Stranger in a familiar land

[Adrian Kane]

Last time he saw Talin, she was a little looming red-haired mountain. A face peering down at him as the world fell black. That face was pale now. Paler than usual; as it should be, and she was flustered this time. He could tell it in the way she dropped a satchel of scrolls and planted a defense across the room. It would do her no good if he had the mind, but the lesson was already imparted. He had the power but not the intention to kill her. Not yet. Likewise, while unconscious, she might have ordered his head from his shoulders, and yet she surely stayed the hand of the unseen warder stalking the edges of the farm.

Arikan made no motion to indicate he was considering anything but giving consent. Talin had proven her skillset repeatedly. The clearance of many grievous wounds was testimony to convince him, but while he had zero personal interest in Talin’s motivations, she was clearly a follower of the light. Even if she wanted a rat to apply herself, she’d accomplished her goal and yet she returned not only to continue the restoration but bearing the exact items he required. And of all the bizarre behaviors, she was interested in delivering anything else he instructed.

He doubted she would answer truthfully. Oaths or not, he knew better than to believe an Aes Sedai meant exactly what she said. So while she might conceal her motivations, even the manner in which she explained herself could be insightful.

“I require many things doubtful a Yellow can procure, and we will see about them soon enough. In the meantime, I require something of you, first.” He held that doll-like, glassy gaze without wavering. The tension in his voice was minimal, but expectant. He did not reposition nor shuffle despite the lumps beneath him. It might have been a king’s bed for the way he held himself, and compared to months on bedrock, it practically was.

“You know who I am. Why are you bothering to heal me? You should have turned me in by now.”

She seemed genuinely perplexed, which made him want to roll his eyes. No one, Aes Sedai least of all, could be so naïve to not understand. A darkfriend should be jailed by the Light. A dreadlord should be tried, gentled and hung by ropes in the Tower’s courtyards. A man who aspired to the heights of Chosen and nearly brought down the Tower itself should be suffering such punishments as to make Lythia’s plan seem tame in comparison. Arikan would have thrust his own head on a pike at the front gate of the White Tower if their roles were reversed.

Talin was composed when she spoke again.

“Bothering? What an unusual question. Your injuries were a challenge and an opportunity. What is a little questionable morality compared to the knowledge I have gleaned in the act?” She was quiet for a moment; considering, clearly. “The rest is irrelevant now. The Dragon has prevaricated on his path long enough. Your motivation matters little to me, but while our goals align I have no reason to ‘turn you in’.”

He shook his head. “You're not only aiding, but healing, a known Darkfriend and Dreadlord. When you're discovered you'll undoubtedly be condemned as Black Ajah."

“Clearly I do not intend to be discovered,” she scathed. “I will use what tools I must. The inconvenience of your past is perhaps the very thing necessary to see the job done.”

Her answer did little to expand the tenuous trust between them, but he opted to cease the interrogation for now.

“Then come and work while I tell you what I need,” he nodded at himself. By then he subjected himself to the delves of saidar as he had previously: leaning back, attention shifting between the ceiling and her profile as the sensations swept through him.

“The Chosen will be active but concealed well. The only way to find them is to look for the ripples of their effects. Throw a rock in a pond and it will sink to the bottom unseen from the surface, but the ripples will flow far. Find the epicenter and you will find one of the Chosen at the heart of the disturbance. I need rumors. Knowledge of the state of affairs in all the courts. Battles won swifter than they should. Unexpected deaths or accidents of high ranking members of military or rulers that resulted in the shifting of power to unexpected hands. And finally, rumor of a very specific type of miscreant near, but himself not particularly influential or powerful, close to one of the Dragon’s ruling courts. Somewhere rich and opulent. A nobleman most likely with a reputation for being lazy and demanding, who seems to offer no advantage, yet is known to be a friend of the Dragon.”

“Gather those rumors and I’ll know what I seek when I hear it.”