| Home |

"Ji'anna?" Alysa called me. I handed the reins of my horse to the Sharan and made my way to her side.

She was still kneeling before the gravestone and her hand was tracing the name inscribed there. "This is my example of what an Aes Sedai is. On the day, he died he saved a caravan of refugees from an insane male Aes Sedai. He knew it could cause his death, but he did it anyway. He sacrificed himself for others." Her hand dropped to her side and I could read the faint inscription: Corey Soren Rosmani.

Sacrifice. I looked at the marker and then at the others around it. All were Rosmanis - this was the resting place of a family of legend. Who else knows…

"Ogier," Edmin answered my unspoken query. "Every Treebrother knows the location of this place and considers it a sacred duty to maintain it. It was a request of Rowaine, Corey's wife. That and the chora tree."

It was only then that I really noticed the tree giving shade to Corey Soren Rosmani's final resting place. It can't be, I thought, stunned. But before I could say anything, I felt Da'Nar through the Bond. Not Shadowspawn, but something had him ready for battle.

A crackling of underbrush and my Warder emerged, dragging a ragged, dirty old man by the scruff of his neck. The hapless figure craned his head around from side to side, trying to see where he was being taken. He was dressed all in black, but the once fine fabric was now rusty with mold and grime. One eye was covered with a black patch and it slipped as he was bounced along the ground. One hand tried valiantly to keep it in its place while the other fought the tightening of his collar around his neck.