“I have to write to my mother,” Elayne said. When she saw the looks they gave her, her voice became defensive. “I have already vanished once without her knowing where I was. If I do it again... You do not know Mother's temper. She could send Gareth Bryne and the whole army against Tar Valon. Or hunting after us.”
“You could stay here,” Egwene said.
“No. I will not let you two go alone. And I won't stay here wondering if the sister teaching me is a Darkfriend, or if the next Gray Man will come after me.” She gave a small laugh. “I will not work in the kitchens while you two are off adventuring, either. I just have to tell my mother than I am out of the Tower on the Amyrlin's orders, so she won't become furious if she hears rumors. I do not have to tell her where we are going, or why.”
“You surely had better not,” Nynaeve said. “She very likely would come after you if she knew about the Black Ajah. For that matter, you can't know how many hands your letter will pass through before it reaches her, or what eyes might read it. Best not to say anything you don't mind anyone knowing.”
“That's another thing.” Elayne sighed. “The Amyrlin does not know I am one of you. I have to find some way to send it with no chance of her seeing it.”
“I will have to think on that.” Nynaeve's brows furrowed. “Perhaps once we're on our way. You could leave it at Aringill on the way downriver, if we have time to find someone there going to Caemlyn. A sight of one of those papers the Amyrlin gave us might convince somebody. We will have to hope they work on ship captains, too, unless one of you has more coin than I have.” Elayne shook her head dolefully.
Egwene did not even bother. What money they had possessed had all gone on the journey from Toman Head, except for a few coppers each. “When...” She had to stop and clear her throat. “When do we leave? Tonight?”
Nynaeve looked as if she were considering it for a moment, but then she shook her head. “You need sleep, after...” Her gesture took in the stone ring lying where it had bounced off the wall. “We will give the Amyrlin one more chance to seek us out. When we finish with breakfast, you both pack what you want to take, but keep it light. We have to leave the Tower without anyone noticing, remember. If the Amyrlin doesn't reach us by midday, I mean to be on a trading ship, shoving that paper down the captain's throat if need be, before Prime sounds. How does that sound to you two?”
“It sounds excellent,” Elayne said firmly, and Egwene said, “Tonight or tomorrow, the sooner the better, as far as I can see.” She wished she sounded as confident as Elayne.
“Then we had best get some sleep.”
“Nynaeve,” Egwene said in a small voice, “I... I don't want to be alone tonight.” It pained her to make that admission.
“I don't, either,” Elayne said. “I keep thinking about the Soulless. I do not know why, but they frighten me even more than the Black Ajah.”
“I suppose,” Nynaeve said slowly, “I don't really want to be alone, myself.” She eyed the bed where Egwene lay. “That looks big enough for three, if everybody keeps her elbows to herself.”
Later, when they were shifting about trying to find a way to lie that did not feel so crowded, Nynaeve suddenly laughed.
“What is it?” Egwene asked. “You are not that ticklish.”
“I just thought of someone who'd be happy to carry Elayne's letter for her. Happy to leave Tar Valon, too. In fact, I'd bet on it.”
Chapter 28
(Dice)
A Way Out
Clad only in his breeches, Mat was just finishing a snack after breakfast — some ham, three apples, bread, and butter — when the door of his room opened, and Nynaeve, Egwene, and Elayne filed in, all smiling at him brightly. He got up for a shirt, then stubbornly sat down again. They could at least have knocked. In any case, it was good to see their faces. At first, it was.
“Well, you do look better,” Egwene said.
“As if you had had a month of good food and rest,” Elayne said.
Nynaeve pressed a hand to his forehead. He flinched before he recalled that she had done much the same for at least five years, back home. She was just the Wisdom then, he thought. She wasn't wearing that ring.
She had noticed his flinch. She gave him a tight smile. “You look ready to be up and about, to me. Are you tired of being cooped up, yet? You never could stand two days in a row indoors.”
He eyed the last apple core reluctantly, then dropped it back on the plate. Almost, he started to lick the juice off his fingers, but they were all three looking at him. And still smiling. He realized he was trying to decide which of them was prettiest, and could not. Had they been anybody but who — and what — they were, he would have asked any and all of them to dance a jig or a reel. He had danced with Egwene often enough, back home, and even once with Nynaeve, but that seemed a long time ago.
“ 'One pretty woman means fun at the dance. Two pretty women mean trouble in the house. Three pretty women mean run for the hills.' ” He gave Nynaeve an even tighter smile than her own. “My da used to say that. You're up to something, Nynaeve. You are all smiling like cats staring at a finch caught in a thornbush, and I think I am the finch.”
The smiles flickered and vanished. He noticed their hands and wondered why they all looked as if they had been washing dishes. The DaughterHeir of Andor surely never washed a dish, and he had as hard a time imagining Nynaeve at it, even knowing she had done her own back in Emond's Field. They all three wore Great Serpent rings, now. That was new. And not a particularly pleasant surprise. Light, it had to happen sometime. It's none of my business, and that is all there is to it. None of my business. It just isn't.
Egwene shook her head, but it seemed as much for the other two women as for him. “I told you we should ask him straight out. He's stubborn as any mule when he wants to be, and tricksome as a cat. You are, Mat. You know it, so stop frowning.”
He put his grin back quickly.
“Hush, Egwene,” Nynaeve said. “Mat, just because we want to ask you a favor does not mean we don't care how you feel. We do care, and you know that, unless you're being even more woolheaded than usual. Are you well? You look remarkably well compared to how I last saw you. It really does look more like a m
