Bryne clapped him on the shoulder. "Well enough. And you, Thom Merrilin." Thom had half turned away at the other man's approach, knuckling his mustaches and staring at the floor as if to obscure his face. Now he met Bryne's level stare with one of his own. "I once knew a fellow with a name much like yours," Bryne said. "A skilled player of a certain game."

"I once knew a fellow who looked much like you," Thom replied. "He tried hard to put me in chains. I think he'd have cut my head off if he ever laid hands on me."

"A long time ago, that would be? Men do strange things for women sometimes." Bryne glanced at Siuan and shook his head. "Will you join me for a game of stones, Master Merrilin? I sometimes find myself wishing for a man who knows the game well, the way it's played in lofty circles."

Thom's bushy white eyebrows drew down almost as far as Uno's had, but he never took his eyes from Bryne. "I might play a game or two," he said finally, "once I know the stakes. As long as you understand I don't intend to spend the rest of my life playing stones with you. I don't like staying too long in one place anymore. My feet itch, sometimes."

"So long as they don't itch in the middle of a crucial game," Bryne told him dryly. "The two of you come with me. And don't expect much sleep. Around here, everything needs doing yesterday, except what should have been done last week." Pausing, he looked at Siuan again. "My shirts came back only half clean today." With that he was leading Thom and Uno off. Siuan glared at his back, then shifted her frown to Min, and Min grimaced and darted off the way Leane had gone.

Nynaeve did not understand that last exchange at all. And the nerve of those men, thinking they could talk over her head – or under her nose, or whatever – without her understanding every word. Enough of them, anyway.

"A good thing he has no need for a thief-catcher," Juilin said, eyeing Siuan sideways, and plainly uncomfortable. He had not gotten over the shock of learning her name; Nynaeve was not sure he had taken in about her being stilled, and no longer the Amyrlin Seat. He certainly shifted his feet for her. "This way I can sit and talk. I've seen a lot of fellows who look like they might unwind over a mug of ale."

"He practically ignored me," Elayne said incredulously. "I don't care what the trouble is between him and Mother, he has no right... Well, I will tend to Lord Gareth Bryne later. I have to talk to Min, Nynaeve."

Nynaeve started to follow as Elayne hurried toward that hall to the kitchens – Min would give straight answers – but Siuan caught her arm in an iron grip.

The Siuan Sanche who had meekly ducked her head before those Aes Sedai was gone. No one here wore the shawl. Her voice never rose; it did not need to. She fixed Juilin with a stare that had him almost jumping out of his skin. "You watch what questions you ask, thief-catcher, or you'll gut yourself for market." Those cold blue eyes shifted to Birgitte and Marigan. Marigan's mouth twisted as if she tasted something bad, and even Birgitte blinked. "You two find an Accepted named Theodrin and ask her about somewhere to sleep tonight. Those children look as if they should be in bed already. Well? Move your feet!" Before they had stirred a step – and Birgitte was moving as quickly as Marigan, maybe quicker – she rounded on Nynaeve. "You I have questions for. You were told to cooperate, and I suggest you do if you know what's good for you."

It was like being caught in a high wind. Before Nynaeve knew it, Siuan was hurrying her up rickety steps with a railing cobbled together from unpainted wood, hustling her down a rough-floored corridor to a tiny room with two cramped beds built into the wall, one above the other. Siuan took the only stool, motioning her to sit on the lower bed. Nynaeve chose to stand, if only to show she was not going to be pushed. There was not much else in the room. A washstand with a brick propping up one leg held a chipped pitcher and basin. A few dresses hung from pegs, and what appeared to be a pallet lay rolled up in one corner. Nynaeve had fallen far in the space of a day, but Siuan had fallen farther than she could imagine. She did not think she would have too much trouble with the woman. Even if Siuan did still have the same eyes.

Siuan sniffed. "Suit yourself, then, girl. The ring. It doesn't require channeling?"

"No. You heard me tell Sheriam —"

"Anyone can use it? A woman who can't channel? A man?"

"Possibly a man." Ter'angrealthat did not need the Power usually worked for men or women. "For any woman, yes."

"Then you are going to teach me to use it."

Nynaeve raised one eyebrow. This might be a lever to get what she wanted. If not, she had another. Maybe. "Do they know about this? All the talk was of showing them how it works. You were never mentioned."

"They don't know." Siuan did not appear shaken at all. She even smiled, and not pleasantly. "And they won't. Else they'll learn you and Elayne have been posing as full sisters since you left Tar Valon. Moiraine might be letting Egwene get away with it – if she hasn't tried it, too, I don't know a bar knot from a running hitch – but Sheriam, Carlinya...? They'll have you squealing like a spawning grunter before they're done. Long before."

"That's ridiculous." Nynaeve realized she was sitting on the edge of the bed. She did not remember sitting down. Thom and Juilin would hold their tongues. No one else knew. She had to talk to Elayne. "We haven't pretended anything of the sort."

"Don't lie to me, girl. If I needed confirmation, your eyes gave it. Your stomach is turning somersaults, isn't it?"

It most certainly was. "Of course not. If I teach you anything, it's because I want to." She was not going to let this woman bully her. The last vestige of pity winked out. "IfI do, I want something in return. To study you and Leane. I want to know if stilling can be Healed."

"It can't," Siuan said flatly. "Now —"

"Anything short of death should be."

"'Should be' isn't 'is,' girl. Leane and I were promised we would be left alone. Speak to Faolain or Emara if you want to know what happens to anyone who molests us. They weren't the first or the worst, but they cried the longest."

Her other lever. Near panic had driven it right out of her head. If it existed. One glance. "What would Sheriam say if she knew you and Leane weren't ready to tear out each other's hair at all?" Siuan just looked at her. "They think you're tamed, don't they? The more you snap at anybody who can't snap back, the more they take it for proof when you leap to obey every time an Aes Sedai coughs. Was a little cringing all it took to make them forget the two of you had worked hand-in-hand for years? Or did you convince them stilling had changed everything about you, not just your face? When they find out you've been scheming behind their backs, manipulating them, you'll howl louder than any grunter. Whatever thatis." Not so much as a blink. Siuan was not going to loose her temper and let any admissions slip out. Yet there had been something in that brief look; Nynaeve was sure of it. "I want to study you – and Leane – whenever I want. And Logain." Perhaps she could learn something there as well. Men were different; it would be like looking at the problem from another angle. Not that she would Heal him even if she discovered how. Rand's channeling was necessary. She was not about to loose another man on the world who could wield the Power. "If not, then you can forget about the ring, and Tel'aran'rhiod." What was Siuan after there? Probably just to revisit something that at least seemed like being Aes Sedai. Nynaeve stamped firmly on momentarily rekindled pity. "And if you make any claims about us pretending to be Aes Sedai, then I'll have no choice but to tell about you and Leane. Elayne and I might be uncomfortable until the truth comes out, but it will, and the truth will make you weep as long as Faolain and Emara together."