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The first, the Tower did not care ained considerable control on her own quickly learned that as long as she wore novice white, she was not to so much as touch saidar without a sister or one of the Accepted standing over her Which did tend to li rather sharply The other trick, however, smelled too akin to forbidden Coive her dresses or trinkets he did not want to buy, or s of that nature, but the Tower rooted the trick out irls and women Verin had spoken to over the years could not make themselves form the weaves, much less use them, and a fair number could not even make themselves remember how From bits and pieces and scraps of halfreirls for very li forbidden by the Tower since its founding In the beginning it had been siht wryly, working at the weave on Beldeine, haskettle Usefulness came later

"I suppose Elaida meant to keep hirillwalled cells were intended for men who could channel, as well as initiates of the Tower under close arrest, wilders who had claimed to be Aes Sedai, and anyone else who must be both confined and blocked off froon Reborn No privacy Do you believe he is the Dragon Reborn, Beldeine?" This ti hiss, and Beldeine rolled frightened eyes toward Verin’s face "Yes but he must be kept safe The worldThey had all said the world had to be kept safe froht he needed protection, too Some who had said that, surprised her

To Verin’s eyes, the weave she had le of faintly glowing transparent threads all bundled around Beldeine’s head, with four threads of Spirit trailing out of the mess Two of those, opposite one another, she pulled, and the tangle collapsed slightly, falling inward, into soe of order Beldeine’s eyes shot open wide, staring into the far distance

In a firestions, though she phrased them as commands Beldeine would have to find reasons within herself to obey; if she did not, then all this had been so much wasted effort

With the final words, Verin pulled the other two threads of Spirit, and the tangle collapsed further This tih, it fell into what seemed perfect order, a pattern more precise, more complicated than the most intricate lace, and co This time, it continued to fall inward on itself, inward around Beldeine’s head Those faintly glowing threads sank into her, vanished Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she began to thrash, liently as she could, but Beldeine’s head still whipped from side to side, and her bare heels dru would tell that anything had been done, and not even that would identify the weave Verin had tested that carefully, and if she did say so herself, none surpassed her at Delving

Of course the thing was not truly Co ith painful slowness, cobbled together as it was, and there was that need for a reason It helped a great deal if the object of the weave was emotionally vulnerable, but trust was absolutely essential Even catching soood if they were suspicious That fact cut down its usefulness with men considerably; very few men lacked suspicion around Aes Sedai

Distrust aside, men were very bad subjects, unfortunately She could not understand why Most of those girls’ weaves had been intended for their fathers or other in to question his own actions -- or even forget doing thes being equal, men were much more likely to Much ain Why, once awoven on hiiven hi she would risk again

At last Beldeine’s convulsions lessened, stopped She raised a filthy hand to her head "What --? What happened?" she said, alood point about the weave, not unexpectedly After all, Father must not remember that you somehow made him buy that expensive dress

"The heat is very bad," Verin said, helping her to sit up again "I have felt lightheaded myself once or twice today" Fro that much of saidar took it out of you, especially when you had already done it four ti to buffer the effects once you stopped using it She could have used a steadying hand herself "I think that’s about enough If you’re fainting, perhaps they’ll find so for you to do out of the sun" The prospect did not see the small of her back, Verin stuck her head out of the tent Coraan that either had listened, but she would not wager her life on it She told them that she was finished with Beldeine and, after a ht, added that she needed another pitcher of water since Beldeine had overturned hers Both men’s faces darkened beneath their tans That would be passed along to the Wise One who ca more to help her reach her decision

The sun still had a long way to fall to the horizon, but the ache in her back told her it was time to stop for the day She could still do oneshe would feel it in everybaskets to the handone if she had not been so curious, Verin wondered For one thing, she would haveto the White Tower She would be long dead, for another, and the children she had never had, and her grandchildren, too

With a sigh, she turned back to Corao tell Colinda that I would like to see Irgain Fatamed?" The pain in her muscles to over that spilled water, but that was not why she did it, or even her curiosity, really She still had a task So Rand alive until i