"She be Seanchan, Mistress," he protested, "and hard as iron spikes."
"Let her up."
Muttering under his breath, he released Egeanin's wrist, moving, away from her quickly as if he expected she might come at him again. The dark-haired woman – the Seanchan woman – merely stood, though. She worked the shoulder he had wrenched, eyeing him thoughtfully, glanced at the door, then raised her head and waited with every outward appearance of calm. It was hard not to keep on admiring her.
"Seanchan," Nynaeve growled. She clutched a fistful of her long braids, then gave her hand an odd stare and let go, but her brows were still furrowed and her eyes hard. "Seanchan! Worming your way into our friendship. I thought you had all gone back where you came from. Why are you here, Egeanin? Was our meeting really an accident? Why did you seek us out? Did you mean to lure us somewhere your filthy sul'dam could lock their leashes around our throats?" Egeanin's blue eyes widened fractionally. "Oh, yes," Nynaeve told her sharply. "We know about you Seanchan and your sul'dam and damane. We know more than you. You chain women who channel, but those you use to control them can channel too, Egeanin. For every woman who can channel that you've leashed like an animal, you walk by another ten or twenty every day without realizing it."
"I know," Egeanin said simply, and Nynaeve's mouth fell open.
Elayne thought her own eyes were going to pop out of her head. "You know?" She took a breath and went on in something less like an incredulous squeal. "Egeanin, I think you are lying. I've not met many Seanchan before, and never for more than a few minutes, but I know someone who has. Seanchan don't even hate women who channel. They think they are animals. You'd not take it so easily if you knew, or even believed."
"Women who can wear the bracelet are women who can learn to channel," Egeanin said. "I did not know it could be learned – I was taught a woman either could or could not – but when you told me that girls must be guided if they are not born with it, I reasoned it out: May I sit down?" So cool.
Elayne nodded, and Domon set Egeanin's chair upright, standing behind it while she sat. Looking over her shoulder at him, the dark-haired woman said, "You were not so – difficult... an opponent the last time we met."
"You did have twenty armored soldiers on my deck then, and a damane ready to break my ship apart with the Power. Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water." Surprisingly, he grinned at her, rubbing his side where she must have gotten in a blow Elayne had not seen. "You are no so easy an opponent yourself as I did think you would be without your armor and sword."
The woman's world had to have been turned upside down by her own reasoning, but she was taking it matter-of-factly. Elayne could not imagine what would spin her own world topsy-turvy that way, but she hoped that if she ever found out she could face it with Egeanin's calm reserve. I have to stop liking her. She is Seanchan. They'd have collared me far a pet if they could. Light, how do you stop liking someone?
Nynaeve appeared to be having no such difficulty. Planting her fists on the table, she leaned toward Egeanin so fiercely her braids dangled among the small bowls. "Why are you here in Tanchico? I thought you had all fled after Falme. And why have you tried to wriggle your way into our trust like some egg-eating snake? If you think you can collar us, think again!"
"That was never my intention," Egeanin said stiffly. "All I ever wanted from you was to learn about Aes Sedai. I..." For the first time she seemed hesitant, unsure of herself. Compressing her lips, she looked from Nynaeve to Elayne and shook her head. "You are not as I was taught. The Light be upon me, I... like you."
"You like us." Nynaeve made it sound a crime. "That answers none of my questions."
Egeanin hesitated again, then held her head up, defying them to do their worst. "Sul'dam were left behind at Falme. Some deserted after the disaster. A few of us were sent to bring them back. I only found one, but I discovered that an a'dam would hold her." Seeing Nynaeve's fists tighten, she quickly added, "I let her go last night. I will pay dearly if that is ever discovered, but after talking with you, I could not..." Grimacing, she shook her head. "That is why I stayed with you after Elayne revealed herself. I knew Bethamin was a sul'dam. To discover the a'dam held her, that she could... I had to know, to understand, about women who could channel." She took a deep breath. "What do you mean to do with me?" Her hands, folded on the table, did not tremble.
Nynaeve opened her mouth angrily, and closed it again slowly. Elayne knew her difficulty. Nynaeve might hate Egeanin now, but what were they to do with her? It was not clear she had committed any crime in Tanchico, and in any event the Civil Watch seemed interested in nothing beyond saving its own collective skin. She was Seanchan, she had used sul'dam and damane, but on the other hand, she claimed to have let this Bethamin go free. For what crime could they punish her? Asking questions they had answered freely? Making them like her?
"I'd like to stripe your hide till you glow like a sunset," Nynaeve growled. Abruptly her head swung toward Domon. "You found them? You said you found them. Where?" He shifted his feet, shooting a meaning look at the back of Egeanin's head, eyebrows rising in a question.
"I do not believe she is a Darkfriend," Elayne said when Nynaeve hesitated.
"I certainly am not!" Egeanin's stare was fierce-eyed and offended.
Folding her arms as if to keep from tugging her braids, Nynaeve glared at the woman, then shifted an accusatory frown to Domon, as though this entire mess were his fault. "There isn't anywhere to lock her," she said finally, "and Rendra would surely demand reasons. Go ahead, Master Domon."
He gave a last, doubtful look at Egeanin. "At the Panarch's Palace, one of my men did see two of the women on your list. The one with the cats, and the Saldaean woman."
"Are you certain?" Nynaeve said. "At the Panarch's Palace? I wish you had seen for yourself. More women than Marillin Gemalphin like cats. And Asne Zeramene is not the only woman from Saldaea, even in Tanchico."
"A narrow-faced blue-eyed woman with a wide nose feeding a dozen cats in this city where people do eat cats? In the company of another with that Saldaean nose and tilted eyes? That is no so common a pair, Mistress al'Meara."
"It is not," she agreed. "But the Panarch's Palace? Master Domon, in case you have forgotten, five hundred Whitecloaks guard that place, commanded by an Inquisitor of the Hand of the Light! Jaichim Carridin and his officers at least must know Aes Sedai on sight. Would they remain if they saw the Panarch sheltering Aes Sedai?" He opened his mouth, but Nynaeve's point was telling, and nothing came out.
"Master Domon," Elayne said, "what was one of your men doing at the Panarch's Palace?"
He tugged at his beard in an embarrassed way, and rubbed his bare upper lip with a wide finger. "You see, the Panarch Amathera do be known to like ice peppers, the white kind that be very hot, and whether or no she be amenable to gifts herself, the customs men will know who did give her one and be more amenable themselves."
"Gifts?" Elayne said in her best reproving voice. "You were more honest on the docks, and called them bribes." Surprisingly, Egeanin had twisted around in her chair to give him a disapproving look, too.
"Fortune prick me," he muttered, "you did no ask me to give up my trade. And I would no if you did, no if you did bring my aged mother to ask. A man do have a right to his trade." Egeanin snorted and righted herself.
"His bribes are not our problem, Elayne." Nynaeve sounded exasperated. "I don't care if he bribes the entire city and smuggles —" A rap at the door cut her off. With a cautioning look at the others, she snapped "You sit quiet" to Egeanin, and raised her voice. "Come."