02-16-2024, 12:53 PM
The orders issued prickled her with irritation, and it galled that Jai had little choice but to comply. Nothing in Nythadri’s demeanour changed, but it glowered like a furnace deep inside. Arikan didn’t even have the grace to consider his own inadequacies, let alone acknowledge that this was help freely given. They were not thralls, and he did not hold the upper hand in any negotiation. It was going to be a problem.
Still, she held her tongue. She’d survived a whole bloody Tower of women with much the same supercilious superiority; she could certainly handle this. Right now her efforts were better used on untangling their situation, not on the difficulties of frustrating and uncomfortable allies. So she turned her attention to what Jai revealed from the notebook, filtering out Arikan’s barking impatience, and as she fit it with the things she already knew or suspected, something clicked into startling place. Stillness was her truest reaction, though she supposed Jai would be privy to the stirrings of epiphany beneath it now.
Trista. Not a controversial gift to sew peace between two disparate nations. A light-blasted spy behind enemy lines?
Light damn Daryen and his scheming, but most of all his secrecy. And Kaydrienne must have known? It certainly seemed so. Tightness squeezed her chest so hard she thought her heart might stop from the pressure. She began to shake her head about the Forsaken being dead, to urge Jai to think through what he knew, but Arikan interrupted with information that was actually useful. Gaemori or Raviel, and no real question as to which one of the two it was, given the target. Not dead, but fled. No wonder Arad Doman had been permitted to install an Asha’man king; he was the literal guardian at the gate.
Her thoughts were racing, but a sick feeling rose too – the unasked question she’d been refusing to confront since she’d found Jai on White Tower grounds. In the spark and ignition of understanding was the shadowy shape of an answer she did not want to see; a fear she would certainly not admit to in front of the dreadlord. The detail of the Compulsion had been too personal, too knowing, and not just of Jai. She stood, already thinking ahead; beyond that churning knot of worry and betrayal, though it would not let her go.
But something paused her amidst the tumult of silent thought and calculated plans. Arikan’s monologue had ended with an easy dismissal, and if his treatment irritated her still, it was an insult worth being free of his company. Arikan only had to be enabled, they did not need to work closely. Yet Nythadri rarely took the easy path.
He wasn’t toothless, and she did not make the mistake of thinking so. But neither had he looked at her in the way another man might have in such a state of undress, despite all his previous threats about forcing women to his bidding. It wasn’t remotely wise to press on the wound of his apparent self-schism; of what he had been, and what he might be now. But he was letting his past pollute their chances of success, and that was less tolerable than using him in the first place. Do not betray me. It was the last thing he said before he entered her Gate into the Black Tower basement. She thought nothing of it at the time. But that had been before she knew of the torture and Talin’s suspicions.
“Had you not been so busy playing mind games with the wine, I could have already told you the Compulsion happened in Bandar Eban,” she said. Her voice was measured, her gaze pale as cut glass, and just as sharp. “I know you will not allow yourself to trust me. But if you cannot place any trust in my competency at least, we will remain a permanent step behind in this hunt. And I won’t allow you to fail because of your light-damn pride.
“Tonight the Shadow’s plan was executed, so far as they know, with only one unexpected hitch – that being your miraculous rise from the grave – and by sunrise the Towers will be in chaos exactly as intended. Gaemori has no reason to leave Arad Doman now, not least if she has spent these last years hidden amongst the Seanchan biding her time. You are aware of the ceremony that took place in the city today? Its King is not ignorant of the threat, and while he continues to fight for the Light, we know where she will be, and what she wants.”
She didn’t look at Jai, though she was very aware of him then.
“It's the pieces we know nothing about that concern me. The Forsaken will all soon know you are alive. Can you be certain none will seek you out offering alliance? Better for us to learn more about the layout of the board before you begin playing in earnest against them.” She said no more on it, but the fact Arikan chose to keep Talin so close naturally made her wonder, now, if he really was at his full strength – for all his apparent resolve to risk seeking more leads in Arad Doman alone. She wouldn’t stop him if it came to it, and she did not expect him to take kindly to the counsel either, but she was not so pliable an ally as her Yellow Sister. She glanced at the cold hearth, and at candles so dim it was any wonder Jai had been able to decipher his own hand from the tiny notebook. Presumably Arikan had been hunched over that desk these past hours. She understood the drive, but he was no use to them exhausted.
“In the meantime, rest is good advice, and I will take it.“
As should he.
Still, she held her tongue. She’d survived a whole bloody Tower of women with much the same supercilious superiority; she could certainly handle this. Right now her efforts were better used on untangling their situation, not on the difficulties of frustrating and uncomfortable allies. So she turned her attention to what Jai revealed from the notebook, filtering out Arikan’s barking impatience, and as she fit it with the things she already knew or suspected, something clicked into startling place. Stillness was her truest reaction, though she supposed Jai would be privy to the stirrings of epiphany beneath it now.
Trista. Not a controversial gift to sew peace between two disparate nations. A light-blasted spy behind enemy lines?
Light damn Daryen and his scheming, but most of all his secrecy. And Kaydrienne must have known? It certainly seemed so. Tightness squeezed her chest so hard she thought her heart might stop from the pressure. She began to shake her head about the Forsaken being dead, to urge Jai to think through what he knew, but Arikan interrupted with information that was actually useful. Gaemori or Raviel, and no real question as to which one of the two it was, given the target. Not dead, but fled. No wonder Arad Doman had been permitted to install an Asha’man king; he was the literal guardian at the gate.
Her thoughts were racing, but a sick feeling rose too – the unasked question she’d been refusing to confront since she’d found Jai on White Tower grounds. In the spark and ignition of understanding was the shadowy shape of an answer she did not want to see; a fear she would certainly not admit to in front of the dreadlord. The detail of the Compulsion had been too personal, too knowing, and not just of Jai. She stood, already thinking ahead; beyond that churning knot of worry and betrayal, though it would not let her go.
But something paused her amidst the tumult of silent thought and calculated plans. Arikan’s monologue had ended with an easy dismissal, and if his treatment irritated her still, it was an insult worth being free of his company. Arikan only had to be enabled, they did not need to work closely. Yet Nythadri rarely took the easy path.
He wasn’t toothless, and she did not make the mistake of thinking so. But neither had he looked at her in the way another man might have in such a state of undress, despite all his previous threats about forcing women to his bidding. It wasn’t remotely wise to press on the wound of his apparent self-schism; of what he had been, and what he might be now. But he was letting his past pollute their chances of success, and that was less tolerable than using him in the first place. Do not betray me. It was the last thing he said before he entered her Gate into the Black Tower basement. She thought nothing of it at the time. But that had been before she knew of the torture and Talin’s suspicions.
“Had you not been so busy playing mind games with the wine, I could have already told you the Compulsion happened in Bandar Eban,” she said. Her voice was measured, her gaze pale as cut glass, and just as sharp. “I know you will not allow yourself to trust me. But if you cannot place any trust in my competency at least, we will remain a permanent step behind in this hunt. And I won’t allow you to fail because of your light-damn pride.
“Tonight the Shadow’s plan was executed, so far as they know, with only one unexpected hitch – that being your miraculous rise from the grave – and by sunrise the Towers will be in chaos exactly as intended. Gaemori has no reason to leave Arad Doman now, not least if she has spent these last years hidden amongst the Seanchan biding her time. You are aware of the ceremony that took place in the city today? Its King is not ignorant of the threat, and while he continues to fight for the Light, we know where she will be, and what she wants.”
She didn’t look at Jai, though she was very aware of him then.
“It's the pieces we know nothing about that concern me. The Forsaken will all soon know you are alive. Can you be certain none will seek you out offering alliance? Better for us to learn more about the layout of the board before you begin playing in earnest against them.” She said no more on it, but the fact Arikan chose to keep Talin so close naturally made her wonder, now, if he really was at his full strength – for all his apparent resolve to risk seeking more leads in Arad Doman alone. She wouldn’t stop him if it came to it, and she did not expect him to take kindly to the counsel either, but she was not so pliable an ally as her Yellow Sister. She glanced at the cold hearth, and at candles so dim it was any wonder Jai had been able to decipher his own hand from the tiny notebook. Presumably Arikan had been hunched over that desk these past hours. She understood the drive, but he was no use to them exhausted.
“In the meantime, rest is good advice, and I will take it.“
As should he.