The Point of No Return

[Natalie Grey]

[[continues at Consorting with Enemies]]

[Kemala]

The last Sitter to stand was Esenya Sedai of the Yellow Ajah.

Kekura retook the floor amid a heavy silence. They all recognized what was enacted that night, but they were Aes Sedai and prepared to do what must be done.

“There is one final matter to discuss.”

Fifteen minutes later, Kekura led twelve of the strongest Sitters from the Hall.

They filed at her back, shawls swinging tight in their grips. Warders stood at the procession, but Kekura knew that for those Sitters bonded to one that they wouldn’t follow by a mere glimpse from the Red in the lead.

They found Kaydrienne in her quarters. Adrasteia was found second. Both were shielded and bound by the One Power in not but their nightclothes. Sisters walked ahead of the captors to clear the path of all witnesses while they proceeded to the dungeons. Kekura did not observe what happened to their warders. She only felt the flows of the One Power as they were ambushed in route.

In the same dungeon as once housed another deposed Blue, the former Amyrlin and Keeper were stripped, lashed with air, and set to the Hall’s judgement.

Linked with her sisters, she led the flows that stilled each woman of their connection to the source. As hard as Kekura was, she did not relish the moment. She was no darkfriend and Kaydrienne was not someone she sought to treat cruelly, but she knew that every action taken was going to represent her future place on the Seat. She had to take as hard a stance as what she felt against the Seanchan, and Kaydrienne was certainly aware of secrets that she would need.

They discussed Arad Doman first and many things afterward long into the night.

At dawn, both women were taken before the same courtyard where runaways were stripped and birched. There, they were both beheaded with all the same oversight of ritual as Kekura believed was right.

Tight, tired eyes turned. The same twelve Sitters and their warders, such as they were, looked back at her.

“Tonight the Tower retakes what it has lost. From this day forward, we will wield every shred of our will to save our lost Sisters and drive the Seanchan back across the sea. Let them rule their own lands. They cannot have ours!”

Later that morning, Kekura wore the stole of Amyrlin Seat, and it was while wearing the stole that she visited a daughter in the dungeons. They only captured Fate Sedai because no woman could withstand the might of thirteen linked Sisters, no matter how strong. Fate heard the screams of her former Mother echo through the darkness last night, but she was not treated as harsh. Oh, none of them knew harsh. Kekura was Atha’an Miere. The People of the Sea tolerated no impertinence, and land walkers were weak by comparison, as Kaydrienne proved under the former Windfinder's attentions.

Yet Fate did not know what awaited her.

“Do you know why you were excluded from the meeting of the Hall?”

Fate indicated that she did.

“And what are you prepared to do to ensure you still have a place in the White Tower?”

Kekura anticipated her offer, and had the Oath Rod in fact been on the grounds, she might have accepted it. However, Kaydrienne never gave up its location.

That meant there was only one thing that could be done, and let her brother come for revenge, if he dared. Kekura almost hoped he would try.