The First Age

Ottar. Corele. Kaydrienne.

The list burned her mind and her eyes both. Rikela stared beyond the cloudy pane of glass, and counted the seconds she could afford to spend before she must move on. The sea was a blurred hint of colour, streaked by the sunrise above, and the sounds of the docks were muffled from the storeroom. She did not immediately turn when the door opened and closed softly behind her. There was no need; she would recognise the delicate tread of her sister’s footfall anywhere, and in any case Modane was the only one who could safely trespass the wards at the threshold – let alone know how to find this spot in their birth city of Mayene. It had always been a contingency between them, should things ever go awry. Rikela’s head was threaded with them. But Light had she wished never to need this one.

Relief closed her aching eyes, but only for a moment. She could not have been sure the Red would slip her Ajah, not with how quickly and neatly Kekura had closed her traitorous jaws. Her own escape from incarceration had been too close for liking, and she had the wounds to prove it, though the worst of that was currently obscured by the hood casting her face in shadow. There had been no time to find a healer yet. Once she was safe, or safe enough at least, the first thing Rikela had done was search the dream for Daryen. That was another contingency; an agreement Kaydrienne would send another in her stead should the need be urgent, to warn or advise. But of him there had been no sign. An entire day was too long to waste on the hope that he was simply an early riser. It was why she could not afford to linger here.

The seals might be stable still, but the Forsaken only grew stronger.

“If you leave now, you will not be able to return to the Tower while she wears the Stole,” was the first thing she said. They were both Aes Sedai, and even the blood shared between them offered no sentimentality in the moment. But the absence of affection did not mean they were not close. Modane suffered for her loyalty, though she was stubborn enough to withstand it over the years. She had to be. The Red had bloody well married an Asha’man after all. Drekar was outside the door even now, she assumed, guarding his Aes Sedai’s back even as she flirted with betraying the White Tower. Though truthfully, they both knew if she stayed, the Ajah would never trust her.

“It’s okay to grieve, sister. Maybe you should this time.”

“Kamion will show you where to go.” She turned but did not lower the hood. Modane would have at least one friend amongst the Blues, despite her affiliation, and the invitation was open to her if she accepted it now. More than that Rikela could not offer, and not all of her Ajah sisters would be pleased she did even that much for her blood-kin. Rikela had led the Ajah’s Eyes and Ears for years, longer than she’d sat in the Hall, and those who remained loyal to Kaydrienne’s memory would already have fled rather than swear their fealty to Kekura. The schism between Red and Blue would only deepen now their Amyrlin had been murdered in a clandestine meeting of the Hall, and Modane would be eyed with caution despite her long-standing history. Perhaps even outright hostility. The loyal Blues would be expecting Rikela’s lead, and her presence alone would help smooth things, but she had no inclination to the politics and there were others who could manage things well enough. It wasn’t why she had sworn her oaths all those years ago, and Kaydrienne’s legacy would not be upheld suturing the wounds of their Ajah. Too much was riding on Arad Doman.

Modane’s sniff indicated the moment she realised Rikela would not be going with them. The tiny Red did not argue though. Knowing her as well as she did, silence now might not be a good thing, but with the hard part done Rikela finally reached to squeeze her sister’s hand. She leaned to press a kiss to her forehead, much as she used to do when the woman was a child who only knew Rikela as a dream. She nodded to Drekar as she passed him outside.

Soon after, once she was alone once more, Rikela made the gate to Bandar Eban.