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"After you, sister," Seaine said, channeling a sht By protocol, she should have preceded the other wo herself to do that

Zerah did not hesitate in going down Logically, she had nothing to fear froically, Seaine would tell her what she wanted when the tiically, Seaine’s stoht, she held saidar and the other wo to fear Which did nothing to quiet those fluttering wings in heronto basements and subbasements, until they reached the very lowest level, below even where the Accepted were tested The dark hallas lit only by Seaine’s sh, but their slippers kicked up small clouds of dust however carefully they stepped Plain wooden doors lined the ses and locks

"Sitter," Zerah asked, finally showing doubt, "whatever can we be after down here? I don’t believe anyone has been this deep for years"

Seaine was sure her own visit, a few days earlier, had been the first to this level in at least a century That was one of the reasons she and Pevara had chosen it "Just in here," she said, swinging open a door thatNo amount of oil could loosen all the rust, and efforts to use the Power had been useless Her abilities with Earth were better than Pevara’s, but that was not saying very much

Zerah stepped in, and blinked in surprise In an otherwise empty room, Pevara sat behind a sturdy if rather worn table with three s those few pieces down unseen had been difficult -- especially when servants could not be trusted Clearing out the dust had beenthe dust in the hall outside, necessary after every visit, had been si here in the dark," Pevara growled The glow of saidar surrounded her as she lifted a lantern fro as hwalled former storeroom deserved Somewhat plump and normally pretty, the Red Sitter looked a bear with two sore teeth "We want to ask you a few questions, Zerah" And she shielded the woman as Seaine shut the door

Zerah’s shadowed face remained utterly calm, but she sed audibly "About what, Sitters?" There was the faintest treer woman’s voice, as well It could be sih

"The Black Ajah," Pevara replied curtly "We want to knohether you’re a Darkfriend"

Ae shattered Zerah’s calm Most would have taken that for sufficient denial without her snapped "I don’t have to take that froons for years! If you ask me, there’s no need to look further than the Red quarters to find Black sisters!"

Pevara’s face darkened with fury Her loyalty to her Ajah was strong, which ithout saying, but worse, she had lost her entire family to Darkfriends Seaine decided to step in before Pevara resorted to brute force They had no proof Not yet

"Sit, Zerah," she said with as much warmth as she could muster "Sit down, sister"

Zerah turned toward the door as though she ht disobey an order from a Sitter -- and of her own Ajah! -- but at last she settled onto one of the benches, stiffly, sitting right at the edge

Before Seaine had finished taking a seat that placed Zerah between them, Pevara laid the ivorywhite Oath Rod on the battered tabletop Seaine sighed They were Sitters, with a perfect right to use any ter’angreal they wished, but she had been the one to filch it -- she could not help thinking of it as filching when she had observed none of the proper procedures -- and the whole time, in the back of her head, she had been sure she would turn to find longdead Sereille Bagand standing here, ready to haul her off to the Mistress of Novices’ study by her ear Irrational, but no less real

"We want tolike an angry bear, "so you will swear an oath on this, and then I’ll ask again"

"I should not be subjected to this," Zerah said with an accusing look at Seaine, "but I will reswear all of the Oaths, if that’s what it needs to satisfy you And I will dey from you both, afterward" She hardly sounded like a women shielded and asked such a question Al rod It shone in the diht of the lantern

"You’ll swear to obey the two of us absolutely," Pevara told her, and that hand snatched back as if fro the Rod closer to the woers "That e can tell you to answer truthfully and know you will, and if you give the wrong anse can know you’ll be obedient and helpful in helping us hunt down your Black sisters The Rod can be used to free you of the oath, if you give the right answer"

"To free --?" Zerah exclai loosed fro all these precautions," Seaine told her "Logically, a Black sister must be able to lie, which means she must have freed of at least that Oath and likely all three Pevara and I tested, and found the procedurean oath" She did notthe pair of the She also did not mention that Zerah would not be freed of her oath whatever her answer, not until the search for the Black Ajah ca, she could not be allowed to run off and co, which she ht, if she was not of the Black If

Light, but Seaine wished they had found a sister from another Ajah who fit the criteria they had set A Green or a Yelloould have done quite nicely That lot were overweening at the best of ti to fall prey to the sickness spreading through the Tower Yet she could not help the nah her head, a dozen Greens, twice asdown a few rungs Sniff at a Sitter?

"You freed yourselves frousted, uneasy, all at the same time Perfe