6

Though she no longer wore the stole, mantle of leadership, the crowd turned towards Qirien expectantly as the noonday sun signaled the time for their departure. Sighing amusedly, she raised her hands to shush the crowd and spoke, voice amplified with flows of Air. "Fellow Tower members," she began, and then paused. Iliana shook her head upon seeing the ex-Amyrlin's mischievous grin. "I was going to make an eloquent, touching speech, illustrating how our journey was symbolic of a far greater journey, and how we should diligently strive to achieve all of our goals on this voyage. But," her grin grew wider, "instead, I will just going to say that, although I'll miss the Tower, right now is a time to be joyous!" With that, she drew a rather thick arrow from her quiver, created a small spark of Fire near the feathered tip, and shot it into the air above the docks. It exploded in a flash of purple, golden, and white light above the crowd, and Qirien jumped with glee. "Let us be off!" she cried, leaping to catch a rope on the side of the Sea Folk raker and pulling herself up. Her purple billowy silk blouse ruffled in the wind, and her nearly-clashing golden trousers looked almost like a skirt as she climbed. Iliana shook her head. Well, at least she didn't pull any disappearing tricks, she thought wryly. She and the rest of the voyagers walked up the gangplank to the raker.

The gangplank retreated with a great creaking to the crowded dock. The gate on the side of the raker slammed shut. The sounds caught at Selante's breath. She gazed in wonder at the faces looking up from the dock. Selante had once stood in the crowd at a funeral in Illian, and had thought the scrape of a closing wooden lid to be the most final sound in the world. Now, she reflected, perhaps it was not. A hand gently clasped her shoulder. Exhaling a sigh, Qirien smiled at her. Selante smiled back ruefully. "Time to go," she murmured. Turning around slowly, Selante studied each of the passengers in turn. There was Mingar sitting on the deck, one hand awkwardly gripping the rail. Even here in the harbor he was not entirely comfortable on a floor that bobbed. Rillian, her own Warder, always watchful of her back no matter how many times she complained she didn't need it. Iliana, in the Yellow shawl that hadn't appeared on her shoulders since the day she took on the Keeper's stole. Shaft beside her, Davian conversing with her, Jarin leaning against the railing and gazing back at the White Tower rising high above the city. Alethahea and Cor Dazar facing each other and staring at a game of stones. And Qirien, who turned over in her fingers a bracelet that did not look like it would fit over her hand, a bracelet carved of jade in the form of a coiling snake. Selante possessed a good eye for details, and she recognized it as the ornament the Keeper-the former Keeper, she corrected herself, glancing at Iliana-had always worn. "Welcome aboard, Aes Sedai. Gaidin." Selante turned in the direction of a crisp voice and gave a start at the face that accompanied it. The Sailmistress was young, almost a child. The age of a novice entering the Tower. The crispness of her voice was due in part to her youth. Bandages were wrapped around each of her slim hands. She somehow looked dignified in bright silk trousers and blouse. Her clothing's lively turquoise, and the aquamarine gems dangling from the gold chain that connected her nose and ear, made her deep bronze skin seem exotic. "I am Rena din Corai Silver Rain, Sailmistress of this ship." Qirien blinked suddenly and looked up. "What did you say his name was, Sailmistress?" "Horizon Dancer, Aes Sedai." Delight crept over the Violet's Mayener features. "Is it really?" A hint of a smile touched Rena's serious face. Her eyes flashed with pride. "It is his first voyage." "Well then," said the former Amyrlin of the White Tower. "We had best be leaving." "Windfinder," replied the Sailmistress of the Horizon Dancer. "Take your place."

It was a gaping Iliana who watched in wonder as Qirien assumed her position in the bowsprit. All at once she wanted to leap for joy, cry her eyes out, and embrace the woman whose Amyrlin's office she had guarded for so long. Blinking away tears, she shook her head and briskly came back to her senses. There was one more thing to do. "Cor." Her bond to him told her exactly where he was now, sitting on the deck against the outer wall of the cabin. She gestured without looking. "On the side of my pack, there is a torch. Would you bring it to me, please?" Her Warder entered the cabin and re-emerged. Taking the stick of wood from his hand, Iliana turned it around and passed it to Selante and Alethahea. "Light it." The Brown and Gray looked at each other and then came aglow with the One Power. To Iliana's eyes, a thin tendril of Fire emerged from each woman, and the two flows seemed to merge into one. A reddish yellow tongue flared up. Iliana filled her lungs and blew at the tiny flame until it became a flare. A swath of taut ropes connected the raker to the Tar Valon pier. She observed each of the men in turn. They were an eye-wrenching assembly of color-shifting cloaks and ugly-looking weapons of various kinds, and two wore the cadin'sor of the Aiel-Cor and Mingar, although on this occasion Cor was also wearing his Warder's cloak. Which one? Her eyes fell upon Shaft. Without a second thought, Iliana placed the torch in his hands. "You asked me to trust you once," she said under her breath, so the others would not hear. "I did, and I still do. But you know, Shafty, the oddest thing was that you trusted me enough to ask." Shaft did not appear to acknowledge her whisper, but he stepped forward and leaned over the railing. Smoke rose from the ropes as he held the flame beneath them, until they burned and blackened and writhed. There was a rocking on the ship as the ropes loosened, causing Mingar to grip the rail a bit nervously. Saidar shone like the summer sun as Qirien absorbed it through Iliana's sa'angreal. The bracelet turned between her fingers. The sky itself twisted and shimmered as a vast network of saidar-the likes of which Aes Sedai had never seen, for it was spun in the secret art of Windfinders-emerged from its inverted invisibility. And then Qirien forced Air and Spirit into a column as thick as a tree, and gave the web in the sky an immense tug. A breeze stirred the heavy summer air. Burning ropes snapped. With a thundering crack, the sails filled with wind, and the Horizon Dancer heaved away from the pier.

Written by Davian, Iliana

Characters Cor Dazar, Davian, Dawnrider, Grond, Iliana, Kalin, Madic, Mingar, Rillian, Sorhan