“If we had not brought her here to the . . . river, Aes Sedai,” Aviendha said, “we would never have found you, and she would have died anyway.”

Nynaeve snorted and began sifting powdered herbs into the cup of water, muttering to herself. “Corenroot helps make blood, and dogwort for knitting flesh, and healall, of course, and. . . .” Her mutters trailed off into whispers too low to hear. Aviendha was frowning at her.

“The Wise Ones use herbs, Aes Sedai, but I had not heard that Aes Sedai used them.”

“I use what I use!” Nynaeve snapped and went back to sorting through her powders and whispering to herself.

“She truly does sound like a Wise One,” Chiad told Bain softly, and the other woman gave a tight nod.

Dailin was the only Aiel without her weapons in hand, and they all looked ready to use them in a heartbeat. Nynaeve surely isn’t soothing anyone, Egwene thought. Get them talking about something. Anything. Nobody feels like fighting if they’re talking of something peaceful.

“Do not be offended,” she said carefully, “but I notice you are all uneasy about the river. It does not grow violent unless there is a storm. You could swim in it if you wanted, though the current is strong away from the banks.” Elayne shook her head.

The Aiel looked blank; Aviendha said, “I saw a man—a Shienaran—do this swimming . . . once.”

“I don’t understand,” Egwene said. “I know there isn’t much water in the Waste, but you said you were ‘Stones River sept,’ Jolien. Surely you have swum in the Stones River?” Elayne looked at her as if she were mad.

“Swim,” Jolien said awkwardly. “It means . . . to get in the water? All that water? With nothing to hold on to.” She shuddered. “Aes Sedai, before I crossed the Dragonwall, I had never seen flowing water I could not step across. The Stones River. . . . Some claim it had water in it once, but that is only boasting. There are only the stones. The oldest records of the Wise Ones and the clan chief say there was never anything but stones since the first day our sept broke off from the High Plain sept and claimed that land. Swim!” She gripped her spears as if to fight the very word. Chiad and Bain moved a pace further from the riverbank.