Time Loops, Wheel of Time Part 12

Mist looked up from the ring that he was polishing when the bell over the workshop door rang, making him aware that Moiraine was in the process of walking into his workshop with half a dozen female channelers following her. He glanced at the woman who was wearing a crimson silk dress and a red shawl then focused on Verin, Siuan and Cadsuane, wondering why Siuan had left the Tower and why she'd brought a member of the red ajah. "What do you want?"

"Have some respect," the short woman that was wearing an expensive white dress snapped. "You're in the presence of the Amyrlin Seat."

Mist laughed at the woman that was glaring at him. "I wasn't being disrespectful, I was being direct but if you want me to be disrespectful, I can play that game."

Moiraine glanced at the white sister. "Don't, we're here to ask a favor, not cause trouble."

Mist glanced at the stocky red sister. "If you wanted a favor, why did you bring the red sister?"

"Silviana Sedai needed a vacation, she's been trying to knock some sense into her ajah," Moiraine explained.

"In that case, welcome to the city," Mist replied with a smile, recognizing the woman's name from Egwene's stories.

Silviana pulled her attention away from the teenager with impossible strength in the power that was watching a group of teenagers that were gathered around a workbench and focused on the young man. "Thank you."

"That's it?" Ferane asked, trying to understand the man's logic.

"I trust Moiraine," Mist replied with a shrug. "If she's willing to admit that someone in the red ajah is a reasonable person, I'm inclined to believe her."

"I try," Silviana offered, wondering what Moiraine had said that caused him to relax.

"What's the favor?" Mist asked Moiraine as Egwene walked over.

Farene stared in shocked disbelief at Egwene when she realized that she was probably stronger than anyone had been since the Age of Legends.

"The Hall isn't particularly happy about the presence of a group of channelers that isn't under the Tower's control recruiting people. I was hoping that someone could show our delegation around a bit so they'd understand why pushing the issue would end badly," Moiraine explained.

Silviana scowled as she thought about the leader of her ajah's orders to try to get a list of the men that could channel in the so-called city, in case they needed to step in. "As if that wasn't blatantly apparent from walking down the street or stepping into your shop."

"What do you think, boss?" Mist asked Egwene.

Egwene glanced between the group of aes sedai then focused on Siuan. "If you want a guide, I should be able to find someone that is willing to show you around, especially if you're willing to toss them a couple of silver pieces but you're welcome to wander around and explore the city as long as you remember that you need permission to entire private residences or guild halls."

"I appreciate it, the Hall is digging their heels in," Siuan admitted.

"What type of guild halls do you have?" Silviana asked, curious about the city's social structure.

Egwene glanced over at the students that were working on trying to duplicate the werewolf ring then focused on Silviana. "Just about everything you can imagine, from groups that play cards or board games on the weekend to guilds like the Crafting and Healing guilds that help make sure their members aren't causing harm to the city or the surrounding area."

"Who is in charge of the Healing guild?" Corele asked, if Nynaeve had found someone to deal with the paperwork.

"el'Nynaeve ti al'Meara Mandragoran or Nynaeve al'Meara, it depends on how formal you're being and if you're using her married name or not," Egwene offered. "She wanted to make sure everything was set up right before she handed it over to someone else."

Farene glanced at Moiraine. "Mandragoran? As in the royal family of Malkier?"

"They've been married awhile," Moiraine offered.

"How long have you known about the city?" Farene asked, wondering how involved Moiraine was with the city and the army of channelers.

"I'm not sure," Moiraine admitted, having lost track of the exact amount of time that had passed because of the time loops.

"Does the city have a library?" Verin asked thoughtfully.

"I've lost track," Mist admitted.

Silviana turned and looked at Mist. "Lost track?"

"Everything sort of blurs together after the first ten," Mist replied as he pulled up the city map in his interface and checked the number of public libraries in the city. "If you don't count the private libraries, seventeen."

"What do you consider a library?" Farene asked, wondering if he was counting every room with a couple of books that people could read as a library.

"Every clan tower has a small library that takes up a couple of rooms, each district has at least one public library that takes up a decent sized building and the grand library takes up a city block. The science guild has a library but you have to be a member of the guild so I'm not sure that actually counts," Mist mused, figuring that could go either way since it wasn't hard to join the guild.

"Do you need a librarian?" Verin asked thoughtfully.

"I'm sure we could find a place for you," Mist assured her.

"If you're going to try to steal my aes sedai, I reserve the right to try to recruit your people," Siuan warned him.

"That's fair," Mist admitted as he closed his interface, not particularly worried about losing people to the Tower.

Cadsuane glanced at the ring that Mist was holding. "What are you working on?"

"A beast ring," Mist replied, not sure what else to call it. "It lets the user change into an extremely large and durable wolf and increases their strength, agility and stamina while they're transformed. It also increases their night vision and gives you protection from bright lights."

"Why would you want to turn into a wolf?" Farene asked.

"They're fast and they have the ability to track by scent," Mist replied as Moria left the group of students and walked over. "They also leave different tracks and scent trails which means that if I change in a stream or something, I could avoid getting tracked by trollocs or hounds."

"Where did you learn to make ter'angreal?" Silviana asked, wondering how long he'd been channeling for.

"I spent a couple of weeks helping out a cranky old man a couple of years ago." Mist tossed the 'beast' ring to Moria. "That should make it easier to duplicate."

"Anything is better than the originals," Moria complained as she worked on delving the ring, trying to get an idea how to copy it.

"So, you've been channeling for a few years, any sign of insanity?" Silviana asked, curious how stable he was.

"Not that I've noticed and I can't channel, my ability doesn't use saidar or saidin which means I've never actually used saidin," Mist assured her.

"I've shielded him before, it didn't stop his magic," Moiraine offered.

Farene glanced over at the young man standing with the group of girls. "Are you sure it wasn't someone else?"

"I'm sure," Moiraine assured her. "He's not the first person that I've met with strange talents."

"Probably not the last either," Mist offered. "Most of my magic and talents are related to building and creating things. Take a look around the city, see the sights and relax a bit, I need to finish another ring and get back to work."

"Doing what?" Farene asked.

'Making more cultists,' Mist admitted, if only to himself. "I need to make a basic version of the beast ring that just increases people's night vision, I have a feeling that a lot of warders would want to buy them."

"And aes sedai, how much are you planning on selling them for?" Cadsuane asked, wondering if it was worth adding to her collection of ter'angreal.

"That depends, if I can hand the rings over to the crafting guild, we're probably looking at five to ten gold. If I have to do it myself, I'll probably make a couple dozen and give them away then work on other projects."

"That's it?" Farene asked, surprised that he wasn't going to charge more.

"Moria could probably give you a better explanation if she wanted to but creating ter'angreal takes the right material for the type of item you're trying to create, a decent amount of practice, the right talent and a certain amount of saidar or saidin."

"Or both," Moria offered. "A lot of ter'angreal give better results if they're made with both sides of the source."

"My crafting mostly just requires raw materials, a pattern and mana, which is another word for the energy that my type of magic uses," Mist explained.

"Your type?" Farene asked.

"I'd call channeling magic, I'd also call tree singing magic. I wouldn't call saidin or saidar mana even if they're closer to mana than whatever source of magic treesingers use but I'd call the results magic if that makes sense."

"That makes a certain amount of sense," Farene agreed.

"Are you any good at healing?" Corele asked.

"Not really," Mist admitted. "I'm basically a wilder that is rather talented at building structures and magical items. Outside of that, I've had a couple of weeks of training and that's not going to get better until I get back."

"Sometimes the best way to learn is to get out there and try it yourself," Cadsuane mused, fairly sure the kid's mentor deserved to be hit with a stick a couple of times.

"So I've heard," Mist replied with a touch of amusement. "I'm not too worried about it, I have a lot of things I can work on and I'll get there eventually."

Moria finished delving the ring. "I think I can duplicate the ring, it's just going to take some work…" she trailed off as thirty naked or half naked teenagers appeared in the shop thanks to the amethyst model of a tower that was sitting on the table.

"What in the light?" Farene asked as she tried to figure out where the people had come from and why they were naked.

"Shit," one of the girls swore when she recognized the shawls some of the women were wearing. "Where are we?"

"I think we're in the wrong place," one of the guys said.

"It is bad!" a different girl blurted out.

"You're fine!" Mist called out, trying to avoid someone doing something drastic. "Moiraine Sedai brought some of her friends to tour the city." He glanced around and sighed in relief when he realized that everyone was wearing some type of footwear. "As soon as we get everyone some basic cold weather gear, Egwene will be showing you to your clan towers or to the student dorms where someone can help you get used to city life."

"Thank you!" a few of the girls called out.

"What's going on?" Silviana asked, trying to keep the nine athletic looking young men in sight in case they went crazy or tried to kill her. 'Relax, saidin is clean and they barely look old enough to channel, they're probably sane,' she told herself.

'It's probably just as well that I can't erase people's memories,' Mist admitted. "They just graduated school and the exit point moves now and then."

"It moves?" Cadsuane asked, not sure that she believed him.

"How many groups…" Mist trailed off as another forty half naked teenagers appeared out of thin air, using up most of the available space in the workshop and packing people together like a sold out concert. "Shit," he grumbled as he grabbed the amethyst tower model with mage hand and headed for the exit.

"There should be two more groups today," one of the girls from the first batch offered.

"Thanks," Mist replied as he slipped through the crowd, wanting to be outside before people started appearing on the ceiling or on people's shoulders or the equipment. 'Okay, we're going to need a permanent location for the school.'

"Does anyone have magical tattoos or talents that help with the cold?" Moria asked, having noticed a couple of glowing tattoos.

Egwene glanced around, noticing that most of the group had one of their hands up. "Okay, would everyone that has a method of dealing with the cold please calmly exit the workshop."

Cadsuane watched the teenagers calmly make their way outside. "They're better trained than half of the novices in the Tower."

"They should be," Egwene replied as she watched the students leave.

Silviana glanced between Farene and the rest of the group, quickly realizing that everyone else had at least some idea of what was going on. "Would you actually give me a straight answer if I asked what was going on?"

"Nope," Moria replied with a grin.

Egwene glanced at Siuan then focused on Silviana. "As you can probably guess, Mist isn't from our world. One of the ter'angreal that his mentor gave him functions as a school, one minute out here is one day inside."

"You're using it to prepare for the Last Battle," Shiviana mused, not seeing another reason that Siuan wouldn't have tried confiscating it or folding the students into the Tower. "How long have you known about the city?" she asked Siuan.

"Moiraine kept me informed," Siuan admitted.

"Some of the sitters would consider this treason," Farene admitted.

Cadsuane scowled as she thought about the Hall. "Half of the sitters should be bent over a knee and paddled until they get their heads on straight."

"I'm not legally required to inform the Hall about anything that I learn via personal sources and the ter'angreal that Mist brought are from a different world which means they were never the property of the White Tower so we don't have any claim on them," Siuan argued. "Even if I was willing to push the idea that anything that involves the Power should be under our control, which I'm not, the city is filled with channelers. The weakest of which match Moiraine and I in strength, which means we'd lose any confrontation if it came down to a fight."

"Especially since some of us can make ter'angreal," Moria added smugly.

"How long have you known about the men that can channel?" Silviana asked Siuan.

"Several months. I knew that they'd found some men that could channel and I had reliable information that the source could be cleansed, so it was a choice. I could either send the entire red ajah and watch them get wiped out in a fight that might spark a war we couldn't win or I could trust everyone to do their parts and keep everyone shielded until we needed them to cleanse the source," Siuan explained.

"They were keeping them shielded?" Silviana asked.

"We actually used ter'angreal that block the source and no, we're not going to explain more than that, they've been melted down to scrap," Egwene stated, not wanting to have to explain the poor copies of Mat's necklace. "We did the best we could with what we had and the source is clean and Shadar Logoth is gone, so I think we made the right choice, especially since one of our healers can remove the taint."

"They had a good plan and she's telling the truth about Nynaeve, she found a way to remove the residue the taint left on channelers," Moiraine offered.

"I can respect that," Silviana admitted.

"Now what?" Farene asked.

"I'm going to spend the next couple of days exploring the city and then I'm going to go back to the Tower and explain to the Hall that attacking the city or harassing them is a really stupid idea that we're going to avoid," Siuan replied with a faint smile, looking forward to telling the Hall to swallow a razorfish if it came down to it.

"Are you planning on challenging the White Tower?" Farene asked Egwene, knowing that the rest of her ajah would want to know.

Egwene shook her head. "I've seen a version of the future where I became an aes sedai, it didn't end well. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to escort some students to their new homes."

"What ajah were you in the vision?" Farene asked.

"Ask me when I have more time," Egwene replied as she left the workshop with a spring in her steps.

Moria smiled as she followed Egwene out of the workshop, looking forward to meeting her new family members and having some fun.

Farene turned and looked at Corele. "You're being quiet."

Corele pulled her attention off the wall she'd been staring at because that was the direction Damer was in. "I'm curious if they have any new healing weaves that they're willing to share."

"I'm going to find a library," Verin said as she headed for the exit, looking forward to seeing what type of books they had.

"I guess I'll see if they have any new logic puzzles," Farene said as she headed for the door, not expecting much.

"Do you want to grab lunch?" Siuan asked Moiraine once Farene and Corele left.

"Sounds good," Moiraine agreed as she headed for the door, figuring it was a good chance to catch up with her friend.

Silviana took her shawl off and stuffed it in her bag then took her ring off and put it on her necklace. "Is it worth buying a different dress?"

"Only if you want to," Cadsuane replied as she headed for the door. "They have some quality tailors and the fabric is extremely durable and easy to care for."

"Worth a try," Silviana replied as she followed Cadsuane out of the workshop, willing to spend the gold if it meant that she didn't get a knife in the back for being part of the red ajah.

0o0o0

Harry twitched as he stepped out of the bar and into a strange courtyard filled with at least eighty half naked girls and twenty athletic looking blokes wearing gym shorts. He glanced at the old fashioned stage couch parked in front of them then looked over at Hermione. "Where the hell are we?"

"No clue," Hermione admitted as she studied the group of half naked girls, trying to figure out what was going on since some of the girls had glowing tattoos in various locations.

"Why do I feel the urge to jump on the stage couch and ride through hell?" Harry asked.

"Brain damage or bad whiskey?" Hermione asked absently as Sirius stepped out of the bar.

"Huh, the strippers weren't supposed to be until later," Sirius muttered when he noticed the large group of half naked girls in the courtyard. "Hello nurse!"

Mist turned and stared in disbelief when he saw a group of people that were strangely familiar and wearing clothes that would have fit perfectly back home. He started scanning the three strangers as they walked over.

"Do you know where we are?" Hermione asked.

"You're in Manetheren," one of the girls offered.

"Wheel of Time?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"It's in the Two Rivers," the girl offered, not sure what a wheel of time had to do with things.

"More or less," Mist offered, a bit surprised that the cultists knew about the book and not sure why the girl's voice sounded familiar, as if he'd heard it before and should recognize it.

Hermione turned and focused on the man that was holding a clipboard and a pen. "Are you telling me we're in a book?"

"Not that I know it, the author was probably just a seer and wrote what he saw," Mist offered, figuring that made more sense than random chance.

"I hate prophecies," Harry complained.

"I'm not complaining about the scenery but do you know how we got here?" Sirius asked.

"That's probably my fault," Mist admitted as he checked the result of his scan.

"How is this your fault?" Hermione asked.

"One of my abilities summons cultists and yep, three magic users, one demon summoner, one son of Tyche and one daughter of Loki," Mist replied, slightly annoyed that creating a demigod minion took enough mana to level a mountain, something he certainly didn't have. 'That means I probably just summoned them.'

"I think you have us confused with someone else," Hermione argued, reasonably sure she wasn't related to a Norse god of mischief, especially not directly.

"Are you saying your friend can't summon demons?" Mist asked, gesturing at Sirius.

"Of course not," Hermione replied in annoyance.

"Ah, actually…" Sirius trailed off when Harry and Hermione turned and looked at him, giving him a look that said they were having doubts.

"Seriously?" Harry asked.

"There was a book in your father's family library, it had a summoning spell and we tested it," Sirius admitted.

"You're lucky you weren't killed or worse," Hermione complained.

"It wasn't that big a deal, there's a size limit on the type of demons you can summon," Sirius argued.

"How large and what do you need to summon something?" Mist asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Twenty three inches is the upper limit and you just need chalk and a name, why?"

"Because I have a demon that I want to summon," Mist replied with a grin, figuring that he'd just reset the loop if it didn't work and avoid the unknown aes sedai seeing the students appear if his insane idea didn't work out.

"What do I get out of it?" Sirius asked.

Mist turned to look at the group of half naked girls and asked, "Can I talk some of you into jumping up and down?"

"Just…" Hermione trailed off as most of the girls started bouncing on their heels or jumping up and down, causing their breasts to bounce and putting on a nice show. 'Maybe Mum had a point about swinging both ways.'

'Probably just as well that we didn't take Ron,' Harry mused as he enjoyed the show.

Sirius spent a minute enjoying the show then pulled out a stick of chalk and got to work drawing a summoning circle when the girls stopped bouncing. "I'm going to need the name."

"Do you have to say it or just write it down?" Mist asked.

"It just has to be written on a scrap of paper and someone drops it in the middle of the circle," Sirius replied.

"Perfect," Mist replied as he wrote the Dark One's name on the corner of the checklist and dropped the paper in the circle, causing the scrap of paper to twist and change into an ink black six inch tall demon. He quickly stepped on the shocked demon, splattering the miniature dark god and causing his time loop to break as the dark god's destruction unleashed a wave of divine mana.

"Look out!" Harry shouted as someone appeared behind Mist and stabbed him through the chest with a glowing knife.

Mist had a brief second to try to figure out what had just happened before a strange midnight black portal opened in front of him and he was shoved through.

Sirius pulled his wand out of his sleeve, pointed at the assassin and shouted, "Stupify!"

The assassin laughed as the spell and dozens of weaves from the girls washed over him without any effect. "I'm a god, you're a fucking mortal," he taunted the wizard, ecstactic that he'd stolen the prize without having to do any of the work.

Hermione pointed her wand at the lunatic and blasted him in the face with sparkles, causing the man to take a step back, slip on the residue of the dark god like a banana peel in a comedy skit and fall backwards through the portal, causing it to snap shut. "Great, now what?"

"No idea," Harry replied as he reached down and picked up the glowing sphere of magic.

"Shit," several of the girls complained, not sure how they were supposed to explain everything.

"I need another drink," Sirius admitted, not sure what else to do.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed, not sure how to fix things or get back to earth, especially since the person that had summoned them was probably dead.

0o0o0