Mist of Shadows
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Dawn and Reincarnation Part 16
🕑 Added 2019-05-18 07:04:31 +0000 UTC
Thom blinked as he stepped through the door to Dawn’s island and saw at least thirty naked women with ageless faces kneeling on the ground with strange seamless silver collars around their necks and some very unhappy naked women in their early twenties glaring at them with maybe a dozen women in strange color changing dresses also standing guard. “You don’t see that every day.”
“Sadly,” Mat muttered as he realized that the thirty prisoners were Aes Sedai or at least had Aes Sedai faces.
“What is going on?” Nynaeve demanded as she looked around at the various naked woman and half dressed men wandering around the area. “Why aren’t they wearing clothes?”
“We don’t have enough clothes to go around and some of the girls don’t like clothes,” Dawn explained as she watched the rest of the group come through the door. She snickered slightly as she watched Egwene and her brother’s faces go red. She flashed a smile at Tara who was certainly looking at the naked women with interest. ‘At least she’s not freaking out.’
Elaida’s eyes widened as Moiraine walked through the door. “You’ll pay for this!”
Sally absently touched the silver bracelet on her wrist. “You’re talking when you shouldn’t be, stop.”
“You’re a crackbrained fool if you think I’m going-” Elaida started screaming as Sally pushed the feeling of her skin being burned all over through the link the bracelet and collar provided.
“Isn’t someone going to help her?” Nynaeve snapped as she quickly moved to help the woman obviously having a fit.
Sally sighed as she saw Nynaeve running toward the thrashing Aes Sedai and stopped torturing the idiotic bitch that refused to stay silent like the rest of the prisoners. “She’ll be fine, she just needs to learn when to shut up.”
“She’ll be fine?!” Nynaeve snapped. “She was obviously in pain!”
“And now she’s not,” Sally replied matter of factly. “If she’d stop insulting people then I’d stop punishing her.”
Mat had to resist the urge to laugh at the look of annoyed disbelief on Nynaeve’s face. ‘At least the idiots are distracting her from the naked girls running around.’
Moiraine walked over to the group of thirty two unhappy looking prisoners, making a note to talk to Dawn about the collars in private when she had a chance. “Can someone other than Elaida please explain what they thought they were doing coming to kidnap people?”
One of the younger looking women raised her hand. “I’ll admit to trespassing as I did go through the portal without permission but I wasn’t going to kidnap anyone, I was just here to recruit people and hopefully learn some tricks. The Purple have a nasty tendency to hoard secrets.”
“That’s Aes Sedai in general,” Mat muttered under his breath.
“This is going to be messy,” Thom said as he studied the guards and prisoners’ faces, thinking about his nephew and how the Red had gotten him killed.
Perrin kept his eyes on the ground as he pulled his cloak off. “At least it’s warm.”
Egwene pulled her attention off a well muscled shirtless man as he walked past. “It’s a nice change.”
Moiraine felt like taking a switch to half the Aes Sedai for behaving like children, half of them were glaring at her like it was their fault they’d been captured. “I believe the first step is to figure out what the prisoners are guilty of.” She pointed at the young Aes Sedai that had flat out said she hadn’t come to kidnap anyone. “Please move her,” she pointed toward a clear area, “over there.”
“Let’s go,” the teenager wearing the Aes Sedai’s matching silver bracelet ordered after a brief glance at Dawn to make sure that she was on board with Moiraine Sedai’s plan. “Feel free to remain standing.”
The young Aes Sedai got to her feet then followed the younger girl, happy that Moiraine was at least being reasonable about the misunderstanding unlike most of the rest of her fellow Reds.
“Silence!” Sally snapped as the various Aes Sedai started trying to talk over each other. “You’re going to wait until Moiraine Sedai asks you a question then you’re going to answer her question clearly, concisely, and politely.”
“You can’t-” one of the women said then started gurgling as the women wearing the matching bracelet sent the sensation of being kicked in the throat over the link.
“Please stop talking out of turn, the longer this takes the more unpleasant it gets,” Sally stated firmly, not sure why most of the Aes Sedai couldn’t seem to understand basic instructions or the fact that they were trespassing.
Moiraine pointed toward one of the women that was sitting quietly without talking, scowling or fidgeting. “Why are you here?”
The Aes Sedai on the ground looked over at the Aes Sedai standing next to the teenager. “Same as Sara Sedai, I wanted to recruit some of the girls or at least learn their tricks.”
“Were you planning on kidnapping any of the girls?” Moiraine asked..
The Aes Sedai glanced between Dawn, Giles and Nynaeve then focused on Moiraine. “Only as a last resort.”
“Elaborate,” Dawn ordered as she absently scratched Giles between his ears.
The women turned to look at Dawn. “If any of the girls had been being abused or dangerous to those around them, I would have considered removing them for their own safety or the safety of others. Short of that, I wouldn’t have tried to force the issue.”
“They need to be in the Tower!” one of the other Aes Sedai snapped. “Get us out of here!”
“Do be quiet,” Moiraine said calmly as she gestured toward the Aes Sedai that had actually considered contingency plans and didn’t seem nearly as stupid or stubborn as the rest of the Reds. “Are you guilty of any high crimes?”
The woman shook her head. “Not to the best of my knowledge.”
“In that case, she can wait with Sara Sedai.” Moiraine turned to look at Dawn. “I suggest having something to eat and sorting out where everyone is sleeping while I deal with this.”
“Best of luck. Let’s go before she changes her mind,” Dawn said as she started walking toward the stairs that led to the first landing with Giles following behind her.
“You’re going to let her deal with the Aes Sedai, aren’t you?” Nynaeve demanded quietly once they were out of easy earshot of the group of Aes Sedai.
Mat snorted. “As a general rule, Aes Sedai consider most people that aren’t Aes Sedai children. Would you listen to a child scolding you?”
Thom gave Mat a considering look. “He’s not wrong, they won’t listen to us or at least not without being bitter and spiteful.”
“That’s no excuse to use ter’angreal collars on people. Where did you even find them?” Nynaeve demanded.
“Not everyone in the Age of Legends was a nice person,” Dawn explained as she walked down the stairs to the first tier. “Rand, you’re welcome to use the first tent on the left. You can share with Gawyn, Galad, and William, just grab the empty bed.”
“Why? Why not just grab a tent with Mat and Perrin?” Rand asked as he glanced at his friends.
“Just think of it as excuse to make new friends.” Dawn smiled as two nearly identical naked giggling teenage girls walked over floating two large color shifting tents above their heads with threads of air.
“Willow said that you’d need a couple more tents,” the girl on the left offered as she glanced between Dawn, Tara and Rand, interest plain on her face.
Perrin kept his attention on the floating tents rather than on the naked girls where his gaze kept trying to drift. ‘At least they’re looking at Rand rather than me.’
Tara winked at the girl on the left, not seeing a reason to pretend she didn’t like the view.
“Thanks,” Dawn replied as she pointed toward the empty area. “You can leave them over there or help set them up if you want.”
“That depends, is the gleeman telling stories?” the girl on the right asked hopefully as she looked at Thom.
“That sounds like a fair trade,” Thom agreed, seeing no problem trading a story or two for help setting up the tents especially when it meant he could enjoy the view.
“In that case, we’ll have them set up in a couple minutes,” the girl on the left said as she headed for the empty section of the tier.
Nynaeve pulled on her braid as she watched the girls start setting up the tents. “They don’t even care that they’re walking around without clothes, do they?”
“Other than avoiding being sunburnt, why should they?” Dawn asked as she headed toward Elayne and Willow’s tent. “Egwene and Tara should be fine sharing a room with Elayne and Willow which leaves Nynaeve to share with Moiraine and the guys to share with Lan.” She turned to look at Thom. “Unless you’d like to make other arrangements?”
“Not at present,” Thom replied, wanting to get the lay of the land first.
“Because there are men walking around,” Nynaeve snapped.
Dawn rolled her eyes. “Yeah, so? Everyone other than Thom and the two princes are from a version of the Two Rivers or raised in the Tower, in other words, the girls have nothing to worry about from the men.”
“You have more to worry about from the girls,” Darla said with amusement as she led Elayne, Galad and Gawyn down the stairs. “Some of them have wandering hands but they’re pretty good about behaving themselves if you tell them you’re not interested.”
Mat smirked at Darla. “Are you behaving yourself?”
“Only as much as I have to,” Darla replied with a grin as she realized that Mat was avoiding looking at her breasts which meant that he knew who she was which meant that he remembered despite looking like he was in his early twenties. “Welcome to the island, we have naked girls.”
“I noticed,” Mat agreed, looking forward to getting to know some of the girls better now that he wasn’t married.
“Mat!” Nynaeve snapped.
Mat snorted. “I’m not married Nynaeve and we’re not currently in Emond’s Field which means if you hit me with a stick for looking at girls that obviously enjoy being ogled, I will break it over your backside.”
“I’d pay to see that,” Willow said as she walked out of her tent. She did her best not to laugh maniacally as she read her father’s mind and realized that he remembered everything. ‘We’re going to win.’
Nynaeve turned to look at the red haired teenage girl that was wearing a calf length color changing dress tied at her waist by a gold belt. It would have been perfectly acceptable had the material not clung to the girl like silk and been transparent enough that she could clearly see every detail of her body which was almost worse than her being naked. “What are you wearing?”
“Some of the girls made it for me.” Willow giggled as she spun around to show off her dress. “Do you like it?”
“Yes,” Tara agreed as she ran her eyes over Willow. ‘I wonder if I can talk Dawn into wearing something like that.’
Gawyn managed to keep from saying anything he shouldn’t as he glanced between the girl with red hair and the girl with long brown hair that was dressed in a wool dress. ‘At least there are plenty of attractive ladies running around.’
Dawn cut in before Nynaeve could explode, “On that note, let me introduce everyone then we can stash our bags and get something to eat while we get to know everyone and listen to some of Thom’s stories.”
Galad frowned slightly as he focused on the familiar looking man with white hair, fairly sure he knew him from somewhere.
“Sounds like a wonderful idea,” Elayne agreed, curious about her new roommates.
0o0o0
Katrina Sedai nodded toward Lan as she walked over to where Moiraine, Pevara and Ishara were discussing the fate of the captured Aes Sedai that had tried to make a mess of things. “Any luck?”
“About what you’d expect Katrina,” Pevara replied, more than a little annoyed at the other Red sisters for making her Ajah look pathetic.
Moiraine turned to look at the unfamiliar naked Aes Sedai that was wearing a yellow silk scarf around her neck. “Seven of the Reds and one of the Greens are actually decent people and weren’t planning on doing anything other than learn some new weaves and make recruitment pitches.” She gestured toward the group of eight young Aes Sedai that were chatting with their guards and eating soup.
“The rest?” Katrina asked as she glanced between the various groups of Aes Sedai scattered around the courtyard, some of whom looked decidedly unhappy about the situation.
“Five of the Reds and the other Green, were planning on tricking the girls into coming back with them and signing the novice book but that’s technically legal provided you don’t use force.” Pevara wasn’t particularly amused with the second group but she could understand their point of view to a certain extent considering how much potential some of the girls had.
Moiraine sighed as she looked at the group of ten women that were sitting on the ground, looking annoyed but resigned to their fate. “Of the eighteen left, eight should be severed or hung for previous crimes while the remaining ten deserve some type of punishment but nothing as severe.”
“In other words, about what I’ve come to expect from most Reds,” Katrina complained as she glanced at the group of eight grim faced Aes Sedai that were still kneeling on the hard ground with guards glaring at them.
“I’d like to claim otherwise but you’re not wrong,” Pevara admitted.
Ishara spoke up, “If you’re going to kill them anyways, I’d like permission to use them for test subjects.”
“Test subjects?” Moiraine asked warily.
“The Purple Ajah are shapers, we turn plants, animals, criminals and the occasional volunteer into monsters to fight shadowspawn.”
“What type of criminals?” Moiraine asked, wondering where the line was.
Ishara glared at Elaida, glad that someone had finally gagged her as she was tired of listening to her threaten and insult everyone. “Generally rapists and murderers are the only criminals that warrant being turned into monsters.” She turned and looked at Moiraine. “How many ter’angreal does your Tower use other than the Oath rod and rings for testing?”
“We know what several ter’angreal do but we mostly only use the fancloth box regularly.”
“What do you think of Dawn’s talents with ter’angreal?” Ishara asked, trying to figure out how much the Tower knew without flat out asking.
“It is nothing short of extraordinary. Not counting the trespassers, how many people came with you?”
“A dozen Purple sisters, twenty accepted that are close to testing for the shawl and five novices that can sense residues and heal.”
“How many of you can heal?” Katrina asked hoping at least a couple of them had the talent.
Ishara shrugged. “All of them, you can’t be a shaper without being able to heal.”
Pevara winced as she thought about the Yellow’s complaints every time someone with a decent talent for healing ended up elsewhere. “Do the Yellow hate you?”
“As a general rule we get along fairly well with the Witch Doctors, the Battle Maidens and the Blues. We’re neutral to favorable with the Researchers and Greys and less than friendly with the Whites and Reds.”
“Do the White and Reds have nicknames?” Pevara asked curious about Ishara’s version of the Tower.
“The Whites only have nicknames when we’re annoyed at them, generally frosty, ice bitches or occasionally cold fishes. The Reds on the other hand are generally just called bitches but most of them deserve it.”
Katrina smiled at Moiraine. “What about the Blues and Greys? Do they have nicknames?”
“Not really. They generally picked up personal nicknames.”
“What happened between the Purple and the Red?” Pevara asked.
Ishara glanced at Lan then looked back at Pevara. “Beyond the fact that we generally have warders and combat pets, it dates back to the fall of Manetheren. When it was learned that the Amyrlin sold Manetheren out, the leaders of the Purple Ajah turned her into an abomination and sent her north to die, they’ve never quite forgiven us because Tetsuan had been raised from the Red.”
Pevara shook her head. “I’m suddenly glad that my world’s version aren’t quite as bad though she was still a horrible Amyrlin.”
“Speaking of questions, why are so many of the girls unconcerned about running around naked?” Ishara asked as she glanced between the other Aes Sedai.
“I’d been wondering the same,” Moiraine admitted.
“It started just over twenty years ago when a foretelling made it clear that the Dragon had been reborn and that the Last Battle was approaching.” Katrina glanced between Moiraine and Ishara. “No surprise?”
Ishara shook her head. “We’ve known that he was reborn for a while though we haven’t found him.”
“I’ve been searching a while,” Moiraine admitted, still not sure how far she trusted the other Aes Sedai.
Katrina shrugged. “We knew we needed more channelers to toss at the shadowspawn that were going to flood the world but we knew our chances of finding enough girls were slim which meant we’d have to consider other options. We knew it would have been next to impossible to convince enough Aes Sedai to have children to matter so we offered incentives for the novices and the accepted to have children with the family of people that could channel.”
“You’d end up with males that could channel,” Ishara pointed out.
Pevara shifted uncomfortably. “We considered it worth the risk as we could always shield them then have them knock up the next generation before gentling them if they started to channel. In order to keep them from scattering to the winds, we organized things so that all of the young men were raised to protect their family. The nudity part came about because of the orgies that got organized to convince the girls to get pregnant.”
“Are you sure you’re a Red?” Ishara asked in disbelief.
“I never had a problem with men. Either way, we should probably let Dawn know that some of the Reds aren’t that bad. If nothing else, she can put them to work teaching classes.”
“Lead the way,” Moiraine said, still not sure what was going on but willing to go with things until she could get an actual explanation out of Dawn.
