New Spring: The Novel (wheel of time) Read online

  "It is half done," the Amyrlin intoned, "and the White Tower is graven on your bones." But she did not complete the ceremony. Instead, she took the Rod and placed it in Siuan's hands. Moiraine fought down a smile. She could have kissed Tamra.

  There was no sweating or gasping from Siuan. She rendered the Oaths in a clear, strong voice, never so much as blinking as each settled onto her. No physical hardship could faze Siuan, who had never wept until after Elaida was gone, had never shed a tear until they left Merean's study. Siuan had the heart of a lion.

  "It is half done, and the White Tower is graven on your bones," Tamra said, replacing the Oath Rod on Aeldra's cushion. "Rise now, Aes Sedai, and choose your Ajah, and all will be done that may be done under the Light."

  However much equanimity Siuan had shown swearing the Oaths, she moved no less stiffly than Moiraine as they rose and curtsied formally to Tamra, bending to kiss her Great Serpent ring.

  Together, they walked toward the Blue sisters. Slowly, with as much grace as they could muster, and not holding hands; that would never have done, not now. Like any Accepted, they had often discussed which Ajah they might enter, arguing merits and faults as though they knew more than the surface, yet for the last year or more, those discussions had been merely to prove a choice already made. The Blue sought to right wrongs, which was not always the same as seeking justice, like Greens and Grays. "Seekers after Causes," Verin had called Blues, and the capitals were there to be heard in her voice. Moiraine could not imagine belonging elsewhere. Siuan was smiling, which she should not have done. But then, so was she herself, she realized, and she could not make it go away.

  Once their direction became clear, the sisters from other Ajahs began making their courtesies to the Amyrlin and departing, first the Yellows, then the Greens, gliding from the chamber with their Sitters leading the way in regal procession. The Browns left, and then the Whites. What set the order, Moiraine did not know, but once the Reds were gone, the last, Tamra glided from the chamber after them. What passed here now was for the Blue alone. Aeldra remained to watch.

  The three remaining Sitters gathered around as copper-skinned Leane, willowy and as tall as most men, bent to lay the blue-fringed shawl around Moiraine's shoulders and Rafela, slim, dark and pretty, performed the same office for Siuan. Neither had the ageless face yet, but they wore dignity like cloaks. The Sitters were dignity incarnate.

  Stout Eadyth, with white hair spilling to her waist, kissed Siuan lightly on both cheeks and then Moiraine, each time murmuring, "Welcome home, sister. We have waited long for you." Anlee, grave-faced and graying in green-slashed blue and almost as many rings and necklaces as Gitara had worn, repeated the kisses and the words, and then Lelaine, whose solemn expression broke into a smile as she spoke. Lelaine became a great beauty when she smiled.

  "Welcome home, sister," Leane said, bending once more to kiss Moiraine. "We have waited long for you."

  Aeldra also kissed their cheeks and spoke words, then surprisingly added, "You each owe me a pie, made with your own hands. It's customary among us for the sixth sister who gives you the welcome kiss."

  Moiraine blinked and exchanged glances with Siuan. Was the ceremony done so abruptly? A pie? She doubted Aeldra would be able to eat hers. She had never cooked anything in her life.

  Eadyth clicked her tongue and adjusted her shawl along her arms. "Really, Aeldra," she said firmly. "Just because these two have chosen to step beyond the bounds in so many ways is no reason for you to forget your dignity. Now." Long blue silk fringe swung as she raised her hands. "I charge you, Leane Sharif, escort Moiraine Damodred that the White Tower may see that a Blue sister has come home. I charge you, Rafela Cindal, escort Siuan Sanche that the White Tower may see that a Blue sister has come home."

  Gathering Aeldra, Eadyth led the other Sitters from the chamber, but it seemed the rest of them were not entirely done.

  "Custom is a precious thing that should not be allowed to wither," Rafela said, eyeing Siuan and her each in turn. "Will you proceed to the Blue Ajah quarters clad in the Light, as ancient custom required?" Siuan clutched at her shawl as though she never meant to remove it, and Rafela added hastily, "And in your shawl, of course. To show that you need no protection beyond the Light and the shawl of an Aes Sedai."

  Moiraine realized she was clutching her own shawl in identical fashion, and made her hands relax, stroking the silk softly with her fingers. The Three Oaths had made her Aes Sedai, yet she had not felt Aes Sedai until the shawl was put onto her shoulders. But if she was required to go out in public wearing nothing else ! Oh, Light, now her face was turning hot! She had never seen an Aes Sedai blush.

  "Oh, do give over, Rafela," Leane said with a quick, reassuring smile shared between Moiraine and Siuan. She had been Accepted with them for a time, and by the warmth of that smile it seemed their friendship might be taking up where it had left off. "A thousand years ago, women came to be raised clad in the Light and left the same way-everyone here would have been-but the only part of that custom left is keeping the hallways clear until you reach the Ajah's quarters," she explained briskly. Leane did everything briskly. "I doubt anyone but a few Browns even remembers the custom. Rafela is half mad with trying to bring back dead customs. Don't deny it, Rafela. Remember the apple blossoms? Even the Greens don't remember what battle that was supposed to commemorate."

  Strangely, though Rafela had reached the shawl a year before Leane, she only sighed. "Customs should not be forgotten," she said, but without any force.

  Leane shook her head. "Come along. I know you must want your breakfast, but that has to wait on a few things, including this walk. Which will not include all of the public corridors," she added, cocking an eyebrow at Rafela. "Nor will we stop at each Ajah's quarters calling for them to come out and see a sister of the Blue." Shaking her head, she herded them through the doors, channeling briefly to swing them shut. "I've never been so embarrassed in my life. You should have been the one blushing, Rafela. Verin told her she had such a sweet voice, she should take up singing. One Red came out to tell us to stop caterwauling and go away. And the Greens! Some Greens have a rough sense of humor." Whether or not Rafela had blushed then, color tinged her cheeks faintly now.

  How rough had those Greens' sense of humor been, Moiraine wondered. At least Rafela's blushes made her stop worrying about her own. Of course the sisters would present a different face to each other than they did to those who did not wear the shawl. Which she did, now. It made her feel inches taller, even if Leane did tower head and shoulders above her. The other woman had shortened her stride, yet Moiraine still had to trot to keep up as they climbed back up through the basements to Tower corridors empty of life save for them. The hallways were seldom crowded, but the absence of people made them seem cavernous. Imagining the Tower completely empty became all too easy. It would be, one day, if matters continued as they were.

  "Is the ceremony done with this walk?" she asked. "The Blue Ajah part, I mean. May we ask questions?" She supposed she should have asked that first, but she wanted the sound of voices to chase away ill thoughts.

  "Not completely done," Leane replied, "but you can ask whatever you like. Some questions, though, can't be answered till you've met the First Selector, the head of our Ajah."

  "You must never reveal that title," Rafela put in quickly.

  Moiraine nodded, though she already knew that. Accepted were taught that every Ajah had secrets, as Rafela had to be aware. More than one sister had told Moiraine that she would have almost as much to learn once she gained the shawl as before. She intended to step very carefully until she learned more.

  "I have a question," Siuan said with a frown. "Are there many customs like this pie? I can cook, but my eldest sister did all the baking."

  "Oh, yes," Rafela said happily, and she regaled them with arcane customs while they walked along the Tower's first level, some as silly as wearing blue stockings when leaving Tar Valon, some as sensible as refraining from marriage. Aes Sedai
did marry now and then, but Moiraine could not see how that could end other than poorly. The torrent of information continued as they climbed one of the spiraling hallways, only stopping when they reached the plain, polished doors that led into the Blue quarters.

  "You can hear the others later," Rafela said, shifting her shawl down to her arms. "Be sure to learn them all quickly. Some are enforced as strictly as Tower law. I think they all should be, but at least some are."

  "Give over, Rafela," Leane said, and she and the dark sister each took a brass door handle and pushed one of the doors open.

  They had not channeled. Perhaps that was another custom. Riding would be uncomfortable for a few days, and she intended using the time until she could leave the city to memorize those customs, at least those that were enforced. She was not about to have the beginning of her search delayed by something as ridiculous as not wearing all blue on the first day of the month. Light, surely they did not enforce that one. Safer to be sure, though.

  She and Siuan stepped through the doorway, and stopped in surprise. The Blue was the second smallest Ajah, after the White, but every Blue sister currently in Tar Valon was lining the main corridor, all save Aeldra formally wrapped in their shawls.

  CHAPTER 12

  Entering Home

  Anaiya was the first to step forward and kiss their cheeks, saying, "Welcome home, sister. We have waited long for you. Aeldra told me how she stole my pies," she added, giving her shawl a twitch of irritation that was obvious pretense, betrayed by a laugh. "It wasn't fair of her to take advantage of her position that way."

  "Or mine, perhaps, if I'd been a trifle quicker," Kairen said after giving the formal greeting. A beautiful woman, and not overly tall, her smile belied the coolness of her steady blue eyes. "May we at least hope you two bake poorly? Aeldra likes pranks almost as much as you two, and it would be nice to see her repaid properly." Moiraine laughed and hugged Siuan. She could not help it. She truly had come home. They had come home.

  The Blue quarters held none of the flamboyance of the Green's and Yellow's, though they were not so plain as the Brown's or the White's. The brightly colored winter wall hangings along the main corridor were scenes of spring gardens and fields of wildflowers, brooks running over stones and birds in flight. The stand-lamps against the pale walls were gilded, but quite simple in decoration. Only the floor tiles, in every shade of blue from a pale morning sky to the deep violet of twilight and laid in a wavy pattern, gave any hint of grandeur. Moving slowly along those waves, she and Siuan received the welcome kiss thirty-nine more times before reaching Eadyth and the other two Sitters.

  "Rooms have been prepared for you," the round-faced sister told them, "along with proper clothing and some breakfast, but change and eat quickly. There are things I must tell you, things you must know before it is really safe for you to set foot outside our quarters. Or even to walk within it, in truth, though most are tolerant of a new sister. Cabriana, will you show them the way?"

  A pale-eyed sister, light golden hair hanging almost to her waist, spread her blue-slashed skirts in a slight curtsy. Not all sisters taught classes by far, and Moiraine did not recognize her. There was a fierce directness in her gaze suitable for a Green, yet her tone was quite meek as she said, "As you say, Eadyth." And to Siuan and Moiraine, almost as meekly, "Will you come with me, please?" It was very odd, that blend of fierceness and well, docility seemed the closest description.

  "Is she the First Selector?" Moiraine asked cautiously as soon as they were out of Eadyth's earshot. And of anyone else's, she hoped. The sisters who had gathered were dispersing by ones and twos, removing their shawls.

  "Oh, yes," Anaiya said, joining them with Kairen. Cabriana had her mouth open to answer, but she closed it without a trace of protest at being overridden. "It's unusual for the First Selector also to be a Sitter," Anaiya went on, "but unlike some, we Blues like to make full use of ability."

  Folding her shawl and laying it across one arm, Kairen nodded. "Eadyth is perhaps the most capable Blue in the last hundred years, but if she were a Brown or a White, they'd let her potter off wherever she wanted."

  "Oh, yes," Cabriana said, making a tsking sound. "Some of the Brown Sitters have been disgraceful. For Sitters, at least. But Browns always let their minds wander. In any case, you may rest assured that whatever talents you have, a use will be found for them."

  Disliking the sound of that, Moiraine exchanged a guarded glance with Siuan. Well, neither of them had any special abilities. But what danger was Eadyth going to warn them about? A danger even here. She wanted to ask the three sisters escorting them down the hallway, but she was certain the information had to come from Eadyth, and in private; otherwise she would simply have told them then and there. Light! Their new home might have as many undercurrents as the Sun Palace. A definite time for caution. A time to listen and observe and say little.

  The apartments chosen for Siuan and her were side by side a little off the main corridor, each containing a spacious bedchamber, a large sitting room, a dressing room, and a study, with fireplaces of carved marble whose crackling fires had taken the chill from the air. The polished wall panels were bare, but patterned carpets, some fringed, from half a dozen countries lay on the blue-tiled floors. The furniture was disparate, too, here a table inlaid with mother-of-pearl in a fashion used in Cairhien a hundred years ago, there a chair with vine-carved legs from the Light alone knew where, and the lamps and mirrors in as many styles as there were lamps and mirrors, but nothing was chipped or cracked and every piece of wood or metal had been polished till it shone softly. The belongings they had left laid out in the Accepted's quarters had been brought up, and Moiraine's own brush and comb on the washstand, her blackwood lap-desk on the writing table in the study, her jewelry box on a side table in the bedchamber, already put her mark on her rooms.

  "We thought you'd like to be close together," Anaiya said when they finished up in Moiraine's sitting room. Kairen and Cabriana stood flanking her on the scroll-worked carpet, and looking to her as often as at Siuan or Moiraine, as well. They talked among themselves with the ease of long friendship, yet Kairen and Cabriana clearly took their lead from Anaiya. It was quite subtle, but obvious to eyes trained in the Sun Palace. Not that it meant anything-in any group there was always one who took the lead-but Moiraine filed it away.

  "You can choose other rooms, if you wish," Kairen added. "We have all too many empty, though I fear some are as dusty as the worst of the basements." She was leaving Tar Valon soon, had spoken casually of some business she had in Tear. Could she be one of Tamra's searchers? There was no way to know. Aes Sedai were always leaving the Tower, and others returning.

  "If you want to change rooms, I can arrange for the cleaning," Cabriana said, gathering her skirts as if to see to it immediately. She sounded almost anxious! Why was she behaving so strangely? Plainly she was the low woman among the three, yet she acted the same way toward Siuan and her, too.

  "Thank you, no." Fingering the lace edging a chair's cushion, she tried to say the rooms were very nice-the three sisters had seen to preparing everything, though the carpets and furnishings were a gift from the Ajah-but her tongue refused to form the lie, so she settled for, "These are more than adequate." Every last cushion in the rooms had lace ruffles, and so did the coverlets on the beds and the pillowcases. Some of the ruffles seemed to have ruffles! The rooms would be much more than adequate once she got rid of all those frills. Siuan had actually smiled at the lace on her bed, as though she would enjoy sleeping in a sea of froth. Moiraine shuddered at the thought.

  She offered tea or hot spiced wine before realizing she had no idea how to procure either, but Anaiya said that they must be eager to change and have breakfast, with the other two nodding agreement, and they gathered their skirts together.

  "Food can wait," Siuan said as soon as the door closed behind the three sisters. "Eadyth first. Have you winkled out any hint of what she has to tell us? It sounds like your Game of Houses, to
me."

  "Eadyth first, breakfast later," Moiraine agreed, though the smell of warm porridge and stewed apricots from the cloth-covered tray on a side table made her mouth water. "But I have no clue, Siuan. None." Yet it was reminiscent of Daes Dae'mar.

  Four dresses of fine blue wool, plain but well cut, were hanging in the dressing room, two of them with skirts divided for riding, and she changed into one with a full skirt and left the banded Accepted's dress folded in the wicker laundry basket. The small notebook she transferred from the white belt pouch that would be taken away to the plain blue pouch she found in the capacious wardrobe. Even here, perhaps especially here, there seemed no safer place than on her own person. Unsurprisingly, the new dress fit perfectly. It was said the Tower knew more of its initiates than their seamstresses and hairdressers combined. Not that she had had either in some time, of course, a lack she intended to remedy. The seamstress, at least. She had grown accustomed to wearing her hair loose, but she would need more than four dresses before she left Tar Valon, and in better than wool. Silk was hardly cheap, but it did wear wonderfully.

  From her carved jewelry box, she took her favorite piece, a kesiera. She had regretted not being able to wear that here, but even after six years her hands remembered how to weave the thin gold chain into her hair so the small sapphire hung in the middle of her forehead. Studying herself in a wall mirror with a scroll-worked wooden frame, she smiled. She might lack the ageless face yet, but now she looked the Lady Moiraine Damodred, and Lady Moiraine Damodred had navigated the Sun Palace where hidden currents could pull you under even at fifteen or sixteen. Now she was ready to navigate the currents here. Settling her blue-fringed shawl on her shoulders, she went in search of Siuan, and met her in the hall, wrapped in her own shawl and coming the other way.