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That was not the whole of her awareness, of course The link had a certain kinship to the Warder bond, just as intense and somehow eventhe hill ht heel; Nynaeve always talked about good stout shoes, but she had a weakness for slippers with a great deal of embroidery Nynaeve wore a fixed frown, directed at Caire, her arreal played on the braid pulled over her right shoulder, every line of her of a piece, yet inside she was a maelstrom of emotions Fear, worry, anticipation, irritation, wariness and ih it all, so the rest, ripples of warmth and waves of heat that threatened to burst into flame Those last Nynaeve suppressed quickly, especially the heat, but they always returned Elayne alnize thelione when you turned your head
Surprisingly, Aviendha felt fear, too, but shtly contained, and all but sed by deter visibly, were nearly pure terror, so strong it was aun to eerness, and noAs for the Atha’an Miere Even Tebreille exuded a wary alertness, and it did not take the quick darting of Metarra’s eyes, and Rainyn’s, to know the focus was Caire, watching the
Her, Elayne left to last, and it was no real surprise that she had tothe wo than Nynaeve Elayne desperately hoped the woman had been chosen for ability, not rank
"I will now pass the circle to you," she told the Windfinder when it finally was done "If you recall what I did with Ny-- " Words froze uidance of the circle was torn fro a sudden burst of wind rip all of her clothes off or yank the bones out of her She exhaled fiercely, and if it sounded close to spitting, well, so be it
"Good," Caire said, rubbing her hands together "Good" Her attention focused on the Bowl, her head twisting this way and that as she studied it Well, perhaps not all her attention Reanne started to sit down, and without looking up, Caire snapped, "Hold your station, woman! This isn’t a fish lolly! Stand till you’re told tounder her breath, but she ht as well have ceased to exist as far as Caire was concerned The Windfinder’s eyes remained on the flattened crystal shape Elayne felt resolve in her great enough toelse, tiny and quickly stamped out Uncertainty Uncertainty? If after all of this, the woman really did not knohat to do --
At that h Elayne, alht blazed into being, joining the woreal, but nowhere faint She watched closely as Caire channeled, for a complex weave of all Five Powers, a fourpointed star that she laid atop the Bohat Elayne somehoas sure was exquisite precision The star touched, and Elayne gasped Once, she had channeled a trickle into the Bowl -- in Tel’aran’rhiod, to be sure, and only a reflection of the Bowl, though still a dangerous thing to do -- and that clear crystal had turned a pale blue, and the carved clouds ht blue of a summer sky, and fleecy white clouds billowed across it
The fourpoint star becahtly, and the Boas a green sea with great heaving waves Five points became six, and it was another sky, a different blue, darker, winter perhaps, with purple clouds heavy with rain or snow Seven points, and a graygreen sea raged in storht points and sky Nine and sea, and suddenly, Elayne felt the Bowl itself drawing saidar, a wild torrent far greater than all the circle together could es continued unabated inside the Bowl, sea to sky, waves to clouds, but a writhing, braided column of saidar shot up from that flattish crystal disc, Fire and Air, Water and Earth and Spirit, a colu up and up into the sky, until its top rose out of sight Caire continued her weaving, sweat strealy only to blink salty drops away froes in the Bowl, then laid a neeave The pattern of the braiding in the thick colu what Caire wove
It was a very good thing she had not wanted to focus the flows for this circle, Elayne realized; what the wo required years more study than she had Many yearslacework of saidar bent itself around so unseen that made the colu saidin as well as saidar
Her hope that no one else had puzzled that out vanished with one glance at the other wo column with a revulsion that should have been reserved for the Dark One Fear grew stronger a the level of Garenia and Kirstian, and it was a wonder those two had not fainted Nynaeve was a hair fro up, for all her suddenly too smooth face Aviendha appeared just as calm outwardly, but inside, that tiny fear quivered and pulsed, trying to grow
From Caire came only deter to stand in Caire’s way, certainly not theNothing was going to stop her She worked the flows, and abruptly spiderwebs of saidar blossomed from the unseen top of the column, like uneven spokes of a wheel, al north and northwest, single lacy spokes stretching in other directions They changed as they grew, never the sa across the sky, farther and farther, until the ends of the pattern also passed out of sight Not just saidar there either, Elayne was certain; in places that spiderweb caught and curved around so she could not see Still Caire wove, and the coluether, and the spiderweb altered and flowed like a lopsided kaleidoscope spinning across the heavens, vanishing into the distance, on and on and on
Without warning, Caire straightened, knuckling her back, and released the Source completely Column and spiderweb evaporated, and she collapsed as ain, but ses "It is done, the Light willing