The Gathering Storm - Sanderson, Brandon Page 0,70

Kindly be a little more cautious with your tongue. Otherwise, you'll find yourself without a maidservant, and you'll have to let those ladies in the camp take up your laundry."

He gave her a bemused look. Then he just laughed. She failed at keeping her own grin to herself. Well, after that exchange, he would know who was in control of this association.

But... Light! Why had she told him about the Foretelling? She'd rarely told anyone about that! As she packed the shirts in his trunk, she glanced at Bryne, who was still shaking his head and chuckling.

When other oaths no longer have a hold on me, she thought. When I'm certain the Dragon Reborn is doing what he is supposed to, perhaps there will be time. For once, I'm actually starting to look forward to being done with this quest. How remarkable.

"You should be bedding down, Siuan," Bryne said.

"It's early yet," she said.

"Yes, but it's sunset. Every third day you bed down uncharacteristically early, wearing that odd ring you have hidden between the cushions of your pallet." He turned over a paper on his desk. "Please give my kind regards to the Amyrlin."

She turned toward him, slack-jawed. He couldn't know about Tel'aran'rhiod, could he? She caught him smiling in satisfaction. Well, perhaps he didn't know about Tel'aran'rhiod, but he'd obviously guessed that the ring and her schedule had something to do with communicating with Egwene. Sly. He glanced over the top of his papers at her as she passed, and his eyes had a twinkle to them.

"Insufferable man," she muttered, sitting down on her pallet and dismissing her globe of light. Then she sheepishly fished out the ring ter'angreal and put it around her neck, turned her back on him and lay down, trying to will herself to sleep. She made certain to rise early every third day so that she'd be tired at night. She wished she could put herself to sleep as easily as Egwene did.

Insufferable... insufferable man! She'd have to do something to get back at him. Mice in the bedsheets. That would be a good payback.

She lay for too long a time, but eventually coaxed herself to sleep, smiling faintly to herself at the prospect of an apt revenge. She awoke in Tel'aran'rhiod wearing nothing but a scandalous, barely covering slip. She yelped, immediately replacing that—through concentration—with a green dress. Green? Why green? She made it blue. Light! How was it that Egwene was always so good at controlling things in Tel'aran'rhiod while Siuan could barely keep her clothing from switching at every idle thought? It must have something to do with the fact that Siuan had to wear this inferior ter'angreal copy, which didn't work as well as the original. It made her look insubstantial to others who saw her.

She was standing in the middle of the Aes Sedai camp, surrounded by tents. The flaps of any given structure would be open one moment, then closed the next. The sky was troubled by a violent, yet strangely silent, storm. Curious, but things were often strange in Tel'aran'rhiod. She closed her eyes, willing herself to appear in the study of the Mistress of Novices in the White Tower. When she opened her eyes, she was there. A small, wood-paneled room with a stout desk and a table for strappings.

She would have liked to have the original ring, but that was carefully kept by the Sitters. She should be thankful for even a small catch, as her father had been fond of saying. She could have been left without any of the rings. The Sitters thought this one had been with Leane when she'd been captured.

Was Leane all right? At any moment, the false Amyrlin could opt for execution. Siuan knew all too well how spiteful Elaida could be; she still felt a stab of sorrow when she thought of poor Alric. Had Elaida felt a single moment of guilt over murdering a Warder in cold blood, before the woman she was tearing down had been properly deposed?

"A sword, Siuan?" Egwene's voice suddenly asked. "That's novel."

Siuan looked down, shocked to find herself holding a bloody sword, likely intended for Elaida's heart. She made it vanish, then regarded Egwene. The girl looked the part of the Amyrlin, wearing that magnificent golden gown, her brown hair in an intricate arrangement set with pearls. Her face wasn't ageless yet, but Egwene was getting very good at the calm serenity of an Aes Sedai. In fact, she seemed to have grown