The air was pleasantly cool, the sky beginning to darken as night approached. Iridalle stood in a growing cluster of people gathered to examine the wares in the peddlers' two wagons. The four peddlers seemed impressed with the numbers, eagerly ushering people into their wagons as quickly as they could manage.
Once Iridalle reached the front of the crowd she found herself facing a tall, dark-haired man. He gestured to the second wagon, and Iridalle followed him inside.
Although Iridalle had no real interest in the trinkets that cluttered the wagon, she made a show of looking over them, sometimes enquiring about prices.
A small bronze figurine caught her eye. It was of an Aiel Far Dareis Mai with a spear in hand and, although fairly simple, looked to be finely crafted. Iridalle lifted it up, testing its weight and feel.
As she opened her mouth to ask the figurine's cost, the peddler chose the moment to introduce himself. "My name is Morin Pallen, from the nation of Tear."
"I am Iridalle," she replied simply.
"You don't look much like an Aiel..." His tone was thoughtful but cautious.
Iridalle was silent for a moment before deciding to ask the question she asked every peddler she came across. "May I ask a question of you, Morin Pallen?" At his nod she continued. "In your travels, have you come across an Andoran woman by the name of Ta'rella Shalmar?"
Surprise filled his eyes for a moment as he gave her a slight nod. "Shalmar... Yes, I know the woman you speak of."
Iridalle blinked. "You do?"
"Yes, although I can't say I have ever met her. Years ago my son met this Ta'rella. He bought from her the very figurine you now hold. He told me she was loathe to part with it, as though it had some kind of sentimental value for her. My son, being as fascinated as he was by the Aiel, somehow managed to convince her to sell it to him." He paused. "How do you know Ta'rella?"
"I don't." Iridalle's hand tightened around the figurine. "She is my mother. How much for this?" She held up the bronze statuette.
"Wha...? Your mother? Yet you don't know her?"
Iridalle nodded.
"Take the figurine, then, Iridalle. It will mean more to you than it could to anyone else."
"No, Morin Pallen, I will pay for it."
"No." His tone was firm, and he refused to accept the coins she tried to press into his hand. "You Aiel speak of honour and obligation, no? I feel an obligation to give this to you."
"You have no toh to me, Morin Pallen. Ji'e'toh does not work like that."
"Please, Iridalle, just take it." She began to protest again, but he wouldn't listen as he led her out of the wagon. "Good luck, if you're searching for her," he said softly, before turning to a man in cadin'sor without even giving Iridalle a chance to thank him.
Her first-sister Galyia waved to her from across the crowd, and Iridalle smiled, her hands moving in Maiden handtalk.
At that moment, Iridalle sensed someone channel saidar, and an invisible blow struck the side of her face sharply. "Iridalle."
She spun around, barely suppressing a groan at the woman who stood before her. Aryla was a tall woman, as all Aiel were, red-haired and blue-eyed, wearing an algode blouse and a dark skirt, with countless necklaces and bracelets. Iridalle stilled her hands immediately, but Aryla glanced at them and the figure they held. When her eyes met Iridalle's, they were sharp and full of disapproval. Although Iridalle winced inwardly at the scolding she knew was coming, she did not flinch under the woman's hard gaze.
"You are Far Dareis Mai no longer." The Wise One's tone was not harsh, but her words stung far more than the earlier blow.
Iridalle remained silent, her eyes fiery as she met Aryla stare for stare.
Aryla's eyes softened for a moment. "You have a Maiden's heart, Iridalle, and you are still young and full of Maiden pride. I know exactly how you feel, because I was forced to go through the very
same thing myself. I wanted to remain a Maiden of the Spear more than anything else in the world." She paused, her eyes returning to cold blue stone. "I was stubborn, but even I did not resist so much as you. I accepted my duties, Iridalle, and you must do the same. You have much potential, and I will not see that wasted."
Iridalle tightened her grip on the figurine as Aryla held out her hand for it. The Wise One's eyes darkened, and anger touched her voice. "Iridalle, you are naive. You have much to learn. Every Wise
One is willing to help teach you, but you are unwilling to learn. We have made countless allowances for you, more allowances than we have had need to make for any others. In battle you were passionate and motivated, but in training to be a Wise One, you are but an immature child. I have spoken with other Wise Ones about your refusal to accept your new path, and we have all agreed that it cannot go unpunished any longer. You are not wed to the spear now, and that cannot be reversed. I will take your figurine. You may have it back when you learn to accept reality."
"I accept reality. I may not like everything about it, but you can't say I don't accept it."
Aryla let out her breath in an exasperated sigh. It was far from often that the Wise Ones showed any feelings at all, and Iridalle began to wonder if her tone had been a little too unconcerned. But all
Aryla said was: "I'm afraid you'll have to prove your motivation and ambition before I believe that, Iridalle. I know you have these traits; you showed them often enough as a Far Dareis Mai. You must
free yourself from your links to the past. You have to look forward to move forward."
Once more the woman stretched out her hand. Reason was useless with the Wise Ones. Reluctantly Iridalle handed the figurine to Aryla, who too it with considerable satisfaction - and relief - before turning away. After a moment she stopped, looking over her shoulder. "You will be a Wise One, Iridalle."
Later, when Iridalle headed towards her tent, she found Galyia and her first-brother Agter waiting for her. Galyia looked up. "Aryla is not happy with you."
"You don't say." Iridalle gave her friends a dry smile as she joined them sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"My near-sister Sania has been with the Wise Ones for the past few hours," Agter told her. "She tells me that Aryla in particular is in a foul mood. How did you make her lose her composure? It's a talent few seem to have."
"You make it sound like some awe-inspiring feat," Iridalle muttered.
Agter grinned. "It's not that far off, Iri. How'd you do it?"
Iridalle shrugged. "Basically, she thinks that I'm arrogant and stuck in the past."
"Oh. Is that all?" Agter asked, still grinning. "Was it that hand language you Far Dareis Mai have?"
"I don't doubt it. But amongst other things."
Galyia glanced at Iridalle. "What did Aryla end up doing?"
With a sigh Iridalle told them about the figurine of the Maiden, about how Aryla had thought she had bought it out of her apparent obsession with her former warrior society, and about the true reason she had it. Agter and Galyia were Iridalle's two closest friends, and they had always understood the way she felt. Now was no different.
Agter tapped the blade of his knife thoughtfully on the ground. "I think Aryla's right, Iri. Your time as a Maiden is over and you have no choice but to become a Wise One, no matter how much you hate the fact."
Galyia nodded. "The Wise Ones won't give in. Let them think you have."
"Although," Agter put in with a smile, "they probably won't believe it from you."
"You're probably right about that," Iridalle told him, grinning.
"Aren't I always? But while we're speaking of the Wise Ones, you'll never believe what I heard Selena tell Taris today..."
"Selena? You've got my interest," Galyia said. "What did you hear?"
"Selena plans to lay a bridal wreath at Rylar's feet."
There was a moment of stunned silence. Iridalle and Galyia look at each other. "Selena?!" they exclaimed together.
"Rylar would have to be one of the nicest men in all of the Three-fold Land. I cannot imagine a couple more unsuited than he and Selena." Galyia's voice held a touch of bitterness; Iridalle knew that she had secretly cared for Rylar for some time now.
Iridalle nodded at Galyia. "I can't imagine Selena loving anyone but herself."
Someone cleared their throat loudly from the tent's entrance. Agter, Galyia and Iridalle looked up in unison.
Flame-haired Selena stood there, her green eyes full of fire. She was considered very attractive by the Aiel, and it was obvious by the way she held her head that she knew it. She was fairly young, especially for a Wise One; Agter was eighteen, and Selena couldn't have been much older, but at that moment she seemed a mature woman angered by young children.
Agter seemed to choke on his own breath, and Iridalle and Galyia exchanged a glance, wondering how much Selena had heard.
"Agter. Galyia." Selena's voice was as sharp as the cracks of a whip. "Out."
Agter and Galyia stood and hastily left the tent. Selena ducked her head to enter and stood looking down at Iridalle. Iridalle remained sitting, glancing up at the Wise One.
"You angered Aryla today, Iridalle."
What was this, the day for stating the obvious? Iridalle nodded. "I know."
"I do not wish for you to do it again."
Obviously.
"Do you understand me?"
"Completely." Iridalle's tone was not disrespectful, if perhaps a touch too light.
"Good. See that you obey her in the future."
"I understand, Wise One. Is that all?"
"No." Aryla's eyes darkened. "I heard the tail end of your conversation."
Iridalle winced. "I thought as much." It was going to be a long night.
"The Wise Ones are figures deserving of respect, not scorn, yet you..."
"Wise One?" Sania's voice was hesitant.
Selena didn't even turn around. "Leave us, girl. I am busy."
"But this is important!" Sania protested, flashing a quick grin at Iridalle from behind Selena.
"Nothing is important enough to disturb me when I am occupied. Do you have no understanding of respect, girl?"
"I am to tell you that Rylar wishes to speak with you."
Selena's face softened, her eyes sparkling. She seemed to be trying her hardest to maintain icy composure. "Fine." The word was too light to keep up the illusion and Iridalle couldn't hold back a smirk. Selena glanced at her, her eyes hardening for just a moment. "I will talk to you about this later, Iridalle. Do not think you will remain unpunished." She turned and left, fixing her hair and smoothing her skirt as she walked.
Sania gave Iridalle a conspiratorial grin before turning away. Agter and Galyia would not be popular with Selena when she found out that Rylar had not asked Sania to pass on the message.
Iridalle moved over to where three short spears lay together. Kneeling, she ran her fingers along the shaft of one. She had never understood why the Wise Ones had allowed her to keep the spears when they would normally have been destroyed.
The day she had been made to go to Rhuidean, just after she had returned from the rings, she told the Wise Ones that at least by watching her spears being destroyed, she would find it easier to let go. The pain would be only one sharp wound. Their reaction had been to make her keep them. Aryla's words were still fresh in her mind: "If you face your weakness every day, it will make you stronger."
Letting go wasn't easy, but Aryla was right.
It was a matter of months before Iridalle next saw a peddler in the Three-fold Land. The sun had reached its peak in the noonday sky by the time Iridalle approached the peddler's wagon.
He glanced at her sourly.
"My first-sister tells me you are Felan Narl of Andor. Is this true?"
He nodded.
"I am Iridalle, of the Nine Valleys sept of the Taardad Aiel. Do you know of a woman named Ta'rella Shalmar from Andor?"
"No," Felan replied with a twisted and far-from-pleasant smile.
Iridalle wasn't sorry to leave the man.
As she began to look for Galyia, she noticed Selena and Rylar standing together. Neither of them had ever looked as happy as they did now that they were wed. Selena now had a permanent twinkle in her eye and smile on her face. As Iridalle passed the couple, she too smiled. She had been wrong; the two were perfectly suited.
"Iridalle." Selena's voice sounded musical now, and Iridalle marvelled at how much the woman had changed.
She turned and smiled at Selena, nodding a greeting to Rylar.
"I see you, Iridalle," Rylar greeted her with a smile.
Selena turned to Rylar. "Could you leave us for a moment, shade of my heart?"
"Of course." He touched two fingers to Selena's cheek in the Aiel gesture for a hug and kiss. "May you find water and shade this day, Iridalle."
"The same to you. Farewell, Rylar."
Selena watched him go with dreamy eyes.
"Selena, I don't think I ever congratulated you... Or apologised for what I said."
Selena waved her hand as if to brush away Iridalle's comment. "It's no problem, Iridalle. The past is over, and I'm willing to forget. I just hope you don't think that any longer."
"Of course not. I was very wrong about you, and I'm glad that I was. You and Rylar are a perfect match. I know you'll be happy together."
Selena surprised Iridalle by giving her a quick hug. "Thanks." She tucked a fiery ringlet behind her ear. "I guess we've both changed a lot. You know, all of the Wise Ones have been impressed with you recently."
"What have I done?"
Selena smiled. Yet again. "You're starting to act like a Wise One. I know your heart is still wed to the spear, but you are learning to hide that. It was the same for me until I wed Rylar."
"Did you want to become a Wise One?"
"No. But I would have given up the spear anyway, for Rylar."
Iridalle smiled. Selena couldn't seem to get him off her mind. "Well, I'll leave you Selena, so you can be with Rylar now. Farewell. And congratulations."
"I will get your figurine back."
That night it wasn't as hard to look at her spears.
Her sleep was untroubled and when she woke she found herself looking up at Aryla.
"Iridalle, I think you should come with me." Her voice was unusually gentle.
Iridalle rose and followed Aryla. When the Wise One stopped walking, Iridalle looked past her and her breath caught in her throat.
Two bodies lay sprawled on the ground.
Agter's glazed eyes stared up at the sky, unseeing. Blood covered his throat where it had been slit cruelly across. With a choked sound, Iridalle knelt beside the body of her brother and gently thumbed his eyes closed.
Galyia lay face-down, but Iridalle didn't even need to look to see there were no wounds in her back. No Aiel would run from battle, but someone like Galyia least of all. Carefully Iridalle turned Galyia's body over. Her eyes were closed for the last time, the peace on her face belied by the dagger protruding from her chest. Her right hand held tightly Iridalle's bronze figurine, and her left was frozen in Maiden handtalk. Tent.
Turning away, Iridalle buried her face in her hands, unable to shake the image that she knew would haunt her forever.
Aryla touched Iridalle's shoulder. She looked up at the Wise One, not really seeing.
"Agter and Galyia were talking outside my tent last night. I gave the Far Dareis Mai figure to Galyia and asked her to give it to you. I do not want to speculate, but all I can think of that could have happened is that the peddler Felan Narl tried to steal your figure from Galyia. She and Agter died to protect it." Aryla bent down, prying Galyia's fingers loose from the statuette. She picked it up and held it for Iridalle to take.
Iridalle turned her head away, but Aryla dropped the figurine into her hand. "Don't let their sacrifices be wasted."
Iridalle tightened her grip, nodding slightly. After one last glance at the bodies she stood.
"Where are you going?" Aryla asked, a note of worry in her voice.
"To Galyia's tent." Iridalle's voice was weak, but at that moment, she didn't care.
Making her way there, she ignored everyone who greeted her, unknowing of what had just happened. She barely noticed their puzzled frowns.
A scroll lay on the ground in Galyia's tent. It was not sealed, not even rolled up, simply turned over, with 'Iri' written on the back.
Her hands shaking, Iridalle picked up the scroll and turned it over.
Iri, if you came here to find me and you're reading this, then I guess I'm not here. I do not trust the peddler Felan Narl. There is ... something ... about him. I think he is dishonourable, even for a wetlander. Agter and I will be watching him from the shadows tonight. We would have asked you to join us, but I thought it might be safest not to, in case any of the Wise Ones saw you there with
us. I hope you don't mind. Good luck with the rest of your training, I know you'll make a great Wise One.
- Lyia
Rereading the last sentence, Iridalle froze. Had she...? Could she have known?
Still holding the scroll, Iridalle turned and headed back to her tent, her pace quickening each step.
Aryla was waiting there for her. "Where is Felan Narl?" she demanded of the Wise One.
"He is not here. I suspect he left last night."
Iridalle nodded. It made sense. "Please leave me."
"Iridalle... I know the pain you must be feeling, but don't let it take over your senses. Life is a dream from which we must all wake to dream again. If it wasn't now, they would leave this world eventually. At least they died heroes, Iridalle, they died as they lived, with honour." Aryla seemed to be getting desperate.
"Felan Narl will pay. Agter and Galyia did nothing to him."
"You don't know that, Iridalle."
"Yes - I - do." Aryla blinked at the vehemence in Iridalle's voice. "Felan Narl is a Shadowrunner, I don't doubt that."
"Perhaps he is, Iridalle. But you are Aiel, and Aiel do not mourn deaths like this. We pray that the fallen have found the peace that they never could in life. And we move on."
"In one aspect, you're right, Aryla. The time for mourning is over." Iridalle paused. "Now is the time for vengeance." She turned away from the Wise One.
"Of course." Aryla closed her eyes for a moment. "Not even the Wise Ones can change what must be so."
Iridalle paused, turning back. "Is that supposed to mean something?"
"You know that I am a Dreamer, Iridalle. I did not know anything about your friends' deaths, only that you would abandon custom and reclaim your spears. I have known that for a long time; that is why you still have your spears. I tried to resist, but destiny's power seems to be unchallengeable."
"If you're trying to stop me, it won't work. I will avenge Agter and Galyia's deaths. They deserved that much, at least."
"You have always run hard against what must come to pass. You have always fought passionately against destiny. Continue that struggle, Iridalle. Stay here in the Three-fold Land. Become a Wise One. You will defy fate if you do. I know you have it in you."
"I have never fought against destiny, Aryla. I have merely tried to shape my own. Nothing I do is done to defy destiny. It's to follow my heart. And right now, my heart is telling me to restore the honour of my friends. I won't deny them that. Each moment I spend here is a moment Felan Narl gains on me. You have done much for me, and it feels like every one of the Aiel has. Don't think that I don't appreciate that. It's just that I don't take lightly the sacrifice that Agter and Galyia made."
Aryla nodded, somewhat resignedly. "I will leave you then, Iridalle. You will always be welcomed back, and I will always think of you as one of us. May you find water and shade, this day and always, Iridalle, of the Nine Valleys sept of the Taardad Aiel." She turned and left, her head not held quite so high as usual.
"May you always find water and shade, Aryla," Iridalle whispered to herself. "The Light knows you deserve it."
Sinking to her knees in front of her spears, Iridalle simply stared at them for a time. To her knowledge, what she planned to do had never been done before. For an ex-Maiden to reclaim her spears and leave the Three-fold Land to claim vengeance for her fallen first-brother and first-sister... It was definitely against strongest Aiel custom. But it wasn't against ji'e'toh, and it wasn't against her heart.
Agter and Galyia's sacrifice would not be wasted. Her hand closed around the first spear. "Carai an asa, dar." For your honour, sister. She took the second spear up. "Carai an asa, din." For your honour, brother. Taking up the last spear, she held the three high. "Carai an tain'shari Aiel."