Search Posts
"Enough!" Galina focuses on pulling together weaves of the Power in spite of the pain and pressure.
Galina laughs at Litheene's weak argument. "You speak for the traitorous, disbanded Blue Ajah, of whom there is only one sister in the Tower, and that only by the Amyrlin's sufferance. Clutching at straws- especially ones so weak- does not befit an Aes Sedai." The short-haired Aes Sedai finally looks back at Chen and ignores his comment about being a darkfriend. "Tell us where your Empress is, to the best of your knowledge, and everything you know about the defenses arrayed around her."
Galina sneers at Litheene. "No, child. What the Amyrlin said was 'as for questioning these people, a consortium shall be established of all the Ajahs. Only one from each Ajah can be present, and the consortium answers to' you. Your word extends only to the questioning of the prisoner. Outside of that function, you are merely a girl who has been raised to the shawl so recently that you have yet to forget the feel of an Accepted's bedsheets." She stabs a finger at Chen. "This darkfriend has killed a sister and he will die in return. Your word holds no sway over the matter."
"No, not until he is unable to repeat his performance of a moment ago. And call someone to deal with 's corpse." She glared at the woman whose grandmother had not yet been born when Galina had taken the shawl. "He killed a Sister. There are no mitigating circumstances. He will die once we have wrung everything he knows out of his brain."
"But not this one. This one is never going to see the outside of this room alive. He killed a Sister and is clearly a darkfriend. Strip that armor off him and break his arms and legs to prevent any further outbursts." Galina is livid, her pale face suffused with an angry red blush. While she might not care overmuch for the death of a Grey, the fact that this monster has killed an Aes Sedai in her presence has clearly enraged her. She takes a breath, making an effort to calm herself, and nods at Talene. "That was well done, Talene." Especially considering how badly she had missed with her last weave.
Enraged at being hit by the body of a Sister- even a Grey- Galina flings out a hand and weaves air and water to freeze the immense Seanchan in place. Presumably so she can take her time cutting off tiny bits of him and seeing how long she can keep him alive.
Galina doesn't try to dodge the Grey Aes Sedai's body, instead hardening the air in front of her to the consistency of stone. As she does, she splits her weaves, summoning fire as well as air. "He is a darkfriend! Don't kill him, we need to question him!" In spite of her words, she pushes weaves of fire into the ogier's body, willing him to combust.
Galina nods at Chen's armor. "Remove his armor. It is past time for that to be done. Idiot guardsmen." She makes no move to do it herself.
Galina nods at Elaida, her irritation suddenly gone. "As you will, Mother." She looks around at the other Sitters. "I represent Red. We have a representative from Blue. Who from the other Ajahs has the fortitude to witness the questioning of these two possible spies?"
Galina frowns. "Who determines what causes the White Tower promotes, Mother? The Amyrlin herself? Will the Blues be the Amyrlin's hounds now? Or will it be the will of the Hall?" She looks around at the other Sitters. "On those occasions when consensus can be reached," she adds, skeptically. It was unlike Galina to publicly go against Elaida's proclamations, but clearly the re-establishment of the Blue Ajah was something she hadn't expected and did not care for.
Galina ignores everyone but Elaida, the woman who had raged against the Blue Ajah until she finally did the unthinkable and declared them outlaws and rebels. "Mother, what is the meaning of this? The Blue Ajah is disbanded, by your own order! Have you relented? How was she able to take the Blue when there are no Blue sisters remaining in the tower to induct her? This is madness!"
Galina's face goes from surprised to outraged as she watches Litheene appear and then sashay into the room. She looks over at Elaida. "What is the meaning of this, Mother? Why is this traitor walking freely in the Tower?"
Galina grins back at Chen. "Your tone belies your words, ogier. And you are in no place to make demands on us." She turns and nods at Talene. "I doubt Litheene will know anything about these two, whether they are mad or from a mirror world, but I am willing to wait. As for whether we can put a woman with child to the question, I suppose we will have to see."
Galina sniffs. "All resorts are last resorts in these challenging times." She nods at Suana. "A fine idea. Cut to the heart of things, Suana."
Galina glares back at Saerin. "I am not threatening them, I am attempting to insure we learn the truth rather than whatever fancies they have been taught to parrot to their questioners. Putting them to the question can guarantee we hear the truth rather than waste time hearing tall tales and lies."
Galina's grin disappears and her head whips around as Vala talks. "You name the Dark One and speak of foolish rumors with no truth to them!" She shakes her head. "This is a waste of our time. Put them both to the question. See if the Chair of Remorse can hold something as large as this thing." She gestures at Chen.
For the first time during the meeting, Galina smiles. She leans forward and positively grins at Chen. "You will clean that up, ogier. Since your hands are bound, you may need to do so with your tongue."
Galina glares in the face of Talene's smile. "Do you have nothing better to do than listen to the lies of the least of our enemies? Bring the Empress before us on her knees and we might have something worthwhile to listen to. A general could deliver us battle plans and troop dispositions." She stabs a finger at Chen. "This ogier, no matter how individually impressive, has no information that requires the entire Hall to be present at his questioning."
Galina glares at the woman in the white dress. She clearly does not like being contradicted. "Logic tells me that we have 2 individuals to question, one of whom is clearly more dangerous than the other. We should kill the more dangerous one and keep the other for questioning. She can tell the story as well as he." "Logic further tells me," she glances at Saerin, "that Seanchan are unlikely to volunteer any true information to sisters of their own free will. Much less an ogier Seanchan. So anything they say voluntarily is suspect. Further methods should be used now, to insure their information is true."
"This is ridiculous." Galina sneers at Chen and Suana both. "He is an enemy soldier. Why he is here alone is not relevant, much less discussing the minutiae of whether he is a blademaster or not. An individual soldier knows nothing worth the time of the Hall. This is beneath us. We need no evidence to deliver sentence on a captured enemy soldier in time of war. Kill him and be done." She reaches up to tousle her once-long black hair and seems surprised to find it mostly shorn off, a result of the disastrous battle at Dumai's Wells. It is a wonder she is still a Sitter, given the magnitude of the errors that led to one of the Tower's single greatest defeats. The disaster has only hardened her attitude, however, and she seems to stand high in Elaida's and her ajah's esteem. "We can question the woman. She will be more pliable than any ogier." |