“I know, but... I should have made sure that he knew I love him.” Elayne's voice was determined. And worried. “I should have told him so.”
Nynaeve had hardly looked at a man before Lan, at least not seriously, but she had seen and learned much as Wisdom; from her observations, there was no quicker way to send a man running for his life, unless he said it first.
“I think Min had a viewing,” Elayne went on. “About me, and about Rand. She always used to joke about having to share him, but I think it wasn't a joke and she could not bring herself to say what it really was.”
“That is ridiculous.” It certainly was. Though in Tear, Aviendha had told her of a vile Aiel custom... You share Lan with Moiraine, a small voice whispered. That isn't the same thing at all! she told it briskly. “Are you certain Min had one of her visions?”
“Yes. I wasn't at first, but the more I think on it, the more sure I become. She joked about it too often to mean anything else.”
Well, whatever Min had seen, Rand was no Aiel. Oh, his blood might be Aiel as the Wise Ones claimed, but he had grown up in the Two Rivers, and she would not stand by and let him take up wicked Aiel ways. She doubted very much that Elayne would, either. “Is that why you've been —” She would not say throwing yourself at “— teasing Thom?”
Elayne gave her a sidelong glance, the crimson back in her cheeks. “There are a thousand leagues between us, Nynaeve. Do you think Rand is refraining from looking at other women? 'A man is a man, on a throne or in a pigsty.' ” She had a stock of homely sayings from her childhood nurse, a clearheaded woman named Lini whom Nynaeve wished she would meet one day.
“Well, I don't see why you have to flirt just because you think Rand might.” She refrained from bringing up Thom's age again. Lan is old enough so be your father, that small voice murmured. I love Lan. If I can only reason out how to get him free of Moiraine... That is not the matter at hand! “Thom is a man with secrets, Elayne. Remember that Moiraine sent him with us. Whatever he is, he is no simple country gleeman.”
“He was a great man,” Elayne said softly. “He could have been greater, except for love.”
With that, Nynaeve's temper snapped. She rounded on the other woman, seizing her by the shoulders. “The man doesn't know whether to turn you over his knee or... or... climb a tree!”
“I know.” Elayne gave a frustrated sigh. “But I do not know what else to do.”
Nynaeve ground her teeth in the effort not to shake her until her skull rattled. “If your mother heard of this, she'd send Lini to haul you back to the nursery!”
“I am not a child any longer, Nynaeve.” Elayne's voice was strained, and now the flush in her cheeks was not embarrassment. “I am as much a woman as my mother is.”
Nynaeve stalked on toward Mardecin, gripping her braid so hard that her knuckles hurt.
After a few strides, Elayne caught up. “Are we really going to buy vegetables?” Her face was composed, her tone light.
“Did you see what Thom brought back?” Nynaeve said tightly.
Elayne shuddered elaborately. “Three hams. And that awful peppered beef! Do men ever eat anything but meat if it isn't set before them?”
Nynaeve's temper faded as they walked on talking about the foibles of the weaker sex — men, of course — and such simple matters as that. Not completely away, of course. She liked Elayne, and enjoyed her company; at times it seemed as if the girl really was Egwene's sister, as they sometimes called each other. When Elayne was not acting the twitchskirt. Thom could put a stop to it, of course, but the old fool indulged Elayne like a fond father with his favorite daughter, even when he did not know whether to say boo or faint. One way or another, she meant to get to the bottom of it. Not for Rand's sake, but because Elayne was better than this. It was as if she had contracted a strange fever. Nynaeve intended to cure it.
Granite slabs paved the streets of Mardecin, worn by generations of feet and wagon wheels, and the buildings were all brick or stone. A number of them were empty though, both shops and houses, sometimes with the front door standing open so Nynaeve could see the bare interior. She saw three blacksmith's shops, two abandoned, and in the third the smith was halfheartedly rubbing his tools with oil and the forges were cold. One slateroofed inn, with men sitting morosely on benches out front, had a number of broken windows, and at another the adjoining stable had its doors halfoff the hinges and a dusty coach squatting in the stableyard, one forlorn hen nesting on the driver's high seat. Somebody in that one was playing the bittern; “Heron on the Wing,” it sounded like, but the tune was dispirited. The door of a third inn was barred by two splintery planks nailed across it.
People thronged the streets, but they moved lethargically, weighted down by the heat; dull faces said they had no real reason to stir at all, beyond habit. Many women, in large deep bonnets that almost hid their faces, had on dresses worn at the hem, and more than one man had a frayed collar or cuffs on his kneelength coat.
There were indeed Whitecloaks scattered through the streets; if not so many as Thom had made out, still enough. Nynaeve's breath caught every time she saw a man in a pristine cloak and shining armor look at her. She knew she had not worked with the Power nearly long enough to take on Aes Sedai agelessness, but those men might well try to kill her — a Tar Valon witch, and outlawed in Amadicia — if they even suspected a connection to the White Tower. They strode through the crowds, seemingly oblivious of the apparent poverty around them. People moved out of their way respectfully, receiving perhaps a nod, if that, and often a sternly pious “Walk in the Light.”
Ignoring the Children of the Light as best she could, she set herself to finding fresh vegetables, but by the time the sun reached its peak, a blazing ball of gold that burned through the thin clouds, she and Elayne had wandered both sides of the low bridge and between them had managed to garner one small bunch of honeypeas, some tiny radishes, a few hard pears, and a basket to carry them in. Perhaps Thom really had looked. This time of year, the barrows and stalls should have been full of the summer's produce, but most of what they saw was heaped potatoes and turnips that had known better days. Thinking of all those empty farms approaching the town, Nynaeve wondered how these people were going to make it through