This week in Reading The Wheel of Time, Elayne sits down with her First Maid and First Clerk and continues the difficult work of running Caemlyn while under siege and trying to cement her rule. She also has a slightly unusual meeting, then has a pre-natal visit from Monaelle and receives some exciting news about the child(ren) she’s expecting. It’s chapter 13 and 14 of Crossroads of Twilight.
Elayne watches Zaida and her windfinders depart, considering the political ramifications of the bargain she just made.
She gets dressed and is having her hair brushed when Birgitte comes in to announce that Dyelin has returned, and that she has brought the High Seats of Mantear, Haevin, Gilyard and Northan with her. For some reason, Elayne senses puzzlement from Birgitte through the bond. Still, she is delighted, having never expected Dyelin to recruit even four of the five Houses she set out to approach.
Egwene teases Aviendha into wearing one of the wetlander-style dresses that Elayne has had made for her sister, and they go together to greet Dyelin in the formal sitting room. Dyelin presents Lord Perival, High Seat of House Mantear, Lady Catalyn, High Seat of House Haevin, Lord Branlet, High Seat of House Gilyard, and Lord Conail, High Seat of House Northan. Elayne is surprised to find that not one of these very young nobles has an adult with them. Conail, who might be as old as sixteen, should at least have an advisor present, while the others should have guardians.
Seeing Elayne’s confusion, the young nobles begin explaining. Catalyn says stiffly that she is past her guardianship, while Branlet, who is even younger than her, admits that his guardian was killed in a riding accident, and after three months of arguing, no one has settled on a replacement. Perival, younger still, has come without his guardian because the aged Lord Willin is currently bedridden.
Catalyn asks rude questions about Birgitte and about Elayne’s status in the White Tower, and Conail is brash and full of himself. However, Elayne treats these allies with the respect due to their positions, and is glad to hear that they have brought about three thousand men with them to strengthen the guard on Elayne’s walls. She also notes that Perival seems the most intelligent and aware of the four.
After the meeting, Dyelin announces her pleasure and pride, but Birgitte is upset that they are all so young. The two argue, sniping at each other, and Aviendha wonders how anyone could ask children to lead.
“They are the High Seats of their Houses, Aviendha. No one in their Houses would thank me for treating them as less; far from it. The men who ride for them will fight to keep them alive, but it is Perival and Branlet, Conail and Catalyn they ride for, not me. Because they are the High Seats.”
Aviendha nods reluctantly; no one rises to such positions among the Aiel without years of experience, as well as the approval of the Wise Ones. Elayne turns her attention to Birgitte, reminding her that white hair wouldn’t necessarily make the High Seats wise, but that it would make them more certain of their own experience and harder to for Birgitte to control.
The First Maid and First Clerk arrive to give their reports to Elayne, as Aviendha protects them from eavesdroppers with a ward against listening. Mistress Harfor has discovered that the Second Librarian is a spy for the Brown Ajah.
“Hairdressers, footmen, cooks, the master cabinetmaker, no fewer than five of Master Norry’s clerks, and now one of the librarians.” Leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs, Dyelin glowered sourly. “Is there anyone we won’t eventually learn is a spy, Mistress Harfor?” Norry stretched his neck uncomfortably; he took the malfeasance of his clerks as a personal affront.
Mistress Harfor, who looks at spies the same way she looks at household pests, replies calmly that she believes that she is “reaching the bottom of that barrel.” They have already discovered three spies for the Red Ajah, no doubt remnants of Elaida’s time as Morgase’s advisor, but this is the first from another Ajah. Elayne reflects upon the fact that now at least the Reds and the Browns know about the Kin.
Mistress Harfor has also enlisted one of the discovered spies, a Jon Skellit, into her own employ. Skellit has been working for Arymilla, and Mistress Harfor is confident he can be used as a spy for Elayne, in turn. All Elayne really wants to know, however, is which camp Arymilla, Elenia and Naean will be in and when. Arymilla seems to move around a lot, never staying in the same camp for two nights in a row, and she keeps the others with her.
Master Norry reports on a number of arsons committed in the city, mostly on abandoned buildings. He believes the fires were set deliberately to draw the water-wagons away from the city’s storehouses, where some unsuccessful attempts were made to burn those down, as well. He has also learned that Marne, Arawn and Sarand have all taken out large loans against the revenues of their estates, but that they may have taken out other loans against the same revenues, a fact that the bankers haven’t yet learned.
Birgitte believes that it is unlikely for the mercenaries to turn on them, but it is possible; she is doing her best to have a contingency plan for such an event. Elayne worries that, if the bankers do find out, they might decide they prefer Arymilla on the throne, but Master Norry doesn’t believe it is likely that they will find out, at least not for a while.
As soon as the two have left, Aviendha tells them that someone tried to listen in, but was unsuccessful. There is no way of knowing who it was, however.
Discussion turns to the progress of the Borderlanders’ forces. They have made little progress due to the weather, and rumor of their coming isn’t spreading the way Elayne hoped. She suggests spreading the rumor themselves. Dyelin reminds Elayne that they must keep the Borderland army well away from the Black Tower.
As they discuss the positions of the as-yet undeclared Houses, Aviendha warns that you should always expect your enemy to do whatever you least want them to do. Elayne is trying to decide exactly how to handle the three Houses who want Dyelin on the throne when they are interrupted by the arrival of Monaelle and Sumeko, who have come to check on Elayne.
Monaelle dismisses Dyelin and Birgitte, and Elayne tells Monaelle not to be upset at Aviendha for her clothing, as she wore it only as a favor to Elayne. Monalle agrees that it is good for Aviendha to continue learning to live in two worlds, but that she shouldn’t get too comfortable in wetlander clothes. She declares that Aviendha must spend every third day and night back in the Wise Ones’ tents, continuing her studies. Elayne and Aviendha are upset at this, given how much they have relied on each other for comfort in Rand’s absence.
As Monaelle prepares her weave, Sumeko, Aviendha, and Elayne watch intently. Monaelle explains that the weave is called Caressing the Child, and that it allows the weaver to see the health of both child and mother, and sometimes to cure problems. Monaelle discovers that Elayne is carrying twins, though it is too early to tell the sex of the babies. Elayne is delighted, though she worries about the political complications if she has two girls.
As Sumeko tries the weave, Monaelle explains other things to Elayne about how her pregnancy will progress, including that she may have trouble channeling, and that this will become more true as the pregnancy progresses. She adds that Elayne won’t suffer any birthing sickness, but that she will experience mood swings. When Elayne is astounded that Monaelle can tell so much from one weave, the Wise One laughs, explaining that she knows from her own experience of having seven children and three husbands.
Aviendha is just about to try Caressing the Child when suddenly the beacon of saidar suddenly vanishes. Sumeko remarks that something either very wonderful or very terrible has happened today, and Elayne answers that it is something wonderful. All she knows is that Rand is still alive after whatever happened, but that is enough.
Elayne’s day contains even more surprises, however, as Caseille comes in to tell Elayne that the Windfinders have discovered that one of their apprentices is missing. Worse, one of the guardswomen saw Merilille leave the palace several hours earlier, with horses and a loaded pack mule, and a woman in a hood with tattooed hands. No one thought anything of it, until now.
Elayne sends guards to the gates, just in case Merilille might not have left the city yet, and asks Sumeko to assign some of the Kin to search. She knows, however, that there’s only a small chance of catching Merilille.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that Merilille ran off before she could be sent away with the Windfinders. If teaching them in Caemlyn had such an effect on her, I can’t imagine what it would be like to be forced to spend a year trapped on the ships, where she would never be more than a shore-bound teacher, treated like a lesser being and not even one worthy of being paid. The teaching is part of a Bargain, after all, and the payment was the Windfinder’s aid in using the Bowl of Winds.
At least in Caemlyn Merilille gets a break from time to time, and is mostly treated with the respect and deference owed an Aes Sedai by the rest of the people around her. Other Aes Sedai are taking their turns as teachers as well, so Merilille isn’t the only one going through it. Still, once on the ship, she will have little respite, and she’ll be utterly alone, as well.
No doubt Talaan approached Merilille after she wasn’t able to get Nynaeve to take her to the White Tower. Nynaeve found her own escape from teaching the Windfinders in Rand’s invitation to come use the Choedan Kal, but Merilille has it much worse than Nynaeve did, and no doubt Talaan would have recognized this. I don’t know if Talaan has figured out that an Aes Sedai doesn’t necessarily have the power to just tell the Sea Folk that they are taking her and not asking permission. Either way, Talaan, more than anyone, knows what Merilille is going through at the hands of the Windfinders, and would recognize Merilille as her most likely ally among the Aes Sedai. They are both running from the same thing, after all: Talaan has it much worse than the other Windfinder apprentices, and Merilille is the only Aes Sedai who is trapped by a personal promise to be one of the Aes Sedai teachers to the Windfinders.
As Elayne pointed out to Zaida, the bargain was that the White Tower would provide twenty teachers to the Atha’an Miere, but they didn’t promise anyone specifically, nor did they promise to provide those teachers to Zaida specifically. It’s unfortunate for Merilille that she got cornered into agreeing to be one of them. The experience won’t be any more pleasant for the twenty women chosen than it has been for Merilille, of course, but she is probably feeling pretty singled out, which would make her feel even more vulnerable on top of the way her treatment by the Windfinders makes her feel.
I can’t blame her at all for seizing the chance to escape with Talaan. I think it’s likely that Merilille hopes that bringing someone of Talaan’s ability will give Egwene reason to shelter Merilille from the Windfinders, at least for a little while, and perhaps indefinitely. However, I also imagine that Egwene will feel constrained to require Merilille to live up to her personal promise, when the time comes to provide the teachers. After all, as Elayne considers when she is talking to Zaida, it is very important for people to believe the word of an Aes Sedai, to know they will carry through on their promises. Egwene is going to be attempting to tie all female channelers to the White Tower in one way or another, which she can’t do if the Sea Folk think that Aes Sedai are the type of women who go back on their word.
Whether or not Egwene will be able to keep Talaan is a trickier question, I think. Merilille, Elayne, and Nynaeve have all recognized how desperately the Tower would want a woman of Talaan’s strength. Although Egwene has more integrity than, say, Elaida, I’m sure she’d also want to keep Talaan if she could figure out any way to do it. She could argue, I suppose, that Talaan came to the White Tower of her own free will. The Sea Folk may not believe it, though, and I don’t think they would just drop the subject because an Aes Sedai, even the Amyrlin herself, said that Talaan chose to come. Nor do I imagine that an apprentice is allowed to make that choice for herself—it might very well qualify as desertion in the eyes of the militaristic Sea Folk.
I’m finding the continued hunt for spies really interesting, especially as it has become clear that a lot of the spying that’s going on in Caemlyn is pretty much normal and expected. The dangerous ones are, of course, those belonging to Elayne’s political rivals, but Elayne observes than many of the rulers, nobles, and merchants who employ spies are only looking for information on how events in Caemlyn will affect their own interests, and not necessarily to influence the outcome of her bid for the throne.
Then, of course, there are the Aes Sedai eyes-and-ears. I never really thought about whether or not some rulers were aware of the fact that the White Tower had spies in every kingdom and every palace. Most of the narrative encounters we have had with the concept of the eyes-and-ears network were through the perspective of Aes Sedai (or Elayne, Nynaeve, and Egwene before they were raised). There has always been an air of drama and secrecy about the networks. The Ajahs are jealous and protective of their sources even within then Tower. As the Amyrlin, Siuan also had her own extensive network of spies who reported only to her. All this made the eyes-and-ears seem like a special Aes Sedai thing, mystical and mysterious—but Elayne observes in this chapter that pretty much everyone knows that the Aes Sedai have spies everywhere.
Every ruler’s palace between the Spine of the World and the Aryth Ocean contained the Tower’s eyes-and-ears. Any ruler with half a brain expected it. Doubtless the Seanchan would soon be living under the White Tower’s gaze, too, if they were not already.
Mistress Harfor also seems to be fairly knowledgeable about how spies work and how they think. She’s capable enough that I was willing to believe that she was learning to deal with them on the fly, but it has become clear that she has done at least some work like this before. It makes me wonder what Morgase knew about possible spies in her palace during her rule?
If every ruler with a brain expects to be living under the gaze of the White Tower, do they just accept that it’s a fact of life and carry on? Mistress Harfor has found several spies for the Red Ajah, which Elayne believes to be left over from Elaida’s tenure, so Morgase either didn’t know or didn’t care about them. Of course, having Elaida as an advisor would mean that many of Morgase’s important decisions and struggles would already be known to a high-ranking White Tower member, so I guess worrying about an eyes-and-ears network would be kind of pointless.
Perhaps this sort of thing is most important when you are a new ruler (or fighting for the crown), but less critical and more just a part of life if you are well-established in power and don’t have to worry about rivals laying siege to your gates. Still, I’d be fascinated to know how other rulers handle spies, particularly White Tower spies, and if anyone else has a system like Egwene’s, in which they keep known spies around and control the information they get. If a lot of rulers are doing this, it’s possible that the information the White Tower gains is less accurate, or at least less complete, than they believe it to be. If so, that’s another item for the list of things that the Aes Sedai think they know a lot more about than they actually do. Funny how that list keeps getting longer.
The fact that Elayne knows how to handle spies so well does suggest that some of her knowledge comes from her mother’s training. As she is going to be the first queen in a long time to also be Aes Sedai, she probably has very strong and specific ideas about how much Aes Sedai should be allowed to interfere in Caemlyn’s affairs. We’ve already seen, and will no doubt continue to see, how important it is for her to draw a line between her obedience to the White Tower as a sister, and the autonomy she must have as the ruler of a powerful kingdom. It’s possible that Elayne’s rule may see Caemlyn being tied even more tightly to the White Tower than it has been in the past. However, I could also imagine that Elayne, with her insider knowledge of Aes Sedai thinking and manipulation strategies, might find a way to be more independent and less swayed by the White Tower’s political designs. Just as she is determined to exist independently of Rand, so she might reassert Caemlyn’s independence from the Amyrlin Seat.
Indeed, this might be politically necessary as well as personally desirable, as Elayne might find it harder to gain the trust of her people if they think she is led too much by the Amyrlin Seat. Her personal friendship with Egwene is an asset in her pocket as well.
I love the suggestion that only the Brown Ajah managed to have a spy in the Royal Palace while Elaida was still Morgase’s advisor. The way the Browns are constantly underestimated by the other Ajahs never ceases to bring me joy, and of course the spy is one of the librarians. What else would they be?
Aviendha and Elayne’s friendship also makes me really happy; I appreciate how it doesn’t just feel like it’s built on their mutual love for Rand. The fact that they are able to comfort each other is of course also important, but I’m less interested in the fact that they can keep each other from crying over Rand than I am in the way they are learning from each other and growing together. Aviendha is still only an apprentice Wise One; her primary duty is to her people and to trying to ensure some kind of future for them, but she is also proving a very adept advisor to Elayne and a good counterpoint to the advice given by Birgitte and Dyelin. Though she is limited by her lack of understanding around the political and cultural differences between her people and Elayne’s, she is learning rapidly. Both she and Elayne are very practical, adaptable people.
The discussion about the ages of the four Heads that Dyelin brought to meet Egwene is a perfect example of this. Aviendha and Birgitte aren’t wrong, in my opinion, that it’s ridiculous to expect children to make these kinds of political decisions and alliances, never mind lead people in battle. From the perspective of an Aiel. as well as from the perspective of a modern American reader, putting that kind of responsibility on the shoulders of a sixteen year old or someone even younger sounds absolutely bananas. Still, for Elayne, this is how the world works, and whether or not it should is a moot point at the moment. It is how it is, and Elayne needs the strength and loyalty of those who follow Perival, Catalyn, Branlet, and Conail.
I am not surpised Elayne is having twins. It’s always twins. I bet it’s one girl and one boy, too.
One more thing I noticed this week is the mention that Mistress Harfor has needed the help of Aes Sedai to keep the Royal Palace free of rats. It’s been a little while since we’ve been reminded of the fact that there aren’t just human spies to worry about, and that the spies of the Dark One can include animals, like rats.
Now the cleansing of saidin is finally complete. There are no Asha’man in the Caemlyn Palace at this point, so nobody there knows that the beacon was comprised of male channeling as well as female channeling, but it might not be too much longer until we get to see the first reactions of men realizing that saidin is now clean. Then again, Jordan might continue to make me wait. We all know he enjoys that.
Next week we will be covering chapters 15 and 16. It’s kind of hard to believe that we’re about halfway through Crossroads of Twilight already. Not much has happened, plot-wise, and I am starting to suspect that not much will. The big event seems to be the rescue of Faile, and the big emotional journey is Perrin’s struggle with his new fears and the new expression of his capacity for violence, but I’m starting to suspect that for most of the rest of the cast, this book is going to read a lot like the prologues usually do. We’re getting the timelines caught up, spending a lot of time on political details, and having a lot of sieges, which are boring for the people in them and might be a little bit for us, too. I don’t mind it, really, but I’m very conscious that if I was approaching this book purely as a pleasure read, I might be a little frustrated.
Of course, I may be wrong in my predictions, too. Maybe in a few chapters everything will suddenly explode. Time will tell, I suppose. Except most of you already know.
