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Alathea's eyes narrow, and when she speaks her voice is flat. "You are not a prisoner, either. I am sorry for how you were treated last night. But if you do not wish to speak, I will burden you no longer." Leaving Zira to her corner, she wanders over to inspect the results of Jasper's cooking.
Alathea shakes her head and leans in close to Zira, speaking in a voice pitched only for Zira to hear. "It is relative," she agrees, "But it is also what we make of it. For instance, this is the first time in a long time that I woke up without my husband in all but law, yes? The father of the child growing within me? I know that he was mad and that his death was for the best, but it does not hurt less. That one wearing his face has joined us does not help, either. But I can do nothing to change yesterday, and I can mourn without dying myself, yes? Stepping back, she looks her up and down. "I do not pretend to think that you are not hurt, but hurt passes by, yes?"
Alathea wakes at the sudden noise of clanging pots and pans with a start--even though she had been exhausted, she hadn't meant to fall asleep sitting propped against the wall next to Zira. Though her body aches from her odd sleeping position, she feels much better than she had the previous night, although she imagines that she could still use a week's worth of additional sleep. Rising and moaning at her protesting muscles, she retrieves her pack and fishes through it for a clean outfit. As she does so, she finds the treasures that she and her companions retrieved from the Children of the Dragon's mirror world. "Perhaps if we are truly safe in this place, I may have the opportunity to decipher these..." she wonders before closing her pack up again. After changing out of the clothes that she'd worn for...how long had it been?!...and into a relatively clean but plain farmwife's dress, she follows her companions to the source of the noise. After a moment, she picks out Zira sitting in the corner and approaches her. "It is a good morning, Lady Zira, yes? How are you today?"
It really has been a long time since our characters have rested, hasn't it? Alathea has enough weaves to go around, but I keep watching the numbers dwindle and think "when did she last sleep?!?".
Alathea smiles again and sits down a few feet away from Zira, motioning for Kodokura to do the same. "Very well. You do not have to speak, and I will not speak to you if you do not wish. But unless you tell me to go I will stay here with you for a while, yes?"
Alathea smiles at Kodokura's words. "But I know you are no monster, yes?" At Zira's accusation, Alathea stops and stands a respectful distance away, but does not leave. "Monsters! Such a word that everyone is eager to apply to themselves! I do not wish to ridicule you, nor do I think you a monster. I think that you are much like me, or any one of us, save for the beliefs and cultures in which we were raised, yes? We have all had a difficult day, and we all bear hurts from it. But it is better to heal together than apart, yes? If you wish us to leave you be, we will, but I would rather sit with you."
"Am I really? Your mistress?" asks Alathea, a distinct note of laughter in her voice. "You do not have to if I make you uncomfortable. You see the one who captured your Dragon, yes? I am not her, but I do understand that it is difficult when a stranger wears a familiar face..." Once she's in Zira's presence, Alathea waits patiently for the woman's reply. Without speaking, she gives Zira the time she needs to gather her thoughts, to compose herself.
Following Jasper's suggestion, Alathea looks at Kodokura for a moment. "I will go to her," she says. "If you wish to take your brother's advice, I would welcome you as well." With one last wary look towards Chen, she lets her ward dissolve and follows in Zira's footsteps. Approaching her with cautious respect, she asks, "May I sit down with you, my lady?"
Although she moves much more slowly than Rhoekk, Alathea likewise springs into action at Chen's attack. As quickly as she can, she runs over to place herself in front of Kodokura, interposing herself between the Asha'man and the Ogier. With a snarl of determination, she draws deeply on saidar and spins strands of Air, Spirit, and Fire into a ward around both herself and Kodokura. As she does so she mutters, almost under her breath, "You will not kill my Heart again, Ogier!".
Shaking her head in disgust, Alathea leaves Analin's side and stands with Amorial. "Must we fight this out here?! Amorial is right; this is not the time and place!" To Zira and Tuli, she says, "Do not mistake me: it should be obvious that I oppose chaining those like me into subservience, yes?" But to the others, she says, "But if Merdrith does not wish her collar removed, what good will forcing her to take it off now do? Given time, perhaps you can help her find the part of her that wants to be free. But until then, taking off her collar will only be one more problem to face, yes? Maybe Merdrith will never want to be free and we will have to face it anyway, but at a time of our choosing." With a calculating look towards Zira, she adds, "Zira has already come to terms with traveling with unchained women, yes? Perhaps she may come to terms with unchaining Merdrith, but fighting her will certainly not convince her."
Alathea looks up in alarm from her meal at Analin's outraged exlaimation. Comprehension quickly dawns on her face, and she hurries to the Aes Sedai's side. Her voice low but urgent, she says, "I do not like this any better than you do, but we have tried this before. This woman...this Merdrith Sedai?...she is broken. She does not want to be freed, yes?"
Alathea stares at Jasper, then shrugs. It is not as if I am doing much else useful, yes? Alathea moves to stand next to Alanin, then asks, "What can I do to best help, Alanin Sedai?"
Alathea nods at Litheene's words, though her face darkens at her brisk tone. "What Litheene Sedai says is correct. In our weaving of the Wheel, she was raised by the rebel Amyrlin Seat for her capabilities and services." She does not pause at the word "rebel", though she does say it with a certain amount of distaste. She hesitates, uncertain of how much she wishes to reveal. "I was not allowed to witness her testing or her raising, but I have no reason to doubt that it happened."
Alathea shakes her head and waves a hand towards Jasper. "Did you truly not speak to offend, Jasper would not have reprimanded you. It is not just here, either! Every time the Tower is mentioned, you scoff. Every time we meet an Aes Sedai or one of the Tower, you are defiant for no good reason. Not every Sister is the one who took you to the Tower against your wishes, yes? You may have been wronged, but blaming all for the crimes of a those who wronged you serves no purpose. You may feel as you wish, but by the Light, must you always lash out so?"
Alathea glares at Ryvin. "What is said cannot be unsaid, yes? You may feel as you wish about the Tower and those who serve it, but will you at the least be civil? Your enmity towards the Aes Sedai, even those you have never met, serves none of us well, yes?"
"You are correct, Aes Sedai--I am not of the Tower, and you know of the mirrors of the wheel. But just as I am a mirror of the woman you know, so too is Litheene Sedai from the mirror world I am from, and there she is Aes Sedai. Newly raised, yes, but still Aes Sedai, yes?"
"Accepted, nothing," she says, the glow of saidar constant around her.
Alathea closes her eyes and sighs in frustration with her companions' words. Shaking her head, she says, "You have me mistaken, Aes Sedai. You seem to have the advantage of knowing of me, but I do not know you, yes? The Wheel has woven for all of us," she motions to include her companions, "a strange skein, and one that I do not fully understand. Will you speak with us all so that we may clarify our situations?"
Alathea hangs back as the wall swings open, unsure of what might wait on the other side. She looks through, again curious at the strangeness of the kitchen in, all comforts aside, what should have been a cave. But when the strange man appears, she slips past her companions towards the front and takes a place behind Ryland. In response to his question, she replies, "We mean you no harm. We are travelers, and we are unsure as to where we find ourselves, or how, yes? Can you tell us where we are?" Sketching a small curtsy, she smiles cautiously and adds, "My name is Alathea Neribar."
With a sad shake of her head, Alathea leaves Chen to his thoughts and wanders over to the books. She looks at them without comprehension--her mind is not on the task. Almost unconsciously, she looks over to spy at Kodokura...or at least, this world's version of him. When she realizes what she's doing, she quickly looks back to the books and tries again to concentrate on them.
Alathea levels a flat look at Ryvin. "If I choose to waste my breath, as you say, in speaking with Chen, it is my choice, yes? I do not need your approval to do so. I agree with much of what you say, and find aspects of his empire abhorrent, but that does not mean that I cannot speak to him in a civilized manner, yes?"
Did Alathea just channel a little bit of Spock? lol Not intentionally, no. Despite being a nerd for ~25 years, I've never gotten in to Star Trek. I blame my decidedly non-nerdy parents. On the other hand, my cousin has nerdy parents, and he was introduced to Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, comic books, and all sorts of other nerdy things at a much younger age than I was. I wonder how our mothers, being sisters, developed such divergent preferences.
"You misunderstand me, Chen," Alathea sighs. "Perhaps I spoke poorly, yes? Do you have a loved one? You have a mother and a father, at least, and maybe other family. I hope that you love at least some of them. If you were taken from those you love, never to see them again, or if you did see them for them to see you as something alien, something incapable of being loved, would you not wish to never have loved them than to suffer love lost? Lost for nothing you can change about yourself, yes?
Alathea frowns at Chen's response. "Ryvin speaks in anger, but she is at least partially correct. For those of us who drew the lots that grant 'inhuman power', as you say, is there ever a chance to prove ourselves worthy? A way to prove ourselves trusted to act correctly? If there is, I have not heard of it, yes? Does not the duty shown by the women you chain also beget morality, or do only certain types of duty count?" After a moment's pause to emphasize her words, Alathea speaks again. "I cannot blame you for believing as you have been taught, but neither can I accept your words as truth, yes? I agree that the needs of the many come before the needs of the few, but I cannot believe that enslaving others and treating them as less than human is the way to the common good. And neither would I sleep better at night. Even if I knew that my loved ones were safe from what you see as my volatile ability. If they are taken from me and I from them so that we may love no more, what then is their safety worth to me?"
"Un-unified?" asks Alathea. "But why should we not be? In your land, do the people in the far north live differently than the people who live in the south? They may share an Empress, but they have different customs and follow different beliefs, yes? Are they truly unified as one people?" She shakes her head. "In your lands, Hawkwing's children held on to their rule. In mine, they did not. That is the only difference between being unified and not, yes? And what is the greater good, then? In your land, it is what your empress says. But everyone has their own idea of what it is, yes? With no empress to tell us so, we still disagree with who is right and who is not."
Alathea looks over her shoulder towards Ryvin. Her voice curious, she asks, "You cannot make light? But that is the first thing we are taught in the Tower, yes?" With the wave of her hand, she weaves to create a light alongside Litheene's. Turning back to Chen, Alathea lays a hand on his elbow. "It must be difficult to be in a strange land, yes? Do you miss your home?"
Alathea, too, jumps at Tali's shout. Although her heartbeat quickly returns to a normal rate, she stays alert as she follows Chen into the room. Like him, she does not stop to inspect the trove of books, but stays close behind his massive form. Away from the eyes of Jasper and Kodokura, she surrenders to saidar. Though Kodokura's shield lasted only minutes before he released it, the feel of the One Power once again at her touch is especially sweet.
Well, Chen seems to have a special connection with Ryvin. Maybe you two could work something out!
"I know," Alathea replies in a quiet voice. "What you did was necessary, but I do not have to like it, yes? Nor do I want to see more death when it is not necessary."
Alathea looks away from Kodokura--for her stare has wandered back to him, she realizes--at Chen and Ryvin in annoyance. "Both of you, be silent! This is not the time to fight amongst ourselves, yes? When we find a safe place, you may tear each other apart for all I care! But in this strange place, we stand a much better chance of living to see that safe place if we are not fighting each other, yes?" Turning to Chen, she continues. "You have already put aside your aversion to working with those such as me, yes? At least for the time being? Can you not put aside your aversion to those men?" She pauses in consideration. "You have already killed my husband. That is not him, but you will not kill him again, yes?"
Alathea sniffs and holds the gaze of the false Kodokura for a long moment after he releases his shield on her. Breaking from his eyes, she then looks curiously at this Jasper, hardly believing that such a calm-seeming man can wear his face. Finally, her curiousity gets the better of her. "Jasper,", she ventures, "Do you come only seeking my Sister, or for other purposes as well? It is not that we do not welcome your assistance, but this is a very strange place to meet you, yes?"
Although her mind races in panic as she scrabbles at the edges of Kodokura's shield, Alathea manages to hold most of it inside and only show a little fear. "It seems that we are nobody that you know, just as you are strangers to us," she replies. "The Kodokura I know was not so jaded, so quick to judge, so slow to trust. The Kodokura I know did not forget to be the person that Alynna loved, yes?"
Yearning with all her heart that this man is her Kodokura, it is only instinct that allows Alathea to throw up a hasty defense against his attempt to shield her. The hope that was written all over her face falls away and is replaced with disappointment and anger. She steps back into line with Ryvin and Fiallain. Her voice flat, she says, "You are not my Heart, but neither am I the one you think I am, yes?"
Alathea sniffs at Ryvin's comment. "Not all times there were pleasant, yes? But still, I found my stay there to be a good thing." As the room explodes, Alathea crouches behind Ryvin and Fiallain, grateful for their protection. But upon hearing his voice, she rises. She knows that it is not him...just as this world has another Ryland, it must have another of him too...but she cannot stop the hope and the longing that wells up inside her at his voice. With far less caution than she knows she should use, she slips past her erstwhile protectors towards him. Eyes locked with his, she reaches for his hand. "My Heart, is it really you?"
Alathea is silent for a long moment, but she eventually shrugs. "It must be like any other apprenticeship, yes? At least, like any I have heard of. We Novices and Accepted rose early each day and learned and drilled and worked throughout the day under the eyes of the Aes Sedai. We had little time to ourselves, and we would fall to exhausted sleep at night." She shakes her head. "Other than what we are taught, I think that it is what all apprenticeships are like, yes? Is it what your apprenticeship was like?"
Alathea shakes her head. "I do not know either. I have little knowledge of these otherworldly things--my instructors in the Tower were very disappointed!--but I do not think that this is our world, or even the one in which we found ourself, yes? I think that it is like when we left the world of the Children and found ourselves in that horrible place. Maybe not all such places are so tainted, yes?"
Alathea looks askance at Ryvin's dismissal, but leaves the woman and Amorial to themselves. Instead, she follows Fiallain as she moves away. "Where do you think we have found ourselves, Sister?"
Alathea looks about in bewilderment. "We are not in this Manetheren, yes? This is no more the inside of the cave on that mountain than it is my Accepted's cell in Tar Valon. If we are to look for your portal stone, we will not find it here. But we do not even know where this is, yes?"
Despite the peril that Amorial and Litheene face, the stress of the day is too much for Alathea's concentration. As if the strange malleability of reality, the attack by Shadowspawn, and her brush with death are not enough, her lover's death is too fresh in her mind. She snaps out her weaving to catch her companions, but far too late--her mind is obviously in other places.
Alathea sees Litheene's weave forming just as her own takes shape, but although she tries to pull hers back, she can do nothing. The weaves collide in a tremendous blast, shaking the side of the mountain down towards her. By some miracle she manages to keep her footing, though her companions don't look to be so lucky. Acting by instinct, she weaves ropes of air yet again...but this time to catch, not throw. Sending them out towards Amorial and, cradled in his arms, Litheene, she attempts to wrap them up and pull them to safety.
Alathea hardly slows her ascent up the path towards the safety of the cave when the myrddraal appears between her and Amorial. Rather, she lashes out again with the One Power and attempts to hurl the creature away from her.
Alathea shudders at the appearance of the myrddraal but maintains her composure. Drawing deeply upon saidar, she wraps it in thick cables of Air and flings it violently away from the path, hopefully to crash to the valley floor far below.
Needing no encouragement from her companions or whatever it is that roars below, Alathea hurries up the path towards shelter. She picks her way as carefully as she can and tries to avoid disturbing the scree and causing an avalanche. Through it all, she holds on to saidar. While she does not use it to weave, she knows that their situation is precarious and wishes it close in case it is needed.
Alathea shakes her head doubtfully. "It may be, though I do not trust this place. But what choice do we have? I do not like the idea of using this Stone when we do not know how they work, yes? I would rather be anywhere else, but at least that cave does not change with the rest of the land."
Alathea nods emphatically in agreement with the sul'dam. "This woman is right, yes? We must leave while we still can!"
Alathea looks up at the strange ogier...Chen's approach. She opens her mouth, about to say something, when she sees the rider approach. Her breath catches in her throat and she draws upon saidar, if for no other reason to assure herself that it is still there to protect her. Finally, she manages a choked squeak, "By the Light, what is that thing?"
Alathea nods at Zira's request. "I do not wish to keep you," she motions to include both Zira and Tuli, "as prisoners, yes? You have trusted us, it is time for us to trust you."
Hurrying along to walk at Fiallain's side, Alathea hangs her head. "I am sorry, Sister. You should not have had to ask, yes?" Taking the other woman's hands in her own, she weaves Air, Water, and Spirit about her.
Fiallain: Alathea shakes her head. "I am well enough, yes? Let us all leave this place while we can."
Without the leashes... There is always shielding. Even if Seanchan society distrusts channelers so strongly, the people are generally inclined to obey authority. If at least a few channelers could gain the trust of the Imperial authorities, by becoming so'jhin like the Deathwatch Guard, they could install a system of training that leans heavily on shielding apprentices so they can only channel a trickle at a time, rather like Lanfear did to Asmodean. This supposes that being able to trust channelers or not is even important. I think that for the Seanchan, it's not a matter of trust. Because they have power that the Empress does not have, channelers, even trustworthy ones, are a threat to the authority of the Crystal Throne. Therefore, channelers must be controlled--and more importantly, be seen to be controlled--by the empress, so that in the eyes of the empire, her power is absolute. Trust is irrelevant.
but it does bring in some interesting philosophical and moral questions... The Three Oaths and the a'dam both provide a means of control over a woman who can channel. The purpose of both is to prevent women from using the One Power in unapproved ways. But besides the definition of "unapproved", the difference is choice. While those who are collared have no choice in the matter, those who take the Three Oaths have some degree of free will. Granted, I don't think that it's ever a completely uncompelled choice, as societal norms, expectations from the rest of the tower, tradition, and who knows what else exert an influence on the women making the choice. Theoretically, an Accepted has the right to say "no, I don't want to take the Oaths" and thus give up on becoming an Aes Sedai, but I'm guessing that she feels immense pressure to take the Oaths. It seems to me that the Tower is on shaky moral ground in taking initiates, even when compared to the Seanchan collaring their channelers. Both claim that they are protecting society from the dangers of women who can channel, and indeed, there is danger in improperly trained women using the One Power incorrectly. I think that the Tower is justified in taking wilders long enough to train them so that they won't harm themselves or those around them by accident, but it never happens like that. The Tower is loathe to let women go once it has them, as letting them go is giving away power. To make a long story short, neither the White Tower nor the Seanchan operate in a world of black and white. Certainly, collaring channelers and enslaving them is a darker gray than coercing channelers to stay in the Tower, but neither is a completely bad thing.
Alathea studies the strange ogier for a long moment. "My mother named me Alathea. What do you call yourself?" |
