The garden fell still. Faint calls from the city below rose up into the air, and the branches shivered in the wind, dropping a few brown leaves between Elayne and the Kin.
“That sounds dangerous,” Alise said, taking a sip of her tea. “Surely you’re not suggesting that we set up a rival White Tower here, in Caemlyn.”
“Nothing of the sort,” Elayne said quickly. “I am Aes Sedai myself, after all. And Egwene has spoken of letting the Kin continue as they have before, so long as they accept her authority.”
“I’m not certain we want to ‘continue as we have before,’” Alise said. “The White Tower left us to live our lives in terror that we would be discovered. But all the while, they were using us. The more we consider that, the less…amused that makes us.”
“Speak for yourself, Alise,” Sumeko said. “I intend to be tested and return to the Tower. I will join the Yellow, mark my words.”
“Perhaps, but they won’t have me,” Alise said. “I’m too weak in the Power. I won’t accept some halfway measure, forced to scrape and bow every time a sister comes along and wants me to wash her clothing. But I won’t stop channeling, either. I won’t give it up. Egwene Sedai has spoken of letting the Kin continue, but if we do, would we be able to work the One Power openly?”
“I assume you would be able to,” Elayne said. “Much of this was Egwene’s idea. She certainly wouldn’t send Aes Sedai to you to retire if they were to be forbidden to channel. No, the days of women outside the Tower channeling in secret have passed. The Windfinders, the Aiel Wise Ones, have proven that times must change.”
“Perhaps,” Alise said. “But giving our services to the Crown of Andor is a very different matter.”
“We would make certain not to compete with the Tower’s interests,” Elayne said. “And you would accept the Amyrlin’s authority. So what is the problem? Aes Sedai provide service to monarchs across the land.”
Alise sipped her tea. “Your offer has merit. But it depends on the nature of the favors required by the Crown of Andor.”
“I would only ask two things of you,” Elayne said. “Traveling and Healing. You need not enter our conflicts, you need not be part of our politics. Simply agree to Heal my people who are sick, and to assign a group of women each day to create gateways when the crown wishes.”
“That still sounds an awful lot like your own White Tower,” Alise said. Sumeko was frowning.
“No, no,” Elayne said. “The White Tower means authority, politics. You would be something else entirely. Imagine a place in Caemlyn where any person can come to receive Healing, free of charge. Imagine a city free of disease. Imagine a world where food can travel instantly to those who need it.”
“And a queen who can send troops wherever she needs,” Alise said. “Whose soldiers can fight one day, then be free of wounds the next. A queen who can earn a tidy profit by charging merchants for access to her gateways.” She took a sip of her tea.
“Yes,” Elayne admitted. Though she wasn’t certain how she was going to convince Egwene to let her do that part of it.
“We will want half,” Alise said. “Half of anything you charge for Traveling or Healing.”
“Healing is free,” Elayne said firmly. “For anyone who comes, regardless of station. People are treated in order of the severity of their ailment, not in order of their rank.”
“I could agree to this,” Alise said.
Sumeko turned to her, eyes wide. “You cannot speak for us. You yourself threw in my face the Knitting Circle having dissolved, now that we have left Ebou Dar. Besides, by the Rule—”
“I speak only for myself, Sumeko,” Alise said. “And those who would join me. The Kin as we knew them are no more. We were dominated by our need to remain secret, and that is gone now.”
Sumeko grew silent.
“You mean to join the Aes Sedai, my friend,” Alise said, laying a hand on her arm. “But they will not have me, nor will I have them. I need something else, and others will as well.”
“But to tie yourselves to the Crown of Andor….”
“We tie ourselves to the White Tower,” Alise said. “But live in Caemlyn. Both have their benefits. We aren’t strong enough to stand on our own. Andor is as good a place as any. It has the favor of the White Tower, and the favor of the Dragon Reborn. Mostly, it is here, and so are we.”
“You can reorganize,” Elayne said, growing excited. “The Rule can be crafted anew. You can decide to let Kin marry now, if you wish. I think that would be for the best.”
“Why?” Alise asked.
“Because it will tie them down,” Elayne explained. “That will make them less of a threat to the White Tower. It will help differentiate you. It is something that few women in the White Tower do, and it gives you something to make the Kin more attractive as an option.”
Alise nodded, thoughtful; Sumeko seemed to be coming around. Elayne was sorry to admit that she wouldn’t miss the woman when she left. Elayne intended to push them to restructure how they chose leaders. It would be much more convenient if she could work with one like Alise, as opposed to whomever happened to be the oldest among them.
“I still worry about the Amyrlin,” Alise said. “Aes Sedai do not charge for services. What will she say if we start doing so?”
“I will speak with Egwene,” Elayne repeated. “I’m certain I can convince her that the Kin, and Andor, are no threat to her.”
Hopefully. There was a chance for something incredible in the Kin, a chance for Andor to have constant and inexpensive access to gateways. That would put her on nearly equal ground with the Seanchan.
She spoke with the women for a time longer, making certain they felt she was giving them due attention. Eventually, she dismissed them, but found herself lingering in the garden, standing between two planters holding bluebells, their clusters of tiny, vaselike blossoms drooping and wiggling in the breeze. She tried not to look at the planter beside them, which was empty. The bluebells there had flowered in the color of blood, and had actually bled something red when cut. The gardeners had pulled them out.
The Seanchan would come for Andor eventually. By then, Rand’s armies would likely be weakened and broken from the fighting, their leader possibly dead. Again, it made her heart twist to consider that, but she couldn’t