| Renovating the White Tower: The Hall
[INTRO: Shortly after the Last Battle, Amyrlin Egwene has privately interviewed the Head or a Sitter from each Ajah (since the identity of the Heads is kept very secret) in her office, and has laid out the framework for a comprehensive program to renovate each Ajah from top to bottom in the wake of changing circumstances (for instance, saidin is no longer tainted, so hunting down male channelers is not the top priority it once was). Aside from the Blue representative being placed under house arrest for failing to answer Egwene's questions, the interviews went FAIRLY well . . . We now open a day later, as Amyrlin Egwene is addressing a full assembly of the Hall, 21 Sitters and her Keeper. Egwene is giving the annual State of the Tower address with which an Amyrlin customarily sets the stage for the coming year of the legislative process. Egwene, naturally, is accompanied to the Hall by her new Keeper, the one she picked out after Sheriam died at Tarmon Gai'don. The Keeper is an obscure character, a former Green and an ex-Elaida-supporter, was chosen largely for political reasons, to keep the other 300 ex-Elaida-supporters from feeling like they would never get any respect from this uppity teenage Amyrlin. The Keeper won't have any dialogue in this installment. In fact, the first half of this post is simply Egwene's State of the Tower address (an old Aes Sedai tradition requires the Amyrlin to give such an Address to the assembled Hall at the beginning of each new year)] EGWENE: Attention! After a great deal of meditation on the matter, as well as personal interviews with representatives of each Ajah, I have decided that some drastic changes must be made in the way we do business around here. Our Ajah will be opening up branch offices in the capitol cities of 16 nations - each branch will include a Hospital, a Great School for teaching young people in advanced subjects such as healing, engineering, and so forth - and a VERY active recruiting bureau. The Seanchan have a few good ideas, such as testing every single girl they find at regular intervals, so they identify every potential channeler. Each Ajah will be expected to subdivide itself into 17 sections so that each Branch is fully staffed. Allocation of Duties: The Reds will handle the recruiting, the Grays will teach basic literacy and arithmetic to young children in exchange for set fees from their parents, the Browns will concentrate on running the extensive libraries (I intend for each Branch Library to contain ALL the material found in our own Tower Library, with dozens of copies of each volume available for lending to students), the Yellows will naturally run the local hospital and assist in teaching classes about mundane healing techniques to deserving young women, the Greens will - for the moment - be assigned to providing security (with the aid of their warders) in case any misguided persons try to attack our branch offices (and the Greens have also assured me that they will try to step up the Warder Recruiting program in each city, to help us find young men who can be trained in the Warder Program as quickly as possible so that our 1760 Sisters formerly of the Kin will a talent pool to draw upon in selecting their own Warders), the Whites shall concentrate on teaching logic, mathematics, and other intellectual subjects to the advanced students. I expect them to master the new technological advances provided by the School in Cairhien endowed by Rand al'Thor as quickly as possible - particular this "Steam Engine" thing, which I suspect has more merit than meets the eye. As for the Blues . . . [There is a long pause] There are some weighty issues to be settled before I can decide on their final disposition. It appears that in past years, many Blues have been wont to roam the world as they will, meddling in politics whenever the whim takes them, possibly on the orders of the Head of their Ajah and sometimes not even that, and almost never coordinating their efforts with the Amyrlin and the Hall. This will have to stop. I fully intend to have the unanimous support of the Hall in executing these programs, even if that means I have to dismiss some of you and arrange for replacements. In addition, there are some other proposals I wish you to consider, although no action will be taken at this time: First Proposal: Recent events, some but not all of them triggered by the Black Ajah, have caused many people to become very much aware of the fact that the Three Oaths do not really prevent any Aes Sedai from committing cold-blooded murder. I propose that we amend this problem by insisting every Sister swear to a new oath - not on the Oath Rod, but by her hope of salvation and rebirth - saying, "I shall not kill any human being, nor order nor request that a human life be taken by my Warder or any other person, except when it is in defense of my own life from a deadly threat, or the life of my warder, or as part of a legal execution after the condemned has had a fair trial under the laws of whatever land I may be travelling in at the time. Nor shall I withhold any relevant information I may have about the violent death of another human being when the proper authorities of the area in which the murder occurred ask me what I know about it." [Well aware that Blue and Red Sitters in particular are GLARING at her, Egwene moves on to the next point, apparently unbothered by their hatred of her proposed change in Aes Sedai procedures.] Second Proposal: It is time that the Tower encouraged its members to have children. I propose we appoint a committee to examine issues of daycare centers, maternity leave, inheritance law, and setting up testing programs to ascertain whether or not any given child of an Aes Sedai is capable of learning to channel. Third Proposal: No matter how much we may wish it, the Asha'man aren't going to go away. I want to hear suggestions on how we can develop a permanent working relationship with them, even if (shudder) Logain Ablar remains in his post as their new M'hael. These are things which MUST be attended to, daughters. The world is changing and if the Amyrlin and the Hall do not change along with it, the changes shall be forced upon us by a discontent membership. Consider, daughters, that I was raised Amyrlin by the Hall in Exile, and have since been confirmed in that position by the Hall Reunited, and that you [INTERLUDE, while Egwene and her Keeper sweep out regally. Egwene is on her way back to the Amyrlin Tower which Elaida began and Egwene has finished, by dint of prevailing upon her good friend Loial to convince a bunch of other Ogier to help finish it. Inside the Hall, the 20 Sitters (one Blue Sitter has been confined to quarters, see Part 4 for details) are looking at one another with a rare degree of unanimity in their expressions. The Sitters of the Green Ajah will be referred to in this wise: GrayAlpha (shaking her head in disbelief): Where did that girl learn to "negotiate?" Does she really think we're going to throw away 3400 years of hallowed traditions just because she thinks she knows how to run the Tower better than all the Amyrlins before her put together? RdAlpha (loyally): Even Elaida never went that far! [17 Non-Red Sitters glare at RdAlpha, and she shuts up rather suddenly.] BrAlpha (wistfully): The idea of branching out with a regional headquarters in each nation's capital isn't entirely bad. Why, the opportunities to raid each Royal Library would be marvellous if our Sisters didn't have to keep commuting back to the Tower at regular intervals for conferences and things. And even if that DOES become necessary - if we just made sure that each branch at least at 3 or 4 Sisters who were strong enough to open a Gateway, we could commute in the twinkling of an eye, instead of (shudder) riding or sailing for 2000 miles each way, as we formerly had to do. GrAlpha: Oh, I agree that establishing a PERMANENT presence in each nation's capital is an excellent idea. Now that Amadicia is ruled by Lord Captain Commander Galadedrid Damodred of the Whitecloaks, we can even prevail upon his sister to prevail upon him to let us into their boundaries for the first time in their nation's history. But THAT GIRL'S [meaning Egwene's] ideas of WHY we should have bases of operations in each nation is ludicrous. WhAlpha: Agreed! Teaching? Teaching MUNDANE persons? As I tried to explain to her (in my most tactful manner of course, which was utterly WASTED on her!), mundanes never LIVE long enough to properly understand ANY important subject! No, you need at least fifty years of fieldwork and study of basic theory before you can really be an expert on something, and most mundanes are lucky if they live that long! YeAlpha (only half listening): Having permanent hospitals in each nation COULD improve our popularity, and Light knows, after all that nonsense last wear with the Tower splitting down the middle, it's about time we refurbished our image. BlBeta: The principal advantage of having permanent bases across the map would the opportunity to more effectively meddle - ahem! [she clears her throat] - to take advantage of DAILY opportunities to properly guide various aristocrats into making the PROPER decisions. [NOTE: BlBeta spoke immediately after the six other Alphas because, as the senior Blue Sitter present in the Hall, her prestige is currently a notch above all other Betas, since BlAlpha is under house arrest elsewhere. However, she is not QUITE at the Alpha level, and so she had to wait for those six ladies to speak before she dared say a word. The pecking order among Sitters is STRICLY enforced, and now the other Betas will have a chance to say their piece.] WhBeta: The problem is, as near as I can tell, we don't actually have just cause to depose Amyrlin Egwene at this time. We'll just have to pull the old tried and true method of referring everything to committee for further study for the next sixty years, except such aspects of her plans as we can bend to the proper purpose. RdBeta: Actually, opening up these bases ought to weaken such power as she has. YeBeta: I think you are all overlooking something. She's likely to live longer than even the youngest of us by at least 450 years! GrayBeta: Beg pardon? YeBeta: We have determined from our records of novices and Accepted who were cast out of the Tower, and the dates thereof, that the Kin are telling the truth - their strongest channelers live to an age of 400 or more, and Egwene is stronger than their strongest. And she's only 19 years old now . . . I think a lifespan of another 450 years is a sound estimate. GrBeta: But - but - that would mean the Oath Rod actually DOES shorten lifespans! [She looks horrified, as if feeling her own life oozing out through her fingers and down the drain forever.] BlGamma: That raises an interesting point. Egwene has never sworn on the Oath Rod, and that means that her avowed reasons for these various "reforms" and "improvements" are not necessarily her TRUE reasons. RdGamma: Ah . . . [a smirk.] You suggest she does not even have the best interests of the Tower at heart? GrGamma: Splitting our powerbase seventeen different ways? Leaving us wide open for a concerted attack of raving Asha'man to attack us in each city, wipe us out, and move on the next city before we can learn what has happened? I warned her at the Last Battle, I did, "Mother (I said to her, said I), I suggest we teach the Balefire weave to every Sister strong enough to learn and instruct them that as soon as we are convinced that the Dark One is done for, we shall give a signal which will mean ‘BALEFIRE THOSE PESKY ASHA'MAN OUT OF EXISTENCE RIGHT NOW!' They're too dangerous to live, I said! THEY'RE STRONGER THAN WE ARE AND WE CAN'T TRUST THEM!" Those were my very words! But would she listen? Oh no, those amateur armchair generals always think they know more about how a War ought to be run than us veterans who have stood at Tarwin's Gap many a time, or other places along the Blight, killing Myrdraal and Trollocs all day and all night (if our strength lasted) . . . [GrAlpha makes a slight gesture with one hand, and GrGamma shuts up abruptly, dimly aware that she's getting monotonous.] WhGamma: Logically, it is quite possible that her heart belongs to some other loyalty before the Tower. She never even served a proper novitiate in which to be properly brainwashed- I mean to say, properly INDOCTRINATED in the importance of forsaking all outside ties. And she only spent a brief time as an Accepted in the Tower before being sent off on some ridiculous mission to hunt down Black Ajah singlehanded - with the help of two equally untrained friends, that is to say. YeGamma [looking very young and confused (after all, she's not even 80 years old yet)]: But isn't she just proposing that we find more ways to serve the people of this continent now that the Last Battle is no longer an issue? And isn't the very name Aes Sedai supposed to mean "Servants of All?" [19 other Sitters all glare at her, and she shuts up and looks very meek and woebegone.] GrayGamma: Perhaps we could negotiate with her to make her see reason . . . but to really negotiate properly, one needs a club held in reserve, the threat of which hangs over the conversation beneath the polite offers and counteroffers . . . and we have no such club, not under Tower Law, at least . . . and of course, we don't want to split the Tower with another trumped-up case meant to depose an Amyrlin with charges that insinuate she is a Black Sister when we don't really know her to be anything of the kind . . . ALL [In chorus]: A trumped-up case? Never that! [They all pause to put one hand on their bosoms and gaze piously heavenward, as if calling upon the Creator to witness their utter rectitude.] BrGamma: A Club? [She rummages in a carrying case and pulls out a notebook.] You know, Sisters, I've been collecting eyewitness accounts from all of the persons who were, shall we say, closest to the CENTER of events in the rise to power of Rand al'Thor and other things which laid the way for our victory at Tarmon Gai'don, and there were one or two VERY curious points about the comportment of Egwene al'Vere . . . ALL : Tell us! Tell us! TELL US! [They all gather around BrGamma, eyes bright with excitement and mouths full of good cheer, as they smell the sweet scent of a wounded Amyrlin's political blood spreading out into the murky waters of Tower politics.] BrGamma: Well, we begin in the spring of 999 NE, as Verin Sedai was escorting Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve back to the Tower after the Dragon Reborn had driven back the Seanchan from their first invasion of Toman Head . . . [her voice seems to fade away as the scene ends.] Raina's Hold / Raina's Library / Other People's Humour / Renovating the White Tower |