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“Oh, well, I apologize,” Birgitte said flatly. “The Forsaken are loose and angry with you, the Black Ajah are undoubtedly furious that you’ve captured their agents, and you’ve humiliated various nobles who tried to seize the throne from you. Obviously you’re in no danger whatsoever. I’ll run along and take lunch, then.”

“You might as well,” Elayne snapped. “Because I am safe. Min had a viewing. My babes will be born healthy. Min is never wrong, Birgitte.”Advertisement

“Min said your babies would be strong and healthy,” Birgitte said. “Not that you would be healthy when they arrived.”

“How else would they come?”

“I’ve seen people knocked in the head so hard that they’re never the same, girl,” Birgitte said. “Some live for years, but never speak another word and have to be fed broth and live with a bedpan. You could lose an arm or two and still bear healthy children. And what about the people around you? Give you no thought to the danger you could cause them?”

“I feel bad for Vandene and Sareitha,” Elayne said. “And for those men who died to rescue me. Don’t dare imply that I feel no responsibility for them! But a queen must be willing to accept the burden of letting others die in her name. We discussed this, Birgitte. We decided that there was no way I could have known that Chesmal and the others would arrive as they did.”

“We decided,” Birgitte said through clenched teeth, “that there was no use arguing any further. But I want you to keep in mind that any number of things could still go wrong.”

“They won’t,” Elayne said, looking out over the city. “My children will be safe, and that means I will be, too. We have until their birth.”

Birgitte let out an exasperated sigh. “Foolish, stubborn….” She trailed off as one of the nearby Guardswomen waved to get her attention. Two of the Kin stepped onto the roof. Elayne had asked them to come meet with her.

Birgitte took up a position beside one of the short cherry trees, her arms folded. The two Kinswomen wore unadorned dresses, Sumeko in yellow, Alise in blue. Alise was the shorter of the two, with gray streaking her brown hair, and she was weaker in the Power, so she hadn’t slowed in aging as much as Sumeko.

Both women had grown more firm of step lately. No further Kinswomen had disappeared or been murdered; Careane had been behind the killings all along. A member of the Black, hiding among them. Light, but thinking of it made Elayne’s skin crawl!

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“Your Majesty,” Alise said, curtsying. She spoke with a calm, smooth voice and a faint Taraboner accent.

“Your Majesty,” Sumeko said as well, mimicking her companion’s curtsy. The two were deferential—more so to Elayne than they were to other Aes Sedai these days. Nynaeve had given the Kin in general a backbone in regards to the Aes Sedai and the White Tower, though Alise hadn’t ever struck Elayne as needing it.

During the siege, Elayne had started to regard the Kinswomen’s attitudes with annoyance. Recently, however, she’d been wondering. They had been extremely useful to her. How high would their newfound boldness lead them?

Elayne nodded to each of the Kin in turn, then gestured toward a trio of chairs that had been placed in the shade of the drooping cherry trees. The three seated themselves, the stream winding its contrived way past them to the left. There was mint tea. The other two took a cup each, but were careful to add generous amounts of honey. Tea tasted terrible these days without it.

“How are the Kin?” Elayne asked.

The two women glanced at each other. Blast. Elayne was being too formal with them. They knew something was up.

“We are well, Your Majesty,” Alise said. “The fear seems to be leaving most of the women. At least, those who had enough sense to feel it in the first place. I suppose those who didn’t were the ones who went off on their own and found themselves dead.”

“It is good not to have to spend so much time Healing, either,” Sumeko noted. “It was becoming very fatiguing. So many wounded, day after day.” She grimaced.

Alise was made of stouter material. She sipped her tea, face mild. Not calm and frozen, like an Aes Sedai. Thoughtful and warm, yet reserved. That was an advantage these women had that the Aes Sedai did not—they could be regarded without as much suspicion, as they were not tied directly to the White Tower. But they didn’t have its authority, either.

“You can sense that I have something to ask of you,” Elayne said, meeting Alise’s eyes.

“We can?” Sumeko asked, sounding surprised. Perhaps Elayne had given her too much credit.

Alise nodded in a matronly way. “You’ve asked much of us while we’ve been here, Your Majesty. No more than I felt you had a right to ask. So far.”

“I have tried to welcome you in Caemlyn,” Elayne said. “As I realize you can never return home, not while the Seanchan rule Ebou Dar.”

“That is true,” Alise agreed. “But one can hardly call Ebou Dar our home. It was merely a place where we found ourselves. Less a home, more a necessity. Many of us rotated in and out of the city anyway, to avoid notice.”

“Have you considered where you will stay now?”

“We’re going to Tar Valon,” Sumeko said quickly. “Nynaeve Sedai said—”

“I’m certain there will be a place for some of you there,” Elayne interjected. “Those who wish to become Aes Sedai. Egwene will be eager to give a second chance to any Kin who wish to try again for the shawl. But what of the rest of you?”

“We spoke of this,” Alise said carefully, eyes narrowing. “We will become associated with the Tower, a place for Aes Sedai to retire.”

“Surely you will not move to Tar Valon, though. What good would the Kin be as a place to retire from Aes Sedai politics if they are so near the White Tower?”

“We had assumed we would remain here,” Alise said.

“That was my assumption as well,” Elayne said carefully. “But assumptions are weak. I wish to give you promises instead. After all, if you were to remain in Caemlyn, I see no reason to not offer you support directly from the Crown.”

“At what cost?” Alise asked. Sumeko was watching with a confused frown.

“Not much of one,” Elayne said. “Really, not a cost at all. An occasional favor, as you have done the pqdm.com