Soon a procession approached, Warders walking in a square around a tall figure in a worn brown cloak, twenty-six Aes Sedai following behind. The figure inside glowed to her eyes. She had the Talent of seeing ta’veren, and al’Thor was one of the most powerful of those to ever live.

She forced herself to ignore the glow, looking at al’Thor himself. It appeared that the boy had become a man. All hints of youthful softness were gone, replaced with hard lines. He’d lost the unconsciously slumped posture that many young men adopted, particularly the tall ones. Instead he embraced his height as a man should, walking with command. Siuan had seen false Dragons during her time as Amyrlin. Odd, how much this man should look like them. It was—

She froze as he met her eyes. There was something indefinable about them, a weight, an age. As though the man behind them was seeing through the light of a thousand lives compounded in one. His face did look like that of an Aes Sedai. Those eyes, at least, had agelessness.

The Dragon Reborn raised his right hand—his left arm was folded behind his back—and halted the procession. “If you please,” he said to the Warders, stepping through them.

The Warders, shocked, let him pass; the Dragon’s soft voice made them step away. They should have known better. Al’Thor walked up to Siuan, and she steeled herself. He was unarmed and shielded. He couldn’t harm her. Still, Bryne stepped up to her side and lowered his hand to his sword.

“Peace, Gareth Bryne,” al’Thor said. “I will do no harm. You’ve let her bond you, I assume? Curious. Elayne will be interested to hear of that. And Siuan Sanche. You’ve changed since we last met.”

“Change comes to all of us as the Wheel turns.”

“An Aes Sedai answer for certain.” Al’Thor smiled. A relaxed, soft smile. That surprised her. “I wonder if I will ever grow accustomed to those. You once took an arrow for me. Did I thank you for that?”

“I didn’t do it intentionally, as I recall,” she said dryly.

“You have my thanks nonetheless.” He turned toward the door to the Hall of the Tower. “What kind of Amyrlin is she?”

Why ask me? He couldn’t know of the closeness between Siuan and Egwene. “She’s an incredible one,” Siuan said. “One of the greatest we’ve had, for all the fact that she’s only held the Seat a short time.”

He smiled again. “I should have expected nothing less. Strange, but I feel that seeing her again will hurt, though that is one wound that has well and truly healed. I can still remember the pain of it, I suppose.”

Light, but this man was making a muddle of her expectations! The White Tower was a place that should have unnerved any man who could channel, Dragon Reborn or not. Yet he didn’t seem worried in the least.

She opened her mouth, but was cut off as an Aes Sedai pushed through the group. Tiana?