Before the discussion could go any further, a woman with short black hair, in the livery of House Mitsobar, entered without knocking, which Nynaeve thought rude no matter what Elayne said was proper for servants. Her dress was white, the skirt sewn up to the knee on the left side to expose a green petticoat, with a snug bodice embroidered on the left breast with a green Anchor and Sword. Even the livery’s narrow neckline plunged as far as Nynaeve recalled. Plump and somewhere in her middle years, the woman hesitated, then curtsied and addressed herself to everyone. “Queen Tylin wishes to see the three Aes Sedai, if it pleases them.”

Nynaeve exchanged wondering looks with Elayne and the others.

“There are only two of us Aes Sedai here,” Elayne said after a moment. “Perhaps you meant to go to Merilille?”

“I was directed to this apartment . . . Aes Sedai.” The pause was barely long enough to notice, and the woman just missed turning the title into a question.

Elayne rose, smoothing her skirts; no stranger would suspect that that smooth face hid anger, but there was a hint of tightness at the corners of eyes and mouth. “Shall we go, then? Nynaeve? Aviendha? Birgitte?”

“I am not Aes Sedai, Elayne,” Aviendha said, and the serving woman put in hurriedly, “I was told only the Aes Sedai.”

“Aviendha and I could have a look around the city while you see the Queen,” Birgitte said before Elayne could open her mouth. Aviendha’s face lit up.

Elayne gave the pair of them a sharp look, then sighed. “Well, at least be careful. Nynaeve, are you coming, or do you want to see the city too?” That last was in a dry tone, with another glance at Birgitte.

“Oh, I would not miss it,” Nynaeve told her. “It will be good to finally meet someone who thinks. . . .” She could not finish it with the maid there. “We should not keep the Queen waiting.”

“Oh, no,” the liveried woman said. “It’d be as much as my ears are worth.”

However much her ears were worth, it took some time to walk through the palace corridors. As though to make up for all the white outside, the palace was full of color. In one corridor the ceiling was painted green and the walls blue, in another the walls were yellow and the ceiling pale rose. The floor tiles were diamonds of red and black and white, or blue and yellow, or almost any combination in any shade. There were very few tapestries, usually scenes of the sea, but a good many tall vases of golden Sea Folk porcelain stood in arched niches, and also large pieces of carved crystal, statuettes and vases and bowls, that caught Elayne’s eye as well as Nynaeve’s.