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The room was on the second floor of Rand al’Thor’s Dos, the inner walls of wood planks, all stained adark color This chamber, which had once been a bedroom, had been e on the sanded wood floor In fact, the only furniture in it noas the stout chair Cadsuane sat in

Cadsuane sipped her tea, intentionally projecting an air of composure That was i near composed on the inside At the moment, for instance, Cadsuane wanted to crush the teacup between her hands, then perhaps spend an hour or so sta on the shards

She took another sip

The source of her frustration--and the object of Merise’s questioning--hung in the air, held upside down by weaves of Air with her arms tied behind her back The captive had short wavy hair and dark skin Her face matched Cadsuane’s own for co a sis by a weave of Air to keep it fro her face--held bound and shielded, the prisoner somehow seemed the one in control

Merise stood in front of the prisoner Narishainst the wall, the only other one in the roo herself, not yet Letting another lead the interrogation worked to her advantage; it let her think and plan Outside the room, Erian, Sarene, and Nesune held the prisoner’s shield, two more than were normally considered necessary

One did not take chances with the Forsaken

Their prisoner was Seend Cadsuane did not kno many of the stories about the woe was not easily intimidated, unsettled or manipulated And that was a problem

"Well?" Merise dearded Merise, icy contempt in her voice as she spoke "Do you knohat happens to aelse?"

"I did not--"

"He dies, of course," Se Merise off ords like knives "The death often happens instantly, and quick deaths are of little interest With experiment, I discovered that so the subject to live for a short time after the transfusion"

She fell silent

"Answer the question," Merise said, "or out theyou will hang again and--"

"The transfusion itself requires use of the Power, of course," Seh I invented the weave myself It can suddenly and instantly pull the blood from a body and deposit it in a bin, while at the sa it into the veins"

Merise gritted her teeth, glancing at Narishma The Asha’ dark hair in braids woven with bells on the ends He lounged against the log wall He had a boyish face, but displayed a growing edge of danger Perhaps that ca with Merise’s other Warders Perhaps it ca with people ould put one of the Forsaken to the question

"My warning--" Merise began again

"I had one subject survive an entire hour after the transfusion," See said in a calreatest victories He was in pain the entire tiony that he could feel in every vein of his body, right down to the near-invisible ones in his fingers I know of no other way to bring such suffering to every part of the body at once"

She met Merise’s eyes "I will show you the weave sohtly

With a whip of her hand, Cadsuane wove a shield of Air around Se, then wove Fire and Air into two sht, which she placed directly in front of the Forsaken’s eyes The lights weren’t bright enough to blind or da That was a particular trick of Cadsuane’s; too many sisters would think to deafen a captive, yet leave the One never kneho had learned to read lips, and Cadsuane had little inclination to underestilanced at Cadsuane, a flash of annoyance in her eyes

"You were losing control of her," Cadsuane said fir her tea on the floor beside her chair

Merise hesitated, then nodded, looking truly angry Likely at herself "This woes the tone of her voice, no matter e do to her Every punishruesoain, refolding her arhtened as if to walk over to her, but she waved hih she did snap at anyone else who tried to keep them in their places

"We can break her," Cadsuane said

"Can we, Cadsuane?"

"Phaw! Of course we can She is huh she’s lived for three thousand years Three thousand, Cadsuane"

"She spent the bulk of that time imprisoned," Cadsuane said with a dismissive sniff "Centuries locked up in the Dark One’s prison, likely in a trance or hibernation Subtract those years, and she’d no older than any of us A fair sight younger than soe, so Aes Sedai The entire conversation about age was, in fact, a sign of how uncomfortable the Forsakencal the shield outside the rooave away too much Even the nor these interrogations

Of course, Merise and the others--like all the women in the Tower these days--still fell short of what an Aes Sedai should be These younger Aes Sedai had been allowed to grow soft and weak, prone to bickering So fealty to Rand al’Thor Sometimes, Cadsuane wished she could simply send them all to penance for a few decades

OrShe was old, and that was ly intolerant of foolishness Over two centuries ago, she’d sworn to herself that she’d live to attend the Last Battle, no thened one’s years, and she’d found that deterrit could stretch those years even further She was one of