She bared her teeth, but it was all her own fault, one way and another. After all, she was the one who had hammered at the Kin that they ought to show some backbone instead of groveling to Aes Sedai. Well, they certainly had stopped groveling. Instead, they were all too likely to hold sisters up to the standard of their Rule. And find the sister wanting! It might not be Nynaeve's fault, exactly, that she appeared to be little more than twenty– she had slowed early—but age was important to the Kin, and she had chosen to spend most of her time with them. She was not jerking her braid, just pulling at it so steadily it must be ready to pull free of her scalp.

"And those cursed Sea Folk! Wretched women! Wretched;

wretched; wretched! If it wasn't for that bloody bargain . . . ! The last thing I need on my hands is a couple of whining, bleating novices!" Kirstian's lips thinned for an instant, and Zarya's dark eyes flashed indignation before she managed to assume meekness again. A semblance of it. They had sense enough to know that novices did not open their mouths to Aes Sedai, though.

Elayne shoved down the desire to smooth everything over. She wanted to slap Kirstian and Zarya both. They had complicated everything by not keeping their mouths shut in the first place. She wanted to slap Nynaeve. So she finally had been cornered by the Windfinders, had she? That earned no sympathy. "I'm not playing at anything, Nynaeve, and you well know it! I have asked your advice often enough!" Drawing a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. The servants she could see beyond Vandene and the two novices had paused in their work to goggle at the cluster of women. She doubted they more than noticed Lan, impressive as he was. Arguing Aes Sedai were something to watch, and stay clear of. "Someone has to take charge of them," she said more quietly. "Or do you think you can just tell them to forget all this? Look at them, Nynaeve. Left to themselves, they will be trying to find out who it is in a heartbeat. They wouldn't have gone to Vandene unless they thought she would let them help." The pair became pictures of wide-eyed novice innocence, with just a hint of offense at an unjust accusation. Elayne did not believe it. They had had a lifetime to work on disguising themselves.

"And why not?" Nynaeve said after a moment, shifting her shawl. "Light, Elayne, you have to remember they aren't what we normally expect in novices." Elayne opened her mouth in protest—what we normally expect, indeed!—Nynaeve might never have been a novice, but she had been Accepted not all that long ago; a whining, bleating Accepted, often enough, too!—she opened her mouth, and Nynaeve went right on. "Vandene can make good use of them, I'm sure," she said. "And when she isn't, she can give them regular lessons. I remember someone telling me you've taught novices before, Vandene. There. It's settled."

The two novices smiled broad, eager smiles of anticipation– they all but rubbed their hands together in satisfaction—but Vandene scowled. "I do not need novices getting under my feet while I—"

"You're just as blind as Elayne," Nynaeve broke in. "They have experience making Aes Sedai take them for something other than what they are. They can work at your direction, and that will give you time to sleep and eat. I don't believe you're doing either." She drew herself up, draping her shawl across her shoulders and along her arms. It was quite a performance. Short as she was, no taller than Zarya and markedly shorter than Vandene or Kirstian, she managed to seem the tallest one there by inches. It was a skill Elayne wished she could master. Although she would not try in a dress cut that way. Nynaeve was in danger of coming right out. Still, that did not diminish her presence. She was the essence of command. "You will do it, Vandene," she said firmly.

Vandene's scowl faded slowly, but fade it did. Nynaeve stood higher in the Power than she, and even if she never consciously thought of the fact, deeply ingrained custom made her yield, however unwillingly. By the time she turned to the two women in white, her face was as near composed as it had been since Adeleas' murder. Which just meant that the judge might not order an execution right now. Later, perhaps. Her gaunt face was calm, and starkly grim.

"I did teach novices for a time," she said. "A short time. The Mistress of Novices thought I was too hard on my students." The pair's eagerness cooled a bit. "Her name was Sereille Bagand." Zarya's face went as pale as Kirstian's, and Kirstian swayed as if suddenly dizzy. As Mistress of Novices and later Amyrlin Seat, Sereille was a legend. The sort of legend that made you wake in the middle of the night sweating. "I do eat," Vandene said to Nynaeve. "But everything tastes like ashes." With a curt gesture at the two novices, she led them away past Lan. They were staggering slightly as they followed.

"Stubborn woman," Nynaeve grumbled, frowning at the retreating backs, but there was more than a hint of sympathy in her voice. "I know a dozen herbs that would help her sleep, but she won't touch them. I've half a mind to slip something into her evening wine."

A wise ruler, Elayne thought, knows when to speak and when not. Well, that was wisdom in anyone. She did not say that Nynaeve calling anyone stubborn was the rooster calling the pheasant proud. "Do you know what Reanne's news is?" she said instead. "Good news—'of a sort'—so I understand."

"I haven't seen her this morning," the other woman muttered, still peering after Vandene. "I haven't been out of my rooms." Abruptly she gave herself a shake, and for some reason frowned suspiciously at Elayne. And then at Lan, of all things. Unperturbed, he continued to stand guard.

Nynaeve claimed her marriage was glorious—she could be shockingly frank about it with other women—but Elayne thought she must be lying to cover up disappointment. Very likely Lan was ready for an attack, ready to fight, even when asleep. It would be like lying down beside a hungry lion. Besides, that stone face was enough to chill any marriage bed. Luckily, Nynaeve had no idea what she thought. The woman actually smiled. An amused smile, oddly. Amused, and . . . could it be condescending? Of course not. Imagination.

"I know where Reanne is," Nynaeve said, settling her shawl back down to her elbows. "Come with me. I'll take you to her."

Elayne knew exactly where Reanne would be, since she was not closeted with Nynaeve, but once again she schooled her tongue, and let Nynaeve lead her. A sort of penance for arguing earlier, when she should have tried to make peace. Lan followed, those cold eyes scanning the halls. The servants they passed flinched when Lan's gaze fell on them. A youngish, pale-haired woman actually gathered her skirts and ran, bumping into a stand-lamp and setting it rocking in her flight.

That reminded Elayne to tell Nynaeve about Elenia and Naean, and about the spies. Nynaeve took it quite calmly. She agreed with Elayne that they would know soon enough who had rescued the two women, with a dismissive sniff for Sareitha's doubts. For that matter, she expressed surprise that they had not been taken right from Aringill long since. "I couldn't believe they were still there when we arrived in Caemlyn. Any fool could see they would be brought here sooner or later. Much easier to get them out of a small town." A small town. Aringill would have seemed a great city to her, once. "As for spies. ..." She frowned at a lanky, gray-haired man filling a gold-worked stand-lamp with oil, and shook her head. "Of course there are spies. I knew there must be, right from the start. You just have to watch what you say, Elayne. Don't say anything to anyone you don't know well unless you don't mind everyone knowing."

When to speak and when not, Elayne thought, pursing her lips. Sometimes that could be a true penance, with Nynaeve.