01-04-2023, 01:28 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-08-2023, 07:14 PM by Jay Carpenter.)
He followed along, arranging his clothes as he walked. By the time, he locked eyes with the woman named Hessalam again, it was with saidin ready to defend himself. She seemed compliant to Lythia Sedai’s orders, but he wasn’t going to turn his back to her again anytime soon. Thankfully, she was sent away while they talked.
He wasn’t much of a tea drinker these days. It reminded him of too many meetings growing up, following around his dad’s clerks and learning their trade. Why were deals were always made over tea? Dru would think it was a good vehicle for poison. He wasn’t wrong, Jai thought, followed by a pang of regret. He hadn’t meant to conjure Andreu to mind.
“No thanks,” he said to the tea as he sat. He would never suspect Lythia of anything, but he’d not put her servant past the attempt. Maybe he was more like Dru than he preferred to think? Nope. Nevermind. That was a bad thread to pull free.
He wasn’t sure why he was here. Other than it was the aimless direction that his legs carried him. Since the other Sister delivered him the destination, it meant she worked with Lythia over all this. He preferred it was Lythia here. For no other reason than he (mostly) trusted her if only by reputation. At least he trusted her as much as he could trust any Aes Sedai. Except Nythadri, he thought, remembering her rise in rank.
She had spoken of Nythadri when last they were together. How bad would it be to bring her up now? He was here because of his loyalty to Daryen, but if Lythia could share but news of Nythadri… She was gone from the Tower before. Where in the world had she journeyed? Probably somewhere south. Bloody north was only the Borderlands and nothing waited there but battle and blood. Wherever she was, she was probably cutting a room with her bloody icy stare and making the idiot nobles dance to her tune. At least he hoped she was.
“You’re right. I noticed there weren’t Aes Sedai,” he said to himself more than to her. The crowd had been full of every other kind of dignitary. Representatives from government, military, nobles and the Mercant’s Council filled the front. Jai had mostly distracted himself by studying everyone he could see. He was looking for tensions. For those carrying weapons. For anyone who looked like a channeler ready to die for a cause. There were no ageless faces. Perhaps a young Sister who hadn’t yet come to the agelessness might have blended in, but there was no way of knowing any better.
“Trista was downcast,” he added.
“I have no reason to think she was ordered to this. She’s a Gaidar but not bonded to anyone that I know of,” his voice trailed at the end. For a while he thought Daryen had done the deed. They spent enough nights together to breed suspicion, but that was eventually cleared up. It was to create suspicion. To get the nobles to talk. To build Trista’s reputation so that when Daryen gave her away, it looked like she was his to give.
Talk of the Amyrlin and Hall nailed Jai to stillness. Only after his eyes began to burn did he realize he’d forgotten to blink. Then that was all he could do. Blink. Sadiq had been the one to put out the contract for Daryen’s assassination. Jai was there the night the General was arrested. He didn’t quite believe it. Not even the Tower would try to kill the king of Arad Doman.
“You’re telling me that the White Tower —“
“Not the white,” she replied, calm and certain.
Jai shook his head. Not possible.
“Daryen has been in power a long time,” she went on.
He stared at her.
“When was the last time he presented to the Black Tower? When was the last time he knelt before the dais” she asked.
He had an answer to that.
Not since before the war. The very war with the Seanchan that was ordered be started by the M’Hael. When Jai was transferred from Illian to Arad Doman and took up rank under Daryen’s command. They came out of that war closer than brothers. And a decade later, Daryen made peace with the same people that the M’Hael sent him to slaughter.
He had to piece it all together.
He rubbed his head. If he was even entertaining this possibility, that the M’Hael, who openly spoke against the Seanchan, only to defer to the Dragon’s will (or so Jai assumed was the Dragon's will), had it in his head to see Daryen removed from the throne of Arad Doman, only death would do it. No politician. No game would undermine Daryen’s loyal subjects. It had to be death.
“But the Dragon Reborn —“ he started. The Dragon was the one that wanted Daryen on the seat. The crown may as well sat on the Dragon’s head all this time, but the argument was weak. Even in his own head.
“Was anyone present from the Black Tower?” she asked.
He closed his eyes. Remembering the sight. He’d spied Araya, but he hadn’t been in uniform. Though the guy rarely was. And he was buried among a sea of shoulders.
Jai shook his head. So the Towers were conspiring against Daryen. That’s what Lythia was saying. And Jai’s punishment was for meddling in Andoran politics. He gets one bloody sack of shit Lord arrested, and they take everything from him. While the M’Hael and Amyrlin colluded to see Daryen murdered.
He knew the exact moment he seized saidin. It settled the darkness on his expression like the shadow of a violent friend.
“You said we could stop it?”
[[Dialogue written by me]]
He wasn’t much of a tea drinker these days. It reminded him of too many meetings growing up, following around his dad’s clerks and learning their trade. Why were deals were always made over tea? Dru would think it was a good vehicle for poison. He wasn’t wrong, Jai thought, followed by a pang of regret. He hadn’t meant to conjure Andreu to mind.
“No thanks,” he said to the tea as he sat. He would never suspect Lythia of anything, but he’d not put her servant past the attempt. Maybe he was more like Dru than he preferred to think? Nope. Nevermind. That was a bad thread to pull free.
He wasn’t sure why he was here. Other than it was the aimless direction that his legs carried him. Since the other Sister delivered him the destination, it meant she worked with Lythia over all this. He preferred it was Lythia here. For no other reason than he (mostly) trusted her if only by reputation. At least he trusted her as much as he could trust any Aes Sedai. Except Nythadri, he thought, remembering her rise in rank.
She had spoken of Nythadri when last they were together. How bad would it be to bring her up now? He was here because of his loyalty to Daryen, but if Lythia could share but news of Nythadri… She was gone from the Tower before. Where in the world had she journeyed? Probably somewhere south. Bloody north was only the Borderlands and nothing waited there but battle and blood. Wherever she was, she was probably cutting a room with her bloody icy stare and making the idiot nobles dance to her tune. At least he hoped she was.
“You’re right. I noticed there weren’t Aes Sedai,” he said to himself more than to her. The crowd had been full of every other kind of dignitary. Representatives from government, military, nobles and the Mercant’s Council filled the front. Jai had mostly distracted himself by studying everyone he could see. He was looking for tensions. For those carrying weapons. For anyone who looked like a channeler ready to die for a cause. There were no ageless faces. Perhaps a young Sister who hadn’t yet come to the agelessness might have blended in, but there was no way of knowing any better.
“Trista was downcast,” he added.
“I have no reason to think she was ordered to this. She’s a Gaidar but not bonded to anyone that I know of,” his voice trailed at the end. For a while he thought Daryen had done the deed. They spent enough nights together to breed suspicion, but that was eventually cleared up. It was to create suspicion. To get the nobles to talk. To build Trista’s reputation so that when Daryen gave her away, it looked like she was his to give.
Talk of the Amyrlin and Hall nailed Jai to stillness. Only after his eyes began to burn did he realize he’d forgotten to blink. Then that was all he could do. Blink. Sadiq had been the one to put out the contract for Daryen’s assassination. Jai was there the night the General was arrested. He didn’t quite believe it. Not even the Tower would try to kill the king of Arad Doman.
“You’re telling me that the White Tower —“
“Not the white,” she replied, calm and certain.
Jai shook his head. Not possible.
“Daryen has been in power a long time,” she went on.
He stared at her.
“When was the last time he presented to the Black Tower? When was the last time he knelt before the dais” she asked.
He had an answer to that.
Not since before the war. The very war with the Seanchan that was ordered be started by the M’Hael. When Jai was transferred from Illian to Arad Doman and took up rank under Daryen’s command. They came out of that war closer than brothers. And a decade later, Daryen made peace with the same people that the M’Hael sent him to slaughter.
He had to piece it all together.
He rubbed his head. If he was even entertaining this possibility, that the M’Hael, who openly spoke against the Seanchan, only to defer to the Dragon’s will (or so Jai assumed was the Dragon's will), had it in his head to see Daryen removed from the throne of Arad Doman, only death would do it. No politician. No game would undermine Daryen’s loyal subjects. It had to be death.
“But the Dragon Reborn —“ he started. The Dragon was the one that wanted Daryen on the seat. The crown may as well sat on the Dragon’s head all this time, but the argument was weak. Even in his own head.
“Was anyone present from the Black Tower?” she asked.
He closed his eyes. Remembering the sight. He’d spied Araya, but he hadn’t been in uniform. Though the guy rarely was. And he was buried among a sea of shoulders.
Jai shook his head. So the Towers were conspiring against Daryen. That’s what Lythia was saying. And Jai’s punishment was for meddling in Andoran politics. He gets one bloody sack of shit Lord arrested, and they take everything from him. While the M’Hael and Amyrlin colluded to see Daryen murdered.
He knew the exact moment he seized saidin. It settled the darkness on his expression like the shadow of a violent friend.
“You said we could stop it?”
[[Dialogue written by me]]
Only darkness shows you the light.