#beldeine nyram

[iviarellereads]

The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 22 - The Price of the Ring

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(Flame icon) In which we get a scene that echoes back to another that came before.

PERSPECTIVE: Egg is only a short way from Verin's rooms when Sheriam finds her and says it's time for her Accepted test. She leads her down to the room with the three arches, and gives her the same speech she gave Nyn last book. Egg undresses to go through, and Alanna, there to represent the Green Ajah, says there's some kind of resonance or echo in the arches, she can't identify from where. Sheriam asks if it's a problem, and Alanna says no, she's just never heard of that happening before.(1)

The first time is for what was, the way will come but once. Egg raises her head to Rand talking about a peddler with strange news. She's rocking a cradle with a child... her daughter, Joiya. She asks Rand to tell his strange news, and he says the rest of the world seems to be caught up in a war with some funny folk, calling themselves the Sanchan or something. Egg almost remembers.

Rand's getting headaches, and strange things happen when he does. He has another now, but as Egg moves to soothe him, the silver arch appears. She takes a step toward it, then cries out that no, this is what she wants, why can't she have this, too? Rand gets up to ask her what she's talking about, but he falls to the ground, his headache worse than ever before.(2) It's the hardest thing Egg's ever had to do to keep walking toward the arch.

The second time is for what is. Egg is in a dusty silk dress, in the Royal Palace of Andor. The whole city of Caemlyn is in ruins. Trollocs, Darkfriends, and Myrddraal prowl, searching for "him". She runs through the rubble and finds Rand pinned by a beam. It's all he can do to hold the madness at bay, if he gives an inch it will take him over. He gestures at a dagger, and tells her to kill him. She can't! He says the Myrddraal and Dreadlords will turn him to the dark, he can't fight them if he's mad. She looks over her shoulder and sees the arch. She has to refuse him and walk toward it, though he cries out for her.

As Sheriam guides her to the next arch, Egg mentions that "he" said Myrddraal and Dreadlords could turn him to the Shadow. Sheriam almost stumbles, and says that the custom is not to speak of what happens inside the ter'angreal. Egg asks if it's true, and Sheriam says it's not a widely known fact, and she shouldn't ever have to learn it, but yes, it takes thirteen Darkfriends who can channel - the Dreadlords - and thirteen Myrddraal. But it hasn't been done since the Trolloc Wars. Egg comments that with Liandrin and the others, they make thirteen. Sheriam says she should forget that.(3)

The third time is for what will be. Egg stares into the mirror, surprised at the ageless smoothness of her face, and by the striped stole around her shoulders. She's the Amyrlin Seat here. Her Keeper, Beldeine, comes up behind her, her stole green, meaning that must be what Ajah Egg chose before the raising. The "way back will come but once" whisper gets cut off, for a new whisper: Thirteen Darkfriends.(4)

The Keeper leads Egg to a great hall, scared to her toenails. It's the Hall of the Tower, with all the Sitters, representatives of the Ajahs. Elaida is one, and calls for "him" to be brought in. Rand is in chains and Elaida calls for the pronouncement that he should be gentled, as can only happen here. Egg hesitates, and Elaida cues a coup.(5) Egg gets knocked in the head, but awakens before they cut her off from the Source. She counts thirteen Aes Sedai, and thirteen Myrddraal, and loses her shit, killing the Myrddraal and knocking out the Dreadlords.

She finds Beldeine, who says the Dreadlords stilled her, forced her to betray Egg. But what can Egg do now? She says she never held the Oath Rod,(6) and goes on a Mission(tm) to find and save Rand. As she's getting to the open Traitor's Court, planning to use balefire, whatever that is, to distract them, the "way back will come" message comes back, startling her, and she turns to see the arch, wavering in and out of reality, and she can hear the Aes Sedai on the other side fighting to keep it open. With a scream of rage that she once again can't save Rand, she throws herself at it.

Light plucked her apart fiber by fiber, sliced the fibers to hairs, split the hairs to wisps of nothing. All drifted apart on the light. Forever.(7)

=====

(1) What's different about this? Only that Egwene is carrying that little stone ring ter'angreal… but surely that shouldn't affect the arches? Then again, for all the Aes Sedai confidence in these rituals, there's obviously a lot they don't know about. They didn't know what most of the ter'angreal the Black Ajah defectors with Liandrin took could do, and if nobody's seen the stone ring in almost five hundred years, why would anyone have tested it in the room with the arches, which are only used to raise novices to Accepted? What do you think these objects could have in common? (2) Rand here, in this AU, is beginning to channel involuntarily, and his wilder sickness seems to be playing out as we saw it develop in book 1. (3) And Sheriam's right, isn't she, from her own perspective? Egg ought to keep her focus on her studies and the Tower, not on her old flame and the world at large and the defection of thirteen women who almost incriminated the Wondergirls by default. (4) Curious. Nynaeve also got some deviance in what she was led to expect. Do you think most of the arch journeys are different from what the ritual explanations provide, or are the Wondergirls just that special? (5) Do you think Elaida is Black Ajah in the waking world, too? Do you think her ambitions could lead her to participate in such a horrifying breach of protocol, if the motivation were right? Do the answers to those two questions depend on each other to be true, in your opinion? (6) Shouldn't that be impossible? How would Egg have managed it? It's funny enough that her "what is yet to come" shows her being Amyrlin, after it's been said a half dozen times that she could be someday, but this seems like a stretch, doesn't it? Even in the dream of the arches, she's not sure how she managed it. (7) I sure hope she made it or we've just wasted an awful lot of POV chapters. Well, not wasted, if she dies now we HAVE learned quite a bit through her perspective… but surely there were other ways to convey that information instead of using a character who was about to die?

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 22: The Price of the Ring

Everyone always wonders why heroes in fantasy stories are so reluctant to get the cool magical artifacts and stuff. This chapter justifies why you should be a little cautious around free doodads, especially when they're enchanted! Anything else would be spoilers though, and if you don't want spoilers for the whole Wheel of Time series, you shouldn't keep reading.

This chapter has the Flame of Tar Valon icon because we're seeing the Accepted ritual again and because Egwene is going to be the Flame of Tar Valon for a hot minute or two. Also the Amyrlin's voice is heard at the end. Lots of meaning, this chapter icon.

But Sheriam seemed to have dismissed the papers from her mind as soon as she asked.

Since the first word out of Egwene's mouth was "Verin," Sheriam probably dismissed them for that reason. She either knows Verin's allegiance or buys the cover that she's a distracted old wmoan.

“I listened to the lectures,” Egwene protested, “and I remember them, but . . . can’t I have a night’s sleep first?”

It's funny to consider that when Egwene gets raised next time, she'll spend a night traveling through the world of dreams.

An Aes Sedai sat cross-legged on the bare rock before each of the spots where arches joined ring, all three wearing their shawls. Alanna was the sister of the Green Ajah, but she did not know the Yellow sister, or the White.

Sadly, we don't know them either. I wouldn't at all be surprised though if they were significant players though, since Sheriam, Elaida, and Alanna all are too.

“She should not be given this chance.” There was iron in Elaida’s voice, and her face was scarcely softer. “I do not care what her potential is. She should be put out of the Tower. Or failing that, set to scrubbing floors for the next ten years.”

Elaida's just bitter that Moiraine has outmatched her in recent all-star recruitment. Cute that their animosity starts so early.

She sounded as if she had said this many times. There was a light of sympathy in her eyes, but her face was almost as stern as Elaida’s. The sympathy frightened Egwene more than the sternness.

If a member of the BA is feeling sorry for you, you know your life is about to suck hardcore.

“There is some sort of—resonance.” She never took her eyes from the arches. “An echo, almost. I do not know from where.”

Two T'A'R access points conflicting with each other?

“Then let her face what she fears.” Even in its formality, there was a note of satisfaction in Elaida’s voice.

Already Elaida thinks Egwene can't survive the punishments coming her way. And already she's wrong. A remarkably pig-headed woman.

Of course Rand was her husband—her handsome, loving husband—and Joiya was her daughter—the most beautiful, sweetest little girl in the Two Rivers. Tam, Rand’s father, was out with the sheep, supposedly so Rand could work on the barn but really so he could have more time to play with Joiya. This afternoon Egwene’s mother and father would come out from the village. And probably Nynaeve, to see if motherhood was interfering with Egwene’s studies to replace Nynaeve as Wisdom one day.

Egwene's first archway takes her to the closest equivalent of a fluffy high school/coffee shop AU that the setting can allow. A true hell for Egwene, who needs shit to do.

Egwene knew—she thought she knew—Whatever it was, was gone.

Egwene's Seanchan trauma is so strong that she can almost recall it across timelines. I think the only reason she doesn't spend any of the three arches in the damane collar is because she's already faced that fear as thoroughly as possible.

When Rand’s head hurt, strange things happened soon after. Lightning out of a clear sky, smashing to bits that huge oak stump he had been working two days to root out where he and Tam were clearing new field. Storms that Nynaeve did not hear coming when she listened to the wind. Wildfires in the forest. And the deeper his pain grew, the worse what followed.

Huh. After my migraines we get sudden thunderstorms and those cause forest fires. Am I the Dragon Preborn? I fucking hope not, though getting channeling as a reward for suffering through the headaches would be fucking fantastic.

But three times now, Egwene had cured someone Nynaeve had given up for dead. Three times she had sat to hold a hand through the last hour, and seen the person get up from a deathbed. Nynaeve had questioned her closely on what she had done, what herbs she had used, in what blending. Thus far, she had not found the courage to admit that she had done nothing.

It's interesting to note that in a world where the EF5 never leaves town, Egwene eventually becomes more capable at Healing than Nynaeve. It might just be that their blocks are different, I suppose, or that Wilders are prone to implausible feats in the initial period that they can't necessarily replicate after the fact, though Rand's channeling outbursts are things he'd do quite easily later.

She halted, looked back at Joiya gurgling in her cradle, at Rand still pressing hand to his head and looking at her as if wondering where she was going. “No,” she said. “No, this is what I want. This is what I want! Why can’t I have this, too?”

Fucking Wheel, making women choose between families and careers no matter what position it's in. How depressing.

She stiffened her back and kept walking, but she could not keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks. Rand’s groans built to a scream, drowning Joiya’s laughter. From the corner of her eye, Egwene saw Tam coming, running as hard as he could.

Really the fact that Joiya is laughing hysterically while her dad is having a horrible meltdown is good evidence that these possible timelines aren't entirely real but are specifically designed as a trap.

“Every woman I have ever watched come out of there has asked that question. The answer is, no one knows. It has been speculated that perhaps some of those who do not come back chose to stay because they found a happier place, and lived out their lives there.” Her voice hardened. “If it is real, and they stayed from choice, then I hope the lives they live are far from happy. I have no sympathy for any who run from their responsibilities.”

And what about your responsibilities to not be an evil witch, Sheriam? Pretty hypocritical of you to judge the women trapped in the ter'angreal when you aren't even a true believer but only joined for political power!

She stared down at her dress, blue silk sewn with pearls, all dusty and torn. Her head came up, and she took in the ruins of a great palace around her. The Royal Palace of Andor, in Caemlyn.

This is of course foreshadowing the eventual destruction of Caemlyn as the central location of the Last Battle that never does quite come to pass under Brando Sando's work.

Once she stepped on a woman’s arm, sticking out from under a mound of plaster and bricks that had been an interior wall and perhaps part of the floor above. She noticed the arm as little as she noticed the Great Serpent ring on one finger. She had trained herself not to see the dead buried in the refuse heap Trollocs and Darkfriends had made of Caemlyn. She could do nothing for the dead.

It's for the best that real Egwene never quite has to steel herself in this way.

“The madness, Egwene. I am—actually—holding it—at bay.” His gasping laugh made her skin prickle. “But it takes everything I have just to do that. If I let go, even a little, even for an instant, the madness will have me. I won’t care what I do then. You have to help me.”

A lot of people think that Egwene judges Rand way too harshly in later books and while I definitely don't think she's as good as a friend as she should have been, I think we can blame this vision for some of it. The Rand of later books becomes more and more like this madman, laughing at inappropriate, mood swinging violently, not always able to channel reliably or effectively. Egwene gets to see the end of the road before everyone else does and even though he's still relatively stable in LOC, she's definitely seeing him take the first steps down it.

“If they take me—the Myrddraal—the Dreadlords—they can turn me to the Shadow. If madness has me, I cannot fight them. I won’t know what they are doing till it is too late. If there is even a spark of life left when they find me, they can still do it. Please, Egwene. For the love of the Light. Kill me.”

While the arches do seem to be psychologically manipulative, they are also great teaching tools. This scenario is clearly built out of Egwene's fear of Rand's channeling ability, but it has to up the stakes even beyond that and so pulls more facts for her to learn from.

It is a thing not done, so far as I know—Light send it has not been done!—since the Trolloc Wars. It took thirteen Dreadlords—Darkfriends who could channel—weaving the flows through thirteen Myrddraal. You see? Not easily done. There are no Dreadlords today.

But there are members of the Black Ajah, who are Dreadlords in all but name. And Sheriam can lie. But like I said, she's not a true believer, she did it for the opportunity. Is she being truthful to Egwene here, both in that the technique has not been done in two thousand years and in that she hopes it has never been done? Is that one of the reasons she holds her position, to recruit naturally and hope that things never turn to filling out the numbers in a different fashion?

Egwene stared into the standing mirror, and was not sure whether she was more surprised by the ageless smoothness of her face or the striped stole that hung around her neck. The stole of the Amyrlin Seat.

Like Nynaeve, Egwene's third vision is of a very similar future to the fate she actually gets. Is that common to all of the women who go through these arches, or is it just that their fates are so firm there's nothing to pull from but the truth?

There was an Aes Sedai at her elbow, a woman with Sheriam’s high cheekbones but dark hair and concerned brown eyes, and the hand-wide stole of the Keeper on her shoulders. Not Sheriam, though. Egwene had never seen her before; she was sure she knew her as well as she knew herself. Haltingly, she put a name to the woman. Beldeine.

"Not Sheriam, though." Fun foreshadowing for Egwene's first Keeper and her removal, that.

That thought shook her. Not that she had been Green Ajah, but that she had to reason it out.

Another question is whether the ring broke this vision but not the other two because of repeated exposure, or if the future-predicting aspects of both ter'angreal was the thing that let the resonance grow out of control?

That seemed an odd thought, too. Part of her remembered something called the Great Purge. Part of her was sure no such thing had happened.

A much less important question is if the Great Purge of this timeline was more or less successful than the main timeline, considering how things turned out.

The Flame of Tar Valon lay centered in the floor, surrounded by widening spirals of color, the colors of the seven Ajahs. At the opposite side of the room from where the ramp entered, a high-backed chair stood, heavy and ornately carved in vines and leaves, painted in the colors of all the Ajahs.

Our first look at the hall, even if it is fake. Note the emphasis both in-text and in-universe on all seven Ajahs. Even though there's definitely some problems and changes to come, all are consistently treated as an integral part of the Tower until the breaking.

One of the Red Sitters stood. Egwene was shocked to recognize Elaida. At the same time she knew that Elaida was foremost of the Sitters for the Red, and her own bitterest enemy.

Lucky of Elaida to not get taken by the Seanchan. Perhaps the arches neglected that detail specifically to fuck with Egwene more, or perhaps it was an inevitable consequence of whatever butterfly effect we're dealing with here.

One of the Green Sitters was on her feet, anger bright through her calm. “Shame, Elaida! Show respect for the Amyrlin Seat! Show respect for the Mother!”

Obviously this could be virtually any non-Black Green, but I like to think it's Farnah specifically. Could be Faiselle though if it's one of the three actual Sitters Egwene gets, probably not Rubinde since she's an Elaida loyalist in the real timeline.

As Egwene opened her mouth, Beldeine moved beside her. Then the Keeper’s staff struck her head.

No surprise that Beldeine, one of the women who will be sent to box Rand, would betray Egwene to Elaida even as her Keeper.

The pain in her head made thinking difficult, but it seemed important to count them. Thirteen.

Would being 13x13ed here have truly changed Egwene, I wonder? Was Sheriam hoping it might and trying to play towards it, or is this entirely of the resonance and thus not an outcome she could have predicted?

Flames burst from Myrddraal skin, ripping through black cloth as if they were solid daggers of fire. Shrieking Halfmen crisped and burned like oiled paper. Fist-sized chunks of stone tore themselves free of the walls and whizzed across the room, producing shrieks and grunts as they thudded into flesh. The air stirred, shifted, howled into a whirlwind.

Either Egwene is able to throw around way more power than she should be able to (our girls will later find out that setting Halfmen on fire is actually a rather bad choice, all things considered), or the arches are just playing along with her.

Egwene’s mind put a name to the face. Gyldan. Elaida’s closest confidante, always whispering together in corners, closeting themselves in the night.

We do not ever meet a Gyldan in the main timeline. She may be a real Black who just doesn't get up to much in reality, or perhaps the real Gyldan is even more unremarkable and in this timeline Mesaana replaces her, not the Brown (in which case, good on you for punching her out Egwene!). Perhaps she doesn't exist at all, though Beldeine certainly does.

It was unnerving, trotting through empty hallways. The White Tower no longer held the numbers it once had, but there was usually someone about.

Consider that the White Tower is already at its lowest membership count ever and that in this timeline we have no evidence of the reforms that lead to the Rebels having a larger roster. It may well be that with the Blacks mostly purged (or victims mostly purged, since obviously 13 are still running around), the Tower has virtually no one left at this point.

“What would you have done? What? Nothing! There’s nothing you can do. But they said they could give it back to me, with the power of . . . the power of the Dark One.”

So apparently Nynaeve never cured stilling in this timeline. She and Elayne, and really a wide variety of Aes Sedai who you'd think would be a bit sympathetic to our girl here, all seem to be gone. Has the resonance up and put Egwene in a T'A'R nightmare, is that why things are so incoherent? Can she not remember what happened not purely by glitch in the system but because there's no logical way to arrive at this scenario, so there's no memories to give her?

“More than anyone suspects,” Egwene said. “I never held the Oath Rod, Beldeine.”

This of course should technically be another bit of early installment weirdness where Jordan hasn't decided that the Oath Rod is what causes the ageless look, not channeling as a whole, but since we're in a resonance cascade or whatever it might as well be just another mismatched puzzle piece in the mystery that is this timeline.

It would need to be done quickly; there was no point if Rand was gentled while she was still wrapping Warders in Air. Even Warders would break if she loosed the lightnings on them, and balefire, and broke the ground under their feet.

I love how balefire isn't even the final option here. "I'll shoot them with lightning, and if that doesn't work I'll retroactively remove them from existence, and if THAT doesn't work I'll stick their legs in a rock because if they refuse to be balefired they obviously can't be killed, only slowed down."

Twelve Aes Sedai surrounded him, and another—who Egwene knew had to be wearing a seven-striped stole, even though she could not distinguish it—stood before Rand.

You've got to hand it to Elaida. Very few people have a destiny so set in stone that it comes true in an alternate timeline that isn't really even a timeline, but dammit every variation of her that has ever existed is going to usurp the Amyrlin Seat, and that includes nightmare versions.

Thirteen Aes Sedai. Twelve sisters and the Amyrlin, the traditional number for gentling. The same number as for. . . .

No Egwene, focus on that thought. Sure it's really only because of the metaphysics that everyone's arrived on the same number, but what does it say about the White Tower that its court system is only a mirror image of the Black Ajah's most despicable ritual?

There on the tower top, tilted to sit flat against the sloping tiles, was a silver arch filled with a glowing light. The arch flickered and wavered; streaks of angry red and yellow darted through the white light.

Are they having troubles keeping the door open because of the resonance alone, or because Egwene's scenario is so far off the map it's not normally where the arches point to? I know we'll never know, but both answers provide such rich potential for how the arches work at all. Alas.

Light plucked her apart fiber by fiber, sliced the fibers to hairs, split the hairs to wisps of nothing. All drifted apart on the light. Forever.

Pardon the math joke, but isn't that being a bit hyperbolic, Egwene?

Next time: Egwene recovers from her sorority hazing!

[wot-tidbits]

RJ’s notes Part 25 by TEREZ

Mathwin, Verin:

R. (BA). Brown Ajah. GH4, DR 10, Bro SR1, SR31, F14, L10.

Nationality: born in Far Madding, which is as close to an out-and-out matriarchy as exists in this world. Same city where Cadsuane was born.

Description: Short [About 5'0"] and plump/stout, placid-looking, square-faced, touch of gray in her hair. Despite ageless face, looks like somebody's mother or aunt, or the cook at an inn. Often has a dreamy look -- until she gives you a particularly penetrating stare. Some think of her stare as bird-like; a bird studying a worm. {A young Margaret Rutherford} Her fingers often are ink-stained. She habitually rubs her nose, especially in thought, frequently smudging ink there. Verin has a scar on her arm that she got, so she implies, in Tel'aran'rhiod (DR21), since she isn't a dreamwalker, she used a dream ter'angreal. She also says, with regard to this scar, that "Anaiya's Healing did not work as well as it should have."

Strength Level: 17 (5). The 650-700 year age level. ??? Alanna, Verin, Merana and Seonid are approximately equal in strength; weaker than Rafela or Faeldrin, Kiruna or Bera ???

SPECIAL SKILLS, ABILITIES AND TALENTS:

1) See notes below on her form of Compulsion.

2) A form of eavesdropping.

3) While her Talent for Healing in general is not very strong -- fairly weak actually; at least, she did not feel competent to Heal Perrin's wound from a Trolloc arrow – despite that, in one particular part of Healing, Delving to find out what is wrong with someone, she has no superior. A number of equals, but no superior.

4) She knows how to "mask" her bond with a Warder so he cannot feel her at all; this is useful for privacy, when a sister wants it. Even most celibate sisters and those without Warders know how, just as they know how to make the bond, but some who have not had a Warder bonded for a time, and those who never have, may find it difficult. Red sisters do not learn this, just as they do not learn the bonding weave.

5) She has a fairly good ability at manipulating weather. On Toman Head she did not try to lessen the storm because (1) she could only lessen so large a storm somewhat by herself, and (2) using so much of the Power would have attracted the wrong attention.

Note: Earth is "of some difficulty" for her.

Note: Verin has an angreal in the form of a small brooch carved from "some translucent stone, in the shape of a lily with too many petals." She acquired this (no source for it given as of PoD Prol) about 951 NE or so. "Almost fifty years" ago. She never wears it, but it hasn't been out of her reach since she obtained it. No one knows that she possesses this.

Pg 300

Born: 849 NE. Went to the White tower in 864 NE (age 15). Was 5 years a novice (864-869 NE); six years Accepted (869-875 NE). Raised Aes Sedai at age 26. Entered the Black Ajah in 929 NE (age 80), under duress, after she was caught while studying rumors/tales and got very close.

Parenia Demalle was Amyrlin and Sereille Bagand the Mistress of Novices when she came to the Tower (864 NE). Sereille was raised Amyrlin in 866.

Of the Kin, Asra Zigane (929 NE; 4 months), Derys Nirmala (926-936 NE), Garenia Rosoinde (923-928 NE), and Sarainya Vostovan (940-950 NE) were all there after she became Aes Sedai, and some were present about the time she was forced into the Black Ajah (929 NE).

Warder: Tomas—: gray-haired, dark-eyed, medium height (about 5'9"-5'10") but stocky. GH8, S30 (first description, mmp 493); L10.

Balinor; long dead now. It took Verin ten years to get over his death and bond Tomas.

Horse:

Clothing & Possessions:

(G6) Brown-fringed shawl; writing case hung at belt, and inkbottle in scabbard at belt [in dungeon from which Fain escaped at Fal Dara Keep].

(G14) Cloak behind saddle [joins Ingtar's/Perrin's party on road, searching for Fain and Horn].

(G32) BROWN-fringed shawl, embroidered in grape vines [going to Lord Barthanes' party, in Cairhien, with Rand's group].

(G37) Cloak with hood [chasing Fain, Portal Stone in Stedding Tsofu and at Toman Head].

(D10) In all shades of brown; hooded cloak [with Mat, Egwene, etc., on way to Tar Valon].

(S31) Plain brown dress, inkstained at cuffs [when Perrin returns to Two Rivers and is taken to cottage in woods].

(S32) Rode a nondescript browng elding, with a deep chest and a strong rump. Plain garb; pouch; a little leather case at the belt [leaving the old cottage in the woods with Alanna, Perrin, etc., on way to Whitecloak camp at Watch Hill].

(S33) Slippered feet [continuing on to Watch Hill].

(S56) Brown clad [last Trolloc attack in Two Rivers].

(L10 & L43) Rumpled pale brown dress [with Two Rivers girls in Caemlyn, meeting Rand; and in Caemlyn with Merana's Salidar embassy].

(WH13) Belt; belt pouch; simple bronze-colored dress with flowered brooch attached [with Sorilea, meeting Cadsuane in Sun Palace].

(WH24) Cloak [visiting Cadsuane in her quarters, Far Madding].

Pg 301

(WH32) Dark wool cloak; shoes and stockings [meeting Rand on streets of Far Madding in rain, when Rand asked if Cadsuane would talk with him].

Personal:

She went to the Tower instead of marrying a boy named Eadwin, who had a mischievous smile that she remembers fondly. She was driven by one thing, mainly: the desire to know; becoming Aes Sedai, becoming Brown Ajah, was the best way to do that, and that is what she wanted to try. She was surprised, pleased, frightened, all together, when she passed the tests and learned she could indeed become Aes Sedai. It was not until her visit home after about a year as a novice, though, that she realized that she really had left all of her former life behind. She has never regretted her choice; well, not really regretted. She attended the wedding of one of Eadwin's great-grandsons, and the young man had Eadwin's smile. "Luckily," no one there recognized her.

Verin's handwriting is "thin and spidery."

Her notebooks were described (by Aeron, an Aiel Wise One) as containing "some pretty drawing sand a great deal about plants and flower."

RECEIVED SOME OF HER TRAINING FROM:

DID SOME OF THE TRAINING OF: Anaiya Carel, Moiraine Damodred, Siuan Sanche, Beldeine Nyram (as a novice), Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan, .

TRAINED AS A NOVICE AND/OR ACCEPTED WITH:

Verin lived in the upper levels of the Tower Library, with their odd corridors. A number of Browns keep rooms there in addition to their rooms inside the Tower, but few actually live in the Library.

(D21) Verin's quarters above library: Accessed by narrow set of stairs that curl through library walls. Corridors little used, with dusty air in halls that take odd turns and twists, sometimes dipping or rising unexpectedly. Only a few tapestries, colors dulled from lack of cleaning. Many unlit lamps in halls, and bare black and white tiles on floor. Verin's room at top of a rise, next to tapestry of mounted king receiving surrender of another king. Dark paneled door. Shelves line walls of antechamber, except for where maps hung, some in layers, and charts of the night sky. Door to inner rooms. Books, papers and scrolls everywhere, interspersed with strange shapes of metal or glass, bones and skulls, and even a live owl. Candlesticks throughout. Cluttered table.

Verin knew about Sniffers: "Did you think you could keep something like that secret?" Very likely other sisters do, too.

Verin keeps many notes, some in the clear and some in a cipher which exists only in her head. She thinks she will have to write the cipher out, one day, but not yet. She has "a lifetime worth of notebooks" stored in her quarters above the White Tower library.

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Verin was one of two Brown sisters who accompanied Siuan on her visit to Fal Dara; the other was Serafelle.

When Egwene asked in Medo: Moiraine had left 2 days ago, then Liandrin after her, and finally Verin; all went without a word to anyone, including Siuan.

Mat's Healing was done by a circle of ten Aes Sedai, led by Siuan Sanche. Others mentioned as being present: Sheriam, Serafelle, Alanna, Anaiya, Verin, Leane, and Brendas.

Verin "checked" & again Healed Mat, to no effect, in Cairhien.

She knows a good deal about Rand, Mat (Horn and link, but not luck), and Perrin (not wolves), and has deduced more. She asked him about whether he had chosen "the axe or the hammer." In some ways, about some things, she knows more than the Amyrlin Seat or Moiraine.

Rand told her about his and Hurin's journey to other world.

Verin knew the name Portal Stone: not a widely known artifact. She knows the locations of three Portal Stones, she says.

Verin had visited one Portal Stone personally before she brought Rand to use the one near Stedding Tsofu. That was on Toman Head, and she knew it was indicated by 2 parallel wavy lines crossed by an odd squiggle. She had some knowledge of things represented by other symbols, but it was, for the most part, largely general and speculative.

Verin believes -- or says she does, anyway -- that she would be destroyed short of enough Power to work a Portal Stone.

Verin Healed Rand & Hurin in Cairhien, after the fire at the inn.

Verin Healed or Delved Mat several times, in Cairhien after the fire, and later on the journey to Toman Head, but not to no visible effect.

Verin did a form of Healing for everybody on the Toman Head trip except Rand, who refused.

Thus, because of using Healing on them, Verin has a certain awareness of Rand, Mat, Perrin, Hurin, all of the men who accompanied her on the journey to Toman Head and Falme, and also each of the Aes Sedai taken prisoner at Dumai's Wells, with the exception of Katerine Alruddin, who escaped. She may also have that awareness of Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne, from using Healing on them in some way during the period between their rescue at Falme and reaching Tar Valon again.

Verin's father: "It's time to roll the dice."

Verin did something long ago in Far Madding so that arrest warrants were signed, and she suspects they might still be in force, so she doesn't use her own name there.

Verin and Alanna Mosvani were in the Two Rivers during Perrin's heroics there. Verin kept Alanna from bonding Perrin. The pair of them recruited a fairly large number of Two Rivers girls; by the time they had the girls to Caemlyn, they had learned of the Tower breaking.

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Verin and Alanna had contact with the rebel embassy to Rand in Caemlyn, and were taken into the group entirely with the arrival of Bera Harkin and Kiruna Nachiman.

Alanna and Verin wanted to be Rand's advisers/guides, especially after learning that Moiraine is "dead."

Verin was not upset over Alanna bonding Rand against his will as she made out. She wants a string to Rand; Alanna, emotionally vulnerable because of her Warder's death, can be manipulated into being that string; and using Alanna provides a little distance for Verin, and maybe a little safety.

Faeldrin Harella, Kiruna Nachiman, Bera Harkin, Rafela Cindal, Masuri Sokawa (with Perrin, not Cadsuane), Seonid Traighan (with Perrin, not Cadsuane), Verin Mathwin, Alanna Mosvani, and Merana Ambrey followed after Rand when he fled them in Caemlyn. All were forced to swear fealty to him after Dumai's Wells. These sisters are now treated like apprentices by the Wise Ones, and considered apprentices, especially Kiruna, who Sorilea made a project of hers. They have also been co-opted by Cadsuane, especially Alanna, who is useful for keeping track of Rand. All intend to keep their oaths of fealty to the best of their ability, however reluctantly, but none of them can stand up to Cadsuane, at least not openly.

Once declared da'tsang, the sisters captured at Dumai's Wells were kept apart, not allowed to speak to one another, and rarely to see one another even a distance. Most are not aware that the other captives are being treated exactly the same as they. Until informed by Verin, none had any real idea of why they were being treated so; the general belief was that it was some method of trying to break them. Most were not even sure that the others remained alive.

Until being taken to Verin, Beldeine hadn't seen another captive since reaching the tents.

In addition to Beldeine, Verin definitely questioned Irgain Fatamed, a Green who had been stilled by Rand, and also Turanna Norill, a White.

In response to Sorilea's question about what shamed wetlanders, Verin prepared a list which she passed on without the other sisters knowing (she hopes) and which details a number of things she believes will work on the captive sisters as Sorilea wishes.

Verin learned that Katerine Alruddin had escaped and was angry over it. Aeron told her not to tell Rand since he did not need to be worried over petty concerns.

Verin first thought of Rand in the way Siuan and Leane still do -- as stubborn and stronger-willed than expected, but still malleable with a little work -- yet with longer exposure she has changed that opinion. She now thinks that whatever the surface of him might be, his core may be about as malleable as granite.

She spent some time in the company of Mat and Perrin during THE GREAT HUNT, and think she has a line on what makes each of them tick.

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Re Verin not handing over Corianin Nedeal's papers to Egwene; aside from the fact that Corianin noted that she herself did best in ignorance, and made more and greater mistakes the more she thought she knew what was going on -- even after realizing that fact -- there might be some evidence and/or info about the Black Ajah in the papers which Verin must, by her new Oaths, hide. This last must be looked at in light of the fact that she "considered" giving her the papers but decided not to. Remember that Corianin was a dreamer; she may have noted down some interpretation of a dream or dreams, possibly just before her death, that has pertinence today and is dangerous from Verin's pov. It could have been earlier, especially if Corianin interpreted something that she obviously saw had no pertinence to her own time/world. Or it could be something that gives a key/lead toward the type of "Compulsion" that Verin uses.

Verin is of the stated opinion that Corianin Nedeal barely deserved the name of Dreamer.

Remember that Verin almost certainly recognized "Lord Luc" in the Two Rivers.

Remember that Verin has referred to Perrin's choice of the axe or the hammer.

Remember that Siuan says Verin never told her about giving Egwene a ter'angreal.

She did a study of girls coming to the White Tower who had already begun to channel, and discovered that two sorts of tricks predominated by far. The second most popular was some way to eavesdrop, while the first could be called "a way to get what I want." That could be to make Father buy her yet another new dress, or make Mother let her see a boy Mother doesn't approve of, or make a boy ask her dance or whatever. These things smack of Compulsion -- not only a forgotten Talent, but one that would be among the forbidden if it was known -- so first off the girls are broken of using them, though this is given out as part of making sure they don't channel without guidance until they are far enough along. In fact, the breaking takes so well with some girls that they forget how to do the weaves. For that matter, most of the others could as easily walk through a fire as use them.

Verin studied these abilities. Not surprisingly, given that they were all created by girls with no training, the methods vary widely, are usually extremely crude, and are almost always extremely specific. Even so, Verin has managed to learn how to put together a form of each with wider applications. Because of the original source, however, these methods have considerable limits.

Eavesdropping, Verin's method of: Limits? Maybe, unlike Moiraine and Egwene (and maybe Aviendha), she does not need a focus.

Compulsion, Verin's method/version of: This has a number of differences from true Compulsion, though it is related of course, and would almost certainly be considered the same as Compulsion if it were discovered by other sisters. It is not quick, for one thing. It takes some time to get the weaves -- complex because of the many sources -- just right. The subject needs to be off-guard, and it is better if the subject is emotionally vulnerable in some way. She cannot make anyone do

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anything they truly would never do, though some of the girls seemed to be able to with their more specific weaves. If the subject cannot come up with his or her own reason for doing the thing, the weave will eventually fade without doing its job. Also, people who are strong-willed sometimes break free of the weave. In some, this could take the form of suddenly wondering why on earth they ever did what they did, and in others, of actually forgetting that they have done it. Part of her weave makes the subject forget that they were the subject of a weave, if they knew, and that part has never broken down. Another point is that she cannot tell the person what he or she is to do until the weaves are just right, or else they will remember that. When Verin is done, the subject remembers at most a dizzy spell, or maybe fainting. After that, it is up to the subject to find a reason to do what Verin wants that the subject can live with, and under the small-c compulsion of the weave, the subject will try very hard.

Another difficulty, from her point of view, is that it works much better on women than on men. She doesn't understand this, since some of the girls used theirs on fathers and boyfriends, but a man is much more likely to break free without doing she wants and also considerably more likely to question the action once done. Once, a man actually remembered what she had done, which caused no end of difficulty.

This is really not a patch on the true Compulsion, certainly not on the particularly subtle forms Graendal knows, but it does have one advantage over the larger form. Except for Graendal's forms, Compulsion can often be detected by those who know what they are looking for, by a Healer doing a simple check for health, by example. Verin's form is as undetectable as anything that Graendal can do.

Remember the secret: she is Black, though pulled into it unwillingly when she was investigating more than 70 years ago. She was researching tales and rumors of the Black Ajah and found herself in a position where she could either join or die. Decided on the spot she could do more trying to fight them from within than by dying. Has done the best she could while held to the Black Ajah oaths to still do as much good as she could.

Verin accompanied Cadsuane to Far Madding (where she uses an assumed name and nit is revealed that there might still be charges open against "Verin Mathwin") and then to Shadar Logoth.

GH 4 -- Verin Mathwin and Serafelle: mmp 53-54. First appearances 

GH7, mmp 448 -- Tiedra, Mistress: innkeeper, The Great Tree, Cairhien; Verin has stayed there before (mmp 447); knows Verin is Aes Sedai; warm smiles.

GH 41 -- mmp 581; Verin doesn't lessen the rainstorm because, she says, if she used that much of the Power, any Aes Sedai (or damane) closer than ten miles would know she had channeled. She could, in any case, only lessen a storm of that size

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somewhat by herself.

GH 44 -- mmp 620-; Verin says, or implies, that damane might feel a man channeling unless the amount were small; what she has said is an untruth, as far as she knows;

DR 21 -- mmp 235 on; description of Verin's study in the Tower.

Mmp 237; Verin's report on the thirteen Black sisters who fled the Tower.

SR 33, mmp 539 -- Verin warns Perrin to watch Alanna; typifies Tower plots.

SOURCE