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"That’s madness," Sheriam said before anyone else could open her htened Well she"None of theotiation is possible"

"I should hardly think so," Anaiya put in dryly Her plain face belonged on a farmwife rather than a Blue sister, and she dressed very siood wool, but she handled her bay gelding as easily as Delana did her mare Very little could ruf?fle Anaiya’s calotiation Anaiya looked an unlikely soldier, but for Blues, this ar to the knife, no quarter asked or given "Elaida has made the situation quite clear"

"Elaida is irrational," Carlinya said with a toss of her head that made her cowl fall to her shoulders and shook her short dark curls She pulled the hood back into place irritably Carlinya seldom showed any hint of emotion, yet her pale cheeks were nearly as flushed as Sheriam’s, and heat filled her voice "She cannot possibly believe that ill all co back to her no can Saroiya believe she will accept anything less?"

"Crawling is what Elaida has deh," Morvrin muttered acridly Her usually placid round face wore a sour expression, too, and her pluht on her reins She scowled so hard at a flight of e of horses, that it seemed they should fall out of the sky "Takima likes the sound of her own voice, so to hear herself"

"Faiselle h she were to blame The olive-skinned wo Greens "I never expected to hear that sort of talk out of her She’s never been a fool before"

"I can’t believe Magla reallyat each of the, as ht under her thula squeaks whenever Romanda sneezes, and the only doubt Romanda has is whether Elaida should be birched before she’s exiled"

Delana’s expression was so bland, she had to be suppressing a s smile Plainly, this was exactly the reaction she had hoped for "Romanda holds Saroiya and Varilin just as firmly, and Takima and Faiselle hardly put one foot in front of the other without Lelaine’s permission, but they still said what they said I think your advisors are closer to the feelings of ave Egwene a sidelong look "You may be able to nip this in the bud, if you move firmly It seems you will have the support you need froh wene needed support to accoratiate herself Or just to as her only concern

Beonin had been riding in silence, clutching her cloak around her and peering at a spot between her brown mare’s ears, but sud?denly she shook her head Ordinarily, her large blue-gray eyes made her appear startled, but they peered frolared frowene "Why should negotiations be out of the ques?tion?" Sheriam blinked at her in surprise, and Morvrin opened herher ire at Delana, now, her Taraboner accent stronger than usual "We are Gray, you and I We negotiate, mediate Elaida, she has stated the conditionsof negotiations We can reunite theWhiteTowerand assure the safety of everyone, if we only talk"

"We also judge," Delana snapped, "and Elaida has been judged" That was not precisely true, but she seemed more startled than anyone else by Beonin’s outburst Her voice dripped acid "Perhaps you are willing to negotiate yourself into being birched I am not, and I think you will find few others who are, either"

"The situation, it has altered," Beonin persisted She stretched a hand toward Egwene, al "Elaida would not have on Reborn unless she had him in hand, one way or another That flare ofsaidarwas a warning The Forsaken h," Egwene cut in "You are willing to open negotia?tions with Elaida? With the Sitters still in the Tower?" she amended Elaida would never talk

"Yes," Beonin said fervently "Matters can be arranged to every?one’s satisfaction I know they can"

"Then you have an talking frantically on top of one another, trying to dissuade her, telling her this was insanity Anaiya shouted as loudly as Sheriaed in what looked like near terror So toward the sisters aspast, and there was a stir a the Warders, who certainly had no need of their bonds at the itated, but they held their places Wise an raising their voices

Egwene ignored the shouts and ar She had consid?ered every possibility she could think of for ending this struggle with theWhiteTohole and united She had talked for hours with Siuan, who had more reason than anyone to want to unseat Elaida If it could have saved the Tower, Egould have sur?rendered to Elaida, forget whether the woally Siuan had nearly had apoplexy at the sugges?tion, yet she had agreed, reluctantly, that preserving the Tower superseded every other consideration Beonin wore such a beautiful swene raised her voice just enough to be heard over the oth?ers "You will approach Varilin and the others Delana nae to approach theWhiteTower These are the tero into exile" Because Elaida would never accept back the sisters who had rebelled against her An Aoverned itself, but Elaida had declared that the sisters who fled the Toere no longerread a penance under her direct control Elaida would not reunite the Tower, only shatter it worse than it already was "Those are the only terms I will accept, Beonin Theonly terms Do you understand me?"

Beonin’s eyes rolled up in her head, and she would have fallen fro under her breath as she held the Gray upright and slapped her face, not lightly Everyone else stared at Egwene as though they had never seen her before Even Delana, wholike this to happen from the first word she had said They had co of sol?diers around them drew up at a shouted command from Lord Gareth Some stared toward the Aes Sedai, their anxiety plain even with their faces hidden behind the bars of their helwene said Calmly What had to be done had to be done Perhaps surrender would have healed the Tower, but she could not believe it And now itone another in the streets of Tar Valon, unless she could find a way to athering her reins, "and there isn’t h

CHAPTER 17

Secrets

Once Delana was sure that her noxious seed had taken root, sheback at the ca herthe rest of them to ride on in uneasy silence except for the crunch of the horses’ hooves The Warderssoldiers had their attention back on the farlance toward the Aes Sedai that Egwene could see, now Men never knehen to keep their ossip all the harder, just to close friends he could trust, to be sure, as if they in turn would not tell everyone ould listen The Warders ht be different - Aes Sedai always insisted they were, those who had Warders - but no doubt the soldiers would talk of sisters arguing, and no doubt they would say Delana had been sent off with a flea in her ear The woman had planned this very care?fully Worse than fireweed or stranglervine could grow if that seed was allowed to sprout, but the Gray Sitter had sheltered herself from blame very neatly Truth almost always did come out in the end, but by the end, truth was often so wrapped around withrumors and speculation and absolute lies that most people never did believe it

"I trust I don’t have to ask whether any of you had heard about this before" Egwene said that quite casually, see the countryside as they rode, but she was pleased when everyone denied it outright with considerable indignation, including Beonin, orking her jaw and glaring at Morvrin Egwene trusted theiven her their oaths withoutto hold to every word; not unless they were Black Ajah, a niggling possibility that accounted for most of her caution - yet even oaths of fealty left roo in the belief that it was in your best interest And people who had been coerced into their oaths could be adept at spot