As the little man paraded down the hall, explaining the treasures to them, Lacy wondered why Nefer was suddenly being so gracious and not telling the man to hurry about it, especially now that they were so close to their destination and what could potentially find her precious young Blue. Lacy was impatient to get there and excited about the doorway experience and could only guess that Jelsa was as well. Who wouldn‘t be anxious about an experience like the one before them? She had not asked her companion what questions he was going to ask on the other side for she had been formulating her own questions in the back of her mind and had still only came up with two good ones, the third she was still debating upon. She would formulated a third question based upon the answers given her. Another reason she had not asked was that the experience on the other side was a private affair, if he wished to share his questions and answers with her he would do so of his own accord, not at her urging.

Soon, after they were given a history on every statue and painting that lined the hallway, they were lead into a large chamber that was decorated with gold engravings in intricate patterns and white marble walls. The gold filigreed windows set up high in the pallid walls let in enough mid-day sunlight so that the room seemed to glow golden. Their target, the Doorway Ter’Angreal, stood alone in the middle of the room upon a raised dais. The Ter’Angreal was made from a reddish stone that the Green had never before seen and the corners of the door did not meet quite right. Her eyes kept sliding off of it and did not want to follow the lines. Upon one side was carve three sinuous lines, they reminded her of snakes in the ground. She refrained from approaching the Doorframe and from running her fingers over it, after all Alhanna was the Green that had Brown tendencies, she was just a curious Green that wanted to marvel at the greatness that had been created long ago. It had been created more than likely by men and women in the Age of Legends, and she had always been interested in what was made by men and women.

The dumpy man gave them continued in his lecture of history as he started lecturing about the Ter’Angreal and how it became property of Mayene and then again later after they had retrieved it from Tear. She thought this was rather amusing, given the audience and their training as Novices and Accepted, they more than likely knew more about the item before them than he did. She did not make any comments to Jelsa, or the other assembled party, but instead tightened her grip upon the Asha’Man’s arm slightly, she could feel the muscles of his strong arm beneath her delicate fingers, as the man went on about his lecture, now upon how the room was built to enhance the Doorway‘s appearance. Eventually the man finished his history lesson and made polite goodbyes saying he would return in a few hours to see if they needed anything. Undoubtedly he thought they were Browns here to study the Ter’Angreal for hours upon hours, though a stranger collection of Browns she could not begin to imagine. How often did Browns come with men who couldn’t look more ready for battle than the ones they had with them? As the Keeper of the First’s Treasures made his way out and shut the door behind him Lacy shook her head in amusement and decided upon not commenting upon the man’s lack of knowledge of Aes Sedai and what they do, her amusement was not enough to share at a moment like this. After all without Aes Sedai the Doorway would never have been possible. And she still had the muscular arm of the handsome Asha’Man beneath her hands to enjoy, not to mention his presence beside her.

Now that they were alone the Doorway was fair game for all and she watched as one by one her other companions went through the doorway to get their answers, eventually leaving only herself and Jelsa standing there and looking at the Ter’Angreal. She wasn’t exactly afraid of the answers she would receive on the other side but the possibilities did not make her feel any better exactly. She knew her questions could touch on dangerous topics in this particular world that the doorframe led to, it had its own rules after all. Her main question could indeed see the end of her and she might not ever return to the world where she could stand beside the Asha’Man as she was doing now, and worse she might not be able to return to her rooms with him after this experience. She had to have the answer however or she would regret not asking the question for the rest of her life, there were just some things a Green had to know to ease her mind, and she hoped the answers she would receive beyond this doorway would answer those questions and ease her mind a little.

Taking a deep breath she smiled up at Jelsa and eased her petite hand from the crook of his strong arm, her breath taking smile a brilliant white, as always, in her sun darkened face. Her gray eyes did not show any of her doubt or worry, though she was afraid they would show them to the man watching her, and their tattooed frames were still upon her smooth face. This was one reason she had chosen to go last, the other reason was that she wanted to be sure the others actually went through the Ter’Angreal. She trusted Jelsa as much as anyone else on the trip, besides her fellow Green, and that was one reason she was entering before he did and why she wanted him to go with her into the Blight and Borderlands when they left here. The outcome of what they learned on the other side of the Ter’Angreal would determine if she asked him the question that had been bouncing about in her skull, giving her an absolute headache. The answers the Asha’Man received tonight might also prove to be the key to if he answered yes or no to her question, if it were to be asked. So many weavings of the Pattern were possible but she wanted only one outcome from this mission.

Taking a deep breath she looked over her shoulder at the Asha’Man and gave him a final dazzling smile, perhaps her very last, before taking the only remaining step into the doorway and was gone from his view. The Green seemed to be stepping through a sheet of brilliant white light, infinitely bright, infinitely thick. For a moment that lasted forever. She was blind; a roaring filled her ears as if all the sounds of the world were gathered there together at once. Just for the length of one measureless step.

Another step and she was in a round hall. The red stone doorframe was there behind her, standing in the middle of the round room. The ceiling over head rose up, up, up and was lost into the shadows. Spiraling columns were around the edges of the room and spiraled up into the darkness that hid the ceiling. The light that lit the room softly came from glowing spheres atop coiled stands of some white metal, it was not shiny enough to be silver. She almost glided over to run her hand across the metal to see how it would feel against her skin, she was sure it would be cold to the touch, much like silver. There was no sign what made the orbs glow atop the metal stands, they were not made of Saidar and flame had never touched the top of those stands. It was a mystery she would have to think about later. The floor below her slippered feet spiraled out from the Ter’Angreal in white and yellow floor tiles and curled about the room. In the air there was a sharp dry sent filling her nose and making it wrinkle of its own accord.

“So many at once.”

The breathy voice pulled her attentions from her surroundings, her fingers feeling for one of the multiple daggers she had left in her room back at the Drunken Axe. She had read that there were questions asking about weapons and since she could not lie she had left them back in her room in order to be able to give true answers and hopefully return to her own world, preferably alive. A shadow in the distance caught her eye as it moved through the columns gracefully. Its movements made her skin pebble up into goose bumps. There was something about the figure and its movement that she did not like, she couldn’t say what or why but it was there all the same.

“So many seekers for answers at once. You have brought no lamps, no torches, as the agreement was, and is, and ever will be. You have no iron? No instruments of music?”

The breathy voice came from a figure that looked like it was male. The figure was tall and barefoot, its arms legs and body wrapped in many layers of a yellow cloth that looked soft. She suddenly wasn’t sure if it was male or female and that shamed her pride as a green, though if it was male it was one she did not find attractive in the least. The form definitely wasn’t human, it was too graceful to be human and was far to thin for its great height. The form’s black hair that hung limply about its elongated face seemed to make her skin crawl along with its shiny skin. The eyes that held slits of pure black made the hair rise on the back of her neck and the picture the smell brought to her mind combined with the man’s form about made her turn around on the spot. The smell was very reminiscent of great holds that snakes inhabited in the winter. The often had broken into those areas in the winter while it was too cold for the snakes to move and killed the snakes so they could not kill the claves come spring. She shivered despite her efforts not to, the breathy voice repeating its question did not help matters. “No, I have no torches or lamps. No iron or instruments of music.” Lacy’s voice was clear and even and surprised her slightly due to her discomfort at that uncomfortably familiar smell. “I have come for answers to three questions.” Lacy said in her Andoran accent, her voice firming as she went on.

The form smiled at her, although the smile did not show teeth. She thought her skin was going to crawl right off before she would be able to exit this place again. “According to the agreement, come.” He made a beckoning motion, signaling her to follow him. “Follow.” She looked over her shoulder at the doorframe once more with only a hint of longing in her heart before following the form down a hallway that ran off into shadows in a half arch. The only flat thing she had seen so far was the floor though the patterns were anything but straight, the yellow and white floor tiles always swirling or arching away from her. The hall was a continuous slow curve that curved to her right and then slowly started to curve to the left then to be followed by a right curve again. They walked for a long time down the curving hall. She saw no one but her silent guide who glided before her, giving even her graceful walk competition. The round windows placed in intervals let out into courtyards that seemed to have no entrance. Tall wispy trees were visible through the round window, the drooping umbrella of branches flowing down into a round pond. In the center were three silvery, spiraling spires that curled up into the sky and all pointed to the same area in the sky. Dim and over cast the sky made it a very dismal place that seemed depressing even to her bubbly personality. No matter which side of the hall a round window was on it seemed to let into identical courtyards. She had the sinking suspicion that it was the same courtyard that she was seeing over and over again, the same exact view even.

“Here”

That breathy voice made the Green jump slightly, causing her to swear a blue streak under her breath that would have done any wagon driver proud. The masculine form, at least she was pretty sure it was masculine, motioned to a large round doorframe that held two heavy wooden doors made of a very light wood. They were larger than anything else she had seen during their silent and long walk down the curving hallway. Studying her with is strange eyes as if seeing everything about her, the strange from continued in his breathy tone.

“Here your answer may be found. Enter. Enter and ask.”

Lacy got the distinct feeling that the bloody thing was trying to inhale the scent of her lily perfume and struggled to keep disgust from showing on her doll-like face. Lacy drew a deep breath, the unpleasant scent filled her nose and nearly made her cough. She stepped towards the tall doors and pushed one of them open quite easily. The room within was another round room, but larger that the one she had started in. She wondered idly where her companions were at, Jelsa specifically. If she had been bound to a Warder would he be able to feel her here? Would she be able to feel him? Or would she have had to face this alone as she was doing now. Those thoughts were pushed away from the front of her mind as she stepped through the door, those were dangerous thoughts at the moment and there was no room for idle thoughts now, of that she was here. The floor tiles spiraled from the middle of the room, this time they were red and white. “What does that mean? She wondered if the color was to caution that danger was within. This room had no columns spiraling up into blackness or any other furnishings aside from four spiraling stools. Three were along one side of the wall, another was placed in the middle of the floor. The black stool in the middle of the floor was much shorter than the three against the wall. Sitting upon the three tall stools were three forms with legs crossed. They were wrapped in layers of red cloth, she wondered if they all wore red or if this was simply bad luck for her being a Green. The figures looked more feminine than her guide, she was not sure why she felt that way but she did, perhaps it was the thinner faces and the bigger eyes. Of course that was not important now, nor would it ever be really. It was funny what one’s mind tries to grasp upon when faced with something as difficult as asking questions about one’s own fate.

Lacy made her way towards the stool in the center of the floor in front of the red clad figures and took a seat, arranging her coral skirts so that the fell to the floor in the manner that they had been sewed for. She also made herself comfortable upon the small stool before looking up at the three red clad figures. Her skin was about to crawl from her body being around three of the things at once. It made for an experience much more uncomfortable than the oaths settling could ever match.

“It has been a long time.” Said one of the figures.

“A very long time.” followed the second one.

“But seekers of truth come again, and many at once.” stated the third as if finishing the sentence the first started.

“Enter and ask, according to the agreement of old. Ask!” The three figures stated at once, as if issuing orders.

Lacy about sighed, she was tired of hearing how it had been a long time since they had visitors last. Of course if she thought her skin was crawling before it was absolutely trying to tear its way off of her body, the hairs and the back of her neck standing on end as if trying to escape as well. Even bloody Fades in the Blight at night did not effect her this much. Taking a deep breath she decided to ask the first question she had formulated on the way here as the forms had instructed her to do.

“Would I have been happy had I not have entered the Tower to train with the Aes Sedai and gotten married instead?”

That question was simple and safe enough, it had also plagued her since the time she had entered the Tower as a novice all those years ago. She had been happy with her life until that point and would like to think that she would have been happy married to her betrothed. His life had not turned out so well in the end but had she not left his life would have been different as well and she had always wanted a family with children running about the house playing where she had as a child. Of course there was no reason to waste a question on if her betrotheds life would have been happy, he was dead, it would have been a waste.

The three set of eyes lifted from her and raised to the air above her head and studied it for long minutes. The minutes dragged by in and uncomfortable silence that made her want to squirm upon her stool, she sat quietly however and did not even fidget with her silver belt or silken skirts. Finally the red clad figure in the center opened its mouth and spoke in its breathy voice. “You would have been happing in comparison to most mortal lives.” That said much about how her life would have been but left a lot to be desired as well. She wondered if it only compared to the peasant women or to all women who could not capture Saidar. She knew her life was not being compared to Aes Sedai for one could not really consider Aes Sedai simply mortal beings.

From the vague answer given she knew her next question would have to be more to the point and yet it would have to be safely worded so as not to touch upon the Shadow. The three spoke again in their breathy tones. “Ask, ask and get your second true answer.” Lacy took a deep breath and thought about the wording of her question before asking it. This could be the question that saw her dead or it could see her running off into the Blight.

“Will I live long enough to attain all of my goals?”

Lacy thought that was a safe enough way to ask if she would reach the Last Battle, which was her main goal and always had been, hopefully she would also survive to receive the answer. The three set of eyes once again studied the space above her head and she released the breath she did not know she had been holding. The Green was safe and would live to get her answer, for the moment. The silence once again dragged however as the relief at remaining alive started to wear off and her answer still had not been given. The minutes seemed to drag by slowly and seemed to slow with each one that passed. Finally the forms returned their eyes to her and one of the feminine figures on the end answered her. “Two paths lie before you. One leads to your goals being accomplished, one lead to death by a close friend who has betrayed the Light.”

The Black Ajah! the thought entered her head almost immediately as did the form of Aifa in a novice dress holding a dagger with smoke rising from its tip. Her left hand drifted to her right shoulder of its own accord to cover the area where Aifa had stabbed her with that dagger many years ago. While they were novices Aifa had tried to kill her in the hallway while the Aes Sedai were hunting down Black Sisters that had once again infiltrated the Tower to try to break into the Holds once again and obtain as many Sa‘Angreal as they could. Aifa had been gone such a long time, it was possible she had finally given in to T’Roi and been consumed by the Shadow and planning another raid on the Tower to try to break into the Holds once again. There was a thousand ways that answer could be interpreted and depending upon the choices she made any one of them could be right. She wondered what event would be the division of the two paths, if it would even be a choice she made that made the paths divide into completely different lanes. That was something she’d have to think about later, however for now the red clad figures were staring at her waiting for her to ask her third question. She seriously thought about leaving and not wasting her third question over something trivial but she would not be able to return and ask her last question. It was a once only deal that she had been dealt and she knew she didn’t want to give it up because she could not think of a question she thought was serious enough to warrant their answers.

Her third question was still a shadowy form floating around in the back of her head. She had thought of the question often since her brother had entered the White Tower and then even more after he had been sent to the Black Tower. She had thought she had settled this question in her mind long ago. More questions floated around in the back of her mind but they were not questions she really wanted to know the answers to. The answers might depress her more and there was no reason to need to know the answers. However the one question that had been shadowy had come to the forefront and demanded that she ask. She sighed, apparently she had not settled the answer firmly enough if she needed to ask these people for he answer.

“Should I tell my brother the truth about our mothers?”

She had never told anyone that she and Christian had different mothers, it had not been important but she felt she owed it to Christian to tell him the truth. She had worried how that would change his outlook of who he is and what consequences it would have. She had lived with that secret much of her life without telling another person, it was one reason she had hated her father so much, forcing that secret upon her to hold to herself and tell no other. These thoughts ran through her head as she sat waiting for the snakelike people to finish studying the space above her head. The thoughts were infinitely better than the silence that had stretched before the previous two answers. Although worrying they were not nearly as bad as the silences that stretched out for what seemed like ages.

“No.”

The simple reply came from the one who had yet to speak, her strange eyes focused on the white haired Green. All of the red clad figures were looking at her now as if they knew what lay within her thoughts. She wanted to ask why but knew she would get no answer from them, she had already received her three answers. There could be a million reasons why she should not tell her brother but she could think of one good reason she should. However the Elfin warned against it so she would keep the secret and take it to her grave so it would seem, much to her personal displeasure.

Standing the Aes Sedai smoothed the wrinkles from her coral colored skirts and adjusted the silver belt at her waist so that it was resting upon her waist to accent its narrowness. She had received her true answers and there was no reason to continue to linger in this strange place that made her skin crawl any more than she absolutely had to, especially if the timing was anything like the Dreamworld where an hour or two could pass in the matter of minutes. She had been here for hours. Walking to the exit she opened one of the large wooden doors and found her guide waiting on the other side. The hallway had not changed and the guide looked as if he had forever to wait to return her to the Doorframe. She followed her guide down the hall way silently, lost in thought of her answers. In an amazingly short time they were back at the doorframe Ter‘Angreal. She had asked her three questions and gotten three true answers though they really did not help her feel any better or give her any clues to the ending of her life.

Leaving her silent guide standing at the entrance to the domed room she made her way to the doorframe and stepped through. Once again she was welcomed by through a sheet of brilliant white light, infinitely bright, infinitely thick. For a moment that lasted forever. She was blind; a roaring filled her ears as if all the sounds of the world were gathered there together at once. Just for the length of one measureless step. Another graceful step seen her back to the chamber in the First’s palace. Jelsa had not yet returned from the Elfin world so she made her way to a padded bench and took a seat to wait. She mulled over the answers she had been given while she waited, she had much to think over.