Karla, keep the shield on the novice.  
The rest of you, come with me...we'll see if Patri is still in 
the room.  Assuming you can stop crying, Dorine. Or 
would you rather just lie there and pule?"

	Dorine pulled herself together.  Everyone scattered to 
obey her orders.  Aleis paused and wrapped Janis in bonds 
of air, just to be sure he didn't try anything, then stepped 
into the hallway.  Eile blocked her path.

	"Get out of my way, Eile.  There's nothing you can do 
to stop me."

	"Because I can't channel?"

	"Exactly.  You have no power. You're nothing but a 
crippled old woman, an incompetent who brought her 
doom on herself."

	"Just like you."  Too late, Aleis saw the hand driving 
for her throat...and the knife in it.  A second one caught her 
in the gut.  The door opened and Patri stood beyond it.  As 
Aleis wove fire to destroy Eile, the Source vanished behind 
a shield and the world began to dissolve away in pain.    
     
     Karla tied off the shield on Mayle and turned her 
attention to Patri as the warders now grabbed Eile and 
slammed her into the wall.  As she reached out to shield 
Patri, Patri cut the shield on Mayle.  Karla and Patri 
struggled for long seconds as the two warders in the 
hallway pounded Eile into the wall over and over.  

     Aleis crumpled to the ground, in too much pain to 
channel, feeling her blood pouring out on the ground.  
Dorine joined the attack on Patri, whose defenses 
crumbled.  But in those few seconds, Mayle cut the bonds 
on her father and uncle.  Dorine was struck twice from 
behind and collapsed.  

     Karla finished shielding Patri, then realized two angry 
men were bearing down on her.  The warders left Eile and 
turned to intercept Janis and Jinai. While the warders were 
younger and had all the advantages the Warder bond can 
give, Janis and Jinai were driven by rage and had twice as 
much experience.  The fight was clearly going to be a long 
one.  

     Karla prepared to destroy the two men, only to realize a 
shield was coming between her and the Source.  It was 
Mayle, who she had almost forgotten.  She turned to battle 
Mayle, who soon lost the invisible struggle.  Having finally 
shielded Mayle, she turned to the sword battle, watching it 
for a few moments, almost mesmerized by the dance of 
blades.  


     Aleis moaned, and Karla started back to reality.  Aleis's 
life was slipping away.  The sword fight would have to 
wait...she had to make sure Aleis wouldn't die.

     She kneeled to heal Aleis and the door opened.  Starting, 
she looked up and saw Dora and Hirine walk in the door.  
They looked emotionally shattered.  An instant later, she 
realized they had been shielded...by women.  Her mind 
spun, trying to think of who could possibly have shielded 
them.  Weren't all of the Aes Sedai present accounted for?

     The answer followed Dora and Hirine in the door.  Two 
warders stepped in, followed by Katarina and Miriya Sedai.  
"Let go of the source, Karla, or shall we have to shield you 
too?"  Miriya said.  She and Katarina were linked and both 
looked angry.  

     "But Aleis is about to die!  I have to heal her!"

     "Let go of the Source now, or we'll take it from you."  
Miriya said.  "Her plotting has wrecked this mission, as we 
feared it would.  This all could have been avoided if you'd 
only stuck to the plan."

     Karla sighed and released the Source, but they shielded 
her anyway.  "I...hey!  You said..."

     "We never said we wouldn't shield you if you did 
release the Source,"  Miriya said.  She turned to Mayle, 
"And whose side are you on, girl?"

     Mayle began to cry.  "My brother is dying!  You've got 
to help him!"  Dornar wasn't getting any better, lying on the 
floor where he had been since the fighting broke out.  

     Miriya turned to Dornar and walked over to him.  Karla 
stared at her in disbelief, then said, "Aren't you going to do 
anything about Aleis?  She's dying!  You're going to save a 
thrice-cursed male channeler before one of your own 
Sisters?"

     Miriya sighed.  "If the boy could channel, he probably 
wouldn't be lying here on the floor bleeding to death.  He 
may channel one day, and I intend to be ready when that 
happens, but it hasn't happened yet."  She kneeled and 
healed Dornar.

     Aleis Sedai heard this and her anger flared through the 
pain and her fading vision.  She reached out and grabbed 
the Source, hurling her rage as fire at those she most hated 
and feared.  Eile and Jinai went up in flames like two 
torches, while Miriya only narrowly cut the flows and 
stopped the fire that lanced at her and Katarina.  Janis 
screamed with rage, turned and charged Aleis.    

     With her final thought, Aleis tried to obliterate him, but 
the Power was too much for her in her weakened condition 
and her last sensation before unconsciousness was that of 
being scoured from the inside out by the One Power as it 
destroyed her ability to channel.

     She collapsed.  Janis didn't stop, raising his sword to 
impale her, stopped only by Miriya Sedai, who wrapped 
him with Air before he could slay Aleis.  

     Mayle sobbed silently without tears.  Katarina Sedai 
came over to her and clumsily hugged her.  "I'm sorry, 
Mayle.  I know this must be hard for you.  Justice will be 
done, I promise you."  As always, words were not enough.
 
************

     The White sister paused for a moment in the telling of 
the tale.  The classroom was absolutely silent.  Even the 
normal muttering in the background of Tower life was 
absent.  Finally, the White sister continued.  "Upon 
returning to the tower, the mission's members were sworn 
to secrecy.  The Amyrlin conducted a covert investigation 
in conjunction with her closest advisors, who decided to 
destroy all records and forbade all those involved to ever 
speak of the affair again.  The three surviving Red sisters 
and Dorine were forced to do penance for five years, the 
details of which are unknown to me for sure."

     Olwen interrupted her.  "Three Reds?  I thought you 
said there were four."

     "Aleis Sedai was discovered to have burnt herself out 
and was released from the Tower.  Two months later, her 
remains were sent to the Amyrlin in a box, having been 
chopped to pieces by some unknown assailant.  I did not 
count her in the above total.  Janis returned to the tower 
with Dornar to act as his protector.  Dornar lived in the 
Tower for fifteen years while they waited for him to learn 
to channel.  He fell ill and refused healing, choosing to die 
rather than to live out his life as an experiment.  Janis 
vanished shortly thereafter."  

     Once again, the class sat silently.  "Wait...didn't you say 
the Amyrlin ordered everyone involved never to speak of 
this?"  Anya said nervously.  "If it's public now, why 
haven't we heard of this before?"

     Lune said, "Didn't Miriya Sedai hang herself last week?  
And last year..."

     "Miriya Sedai hung herself in the same sense that 
Katarina Sedai slipped down the stairs while reading and 
fell to her death last year of her own free will.  I'm 
surprised they didn't claim that Amyrlin choked herself to 
death of her own choice on a chicken bone six months after 
she made that decision too.  Everyone who knows what 
happened in that farmhouse and opposed it is dead or 
missing, except me.  And now you.  Perhaps you may hear 
that I climbed to the top of the tower and tried to fly 
sometime soon.  Now you'll know better."

     She paused and the members of the class looked 
nervously at one another.  "Of course, no one is hearing this 
but you, so as long as none of you blab, you're safe.  Can 
you trust each other to keep quiet?  All it will take is one 
loud mouth, one careless whisper, one betrayal to power 
and the cycle of blood will begin again.  Aleis wasn't alone 
in her feelings.  They'll do whatever it takes to get their 
way.  So will I.  And in the end, so will you.  You have to 
decide what's important to you.  Learn who you can trust.  
Maybe you'll heal the growing split in our ranks, end the 
infighting, make this a place to be proud of again.  I doubt 
it.  You've heard rumors about the Black Ajah by now, no 
doubt.  I can't say if it exists...but I can say it doesn't need 
to.  Far too many of us do the Dark One's work whether we 
will to or not.  Be careful that you don't."

     She fell silent.  "Any questions?"

     No one dared speak or even acknowledge that anyone 
else in the room existed.  "Class dismissed, then."

     Mayle Sedai swept out of the room into the hallway, 
leaving the novices staring at the walls, the ceiling and each 
other.  Once she was alone, she sagged against the wall.  
Father, forgive me, she thought.  I could not avenge you.  I 
can only pray they will where I could not.  The tears came 
as they always did, and she sobbed soundlessly as she 
walked off to face her destiny.