Consorting with Enemies

[Natalie Grey]

Nythadri

Nythadri let the routines of the morning wash over her, content to share them. It was the sort of cohesion she’d always imagined a bond ought to feel like, though she couldn’t say it was just that connection guiding them. It felt deeper, more familiar than it had any right to. There was distraction in her comfort, but she leaned into Jai’s sense of ordered calm; let it soothe the shimmer of her restlessness for the day to come and the choices to soon be made.

When he called, she went to his side to look out the window. He would feel no glimmer of recognition from her, just thoughtfulness framed by something sharper. That Arikan was already risen set a flicker of tight irritation into her jaw, though she could not quite say why, other than that it made her wonder if he had wilfully ignored the advice about resting. His companion wore the rough garb of a labourer, and he had the kind of face she imagined would have caught Elly’s eye, but the gaidar was not here to ask.

“Arikan arrived in the night, and he was apparently alone – Talin’s warder saw him,” she said. They’d only themselves arrived earlier the same evening, and Nythadri had seen barely any of the fort’s occupants before she’d Travelled to Caemlyn the next morning. Arikan had had an entire day left to his own devices, yet she could see no reason for him to bother charming any of the folk in such a backwater. Which only really meant one thing.

“He knows we can see him from here. Like as not he intends us to take note.” Her eyes upturned to watch Jai’s profile, allowing him the space to reach the same conclusions. The dreadlord did not even pretend to respect the Asha’man pin or Aes Sedai ring; he simply would not bother at all with anyone who did not have a use to him. “Arikan won’t walk the Light’s path to do what we need him to. And if he intends to chase the instructions on this plaque, they will need to believe he is still one of them.”

It was both a merciless goad and an invitation into confidence; to reveal the face of a darkfriend to them, knowing they had no choice other than to accept it. But it was useful to know who might still be loyal to the former general. She retreated, running her hand along Jai’s arm to urge him away, though it was only a light touch. Nythadri had drawn them both to this shadowed path, but she’d never force him to walk it with her. It wasn’t what she would have chosen for either of them, but neither would she turn away from it, for all it weighed her heart with consequence.

She was still inside, quiet for a moment as she perched on the edge of the bed and shifted her skirts to lace her boots. Talin’s taste was ostentatious at the best of times, but the clothes she had prepared were for the most part tolerable. Yesterday’s dress lay neatly abandoned – meticulously cleaned, but Nythadri had no desire to wear it again after the memory of Larnair’s soaking blood. Instead her blouse today was as pale as her eyes and pearlescent as moonlight, with floral embroidery on the tight cuffs and looser neckline. Skirts belted at the waist fell in dark blues and indigos. At least the colours were muted. And matched.

She considered inwardly for a moment, and did not like the feeling of paranoia buried within, but neither did she deny herself the security of a ward before she spoke next.

“Jai?” She said his name softly, mostly to ensure his attention did not still linger on their more than questionable allies, though her own did not rise from the knot of her laces – which she was pulling at with an almost vicious tightness. “There’s something he doesn’t yet know – and I do not intend to tell him.” This first confession was the easier to share, held back until now only because of last night’s strain. She did not prevaricate. “The Yellow, Talin. She has the oathrod. She offered to release me from the Three Oaths.”

She glanced up, wondering if he’d ask the obvious question – if she had accepted. If the dizzying possibility might suddenly cast suspicion on everything she had said since their reunion. He’d have every right for doubt, and she braced for the possibility as much as she was absorbing his reaction – internal and external. She had not done it, and so far as she knew neither yet had Talin. But it was a tool at their disposal, and one they might need in the future. Aes Sedai could not lie, and everyone knew it. Including Arikan. But she might need to, where they were headed. She wanted to glean what he thought. The prospect sat uncertainly in her, edging around a deeper sense of self-crisis. The serpent ring was not on her finger, still sitting instead by the water basin. The Tower was fractured, and Nythadri hid how deeply it wounded her, knowing Jai’s own injuries clawed far deeper after last night. But that wasn’t the uncertainty which paused her now.

She took a breath, felt the light-forsaken betrayal of its hitch. She’d abandoned the effort with her boots by now, and her hands came to rest on her lap. Her posture was nothing but the perfection of raised nobility, a shield in itself, and there was a knot in her chest. It was pain she tried her best to smother, but she was aware that even absence would speak volumes to him. “I do not think it’s wise for us to risk returning to the Tower. As far as I know I haven’t been implicated in the theft, but… well, I do not know what we would return to either. Elsae should be in the city, somewhere I trust she will be safe. We have no reason to go back. Except one.” Her brows narrowed, her jaw tense, but though she looked intense in that moment, it was despair that battered at the walls.