Happousai sat on the dojo roof, looking out across 
the city and quietly smoking his pipe.  
Something...something was wrong.  Missing.  He couldn't 
remember what.  Something he had possessed in his 
youth.  Perhaps just the shadow of what he had become.

        For months now, he had been saner than he had been 
for years, possibly decades, maybe even centuries.  He 
wasn't sure how old he was; anything before World War II 
was a blur, although he had dim memories of stealing 
underwear from Russian nurses during the 1905 war.  The 
Saint Point had stripped him of the madness he had 
suffered, the mad craving for contact with the female 
body, the desire which had driven him to steal underwear 
because of that contact.  It had driven out the demon; 
with most people, it would had made them unbearably 
perfect, but with him, the ending of the possession was 
the most it could do.  There was something wrong with 
him, something that Tofu had told him was some kind of 
illness, some sort of deep disturbance to his chi.

         There was something he needed, something that 
underwear and perversion had somehow assuaged.  Not 
contact with women, but...something.  The holes in his 
memories, the way they faded more and more as he tried 
to think about the earlier part of his life, before the 
demon Kinseius had gotten into him...it was a clue to 
something.

       He didn't know where he was born, who his parents 
were, where he had grown up, who had trained him, 
nothing.  He didn't know where to start looking.  But he 
had to find it.  The clock was ticking; death was 
approaching.  Maybe not for years, but...He had lost the 
insane purpose that had driven him on.  Now he needed a 
new one.

        Someone was sneaking up on him.  She was quiet and 
subtle, but not quiet or subtle enough.  Better than most 
of the clumsy fools who surrounded him, however.  
"Hello, Cologne."

        She laughed; it was rare for him to hear that.  Even 
when she was young, she hadn't laughed too often.  He 
blinked, wondering how he knew that.  

         "Hello, Happy.  It's time for you to go home."

         He turned around and blinked.  "I am home.  As much 
as I have one."

          She sighed.  "So you don't remember."

          "I hardly remember anything.  Nothing before the 
demon.  I remember...stumbling into the middle of some 
ritual in 1937.  I think that's how it got into me...I 
was...the most...it liked me best because..."  He frowned.  
"I can't remember.  I think I was already...like that.  I..."

         "That's because I finally caught you again and 
brainscrubbed you as part of an attempt to...fix your 
problem.  I had forgotten how clever you were.  Do you 
want to remember, Happousai?"

        His eyes narrowed.  He liked Cologne sometimes, but 
he rarely trusted her; she was sneakier than her.  "Why 
are you going to do this?"

        "For over a hundred years, I have been preparing for 
this day.  Pulling strings and nudging lives, following the 
half-understood guidance of dreams and ancient 
prophecies.  My purpose has enabled me to go on, just as 
the purpose given you by your madness enabled you to go 
on.  But you had a different purpose once, before the 
madness took you."  Her voice was quiet, but firm.  "I will 
not make you do this; I did not bring you here to fulfill 
prophecy.  But I...you deserve to know.  What you do with 
that knowlege is your own business.  But I may not be 
alive to do this after I do what I must do next."

        He frowned.  "There is none here but me who could 
possibly best you.  Perhaps Taro on a good day or Ranma 
if you were drunk and asleep.  Perhaps.  What must you 
do?"

        "Well, next is perhaps not quite the proper term.  I 
have a few more visits to make first, but then...it 
depends on how far she runs before I can catch her."

         "Stop being evasive!  WHAT are you going to do?"

        "Do you remember Ishar Ahmid Cho?"

         Happousai blinked.  "Who?  Wait...there was a book.  
Or something."  He stared at his pipe, seeking its wisdom.  
"Ahh, yes.  He thought all of history was a repetition of 
certain stories; that certain kinds of stories are told 
over and over, with the names of the players changing, 
and often the scale of events, but that if you knew the 
right stories, you could examine any situation and know 
how it would come out, because each story could only end 
in certain ways.  A lot of vague meaningless claptrap."  
He shrugged and took a puff from his pipe.  "If he's right, 
you can't change the way the story ends.  If he's wrong, 
then it doesn't offer any useful guidance."  A second puff; 
a second thought.  "What's that got to do with anything?"

         "Part of his theory was that certain people were 
linked, playing out similar roles in similar stories, and 
that by manipulating the person playing role A in story X-
-version 1, you could influence the outcome of story X, 
version 2 by affecting the person playing A in version 2."

        Happousai's head throbbed.  "Can we skip to the part 
that makes sense?"

        "I'm going to see about doing some rewriting."

        "And how does this relate to my memories?"

        "Do you want them back?"

        "Yes."  Maybe that will help me understand.

        He was too busy trying to cope with the flood of 
memories to try to figure out what she had been talking 
about once she undid the memory suppression.  He 
remembered what had happened to him, how he had 
become the panty-stealing maniac.  He remembered that 
was an improvement on what he had been doing before 
that.  He remembered how...  "Nemene!  What happened to 
Nemene?  And Darin?  And...Ciri?"

         "Ciri was killed by the Red Army in 1947.  Nemene 
and Darin...very tragic story."

************

Parallel Lives
A Ranma/WOT crossover
Chapter 8:  Past Lives

by 

John Biles

************

        "You want to WHAT?"  Rand asked dubiously.

        "You've got a good dozen Aes Sedai sitting around 
picking their noses because you won't do anything with 
them.  And while I'm sure this Taim guy is doing his best, 
I know more about the Power in my left foot than he 
knows in his entire body,"  Kaneda said.  "We all do.  But 
on the other hand, some of my people aren't very strong 
channelers.  I think you'd be better served if my people 
acted as a sort of school, teaching your Aes Sedai and 
Ash'aman, instead of splitting my group up among them.  
Especially since my people know how to actually link 
men and women and how to do the things that take both 
groups working together."  

          They were having a semi-private conference.  
Semi-private meant that there were only three Ash'aman, 
three Wise Ones, Merana (an Aes Sedai), Alyssa, Min, 
Rhuarc, and a dozen or so Wise Ones present.  They were 
all seated (or standing) in one of the nicer conference 
rooms, seated around an oval table.  

        "I need to introduce you to Taim," Rand said, then 
fell silent, staring off to one side of Kaneda in a way 
that reminded him of the way Min looked when she did 
her aura readings.  I wonder if he has the same Talent, 
Kaneda thought.  I wish I did.  Rand looked over at Merana.  
"Are you interested in this offer?"

        "So you possess the knowlege of the Aes Sedai of 
the Age of Legends?"  Merana asked.  She glanced over at 
Alyssa with a faintly disapproving look.  Alyssa did her 
best to just stare cooly back, but she felt herself blush.

        Kaneda looked over at Alyssa and smiled.  "With your 
permission, my Lord Dragon?"

        "A demonstration?"

        "Yes."

        "Go ahead."

         He and Alyssa looked at each other, then grasped 
the Source and linked.  He led the link; in a one to one 
male-female link, the male always did.  Weaving Air and 
Spirit, he touched Merana's mind with the threads.  She 
was watching Alyssa and the air around her, her brow 
furrowed.  He spoke into her mind.  [Hello, Merana]

         Merana jumped and nearly fell out of her chair.  
"You..."

        "The Mind Touch.  Lost by the Aes Sedai since the 
breaking.  We also know how to make something like 
this."  He put a pair of small folding boxes on the table.  
One was roughly made, the other smoothly polished.  
"Farspeakers.  One we found in a cave, the other one 
newly made.  Anyone can use them.  And we can make 
more.  The only limits are raw materials and the fact 
that some weaves require more men and women than we 
have.  Interested now?"

        "Yes," she said, then blinked.  "I'm sure the others 
will be interested.  And if you can teach Samistu more 
about healing..."

        Min laughed.  "She might offer to have your baby like 
she did to Flinn."

        Flinn, who was standing nearby, blushed.

*************

        Alyssa finished the elaborate weave of Fire and 
Earth.  The end product was the reshaping of several 
pieces of cloth into a plain, but functional yellow dress 
with long pleated sleeves and an ankle-length skirt.  She 
would have to do the embroidery by hand; she had tried 
using the Power and had just made a mess.  Her control 
wasn't quite that fine with Earth.  Not that her 
embroidery skills were much better.  The most important 
thing, however, was the cloth.  She, Mai, Alya, and a 
reluctant Balin were making outfits of seracloth, which 
was fire resistant and quite warm.  Balin, in fact, had a 
knack for it, but didn't like it; he saw it as women's 
work.  He also, however, lost all his willpower when Alya 
fluttered her eyelashes at him; he had a quite obvious 
liking for her.  

        "Do I REALLY need to make so much of this stuff?  
We're going to use up all the spare cloth in the Palace.  
Yeah, that's it," he said.  The things I do for love.  I'm a 
peddler, not a weaver.  He ran his hands through his short 
black hair; he did this when he was aggravated.  He 
looked over at Mai, who was sitting on Alya's bed, sewing 
by hand onto a long blue banner.  "What's that?"

       "I'm making Lord Kaneda a new banner.  A yellow 
hammer on a blue background.  Ranma suggested it."  Mai 
held it up.  She was clearly the best seamstress of the 
group; she had three completed outfits to one side as 
well.  "How's it look?"

      "Looks great,"  Alya said.  "So we're gonna be teaching 
the Power to a bunch of Aes Sedai and Ash'aman, 
Alyssa?"

       "Yeah.  I don't know how Kaneda talked Rand into it, 
but...classes start as soon as we get the students 
organized.  I'm kinda scared."  Alyssa said.  "I dunno about 
the Ash'aman, but full Sisters don't listen to anyone else 
very easily.  And since the last they knew of me, I was a 
failed novice..."  She stared at the floor, remembering 
how Merana had looked at her.  

       Alya shrugged.  "Compared to Tyr kicking me in the 
head five times yesterday, they're nothing.  It's not like 
we don't know more than them."  She blinked.  "We have 
training this afternoon.  What time is it?"

       Mai blinked.  "Time for us to be late, I think."

***********

       Alya lead the pack as they sprinted into the 
courtyard, where Rand, a pack of Maidens, several male 
Aiel warriors, Ranma, and Ukyou were watching Akane 
conducting her afternoon martial arts lessons.  Cerise, 
Tyr, and Alain were acting as sub-instructors, trying to 
help Akane run herd over the group.  "I'm sorry we're 
late!"  She launched a flying kick at Akane as an apology.

        Akane caught the foot and spun, tossing Alya into a 
wall.  "You need to get faster if you want that to work."

        Alya grinned, bouncing off the wall with a move 
Ranma recognized, although he was better at it than she 
was, and began to glow a faint red to those who could 
percieve chi.  This attack was much faster than the other 
one, and she sent Akane tumbling.  "I've been working on 
that."  

        Her followup, however, needed work, as Akane 
proceeded to methodically pummel her.  While Alya was 
faster, she couldn't take the pounding, and her blocks 
were often not effective enough.  She fell back, fighting 
defensively, and now Akane had the short end of the 
stick, unable to hit her.  "Better,"  Akane said.  "Hey, 
Ranma, got time to spar with Alya?  I think you can teach 
her better than me.  She fights like you."

         Ranma's instinctive response was to announce he 
didn't fight girls, but he choked it down.  He'd look 
scared, and he didn't want to look scared with all these 
people watching.  "Come and get me."

        Akane turned to the rest of the latecomers.  "Took a 
nap after lunch?"

        Mai still wasn't used to Lord Kaneda also being a 
woman.  "I was making you a new banner."  She unfurled 
it.  "What do you think?"

        Akane blinked.  "..."

        "It wasn't MY fault,"  Balin said, trying to cover 
himself.  "I'm just going to go practice with Tyr now."  He 
slinked off.

        "Do you like it, Kan...Akane?"  Alyssa asked.

        "How did you..."  She shook her head.  "It's fine.  As 
good a symbol for me as any."

        Mai frowned slightly.  "You don't like it."

        "It's...It's fine."  She took the banner, folding it up.  
"Now, it's time for us to all beat each other into the 
ground."

***********

       "So what is Chi?"  Rand asked Akane.  He had 
assumed it had something to do with channeling, but this 
wasn't the case.  Not unless she could somehow punch 
through the shield he had put on her without him even 
noticing it.  

        "It's...uhh..."  Akane tried to figure out how to explain 
it.

         Ranma interrupted her.  "Chi is the power of human 
life force, sort of.  Everyone has it, but most people don't 
understand how to use it.  By careful exercises and a lot 
of practice, you can learn to use your chi to enhance your 
normal abilities, and as you use more chi, your chi gets 
stronger.  Some people learn ways to draw on the Earth's 
chi too, but I've never figured out how.  You gotta 
meditate under a mountain for a hundred years  or 
something.  People with strong chi radiate a battle aura 
when they draw on it, and it can get stronger with your 
emotions.  You can learn to run faster, jump farther, hit 
harder, and stuff."

        "How hard?"  Rand asked.

         Cerise, who had been standing nearby quietly with 
the rest of Kaneda's best students, stepped forward.  "I 
can shatter a stone wall with one finger."

         Muttered whisperings went through the crowd, 
many of them sounding dubious.  Rand said, "How hard is 
it to learn to use?"

        "Well, I spent years learning to..."  Ranma began.

        "I figured out how to break rocks in about three 
months,"  Cerise said.

        Ranma said, "I was counting from when I started my 
training."

        "So was I,"  Cerise said, smirking at him.

         Smoke rose from Ranma's ears.  "In three months, 
you learned to..."

        "Hey, you learn new stuff fast, Ranma,"  Akane said.  
"I remember you learned the Tenchi Amaguriken in days."

         After spending years learning to fight and building 
up my chi, Ranma thought.  "And Akane taught you?"

         Cerise nodded.

         "She taught you something she can't do?"

         "I can do it now, Ranma,"  Akane said, irritated.

         "You started training them...what, five months ago, 
maybe?"  Ranma asked.  A thought was tickling his mind, 
but he couldn't quite get it out.

        "And?  Are you insinuating something?"  He's just 
jealous, Akane thought.

        "Akane, were you able to do chi attacks after five 
months?"

        "..."

        "For that matter, I guess I did pick up on channeling 
pretty fast."  He frowned.  "I feel like I'm not getting 
something important."

        "Ta'veren," Rand said quietly.  "I would be willing to 
bet that Kaneda is ta'veren.  I once caused everyone in a 
village to get married by walking into it.  To cause 
people to learn faster...quite plausible."  He turned to 
Akane.  "I would be interested in learning more of this 
chi.  Is it the same for men and women?"

       "I can't tell any difference between when I'm male 
and female, using chi.  You can't link, as far as I know.  
Umm...I could teach you some meditative exercises..."

         "That would be good.  I wouldn't be surprised if 
some of the Aiel were interested as well."

         One of them frowned.  "It is not channeling?"

         Ukyou said, "I can do it.  It's not channeling."

         Maiden hand-talk flickered back and forth.  Then the 
skys boomed with thunder, and rain began to fall, gently, 
but with signs of getting harder.  Akane, Ranma, Alyssa, 
and Ukyou scurried for cover.

        "Time to adjourn this discussion,"  Rand said.  "I 
must go to Caemlyn again."  He frowned.  "What is taking 
Mat so long to get her there..."

************

        "Great.  Just Bloody Flaming Great."  Mat said to 
himself.  Being shackled upside down was a new 
experience; Mat hadn't liked very many of his new 
experiences since arriving in Ebou Dar at all.  Mat was 
wishing desperately he could go back to being Tylin's 
'duckling' after what they had put him through, however.  

          I hope she's all right, he thought.  The woman has 
no flaming sense at all; she probably challenged the High 
Lord Suremoth or whatever her name is to a duel by now.  
Or gotten blown up by a damane.  

        Mat hadn't had to worry about that before, but he did 
now.  He'd lost everything he'd bargained with the Foxes 
to get.  Everything.  The spear, the foxhead amulet were 
both in the hands of High Lady Spuregoth.  Or whatever 
her name was.  Understanding the Seanchan was nearly 
impossible.  His hat was gone.  His money.  Only the ring 
he had bought remained, and that only because it was 
stuck on his finger and they hadn't felt the need to bother 
pulling it off.  He wouldn't have put it past them to chop 
off his hand to get it.

        At least Olvar wasn't in their hands.  As far as he 
knew, anyway.  He was sure they would have used Olvar 
to threaten him if they knew.  Not that they likely would 
have known of any connection.  Only a handful of odd men 
who were tatooed had actually talked to him.  And some 
slave who brought him food.  The snootiest slave he had 
ever seen; not that Mat had seen many slaves.  Still, from 
the vague rumors he had heard of such among the Sharans 
and past history, slaves usually didn't look at you as if 
they were superior.  Or complain that such work was 
beneath them.  The woman looked disturbingly familiar 
as well.  Blonde with a pouty face.  

         Mat had an eye for women; he could remember every 
woman he had ever kissed.  And a lot more that he had 
kissed in the memories planted in his head.  Much as he 
hated them at times, he was glad he had at least one 
thing that could not be taken from him.

       And the dice that sometimes rolled in his head.  They 
were silent, though he pleaded at them to start.  They 
might not tell him what to do, but they always meant 
something was going to happen.  Something important.  

        Well, at least I won't die of starvation, he thought.  
They feed me well enough; but what do they want of me?

**************

        Alyssa liked Min.  She, Min, Ranma, and Ukyou were 
wandering the palace looking for something to do.  Akane 
had gone off with Vanin and Alain to visit Rand's school, 
along with several of the artisans among Akane's 
followers.  Apparently, she was going to teach them to 
make something called 'gunpowder'.  

         The reason Alyssa liked Min was that she liked 
people who were tough, but friendly, in part because she 
never felt tough herself.  Alyssa's parents had screamed 
at their children far more often than they ever hit them; 
the screaming left more scars than beatings would have.  
Her recent successes made her nervous; she'd never gone 
this long in her life without something going horribly 
wrong; the only question was when.  Being around people 
who could take care of her made her feel safer.  

        "Hmm, how about a game of poker?"  Ranma asked.

       "You feel like losing, eh, Ranchan?"  Ukyou asked, 
smiling.

        "I ain't gonna lose!"  Ranma proclaimed loudly, 
startling a passing gai'shain, who blinked and lithely 
dodged around Ranma's flailing arms.

       "What's poker?"  Min asked.

        Ranma whipped out a deck of cards.  "Time to 
introduce you to a great game."

        Ukyou grinned.  "Make him bet clothing."

        Alyssa blushed.

**************

       Samitsu bustled through the halls of the palace.  She 
had to see for herself.  Merana had emphasized that the 
girl had grown stronger, but Samitsu was quite dubious.  
While Alyssa would have made an adequate Aes Sedai, 
and indeed, a good recruit for the yellows with her talent 
for healing, the girl was no stronger than most Aes 
Sedai.  Merana had to have been imagining things.  

       The servants and Gai'shan made way for her, while 
the Aiel often did not, until it became apparent that she 
not so much expected them to get out of the way as that 
she would simply walk right over them if they didn't.  

        She wouldn't have been half so irritated if she 
hadn't had to follow a trail of directions to find her; 
everyone she had asked had pointed her to someone else 
who might know, and half of them had been from that 
false Dragon's infernal 'Hall of the Servants'.  Merana 
might have been impressed by the Kaneda boy and his 
goon squad of washouts, which was likely another sign 
Merana was going senile, but Samitsu found the whole 
story quite unbelievable.  

        When she found the right door, she didn't bother 
knocking.  Of all the things she might have expected to 
see, the sight of a man in his underwear playing cards 
with three women in various states of undress, one of 
them the woman she was looking for, was not one of 
them.  Well, two women missing articles of clothing, and 
one woman who only had her socks off.  At least she 
thought it was a woman.  Hard to be sure.  The boy looked 
somewhat familiar, but she couldn't think of where she 
would have seen him.  Braided hair, though; probably a 
Kandorian.  

        As she opened the door, Alyssa, who was down to a 
slip and some jewelry, took off one of the rings.  "I...is 
this...really a good idea?"

       "Well, since Ranma's down to his last article of 
clothing, we can start extorting favors from him,"  the 
woman who might be a man said.

        Samitsu stared in surprise, then pulled herself 
together, giving them a withering glare.

        "Hey!  I ain't no gigolo!"  Ranma said.

        The third woman laughed.  "We can see how your 
mind works,"  she said.  Samitsu recognized her, but was 
shocked again.  It was the Dragon's woman.  I suppose I 
should have expected this, she thought, but ...

        They started the next hand of the game, and Samitsu 
realized they either were ignoring her, or else they 
hadn't noticed.  I suppose this game would be rather 
distracting.  She squashed that line of thought and said, 
"Ahem."

        Four heads swivelled.  Ranma and Alyssa turned red.  
Alyssa vaulted backwards over the bed somehow; 
Samitsu couldn't quite figure out how it was possible 
without using the Source.  Ranma grabbed a nearby set of 
pants and jumped into the wardrobe, shutting the doors 
on himself.  Min looked up and smiled.  "You want us to 
deal you in, Samitsu Sedai?"  Her smile was infuriating.

        Frostily, Samitsu said, "I've come to see Alyssa."

        Ukyou tossed Alyssa her clothing.  "You guys started 
tutoring them already?"

        "Not yet."  Alyssa said from behind the bed.  Frantic 
getting dressed noises continued to spring forth.

        "So when are you gonna bear Flinn's baby?"  Min 
asked, not bothering to put on the few items of clothing 
she had off.  

         Samitsu made a mental note to find some way to 
make everyone forget that incident.  Her discussions 
with Flinn had been useful, however.  She had been trying 
to figure out how to do male/female links; the potential 
for new healing methods was enormous.  That had broken 
her own resistance to the existance of male channelers; 
she still feared what would eventually happen to them, 
but...he had done something she could not.  She could be 
proud, but she wasn't so proud as to let it shut off her 
mind.

        Alyssa popped up about the same time as Ranma 
staggered out of the closet, now wearing one of Min's 
shirts and vests.  He looked down at his chest and 
blinked.  "Uh...oops."

        Min laughed.  "Feel free to borrow it."

         Alyssa said, "What did you...want to see me about?"

        "Come with me.  I'll leave your friends to 
their...games."  She turned to go, then turned back, looking 
at Ranma.  "Have you ever been in the Tower?"

        Ranma laughed nervously.  "You probably met my 
twin sister.  Ranko."

        Samitsu nodded.  "She had a lot of talent.  So how 
did she...learn that cat fist thing?"

        Ranma shuddered.  "It was awful.  I wish I'd never 
learned it."

        Samitsu decided not to pry.  "Come, Alyssa."

        Alyssa quietly followed her out and into the 
hallway.  "How can I help you, Samitsu Sedai?  Do you 
need help healing someone?"

       "I understand you have grown stronger in the power."

        The vague fear that had been eating at Alyssa faded.  
"Yes, I have."  She smiled a little.  "I've gotten much 
stronger since I left the Tower."

        "We all grow somewhat stronger for a while from 
using the Power, but I remember you were not very 
strong at all, except for healing."

         "Seize as much of the Power as you can,"  Alyssa 
said quietly.

         Samitsu's eyes narrowed.  She'd sworn to obey the 
Dragon, not a washed out novice, but...it was the logical 
way to test.  She grabbed as much Power as she could, 
safely.  

         She saw Alyssa grab the power, saw the weaves.  
Alyssa had been adequate, nothing more, at weaving when 
last Samitsu saw her.  The weave was one of spirit, air, 
and fire, which suddenly turned in on itself and vanished.  
She could feel Alyssa channeling.  But she couldn't see it.  
Something invisible was hacking at her connection to the 
source.  Multiple somethings.  Five knives chopped away.  
She tried to build knives to attack Alyssa's link, but her 
weaves were chopped to ribbons.  

         What amazed her most was that Alyssa looked 
terrified as if this was some sort of desperate struggle.  
Samitsu knew better; she'd lost the fight the second 
Alyssa's weaves had turned invisible, had begun to 
realize it the second she had felt how much power Alyssa 
was using.  It was utterly impossible.  Only a handful of 
Aes Sedai in the Tower could have matched it, and they 
would have burnt themselves to flinders.  The Nynaeave 
girl had this much power.  Had been stronger than Alyssa 
was now.  And likely had grown stronger.  But Alyssa was 
close; most Aes Sedai would have been shielded by now, 
but Samitsu was strong, stronger yet in healing, but 
fairly strong at almost anything.  

        It was the invisible weaves that boggled her.  Men's 
weaves were invisible; there were ways to fight them, 
ways she had never learned because she was not a Red.  
At least, she assumed there had to be a way; given that 
the Reds usually won, there had to be something that 
could be done.  She'd never known women could do it too.  

        She heard footsteps, dozens of them.  The girl's 
probably given every Aes Sedai and all the so-called Wise 
Ones a headache, Samitsu thought.  Verin was the first to 
arrive, just as Alyssa finished cutting off Samitsu from 
the Source, with three Wise Ones a few inches behind 
her.  Within what seemed like seconds, Dragonsworn Aes 
Sedai, Aiel, and Wise Ones nearly literally popped out of 
the woodwork.  Verin looked at Alyssa.  "Fascinating."

        She blushed slightly.  "Hello, Verin Sedai."

         It took about twenty times longer to explain 
everything and get the horde to back off and go home.  
Finally, Samitsu found herself alone with Alyssa in the 
hallway.  "How is this possible?"

        "I made a bargain with the Foxes.  I wanted to be 
strong enough to fight a Forsaken if one of them...came 
for Kaneda."  She let go of the Source.  "And Kaneda 
bargained to get us all the full training of the Aes Sedai 
of the Age of Legends."

        Samitsu cocked an eyebrow.  "Full training?  As in?"

        "As in, each and every one of us knows more about 
channeling and the Age of Legends than every Aes Sedai 
in the Tower combined.  And the Ash'aman.  And the Wise 
Ones and the Seanchan thrown in for good measure."  
Alyssa frowned.  Samitsu doubting her word was starting 
to aggravate her.  "You know the Oath Rod?"

        "What about it?"

        "We have one, I know how to make another, and...they 
used them to bind criminals in the Age of Legends.  Only a 
criminal ever touched an Oath Rod, except to hand it to a 
criminal."  She gave Samitsu her best glare, which might 
have scared a three day old puppy.  Maybe.

         Samitsu frowned.  "I am not a criminal."

         "You're no Aes Sedai, either.  An Aes Sedai isn't a 
tyrannical self-centered beast like most of the people in 
the Tower.   I didn't fail my Accepted test.  I wanted to 
leave, and that was the best way."  Her glare got a little 
better.

        "We don't MAKE people stay."

       "I tried to leave, but they found ways to make me 
stay.  So I forced them to throw me out."

        "The life of an Accepted is much better than that of 
a Novice, as you would have discovered."  

         The glare went up two more notches.  Now it might 
have scared small children.  "A gilded cage is still a 
cage."

        "Novices and Accepted are not slaves!"  Now Samitsu 
was starting to get mad.

        "That's true.  Ex-slaves don't usually become slave 
masters."

         Samitsu simmered.  In her younger days, she would 
likely have picked up Alyssa and thrown her, but she had 
become more mellow over time.  "Why did you ever come 
to the Tower?"

        "Slave Traders...oh, I mean a group of Aes Sedai 
found me and decided I wanted to be one.  You people have 
so utterly perverted the name of the Aes Sedai, it makes 
me SICK!  I'm not surprised you all put Rand in a cage; I'm 
just surprised you took so long to do it."  Alyssa was 
getting madder and madder, and her mouth was starting 
to run ahead of her brain.

         "That was NOT us!  That was Elaida and her 
embassy!"  Samitsu said.  "We were sent as a true 
embassy by the true Hall!  Not to kidnap and torture him!  
You may think I'm a beast, but I'm a HEALER!  I swore the 
Oaths!  I do NOT use the Power to hurt people for my own 
whims!"  Her control was slipping as well, and she fought 
to rein herself in.  "Do not compare me to those damnable 
fools."

        "The Oaths didn't stop them from torturing someone.  
>From breaking diplomatic trust.  From kidnapping the 
DRAGON.  From...The Oaths are worthless.  No one trusts 
you.  No one thinks you won't use the Power to hurt them.  
And I know the Tower is chock full of weapons that could 
hurt people.  Damn you all,"  Alyssa said, turning and 
stalking off.

        Samitsu frowned.  This was NOT how it was 
supposed to go.

************

        Alyssa tried to go back to Min's room, but once she 
started crying, which happened as soon as she got out of 
sight of Samitsu, she got totally lost, and found herself 
going round the same four corners over and over.  Giving 
up, she sat down on a bench and let the tears flow.  A 
tiny part of herself wondered if she could transform 
herself if she cried too much.  The rest just bawled.  

       Corwin found her.  He was a tall man, with a broad 
frame and well muscled arms and legs.  His sister Alya 
was a close friend of Alyssa, and she had grown to like 
him as well.  She wasn't sure what he was doing; he was 
a teamster by trade, and had happily gone to work doing 
that for the Dragon on their arrival; she wouldn't have 
expected him to be wandering the halls.  "What's wrong, 
Alyssa?"  He sat down by her.

        "Nothing."  It was stupid to cry, she thought.  But 
she couldn't help herself.

         "Nothing happens for no reason," he said.  It was an 
Amadician saying that he liked to use all the time.  
Corwin was a veritable font of Amadician sayings.  "As 
my grandmother used to say."  She was supposedly the 
source of all of them, but Alya had told her that he made 
half of them up.

         "I had a fight with Samitsu Sedai," she said, 
rubbing her eyes, trying to turn off the tears.

        "I heard about that.  Caused quite a panic.  You won, 
right?"

        "Well, then we had a screaming match.  She 
just...she thinks I'm a failure.  Just a washed out Novice.  
A...coward."  Sometimes Alyssa felt that way herself.

        "You're not.  I know you'd do anything for the...for 
Lord Kaneda."  Like many of Kaneda's followers, he hadn't 
gotten over calling Kaneda the Dragon yet.  She wasn't 
sure if he ever would.  She was quite sure Corwin would 
throw himself off a mountain top into Shaol Ghul if 
Kaneda hinted that he needed someone to do that.  "He 
wouldn't love a coward."

         I wish I could believe that, she thought.  If he knew 
how scared I get, how much I...  She shivered and was 
glad no one could read her mind.  "I don't know...if I'm 
going to be able to teach the Aes Sedai.  They're not going 
to want to believe I can teach them anything."

***********

         "Well?"  Merana said.  She had been reading up on 
Andorian noble families when Samitsu arrived.  Rand had 
told her to prepare herself; he was hoping that together 
they could hammer out some kind of agreement to keep 
the Andoran nobles from finally going renegade before 
Elayne arrived.  She was happy to finally be doing 
something useful.  Beyond the agreement she had 
hammered out with the Sea Folk.

        "The girl is strong.  And arrogant."  Samitsu 
frowned.  "She was making wild accusations about how 
we..."

         "All Aes Sedai are arrogant,"  Merana said.  "I had 
never fully realized that, until I saw what happened to 
the embassy."

         "I..."  Samitsu began.

         "It galls me that she and the others have gained the 
knowledge we have lost.  It galls me that they're lead by 
an ex-false Dragon and a Tower washout.  But the 
knowledge they possess...They do know more than us.  And 
several of them are very, very strong.  And even the 
weakest knows more than the most knowledgeable person 
in the Tower.  And we'll never get that information by 
acting superior."  She sighed.  "The Dragon may break the 
world, but he begins by breaking all our certainties.  We 
have forgotten one of the greatest of all secrets.  Now, I 
must learn it again, and so must all of you."

        "What is that?"

        "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."

        Samitsu cocked her head.  "Why would I want to 
catch flies?"

         Only because Merana was Aes Sedai did she not 
bang her head on her table.

*************

        Kaneda prattled on about how well the 'gunpowder' 
experiments had gone.  Alyssa was only half listening, 
but it took him quite a while to notice.  Finally, he said, 
"What's wrong?  I heard there was some sort of 
something with you and Samitsu, but..."

        "We had a fight."  Alyssa said quietly. 

        "What, a duel?"

         With a lot of stumbling verbally, Alyssa managed to 
explain everything.  More or less.

         Kaneda sighed.  "You really shouldn't have started 
chewing her out."

        "I was miserable in the Tower!"

        "It's not her fault.  We've got to work with these 
people, Alyssa.  We can't get in stupid fights like kids,"  
Kaneda said, thinking about all the times he had done 
that.  "Like I used to do all the time with Ranma."

        "She wouldn't take me seriously!"

         "She'll come around, once she sees everything you 
can do.  But please, don't abuse them."  

         Alyssa frowned.  She'd expected sympathy, not a 
lecture.  "I can't believe you're on their side."

         Now, Kaneda frowned.  "Alyssa.  Just because you 
now have the upper hand on someone who used to torment 
you doesn't mean you can torment them back.  That's 
just...wrong."

        "I was not tormenting her!"  Alyssa frowned, getting 
angry.  "She was rude and insulting to me!"

        "You kicked her ass and called her a criminal!"

        "They act like criminals!"

         They were both standing and shouting at each other.  
"Dammit!  They work for the Dragon too!  We have to get 
along with these people if we're going to convince them 
they're wrong in how they go about being Aes Sedai!"

        "They won't listen!  They're a bunch of stuck up 
bossy...Damn them!"  Alyssa shouted.  "They made my life 
a LIVING HELL!  I had days where I wanted to DIE!"

        "You're overreacting!  It couldn't have been THAT 
bad!"

        "It was worse...it...dammit!  You're defending them 
again!"

        "They sure don't act like rampaging monsters as far 
as I can tell!  They're bossy, but you can't give someone 
huge amounts of power and expect them to not notice!"  

         Alyssa ground her teeth.  "Oh forget it.  I'm going 
for a walk!"  She stalked out.

         "Dammit, Alyssa!  You know I'm right!"  Kaneda 
shouted after her, then started to cry as soon as she was 
out the door and it closed between them.  I could use a 
walk myself, he thought.

          Dinner quietly cooled and congealed in their 
absence.

**************

         Having not gotten the lay out of the palace down 
yet, Ranma-chan was wandering the halls mindlessly, 
trying to find the baths or the kitchen so she could get 
some hot water.  The rain was getting worse, as she'd 
found out when she stepped into the courtyard without 
paying attention.  

         She found Alyssa instead, as Alyssa rounded a 
corner and slammed into her.  Alyssa was crying; Ranma-
chan was used to this; they had had many such encounters 
back in their Tower days.  "What's wrong, Alyssa?  
Samitsu mad because you kicked her butt?"  She smiled a 
little; she'd heard about what happened to Samitsu.  Not 
that Ranma-chan disliked Samitsu, but seeing an Aes 
Sedai humbled after all the arrogance they dished out 
pleased Ranma-chan.  

        "Kan...Kaneda's mad at me because...I don't even know 
why!"  She sobbed with her head on Ranma-chan's 
shoulder.  "We've never had a fight before...I don't know 
what to do!  I can't understand why he's on her side."  She 
tried to speak more, but her sobs became too powerful.

         Ranma-chan patted Alyssa on the back, trying to 
figure out what to do.  "He probably just didn't 
understand why you had the argument with Samitsu.  He 
used to beat me up all the time because he thought I was 
picking fights with people."  She sighed.  "It ain't easy to 
convince Akane you're innocent once she decides you're 
guilty."  A thought troubled him.  "She didn't hit you, did 
she?"

      Alyssa's eyes widened.  "Kaneda would never hit me!"

       "She used to beat me up all the time."

       Alyssa's jaw dropped.  "He WHAT?"

        "Yeah, she'd get mad, and then WHAM, I'd get hit."  
Ranma-chan sighed.  "It wasn't so bad when I deserved it, 
but sometimes...She couldn't really hurt me.  Even when 
she knocked me into the stratosphere...I mean, Pop would 
do worse to me during our training sessions, but...It 
really drove me nuts when she wouldn't even listen to 
me."

         Alyssa didn't really NEED the creeping fear that 
was now coming over her.  The thought of Kaneda hitting 
her wouldn't get out of her mind.  She must be 
exaggerating, she thought.  Kaneda wouldn't hit someone 
he cared about.  He wouldn't.  The tears came over her 
again, and she just couldn't stop.

************

        Kaneda found Alain in his room, going over a list.  
"Got a minute?"  Kaneda asked.

       "Yes."  Alain said, putting down the list.  "I've heard a 
rumor that the Seanchan have taken Ebou Dar."

       "So have I,"  Kaneda said.  "I don't know what the 
Dragon plans to do about it.  But what I really need to ask 
you is...I...umm.."  He stared at the floor.  "This is gonna 
sound really ridiculous."

        "Not half as ridiculous as the lunatic general I 
served under during the Aiel War.  I should have known 
better than to go to Murandy, but...anyway.  What's the 
question?"  

         Kaneda sat down on Alain's bed.  "I had a fight with 
Alyssa, and I don't know how to apologize."

        Alain smiled a little.  "I suppose saying you are 
sorry would be a good start."

        "I know that!  I just...I didn't mean to have a fight, 
but I need to convince her that she is wrong.  I'm sorry I 
yelled at her, but I still think I was right.  In what I said.  
We have to get along with the Aes Sedai.  I can't see why 
she hates them so much.  I've only really talked to Merana 
and Verin, but they both seem okay.  They're not all like 
those Aes Sedai who..."  He blinked.  "Hey, what did we do 
with Dora and Else, anyway?"

       "We've been taking turns keeping them shielded.  As 
you commanded.  And some of the Ash'aman have been 
doing it too.  Didn't I tell you about this?"  He frowned.  

       "I suppose I should go see them after this...we can't 
keep them shielded forever."  He stared at the floor.  
"How do I make Alyssa see they're not all bad?"

        "I suggest you apologize for having a fight, then find 
the nicest Aes Sedai you can find as a student.  And tell 
the Aes Sedai what she is getting into."

        Kaneda nodded.  "Let's go see Dora and Else."

***********

        Haile and Basel were standing guard over Dora and 
Else.  Else was sitting at the room's table, reading a 
book, while Dora stared out the window, drumming her 
fingers on the sill.  Her blonde hair was less scraggly 
than usual, possibly because she seemed to be brushing it 
over and over and over with her left hand.  She wore a 
dignified red dress, with a high square cut collar, 
embroidered with green leaves and yellow flowers and 
belted at the waist.  Else, on the other hand, wore a plain 
brown wool dress only marginally different from a sack, 
and had wavy brown hair that went down to mid-back and 
dark brown eyes.  The only real color on her came from 
the three brightly colored scarves of red, blue, and 
yellow which twined around her neck and her left arm, a 
fashion statement that Kaneda had seen nowhere else.  
Neither of them noticed the new arrivals.

        Haile and Basel sat near the door, talking about 
their homeland, Tarabon; it was about all they had in 
common besides channeling.  Basel had been a peddlar, 
and he still dressed like one He had a thick black 
moustache and wore a dark green conical cap on top of 
his curly black hair.  He wore a plain white woolen shirt 
and a slightly more elaborate blue coat over that, with 
embroidered white scrollwork on the shoulders.  Baggy 
white wool pants completed the ensemble.  Hazel eyes 
glinted with amusement as he told an elaborate story 
about how he convinced the mayor of a small town that 
he really needed to give his wife a complete set of pots 
and pans as a present to appease her wrath at his 
philandering.  

         Haile had been a Taraboner noble once, and she too, 
still tried to dress the part.  Like Dora, she wore red 
silk, although her dress was cut to reveal her figure, 
unlike Dora's.  The dress was simple, except for the 
pleated sleeves, cut low in front in a v shape and slit up 
the sides to a little above the knee, probably to allow 
more motion as well as a view, since the skirt was fairly 
tight as skirts go.  Her hair was dyed a bright red and 
tied back in a long pony-tail, and her eyes were green.  In 
only one respect would her appearance have been out of 
place in her home country, and the same went for Basel; 
neither of them wore the customary veils which 
Taraboners often would not discard even to eat.  

       Basel looked up.  "Ahh, Lord Kaneda.  Come to say 
hello to our guests?"  He looked Kaneda up and down.  "I 
know where I can get you some better clothing than that.  
And cheap too.  I don't know how he got all the way to 
Cairhien, but my old friend Annias is in town and..."

        Kaneda cut him off with a gesture.  Basel had been 
trying to sell his boots to the Whitecloak who was about 
to hang him when Kaneda met him; he would likely try to 
sell something to the Dark One himself if he ever ended 
up in Shaol Ghul.  He was strong in the Power as well as 
having a quick mouth.  Indeed, Kaneda sometimes 
wondered if he had worked out some kind of trick with 
the Power that wasn't part of the knowledge they had 
acquired from the Foxes to help him sell goods; Kaneda 
had seen him wheeling and dealing with just about every 
group in the Palace, even the Wise Ones, who seemed to 
find him amusing, especially when he tried to flirt with 
them.  

        "Dora.  Else."  Kaneda said, doing his best to use a 
voice of command.

        Else looked up, while Dora continued to stare out 
the window.  "Yes?"  She put down her book.

        "I've come to decide what to do with you."

        "Where is Karla?"  Else asked.  "We haven't seen her 
and no one will tell us what happened to her."

        "Because we don't have a clue,"  Basel said.  "We 
don't have her as a prisoner."

         Kaneda sighed.  "She was eaten by a wolf."

         Dora visibly tensed, but did not speak.  Else's eyes 
widened.  "I saw the wolves, but...Did you compel them 
with the Power?"

         Kaneda shook his head.  "I know how it might be 
done, but I did not do it.  I was unable to use the Power at 
the time.  Thanks to Karla."

        "Do you know...how did Karla turn you into a girl?  I 
did not think such a thing was possible,"  Else said.  
"There are stories of how the Aes Sedai could alter 
creatures in the womb so they grew up differently from 
the path the Pattern had chosen for them, but my 
understanding was that fundamentally altering someone's 
Pattern like that once they reached maturity was not 
possible."

         Kaneda smiled.  "Karla did not do that; it was the 
hot water.  A long story, but not one I came here to tell.  
Why did you three come hunting me?"

        "Oddly enough, we originally started out looking for 
four runaway accepteds.  Egwene al'Vere, Nynaeve 
al'Meara, Elayne of House Trakand and Ranko Saotome."  
Else paused when Kaneda laughed.  "Then we heard rumors 
of a False Dragon and decided to investigate.  It was a 
foolish decision, but some of the rumors indicated he had 
an Aes Sedai ally and we hoped to find the Accepteds.  
Which we did.  Well, one of them.  Normally, we would not 
have been crazy enough risking challenging a False 
Dragon with just three sisters, but when you went out 
and exposed yourself to us...we became overconfident."  
Dora snorted.  "I have studied the false Dragons of the 
past; it is one of my specialties, and I must say you are 
one of the more powerful ones."

         "I never really believed I was the Dragon,"  Kaneda 
said quietly.  "But I wasn't even sure what the Dragon 
was supposed to do and..."

        "You did not stop them from calling you such.  But 
that's water under the bridge.  You are ta'veren.  You pull 
the Pattern, and it pulls you.  You pulled us, though why 
the Pattern chose us, I do not know.  You pulled the 
others as well, and now al'Thor has pulled you to him.  
What is done is done."  She sighed.  "Now what?"

        "So why did you beat my sister?  And my friends?"  
Kaneda's voice turned harsher.  He had half forgotten that 
until he thought of it now.  "And why should we not do the 
same to you?"

        "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."  
Else said.  "If you condemn our action, by doing it 
yourself, you condemn yourself.  We did what we thought 
was necessary.  None of us can compel another to tell the 
truth by the Power; we panicked.  People were beginning 
to vanish when they could not have possibly channeled 
and we thought...we became frantic to get the truth and 
started trying to beat it out of them.  We didn't know if 
one of us would vanish next and...It was wrong."  She 
stared intently at Kaneda.  "Normally, none of us would 
have been so cruel, I hope, but we panicked and 
everything they told us sounded like blatant lies.  Talk of 
other worlds and claims of ignorance."  She frowned.  "If 
the girl was your sister, why did she claim she didn't 
know who you are?"

        "Because she only knew me as a girl,"  Kaneda said.  
"I was born female."

        Else's eyes widened, while Dora simply snorted.  
"But how...how can you channel Saidin?"

        "Because I have a boy body."

         Else frowned.  "But you can't channel as a girl?"

         "Nope."

         She scratched her head.  "That just...doesn't seem 
right."  She sighed.  "I will face my penance for what I 
have done.  Not that I have a real choice; you have trained 
your followers well.  Is it true that...you found a way to 
imbue them with the knowledge of the..."

        "Yes.  The Hall of the Servants holds all the lore of 
the ancients."  Haile said.  "We are the heirs of the 
ancient ways."

        Dora snorted again.  Kaneda turned to her.  "And 
what of you, Dora?  Will you accept a penance for your 
deeds?"

        "You have no authority over me except that given you 
by force.  I did what was necessary to carry out the 
commands given me by the Amyrlin Seat, Elaida do Avriny 
a'Roihan.  You were a false Dragon, and they were your 
followers.  You must be gentled before you can prove a 
threat to humanity as all male channelers are.  Your 
leader murdered the Queen of Cairhien and brought the 
Aiel, killers all, across the Dragonwall to pillage the 
lands of the West."  Still, she would not look at Kaneda, 
and he frowned, finding this annoying.  "I reject your 
authority.  I cannot stop you punishing me, but I reject 
any validity it might have.  It will be the action of a 
bully beating up a helpless person.  I demand you turn me 
over to the Tower.  If I have done wrong, I will be judged 
by them."

         Basel began to laugh, while Haile snorted.  "That's 
like a bandit demanding he be tried by his fellow bandits.  
I think not."  Alain simply shook his head, while Kaneda 
frowned.  "Well, as you like it.  Since you were in 
Amadicia at the time, I suppose we have no choice but to 
turn you over to the Amadicians so they can try you for 
channeling."

        That finally got Dora to turn around.  "What?"

         He shrugged.  "Haile is right.  To turn you over to 
the Tower would be to insure you were not punished.  Yet, 
if you reject my authority, then you must be tried by the 
courts of the land in which the crime was commited.  
Amadica.  It will be a quick trip; I know several villages 
which would do the trick.  And I know several ways to 
keep you from channeling without actually having to still 
you.  Of course, a channeler in an Amadician court doesn't 
have a snowball's chance in hell, but..."

        "Rumor has it the Seanchan control Amadicia now,"  
Basel said.  "I'm sure they could find a good use for Dora."  

        "Damn you,"  Dora said.  "That's just another way to 
bully me."

        "I will not send you to the Tower, Dora, and I cannot 
turn you loose.  Nor will I set my friends to keeping you 
shielded forever.  We have better things to do.  You've 
beaten innocent people and even admitted to it.  Your 
choice, Dora.  I can give you to the Amadicians.  I can give 
you to the Ash'aman.  I can give you to the Wise Ones as 
Rand did to those who kidnapped them.  Or I can punish 
you myself.  You can thank Else that I'm not going to just 
beat you until you bleed like I VERY much want to do."  
His hands were clenched into fists; he very, very much 
wanted to pound her flat for what she had done for 
Kasumi, but Else had been right, less satisfying as this 
was.  

         Dora stared frostily at him.  "You are nothing but 
another petty tyrant.  Do what you will; whatever you 
choose will be unjust."

         Else frowned.  "Why are you so foolishly stubborn?"

         "I am not weak like you, Else.  You bow to whoever 
has the most power. I do not.  I will not grovel before any 
man."

        "Woman,"  Kaneda said.  "I am both."

        "Impossible,"  Dora said.  "And you act more like a 
man than a woman.  Whatever.  I would not grovel before 
any woman, either."

        Kaneda frowned, then turned to Alain.  "Bring me the 
Oath Rod."  He nodded and departed.  

        Else's eyes widened.  "You...have the Oath Rod?"

        "An Oath Rod.  They were used to bind criminals in 
the Age of Legends.  I suppose the first use we shall have 
for it is to do such again."

         Dora laughed bitterly.  "I shall swear no oath for 
you."

         "I am tempted to still you, so that you could then be 
turned loose; that would be punishment enough."  Several 
people gasped; the thought of being stilled was abhorrent 
to all of them.  "And if I could do it without it slowly 
killing you, I would.  But you have done nothing to merit 
death, whether swift or slow."  He paused, trying to 
decide where his thoughts were running.  "Much as I hate 
to pin down any of my people doing this...I sentence you 
to a year of imprisonment in the dungeons."  He paused.  
"This place does have dungeons, right?"

        Basel laughed.  "I hope I never find out, but yes, I'm 
sure it does."

        "You will be shielded and kept in solitary 
confinement.  If you do not like this punishment, you may 
appeal to the Dragon, but I suspect he will be less 
merciful than I."  Kaneda hoped she would appeal; he 
wanted her to suffer more, but now he couldn't bring 
himself to do it.  

        Alain returned with the Oath Rod.  Dora shrugged and 
turned back to the window.  Else stared at the rod.  "Just 
like the one in the Tower."

       "You'll know how to use it then.  You must swear two 
oaths.  You will not channel without my express command 
for a year except to defend yourself.  Or your warder.  Nor 
will you place yourself in danger without my express 
command in order to bypass that oath.  And you will not 
leave the Palace without my express consent or 
command, except to prevent your own death or that of 
your warder.  For a year.  Consider it house arrest."

        "Technically, that's three oaths."

         "Whatever.  Consider it house arrest.  In a year, if 
you cause no more trouble, you will be free to go."

         "You should make her swear obedience to you as the 
Lord Dragon did with the Aes Sedai who are now sworn to 
him,"  Haile said, frowning.  

         Else took the rods and pronounced the oaths, then 
handed it back.  "I would...My ajah seeks knowledge.  I 
would study under you, if I may.  There is so much...I wish 
to know."

        Kaneda frowned.  He wasn't sure if her repentance 
was true or feigned, but he was sure she probably knew 
much that might be useful to him; there was so much he 
did not know about this world, and the Browns knew 
much of it.  "I will consider it."  He turned to Basel.  "I 
will see about a cell for her.  You and Haile can take her 
to it once it is arranged."  Basel and Haile nodded.  "Let's 
go, Alain."

         Once they were out of the room, Kaneda sagged.  
"Did I do the right thing, Alain?  Keeping her shielded for 
a year...is going to be hard."

         "It was that, kill her, or hand her over to someone 
else.  Since the only way to keep her from escaping with 
the power is to shield her or still her, and that would 
eventually kill her, I don't see what else could be done.  
You tempered your rage, Kaneda.  I'm..."  He hesitated.  
"I'm proud of you.  Justice has to be untouched by hate.  I 
know you wanted to do worse; if she had beaten my 
sister, I would have done worse."  Shaking his head, he 
said, "You did the best you could."

        Kaneda wished he could be sure of that.

***********

        When Alyssa finally calmed down, she was in Ranma 
and Ukyou's room, although not sure how she had gotten 
there.  Ranma-chan was still holding her gently, making 
soothing noises.  "I guess...I must seem pretty silly to 
you."

        Ranma-chan's face was reassuringly compassionate.  
"I've done some silly stuff myself in the past," she said.  
"Really silly stuff.  Like the time I dressed up as 
Ryouga's sister."  She laughed.  "What amazes me is that 
he actually fell for it."

        Alyssa blinked.  "You don't look like his sister, I 
guess?"

        "He doesn't have one."

         The stories that followed nearly caused Alyssa to 
boggle to death.

***********

         Ukyou-kun was working out in the rain; while the 
rain was fairly intense, he didn't care; only outside could 
he really cut loose and practise.  Two women were 
watching him and not watching an Aielman who stood 
nearby, who also watched Ukyou and quite deliberately 
was not watching the two women.  All three of the Aiel 
stood at the fringe of the courtyard, standing under small 
roofs over the doors that lead out into the courtyard.  The 
rain did not frighten them, but neither would they enter 
it without need.  

         Ukyou-kun knew the women but not the man; he 
recognized Bain and Chiad.  They had been planning to 
meet him here before the rain started; like many Aiel, 
they had taken an interest in the strange abilities that 
Kaneda's warriors demonstrated.  

         The rain had put an end to that, but Ukyou-kun 
wanted to practice anyway.  As he finished one kata, 
another door opened and Lori stepped out of one of the 
doors.  He only knew her vaguely; she was the second 
strongest woman in the Hall of the Servants, one of 
Kaneda's earliest followers.  Her skin was coppery, for 
she was Domani, and she wore a sheer gown of green 
clinging silk that showed off her figure to great effect, 
though it covered her from head to toe, leaving only 
ankles, hands, neck, and face bare.  Her eyes were a light 
blue and her hair was long and black, tied back into a 
pony-tail, with large arching bangs.  Ukyou couldn't see 
her channeling, but he could see the results; the rain bent 
around her, leaving her dry as she slinked across the 
courtyard to him.  There was something about how she 
moved; it reminded Ukyou of a movie star.  He could feel 
his pulse speed up as he looked at her; her way of moving 
was very inviting.  He slipped his mega-spatula into its 
holster.  "Hello, Lori.  What's up?"

        She smiled a smile that seemed meant just for him; 
he had to concentrate on Ranma to drive various thoughts 
out of his head.  "Why are you practicing in the rain?"

        "Because I can't practice indoors without breaking 
things unless I use the throne room, which wouldn't be 
wise."  He smiled.  "And I'm not scared of any rain."

          The rain parted around him; more channeling he 
was sure.  "Especially not now."  She glanced over at the 
Aiel.  "Friends?"

        "Yes."  He tried to think of something to say and 
failed.

        "Do you plan to practice through dinner?"

        He blinked.  Food.  Yes, that would be good.  "I could 
use some food."

        "Would you like to join me for some dinner?"  The 
way she pronounced it insinuated that dessert would 
be...interesting. 

        He knew he should just flat out tell her that he was 
already engaged, but somehow, his mouth would not form 
the words.  Instead, he said, "That would be good.  I'll go 
get Ranma."  He bounded off to say goodbye to Bain and 
Chiad before he could say something more stupid, leaving 
Lori bemused in the rain.

***********

       Alyssa laughed as Ranma-chan related a long story 
about the time that Gosunkugi had tried to control her 
with a voodoo doll, but had ended up controlling Genma 
instead, who had ended up proposing to Kunou.  "You really 
had a crazy life."

       Lying back on the bed, Ranma-chan laughed.  "Yeah.  
It's been fun, when I wasn't getting clobbered.  What 
about you?  What was your childhood like?"

        Alyssa sobered up.  "Not much fun.  I grew up in 
Gheri, a small farm village in Ghealdan.  For some reason, 
my village produces a LOT of Aes Sedai; there's at least 
four others I know of from my town, and periodically, 
they send someone to look for potential novices, which is 
how they found me.  My father was a blacksmith and my 
mother was a weaver from Ebou Dar.  He had been a 
soldier for a while, which is how they met.  They used to 
have the most hideous fights; I sometimes thought the 
house would fall down.  My younger brother and I would 
go hide in the smithy.  Jarel is still there; he's my 
father's apprentice.  He's seventeen."  

         Like me, Ranma-chan thought.  I'd forgotten Alyssa 
is a good four years older than me.   "Did they just yell 
or..."

        "Usually yelling.  Sometimes, they would get really 
mad and just beat the snot out of each other.  Mom gave 
as good as she got."  She shuddered.  "Do your parents 
fight, Ranko?"

        "My parents haven't seen each other since I was five.  
Dad took me away to train me."  Ranma-chan sighed.  
"Well, they have seen each other a few times, but Mom 
didn't know the panda was her husband, or that Ranko 
Tendo was me."

        Alyssa's eyes widened.  "Are you hiding from her?"

        "Pop swore an oath that he and I would commit 
suicide if he didn't make a man out of me."  Ranma-chan 
poked her own right breast, and said bitterly, "You can 
see how well that went."

       "Yeah, I never would have guessed you were male if 
you hadn't told me."

        Ranma-chan's eyes flashed with anger for a moment.  
"Gee, thanks."

        She sighed.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean it like that...I 
mean..."  Her voice became more timid.  "I apologize, 
Ranko."

        "Ranma.  I'm Ranma.  Ranko's just a front to trick 
people.  I'm a man.  Even when I've got a female body."  
She rolled over to face Alyssa, who was sitting on a 
chair by the bed.  "Alyssa, you gotta stop apologizing 
every time someone disagrees with you, or you're gonna 
get walked on."

        "I...but I was wrong."

        "Yeah, but even if you were right, you would have 
apologized."

        "I..."

        "I'm going to make you stand up for yourself, or die 
trying,"  Ranma-chan announced.  

        "When I stood up to Samitsu, Kaneda got mad at me,"  
Alyssa said quietly.

        "Kaneda gets mad when people tell him his cooking 
sucks rocks, even though it's true,"  Ranma-chan said.  
"He...She can't handle people telling her the truth 
sometimes."  Gotta stop thinking of Akane as a guy, she 
thought.  And gotta get Alyssa to stop thinking of me as a 
girl.  I suppose lounging around in girl form doesn't help, 
but it seemed to make her more comfortable and...we 
always used to have talks like this, back in the Tower.

        "I just...how can I convince him that I wasn't 
bullying Samitsu?"

        Ranma-chan laughed.  "Alyssa, you couldn't bully a 
small child, let alone an Aes Sedai.  I don't think the Dark 
One himself could bully most Aes Sedai.  If he thinks 
that, he was just being an idiot.  I'll straighten him out if 
you want me to, but you really need to do it yourself."

        "Would you?  I'd be really grateful."

        Ranma-chan sighed.  "Let's go find him."

**********

        Ukyou found Ranma-chan and Alyssa on their way to 
Alyssa and Akane's apartments.  Finding Ranma was 
pretty easy with the bond; one of its more useful 
functions, Ukyou had decided.  "Hey, Ranma, Lori wants us 
to eat dinner with her."

        "Okay.  I gotta go beat Akane in the head first."  She 
explained why on the way there.

        Kaneda sat at the now empty dinner table, reading a 
book.  He looked up.  "Hi, there, Ranma, Ukyou."  He turned 
to Alyssa, "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Alyssa.  I shouldn't 
have done that."

         Ranma-chan opened her mouth to chew Akane out, 
then shut it.  She...apologized?  Ranma-chan boggled.  He 
couldn't think of one time that Akane had ever apologized 
to her.

         Alyssa ran over to Kaneda, crying.  "I'm sorry I 
yelled at you.  I just...I was so angry about Samitsu and 
everything and you and ..."  She was babbling.

         Kaneda stroked her hair.  "Don't worry.  We can talk 
about it later."

         Ranma-chan frowned, feeling a surge of jealousy.  
Before she could say anything, Ukyou tugged her out the 
door, shutting it behind them.  "Let's go eat."

        Ranma-chan frowned.  "And let's get me some hot 
water."

***********

         The smell of the food had Ranma salivating before 
he could see it; it smelled just like Kasumi's home 
cooking.  It looked like it too, three bowls of beef cut 
into slivers, fried vegetables, rice and a sweet smelling 
orange sauce.  Even the chopsticks looked just like the 
ones from home.  A pang of homesickness washed through 
him for a few seconds.  

         Lori sat down across the table from him, next to 
Ukyou; it was a small square table.  "I had to make this 
myself; the cooks here don't know much about Domani 
cooking.  Have you ever had Domani style food?  I have 
some cutlery if you're not used to sursa."

        Ukyou laughed.  "We eat stuff just like this at 
home."  She picked up the chopsticks.  

         Ranma was already eating energetically, but slower 
than Ukyou was used to him eating; possibly the fact that 
no one was likely to steal his food here contributed to 
slowing him down.

         Lori glanced over at Ranma contemplatively.  "Does 
everyone from your world change sex?"

         Ukyou blushed as she began to eat.  The food was 
good.  I wonder if she is a chef, Ukyou thought.  "No.  
Ranchan and Akane and I are kinda special that way."

        Lori nodded and began to eat slowly.  "Were you born 
like that?"

        "No, I got thrown in a cursed fish pond."  Ukyou 
laughed.  "Along with Akane's sister Nabiki."

        Ranma tried to say something through his food, 
failed, and gave up, apparently prefering to concentrate 
on his food.

        "Were you born a boy or a girl?"  Her voice was 
casual, but her gaze was serious.

        "I'm female; Ranchan is male.  When we're in our 
normal bodies."

         "Ahh."  Lori sounded disappointed.  "I suppose it 
makes you a good couple."

         Ranma choked on his food for a second, so Ukyou 
whacked him on the back.  He coughed.  "Urgh."

         "Yeah.  Ranchan and I have been engaged since we 
were six."

         Lori smiled, the same smile that made Ukyou feel 
fluttery before, but it didn't do anything for her when she 
was in her girl body.  It was somewhat surreal.  
"Arranged marriage?"

         "Yeah.  But we really do love each other, right, 
Ranchan?"

         Ranma grunted, then finished off his food.  "No more 
four fiancees for me."

        Lori's eyes widened.  "FOUR?"

        This took quite a while to explain, and Ukyou never 
was sure if Lori actually believed any of it.

***********

         Ukyou had a strange dream that night.  She dreamed 
she was floating in a starry void full of millions of dots 
of light.  Her lessons with the strange teaching machine 
she had found in T'A'R had not prepared her for this; 
indeed, she had been intending to seek it out.  She knew 
she still had a lot to learn about this strange realm, and 
since it was her special gift, she intended to make the 
most of it.  Only Ranma-chan knew she could do it; she 
had been loath to tell others, although she wasn't sure 
why.  Some nameless fear had held her back.

         She tried focusing her thoughts on LINA; that was 
the way she usually got to it.  The void of stars shifted 
around her, but she was still in it.  One of the lights was 
strangely different from the others; where they were 
soft lights, it seemed harsh.  She looked at it more 
closely, and it expanded.  She could see a city, a beautiful 
place of glass and crystal and metal with wide streets 
lined with trees on which smokeless vehicles glided to 
and fro.  It reminded her of her homeland with the bad 
parts removed.  Where am I?  Ukyou wondered.  Maybe 
this is just a weird dream and I didn't make it into T'A'R 
at all.  

        She tried looking at another of the spheres, and it 
grew somewhat as well, becoming a vision of a tall red 
haired man hunting some kind of large lizard with a spear 
through a dry landscape.  The man was clearly Aiel, and 
veiled.  

         After examining several more spheres, she realized 
what she was looking at.  Dreams.  Somehow, she was 
actually seeing what people were dreaming.  There was 
no logical order to the dreams; looking at four in a row 
produced an Aielman, a Taraboner, some peasant who 
could have been in almost any country with premodern 
technology and some sort of raving beastman who 
dreamed of ripping cows apart with his bare hands.  

        I wonder if I can find Ranma's dreams, she thought.  
Or Akane's.  The void flickered around her, and she felt a 
vague tugging.  Hundreds, no, thousands of lights drifted 
about her; any of them could be the dream she wanted.  
She still felt the tugging, but it was too vague and 
directionless for her to be sure which way to go.  Still, 
she was closer.  She found several dreams of Cairhien, 
although she recognized none of the dreamers.  Then she 
found a dream which was sealed off, hidden behind a wall 
of darkness which she found disturbing.  

         Wondering why it was sealed off, she soon 
concluded the dreamer must be in non-REM sleep or some 
such thing; probably the lights went dark when you 
weren't actively dreaming and vanished entirely when 
you woke up.  Or something.  Another check found a dream 
that interested her.  It was Alyssa's dream.  

        Alyssa was walking through some sort of building, 
an endless maze of stone corridors with that flame 
symbol thing everywhere.  It wasn't the palace; it was 
full of women, most of them dressed in simple white 
dresses.  The rest were Aes Sedai, Ukyou guessed from 
the shawls they wore and the huge gold rings on their 
fingers; the rings were bigger than any real ring, more 
like wearing a bracelet on your finger.  Chains ran out 
from the rings to everyone, tying together everyone in 
the building with an elaborate web of silver chains.  
Some of the women controlled the others through the 
chains, but all of them were also controlled by chains, in 
a 'chain of command' that ran off through the corridors to 
some unseen spider.  

       The women kept trying to snare Alyssa with chains, 
but she dodged them frantically, working her way through 
the maze, ever upward and inward.  Several small chains 
managed to snag on her; she couldn't keep this up forever.  
Still, she plowed onwards, until finally she emerged into 
a huge circular room with a domed roof and the white 
teardrop of flame embossed in its center.  A woman 
stood in shadows on the teardrop, holding seven chains 
which ran out through the seven doors.  She jerked them 
about in what looked like some kind of coded message.  
The woman was clearly Aes Sedai; you couldn't see the 
color of the shawl, but you could recognize the style.  
The woman had long hair, but it was too shadowy to see 
what color.

         Alyssa staggered towards the woman, more and 
more chains locking onto her and slowing her as she 
moved forward; she ignored them, forming a sword in her 
hands, a sword of flame.  Finally, she reached the edge of 
the teardrop.  She spoke, but Ukyou could not hear the 
words.  It was clearly something defiant.  She raised the 
sword and its light dispelled the shadows.  

        The woman wore an odd shawl unlike any Ukyou had 
seen on an Aes Sedai; it incorporated seven different 
colors, not just one.  Ukyou recognized the woman; it was 
Alyssa herself.  

        The dream had been silent to Ukyou's hearing, but 
she heard Alyssa scream as the sphere of light flared 
then faded away.  She must have scared herself so much 
she woke up, Ukyou thought.  That dream was seriously 
bizarre.

         Looking around, her gaze settled on another dream.  
This one seemed to be Akane's dream.  She was seated at 
a table in the Palace, writing a letter.  She wore her 
usual garb in this world, a buttoned white shirt and dark 
blue trousers of wool with a red jacket.  The clothing fit 
her oddly; it was cut for a man, not a woman, and sized 
for a man several inches taller.  To be more precise, it 
was sized wrongly when Ukyou started watching.  As 
Akane wrote, the clothing slowly changed, becoming 
fuller in the upper chest to accomodate her breasts and 
shrinking to match her height.  The trousers grew 
together, turning into a dark blue skirt.  That would be 
pretty useful, Ukyou thought.  If our clothing would alter 
to fit when we changed.

        A shadow moved on the wall; Ukyou could see a man 
was coming up behind Akane.  She could see Akane's lips 
move, but could still hear nothing.  The sphere got larger 
when she tried to listen harder, but it was still silent.  
The previous sphere had gotten bigger the more she 
watched it too.  

         The man, who Ukyou couldn't see clearly, came up 
behind Akane, who apparently didn't mind.  In fact, she 
didn't even turn around.  He was taller than Akane, and 
well muscled.  As he wrapped his arms around Akane, 
leaned down, and kissed her, Ukyou recognized him.  It 
was Ranma.

        Ukyou's eyes widened.  Ranma, you monkey!  What 
are you DOING?  Her brain forgot she was watching a 
dream; she'd feared this too much.  The sphere grew 
larger, beginning to engulf her vision as Akane wiggled 
around in the chair and kissed Ranma, then began to 
unbutton her shirt.  

         Ukyou's anger flared and she charged forward; the 
sphere engulfed her and she found herself in Akane's 
room.  But she wasn't in her girl body; she was in her boy 
body.  Along for the ride in her boy body, that is; it 
wasn't responding to her commands.  Instead, it was 
sitting on Akane's bed, next to Alyssa, who was also in 
boy form.  Ukyou had only seen that form once; Alyssa, 
unlike Ukyou and Akane, and even more so than Ranma, 
tried very hard to avoid changing.  

        Ukyou-kun's body asked, "When do I get my turn?", 
although that was NOT what Ukyou wanted to say.  

        Alyssa-kun nodded.  "Yeah, we don't have all night."

        "Well,  Ranma-kun won the coin toss, so he's first.  
You can armwrestle for seconds."  Akane said, inbetween 
unbuttoning Ranma's shirt with her teeth.

         Ukyou-kun soon found himself armwrestling with 
Alyssa-kun.  Ukyou-kun won easily.  It was entirely 
surreal for Ukyou, who struggled to control the body she 
was experiencing as her own, but couldn't.  This isn't 
right!  It's not right!  It's not...

         Suddenly, she was back outside the sphere, 
watching a now female Alyssa get it on with Ukyou-kun 
while Ranma was making love to Akane on the desk she 
had been sitting at.  Ukyou stared, unable to stop 
watching, but not sure why.  Is this...what she wants?  It 
almost sucked her in a second time, when Ranma and 
Ukyou were on the table while Kaneda and Alyssa were in 
the bed.  

       Finally, she wrenched herself away.  I shouldn't be 
spying like this.  Especially when it shows me things I 
didn't really want to know.  So, of course, she looked 
again.  Now Ranma was with Alyssa and Kaneda was with 
Ukyou.

        She could feel herself getting a little aroused as 
she watched.  Kaneda was handsome, but this was the 
first time Ukyou had really fully thought of Akane's boy 
form as a man.  Curiousity began to tug at her as she 
wondered what it would be like to make love to Akane.  
Surely she doesn't have dreams this ecchi all the time, 
Ukyou thought.  This could be my only...what am I 
thinking?  She closed her eyes.  I won't look.  I won't look.  
I shouldn't look.  But the image of Kaneda formed in her 
mind.  A naked Kaneda.  She could feel herself blushing, 
and she forced herself to think of a naked Ranma instead, 
which still made her blush, but which she felt was more 
acceptable.

         Finally, she drove the image of naked Kaneda out of 
her mind, focusing her brain clearly on Ranma.  She 
opened her eyes and the sphere of Akane's dreams was 
gone; but another one was zooming right at her.  More 
trouble, she thought.  How do I get out of here?  The 
sphere engulfed her while she was still trying to get her 
bearings.  

       She was in a field, somewhere in a valley in some 
set of mountains.  There was a stream nearby, and a 
small village a good mile downstream.  Someone was 
being chased through a field.  It was Ranma.  He wore a 
blue gi, and he was being chased by a pack of men with 
buckets.  She recognized most of them.  Kunou.  Kaneda.  
Toma.  One of the Foxes.  Various boys from Furinkan.  
Sasuke.  Some of them were female.  Ranma's mother.  
Alyssa.  Min.  They were all chanting the same thing.  
"You're a girl!  You have to love men!  You should dress 
pretty and be a good cook and a good housekeeper!  Frills 
and pink things!"  The men also chanted "Marry me!"

         Ranma looked utterly terrified.  He saw Ukyou and 
ran over to her.  "Hide me!  Help me, Ucchan!  They want to 
turn me into a girl!"

         It's just a dream, Ukyou thought.  It was hard to 
remember that, and growing harder.  When she picked 
Ranma up and ran with him, it grew harder and harder.  By 
the time the dream ended with them running off a cliff 
and falling forever, she had forgotten entirely.

         Flicker.

         Ukyou, Ranma, Akane, Min and Rand stood inside 
some sort of huge cavern lit only by glowing magma 
which roiled at the bottom of a huge crevice which filled 
the far half of the vast chamber, hundreds of feet wide.  
The air smelt of sulfur and the heat was oppressive.  
There were two other women with Rand, but the tiny part 
of Ukyou's mind that was still herself didn't recognize 
them.  One of them had long red-gold hair and was 
dressed as an Aiel.  In fact, she probably was Aiel, and 
she carried a twenty foot long spear.  How she could 
fight with such a huge spear, Ukyou had no idea.  The 
other was beautiful, one of the loveliest women she had 
ever seen, with long honey blonde hair and a regal look, 
dressed as an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah.  She wore a 
huge crown of gold, decorated with enough gems for a 
small army.  All three of the women had a red string 
running from the ring finger of their right hand to the 
ring finger of Rand's right hand.  Red strings ran from 
Ranma to Ukyou and Akane as well.  

        Rand said, "Shaol Ghul.  This will be the fight of our 
lifetimes."  He turned to the women.  "You shouldn't be 
here.  I don't want to put you in danger."

        Ranma nodded.  "Yeah, let us handle this."

        The tiny part of Ukyou's mind that was still her true 
self was quite shocked when all five of the women 
meekly nodded and stepped back.  Rand and Ranma looked 
at each other and nodded, then Rand said, "Yo!  I'm the 
Dragon Reborn!  We've come to kick your ass, Dark One!  
Come on out!"

         The Dark One looked suspiciously like Happousai in 
black robes with glowing eyes.  He popped up from behind 
a huge mound of black panties which hadn't been there a 
few seconds ago.  "HOHOHOHOHOHOHOOHOHOHOHOHO!!!!" he 
laughed with Kodachi's voice pitched three octaves 
deeper.    "Come my Forsaken!  Destroy them and bring me 
their panties!"

        Ranma and Rand tensed, but nothing happened.  Min, 
who was helping Ukyou cook some okonomiyaki for the 
victory celebration while they were waiting, said, 
"They're all already dead."

        "Come, endless Trollocs!"  The Trollocs swarmed out 
of the tunnel the girls were in the entrance of.  The Aiel 
woman impaled them all with one spear thrust, thus 
demonstrating what a 20 foot spear was good for.

        "Umm...Come, my dreadlords!"   Gosunkugi, dressed 
as a member of KISS, stepped out from behind a rock 
with a voodoo doll of Rand.  

        "Die, Saotome!" he shouted, stabbing the doll with a 
jewelled dagger.  While nothing happened to Ranma, Rand 
fell to his knees, clutching his side, which was now 
producing enough blood for an entire Sam Peckinpah 
movie.  Every second.  

       "My wound which would not heal...Now I know how 
THAT prophecy comes out..."  He moaned.  "Didn't think it 
would be this much blood, though..."

        The blood was already an inch deep.  Ranma charged 
at Gosunkugi, knocking him off his feet with a sweeping 
kick, then punted him into the Dark One, who fell down.  
He picked up the voodoo doll.  "Any of you know anything 
about sewing?"

        "Everyone here but Akane does,"  Ukyou said.

        Akane pouted.

         Ranma tossed the doll to another woman, who 
stepped out of the shadows.  She had long black hair in a 
braid like Ranma's, and she kept compulsively tugging on 
it like she was trying to pull her own hair off.  This 
behavior ceased when she caught the doll.  "Me?"  she 
asked.

        "You're girly enough to sew this up.  And you've got 
the healing talent, right?  Fix Rand with this."

        Nynaeave neatly sewed up the doll and the blood, 
now four inches deep, stopped.  Rand stood up.  "My 
wound!  It's gone!  Nynaeave CAN heal anything!"  He drew 
his Sword That Is Not a Sword (which looked 
suspiciously like a lightsabre to Ukyou).  "Let's rumble!"

         The Dark One pulled out his pipe.  "Bring it on!"

         Ranma and Rand both charged the Dark One.  Ranma 
jumped on his head, knocking him down, then shouted to 
Rand, "Cut off his hand!  That's where he wears the One 
Ring!"

         Rand nodded, and chopped off the Dark One's hand.  
The Dark One screamed and turned into a cloud of mist, 
drifting away.  Rand bent over and picked up the ring.  "I 
shall keep this as a memento of my adventures."

         Ranma shook his head frantically.  "Don't do it!  If 
you do, you'll get shot up by Trollocs while swimming 
across a river, and die!  And then a Ogier will find it 
and..."

         Rand blinked.  "Why would I swim across a river?  
And Aviendha killed all the Trollocs, anyway."

         "Just throw it in the volcano now and spare 
yourself a lot of work when you come back as a hobbit in 
the next age, okay?"

         Rand shrugged.  "I suppose being the Dragon Reborn 
means I can get all the jewelry I want, anyway."  He 
tossed the ring into the volcano.  "Well, now the really 
hard part starts."

         "The hard part?"  Ranma asked.

          "Yeah, you have to decide who to marry.  Being 
Aiel, I can just marry all three of mine."

          Ranma bigsweated.  "Maybe the Dark One will 
attack again soon."

          "Hey, wanna become Aiel?  Then you can marry 
both of yours.  Your girl body has the hair for it.  I'm sure 
we can find some ji'e'toh law that lets me make you 
Aiel."

         "Sounds like a plan."

         Flicker.

**************

        Bair floated in the space between dreams.  Another 
Wetlander Dreamwalker, she thought.  And one of the 
strange people who uses this thing called 'chi'.  She must 
have been practicing for quite a while to enter the 
dreams of others, however clumsily.  

       Still, she is clumsy; she must be taught.  She glanced 
at the sphere of light that held Ranma's dreams.  I have 
not beheld such strange dreams since Seanna asked me to 
enter that Medb's girl's dreams.  Giant flaming Wise 
Ones...

************

        Kaneda was groggy in the morning.  Alyssa had 
woken up screaming in the middle of the night, and he 
wasn't sure why.  She had tried to explain, and it had 
clearly been a nightmare, but she couldn't remember it 
coherently.  

        After finishing breakfast, he dumped hot water on 
his head and became Akane.  They were going to 
experiment.  She wanted to see if she could learn to 
channel Saidar as well as Saidin. 

        The test was simple.  Alyssa conjured a tiny flame 
that hovered over her hand.  Akane had to concentrate on 
trying to feel the resonance of the Power.  It could take a 
while to do, so when nothing happened in the first few 
minutes, they weren't surprised.  Akane began to get 
nervous as the minutes dragged by, although not being 
able to channel in female form didn't surprise her 
entirely.  I probably fell in the pool of drowned male 
wilder, she thought.  Ukyou got her curse from another 
source, so that's why her boy form doesn't channel.  And 
the same for Ranma.  Pool of cursed female channeler.  
Except...how did any channelers get to our world?  If no 
one can channel in our world because they can't reach the 
source...  Finally, after nearly an hour, they gave up.  

         They then switched forms, both becoming male so 
Kaneda could test Alyssa-kun.  The male test involved a 
similar use of the power, but instead of the candidate 
feeling the resonance, the tester had to try to sense if 
such a resonance existed.  After nearly an hour, it still 
didn't.  "Well, that concludes that test."

        "We probably should test Ukyou to see if her cursed 
form can channel,"  Alyssa-kun suggested.

        "And her girl body too,"  Kaneda said.

        Ukyou couldn't, as the testing soon proved.  Neither 
could Ranma's boy body, which Ranma wasn't sure if it 
was a good thing or a bad thing.  Ukyou kept giving Akane 
funny looks the entire time, and afterwards, Akane took 
Ukyou aside.  "Why do you keep staring at me, like that?"

         Ukyou's eyes widened.  "Am I...staring?"

         Akane stared at Ukyou as strangely as she could 
manage.  "Like that."  It wasn't really like that; it was 
more like some kind of weird compulsion to look, then 
look away, then look again, like she expected Akane to 
suddenly strip naked or sprout fur or something.

       Ukyou stared at the ground.  "I...uh...had a weird 
dream last night.  I'm sorry."

        Akane remembered several dreams.  One of them, in 
which her father had married Berelain, had made her 
laugh when she woke up.  The incredibly ecchi group sex 
one, on the other hand...She flushed slightly at the 
memory.  "Well, I've had some weird dreams myself at 
times."  Ukyou blushed herself now.  "That's all?"

        "Yeah, just some weird dreams...so like...what IS the 
Dark One?  Some kind of evil overlord or what?"

         "Some kind of virtually invincible evil god.  The 
Creator imprisoned him a long time ago, but he keeps 
trying to break out and destroy reality."

         "He doesn't live in a volcano?"

         Akane blinked.  "I dunno.  Maybe Shaol Ghul is a 
volcano.  The Dragon is supposed to defeat his forces and 
reseal the hole in the Dark One's prison that accidentally 
got bored during the Age of Legends.  Somehow.  I hope 
Rand knows what he's doing better than I do."

       "Not like face him in hand to hand combat?"

        Akane laughed, leaning against the wall.  "Tarmon 
Gaidon isn't gonna be a martial arts tournament or like 
what happened with Kirin or Toma."  At least I HOPE the 
Dark One doesn't try to make me marry him.  Although it 
would be par for my luck.  "Even the Dragon can't go one 
on one with the Dark One any more than Ranma could beat 
the Sun.  Not that Ranma wouldn't try."  She laughed, and 
after a little while, Ukyou laughed too.  "Why do you ask?  
Is Ranma planning to challenge the Dark One to a duel?"

        Ukyou frowned, flipping one of her mini-spatulas 
idly between her fingers.  "I think he has that general 
idea."

        Akane's mood deflated somewhat.  "This is going to 
be a war.  We'll be lucky if any of us survive, and it's 
going to be a long brutal fight.  Rand...he expects he is 
going to die.  He may be right; I'm not much good at 
interpreting prophecy."

        Ukyou continued to flip the mini-spatula back and 
forth, now using both hands.  "Then why...I can't 
understand...why you all want to stay here.  If it's going 
to be so...I mean...this isn't our world."

        "If the Dark One breaks free on one world, he breaks 
free in all,"  Akane said.  "If it's going to happen, I at 
least don't want it to be a surprise.  And also 
importantly, I love Alyssa and don't want to leave her.  
And she's not the only one counting on me.  I can't leave 
my people."

        "You sound like a king,"  Ukyou said quietly.

        "I am a lord now.  I have people who depend on me,"  
Akane said.  "And I like it.  I like being important.  My life 
here means something.  I miss a lot of things back home, 
like my family, but I don't miss being kidnapped by every 
idiot who wandered by and I don't miss my life not 
mattering."

        "Your life didn't not matter!"  Ukyou exclaimed.

        "In the big picture, I was a flyspeck,"  Akane said.  
"Tokyo has enough dojos.  I can make a difference here.  
And so can you."

         "I'm just Ranma's goon."  She sighed.  "I mean...I can 
read any language, but we don't have anything that needs 
reading, and I suppose I could have a chat with the 
Forsaken in the Old Tongue if they drop by, but..."

        "Actually, I can think of somewhere that COULD use 
your help, Ukyou.  Rand's school is stock full of books 
that almost no one can read.  You could read all of them, 
and probably help them out a lot.  And there's a lot of 
simple technological things you could teach them how to 
do.  Like how I showed them gunpowder, although it's 
pretty crude since I don't know how to make it well; you 
can probably show them how you make your tempura 
flake bombs.  Plus...you dreamwalk, right?"

        "Yeah," Ukyou said quietly.  "I'm still learning."

        "Well, we've got three dream ter'angreals that let 
people enter Tel'arian'rhiod.  I want you to teach me and 
Alyssa and Lori.  And probably Alain and the others 
eventually."  She thought a moment.  "And, didn't the 
Snakes tell you that you had to beat Mesaana to save 
Rand?  And that only YOU could do it?"

        "Uh, yeah, there is that."  

         Akane smiled.  "See, you ARE important!"

         Having to duel one of the Forsaken without being 
able to channel was not the kind of importance Ukyou 
wanted.

************

          Ukyou was somewhat gratified to have attracted 
her own band of students that afternoon during the 
martial arts practice sessions.  Rand had departed for 
Caemlyn to take care of some business, and Bain and 
Chiad had departed for...somewhere, but apparently they 
had recommended Ukyou to some friends.  A small army 
of Aiel (with Aiel, twenty was easily enough for an 
army) was gathered around Ukyou.  About half of them 
were female, the rest were evenly divided between two 
warrior societies, the 'Stone Dogs' and the 'Black Eyes'.  
All sat intently and listened as she tried to explain the 
concept of chi and did some demonstrations.  It made her 
feel good to have her own students.  

         It felt even better when a group of daughters of 
Cairhien nobility came to her and expressed interest in 
learning her fighting style; they had formed their own 
warrior society in imitation of the Aiel, but none of them 
actually knew much about fighting.  Their leader was a 
woman named Mara of House Casalin.  She was short and 
wiry, more muscular than the rest of her 'society', which 
was still trying to decide on a name, let alone anything 
else.  

       The hardest part was going to be to find enough 
grills and spatulas, she thought.  And a raging ocean, 
although that was optional.  Plans ran through her head 
as she headed towards Rand's school; she had decided to 
take up Akane's idea and see if she could help them out; 
she was no great scholar, but if she could read any 
language, she wanted to USE her skill.  And her ability to 
'think clearly'.  Although she wasn't so sure about that; it 
seemed to come and go.  She had to focus on thinking 
clearly to do it.

         Bair found her at the doors of the school.  How Bair 
had known where she was, Ukyou had no idea.  She only 
vaguely knew Bair; a Wise One, wife of Rhuarc, who 
seemed to be Rand's right hand man in Cairhien.  Perhaps 
Rand sent her, Ukyou thought.  "Um, good afternoon, Bair-
sama."

        "You are a Dreamwalker.  Self-taught?"

        Ukyou blinked.  "Did Akane tell you?"

        "I saw you stumbling around into people's dreams 
last night.  I assume you have had no training."

         "LINA has been training me, but I've only gotten 
through three instruction modules out of forty-two."

         Bair blinked.  "Lina?  Instruction modules?"

         "LINA is a...machine that teaches people to 
Dreamwalk.  She lives in Tel'aran'rhiod.  I found her by 
invoking need."  Ukyou had learned that much at least.  "I 
dunno how I got into these dreams.  I haven't gotten to 
that module yet.  It just...kinda happened."

         Bair frowned.  "A human teacher is better than a 
machine."

         "I dunno, LINA is pretty thorough.  Why?  You 
offering to teach me?"

         "Tel'aran'rhiod is full of many dangers; we do not 
like to see people stumble into them.  We have taught 
Wetlanders before.  Egwene Al'Vere trained with us."

         "Well, I'll stick with LINA for now, but thanks for 
asking."  She stepped around Bair.  "See you around!"

          Bair frowned after her.  LINA.  Something to look 
into, she thought.

************

         It wasn't easy for Alyssa to find Samitsu; she was 
teaching various healing techniques to a group of Wise 
Ones, who were riding her fairly hard.  Alyssa watched 
quietly from a distance and approached when it was done.  
Samitsu didn't say anything, just looked at her.  Alyssa 
took a deep breath.  "I'm sorry I compared you to Elaida's 
embassy.  I still don't like the Tower or its methods, but 
I shouldn't have humiliated you like that and I shouldn't 
have called you a beast."  It all came out in a rush.

         Samitsu stared at her in silence again, then finally 
spoke.  "I accept your apology.  As for the shielding, it 
was a fair enough way to show you had grown.  If you 
know so much about something you were poor at before, 
I'm sure you must know more about Healing than you did 
before as well."

        "I'd be happy to teach you,"  Alyssa said.  "We'll be 
starting lessons as soon as Kaneda gets the scheduling 
set up."  She smiled.  This had gone far better than she 
had expected.  

**************

       Ukyou was amazed at the large number of books that 
the library at Rand's school had.  Many of them were even 
printed rather than manuscripts; in fact, most of them 
were.  The oldest and the newest books were printed; the 
ones in-between in age were hand copied.  

       Unfortunately, whoever had organized them 
apparently believed in the stream of consciousness 
technique; there was no card catalog and no call numbers.  
The man with the best knowledge of the library had died 
horribly recently; however, the head of the school, a 
stern woman, was able to dredge up one of the old Royal 
Librarians, a man named Kuranes Dwei, to help Ukyou find 
some likely works to examine.  

       Kuranes Dwei started visibly the moment he saw 
Ukyou.  He was a tall man, and thin, with black hair 
turning grey, who dressed in a simple grey linen shirt and 
black trousers.  "You...oh my."

        Ukyou blinked.  "What?"

        "You look remarkably like..."  He shook his head.  
"Probably just a fancy."

        "Like what?"

        "Come with me."  He lead her through the endless 
rows of books to a tall wooden bookcase, five racks high.  
Climbing onto a small stepping stool, he pulled a 
battered wooden book off the top shelf.  It was basically 
a series of pages bound together with strips of cloth run 
through holes in the paper and the two wooden covers.  
The pages were stiff with age, but the ribbons remained 
flexible and looked brand new.  Kuranes noticed Ukyou 
looking at the ribbon.  "I don't know what those ribbons 
are made of; they've never been replaced as far as I know, 
but they don't seem to age at all.  The book's title was 
stenciled onto the cover, 'Name Earners of Ne Oedo'.  He 
carried the book over to a reading table and laid it down, 
pulling out a chair for Ukyou, then one for himself.

       "This book has the oldest printed pictures we know 
of.  I have no idea how they printed such realistic 
pictures; it must have involved the Power."  The book 
consisted of pages which had been glued to thicker, 
tougher pages; the pages glued to the tough ones were 
often torn or damaged by water.  It seemed to alternate 
between highly realistic full page pictures that looked to 
Ukyou like printed photos and one to three pages of text 
after each picture.  "The book was bound around 500 AB, 
but the author claims that the pages he bound into the 
book predate the Breaking; I'm not sure about the text 
pages, but since they didn't have printing in those days 
and the text pages he didn't write himself ARE printed, it 
seems plausible."

        "What's it about?"  Ukyou asked.  As he turned the 
pages, she caught glimpses of the written text, but not 
enough to get the sense of it.  It looked like biographies.

        "Apparently, those who did great deeds earned a 
third name.  This book describes the inhabitants of Ne 
Oedo who had earned one.  The person who bound the book 
surmised the book was printed shortly before the War of 
Power.  Anyway, here's what I wanted to find..."  

         The page showed a picture of a woman who looked 
strongly like Ukyou assumed she would look in another 
ten years, dressed in a long purple dress with highly 
embroidered sleeves, belted at the waist.  She was 
seated in a nice green plush chair, her eyes closed in a 
meditative position.  The picture was labelled Sherin 
Loys Delerini.  Ukyou remembered that name; she had 
gotten a package from that woman, who had claimed to 
be her past self.  That claim seemd a lot more plausible.  
"She does look like me."

        He turned the page.  "Apparently, she was a powerful 
Dreamer, one of the strongest of the non-Aes Sedai 
Dreamers.  She aided Restorers, whatever those were, in 
helping to heal people with mental problems by entering 
their dreams and surmising what the problem was from 
that; she was so good at it that she earned a third name.  
Also a noted chef."  He shrugged.  "There's a good four 
pages on her if you're interested.  I like to read through 
this book for the pictures at times; they're just so vivid, 
but the biographies are pretty thorough."  He looked over 
at her.  "So you really read the Old Tongue?"

        "I can read anything.  I have the knack."  Ukyou 
smiled.  "<And I speak them too.>" she said in the Old 
Tongue.  

        "Hmm.  I've got something that might interest you.  
Take a look at this while I find it."  He wandered off, 
scratching his head.

       She read through the biography of Sherin Loys 
Delerini.  Born in Devaille, her parents had moved to Ne 
Oedo when she was little, where they ran a restaurant.  
Her talent for Dreaming had been discovered when she 
was a child, and she had gone to a special school, where 
her talents had flowered.  She had wanted to be an Aes 
Sedai, but couldn't channel a drop, so she had become an 
assistant to several Restorers, who she aided in the 
healing of minds.  Her skills in that endeavour, including 
the healing of a man who had been insane for over fifteen 
years and thought incurable had earned her a third name.  
She was a noted player of Three Dimensional Gaira, and 
had won the Paaran Disan World Tournament of it four 
times.  She had married someone named Basel Kurinin and 
had eight children.  Currently age eighty.  Ukyou boggled.  
EIGHTY?  The woman in the picture didn't look a minute 
over thirty at most.  

        While waiting for Kuranes, she paged forward.  
Sherin's brother, Darin Loys Pax, had a picture and a 
heavily damaged biography.  All she could make out from 
it was that he had been a Restorer who had pioneered a 
technique for projecting images of what people were 
thinking about or their memories.  He had been a 
handsome man, tall and blond with grey eyes and a thick 
beard that reminded Ukyou of her father's beard, but 
without her father's moustache.  

        There were a lot more people.  One of them looked a 
lot like Principal Kunou might have looked if he hadn't 
been a madman (and didn't have a pineapple tree growing 
from his forehead).  Another one reminded her of one of 
Akane's friends, Yuka.  A third was somewhat evocative 
of Shampoo, with purple hair, but taller and not quite as 
lushly built; her name was Mishi Noto Tadai, a noted Aes 
Sedai researcher.  Several more were completely new to 
her.  The seventh one, however, caught her eye.  It was a 
woman, short and dressed in a blue tunic with a diagonal 
yellow stripe and green leggings.  Her eyes were bright 
blue and her hair was a stark red, tied back in a long 
braid.  She looked exactly like Ranma-chan.  Only her 
stance was wrong; she didn't stand like a martial artist.  
She was leaning against a pillar in front of some huge 
white marble building.  

         Ranma...was a girl?  No way, Ukyou thought.  It can't 
be.  The woman's name was Nemene Barth Chari.   She had 
earned her third name by emerging as the champion of the 
World Gymnastics Competition at an early age and by 
developing various forms of unarmed combat for self-
defense against the increasing levels of crime that 
seemed to be plagueing the cities in the last few 
decades.  She had what the writer called 'photographic 
reflexes'.  If she saw something, she could learn to do it 
incredibly swiftly, no matter how complex it was.  This 
had made her an incredibly versatile Aes Sedai, although 
there were ones much more powerful.  At the time of the 
printing, she was engaged to be married to Derin Loys 
Pax.  

         Sounds like Ranma, Ukyou thought, but...no way.  
Surely Ranchan wouldn't hate his girl body so much if he 
had been a girl in a past life.  But it looks so much like 
him.  And yet...I wonder if Akane's in here.  She paged 
through the book, but couldn't find Akane, although she 
did find a picture of a man who looked suspiciously like 
Genma labelled Dirin Barth Uila.  Paging back, she saw 
that was the name of Nemene Barth Chari's father.  It 
mentioned she had several brothers and sisters, but none 
of them had made it into the book, and the pages for Dirin 
Barth Uila's biography were missing.

         Kuranes finally returned.  He was carefully carrying 
a cloth bag with a silken rope drawstring.  Putting it 
down, he opened it and extracted five pages of paper, 
each embedded in glass.  The glass looked seamless; how 
the paper had been put in it without damaging it, Ukyou 
couldn't figure out.  "It uses two character sets that look 
completely different; it's not the Old Tongue.  It was dug 
up about a hundred years ago by some farmer trying to 
dig a well.  The glass plates, not the bag."

        Ukyou examined them.  Photographed blown-up 
manga.  The odd thing was that someone had apparently 
filled in the bubbles and rewritten the dialogue in some 
European language.  While Ukyou could read it, her Fox-
granted Talent didn't tell her what language she was 
reading.  There were still some Japanese characters on 
the pages, however, which she could recognize.  She knew 
the manga too; it was Dragonball Z.  How in God's green 
Earth did Dragonball Z manga get into this universe?  A 
hundred years ago, no less.  "It's a story for small 
children with no taste,"  Ukyou said.  "But how it got 
here...anything else like this?"

       "We've a few more oddities, and lots of books in the 
Old Tongue if you have a taste for such.  I'll get them for 
you."

        Nothing else was quite so weird as that.

**********

        


John Walter Biles :  MA-History, Ph.D Wannabe at U. Kansas         
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu       
rhea@tass.org              http://www.tass.org/~rhea/falcon.html
rhea@maison-otaku.net      http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/

"Blood and bloody ashes! Are you sure this is a seal on the Dark One's
prison? I've been using it as a coaster!"
--Steve Odhner, Path of Plots Entry #7