Juilin stuck his head into the room with that silly cylindrical cap on, frowning as usual at Domon. The gash on his dark cheek, the blood already dried, was not unusual either; the streets were rougher now by daylight than they had been by dark in the beginning. "May I speak to you alone, Mistress al'Meara?" he said when he saw Egeanin sitting at the table.

"Oh, come in," Nynaeve told him sharply. "After what she's heard already, it won't matter if she hears a little more. Have you found them in the Panarch's Palace, too?"

In the act of shutting the door, he shot an unreadable, tight-mouthed glance at Domon. The smuggler smiled, showing too many teeth. For a moment it seemed they might come to blows.

"So the Illianer is ahead of me," Juilin muttered ruefully. Ignoring Domon, he addressed Nynaeve. "I told you the woman with the white stripe would lead me to them. That is a very distinctive thing. And I saw the Domani woman there, too. From a distance – I am not fool enough to wade into a school of silverpike – but I cannot believe there is another Domani woman besides Jeaine Caide in all of Tarabon."

"You mean they are in the Panarch's Palace?" Nynaeve exclaimed.

Juilin's face did not change, but his dark eyes widened slightly, flickered toward Domon. "So he had no proof," he murmured in a satisfied tone.

"I did have proof," Domon avoided looking at the Tairen. "If you did no accept it before this fisherman did come, Mistress al'Meara, it be no fault of mine."

Juilin drew himself up, but Elayne cut in before the thief-catcher could speak. "You both found them, and you both brought proof. Very likely neither would have been sufficient without the other. Now we know where they are because of you both." If anything, they looked more disgruntled than before. Men could be absolutely silly at times.

"The Panarch's Palace." Nynaeve jerked a fistful of braids, then flung the long plaits over her shoulder with a toss of her head. "What they are after must be there. But if they have it, why are they still in Tanchico? The palace is huge. Maybe they haven't found it yet. Not that that helps if we are out here while they are inside!"

Thom, as usual, entered without knocking, taking in everyone at one glance. "Mistress Egeanin," he murmured, with an elegant bow his limp did nothing to diminish. "Nynaeve, if I could speak with you alone, I have important news."

The fresh bruise on his leathery cheek made Elayne even angrier than the new tear in his good brown cloak. The man was too old to be braving the streets of Tanchico. Or any rough streets, for that matter. It was time she arranged a pension for him, and somewhere safe and comfortable to live. No more gleeman wanderings from village to village for him. She would see to it.

Nynaeve gave Thom a sharp look. "I've no time for that now. The Black sisters are in the Panarch's Palace, and for all I know, Amathera is helping them search it from cellar to attic."

"I found out less than an hour ago," he said disbelievingly. "How did you...?" He looked at Domon and Juilin, both still glowering like boys who had each wanted the whole cake.

It was obvious that he dismissed either as Nynaeve's source of information. Elayne felt like grinning. He did so pride himself on knowing all the undercurrents, all the hidden doings. "The Tower has its ways, Thom," she told him, cool and mysterious. "It is best not to inquire too closely into the methods of Aes Sedai." He frowned, bushy white eyebrows drawing down uncertainly. Most satisfactory. She became aware of Juilin and Domon frowning at her, too, and suddenly it was all she could do not to blush. If they talked, she would look a fool. They would, eventually; men did. Best to bury it quickly and hope. "Thom, have you heard anything that might indicate whether Amathera is a Darkfriend?"

"Nothing." He tugged one long mustache irritably. "Apparently she has not seen Andric since donning the Crown of the Tree. Maybe the troubles in the streets make travel between the King's Palace and the Panarch's too dangerous. Maybe she has simply realized that her power equals his now, and is no longer as compliant as before. Nothing to say what her allegiances are." With a glance at the dark-haired woman in the chair, he added, "I am grateful for the aid Mistress Egeanin gave you with those robbers, but to now I have thought she was a casually met friend. May I ask who she is to be brought into this? I seem to recall you threatening to tie a knot in any careless tongues, Nynaeve."

"She's Seanchan," Nynaeve told him. "Close your mouth before you swallow a moth, Thom, and sit down. We can eat while we try to figure out what to do."

"In front of her?" Thom said. "Seanchan?" He had heard some of the story of Falme from Elayne – some of it – and he had certainly heard the rumors here; he studied Egeanin as if wondering where she hid her horns. Juilin seemed to be strangling, if his bulging eyes were any indication; he must have heard the Tanchican rumors, too.

"Do you suggest I ask Rendra to lock her in a storeroom?" Nynaeve asked calmly. "That would cause comment, wouldn't it? I'm fairly certain three big, hairy men can protect Elayne and me if she pulls a Seanchan army out of her pouch. Sit, Thom, or else eat standing up, but stop staring. All of you, sit. I mean to eat before it grows cold."

They did, Thom looking as ill-contented as Juilin and Domon. Sometimes Nynaeve's bullying manner did seem to work. Perhaps Rand would respond to occasional bullying.

Putting Rand out of her mind, Elayne decided it was time to add something of worth. "I cannot see how the Black sisters can be in the Panarch's Palace without Amathera's knowledge," she said, pulling her chair under her. "As I see it, that makes for three possibilities. One, Amathera is a Darkfriend. Two, she thinks they are Aes Sedai. And three, she is their prisoner." For some reason, Thom's approving nod made her feel warm inside. Silly. Even if he did know the Game of Houses, he was just a foolish bard who had thrown it all away to become a gleeman. "In any case, she will help them look for what they seek, but it seems to me that if she thinks they are Aes Sedai, we might be able to gain her help with the truth. And if she is a prisoner, we could gain it by freeing her. Even Liandrin and her companions could not hold on to the palace if the Panarch ordered it cleared, and that would give us a free hand to search."

"The problem is discovering whether she is ally, dupe or captive," Thom said, gesturing with his pair of sursa. He knew how to use the things perfectly!

Juilin shook his head. "The real problem is to reach her, whatever her situation. Jaichim Carridin has five hundred Whitecloaks around the palace like fisher-birds around the docks. The Panarch's Legion has nearly twice that, and the Civil Watch almost as many. Few of the ring forts are held half so well."

"We are not going to fight them," Nynaeve said dryly. "Stop thinking with the hair on your chest. This is a time for wits, not muscle. As I see it..."

The discussion went on through the meal, continuing after the last small bowl was emptied. Egeanin even offered a few cogent comments after a while spent silently, not eating and not seeming to listen. She had a sharp mind and Thom readily accepted any of her suggestions he agreed with, though he stubbornly rejected out of hand those he did not, just the way he treated everyone else. Even Domon, rather surprisingly, supported Egeanin when Nynaeve wanted her to keep quiet. "She do make sense, Mistress al'Meara. Only a fool do reject sense, wherever it do come from."

Unfortunately, knowing where the Black sisters were did little good without knowing whether or not Amathera was with them; that, or what they were after. In the end, almost two hours of discussion came to not much more than that and a few suggestions as to how to find out about Amathera. All of which, it seemed, were to be used by the men with their spiderweb of contacts crisscrossing Tanchico.