Mist of Shadows
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Mist's Jumps Part 35
🕑 Added 2018-01-13 21:35:17 +0000 UTC Scarlet absently glanced around the Amadician tavern at the various teenagers and young adults as she sorted through her current target’s mind with her telepathy. ‘At least you haven’t bought into the insanity yet.’ She activated her stranger power and slipped from the minds of everyone in the tavern other than Eric and Ruby as she made her way across the tavern. She tossed a mental message to Eric and Ruby, ‘I’m boosting the cute girls at the corner table, you?’Eric replied mentally as he finished pouring a small ‘skill book’ potion into the blacksmith’s drink while the man was distracted, ‘The blacksmith is decently sane, I figured I’d boost him and his daughter.’
Ruby smiled at the local girl she was flirting with that already had the potential to channel. ‘Just don’t give them the wrong vials.’
Eric rolled his eyes as he poured a vial into the blacksmith’s cute daughter that would give her the ability to channel the female half of the source. ‘I’m not an idiot Ruby.’
‘Considering your mother’s nickname was Collateral Barbie, I have to check,’ Ruby replied teasingly.
He resisted the urge to snort as he moved away from the blacksmith and his daughter. ‘I’m not my mother. ‘Besides, she’s a lot better than she used to be. Have you actually dosed anyone or are you just seducing all of the cute girls?’
Ruby absently listened to the cute girl that was talking about her father’s horses as she mentally replied to her half brother, ‘She’s about to have her world turned upside down and she’s hot. Besides, I already dosed a dozen girls earlier while you were wandering around. Illyria will get a decent haul when she shows up in twenty minutes with the troops then we’re off to the next town to boost the number of people that can channel.’
Scarlet moved to the next table where a young couple were enjoying their meal. She did a quick scan, ‘The girl is smart but the guy thinks the Children of the Light shit gold, any thoughts?’
‘You might as well dose her, she can always find another boyfriend.’ Eric was just glad that their Dad’s world didn’t have to worry about the Children of the Light as the Aiel had wiped out most of them out a decade ago.
‘Sounds good, if nothing else it increases the gene pool.’ Scarlet pulled out another vial they’d created by copying Elayne’s abilities and carefully poured it into the young woman’s drink then headed toward the door. ‘Let’s go.’
Ruby smiled at the girl she was sitting with. “Do you want to get out of here and go for a walk?”
The girl blushed. “I’d like that.”
Eric smiled slightly as he turned and headed for the door. ‘At least she’ll have a friend when her world gets turned upside down.’
0o0o0
Nora o’Shadows frowned slightly as she watched the last of the Taren Ferry residents they’d bought out as they reached the other side of the river via the ferry. “We’re not getting the ferry back are we?”
Lisa laughed at her half sister. “Not without flying over there and grabbing it.”
“It’s not like weren’t going to build a bridge,” Anna pointed out as she turned to look at the town they’d just bought. Technically they’d bought most of the houses and buildings in the town but it amounted to basically the same thing once they ran a new election for mayor and the empty spots on the women’s council.
“How much of that was us overpaying and how much was that Dad’s buy anything perk?” Nora asked absently.
“Probably a little of both. Not to mention Queen Tigraine Mantear was nice enough to send a number of guards to tell the Taren Ferry elders than the Two Rivers had been sold and to expect tax collectors.”
Lisa shook her head. “I’m still surprised that Dad was able to buy the entire Two Rivers area for a song and a dance and power wrought trinkets.”
“Considering how rare heartstone is, I’m not all that surprised that she was willing to sell land that she only really owned on paper.”
“Point, any idea what we’re actually going to do with most of a town?” Lisa asked with amusement.
Nora shrugged. “Dad wants a magical drawbridge and a sewage system built, beyond that I don’t think he really cares. I wouldn’t mind setting up a magical school and some strip clubs.”
“Strip clubs?” Anna asked with amusement.
“Are you trying to get Nynaeve to beat us with a stick?” Lisa asked curious if her half sister had lost her marbles.
Nora smirked. “Nope, I was going to ask Sin to help set things up.”
“Better her than us for getting in trouble.”
Anna laughed at the idea of Sin getting in trouble for much of anything related to sex or taboos. “What about the farmers in the surrounding area that we didn’t buy out?”
“If they complain, we can always offer to buy them out.” Nora wasn’t worried about gold considering she had several expanded chests full of the stuff that she’d gotten from the gocha cheat over the years.
“Do you think Willow would care if we bought out her world’s version of Taren Ferry?” Lisa asked.
“Thinking of linking them?”
“It would certainly make it easier to move people around without having to open doors every time we need to send someone across.”
Nora frowned as she noticed the ferry burning as it floated down river. “I can see leaving it on the other side or even ‘accidently’ letting it go but setting it on fire? Really?”
Anna laughed. “They probably wanted to make sure we didn’t change our minds and come after them.”
“Point.” Nora turned and looked at the closest buildings. “What do we want to deal with first?”
“Let’s check the inns first, then we can grab a couple of helpers and start deconstructing the town and putting in something more impressive and crystal.” Anna smiled as she started walking toward the closest inn.
“Crystal?” Nora asked warily as they followed Anna.
“We’re in Dad’s world, we’re going to be filling the place with sexy nymphs and hot magic users, I’m not going to hide the fact that we’re magic users, hell, we should see how many intelligent muggleborns and half bloods we can steal from Harry’s world while the worlds are still connected.”
Lisa snickered. “I’m not opposed to stealing some cute pureblood witches if they aren’t crazy.”
Nora didn’t really want to have to deal with the wizarding world’s screwed up culture but they might find a couple of useful people to recruit if they looked hard enough. Thankfully that job would probably fall to Harry or Hermione. She pulled her cell phone out and dialed Sin’s number.
Sin answered before the end of the second ring, “Hey sexy, what’s up?”
“Hey Sin. We finished buying the last of the townsfolk out of Mist’s version of Taren Ferry and wanted to have some fun setting up a strip club or something and wanted your help designing things.”
“Sweet, I’ll bring lunch.” Sin ended the call.
“That was easy.” Nora put her phone in her pocket as they walked into the deserted inn.
Lisa frowned slightly as she glanced around at the crappy looking tables and the various sections of the walls that hadn’t been repaired properly over the years. “At least I’m not going to feel guilty tearing the place down.”
Anna reached down and squeezed her half sister/cousin’s bottom playfully. “I guess that rules out dancing and sex on the tables.”
Nora frowned as she noticed a few half eaten plates of food scattered around on the tables she was fairly sure would break if she stepped on them. “Yeah, not happening. I mean you’re cute but not that cute.”
Anna pouted.
Lisa snickered as she playfully swatted her sister on her behind. “Let’s check to see if they left anything we need to keep.” She doubted there would be anything worth taking or scanning but there was always a chance.
0o0o0
Faith smirked as Buffy stopped pouring magic into the arch sitting in middle the ‘abandoned’ Taren Ferry inn that they were going to rip down as soon as Umy and Lily finished the design work on the new town. “You’re getting better.”
Buffy tied the pocket dimension to the metal arch they were using as an entrance then turned to look at Faith, Vivian and Pandora. “If you’d wanted it perfect you should have had one of the actual mages create the pocket realm.” She frowned slightly as she glanced at the silvery leash that went from Faith’s wrist to Vivian’s throat. “I still can’t believe you like wearing that.”
Vivian snickered as she rubbed her scantily clad bottom against Faith’s crotch. “I like leashes and it lets Faith punish me if I’m being naughty.”
Faith smirked as she fondled Vivian’s left breast with her right hand. “You’re always naughty.”
Vivian giggled as she leaned against Faith.
Pandora pulled her attention off Vivian’s barely covered breasts and looked at Buffy. “If it makes you feel better, Dad gave her a toggle skill book, she can turn her magic off whenever she wants and unhook the collar.”
Vivian smirked at the look on Buffy’s face. “I’m a pervert, I’m not an idiot.”
“Good to know,” Buffy admitted.
Pandora cut in before Buffy said something she shouldn’t, “I would have been happy to make the pocket realm but you’ve had more practice.” She’d meant to get more practice but she’d spent most of the last couple of days ripping apart and rebuilding the minds of the various Forsaken and tainted channelers so she hadn’t really had time to practice making pocket realms.
Faith continued playing with Vivian’s breasts as she asked, “How much time compression did you get?”
Buffy did her best to ignore Faith and Vivian’s antics as she replied, “No idea, it’s not like the ability comes with a user’s manual.or a window that shows the exact results.”
Pandora said, “In that case, nothing for it, we’ll grab a minion and send them through with a watch.”
Buffy pulled two stopwatches out of her inventory and tossed one of them to Pandora. “Here, I’ll be back in a minute.”
Pandora caught the watch then put her finger on the button. “Ready?”
“Ready.” Buffy pushed the button then stepped through the arch.
Pandora had barely pushed the button on her watch when Buffy stepped back out of the arch. ”Something wrong?”
Buffy shook her head. “Nope, I spent a minute looking around then I walked back out, how long was I gone?”
“Less than a second, you basically stepped in then stepped back out. How large was it?”
“I took a lap around the outside, I’d guess it was a couple of miles square. The edges had large walls of greyish fog and the floor was a grey stone.”
Vivian pouted. “When do I get superspeed?”
Faith smirked as she slipped her left hand into Vivian’s pants. “At the end of a year.”
“Neat.”
Buffy glanced at Faith’s hand. “You don’t have any shame do you?”
Faith snorted as she slipped her middle finger inside Vivian. “Like you’re any better.”
Vivian playfully stuck her tongue out at Buffy.
Buffy shook her head. “You do realize that there are still a bunch of farmers that we haven’t bought out that might show up, right?”
Faith continued playing with Vivian as she replied, “Not that I’d care but we have enhanced hearing, we’d hear them before they got close.”
Mist snickered from the doorway where he’d been watching the girls. “Really?”
Faith twitched then turned and glared at the ‘empty’ doorframe. “You don’t count.”
Buffy smirked as Mist turned visible. “How did your project go?”
Mist smiled at Faith and Vivian then walked over to one of the sturdier looking tables and sat on the edge of it. “Amelia and Selena are still putting some of the dark cultists back together after their trip through the Finn doors but we managed to pick up some useful items so I’m calling it a win.”
Buffy glanced back at her portal then looked back at Mist. “How many of the Black Ajah agreed to exile in the pocket realm?”
“About a third of them decided to try to atone for their previous crimes by having children and making Angreal. Most of the rest decided to take their chances in an empty mirror world.”
“Did you mention that you’d be stealing their magic before you set them free?” Faith asked with amusement as she worked on sending Vivian over the edge.
“I might have forgotten that part,” Mist admitted.
“In that case, do you want to help us set up their new home?” Pandora asked hopefully.
“Sure…” Mist trailed off as Sin walked in with Nora, Lisa and Anna. “Hey girls.”
Anna, Nora and Lisa said, “Hey Dad.” at the same time Sin said, “Hey Sexy.”
Buffy asked, “What’s up?”
Nora said, “We finished our first draft for the stripclub and figured we should talk to Mist about including it in the city plans.”
“Cool, we can check with Umy and Lily once we help Pandora build her town for the dark cultists that are willing to play baby factories.” Mist turned to look at Pandora. “Do you have a blueprint yet?”
Pandora sighed. “I have a rough draft, I’ve been a bit busy dealing with the tainted channelers and rebuilding the Forsaken into something useful.”
“Any luck with the people that got turned?” Buffy asked hopefully.
“Not exactly, fixing the corruption kills them. The best solution I’ve found is to bind them and order them to give their magic to someone else then have the person they gave their magic to meditate in front of a copy of the corruption eating statue to make sure they’re clean. I’m not completely sure it’s required but I’m not sure it’s not either.”
“Then what?” Lisa asked.
“Then we burn the corrupted husks. I’m fairly sure they’re like vampires, nothing left after they get turned.” Pandora had a feeling she probably could have summoned their soul back or something but doubted any of them wanted years or centuries of twisted memories on their conscience.
Buffy turned her attention back to Vivian as she started moaning. “Maybe we should move this to the pocket world?” Buffy held her watch up. “Ready to reset them?”
“Sure.” Pandora pushed the reset button.
Buffy pushed the reset button then set her watch on the table. “We can compare them when we get out.”
“Sounds good.” Pandora walked through the arch.
“This should be fun.” Faith smirked as she levitated Vivian and carried her through the arch while she continued finger fucking her.
Sin snickered as she quickly followed them through the arch.
Mist smiled as everyone quickly followed. He blinked as he walked in and saw that the girls had had enough time to get Faith and Vivian undressed and summon a bed before he’d entered. He watched Vivian do her best to tongue fuck Faith as he asked, “What’s the time compression on the arch?”
Pandora kept her attention on Vivian and Faith as she replied, “At least sixty to one, probably more like 90 or 100 to 1 given the delay when everyone entered the arch.” She’d had to guess based on how long people had taken to follow her through the arch.
“This might work better than I thought.”
Buffy frowned. “I’m still a bit leery of making a few thousand children using cultists, what happens if they turn out like their mothers?”
Nora piped up, “Mom said she had their genetic issues sorted so they shouldn’t go crazy as long as they have a decent homelife.”
Pandora spoke up, “I might have a solution. My cats are genetically/magically loyal, if I give a couple of them human forms and channeling, the next few generations should be loyal.”
“Doesn’t that just make them loyal to you?” Anna asked with a touch of amusement.
“It’s better than nothing.” Pandora conjured a set of blueprints for the town she wanted built then held them out toward her father. “Here.”
“Point,” Lisa agreed absently as she watched Faith and Vivian.
Mist grabbed the plans then smiled as he remembered about the Generation Hex perk that he’d picked up in Charmed. While he wasn’t going to mention the perk in front of his children the perk should make sure that any offspring matched the general morality of the parent with the perk, at least without outside intervention. As long as they gave the perk to the ‘good’ parent and made sure they were decent parents their idea might not be completely insane. “That’s a good start.” He scanned the plans then brought them up on his HUD so he could look them over while they waited for Vivian and Faith to finish their fun.
0o0o0
“Hopefully this works.” Harry looked down at Luna’s grave as he focused on his friends and spun the resurrection stone three times.
Violet said, “Let’s hope.”
Hermione opened her mouth to reassure Harry then closed it when several almost solid ghosts appeared around them. “Looks like it worked.”
Ginny frowned slightly as she glanced at the familiar and yet unfamiliar looking gorgeous redhead, thankfully she was standing next to Hermione and Violet rather than Harry. She smiled as she looked at Harry. “It’s good to see you.”
Ron grinned as he glanced at Hermione, Violet and the other hot girl with Harry. “What’s going on?”
Luna Lovegood rolled her eyes. “He’s obviously here to spring us and take us back with him to another land where we’ll get to live forever as fairy princesses.”
Ron snorted, “Right…” He stared at Harry as he realized his friend was smirking, “Honest?”
Neville grinned as he saw Harry’s smirk. “Damn, you actually found a way to bring us back, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Harry replied with relief as he realized his friends were willing to come back.
“In that case, sign me up.”
The ghostly Ginny squealed, “Same.”
“Who is the hot redhead?” Ron asked.
“You mean the one you’re staring at like a plate of delicious meat?” Violet asked sweetly.
“What? She’s hot,” Ron defended himself as he ogled the girl standing next to Violet.
Ginny gagged and turned slightly green as she realized Ron was talking about her. “Gah, I think I’m going to be sick.”
Hermione cut in, “She’s your sister from another world.”
The ghostly Ginny blinked. “I didn’t see that coming.”
Ron twitched and went even more pale. “Gah!”
Neville glanced between the two Ginnys. Now that he was looking for it, he could see the resemblance. “I can see the resemblance.”
Luna asked, “Can you spring us?”
Harry gestured at Luna and cast resurrection. Normally he’d just use revive but he’d rather not leave their original bodies in caskets in case the ministry decided to check. “Just hit the accept box.”
Luna reached out and tapped the accept box then smiled as she found herself back amongst the living. “Thank you Harry. You’re the best friend a girl could have.”
“Or a bloke,” Neville pointed out quickly.
Harry cast resurrection on the rest of his friends. “That should do it.”
Ron hit the accept button. “So much for trying to get on the Cannons.”
“It was a long shot anyways.” Ginny pushed the accept button and smiled at her solid looking hands.
Neville hit the button then stretched his arms above his head. “Gran is going to freak.”
Violet laughed as she stepped forward and pulled Neville into a hug. “Hopefully in a good way.”
Neville smiled as he hugged her back. “It’s good to be back.”
Hermione joined Violet in hugging Neville. “I’m glad you’re back.”
The formerly ghostly Ginny glanced between Harry and her possible sister from another world. “So you and Harry?”
Ginny shook her head. “Nope, I mean the sex is good and I like him but I like Sin more.”
“Sin?” Neville asked curious where Harry had met the other Weasley.
“The group’s succubus. She has a wicked tongue that hits all the right places.” Ginny smirked at the look of confusion on Ron’s face.
Ron twitched as he finally connected the dots. “Wait, you like girls? What about Harry?”
Ginny rolled her eyes. “As I said, the sex is nice but he’s not my world.”
Harry shrugged. “What can I say, Sin is awesome.”
“I’ll second that,” Hermione agreed.
Violet let Neville go. “We should probably make the rounds and pick up everyone’s wands or at least get new ones.”
Ron gulped as he realized that his mother was going to overreact to them being alive again. “Mum’s going to go sparse.”
Ginny laughed as she thought about her own mother. “Best of luck telling her.”
The ex-ghostly Ginny looked at Ginny as she asked, “I know everyone else, what’s your name?”
“Ginny, I’m your alternate.”
“Bullshit, you’re hot and look a bit like Hermione.”
Ginny smirked as she reached over and patted Hermione’s behind. “It’s a long kinky story.”
The ex-ghosty Ginny glanced down at the other Ginny’s hand and Hermione’s amused smile. “Change of plans, let’s find a place to get something to eat so you can give us the cliff notes version so we know what to tell Mum and Dad.”
Ron’s stomach rumbled. “Food sounds good.”
Neville frowned slightly as he realized he didn’t have any money with him. “I don’t have any money on me.”
Ginny said, “Don’t worry about it, we’ve got it.”
“You’ve got money?” Ron asked in disbelief.
“Like you wouldn’t believe.” She smirked as she reached up and patted Ron on the head. “I’m a professional monster hunter.” She grinned as she grabbed Luna’s hand and headed for the edge of the cemetery and the pizza place they’d seen near by.
“Monster hunter?” Ron wasn’t sure if she was joking or not but it sounded better than working for the ministry.
Neville shook his head as he watched the alternate Ginny and Luna walk off together. “I don’t suppose you have any idea how to go about officially bringing someone back from the dead?”
Harry said, “I’m just going to tell them that I was visiting Luna’s grave when she apparated out of it. Nasty stasis charm and all of that, the ministry might check but they won’t find a body. After that I checked the rest of your bodies and you were just sleeping.”
“Do you honestly think people will buy that?” Ron asked in disbelief. He shook his head. “They’d have to be thicker than Crabbe and Goyle.”
“Considering what happened in fourth and fifth year with the paper and the fact that resurrecting people is known to be impossible, yeah, I’m fairly sure the wizarding public will buy the story.”
Hermione said, “If that doesn’t work, we could always hire you to teach herbology.”
“I didn’t exactly get my NEWTs,” Neville pointed out as they started walking after Ginny and Luna.
“Nothing you couldn’t fix with a bit of reading and a private tutor if you wanted to. Besides, we’re more interested in your skill with herbology than your official records and I know you’re one of the best in our year.” He was also braver than most wizards she’d ever met and a good friend which made him worth recruiting as far as she was concerned.
“I’ll think about it.” Neville wasn’t sure what he was going to do after he talked to his Gran and picked up his wand but he wouldn’t mind finishing his education in private then teaching.
“Do you need someone to teach flying?” Ginny asked hoping that Harry still needed her or at least wanted her around.
“I’m sure we can figure out something.” Hermione figured if nothing else they’d give her a job as a monster hunter or a gocha farmer after giving her a couple of skill books. She was just glad that this world’s Ginny was decently sane.
0o0o0
Abby shivered slightly as she watched Mist enthusiastically hack his way through the demonic ‘army’ of half insect half humanoid demons fast enough that they looked more like statues to her than the dangerous demons they were supposed to be. She sent him a mental message. ‘Do you want to tell me what’s really bothering you?’
Mist replied mentally as he continued ripping through the various demons with his sword, ‘Not really.’
Abby snorted as she watched him pick up speed. ‘Tough, you’ve been moody ever since Harry got back with everyone, spill.’
‘I’m just blowing off some steam until Sin can deal with the worst of Mrs. Weasley’s issues.’ Mist pointed his sword at a group of demons and unleashed a magical blast from the tip of his sword that ripped them apart. He turned and ran toward the next group crossing the 200 or so yards in the blink of an eye thanks to his superspeed. Normally he wouldn’t have bothered killing the demons as there were millions of the damned things and they’d been more or less content to stay in their dimension other than the Zealot’s scouting mission but with Jasmine’s death he wasn’t sure that would remain the case and his Heartless perk gave him a boost to his magic for every magic using creature he murdered. He wasn’t sure if cutting the demons down like wheat before a scythe counted for the perk but the creepy demons would make a decent test. He brought his sword up and around as he danced through the horde of demons, killing everything demonic that he could reach.
Abby frowned slightly as she looked down on the hazy acidic and toxic smoke filled battlefield. ‘If it bothers you that much, you could always just send them home.’
Mist scowled as he sped up his attacks as he teleported to the next group and started in on them. ‘No thanks, the Weasleys are fairly sane, they’re just dealing with culture shock.’
Abby snickered. ‘It probably didn’t help that Sin talked Bill, Fleur and Charlie into siring a bunch of children. I’m still a little surprised that Fleur was willing to pick up a male alt form, she’s a lot more twisted than I thought.’
‘She is part Veela.’ Mist worked his way through the ‘battlefield’ as he continued chatting, ‘On the upside, Amy fixed the damage from Mrs. Weasley’s heart attack which is probably just as well considering we know she died a couple of years after Harry left in the story. Hopefully Sin can convince her there is nothing wrong with having a mistress on the side so we can melt Ron’s brain.’
‘Now you’re just being mean,’ Abby pointed out as she flew over the hill to get a better view as Mist worked his way through the horde of demons.
‘I’m not being mean, I just want a nice world where girls are free to have fun. Is that too much to ask?’ Mist asked mentally as he cut his way through the next two groups of demons.
‘Not really, Neville’s grandmother was ecstatic about Neville knocking up some cute girls.’
Mist finished killing his current group of demons then moved to the next group. ‘She probably would have been less enthusiastic if she’d known they were cultists. Still, Pandora gave him the Generation Hex perk so the next generation should be fine.’
‘Pandora said something about converting Neville into a neutral darklighter so we’ll probably see a decent explosion of charmed magical talents in his children which could be interesting.’
‘Or horrifying,’ Mist complained as he finished killing the last group of demons in the area and his cell rang.
Abby relaxed slightly and watched as everything started moving again which resulted in most of the demons exploding or falling apart once she wasn’t viewing the world in slow motion. “That’s a bit messy.”
Mist pulled his cell out of his pocket and glanced at the caller ID. “Hey Dawn, what’s up?”
Dawn said, “Kari and Elisara were down in Deven Ride helping Rand grow a Cora sapling into a tree when a certain grey haired Aes Sedai rode into town from the south, I figured you’d want to know.”
Mist frowned as he tried to figure out why Cadsuane had shown up this time around, in the story it had been because of a massive project but they hadn’t used the power to build the crystal city they’d replaced Taren Ferry with, they’d used their Builder abilities. “I don’t suppose they mentioned why she came looking for trouble?” He conjured a large globe of air to keep the toxic gases of the hell dimension from spewing forth then opened a door back to Emond’s Field in the middle of the globe. He gestured for Abby to head back.
Abby flew through the door in the air then hovered over the town.
“She didn’t say. One of her spies might have heard about the queen selling the land or maybe she felt the construction team working on the road or the bridge and decided to come investigate.”
“I’m taking a door to Emond’s Field, where are you?” Mist asked as he flew through the door and let it close behind him.
Dawn increased the speed of her flying carpet. “Egwene and I are flying in from Taren Ferry. We’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”
“Sounds good. I see you when you get here.” He ended the call then headed toward the inn to talk to Moiraine.
0o0o0
Cadsuane frowned slightly as she saw yet another girl with almost as much strength in the power as she had as she rode into Emond’s Field and felt her ter’angreal that detected men that could channel twitch. Before she’d gotten bored and decided to chase a rumor about a crystal city and the Queen of Andor selling the Two Rivers she’d been able to count the number of people she’d ever ran into that were stronger in the power than her on one hand, now she’d need all of her fingers and toes twice over, it was more than a little disconcerting. The strangest part had been riding into Deven Ride after crossing over a ter’angreal bridge that shouldn’t have existed and seeing a cora tree growing several feet a second before her very eyes. She’d rushed to the middle of town and caught the tail end of a wordless song. The most annoying part of the whole experience was watching the three red haired youths wave at her then vanish in a collection of blue motes of light. She might have blown the vanishing trick off as the Mirror of Mists weave but she’d felt two channelers of immense power vanish which meant they could either teleport or hide themselves from her senses, both of which should have been impossible. “Who is in charge?”
The girl smiled at Cadsuane. “That depends on who you ask, the mayor deals with trade, the wisdom deals with sickness and Lord Mist owns the region.”
Cadsuane studied the young woman as she asked, “And if I wanted to talk to someone in charge of the people that can channel?”
“That would probably be Selena, Egwene or Dawn, you can find them in the inn...” she trailed off as she noticed Dawn and Egwene walking over with Mist. “Or not. Hey Boss.” She waved enthusiastically at Mist’s group.
Dawn smiled at the nymph that was a copy of a Wisdom trainee that Scarlet had picked up in a different Two Rivers then turned her attention back to Cadsuane and her black horse. “Welcome to Emond’s Field Aes Sedai, what do you want?”
Cadsuane stared at Egwene as she tried to process what she was sensing. Unless she was wildly mistaken the young lady was leagues past even the legends of the Forsaken which should have been impossible. “How in the blazes are you that strong?”
Mist spoke up, “Chance, luck and the will of the pattern or maybe she just cheats. As for where we found everyone, none of your business.”
“You like being difficult don’t you?” Cadsuane asked with annoyance as she dismounted.
“Maybe a little.”
Egwene asked, “What brings you to our sleepy little town?”
Cadsuane said, “I’d heard rumors of a crystal city and decided to investigate.”
“You’re in for a bit of a treat, the original Taren Ferry was a bit of an eye sore so we bought everyone out then tore it down and built a crystal city in its place.” Egwene resisted the urge to laugh as Cadsuane tried to figure out how many sisters it would take to create a single crystal building let alone an entire city.
“How did you find enough crystal?” Cadsuane asked suspiciously.
“We used magic,” Dawn replied with amusement as she conjured a globe of crystal.
Cadsuane glared at the crystal globe then turned her attention to Mist. “You can channel.”
“That’s a rather serious accusation, what makes you say that?” Mist asked curious why she’d suspect him of being able to channel when he currently had the ability toggled off.
“I have a ter’angreal that allows me to sense males that can channel which is how I know that someone rather close can channel Saidin. The girls didn’t channel when the crystal appeared which means that it was most likely you.”
The nymph girl spoke up, “I’m afraid you’re mistaken, the person you’re sensing is me.”
Cadsuane turned slightly to look at the other girl. “Why do you say that?”
“Because the Goddess Willow gave me the ability to channel Saidin after the source was cleansed.”
Cadsuane felt the beginning of a headache start as she tried to figure out if the girl was lying or just delusional. “How did this Willow give you the ability to channel?”
“With a magical elixir,” the nymph girl replied proudly and enthusiastically.
Cadsuane turned to look at Dawn and Egwene. “Explain.”
Dawn glanced at Mist then shrugged. “Fuck it, it’s rather simple. Our friends cleansed the source a few weeks ago then we started working on cleansing the Blight. We’re from a different mirror world with different talents.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Mist agreed.
Cadsuane did her best to watch all of the strangers as she said, “You’re claiming that you’re responsible for cleansing the Source and the Blight. I’m going to have to insist that the person that can channel Saidin comes with me to the Tower.”
“Considering attacking people isn’t something you’re supposed to be able to do except in the last defense of your life or your warder’s life, I’m not terribly sure how you think you’re going to take her anywhere. Of course, maybe you’ve convinced yourself that making a cage around someone isn’t using the power as a weapon but either way, you’d be trying to kidnap a girl that is a member of a clan of channelers that outnumber the White Tower, I’d say best of luck but I’d be lying and you don’t have a chance in hell of taking her.”
“How many Aes Sedai do you think there are in the Tower?”
Mist snorted. “Less than a thousand, you have a few hundred Accepted that might count as combat ready against most soldiers but they wouldn’t have a chance against any of the clan.”
“What makes you think that?” Cadsuane asked warily.
“Because we have ter’angreal that dissolve weaves much like your paralis-net. The way I see it, you have two choices, you can take our word for the fact that the Source is cleansed and you can continue on with your trip or you can try to kidnap one of ours and things get messy.”
Dawn gestured and levitated Cadsuane off the ground with telekinesis. “And don’t expect your ter’angreal to save you.”
Cadsuane blinked in shock as she found herself floating in the air despite how impossible that should be. “How are you doing that?”
Dawn smiled coldly. “Take your pick, you can either assume that I found a way to slip past your ter’angreal or you can assume that we have more talents than just channeling.” She gestured and floated Cadsuane behind them as they turned and headed toward the inn.
Cadsuane embraced the source and tried to lift Dawn only for her weaves to dissolve much like what happened if someone channeled against her. She scowled as she saw Moiraine walk out the inn. “You should be in Cairhien on the throne.”
Moiraine frowned slightly as she studied Cadsuane and Dawn. “Last I heard, this world’s version of me was in Cairhien. Is there a reason that she’s floating behind you?”
Dawn resisted the urge to smile as she explained, “We underestimated the range on her toys, she noticed that one of the girls could channel saidin which caused her to think kidnapping was acceptable, we disagreed so we decided to stick her in jail.”
Moiraine resisted the urge to smile as she studied the normally unflappable women. “Put her down, let’s try tea first.” She turned and walked back toward the inn.
Cadsuane frowned slightly as she was lowered back to the ground. She glanced at the strangers then followed the woman that at least looked like an Aes Sedai hoping to get something resembling a straight answer about what was going on..
