#there is a reason we saw exactly what we saw from Siuan and Moiraine in the opening | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

neuxue · 5 years

Text

Wheel of Time liveblogging: The Gathering Storm ch 43

I get the argument I’ve been waiting for, and Egwene wins (in absentia) the battle she’s preparing for

Chapter 43: Sealed to the Flame

Egwene sat quietly in her tent, hands in her lap. She controlled her shock, her burning anger and her incredulity.

YES. THANK YOU. This is precisely the reaction I was hoping for and I’m so very glad we’re continuing almost exactly where we left off, because I want to watch this.

Now let just a little of that control go and break up with Gawyn, please.

Egwene had allowed no attendants besides Chesa this morning. She had even turned away Siuan, who had undoubtedly come to offer some kind of apology.

Less dramatic than throwing an inkwell at her, but really I’m just here for the ‘Egwene being furious at being “rescued” against her will’ and will be content with more or less any form it takes.

Egwene needed time to think, to prepare, to deal with her failure. And it was a failure. Yes, it had been forced on her by others, but those others were her followers and friends.

Ah, Egwene. This was not your fault. You did everything you could.

And as I was typing that it occurred to me…this is right after the chapter where Rand absolves himself of responsibility for what is happening in Arad Doman, tells himself he’s done everything he can and there’s nothing else he can do, and walks away. And so of course we immediately get Egwene doing almost the opposite. Taking a situation where she really has done just about everything she could, and still looking at it critically for places where she could have done better.

She was carried away via gateway, just like Rand, but unlike Rand she looks back.

Perhaps she had been too secretive. It was a danger—secrecy.

3.5 MILLION WORDS BUT WE FINALLY GOT THERE.

Okay, fine, other characters have occasionally expressed similar sentiments. Still. For the effective Amyrlin Seat of all people to even consider that there are dangers to secrecy, that secrecy could be a failure is…quite something. Round of applause for Egwene.

Egwene ran her fingers along the smooth, tightly woven pouch she wore tied to her belt. Inside was a long, thin item, retrieved secretly from the White Tower earlier in the morning.

Vora’s sa’angreal? Or…the Oath Rod? And by ‘earlier in the morning’ does she mean she went back into the Tower? I suppose the game is kind of up at this point in terms of her being a captive of any sort, so she could in theory come and go as she pleases…

Yes, Egwene had made mistakes. She could not lay all the blame on Siuan, Bryne, and Gawyn.

It’s fine; if you don’t, I will. Egwene’s probably in the right here but do I care? Not particularly. (Oh wait, that was Gawyn’s mistake. Damn it, now I’m conflicted. FINE, Egwene, be the voice of reason).

She had likely made other mistakes as well; she would need to look at her own action sin more detail later.

I like this, because it’s honest self-criticism and self-examination without self-loathing or self-flagellation. (‘Self’ no longer looks like a word). It’s a more difficult balance than it seems, sometimes, and this is such a calmly rational example. She has made mistakes, and she can accept that and know that she needs to learn from them, without dwelling needlessly on them and berating herself for them. She can’t change what has happened, after all, but she can try to learn from it and do better next time. What a weirdly healthy and productive way of dealing with things!

She’d been pulled from the White Tower on the brink of success. What was to be done?

That’s a difficult question, especially given the huge blind spot she has in terms of: what is happening in the Tower right now? Also, how close to success was she? Narratively speaking, it feels like she was PRETTY DAMN CLOSE, and also there was that whole paragraph of ‘surprise! Elaida’s out of the picture’ but Egwene doesn’t even know that. So will those in the Tower decide that she is Amyrlin in truth, or will they look for another solution? And what can she do to push that the right way, without fucking everything up completely? It’s such a fine balance, and there are so many unknowns, and anything she does risks disaster.

So, no pressure or anything, Egwene.

So she remained seated, arms on the hand rests, wearing a fine silken gown of green with yellow patterns on the bodice.

Green and Yellow, for battle and healing. Battle or healing? Either way, both represent the conflict with the Tower right now.

Yeah, she definitely can’t just go back and resume her old role—she knows full well that only worked because they thought she was actually a captive. And in a way, the realisation that she wasn’t, that she could have left anytime she wanted and spared herself all that pain, might be another thing for those still in the Tower to think over. How many would willingly subject themselves to that, all for the sake of the Tower? It could certainly add to her…legend, I suppose. Or it could undermine her. It just depends on who’s looking at it and how they want to spin things. So many unknowns…

She was realising more and more that being the Amyrlin wasn’t different. Life was a tempest, whether you were a milkmaid or a queen. The queens were simply better at projecting control in the middle of that storm. If Egwene looked like a statue unaffected by the winds, it was actually because she saw how to bend with those winds. That gave the illusion of control. No. It was not just an illusion.

Surrender to control. Accept that she is as subject to the whims of the Pattern as anyone, and instead of fighting that, use it. Power is an illusion of perception, so creat the image of control, of power, of calm, and you’re halfway there.

It’s not the first time she’s had to think along these lines, but it feels like a…closing bookend, in a sense, where the opening one was Moiraine telling her ‘because I remembered how to control saidar’ and Egwene being faced with that notion, and what it truly means, for the first time.

She had to be as logical as a White, as thoughtful as a Brown, as passionate as a Blue, as decisive as a Green, as merciful as a Yellow, as diplomatic as a Grey. And yes, as vengeful as a Red, when necessary.

Of all Ajahs and of none, in truth. It’s what the Tower as a whole needs to be; the Ajahs must work together to make the Tower an entity unto itself, rather than a collection of disparate fragments. And so, in Egwene, that unity and diversity is embodied. And it’s not just empty words; she understands what it means to be of all Ajahs and none, and the importance of it.

That left her with a difficult decision. She had a fresh army of fifty thousand troops, and the White Tower had suffered an incredible blow. The Aes Sedai would be exhausted, the Tower Guard broken and wounded.

Ah. That’s…I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that this is her conclusion, given the information she has and the position she’s in. Because she’s right; if she’s going to do this, she has a very small window of time, and she could maybe succeed with minimal casualties, if the Tower is weakened enough to surrender rather than fight.

But…she just protected the Tower in battle. To bring another battle against it feels…

She hoped that history would eventually forgive her.

Oh, Egwene.

(Forgive me, for calling this mercy as well).

It just feels like a mistake, though from where she’s standing it’s entirely reasonable, and maybe the best option. She can’t wait for the Aes Sedai in the Tower to call her back as Amyrlin, because she has absolutely no guarantees that they would do so. She can’t wait here, because then the Tower will regain its strength and an attack would only be worse. She’s tried the diplomatic route, such as it is. She doesn’t know Elaida is gone. What choice does that leave her?

And she hates it; she is not approaching this unfeeling. But what else can she do?

It still feels like the wrong choice.

Seriously, Gawyn? You slept outside her tent? Someone needs to teach this boy the difference between ‘romantic’ and ‘excessive’.

But I am ready for this confrontation. For this to be a confrontation, that is, because if it is ANYTHING ELSE, I will probably just lose my shit. And not in a good way.

It was not the time to be a lovesick girl. It was time to be Amyrlin.

I like the way she consistently recognises the separation, and can shift between those roles without…losing herself, I suppose. Being the Amyrlin doesn’t mean killing the girl entirely, it just means knowing when to set her aside. And, fair, these days that’s most of the time. But she still allows that girl to be a part of who she is.

“Gawyn,” she said, raising a hand, stopping him as he stepped toward her. “I haven’t begun to think about what to do with you. Other matters demand my attention.”

THIS IS WHAT I WANTED. Well, honestly, I was up for just about anything that involved a confrontation, but Egwene opening with this not-mad-just-disappointed-don’t-talk-to-me-right-now calm yet exasperated and so very this-is-not-my-priority-go-wait-in-the-corner, only-adult-in-the-situation is DELIGHTFUL.

“No,” Gawyn said, stepping up in front of her. “Egwene, we need to talk.”

“Later.”

“No, not later, burn it! I’ve waited months.”

Oh, poor you. You know who else has waited months? Egwene. To deal with the Tower. Not just waited, but has been actively working towards this. This has been her job, Gawyn, and she needs to deal with it right now because it’s sort of non-trivial in case you haven’t noticed, and your ego can take a damn number and wait. You are not the most important thing here. It’s time you recognised that there is more going on than the things affecting you.

But that’s Gawyn’s whole…thing, isn’t it? He self-deprecates like no other, but he still sees himself as the centre of this story. He is the perfect heroic archetype, the golden prince who knows exactly how his story is meant to go, who knows the script and still cannot understand why it’s not…working. Cannot understand what story he’s actually in, and hasn’t yet worked out how to look past that and see the truth of what’s actually happening, unclouded by the lens of his own perception that tells him to look at everything through the eyes of the Hero Of The Story. That was who he was raised to be, after all, until the Pattern decided to deal him a hand of ‘fuck you’.

I’ve said it before; it’s a fascinating thing to do with a character—to basically have him read out, say, Romeo’s lines while everyone around him is doing Twelfth Night—but right now, when it’s getting in the way of Egwene being awesome and making him into every stereotype of That Guy, I’m just fed up with it.

Telling her ‘no, you need to talk to me because I’ve been waiting’ when she’s about to go do her job is just. No. Don’t be that guy, Gawyn.

“I said that I hadn’t sorted through my feelings yet,” she said coolly, “and I meant it.”

He set his jaw. “I don’t believe that Aes Sedai calmness, Egwene.”

Oh man I’ve heard this conversation. Hell, I’ve had this conversation. LISTEN. TO. WHAT. SHE’S. TELLING. YOU. When she says she’s not sure, or that she needs to think about something, especially when she’s angry at you, it’s probably a terrible idea to just…say that you know better. That you know what she’s thinking better than she does.

“I’ve sacrificed—”

“You’ve sacrificed?” Egwene interrupted, letting a little anger show. “What about what I sacrificed to rebuild the White Tower? Sacrifices that you undermined by acting against my express wishes? Did Siuan not tell you that I had forbidden a rescue?”

“She did,” he said stiffly. “But we were worried about you!”

“Well, that worry was the sacrifice I demanded, Gawyn,” she said, exasperated.

YOU TELL HIM, EGWENE.

When I said I wanted to be a fly on the wall when Egwene wakes up, this is exactly what I meant.

Because someone needs to get it through Gawyn’s head that he is not the only agent in this story. That yes, he has made sacrifices and yes, he was worried, but that doesn’t give him any sort of priority over other people who have done the exact same. It doesn’t give him priority over Egwene’s responsibilities to the Tower and her role, and it sure as hell doesn’t give him authority to override her decisions.

Do you even know what she’s been through, Gawyn? What she’s accomplished? What she’s working for even now? Has it ever occurred to you to ask?

Or did you never think beyond what you’ve been through and what you’ve done in order to be with her. Because obviously only your actions and thoughts matter in that regard, right? Because once you’re together she’ll just…exist exactly as you want and everything will go according to your plans and you’re the only one who could possibly make it so and what business could she possibly have of her own outside of that?

Am I being a little unfair to Gawyn? Maybe. But wow does this push all of my buttons regarding a specific pattern of behaviour a lot of guys show with regards to their female love interests, both in fiction and in reality.

So watching Egwene tear him a new one over it is wonderfully cathartic, I must say.

“Don’t you see what a distrust you have shown me?”

YES. THIS. EXACTLY.

He decided to rescue her against her express orders because…well, of course he has to rescue her! Of course he knows better than she does! And there is absolutely no trust in that. Even if Egwene were wrong, even if she did need to be rescued—and that’s certainly a possibility; there’s no way of knowing what would happen if she were still in the Tower—going against her wishes like this, without even asking her or trying to find a way to communicate with her or persuade her or explain your view of the situation to see if it matches hers is a massive display of…not even distrust but of failing to even consider her competence. It’s patronising.

Anyway I just love watching Egwene articulate all of this. She’s not just angry; she’s very clear about why she’s angry. And she gets pretty quickly to the heart of it: that he didn’t trust her. Or consider that her opinion and her read on the situation should be trusted. He just came in with barely any knowledge of the situation and assumed, immediately, that he knew better than she did.

Gawyn didn’t look ashamed; he just looked perturbed.

Yeah, well, he should. I’ll give him some credit if he actually takes to heart what she’s saying, but that remains to be seen.

“You love me, Egwene,” he said stubbornly. “I can see it.”

*flings book across the room*

Guys? Friendly piece of advice. Telling a woman how she feels, while ignoring what she is telling you regarding how she feels? Not attractive.

Anyway Egwene is doing a rather excellent job here.

“Egwene the woman loves you,” she said. “But Egwene the Amyrlin is furious with you. Gawyn, if you’d be with me, you have to be with both the woman and the Amyrlin. I would expect you—man who was trained to be First Prince of the Sword—to understand that distinction.”

Gawyn looked away.

DRAG HIM.

That was beautiful. Calm, cool, entirely justified, and right on target.

She has to walk that line so carefully herself, between Egwene the woman and Egwene the Amyrlin, and she’s absolutely right that if he is to be with her, he has to understand and—perhaps more importantly—accept that. Accept that she has a role and a duty that exists entirely outside of him, no matter what he might want, and that she can’t toss it aside for him. Nor does she want to.

And…yeah, he should understand that, raised as he was to be First Prince of the Sword to a sister who would be Queen. He should, but he doesn’t, because he was also raised to be the hero of his story, and Egwene is…not playing the role he thought she would, and he’s confused.

And being a dick about it.

“You don’t believe it, do you?” she asked.

“What?”

“That I’m Amyrlin,” she said. “You don’t accept my title.”

“I’m trying to,” he said as he looked back at her.

Yeah sorry but that only gets you a very, very small amount of partial credit. I get that it’s a surprise, and he’s hardly the first to react with disbelief, but…even if he doesn’t fully believe it, and even if it’s a struggle to get his mind around it, he needs to not let that affect his trust in her.

The appropriate response would be something like ‘yeah it’s a surprise, and honestly kind of hard to believe—how did it happen? Is there anything I can help with?’

Even Mat looks better in comparison—he acted like a complete arse when he first heard that Egwene was Amyrlin, but what he did just before he left for The Worst Plotline Ebou Dar, bowing to her and calling her ‘Mother’ to make a point in front of the Aes Sedai who saw her as nothing more than a puppet, was far more the right thing to do. He still doubted, but outwardly he did what he could to support her, and to let her know he supported her.

“But bloody ashes, Egwene. When we parted you were just an Accepted, and that wasn’t so long ago. Now they’ve named you Amyrlin? I don’t know what to think.”

‘But Egwene, it doesn’t make sense to me with my incomplete knowledge of the situation, so you must be wrong’.

Oh, sorry Gawyn, am I putting words into your mouth? Telling you how you really feel? Wonder what that feels like.

“And you can’t see how your uncertainty undermines anything we could have together?”

FUCKING YES.

DO NOT LET HIM OFF EASY.

ASSUMING SOMEONE’S INCOMPETENCE IS NOT ATTRACTIVE.

Every bit of this conversation—no, that’s a lie, every bit of Egwene’s side of this conversation—is exactly what I was hoping it would be and more.

And finally he’s like okay fine I’ll try to change but you need to guide me because I can’t seem to work it out for myself and need someone to hold my hand every step of the way.

I’m paraphrasing, but he deserves it.

“Fine,” Egwene said, passing him. “I can’t think about that now. I have to go order people I care about to slaughter another group of people I care about.”

What a beautiful dismissal. What a beautiful assertion of priorities. Sorry, Gawyn, go wait in the corner with your confusion and your feelings because the grown-ups have some tough decisions to make about, you know, the fate of the world and stuff.

On another note entirely…it’s again a contrast in the making of those harsh decisions between Egwene and Rand. For her, the caring is inextricably tied to it. This is a hard decision and people will die and she has to make it anyway, knowing that.

Gawyn’s like ‘but won’t that make you sad’ and yeah, Gawyn, it will. Better that it would than that it wouldn’t, because we’ve seen what happens when the latter state of mind is reached. (I mean, it was one hell of a beautiful scene, but it wasn’t exactly uh. A good thing).

“I will do what must be done, Gawyn,” she said, meeting his eyes. “For the good of the Aes Sedai and the White Tower. Even if it is painful. Even if it tears me apart inside. I will do it if it needs to be done. Always.”

And she will accept that pain as she has accepted so much pain already, accept it and let it tear her apart inside and go on anyway. She doesn’t spend time hating herself for it, or trying to wall it off; there’s no point. And so she accepts what she must do, and the pain as part of it, because she believes in her reasons for doing it. Because she’s fighting for something. She’ll make these decisions, but she will weigh them against those costs and against that pain and she will not take the harshest route simply because it is the easiest.

But she will take it, if she has to. She has the capacity to be ruthless, and if she needs to, she will be. She will order death today, unless something happens to prevent it. Like Rand, she will do what she believes is necessary, even if there is a cost.

‘This was your fault’ is always a good way to start a scene. No futile arguments here, definitely not.

We’re with the Ajah heads—that much was obvious from the opening dialogue, really. Who else would sit in a circle discussing whom among them is to blame? Get it together, please.

I’m pretty sure we’re in Jesse Bilal’s POV but it’s a little hard to tell. Okay, yes, we are. And she’s not exactly singing this group’s praises. That at least is promising; maybe Egwene’s not the only one capable of learning from her mistakes.

Ferane Neheran—First Reasoner of the White—was a small, stout woman who, oddly for a White, often seemed more temper than logic. Today was one of those times: she sat scowling, her arms folded. She’d refused a cup of tea.

What is wrong with you?

(I’ll take that tea, if you’re not having it.)

(And I no longer trust Ferane.)

Jesse, Adelorna, Ferane, Suana, and Serancha. Pretty sure we knew most of those, but it’s good to have a solid list.

“There is little use in assigning blame.” Suana attempted to be soothing

And, more importantly, the rational adult in the room, it would seem.

Meanwhile Adelorna’s still spoiling for a fight. Save it for Tarmon Gai’don.

“and the Dragon Reborn still walks the earth unfettered.”

In more ways than you know.

At least now they’ve moved on to ‘our’ fault, rather than ‘your’ fault. Accepting responsibility is helpful. Trying to pass it off to the next person like a hot potato is less so.

The first [opportunity] had been the easiest to take hold of: send Sitters to the rebels to steer them and hasten a reconciliation. The most youthful of Sitters had been chosen, their replacements in the Tower intended to serve only a short time. The Ajah heads had been certain this ripple of a rebellion could be easily smoothed over.

And so Siuan’s strange ‘pattern’ has an explanation at last. That’s…not too far off what I was thinking, though I certainly didn’t put together the whole of it. It makes sense—or at least, it makes sense that they would at least try something like this.

They hadn’t taken it seriously enough. That had been their first mistake.

Yours, and so many others’.

The didn’t take it seriously enough, and they vastly overestimated their own ability to control their agents. And vastly underestimated Elaida’s capacity to fuck shit up.

“And then there were the rebels. Far more difficult to control than presumed.”

Thanks in very large part to Siuan, Leane, and Egwene. Without those three, the Ajah heads’ plan may well have worked.

We never should have let Elaida disband the Blue Ajah, Jesse thought. The Blues might have been willing to come back, had it not happened. But it was such a dishonour that they dug in. Light only knew how dangerous that was; the histories were filled with accounts of how dogged the Blues could be at getting their way, particularly when they were forced into a corner.

Or trapped in another dimension?

“I think it is time to admit that there is no hope to save our plans,” Suana said. “Are we agreed?”

“Agreed,” Adelorna said.

One by one, the sisters nodded their heads, and so did Jesse herself. Even in this room, it was difficult to admit fault. But it was time to cut their losses and begin rebuilding.

Jesse’s not understating it—that’s a hard thing for anyone to admit, much less leaders of a group known for pride and stubbornness. For them to agree to move past it, to focus on rebuilding rather than on clinging to a plan and to power they’ve lost, is a major step.

Now make the right decision, you five.

So far so good: they’re pretty much immediately unanimous in the decision to abandon Elaida to her fate.

“The Amyrlin is buried somewhere in a mass of Seanchan captives”

An experience both Amyrlin claimants now share.

Of course, this means the days of keeping Travelling from the Seanchan are over, but that always felt like an inevitability. Too many people know it at this point; eventually, something was going to go wrong. You can’t keep a secret with that many.

“Then we need a replacement,” Serancha said. “But who?”

Three guesses how this ends.

But this is what Egwene has been driving towards. Not Elaida’s fall so much as the Aes Sedai’s choice. Her battle wasn’t truly against Elaida; it was a fight to unite the Tower around her, to heal the cracks with it and give them a leader they could trust and rely on and look to. And for that to work, they have to choose her.

So in that sense, it doesn’t matter than Elaida is out of the picture so much as it matters that they choose Egwene. It is about the choice, not about the fight.

“What about Saerin Asnobar?” Jesse asked. “She has shown uncanny wisdom of late, and she is well liked.”

“Of course you’d choose a Brown,” Adelorna said.

And that, right there, is why Egwene is going to win this. Because the divisions between the Ajahs still run too deep for any sister who wears the shawl to gain support. No matter the Ajah, it would be seen as unfairness.

Maybe a Blue would have a chance, as the Blue was disbanded within the Tower and therefore wasn’t really able to become as much a part of the inter-Ajah enmity. But that would mean choosing one of the rebels, and choosing someone who none of them have seen or interacted with for almost a year, and people don’t work that way.

So of course they all start advocating members of their own Ajah, and defending their own Ajah’s virtues as the best for the situation, and you’re all missing the point. All of those things are needed. That’s why the Amyrlin is meant to be of all Ajahs and none; because no one virtue or goal is sufficient on its own, or better than the others. But they can’t look past the Ajah traits and stereotypes to accept that a woman chosen from one Ajah could indeed embody all.

“Are we just going to squabble as the Hall has been doing all morning? Each Ajah offering its own members, and the others summarily rejecting them?”

I mean…yes. That’s exactly what’s happening, and it doesn’t take the Foretelling to have predicted it.

Which only leaves one eligible candidate, really. Who has, coincidentally, spent the past weeks running a rather effective campaign.

Of course, they still don’t jump to the obvious conclusion, but first have a go at choosing one amongst themselves. Before rejecting that idea, too, as it would upset the delicate balance here.

Any day now, ladies.

“They’re so divided they can’t agree on what colour the sky is.”

Yeah, well, neither could the clouds in the Prologue, so at least they’re in keeping with the Pattern.

Suana really is the only adult in this room, and her patience is truly that of a saint. How many times has she had to say something along the lines of ‘okay, but we still need to deal with the actual issues here’?

Serancha shook her head. “I honestly can’t think of a single woman that a sufficient number of Sitters would support.”

“I can,” Adelorna said softly.

And so here we are. Finally. It seems inevitable…but the way it’s played out also feels very true to who the Aes Sedai are.

“She was mentioned in the Hall several times today. You know of whom I speak. She is young, and her circumstances are unusual, but everything is unusual at the moment.”

And more importantly, she is the one person among them all who has put more effort into uniting than dividing. The others have accepted that they must work together, but it is still a fragile acceptance, and as this conversation shows, difficult to maintain when things get complicated. It’s too easy to retreat behind the walls they’ve built around their Ajahs, too easy to cast blame and judgements. Too easy to fall apart. But Egwene has been working tirelessly to unite them despite that; Egwene, who never chose an Ajah, and who fought for a Tower even as it tried to reject her.

Who else could they choose?

The others still aren’t so sure, but they’re very quickly talking themselves into it. That’s what happens when there isn’t much choice. And when she has made quite the case for herself.

“You’ve heard the reports of her actions during the attack,” Adelorna said. “I can confirm that they are true. I was there with her for most of it.”

And called her Mother, as I recall.

“Surely some of what was said is exaggeration.”

Adelorna shook her head grimly. “No. It isn’t. It sounds incredible…but it…well, it happened. All of it.”

This is almost as good as the outsider POV realisations of what—or rather who—was happening during that battle. The part of me that reads fantasy for good old-fashioned wish-fulfilment loves these moments where characters realise, or point out, or are faced with, just how incredible another character is.

And this is what Egwene has worked for, and bled for. She deserves this, and they’re recognising it, and Gawyn should be taking notes.

“If the Sitters will not stand for someone of another Ajah, what of a woman who never picked an Ajah? A woman who has some experience—however unjustified—in holding the very position we are discussing?”

Never underestimate the value of previous job experience in a candidate for a leadership position. Ahem. I am absolutely not in any way speaking of a real-life political situation here, whatever gave you that idea?

As for the rest…it fits rather nicely with Egwene’s thoughts about the virtues of each of the Ajahs earlier in this chapter, and of how the Tower requires all of them; how she must be able to embody all of them.

But how had the young rebel gained such respect from Ferane and Adelorna?

Good old-fashioned sweat, blood, and tears, mostly.

Also some well-timed fireballs and a killer Heroic Silhouette.

“Didn’t you yourself say that we had to heal the Tower, no matter what the cost?” Adelorna asked. “Can you honestly think of a better way to bring the rebels ack to us?”

That is also a very, very good point. It goes a long way towards allowing the rebels to rejoin the Tower and still save face; this way, both sides capitulate to a certain extent. The Tower accepts Egwene as Amyrlin, and the rebels accept the Tower, and Egwene can take care of the rest.

“You aren’t foolish enough to assume this woman will be led by the nose, are you?”

Good. Because the last…everyone…who tried that learned the hard way that no, she will not.

And so it is done.

Now we just have to hope they get word to Egwene before she orders an attack on the Tower, because that would ruin everything. After all she’s done…

Over to Siuan, who is watching Sheriam enter an apparently secret meeting with Egwene. Interesting.

At least she and Bryne understand that Egwene is Not Entirely Pleased with them and why.

“Nobody likes being disobeyed, least of all the Amyrlin. I will pay for last night, Bryne. You’re right that it probably won’t be in a public way, but I worry that I’ve lost the girl’s trust.”

Siuan, you are bonded to the man—I think you can call him by his first name.

As for the rest…Siuan still thinks she made the right choice, but the difference between her and Gawyn is that she also accepts the consequences of it. She knows she has likely damaged the trust between herself and Egwene, and she knows why, and doesn’t go on about how unfair it is.

“And what of the other costs?” Bryne added.

She could feel his hesitation, his worry. She turned to him, smiling in amusement. “You’re a fool, Gareth Bryne.”

He frowned.

“Bonding you was never a cost,” She said.

*Shakes head* what are we going to do with you two. Just kiss, damn it.

And coming from me, that’s saying something.

“I think I actually understand you now, Siuan Sanche. You are a woman of honour. It’s just that nobody else’s requirements of you can ever be more harsh or more demanding than your own requirements of yourself. You owe such a self-imposed debt to your own sense of duty that I doubt any mortal being could pay it back.”

That’s…a high compliment, from Bryne. And kind of sweet, I suppose. Either way, it’s a good contrast to Gawyn’s conversation with Egwene, in that this one is based on actual mutual understanding rather than on ‘I know half the situation and so I will Tell You How You Feel’.

Siuan’s still not entirely here for it, though.

“Are you going to tell me that other demand, or are you going to make me wait?”

He studied her stone face thoughtfully. “Well, frankly, I’m planning to demand that you marry me.”

And that’s…well, not the weirdest marriage proposal in these books, because Mat and Tuon exist, but it’s an entertainingly odd one. And fitting, for the two of them. Their entire relationship is like that—kind of adorably exasperating.

“But only after you feel the world can care for itself. I won’t agree to it before then, Siuan. You’ve given your life to something. I’ll see that you survive through it; I hope that once you’re done, you’ll be willing to give your life to something else instead.”

Aw. He gets it. He knows what this cause means to her, and he’s not going to ask her to decide between it and him; he’ll stand by her through this and then they can deal with what comes after. It really is a lovely contrast to Gawyn at the moment, who is…intentionally or otherwise demanding almost the opposite.

I think what makes this relationship relatively tolerable to me is more or less exactly this—it doesn’t really interfere with their plotlines. I mean, okay, it kind of does in the sense that it’s what brought Bryne to the rebels in the first place, but for the most part the two of them do their jobs first, and each other second. (Actually, I don’t think they do do each other; last we heard, Siuan was thinking about how he never even tried to kiss her, but my point is…)

I hope they do live through this. Mostly I hope Siuan lives through this, because the woman deserves some happiness in her life, and deserves to get to have a life, and I still need her reunion with Moiraine.

He replaced his hand on her shoulder. Soft, not forceful. Willing to wait. He did understand her.

TAKE. NOTES. GAWYN.

All right, Egwene, let’s see what this secret meeting of yours is all about.

Sheriam had seemed troubled as she entered. Did she realise what Egwene knew? She couldn’t. If she had, she’d never have come to the meeting.

Ah, is that what she’s called all the Sitters here for? A secret meeting, to do away with a very large secret, perhaps?

After what Egwene had been through in the White Tower, this squabbling felt ridiculously petty.

No shit. It’s all about perspective, isn’t it? Even the battle against the Seanchan begins to look almost petty when weighed against the imminent Last Battle…

“You said that there were important revelations to make,” Varilin added. “Is this regarding the Seanchan attack?”

Somehow I don’t think so. After Egwene’s thoughts earlier this chapter about secrecy, and the dangers of keeping secrets…

So it was the Oath Rod she took from the Tower this morning. Which means…

Huh. Of course. First, it means Egwene finally takes the Three Oaths. Here, with all the rebel Sitters to stand witness. A final step, in some ways; they’ve long since had to get over any hangups regarding her status as Aes Sedai, but those in the Tower still don’t all see it that way, and even amongst the rebels it was something that set her apart. If she is to unify them, she must be one of them.

However she may feel, or may once have felt, about the Oaths themselves, the point isn’t in them so much as it is in the indication of unity and community. They have these literally bone-deep oaths in common, and it’s been part of the Aes Sedai identity for so long that to question them, especially at a time when the Tower is already falling apart, could mean breaking the Aes Sedai completely. She has to swear, and have them witness her swearing, to demonstrate her commitment to that unity, that identity. To reaffirm it, almost, because in so many other ways they have lost sight of who they are.

None of them said anything about her not having taken the test to gain the shawl. She would see to that another day.

That almost does seem absurd, given everything they’ve seen her do, but again it’s more symbolic than anything.

“And now that you’ve seen me use the Oath Rod and know that I cannot lie, I will tell you something. During my time in the White Tower, a sister came to me and confided that she was Black Ajah.”

Oh, wow, we really are going for full transparency here.

Then again, this is one of those cases where the truth is more shocking and compelling than any evasion or truncation she could present them with. And Egwene does have something of a tradition of shocking the Hall.

“It is shameful, but it is a truth that we—as the leaders of our people—must admit. Not in public; but among ourselves there is no avoiding it. I have seen firsthand what distrust and quiet politicking can do to a people. I will not see the same disease infect us here. We are of different Ajahs, but we are single in purpose. We need to know that we can trust one another implicitly, because there is very little else in this world that can be trusted.”

But what colour is that trust, Egwene? Surely not any of the Ajah colours.

It’s such an important statement, though; and even more important that she’s backing it up by example. So much of this series has been focused around the consequences of not trusting, of keeping secrets, of operating on only partial information. And on those rare occasions when characters have truly trusted one another, it has almost always been rewarded.

They will have to trust one another if they are to face the Last Battle united. They will have to learn to work together, learn to be united, because otherwise they play into the Shadow’s hands.

Egwene looked up. “I am not a Darkfriend,” she announced to the room. “And you know it cannot be a lie.”

She demands trust and transparency, and so she begins by showing herself to be worthy of it. By telling them of that secret, and swearing in a way they know must be true that she does not serve the Shadow. Maybe they never doubted, but as with so much, it’s the symbolic act that counts here. She asks nothing of them that she will not do herself, and she proves herself trustworthy even as she demands that trust of them.

And now she’s going to use the same trick Seaine and the others used. Which might work in this sealed tent, but how is she planning to do that with all of the Aes Sedai, without word getting out or some of them running—or just attacking? Careful, Egwene.

Sheriam embraced the Source.

Ah. Well, there’s one. Subtle, Sheriam.

“Are you Black Ajah, Sheriam?” “What? Of course not!” “Do you consort with the Forsaken?”

(I’d have phrased that one a little differently, just saying…)

“No!” Sheriam said, glancing to the sides. “Do you serve the Dark One?” “No!” “Have you been released from your oaths?” “No!” “Do you have red hair?” “Of course not, I never—” She froze.

Does that actually work? If so, this is why you listen before you agree, and read the fine print before you sign. It’s well played on Egwene’s part, certainly, though it seems like Sheriam had already implicated herself enough by acting exactly like a child who’s just been caught with a hand in the cookie jar for the other Sitters to have restrained her and demanded that she swear on the Oath Rod, just as Saerin and that lot did with Talene.

But that would be less dramatic, wouldn’t it?

Or maybe Sheriam’s real secret is that she actually dyes her hair that colour.

“Ah, then,” the woman said softly, eyes mournful. “Who was it, now, who came to you?”

That’s…strangely accepting. I would have expected more fight from Sheriam, but in a way I suppose this also fits. There’s nowhere for her to go now, after all. And she only ever joined as a way to get ahead; I think she’s been regretting aspects of that choice for a long time now.

“Verin Mathwin.”

“Well, well,” Sheriam said, settling back on her chair. “Never expected it of her, I’ll say. How did she get past the oaths to the Great Lord?”

“She drank poison,” Egwene said, heart twisting.

“Very clever.” The flame-haired woman nodded. “I could never bring myself to do such a thing. Never indeed…”

It’s a quiet sort of testament to Verin’s strength, that she alone could exploit that loophole. That even someone like Sheriam might, in her way, admire her for it. Verin found a way out.

And Egwene isn’t hiding that. She promised Verin she would make sure the others knew she was never truly Black Ajah, not in her loyalties. And so Egwene tells what she knows, and doesn’t hide what Verin was and what she did, and what she sacrificed for it. She makes sure they know Verin for the hero she was, that her name is not tainted by the Ajah she had to claim.

Nice try, Moria. I’m still kind of bummed about that one, I’ll admit. She was such a critical voice in the vote to reach out to the Black Tower, and an important supporter for Egwene.

Egwene is not even remotely here for Romanda or Lelaine trying to start shit right now. Just…don’t even try it, you two. Not today. Or ever, really, but now is just so very not the time.

But they both submit to her request to re-swear the oaths, which in a way is almost a sign of respect.

Huh, none besides Sheriam and Moria, it seems. I’m a little surprised.

“From now on, we continue as one. No more squabbling. No more fighting. We each have the best interests of the White Tower—and the world itself—at heart.”

Clever of her, to tie those things together this way. The beginning of a…cleansing of the Black Ajah, and the need for unity and trust. She makes this into something that binds them, into a symbol of that trust she so desperately needs them to find, makes this as much a shared part of their identity as the oaths themselves, and directs it at the Tower and the world, aims it at a purpose. She binds them with this, and it works. Because she’s not just asking them to trust each other; she’s showing them why they should—showing them what they share, and proving the reasons for that trust, by also showing them who the enemy really is and forcing them to share in facing that truth.

It's very, very well done.

Now if she can do the same in the Tower…Seaine and Saerin and their group have made a good start, but part of their problem was the need to do it in secret, because they weren’t sure where they stood with Elaida, and also it was dangerous as all hell.

It still is, but if Egwene can work out a way to force this into the open, to make it a binding not just of these Sitters here but of all the Aes Sedai, to make it a point of shared trust and unity, and force them to recognise and look upon their true enemies—not each other, but the Shadow and those who serve it—it could go a long way towards closing those rifts.

She saw something of this, in her Accepted test. She remembered something about a ‘Great Purge’. So much from that test has come true, if often in a different way than how she saw it…

“It will be difficult, as we will have to seize all of them as simultaneously as possible.”

Their greatest advantage, beyond surprise, was going to be the inherently distrusting nature of the Black Ajah.

I mean, it’s not just the Black Ajah who are inherently distrusting, but I like your optimism.

Then again this is Egwene; she will make the rest of them trust each other through sheer force of will if she has to. She’s already made a good start.

Ah, so she does have a plan for how to accomplish that simultaneous arrest. IT could work.

“Light, what a mess,” Romanda muttered.

You’re not alone, Romanda. That’s a common sentiment these days.

“And what of the White Tower?” Lelaine said.

“Once we have cleansed ourselves,” Egwene said, “then we can do what must be done to reunify the Aes Sedai.”

“You mean—”

“Yes, Lelaine,” Egwene said. “I mean to begin an assault on Tar Valon by this evening.”

That’s…not a lot of time, for the Tower to get word to her. If the Ajah heads can even convince the Hall in time.

Could Egwene not make it an assault on the Black Ajah specifically, instead? Turn up in the Tower with the Oath Rod and find Sitters she can trust and tell them what Verin told her, and get them to swear? Even as I’m typing this I suppose there are so many ways that could go wrong. But there are also so many ways a battle against the Tower could go wrong, so…

“Light preserve us,” Lelaine whispered. “And forgive us for what we are about to do.”

My thoughts exactly, Egwene added.

A perfect echo of her thoughts. And a warped echo of another plea for forgiveness… This is not right. This could so easily break everything she has tried to build, and right as it’s about to pay off…

Next (TGS ch 44) Previous (TGS ch 42)

#now would be a very good time to invent the telephone #Wheel of Time #neuxue liveblogs WoT #The Gathering Storm

42 notes · View notes

neuxue · 7 years

Text

Wheel of Time liveblogging: The Gathering Storm ch 16

In which Elaida loses the plot and Egwene bleeds for the cause

Chapter 16: In the White Tower

There’s a part of me that wants to just go back and reread last chapter several hundred times, as if the first time didn’t destroy me already, but I shall press onwards!

Plus, this opens with Egwene, which is always good.

“Tell me, Egwene al’Vere, how would you have handled the situation?”

Better.

Oh, sorry, what was the question?

Egwene is cracking walnuts. Because sure. And she doesn’t get a seat with a view out the window, but honestly of the Aes Sedai in the Tower she’s not the one who needs a broader perspective, all things considered. Besides, the Tower itself is her focus right now.

The White barely frowned at Egwene’s improper response. They were all growing accustomed to the fact that this “novice” seldom acted her presumed station.

Well, then they’re ready to be pushed a bit more. If they can accustom themselves to her not acting like a novice, it’s only a short step to them accepting that she isn’t a novice. Now she needs to get them to make the rather large leap from ‘anomaly’ to ‘Amyrlin seat’.

“I asked,” Ferane said coolly, “what you would have done in the Amyrlin’s place. Consider this part of your instruction.You know that the Dragon has been reborn and you know that the Tower must control him in order for the Last Battle to proceed. How would you handle him?”

That’s a lot of assumptions in there, not least of which is that he must be controlled. Consider, instead, ‘aided’?

And which Amyrlin’s place are we talking about here? Elaida’s? Not difficult to do better than she has done. Siuan’s? That’s rather more complicated, because maybe she didn’t handle it perfectly but she also handled it about as well as she could have; she and Moiraine didn’t even know where Rand was until EotW, and their plan at that point seemed reasonable enough, give or take, but then shit hit about a thousand fans at once and, well, here we are.

So I suppose the other assumption implicit in that question is that the Tower would listen to and cooperate with an Amyrlin who claimed the Dragon had been reborn. ‘How do you handle him’? More like ‘How do you handle a Tower that has spent centuries becoming more and more insular and arrogant, and is riddled with Black Ajah?’

Because did Siuan and Moiraine handle everything perfectly? Probably not. But considering that their resources were pretty much limited to each other, and they didn’t know who else they could trust, and they had almost nothing to go on, I’d say they made a decent run of it. They were both able to adapt to a certain degree when necessary, and even early on realised that they weren’t going to be able to just tell Rand what to do and have him do it. There was a bit more of a learning process after that, and Moiraine got more of it than Siuan, but Siuan was undone not so much by the Dragon Reborn or by her efforts as by…the Tower.

Some of that’s on her, but a lot of it is on the Tower itself, and a lot of it would probably have happened regardless of what the original plan was. Telling people that the prophecies they’ve been fearing are actually going to happen now, and that a man who can channel needs to be allowed to do his thing, and that also the world is ending…that’s a really good way to get yourself deposed, no matter how right you are or how careful you are about it. People don’t like having their worldview fucked with. Especially if their worldview is largely built on a foundational sense of superiority and aloof disinterest in worldly affairs except those they’re directly manipulating. All in all, it’s easier to lay the blame on a scapegoat than to accept a harsh reality. Because then you can go ‘see, we dealt with the problem, we got rid of the person who was making it all bad, and now everything will be fine’ and not actually have to change anything. Denial and power make for a spectacularly terrible combination.

But sure, Ferane, let’s assume that your question exists in a vacuum and that all elements obey the ideal gas Tower laws.

It does seem like Ferane is referring more to Elaida’s position. But then…Elaida took over after Rand was already proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn and had taken Callandor, so…fine. But then Egwene’s answer would be I WOULDN’T FUCKING DEPOSE THE CURRENT AMYRLIN ON RIDICULOUS CHARGES.

Okay, okay, fine.

“First, I would send a group of sisters to his home village.”

Ferane raised an eyebrow. “To intimidate his family?”

“Of course not,” Egwene said. “To interrogate them.”

Egwene, you’ve met Tam al’Thor, right?

Still, especially in her follow-up she makes a good point. Part of the issue for a long time has been that people don’t see Rand al’Thor the human being, they see the Kinslayer, the Dragon Reborn, the saviour and destroyer.

Learning where he came from and talking to people who knew him would give them information about his character, sure. But it would also force them to see him more as a person, and that more than anything would have helped quite a bit in terms of getting through to him, and working with him. If he had been approached as a man (as a boy, uncertain and well-meaning and powerful and lost) things might have gone rather differently. Instead he was caged and beaten and learned never to trust, because all anyone wanted was to contain and control him.

Even the notion of ‘controlling’ him might have been approached differently, if the Aes Sedai in general saw him as…a shepherd named Rand al’Thor. Because he absolutely did need guidance, especially early on. He meant well, but he had exactly no fucking clue what he was doing. And the Tower could have been in a position to offer genuine guidance, given that they are in theory the ones with the knowledge and ability to do so.

Moiraine tried. She wasn’t perfect, but she did try, and for all that she could be ruthlessly pragmatic in her outlook and her determination to do what was necessary, I think she did see him as a person. (You will do well). But she was only one Aes Sedai, he was still wary of her and of Siuan and of being manipulated, and then Elaida happened, and then Elaida happened again, and…yeah. The Tower overall has focused far too much on controlling the Dragon Reborn and not nearly enough on helping Rand al’Thor.

So…yeah. Making an effort to actually learn about him might have helped in more ways than they realise.

“But you already know him,” Tesan piped in.

“I do,” Egwene said, cracking the walnut. “But we were speaking of a hypothetical situation.” Best you remember that in the real world, I know the Dragon Reborn personally. As nobody else in this Tower does.

True, but she has also recognised that she doesn’t know the Dragon Reborn nearly as well as she once knew Rand. Yet knowing Rand may end up being the more important of the two, because again, it means she may still be able to regard him and speak with him as a person rather than a figure out of legend.

“More importantly, I’d know him to be a good man at heart.”

And that’s exactly it, really; that’s what the rest of the Tower and so many other people forget, or fail to realise. So they don’t work with him as someone who is desperately trying to do the right thing, but instead they deal with him as…a force to be dealt with. And so he responds in kind, because the tone has already been set.

“And so, my next step would be to send sisters to him to offer guidance.”

“And if he rejected them?” Ferane asked.

“Then I’d send spies,” Egwene said, “and watch to see if he has changed from the man I once knew.”

Harsh, but…as a backup option it makes sense. The real key is in first sending sisters to offer guidance. To approach him in good faith as an ally and as a person who wants to help, and to offer to help him in turn. What a radical idea, right?

And if it were a genuine offer made in good faith and he refused…yeah, okay, keep an eye on him. But make that offer first, and actually make the offer, rather than approaching him in arrogance and presumption.

“And while you waited and spied, he would terrorise the countryside, wreaking havoc and bringing armies to his banner.”

“And is that not what we want him to do?” Egwene asked. “I don’t believe he could have been prevented from taking Callandor, should we have wanted him to be. He has managed to restore order to Cairhien, unite Tear and Illian beneath one ruler, and presumably has gained the favour of Andor as well.”

Yeah, Egwene gets it – far better than the others, at any rate. Yes, letting him act freely means that some of this will happen…but it needs to happen.

So it comes back to denial. The Aes Sedai know the prophecies, and accept now that the Dragon has been reborn, but too many of them, I think, don’t fully accept what that actually means. Because that would mean relinquishing a certain degree of control. And also yes, it would mean watching chaos and war unfold in places, and letting that happen, and that’s not an easy position to take.

As Moiraine might point out, though, they need to remember how to control saidar. And that’s not to say that they should be controlling Rand, but they could certainly have been in a position to work alongside him and help the rest of the world deal with everythign that’s happening.

“It seems,” Ferane said, “that you would simply let him sow chaos as he saw fit.”

“Rand al’Thor is like a river,” Egwene said. “Calm and placid when not agitated, but a furious and deadly current when squeezed too tightly.”

Saidar, essentially. And there’s a nuance to the whole idea of ‘control’ that most of them seem to be missing. By trying to force things, the Tower has ended up caught in the chaos itself, thereby actually losing control. Instead, they need to be able to accept and adapt to and work with the actual situation, and part of that means accepting that, while they have a role to play, they are not the sole power or authority here and they can’t just force their will on everyone else. Accept that the prophecies do need to be fulfilled, and that it might mean apparent chaos, and it probably won’t be easy, but let it happen and work with and around that. Guide those who need guidance, help smooth some of the transitions, support where necessary, stand not as a brittle entity clinging to any semblance of power but as an actual point of strength and stability. So again, something along the lines of surrender in order to control.

“Acting without information is lunacy”

Tell that to your boyfriend.

Actually, tell that to everyone. Of course, it’s impossible to know everything, and it’s been something of a theme within the series that people do the best they can with the information they have, but some could definitely try at least a little harder to understand the situation first. *stares pointedly at the Tower* *stares pointedly at Gawyn* *stares pointedly at half the cast of characters*

There was a time for logic, true, but there was also a time for emotion.

If you say so.

He had changed from the man she had known. And yet the seeds of personality within him must be the same.

I like that she takes this angle on it; she knows that he has changed, and she acknowledges that she doesn’t know him as well as she once did. She also accepts that she has changed, as well. But despite that, she is still able to think of him as Rand, as the boy she knew. And is able and willing to believe that, despite all the changes, he is still Rand.

It wasn’t that he had suddenly developed a temper; it was simply that nothing in the Two Rivers had upset him.

It’s an interesting perspective, and one I rather like from her because it means she’s looking at him as Rand-under-different-circumstances, or Rand-as-Dragon, rather than just as this violent terrifying figure the others see. She’s willing and able to believe that his core personality is still there, and specifically that the good parts of him are still there, that he’s still a good person at heart.

During the months she’d travelled with him, he’d seemed to harden with each step. He was under extraordinary pressures.

Again, it’s something that too few people have been able to understand or acknowledge. And Egwene’s not perfect about it either – she sometimes thinks the worst of him, just as he sometimes thinks the worst of her –but she can keep this kind of thing in mind, and look at him through this lens, and is able to see some of why he has changed the way he has.

How did one deal with such a man? She frankly had no idea.

Points for honesty.

“He views the Blue favourably because of past associations”

Ah, Egwene, how you have changed from the girl who was appalled at Moiraine’s composure upon hearing of Siuan’s supposed death…

“Delegations like this one have failed in the past. I believe that Elaida’s own delegation was led by a Grey.”

“Yes, but Elaida’s delegation was fundamentally flawed,” Egwene said.

“And why is that?”

Would you like that alphabetically, or categorically?

“‘Dealing’ with is different from ‘working’ with,” Egwene said.

Yes, thank you.

“Since when has the White Tower been in the business of kidnapping and forcing people to our will?”

I see your point but also I’m pretty sure the Tower has been in that business for a while, unfortunately. Still, she’s right that it shouldn’t be, and that trying to force everyone to do what they want is stupid and ineffective.

She doesn’t have as much of an issue with subtle manipulation, of course, but depending on the circumstances and given her position I can see where she’s coming from. To some extent, the Tower has – or has had – a certain degree of responsibility in terms of maintaining stability, and sometimes politics is a manipulation game. And her overall point –that ‘dealing’ with is different from ‘working’ with is a very good one; negotiation and guidance and suggestion can sometimes fall into manipulation, sure, but they’re significantly better approaches than brute force or just assuming total control and authority.

“Rand al’Thor is a good man, in his heart, but he needs guidance.”

Pretty much. I think they see it as a sort of black-and-white dichotomy, in which either they control every single thing he does or else he runs rampant and chaos ensues. Really, there’s quite a lot of space in between. He’s had help along the way and could have used more, and could use help now. But that’s very different from people trying to just push him around. Or lock him in a box. He needs to be free to do what needs to be done, and they need to accept that some of that is out of their control, but they should be there to help and provide support and guidance and knowledge. And some extra pairs of hands, because there’s way too much work for just one person.

Sigh.

“He should have been shown the wisdom in listening. Instead, he has been shown that we will treat him like an unruly child.”

Right again. Nothing wrong with listening to good advice, and the Tower should have been worthy of trust, and of being in a position to actually give that advice, but NOPE.

“Unfortunately, we cannot focus on al’Thor right now.”

“He is the greatest problem facing the world,” pinch-faced Tesan said, leaning forward. “We must deal with him first.”

“No,” Egwene said. “There are other issues.”

Like the fact that the Tower is coming apart at the seams. You can’t help anyone else if you can’t even hold yourselves together. Sort it out, and make the Tower worthy of its role again, and able to fulfill that role, and then you can look at how to approach Rand, and how to deal with the rest of the world. Solve your own issues before you try to solve everyone else’s.

So Egwene makes a logical case for why she should continue to claim the Amyrlin Seat, and why the divisions in the Tower need to be addressed stat, and the Whites are like ‘it’s not our fault’ and Egwene is like ‘okay seriously can we all stop acting like children pointing fingers and instead fix something around here’.

“You want to help battle the Dark One? Well, your first step is not to deal with the Dragon Reborn. Your first step should be to reach out to sisters of the other Ajahs.”

In other words, get your shit together.

This is where Egwene being younger and something of an outsider in some ways actually helps her. She can look at it from a somewhat fresh perspective and see the glaring problems that the others have been surrounded by. It’s sometimes harder to see that kind of thing from inside, especially because it often happens gradually or in stages, like boiling a frog. And so much becomes ‘just how it is’ or ‘how it always has been’ or ‘not our fault’ that it’s easy to miss the huge glaring flaws that would be obvious to an external observer.

“I still think that this is work for the Greys,” Tesan said, but she sounded less convinced than she had just moments before. “You should speak with them.” “I have,” Egwene said.

And then she just hits them with a litany of all the conversations she’s had with all the Ajahs, and they’re kind of stunned and it’s kind of excellent. Like, ‘surprise! No one wants to take responsibility and you’re all acting like children! Meanwhile I’ve been actually trying to get shit done in between being beaten and doing chores and cracking walnuts for you, step up your game and get on my level!’

“What, do you think I should simply sit – like most – and do nothing while the Tower crumbles?”

Egwene is, once again, Done. So done. All out of fucks to give.

“Besides, it is my duty.”

Right after they’ve complained that it’s not their fault, not their problem, go ask someone else…she is not even trying to be subtle about putting them to shame.

So finally they’re listening to her, and Egwene has set up a lovely play-date with them and the Yellow Ajah.

“Simple enough,” Miyasi said. “Very little effort required, but excellent potential for gain.”

Very little effort for you, maybe.

“Should you decide to choose the White, Egwene al’Vere,” the woman said, “know that you will find a welcome here. Your logic this day was remarkable for one so young.”

Ha. Of all Ajahs and of none, and they’ve almost all extended her an offer by now. A little on-the-nose, sure, but it works, and I rather like it.

“You will have no further lessons,” Katerine said. “At least, not of the kind you have been receiving. […] What you need to learn, it has been decided, is humility. […] From now on, all you will do Is chores.”

From a victory to a setback. It’s definitely a blow, and she knows it, because it cuts off all her access to other Aes Sedai.

Well, it was feeling like time for something to change. She was finally managing to influence the sisters and Sitters, and some of them were listening to her and coming to respect her and look to her for advice. And when things are starting to go well for a character, you know it’s time for something to come along and fuck it up.

It is a rather clever move from Elaida, especially if the real purpose is in fact to keep her from talking to the Aes Sedai. Because she’s been very effective at that, and Elaida would definitely not want that to continue.

Egwene had changed into a work dress for the duty. While it had once been white, it had been repeatedly used by novices cleaning the fireplaces, and the soot had been ground into the fibres. Patches of grey stained the cloth, like shadows.

No symbolism there, certainly. Once pure white, meant to be pure white, and now stained by shadows? I see what you did there.

Also there’s the fact that she’s literally on her hands and knees doing work, working to scrape the Tower clean, while the others watch and do nothing.

The soot had been baked on for so long that it formed a glossy black patina on the stone. She’d never get it all off. She just needed to make sure it was clean enough that none would break free.

Yeah, again, definitely not at all related to the work she’s doing with Tower itself, nope, not at all about how she may not be able to fix everything but she just needs to get it working well enough that it will stand, and ‘clean’ enough that the Black Ajah won’t destroy everything…

Laras is kind of great as a background-badass character. She sneaks up on Egwene and then leads her silently to a trapdoor and once again she’s ready to help an Amyrlin escape.

She was obviously nervous, the way she kept glancing about and tapping her foot. But she’d obviously also done this sort of thing before. Why was the simple cook in the White Tower so skilled at sneaking, so handy with a plan to get Egwene out of the fortified and besieged city?

Obviously she has a past as a secret agent but decided she preferred making pies.

“I won’t be a party to the breaking of a girl’s spirit,” Laras said sternly.

That’s an admirable sentiment, Laras, but also Egwene is no longer the novice you met a few years ago.

Egwene froze as Katerine, wearing a dress with crimson skirts and yellow trim, spotted her. The Red’s mouth was thin-lipped, her eyes narrow. Had she seen Egwene and Laras walk off?

Laras froze.

“I see now what I was doing wrong,” Egwene quickly said to the Mistress of Kitchens, eyeing a second hearth, which lay near where they had been standing in the pantry. “Thank you for showing it to me. I’ll be more careful now.”

“See that you are,” Laras said, shaking out of her shock. “Otherwise, you’ll see what a real punishment is like”

I enjoy this mostly because it serves as such a lovely contrast to but reminder of the time in TDR when Siuan came into the kitchens to talk with Egwene and Nynaeve about their search for the Black Ajah, and got Laras to take Elayne away to ‘punish’ her for something she didn’t do, and Egwene tried to step in to defend Elayne because she didn’t realise the whole thing was a ploy. It’s a small thing, but it’s an indication of how far she has come and how much things have changed.

Oh wonderful, Egwene gets to wait on Elaida again. This ought to be fun. Make sure someone’s on hand with a mop, just in case the soup happens to…spill…again.

So she’s giving herself a reassuring pep talk, while simultaneously trying to figure out what the hell she’s supposed to do. You’ve got this, Egwene.

She had determined during the walk that she needed to approach Elaida with silence, just as she had last time.

Except I feel like, just like last time, something is going to interfere with that. Still, it’s a good starting point. Calm and determined not to rise to any bait. Good thing she spent all morning with the White Ajah, right?

Ah.

She had assumed she’d attend Elaida alone, or maybe with Meidani. Egwene hadn’t for a moment considered that the dining room would be filled with women. There were five, one from each Ajah save the Red and the Blue. And each woman was a Sitter.

Interesting. And Egwene’s just been essentially cut off from seeing any Aes Sedai at all, so this is probably the best chance she’ll have to…do something. Whatever that may be. She and Elaida are both here, with Sitters looking on, so in that regard she couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity; this way there’s a direct comparison. The problem, of course, is that Egwene has to find a way to show that, and flip it to her advantage, despite currently being in a position of apparent subordination. Silence is an effective tool, but I don’t think it’ll be enough here. She has to make them see her. Specifically, she has to make them see her beside Elaida, and to compare them, and to see her as the true Amyrlin beside a pretender.

Well. Egwene has always been good at dramatic moments, especially in front of the Hall. This isn’t precisely the Hall, but it’s close enough that my money’s on Egwene.

There wasn’t a Red sister at the table other than Elaida. Was that because the Red Sitters were all out of the Tower? Perhaps Elaida thought the room balanced with her there, as she still thought of herself as Red, although she wasn’t supposed to.

Clearly set in contrast to Egwene receiving offers from Ajahs left and right, and reminding them all that the Amyrlin is of all Ajahs and none. Shall we make a compare/contrast column for Egwene and Elaida? Then again, that’s a lot of effort for what basically amounts to Elaida: sucks | Egwene: is awesome.

So why are all these Sitters here? What is Elaida’s game this time?

Doesine nodded to Egwene, almost in respect. It was an indication of something. “I’m here because you said that this sort of thing was important,” it seemed to say.

Well, at least one of them is looking to her, and perhaps comparing her favourably to Elaida. Elaida called them here for some reason, but Doesine may be here as much because of what Egwene asked as because of what Elaida demanded.

Why had Elaida called a dinner of Sitters? Was this an attempt to heal the rifts in the White Tower? Had Egwene misjudged her?

Are pigs flying?

“Ah, good,” Elaida said, noticing Egwene. “You’ve finally arrived. Come here, child.”

Ah. So maybe part of her point here is to force a comparison of her own, but in her favour: to put on a show in front of these Sitters of Egwene obeying her. Because the ones here do seem to be ones who are at least somewhat sympathetic to Egwene, or open to the idea of negotiation with the rebels, so if Elaida can play this right, she can put their doubts to rest and then set Egwene to doing chores out of sight for the rest of her natural life.

Of course, that’s a rather big ‘if’, especially because this is Egwene, after all. Elaida, I’m not sure you’ve yet had a chance to witness Egwene in full ‘I am going to run political rings around you without even breaking a sweat, and then you are going to listen to me or perhaps just stare in awe’ mode. It’s quite spectacular, Elaida. Might I recommend some popcorn?

Some seemed confused, others made curious, by her presence. As she walked, Egwene realised something.

This one evening could easily undo all that she’d worked for.

If the Aes Sedai here saw her subserviently waiting on Elaida, Egwene would lose integrity in their eyes. Elaida had declared that Egwene was cowed – but Egwene had proven otherwise. If she bent to Elaida’s will here, even a little, it would be seen as proof.

Yeah, that. And I’m willing to be that’s at least part of the reason Elaida set this whole thing up. She’s certainly capable of that; she’s deposed an Amyrlin already, and then deposed her own Keeper even when Alviarin had her nearly backed into a corner. Elaida’s not a negligible adversary, for all that she’s a horrible leader in every way.

Example: she’s doing her level best to insult every single person in the room, their Ajah, probably their families, their dogs…

This dinner wasn’t about working with the Ajahs. It was about bullying the Sitters into doing as Elaida felt they should. And Egwene was simply there to be shown off! This was all about proving to the others how much power Elaida had

Yep, sounds about right. And if you have to constantly remind people of how much power you have, and wield it with all the subtlety of a battering ram, you are probably terrible at your job. Just a piece of friendly advice.

The others steered the talk away from the rebels and towards the strangely overcast skies.

When things get awkward, talk about the weather. Anyone want a cup of tea?

“The Seanchan again?” Elaida said with a sigh. “You needn’t worry about them.”

Uh oh. If anything could break Egwene’s determination to remain calm, it would be talking about the Seanchan. Especially to dismiss them.

“My sources say otherwise, Mother,” Shevan said stiffly. “I think we need to pay close attention to what they are doing. I have had some sisters ask this child about her experience with them, which has been extensive. You should hear the things they do to Aes Sedai.”

So Egwene is ‘this child’ to her, but at the same time Shevan sees her as a more…reliable source than Elaida, and is almost taking her side here. Not as Amyrlin, no, but as someone to trust and listen to. And…yeah. Extensive. That’s one way to put it. And Egwene has to listen to this, and say nothing.

Elaida laughed a tinkling, melodic laugh. “Surely you know how the child is prone to exaggerate!” […] “Speak,” Elaida said, gesturing with her cup. “Tell these women you have been speaking lies.”

Fuck you, Elaida. Just…fuck you. Not just for dismissing a threat no matter how many times she’s told about it – does she really think they can’t possibly get here? She herself knows Travelling, and she knows the rebels know it, and at some point enough people know a secret that it stops being a secret – but for the way she laughs at it like this. Egwene’s remembering the worst time of her life, being collared and tortured, and Elaida’s laughing and calling her a liar, calling her a child, saying she’s exaggerating and not to be taken seriously. Asking her to say it was a lie, it never happened, she was just exaggerating, just trying to get attention…That Egwene hasn’t already upended a vat of boiling soup over her head is testament to her willpower at this point.

So go fuck yourself with a balefire rod, Elaida.

And still Egwene holds her composure, and is able to analyse the situation calmly. She is pretty fucking impressive.

She saw five pairs of eyes studying her. She could see their questions. Egwene had spoken boldly to them when alone, but would she hold to her assertions now, faced by the most powerful woman in the world? A woman who held Egwene’s life in her hands?

Was Egwene the Amyrlin? Or was she just a girl who liked to pretend? Light burn you, Elaida, she thought, gritting her teeth, seeing that she had been wrong. Silence wouldn’t lead to victory, not in front of these women. You are not going to like how this proceeds.

Ohhhhhhhh shit. Here we go. Buckle up, Elaida, because Egwene is right. You are not going to like this and you are, I’m pretty sure, in no way prepared for whatever she’s about to throw at you. Shame you had no interest in talking to the rebels; they could have warned you what she’s capable of.

But last Elaida saw of Egwene, Egwene was barely an Accepted, and really did have very little idea what she was doing. And she seems to be aware enough of Egwene’s antics in the Tower recently that she wants to make a example of her and assert her own authority, but I think she still vastly underestimates Egwene, because she still sees her as maybe a puppet or a figurehead or a girl who can put up a halfway decent fight but will fold under pressure.

Still, I just love that ‘you are not going to like how this proceeds’ in Egwene’s thoughts because it’s the mental equivalent of sighing and rolling up her sleeves before kicking some ass.

“I have spread no lies. To say otherwise would be to betray the Three Oaths.”

“You haven’t taken the Three Oaths,” Elaida said sternly, turning toward her.

“I have,” Egwene said. “I’ve held no Oath Rod, but it isn’t the Rod that makes my words true. I have spoken the words of the oaths in my heart, and to me they are more dear, for I have nothing forcing me to hold to them.”

It’s an interesting insight into her stance on the Three Oaths. She gave in to Siuan’s argument about the necessity of them, but I still think some of that is because Siuan’s point was that the Three Oaths give the Aes Sedai their current sense of identity, and to get rid of them would mean shaking those foundations at a time when they can’t afford that. Eventually, though…the fact that Egwene makes the point here about the oaths being stronger for her because she’s not forced to keep them almost suggests an eventual step in that direction. Maybe the oaths can’t be done away with right away – and maybe they shouldn’t – but perhaps after the Last Battle, in a few years, the Oath Rod itself could be gradually done away with, leaving just the oaths themselves as a code of behaviour.

By making this argument at all, Egwene does suggest that it’s the spirit of the oaths more than the Oath Rod itself that’s important; it’s not that the Oaths make Aes Sedai who they are so much as it’s the idea of all sharing this set of values. The Oaths just give the Aes Sedai a great deal of their sense of identity.

“These women know I don’t speak lies,” Egwene said calmly. “And each time you insist that I do, you lower yourself in their eyes. Even if you disbelieve my Dream, you must admit that the Seanchan are a threat. They leash women who can channel, using them as weapons with a kind of twisted ter’angreal. I have felt the collar on my neck. I still feel it, sometimes. In my dreams. My nightmares.”

The room fell still.

“You are a foolish child,” Elaida said, obviously trying to pretend that Egwene was no threat. She should have turned to look at the eyes of the others. If she had, she’d have seen the truth.

She’s underestimated Egwene, and badly. She gave Egwene an opening, not realising just how much Egwene could do with it. Not realising quite how willing the Sitters here are to listen to Egwene, and not realising quite how tenuous her own hold on them is.

I think, actually, that she’s trying to do with Egwene what she did with Alviarin. Then, in front of a room full of Sitters, she told Alviarin to stand in a corner and threatened her with punishment, and then proceeded to assert her authority over the Sitters. It’s a similar enough scenario to this that I think she planned this to have a similar result: she wants to dismiss Egwene in front of witnesses, and make it clear that she can be dismissed. The problem is, Egwene’s foundation is stronger than Alviarin’s was – it’s not a thing of blackmail and coercion but instead of truth and work and leading by example.

And Elaida still hasn’t quite realised that. It worked with Alviarin, it worked with various sisters and even Sitters when she wanted to punish or demote or command them, so why should it not work on this girl of a puppet Amrylin?

“Well, you have forced my hand.”

No, Elaida, you’ve forced hers.

“You will kneel before me, child, and beg forgiveness. Right now. Otherwise, I will lock you away alone. Is that what you want? Don’t think that the beatings will stop, however. You’ll still get your daily penance, you’ll just be thrown back into your cell after each one. Now, kneel and beg forgiveness.” The Sitters glanced at one another.

Again, it’s very similar to what she said to Alviarin: “When I tell you to stand in the corner, Daughter, I expect you to obey. Or Shall I summon the Mistress of Novices so these sisters can witness your “private” penance?’. But the other Sitters had little to no sympathy for Alviarin, because Alviarin didn’t care about them, and had built her authority on threats and blackmail and fear and condescension. Then, it was a case of two people selfishly manoeuvring for power against each other.

Egwene is different. And Elaida doesn’t realise it, and doesn’t realise that the Sitters see this situation very differently – as Elaida taking things too far, rather than setting down someone many of them wanted to see set down. Egwene isn’t in this for her own self-interest, and the fact that she’s calmly standing in a novice dress only highlights how despotic and desperate Elaida’s actions now seem.

There was no backing down now. Egwene wished it hadn’t come to this. But it had, and Elaida had demanded a fight.

It was time to give her one.

It’s such a beautifully reluctant ‘I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to’ gloves coming off moment, and the best part is, Elaida still has no idea.

I don’t even think Elaida has realised they’re fighting.

“And if I do not bow before you?” Egwene asked, meeting the woman’s eyes. “What then?

“You will kneel, one way or another,” Elaida growled, embracing the Source.

“You’ll use the Power on me?” Egwene asked calmly.

First blood to Egwene. Sorry, Elaida, but if you can’t deliver a “kneel and swear, or you will be knelt” then you don’t deserve the obeisance.

“It is within my rights to discipline one who isn’t showing proper respect.” “And so you will make me obey,” Egwene said. “Is this what you will do to everyone in the Tower, Elaida? An Ajah opposes you, and it is disbanded. Someone displeases you, and you try to destroy her right to be Aes Sedai. You will have every sister bowing down before you by the end of this.”

“Nonsense!”

“Oh?” Egwene asked. “And have you told them about your idea for a new oath? Sworn on the Oath Rod by every sister, an oath to obey the Amyrlin and support her?”

“I—”

“Deny it,” Egwene said. “Deny that you made the statement. Will the Oaths let you?”

Elaida froze.

There’s a part of me that feels like this is almost too…easy, like Elaida is giving Egwene too many openings, and not countering strongly enough. But then…I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that Elaida was not expecting a fight at all.

She thought Egwene was beaten, or could easily be beaten. She didn’t see Egwene as a threat, and she certainly didn’t see her as a legitimate challenger. She didn’t see that other Aes Sedai were beginning to listen to Egwene and what she said about Elaida, and to maybe question whether they did the right thing in raising her, or whether she’s doing more damage than good to the Tower. She expected this to be a show of power – the way it has been in the past, with Alviarin or with others. And when you’re absolutely certain of victory, it’s easy to get complacent, and to end up flat on your back on the mat without realising how you got there.

Egwene knows how to take advantage of even the smallest of opportunities or openings. She’s been practicing ever since being raised Amrylin, because then, too, she was expected by everyone around her to have no power at all. So she had to learn to make full use of any and every chance, and not to squander a moment of it. To strike as effectively as possible when no one is expecting it. It’s how she finally managed to win the Hall to her.

And that’s what she’s done here. Elaida gave her a slight opening, because Elaida didn’t realise just what Egwene would be able to do with that. Egwene knew it, and so she went directly for it, and it threw Elaida on the back foot enough to allow Egwene to continue to press the advantage, and because Elaida was caught so off-guard, she isn’t able to recover. Because she never expected that she would have to recover.

The other Aes Sedai in the Tower have, as Silviana said, pretty much let Elaida get away with doing things she shouldn’t be able to do. No one has dared to defy her outright like this, and Elaida’s had enough victories to think that this will follow the same pattern.

So from that angle, it kind of works that Egwene is running roughshod over her at this point. Because that’s largely her tactic: to just keep on pushing and pushing and to take advantage of the slightest opening Elaida gives her, to prevent Elaida from gaining back any ground. Because this is Egwene’s one chance, so she can’t afford to back down even for a moment. And she’s become very good at picking up on anything she can possibly use.

“You locked the Dragon Reborn himself in a box; you just threatened to do the same to me, in front of these witnesses. People call him a tyrant, but you are the one destroying our laws and ruling by fear.”

No one’s called her on it before. Tarna has kind of thought it, but she’s also made an effort to phrase things tactfully, and to try to gently nudge Elaida away from the more disastrous things she’s tried to do.

Elaida’s eyes opened wide, her anger visible. She seemed…shocked. As if she couldn’t understand how she’d gone from disciplining an unruly novice into debating an equal.

Maybe that could have been presented more smoothly, but that does pretty much exactly describe what’s happening here. It’s hard to argue well when you’re not expecting to argue at all. And it’s even harder when your opponent turns out to be a skilled one, especially when they’ve managed to get on the offensive.

I don’t think Elaida ever expected to need to defend herself against these accusations. Not just from Egwene, but from anyone. Because again, no Aes Sedai has even come close to openly calling her out like this. So for her it’s all coming out of nowhere, and she’s having to scramble to find her footing.

Egwene saw the woman begin to weave a thread of Air. That had to be stopped. A gag of Air would end this debate.

“Go ahead,” Egwene said calmly. “Use the Power to silence me. As Amyrlin, shouldn’t you be able to talk an opponent into obedience, rather than resorting to force?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Egwene saw diminuitive Yukiri, of the Grey, nod at that comment.

Quick thinking there, because if Elaida had succeeded in that weave, it would have ended this debate. Maybe it was a reckless thing for Elaida to try – because it ended up giving Egwene yet another opening – but from where she’s standing it was perhaps a risk worth taking. She’s been thrown onto the defensive, and Egwene isn’t giving her much chance to recover, and so shutting the whole thing down even by force if she can get away with it is maybe her best option. That way she could buy herself time to take stock of the situation and smooth things over, or make her excuses, or whatever. It’s just her bad luck that Egwene’s as quick on her feet as she is.

Also, Egwene knows better than to ignore those who are watching. She’s keeping an eye on the Sitters and gauging their reactions – because again, she’s had to do that with the rebels, when every vote counted and subtlety and timing were everything and the stakes were high – whereas Elaida is ignoring them completely, as she has been doing for far too long.

“I don’t need to rebut a mere novice,” Elaida snapped. “The Amyrlin doesn’t explain herself to one such as you.”

“’The Amyrlin understands the most complex of creeds and debates’,” Egwene said, quoting from memory. “’Yet in the end, she is the servant of all, even the lowest of labourers.’” That had been said by Balladare Arandaille, the first Amyrlin to be raised from the Brown Ajah. […] Sitting beside Elaida, Shevan nodded appreciatively.

Elaida’s trying to shut it down – which has worked for her in the past – and again she’s just not prepared for Egwene to have a response at all, much less a good one.

Another part of this is that the stakes are significantly higher here for Egwene than for Elaida. Or rather, Egwene knows they’re higher, whereas Elaida sees it – saw it, anyway – as something more like a formality, or a token gesture. Egwene has just been told that she will have no more access to Aes Sedai, and so this is her one chance to make a strong, lasting impression against Elaida, in front of women with the power and placement to maybe do something about it. She absolutely has to win here, and so she’s giving it everything she has.

Which, again, is far, far more than Elaida ever expected her to have. Underestimate at your own risk.

“What did you intend to do with Rand al’Thor once you captured him?” Egewne said, ignoring the comment.

Now there’s a question someone should have asked long before now. And maybe some did, but they didn’t push it hard enough, or weren’t willing to propose an alternative – because no one really had any idea how to deal with him. They pulled down Siuan as a knee-jerk reaction, when Siuan was pretty much the only person with the semblance of a plan. As Hamilton so eloquently puts it: ‘They don’t have a plan, they just hate mine!’ And so then Elaida went ahead with her disaster and no one else did anything and they ended up in a worse situation than where they started. Typical.

“Have you explained yourself, Elaida? What were your plans? Or will you dodge this question just as you have the others I’ve asked?”

I hereby nominate Egwene al’Vere to moderate every political debate from now on. ‘ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION.’

So now Elaida’s left with no real recourse but to actually engage with her, because she’s tried shutting her down and that didn’t work, and she tried gagging her and that didn’t work, and if she doesn’t regain her footing now she’ll lose credibility fast. As Egwene said, she’s not even answering Egwene so much as the rest of the Sitters – Egwene’s just forced her into that position.

“I would have kept him secure, and well shielded, here in the Tower until it was time for the Last Battle. That would have prevented him from causing the suffering and chaos he’s created in many nations. It was worth the risk of angering him.”

To her credit, I think Elaida genuinely believes that. She isn’t evil, precisely, she’s just so misguided as to make no difference. But I think she really did think that she was serving the best interests of the world here. She just…didn’t think it through enough. But then, she’s hardly the only Aes Sedai to have run into that problem. As the beginning of this chapter so nicely illustrates.

“ ‘As the plough breaks the earth shall he break the lives of men, and all that was shall be consumed in the fire of his eyes’,” Egwene said. “ ‘The trumpets of war shall sound at his footsteps, the ravens feed at his voice, and he shall wear a crown of swords.’”

That is a beautiful response. Quoting, but saying nothing else. Just letting that stand on its own, with all the weight of prophecy behind it, because then it’s not even her argument but something inarguable. And that she chose that particular line, with its imagery of chaos and destruction and power…it’s chilling.

“When you had Rand locked away to be kept ‘secure’, had he yet taken Illian? Had he yet worn what he was to name the Crown of Swords?” “Well, no.”

In contrast, that feels a bit…weak. Not Egwene’s question but Elaida’s response – Aes Sedai so rarely give straight ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers that it seems like she could come up with at least a halfhearted evasion. But then, at the same time, this whole scene has been Elaida being caught unawares by Egwene’s ability to actually stand up to her, and to do so skilfully, that I can also believe that she really has no response at this point.

“And how did you expect him to fulfill the prophecies if he was hidden away in the White Tower?”

If she had led with this question, rather than with the quote, I think Elaida might have been able to find a way around it. But that line of prophecy carries so much weight on its own that the question then falls more heavily into that momentary silence after it.

“How can anything pass at all if he is kept in chains?”

“I…”

“Your logic is astounding, Elaida,” Egwene said coldly.

Ha.

And…yeah. When confronted with it like that, thrown completely off-guard by Egwene bringing the fight to her in the first place, and failing to recover quickly enough to abort before the situation got out of hand, Elaida’s kind of left stranded here. She should have an answer to this, because she should know the Prophecies better. But she relied too heavily, perhaps, on her own Foretelling, and on her certainty that she should be in power and that the Tower should control everything, and she lost sight of the bigger picture.

“Bah,” Elaida said, “you ask meaningless questions. The prophecies would have to be fulfilled. There was no other way.”

“So you’re saying that your attempt to bind him was destined to fail.”

“No, not at all,” Elaida said, red-faced again. “We shouldn’t be bothering with this – it’s not for you to decide upon. No, we should be talking about your rebels, and what they’ve done to the White Tower!”

A good turn of the conversation, an attempt to put Egwene on the defensive. Elaida wasn’t completely incompetent. Just arrogant.

A bit clumsy, perhaps, but it works. Elaida tried and failed to shut down the debate completely, and so now she’s trying to shift its focus, to give a ‘this doesn’t concern you’ answer in order to avoid Egwene’s rather pointed and prurient question, and to move into an argument in which she feels like she can more confidently hold her own and discredit Egwene, by painting her as a rebel and a traitor.

Really, it’s almost exactly the sort of thing you see in political debates. Evasion and deflection, and pressing the advantage – often just by talking over the opponent – whenever possible.

Well. It’s almost exactly the sort of thing you see in political debates except that here the participants are constrained by an oath against lying. Which does change things a bit, especially in terms of how to dodge questions, but…anyway.

“What are you doing, Elaida?” Refusing talks, trying to bully the Sitters into withdrawing? Insulting Ajahs that are not your own?”

Again Elaida underestimates her – she was trying to push Egwene onto the defensive but she still didn’t anticipate Egwene’s ability to continue to turn things to her own advantage. The whole conversation has been a dance of power shifts, in which Elaida went in confidently assuming the lead, and Egwene just flipped it on her time and again, and refused to let her recover, largely by anticipating her moves and straight up refusing to back down, and pressing with truth so as not to give Elaida an easy foothold to push back against.

Doesine, of the Yellow, gave a quiet murmur of agreement. That drew Elaida’s eyes, and she fell silent for a moment, as if realising that she had lost control of the debate. “Enough of this.”

“Coward,” Egwene said.

She can’t let Elaida withdraw. Egwene has to win this one outright, and the only way is to keep going. Elaida’s trying to pull back, and maybe she would be able to, and so now Egwene is going to try to provoke her. Because that’s her best bet now – she’s made her case as clearly as she can, but she had a limited window in which to do so, and now she just needs to bring this to a conclusion because otherwise it could still slip away from her. She has to see it all the way through.

And she held back from petty insults earlier; she kept herself to truth and logic, because she was trying to discredit Elaida and make an actual point. Now, she’s done as much as she can on that, and so she finally just throws out an insult, because Elaida is never going to just concede the debate to Egwene – instead, Egwene needs to push her over the edge somehow.

Elaida’s eyes flared wide. “How dare you!”

“I dare the truth, Elaida,” Egwene said quietly. “You are a coward and a tyrant. I’d name you Darkfriend as well, but I suspect that the Dark One would perhaps be embarrassed to associate with you.”

I mean, you’re not wrong…but this line feels a bit too much like a zingy one-liner. And I think that’s kind of the point – Egwene’s just trying to provoke her now, rather than to actually make a claim, but I liked the flat ‘coward’ better. Ah well.

Elaida screeched, weaving in a flash of Power, slamming Egwene back against the wall

Well, it worked. And maybe implying that Elaida was a Darkfriend is what Egwene needed to do in order to get Elaida to truly lose control – because Elaida doesn’t think of herself as evil, so the idea of that would be abhorrent to her.

A blast of woven Air slammed Egwene against the wall again, and she dropped to the ground, hitting shards of the broken pitcher that sliced open her arms. A dozen switches beat her, ripping her clothing. Blood seeped from her arms, and it began to splash into the air, smirching the wall as Elaida beat her.

Shit. Wow. Okay that…uh. That escalated quickly?

But then, that was what Egwene needed to have happen, I think. She was winning the argument, but to guarantee victory she needed Elaida to lose control like this in front of witnesses, and to do something unforgivable. Otherwise it might not have been enough – maybe the Sitters would have remembered the debate, and considered it, and maybe they would have done something…or maybe it would have faded after a while, and Elaida would have found a way to reassert herself, and Egwene would be in the kitchens or locked away or otherwise out of sight. She needed to bring this to a tipping point and then give it a massive shove over.

The switches continued to beat Egwene. She bore it silently. With effort, she stood up. She could feel her face and arms swelling already. But she maintained a calm gaze at Elaida.

“Elaida!” Ferane yelled, standing. “You violate Tower law! You cannot use the Power to punish an initiate!”

“I am Tower law!” Elaida raved.

Well that’s right on key for Elaida. She’s finally snapped and Egwene’s bearing the pain of it but even so, it’s a victory.

“You show me deference when you see me, but I know what you say, what you whisper. You ungrateful fools! After what I’ve done for you! Do you think I’ll suffer you forever? Take this one as an example!”

“After what I’ve done for you,” Elaida says, as Egwene stands there calmly bleeding for the Tower, essentially martyring herself.

She spun, pointing at Egwene, then stumbled back in shock to find Egwene calmly watching her. Elaida gasped softly, raising a hand to her breast as the switches beat. They could all see the weaves, and they could all see that Egwene did not scream, although her mouth was not gagged with Air. Her arms dripped blood, her body was beaten before them, and yet she found no reason to scream. Instead, she quietly blessed the Aiel Wise Ones for their wisdom.

So like and unlike Rand being beaten and forcing himself to smile. Defiance in the face of agony.

But it paints such a harsh, clear contrast between Egwene and Elaida. Elaida demands obedience and demands respect and punishes those who do not give it, because she arrogantly assumes it to be her due. She clings to power as she destroys the Tower around her. Egwene is beaten daily and set menial labour and treated as a novice, but holds herself as Amyrlin. She does not demand recognition or respect, but earns it. She is given no authority but does everything she can from her position to heal the Tower, because it is her duty. And now she stands here beaten and bleeding and still the very image of Aes Sedai serenity.

“By the Light,” Rubinde whispered.

Yeah. It’s…quite an image.

“I wish I weren’t needed here, Elaida,” Egwene said softly. “I wish that the Tower had a grand Amyrlin in you. I wish I could step down and accept your rule. I wish you deserved it. I would willingly accept execution, if it would mean leaving a competent Amyrlin. The White Tower is more important than I am. Can you say the same?”

This is absolutely beautiful. I…yeah. Wow.

First there’s just the contrast of this soft tone, benevolent and serene, against a background of violence.

And the fact that she’s saying this while being beaten bloody drives home the truth of her words – she will accept her fate calmly because she serves a higher cause, and they cannot possibly disbelieve her, seeing her like this. She will bleed and not flinch, because the White Tower is more important. That, beyond everything else, is the difference between the two of them, and in this moment it’s impossible not to see it.

“Send for soldiers! I want this one cast into the deepest cell this Tower can provide!”

Well, I guess we can tick another parallel off the list…

“Let it be voiced through the city that Egwene al’Vere is a Darkfriend who has rejected the Amyrlin’s grace!”

If it weren’t for the fact that there are witnesses, or that Egwene just took Elaida apart in a debate, this might actually work. Even as it is, if Elaida can find a way to control these few Sitters, she could still win. It wouldn’t be too far off of what she did to Siuan, after all – they killed Siuan’s Warder and then tortured her and Leane, and Elaida managed to make those actions seem at least acceptable in the circumstances. She could pull it off; she’s out of control but she’s not quite incompetent enough to discount.

It had come to a head, as she’d feared that it would. She had cast her lot. But she didn’t fear for her life. Instead, she feared for the White Tower. As she leaned back against the wall, thoughts fading, she was overcome with sorrow.

Her battle from within the Tower was at an end, one way or another.

Well. It had to come to this eventually, and…as she said, she’s cast her lot. She built as much of a foundation as she was able to in the time she had, and she took every opportunity she could to do what she needed to do. And when it came down to this, to what seemed like her last chance to act, she brought everything she could to this one battle. It was spectacular, and now it just has to be enough.

Next (TGS ch 17) Previous (TGS ch 15)

#that was a long chapter #worth it though #Wheel of Time #neuxue liveblogs WoT #The Gathering Storm

49 notes · View notes