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| <<< When to Surrender >>> |
| Setting: Aesdaishar Palace |
Summary[]
- Point of view: Lan Mandragoran
Lan searches the palace for Bukama. His maids Anya and Esne are now taking orders directly from Edeyn Arrel, who plans on giving his daori to her daughter Iselle thereby forcing them to marry. Lan feels that he is trapped, and must find Bukama to convince him to flee. While walking through the halls, he sees Merean talking to Iselle. Iselle leaves and is followed by the Aes Sedai. Lan concedes that Moiraine must be Aes Sedai after all or else Merean would have denounced her. Lan continues, but as he reaches a flight of stairs, his feet are suddenly pulled from under him and he slides down, very lucky to be unhurt. He guesses that his "accident" was due to an Aes Sedai and the One Power. A servant runs up to him and tells him that Bukama has been stabbed. Lan arrives to see Bukama dead with a face of surprise, stabbed in the back with a dagger. Lan does not understand how Bukama could have been ambushed this way and goes to find Moiraine.
- Point of view: Moiraine Damodred
Lan enters Moiraine's room and tells her that Bukama is dead. He also talks about how he fell down the stairs and believes she did it. He tells her that Iselle was talking with Merean. He demands to know why Bukama died and blames his death on her schemes. Moiraine is now very sure that Merean is of the Black and believes everyone to be in danger. Lan tells her he saw Iselle hurrying somewhere with Brys and Diryk. They run to the balcony where Brys heads for privacy. Moiraine knows Merean is very old; she was Aes Sedai one hundred years before Moiraine's great grandmother was born.
At the balcony they find Iselle, Brys, and Diryk with Merean and Ryne. Merean convinced Iselle to bring Diryk for her, but she brought Brys, too. Merean binds Brys and Diryk with Air, wanting to kill them. Ryne is on Merean's side, confirming Moiraine's thoughts that he is a Darkfriend. He was the one who killed Bukama. Merean is too strong for Moiraine to shield, especially when the older Aes Sedai is already embracing saidar. Merean orders Ryne to kill Lan, and make sure he is dead. The men fight with swords as Moiraine and Merean duel with the Power. Moiraine is clearly overmatched and can barely hang on. Laughing, Merean drops Diryk off the balcony and knocks Moiraine out, intending to question her later. Moiraine regains consciousness but she is too dizzy to embrace saidar. Feeling triumphant, Merean turns her back on Moiraine in order to drop Brys off the balcony. Brys only stares at Merean in hatred as he falls, then Iselle begins to move. Desperate, Moiraine flings herself at Merean, stabbing her in the back with a belt knife. As Merean dies, Iselle begins to fall off the edge of the balcony. Moiraine grabs her hand, but Iselle's fingers slip through Moiraine's bloody fingers and she falls. Moiraine still cannot embrace the Source and can only watch in horror as Iselle falls to her death. Lan comes and pulls her away, having killed Ryne. Ryne was indeed the better swordsman, but he became overconfident when Lan lost use of one of his arms. After recovering, Moiraine Heals Lan and then incinerates the Darkfriends' bodies. Lan agrees to keep silent on what happened here as exposing the events would only serve the Shadow.
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