Now he found himself here, grown into his middle years, suddenly afraid of the dark but completely at peace with men who could channel. He walked down the road, gravel crunching beneath his boots. The children came scrambling up out of the ditch and flocked around him. He idly brought out a handful of candies, purchased on the last scouting mission.

“Two each,” he said sternly as dirty hands reached for the candies. “And no shoving, mind you.” Hands went to mouths, and the children gave him bobbed heads in thanks, calling him “Master Genhald,” before racing away. They didn’t go back to the trench, but invented a new game, running off toward the fields to the east.

Androl brushed off his hands, smiling. Children were so adaptable. Before them, centuries of tradition, terror and superstition could melt away like butter left too long in the sun. But it was good that they’d chosen to leave the trench. The One Power could be unpredictable.

No. That wasn’t right. Saidin was very predictable. The men who wielded it, however…well, they were a different story.

The soldiers halted their work and turned to meet him. He wasn’t a full Asha’man, and didn’t merit a salute, but they showed him respect. Too much. He wasn’t sure why they deferred to him. He was no great man, particularly not here, in the Black Tower.

Still, they nodded to him as he passed. Most of these were among the men who had been recruited from the Two Rivers. Sturdy lads and men, eager, though many were on the young side. Half of them didn’t need to shave but once a week. Androl walked up to them, then inspected their work, eyeing the line of string he’d tied to small stakes. He nodded in approval. “Angle is good, lads,” he said. “But keep the sides steeper, if you can.”

“Yes, Master Genhald,” said the one leading the team. Jaim Torfinn was his name, a spindly young man with dusty brown hair. He still held the Power. That raging river of strength was so enticing. Rare was the man who could release it without a sense of loss.

The M’Hael encouraged them to keep hold of it, said that holding it taught them to control it. But Androl had known seductive sensations somewhat like saidin before—the exhilaration of battle, the intoxication of rare drinks from the Isles of the Sea Folk, the heady feeling of victory. A man could be swept up in those feelings and lose control of himself, forgetting who he was. And saidin was more seductive than anything else he’d experienced.

He said nothing to Taim about his reservations. He had no business lecturing the M’Hael.

“Here,” Androl said, “let me show you what I mean by straight.” He took a deep breath, then emptied himself of feeling. He used the old soldier’s trick to do that—he’d been taught it by his first instructor in the sword, old one-armed Garfin, whose heavy rural Illianer accent had been virtually incomprehensible. Of course, Androl himself had a faint Taraboner accent, he was told. It had faded over the years since he’d last been home.