Born and bred in Illian, Kal felt foreign to the grand Cairhienin hall, examining the Aes Sedai subordinate standing before him. She was tall and skinny, dressed in the finest gossamer silks. She was adorned with all too much jewelry. He himself was short and solid, wearing an Asha’man’s black coat and pins.

Their clothes paled in comparison to who they were, and Kal spoke to her as though he would any of the lower servants of the Great Lord.

“Can you change him?”

The woman – Juelya Aes Sedai as she was called – tried to stoop lower than she was, her hands gripping her dress tightly. “I would need some time. Days at least. Your training…” She trailed off, squirming under his gaze. “It’s taken a toll on him. He’s not like he once was.”

Kal sighed into his beard and turned his back to her. He knew he wasn’t going to get the answers he wanted. So instead, he would probe around wherever he wished. “Why were you turned out of the Tower?” He knew the answer, and he knew it brought pain.

Juelya began to protest, “The Great Lord did not com-“

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was deep, and Saidin amplification forced it into every crack of the room. “What the Great Lord did and did not command is none of your business.” Kal still had his back to the wish-to-be Aes Sedai. He was not worried, though. She was well trained. “Answer.”

She coughed quietly, likely holding back an oath. “They said,” her voice wavered, “I would never be able to channel enough to reach past Accepted.” She bit the inside of her cheeks to hold back more words.

“And yet you are stronger than most Aes Sedai.”

She sighed, defeated, but her voice reflected how proud she was of her artificial abilities. It also reflected her fear of Kal, and through him, Shai’tan. “He gave me what I so yearned for, and I gave Him my services.”

“And you know what happens if you stop giving those services.”

Other than a quiver, which wouldn’t go away, Juelya was frozen solid.

Asha’man Kal nodded, positive she understood. “Gateway me back.”

* * *

Catthou idly scratched his shoulder. He felt goosebumps, just for a second. He stopped anyways. He was right next to the building where Kal stayed. The Asha’man had told him to report for something. Now what was it? Catthou glared at the Asha’man’s door, trying to recall whatever it was that Kal had wanted him to do. Almost no time passed before Kal opened the door and stepped out of his house.

“Dedicated Catthou, just who I was looking for.” Kal pulled the door closed behind him. “Asha’man Dovec is taking a small assembly of Dedicated out to the Shienaran border of the blight for a trial run. I would like you to attend.”

Catthou nodded, “I’m ready when you are.”

The Illianer’s beard contorted as Kal twisted his features. “Catthou, I won’t always be here for you. You’re going to have to do things on your own at some point.”

“Oh,” Catthou just stared at him, a bit startled, a bit confused. “Where are they meeting?” He was kind of glad Kal would not be there. He was familiar. Familiarly creepy.

“Somewhere around that grove you like so much.” Kal’s scrutiny deepened with his words. “The one where you took that girl some months ago. What was her name again?”

“Daelia,” Catthou lied, sighed, and rolled his eyes.

“Really? I could have sworn it was ‘Alex’ last time. Or was that the girl you were mumbling about in your sleep?”

Catthou turned away, frustrated. He did not talk in his sleep, despite what anybody said. “Well, I better be getting there quickly.”

Kal chuckled mirthfully under his breath, turning the opposite direction, heading to the M’Hael’s office.

* * *

Dovec had been raised to Asha’man hardly two months ago. Up until then, he had shared his dormitory with Catthou. They hadn’t become good friends, but they did have a few things in common. Neither were street urchins; Dovec had been raised royally in Andor, and he knew Catthou’s House of Cairhien. They spent the dusk hours word-dueling, Great Game style.

A few of the Dedicated who had gathered around him caught his gaze and followed it to Catthou. More than one groaned.

“Now, now, I’m training you to be Asha’man, not nobles with necks so long their heads stay in the clouds.” He joked openly behind Catthou’s back; his own royal connections were not well known.

Brushing his roguish blonde hair out of his vision, he squinted his light blue eyes at Catthou’s figure. The boy was jogging now, seeing that they were waiting just for him.

Dovec nodded to the gateway next to him, held open by a different Asha’man, one that would not be attending their mission. “Through, boys.” The four Dedicated wordlessly headed through. Dovec waited for Catthou to approach, then ushered him in. “When Kal said you would be coming, I didn’t hear him say that you would hold us up.”

Catthou, younger than Dovec by hardly a year, shrugged, a far away look in his eyes. His other features were placid as he stepped through the gateway into an unknown land. He brought himself back to reality, finding his bearings quickly and lining up along side the other Dedicated with a salute to Dovec. He still reveled in being treated his rank. No other Dedicated picked on him anymore. He realized it was a big step for anyone to treat him like an adult. There were men twice his age who were still soldiers – but they were not the problem. The problem was the people younger than himself who thought they were on some special level of treatment. Lucky for Catthou, the Asha’man had began cracking down on indiscipline since M’Hael Jak came into office. Catthou liked what the M’Hael was doing to the Black Tower, but he didn’t like Jak on a personal level. Did he really have to? He would fallow the M’Hael to the end of the earth out of duty alone. He was a weapon of the Black Tower and the Dragon Reborn. And right now, he was being forged.

“Dedicated.” Asha’man Dovec stood in front of their line, his eyes roaming over each of them. “During last nights dark hours, a fist of trollocs was dispersed by Shienaran forces. They feared the ones who are not dead may disturb some nearby residents, so we were called in.”

Dovec could see two men on horses approaching. When they came within hearing distance, a few of the Dedicated twitched their heads to try to see behind themselves. Catthou only cringed.

“Once we enter a dangerous vicinity, you are to immediately pair up and begin scouting the area. The pairings are as follows,” Dovec droned on.

The two horses had circled around the line of Dedicated and come into view. The man atop the first was a broad, top-knotted Shienaran bearing a belted sword and no shirt. An unusual streak of blue warpaint covered one eye, running vertically down his cheek and neck, finally fading when it got to his stomach.

The second man was not so different from those he was used to seeing – black-coated and dual-pinned. This man was also Shienaran as far as he could tell, although his head was shaven completely.

Dovec’s partner – Dedicated Adzare – cautiously approached him. Dovec paid no mind, instead nodding to a gateway opened by the horse-riding Asha’man. “Through, boys.” He loved that phrase. He’d have to use it more often. Jamosa was first through, leading Catthou like a dog on a string. He was ambitious and head-strong. Dovec hoped Catthou could learn something from him.

Next through were Maro and Cawere. Both were stable when it came to channeling and battle tactics, however, they had been dependent on each other since soldier-hood. Remove one and the other proved half as confident and half as decisive. All the Asha’man had been working to beat it out of them since they were raised to Dedicated on the same day. He never understood why they couldn’t just let the two always stay together.

Adzare was a slim Lugarder with a stubbly beard to resemble an Illianer. Usually clean-shaved, he had decided to grow it out to impress a girl who resided in the Black Tower village. He followed Dovec through the gateway, watching the other pairs pan out across the surrounding territory. The Inseparable Duo was of no importance to Adzare. The other pair contained Catthou, and his eyes lingered on the back of the pompous Dedicated.

“What do you think of him?” Adzare’s eyes focused on the speaker, his fully-raised companion.

Adzare shrugged and began walking in an unscouted direction. “He can channel the weather. It’s unnatural.”

Dovec nodded, following the older-yet-less-powerful one. “Learned it from his ‘private tutor’, Kal DuLarde.”

The Dedicated squinted off into the distance, then tossed out a weave of exploding earth. The ground ruptured, but nothing else. False alarm. “I never understood what special interest Asha’man Kal could take in the boy, or why the M’Hael would allow it.”

“Catthou has always been trouble,” Dovec crouched, examining a too-large footprint. “The M’Hael allows Kal to keep a close watch on him to keep him on track. Without constant attention, Catthou would likely get himself gentled.”

They resumed their walking, peaking a hill to find an abandoned camp – a dead and gutted trolloc likely last nights dinner for the other hungry cannibals.

Dovec turned back the way they had come, power-enhanced voice booming louder than it ever had. “They’re moving north. Reassemble.” Once Saidin was gone and the pair was walking back to the horsed men, Dovec resumed his speech. “There are other things about Catthou, though. Rumors.”

“I am curious to know, but you’re probably not going to tell. It’s not my place.”

“Actually, I am more than willing to share under the contract that you disclose this conversation to no one. I need a second opion.” Adzare nodded to the man’s words, and he continued. “Whispers say Kal is hiding things. Keeping documents from the M’Hael, teaching things to Catthou before he should.”

“Have you looked into Kal?” Adzare inquired. “Or Catthou for that matter.”

“That’s just it,” Dovec shook his head, “Other than Catthou’s behavioral problems, they’re both as clean as scrubbed floors. Kal hasn’t done one thing wrong in his hundred and forty seven years at the tower.”

Adzare could say nothing. There was nothing to say. It didn’t make any sense. This was the first suspicious thing Kal was doing in over a hundred years? And he was a faithful Asha’man to the Black Tower? Then he would have to know what he was doing.

“There is one thing,” Dovec offered.

“There is?”

“Rumors are rumors. Substance less words with no meaning.”

“You’re suggesting that what they’re doing behind closed doors is legit?”

“It is the highest and most probable answer.” The young Asha’man couldn’t help but sigh. He wanted to find a Darkfriend, just so he could kill it.

Seeing that they were coming closer to the horses and the Dedicated, they cut the conversation and Adzare brought himself to attention as Dovec dealt out orders.

“The next location is closer to the blight, so I expect you to channel only when necessary. Stay closer but don’t avoid anything.” He nodded to the horsed Asha’man, who promptly opened another gateway.

Adzare and Dovec were through in an instant, followed by the other groups. This place was dead and barren, even the few, sparse trees seemed to emanate evil. Adzare cast a worried look to his partner. Dovec returned a nod. “We’ll carry on in two groups. I will go with Maro and Cawere, Adzare with the others.”

The groups split to go their respective ways. Jamosa, Catthou, and Adzare’s journey brought them in sight of nothing dangerous. In fact, the way they were going, things only seemed to get better. A tree, at one point, actually looked alive. Rocks, however, grew constantly larger and more frequent as they journeyed. Some were dangerously close to being big enough to hide two or three trollocs.

Jamosa was leading Adzare, who was a step ahead of Catthou. When Adzare’s ears stopped hearing the last man’s footsteps, he stopped as well, looking at him for an explanation.

“We’ve been walking forever, can’t we take a break?” Catthou was leaning on the tree, looking at them with hope.

Jamosa approached the pair, “We have to keep going. Look, there could be something just over that hilltop.”

“Or there could be something over that hilltop,” Catthou pointed.

Adzare examined both hills and their surroundings. Cathou’s was a terrible excuse for a hill. Nothing could hide behind it. Jamosa’s hill, however, could cover up to a good fifth of a fist.

“I’d better go with him.” Adzare and Jamosa headed off to their destination and Catthou stubbornly forgeited his resting spot under the tree to investigate his own pitiful hill.

“Kal!” Catthou gasped.

The Asha’man turned, almost surprised to see him. “Catthou, what are you doing here? Where are your companions?”

“They’re over a few hilltops,” he pointed idly behind him, his expression painted with suspicion. “But what about you? Didn’t you need to do something?”

“Indeed, but it’s over and now I have something to show you,” the short Asha’man put a hand on Catthou’s back, gesturing to nowhere.

“Where…” Catthou shook his head. “I don’t see-“ He never did see the Saidin Air pummel coming to the back of his skull.

“He’s out.” Kal commented, staring at the limp, facedown form of Catthou, laying out on the ground.

Juelya, imposter Aes Sedai and hidden advisor of House Damodred, stepped out from behind one of the nearby large rocks. It was a good thing Kal had kept him away from female channelers lately. This particular form of permanent Compulsion had killed over twenty subjects before Catthou. It would have collapsed on him if an Aes Sedai had tried to Heal him.

She stood, staring down at Catthou over Kal’s shoulder. “Turn him over,” she whispered softly. Juelya didn’t know if those other Asha’man would be coming back around anytime soon, but she didn’t want to attract any kind of attention – Asha’man or shadowspawn.

Kal reached down and grabbed Catthou by the shoulder with one of his hands and Catthou’s midsection with his other hand. Juelya found her weave with ease, grabbing it like she would a horse’s rein. A slight grunt escaped Kal’s lips as he rolled the boy over.

Catthou’s eyes were open.

Kal was dead before anyone ever knew it. Catthou’s blast of Fire and Earth hit the left side of his head, shattering it into small pieces, a spray of red blood and white bone splattering to Kal’s right. Juelya’s attack struck at the same time, hitting Kal’s chest from his right, sending his disintegrated torso splattering in the other direction.

With nothing to balance them, Kal’s legs – the only distinguishable part of him left – toppled to the ground.

Catthou rose quickly, crossing the blood-covered ground without a thought. The sound of something crunching under his feet brought a shudder to his body, stomach threatening to overthrow itself. He reached the scared Aes Sedai, hands firmly gripping her shoulders.

“I was trying… to kill- to stop-“ Juelya stammered. Even if this boy – who she had once been able to control with a single word – let her live, she doubted the Great Lord would.

Catthou hadn’t an idea of what to think. He knew her to be channeling, as all Asha’man did. “I want to believe that you’re here to save me. I really do.” Something shifted in the back of his mind, and the Aes Sedai in his grasp took a tiny step back. He didn’t feel like killing her all of a sudden.

“I want you to leave,” He commanded emotionlessly. “However you got here, return that way.”

Tears blossomed on her cheeks at Juelya shrugged off his grip and turned her back to him. She let one strand of the Compulsion weave on Catthou go. It went flying. She couldn’t help but wince; it would come back and hit him later, probably wiping out a memory or two.

She opened the gateway, weakening her hold on Catthou. A few more strands of Saidar pulled out of her grasp and went rebounding off of Catthou’s mind. He may not feel it now, but he would definitely be affected.

But why should she care? He was all grown up. He hadn’t been more than sixteen when she had sent him away from House Damodred. Now he was a grown man – approaching his twenty-first namesday if she didn’t miss her guess – and he could take care of himself. In fact, why did she care? He was just another failed experiment, nobody worthy of her attention. She walked through the gateway, still shaken, trying not to think of what had just happened, or of what would happen to her.

The gateway closed. Catthou turned, addressing the human legs resting in the mutilation. A bit more Earth, some Fire, and a touch of Air split them into smaller pieces, mangling them to no longer look human. He felt different. The carnage before him no longer brought on any queasiness. He ran through it, back over the hill. Adzare and Jamosa were coming towards him, also running.

“Cattthou,” Jamosa yelled out, grinning, “We got four!”

“And I, two,” he grinned right back. “We should get back in case more come after us.” The boys ran back the path they had come, finding all the others already waiting.

Dovec stepped out from the group. “We believe they were all taken care of. If any were left, there would have been no more than give. By the looks of things, you’ve found something.”

“Six,” Catthou panted, “There were six. They’re all dead.”

Dovec eyed him for the longest time, then shifted the gaze to Catthou’s two accompanying Dedicated. Both nodded, bring a smile to the Asha’man’s lips.

“Expect a good word to reach the M’Hael about you, Catthou Damodred.”