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Egwene nodded thoughtfully "That would have taken a lot of preparation"

"From what I’ve been able to learn about her," Saerin said, "Mesaana was good at preparation She excelled at it"

Saerin’s task had been to discover whatever she could about Mesaana’s true nature They had all heard the stories--who didn’t know the names of each of the Forsaken, and their wene put little faith in stories; she wanted soet it

"You said there was a third possibility?" Egwene asked

"Yes," Seaine said "We know that some weaves play with sound Variations on vocal weaves are used to enhance a voice to project to a crowd, and in the ward against eavesdropping--indeed, they’re used in the various tricks used to listen in on what is being said nearby Coe a person’s voice With some practice, Doesine and I were able to fabricate a variation on a weave that would alter the words we spoke In effect, we said one thing, but the other person heard another thing entirely"

"Dangerous ground to walk, Seaine," Saerin said, her voice gruff "That is the kind of weave that could be used for ill purposes"

"I couldn’t use it to lie," Seaine said "I tried The oaths hold--so long as the weave was there, I couldn’t speak words that I knew another would hear as lies, even if they were truth when they left ardless, it was an easy weave to develop Tied off and inverted, it hung in front of me and altered my words in a way I’d indicated

"Theoretically, if Mesaana had this weave in force, she could have taken up the Oath Rod and shatever she wished ‘I vow that I will lie whenever I feel like it’ for instance The Oath Rod would have bound her with that vow, but the weaves would have changed the sounds in the air as they passed her lips We’d have heard her saying the proper oaths"

Egwene gritted her teeth She’d assu the Oath Rod would be difficult And yet here was a simple weave capable of the feat She should have known--never use a boulder when a pebble will do, as her mother had often said

"With this," Egwene said, "they could have been slipping Darkfriends into the ranks of the Aes Sedai for years"

"Unlikely," Saerin said "None of the Black sisters we captured knew of this weave If they had, then they’d have tried to use it e made them reswear the oaths I suspect that if Mesaana does know this trick, she has kept it to herself The usefulness of it would vanish once too wene said "What do we do? Knowing of the weave, we could probably find a way to check for it--but I doubt that the sisters would be willing to go through the reswearing process again"