“But what about my block?” Nynaeve said, and Romanda frowned at her. They were in Romanda’s room in the Little Tower, and this was when Romanda was supposed to have her according to the schedule the Yellows had set up. The music and laughter outside seemed to irritate the Yellow.

“You weren’t so eager earlier. I heard that you told Dagdara you were Aes Sedai too and she could find a lake and douse her head.”

Heat rose in Nynaeve’s face. Trust her temper to get in the way. “Maybe I just realized that being Aes Sedai doesn’t mean I can channel any more easily than before.”

Romanda sniffed. “Aes Sedai. You have a long way to go for that, whatever. . . . Very well, then. Something we haven’t tried before. Jump up and down on one foot. And talk.” She sat down in a carved armchair near the bed, still frowning. “Gossip, I think. Talk about light things. For instance, what was it the Amyrlin said Lelaine wanted to talk about?”

For a moment Nynaeve stared back indignantly. Jump on one foot? That was ridiculous! Still, she was not really here about her block anyway. Lifting her skirts, she began jumping. “Egwene . . . the Amyrlin . . . didn’t say much. Something about having to stay put in Salidar. . . .” This had better work, or Egwene was going to hear a few choice words, Amyrlin or no.

“I think this one will work better, Sheriam,” Elayne said, handing over a twisted blue-and-red flecked ring of what had been stone this morning. In truth, it was no different from any other she had made. They stood apart from the crowd, at the mouth of a narrow alley lit by the red sun. Behind them fiddles squealed and flutes sang.

“Thank you, Elayne.” Sheriam tucked the ter’angreal into her belt pouch without even looking at it. Elayne had caught Sheriam in a pause from dancing, her face a little flushed beneath all that cool Aes Sedai serenity, but the clear green gaze that had made Elayne’s knees shake as a novice was fixed on her face. “Why do I get the feeling this is not your only reason for coming to see me?”

Elayne grimaced, twisting the Great Serpent ring on her right hand. The right hand; she just had to remember she was Aes Sedai too, now. “It’s Egwene. The Amyrlin, I guess I should say. She’s worried, Sheriam, and I was hoping you could help her. You are the Keeper, and I did not know who else to go to. I don’t have the straight of it completely. You know how Egwene is; she wouldn’t complain if her foot was cut off. It’s Romanda, I think, though she did mention Lelaine. One or both have been at her, I think, about staying here in Salidar, about not moving yet because it’s too dangerous.”