Time Loops, Wheel of Time Part 6

"What are you looking at?" Cenn Buie demanded as he stalked over to talk to the young man that he didn't recognize who was staring at the roof of the smithy like it had offended him.

"I'm just trying to figure out why someone willingly used thatch on a building," Mist replied as he finished scanning the blacksmith shop, adding the pattern to his collection of blueprints.

"There's nothing wrong with thatch!" Cenn argued.

Mist turned to look at the bald man that was glaring at him. "All it takes is one stray spark and the roof is going to go up like a bonfire."

"That's why they have a loft, the sparks never get close to the thatch," Cenn argued.

"Until you have a fire in town and half the town burns down," Mist replied as he checked the new schematic, curious if he'd picked up anything useful. 'Produces high quality products and has a higher quality of apprentices than the basic pattern. Nice, that should let me research something that combines them,' he mused as he started walking toward the inn, easily stepping around the annoying old man.

"That's why the houses aren't right next to each other," Cenn argued as he followed the young man. "Who are you? I don't recognize you."

"That's because you're annoying and my mother told me to avoid you Cenn," Mist replied, guessing the man's name because of his apparent age and because of his reaction to his complaints about thatch. He ignored the old man as he walked over to the abandoned peddler's wagon and started scanning it, curious what he'd get from Fain's wagon.

"What's your name?" Cenn demanded as he followed the stranger.

Mist ignored the old man as he finished scanning the wagon, giving him several patterns for wagons, including a Cultist Wagon Pattern that looked interesting. 'Creating a Cultist Wagon generates one to three cultists with random mental issues and patrons and a random collection of products. There's a twenty percent chance that each of the cultists have some type of magic. I guess that's one way to get new types of magic.'

"I asked you a question!" Cenn snapped as Mat, Rand and Nynaeve walked out of the inn.

"You're not the mayor and you're not Nynaeve, so piss off," Mist replied as he started scanning the inn, curious if he'd get anything interesting since most of the staff had the ability to channel.

"Is there a reason you're antagonizing Cenn?" Nynaeve asked the stranger with distinctive blue eyes.

"He's annoying," Mist replied as he continued scanning the inn.

"He's also on the village council," Nynaeve pointed out, not disputing the fact that he was annoying.

"Have you considered beating him with a stick until he shuts up?" Mist asked as he finished scanning the inn. 'Old fashioned stone and wooden inn? So much for getting a pattern for a magical inn, I guess we'll have to start upgrading it before I get a decent pattern.'

"I'd rather just tell his wife that he's causing trouble, it's more effective," Nynaeve replied as she studied the young man wearing a silver bracelet on his left wrist and a gold and sapphire ring on his right hand, something most people in the village wouldn't have.

"Fine, whatever. He's your problem," Cenn snapped and headed for the inn to get a drink, figuring someone else would know his name.

"Do you have something against Cenn or were you just being difficult?" Nynaeve asked after Cenn walked into the Inn.

Mist glanced at the door that Cenn had just walked through then focused on Nynaeve. "He likes causing trouble and he doesn't like it when trouble finds him, so yeah, I was being annoying and I don't care. Ask Perrin or one of the channelers that was in town when the whitecloaks showed up, his behavior could have gotten people killed. If he's going to get that bent out of shape over someone not telling him their name, he probably shouldn't be on the village council."

"He's not wrong, he was running his mouth when he shouldn't have been," Mat offered, knowing his sisters had a less than favorable opinion about the old man.

"Which hasn't happened yet," Nynaeve reminded them, despite the fact that she agreed that he shouldn't be on the council.

Rand glanced at Mat then focused on the stranger. "Give me one good reason that I shouldn't do something drastic for that stunt in the weird room with Egwene."

Mist looked up at the man that was nearly half a foot taller than him and one of the most terrifying people in the world, given the right motivation and situation. "I'll give you four, the source is still tainted, I saved her life, the girls enjoyed themselves and if I hadn't taken the job, the Company would have sent someone a hell of a lot worse."

"And you willingly work for them?" Rand asked, trying to get a better idea what Mist was like and ignoring the fact that he was right about the other points.

Mist shook his head. "I don't work for the Company, I work for a group that does contract work for the Company. It's sort of like working for someone that works for the Tower. We're on the light side of things but occasionally, you have to crack some eggs to make an omelet or to prevent something nasty from happening."

Rand glanced around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear them. "Do you know if sending everyone back broke the prophecies?"

"I don't know," Mist admitted. "The events of the past happened, then everything changed so you've already completed the prophecies even if people don't realize it. I don't know if the Pattern will twist everything so that you have to complete them again or if someone just saw what happened the first time and the prophecies don't actually matter anymore. I'm not a philosopher or a magic user that works with Fate Magic or prophecy, I just build things."

"Like ter'angreal?" Rand asked.

"And structures and cities," Mist replied with a grin, rather happy with the abilities he'd picked up working for his boss.

"Cities?" Rand asked, fairly sure they didn't have enough time to actually build a city before the Last Battle.

"I basically have an index of patterns in my head that I can use to quickly build structures if I have the right materials and the mountains have a lot of stone and iron which means I have everything I need to create a city for the channelers."

"How are you planning on feeding everyone?" Rand asked, knowing how difficult it had been to keep everyone fed the last couple of months before the battle when everything was rotting.

"Magic," Mist replied smugly. "I know a way to make structures with glass that will keep the plants warm so that we can basically grow food year round, especially if I toss in a bit of magic to generate sunlight. If I can talk one of the girls into taking me to Whitebridge, I can probably increase the durability of the glass to the point that we don't have to worry about it breaking which would make everything easier."

"Bodewhin and Eldrin are probably your best bet, they have the talent that lets them make heartstone and they were talking about setting up a forge," Nynaeve suggested, figuring it would keep them out of trouble and busy.

"That would be great," Mist agreed, knowing that creating the city would be a lot easier if he had help. "Speaking of getting help, is there any way to make a gateway move like a death gate without having it repeatedly open and close?"

"You just have to skip the part of the weave responsible for it opening and closing, why?" Rand asked.

"Moving gateways would make digging ditches and leveling areas quick and easy," Mist replied, knowing he was going to have to take a couple of shortcuts if he wanted the city finished or at least usable in a 'reasonable' timeframe.

"What type of city are you planning on building?" Mat asked as Elayne walked over with a floating trunk.

"Lots of stone, metal and glass," Mist replied, figuring he'd build the city around the university he was planning on building.

"What's with the trunk?" Rand asked.

Elayne set the trunk down and let the source go, happy to see Rand back in his original body. "Elaida noticed my change in potential before I could make a ring to conceal it."

Nynaeve blinked when she noticed the holes in the trunk and realized the only reason Elayne would use the power to haul it is if it was exceptionally heavy. "Did you stick her in the trunk?"

"What makes you think I'd stick her in a trunk?" Elayne asked as she glanced at Mist, not wanting to admit to kidnapping someone in front of a stranger.

"Because I know how much you hate her," Nynaeve replied, keeping part of her attention on Rand in case he snapped.

Rand glared at the box, his mind flashing back to when a group of soldiers had beat the shit out of him then tossed him in a box on her orders and left him in the sun to suffer or die.

"It's not like the bitch doesn't deserve it," Mist muttered, less than impressed by the underhanded method Elaida had taken to dispose Siuan that had resulted in a lot of people dying in the resulting civil war and her treatment of Rand. 'Sure, let's just toss the one person responsible for saving humanity into a box and expect good results when you have to let him out to fight a god.'

"I'm staying out of this one," Mat muttered as he headed over to search Fain's wagon for the coins they needed for the defensive gear.

"Have we met?" Elayne asked Mist.

"Yeah," Mist replied as he touched his ring and let his appearance swap back to the appearance he'd used in the stone room for a second. "If anyone asks, I'm just a construction specialist that was brought in to help."

"Do you think anyone is going to believe that?" Elayne asked, a touch surprised that Rand hadn't decked him.

Mist shrugged. "We brought back over a thousand people. I should be able to get lost in the confusion, especially since most of them are from mirror worlds and or the future. I can sympathize with their frustration but if I hadn't taken the job someone else would have and they wouldn't have been as nice about it."

"What are you planning on doing with Elaida?" Nynaeve asked, changing the subject.

"I don't know," Elayne admitted, not actually sure what she was going to do now that she'd calmed down a little bit. "I'm torn between handing her over to Thom for her part in Owen's death and dragging her to the Tower so Siuan can torture her until she gives her everything she can on the red ajah so we can cripple them."

"Torture doesn't work to get information," Nynaeve argued.

"It does if they're bound to tell the truth," Elayne pointed out.

"Just hand her over to Siuan and let her know that Thom would love the chance to get revenge on the red ajah for their part in his nephew's death," Nynaeve suggested. "I'm sure he can figure out where all of the bodies are buried and which questions to ask to help cripple the red ajah."

"That's probably for the best," Elayne admitted as Mat walked over carrying a couple of bags of coins.

"I've got the coins, I'll grab my sisters and they can get started making the bracelets," Mat said as he slipped the bags into his pockets and headed for the inn, wondering if he could talk Moria into making enough bracelets for his band once he reformed it.

Rand smiled as he felt Aviendha go from thousands of miles east of his current location to a couple of hundred feet to their left thanks to their bond. "It's going to be alright. We're going to cleanse the source and then we're going to kill Ishamael and we can figure out the best way to deal with the Seanchan. We have time and we actually know what we're doing this time."

"It just feels weird going from being queen to being the daughter-heir," Elayne admitted.

"Look on the bright side, having your mother deal with the politics means you can focus on crafting ter'angreal," Mist suggested as Aviendha walked out from behind the corner of the inn, wearing her usual aiel garb without her spears.

"Nice to see you, shade of my heart," Rand offered as Aviendha made her way over.

Aviendha laughed as she sprinted the last twenty feet and pulled her husband into a hug. "You look better this way, shade of my heart."

"Absolutely," Elayne agreed as she playfully grabbed Aviendha's butt, relieved that her wife hadn't had any trouble making it here.

"I thought you said you didn't care what I looked like?" Rand teased as he returned the hug.

"I don't but that doesn't change the fact that I like red hair," Aviendha replied with a grin as she pulled Elayne into the hug.

"Good," Elayne teased as she took the chance to grab Aviendha's butt with both hands.

"I'm going to grab some cider and listen to a couple of stories," Mist said as he headed for the door, figuring he'd check on Egwene and give Rand some time with his girls without a stranger butting in.

"I should talk to the rest of the women's circle," Nynaeve admitted as she headed off to start tracking people down.

0o0o0

Egwene glanced at the collection of bottles and assorted ter'angreal that she'd spent the last couple of minutes trying and mostly failing to organize and mentally activated Moria's ring, causing a purple mist to spiral out of the ruby set into the face of the ring and transform into a naked redhead. "I was sort of hoping that you'd have clothes when the ring summoned you."

"Where's the fun in that?" Moria replied with a grin as she glanced around Egwene's room, noticing the hundreds of bottles scattered all over the floor and the desk. "Is this where I ask if you have a drinking problem?"

"Probably," Egwene admitted with a touch of amusement as she studied the tall and busty redhead, not sure how to feel about the fact that she was attracted to her best friend and ex's daughter. "Mat wanted to know if you can turn copper bracelets into magical armor?"

"Like Nynaeve's bracelet? Yeah, sure, how many do you need?" Moria asked.

"How many can you make?" Egwene asked.

"I'm like a cat," Moria warned her. "I have claws and I'm eventually going to get bored and wander off unless you pet me."

Egwene walked over to her dresser and pulled out one of her extra dresses. "You should probably put this on unless you want people to start lecturing you about proper clothes."

"I'm pretty sure the buttplug should keep people from worrying about how I'm dressed," Moria argued.

"Do you really want to test that when we only have a couple of hours until we have to kill a few hundred shadowspawn?" Egwene asked, trying to avoid a bunch of problems with her parents and the women's circle.

"Kinda," Moria admitted as she glanced down at the circle of light on the floor from her glowing buttplug.

"Tell you what, if you behave for the rest of the night, I'll spank your ass," Egwene offered.

"Isn't that supposed to be the other way around?" Moria teased.

"No, because I actually want you to behave," Egwene replied as she handed her the dress.

"Fine, I'll be good." Moria pulled the dress over her head. "I'm going to need a box and a tailor at some point."

"Box and a tailor?" Egwene asked, not sure how they were related.

"I figured out how to partially duplicate the box that makes the fancloth the Tower uses for warder cloaks," Moria replied as she adjusted the dress that only came down to her knees rather than her mid shins like it would have on Egwene, not particularly impressed by the feel of the material on her skin. "It makes a shimmering silk like fabric that is really comfortable."

"Sounds like something to work on once we've finished killing the trollocs," Egwene replied as she spun Moria around to make sure the dress fit well enough to avoid complaints.

"Can I come in?" Loise al'Vere asked from the other side of the door.

"No…" Egwene trailed off as her sister opened the door. "Sure."

Loise stared at the scattered bottles covering her sister's floor. "Why do you have all of the bottles?"

"The strange man needed somewhere to stick them since he didn't want to deal with it and I used to be the Amyrlin, so I got volunteered," Egwene replied as she gestured for her sister to come in.

"Makes sense," Loise admitted as she studied Moria, figuring her sister was good at organizing things from what she remembered. "Are you trying to seduce my sister?"

"Absolutely," Moria agreed cheerfully.

"What do you need?" Egwene asked, trying to change the subject and doing her best to ignore the fact that her ears were burning.

"I wanted to check on you, you died and…" Loise trailed off. "Sorry, how much do you remember?"

"I remember killing Mazrim Taim and then I woke up in the stone room, there was a girl with a mask and Moria was there and you don't need the details," Egwene argued.

"She's really good with her tongue," Moria teased, helping sell the idea that she wasn't the girl in the mask.

Egwene rubbed the bridge of her nose with her hand. "Did you end up becoming an Aes Sedai?"

"Green," Loise replied with a grin. "I had a lot of adventures over the last fifteen years or at least I remember having a lot of adventures."

"You should probably write everything down," Egwene suggested, ignoring the fact that she already knew about the journals since the only people that should have known about the journals was Mist and the masked woman.

Loise shook her head. "The man was nice enough to save my journals, I'll have to share some of them."

"I'd love to hear about your adventures," Egwene replied with a smile, looking forward to catching up with her sister and trying not to think about the fact that she'd enjoyed having sex with her. "I'm not sure what we're supposed to do for shoes."

Moria shrugged, not particularly worried about it since she could fly. "Mom probably has extra."

"We'll figure it out," Loise assured her. "What was it like being the Amyrlin?"

"Frustrating," Egwene admitted. "You could tell them the sky was blue and they'd have to check or they'd vote against you because they wanted you to buy their votes."

"We should probably start our own Tower or maybe a guild," Moria suggested.

Loise shook her head. "I'm not starting a Tower, I'd rather not give Cadsuane a reason to show up and glare at everyone but I wouldn't mind forming a guild or something."

"Sisters of Manetheren or Girls of Destruction?" Moria asked thoughtfully.

Loise shook her head. "We're not going with Girls of Destruction and I doubt everyone they grabbed is from The Two Rivers."

"At least half," Egwene offered, not actually sure of the numbers since she hadn't kept notes on where everyone was from..

"I know but it sounds better than Andorian Sisters of Slaughter," Moria offered, trying and failing to keep a straight face when Egwene and Loise realized what the initials spelled.

"No," Loise stated firmly, trying not to laugh. "We're not joining a group that spells out ass and we don't need to sound like we're working for the wrong side."

"Any other ideas?" Egwene asked.

"Flying Witches of Manetheren?" Moria asked.

"Flying?" Loise asked.

Moria smirked as she used the magic her buttplug gave her and floated a couple of inches off the ground. "We picked up a couple of ter'angreal that let us fly, I can probably duplicate them."

"Huh," Loise muttered as she swept her foot under Moria and didn't hit a block of hardened air or anything. "Is she telling the truth?" she asked Egwene.

Egwene focused on her new bracelet and floated off the floor. "Let me guess, she's a bit of a prankster?"

"Now and then," Loise agreed as she watched her sister float back and forth slowly, fairly sure Moria wouldn't have been able to convince her sister to joke about flying. "Alright, if we can actually fly, I wouldn't mind calling the group the Witches of Manetheren since we're going to build a city there from what Bodewhin said."

"What about the men?" Egwene asked, making a mental note to talk to Elayne about the city before the Queen found out about it.

"We might have to work on the name," Moria admitted. "Are you going to release everyone or are you just going to leave them in their bottles twiddling their thumbs?"

Egwene winced as she realized that everyone was basically stuck alone in a bottle or piece of jewelry. "I thought you were frozen while you were in your bottle."

"No." Moria shook her head. "We can't hear anything and my window was red and not very clear but yeah, we can move around and we're aware of the passage of time."

"Great," Egwene muttered, not sure what she was supposed to do with everyone. She turned to look at the door when someone knocked. "Yes?"

Loise opened the door so they wouldn't have to raise their voices to be heard. "Can I help you?" she asked the stranger that she didn't recognize.

"Sort of? I'm supposed to ask Egwene if she wants an inventory ring to store the bottles," Mist replied as he held up a gold ring with a pinky nail sized amethyst set into the face.

Egwene frowned as she studied the expensive looking ring. "I thought the man said he didn't have an extra ring."

Mist handed her the ring. "He told me you'd need the ring to store the bottles so that no one could steal them and take control of the people bound to them and that I was supposed to help you build a city in the mountains."

"In that case, thank you," Egwene replied as she put the ring on and floated over to the desk, happy to have a safe place to store the bottles until they could free everyone. She picked up one of the bottles and removed the stopper, causing a purple fog to pour out of the bottle and reform into Cat al'Meara on one of the empty sections of floor.

"Can someone actually explain what's going on?" Cat asked as she looked between the other people in the room.

"This could take awhile," Egwene admitted as she put the stopper back on the bottle and tapped the bottle with her inventory ring, causing the bottle to vanish.

"You were basically rescued from your world and dropped in the past of another world so you can avoid dying a horrible and pointless death," Mist explained. "We should probably summon a couple more people before we explain everything or this is going to take forever."

"Hold on and I'll explain," Egwene told her as she grabbed another bottle and opened it, causing a teenage girl to appear that looked a bit like Bodewhin.

"What's going on Mom?" the girl asked.

"That's what we're explaining," Egwene replied as she stuck the girl's bottle in her ring and picked up another one off the desk.

"Alright," the girl replied, not sure why her mother looked at least five years younger than she should have but figuring she'd explain eventually.

'I should have given everyone name tags,' Mist mused, not actually sure what the girl's name was now that he didn't have the borrowed transportation magic since he'd summoned over a thousand people before he'd run out of magic. His attention drifted to the rest of the bottles when Egwene summoned a boy that was probably in his late teens that looked a bit like Rand. 'I wonder if I can get a pattern for a random channeler stuck in a magic bottle if I scan a bunch of the bottles?' he mused as he started scanning the bottles, curious if his power would give him something interesting.

0o0o0