The Road Ends Here [Complete]

[Jack]

Bryn Riverstone Walker Bryn fretted with her white gown as she paced the floor of her cramped quarters. The Novice Hall, while not bustling, was full of activity today. Some Novices were coming to and from lessons, or chores, while others were playing fetch for some Aes Sedai or another.

What the tall red-headed Novice from leaving was an appointment that was soon to come.

Bryn Riverstone Walker wasn’t exactly the model Novice. She thumbed her nose at some of the rules, followed others to the letter, and quickly earned a reputation so much like the Soldier that her father had been once upon a time.

Part of her told her to run, never look back. She had done that before, and she regretted it. No, she would not run.

Now she was being summoned by the very man who she was being compared to when he was a Soldier.

Bryn grew up on stories of the Lord Jerid Walker Asha’man, but he never knew about her. What she knew only came down through stories, bits of history and rumors from travelers.

What was a bastard girl who only had a foster grandfather to raise her to do? She grew up in Cosamelle, a town that didn’t harbor much like for Aiel like her mother had been.

Her eyes went to the door. She breathed. It was time.

Bryn met only infrequently with her father for her taste. She only spoke once with her youngest brother Cade, the child of Jerid Walker and his Warder Lysira. He was a sweet kid, a bit shy.

Their older brother, Sojin Majere Gaidin, was a different story. If Jerid Asha’man was distant, the Gaidin was nonexistent. He didn’t say a word to her unless it was necessary, and somehow for the love of the Light, was more keen on avoiding than getting to know her.

She left her room and soon after the Novice Hall, her hand crumpled around a piece of paper that bore her father’s summons. Bryn was to meet him in the Gardens at one mark past midday. That was all the message had said, and she wasn’t a good enough judge of the First Seeker to determine if this meeting was strictly a matter of the Tower or if it was more informal.

Light, I hope it’s the latter. The last thing she needed was to believe that her father saw nothing but disappointment. Of course, if it had been a formal matter, it would be before the Mistress of Novices, not in the middle of the Gardens.

No, this had to do with something else. It likely had to do with the meeting with Cade not one month ago.

She was soon in the Gardens, falling away from the more heavily used trails on ones that she believed were better.

Her gold-green eyes scanned the area, always alert for any sign of trouble. The last time she thought herself safe, she nearly ran afoul of a Dedicated she nearly ended up turning into a cinder (accidentally of course).

If she had succeeded, it might have ended up being for the better. News was that Sojin Gaidin managed to dispatch the Dedicated after an attempt on the life of a Green Aes Sedai.

Or was it the Green who managed to squelch the rude, arrogant little weasel? She shrugged. The would-be boy with delusions of being a Dreadlord was good as dead ... well, technically he was prisoner, but a Dedicated sworn to the Shadow attacking a Green and to be placed on trial before the Hall. His goose was cooked.

Bryn stopped short when she nearly ran over a hooded Aes Sedai half a foot shorter than she. On instinct, she curtseyed and murmured, “Begging your pardon, Aes Sedai.”

But when she moved to walk around the woman, her path was blocked.

“What is the hurry, Child?” the woman said in a musical tone reminiscent of a Cairhienin accent.

Bryn stomped any desire to respond snidely and instead murmured, “Jerid Walker Asha’man summoned me.”

The woman removed her cloak, betraying a face of porcelain-faced Cairhienin with grey eyes and jet black hair. She didn’t appear imposing, but Bryn noticed the eyes right away.

They weren’t nice ones.

“I am afraid he may have to wait, Child,” the Aes Sedai purred.

Bryn’s eyes hardened and she wished very suddenly she hadn’t left her knife back in her room. She only knew enough of her skill in channeling at the moment that she could set the woman on fire … but then the Aes Sedai was much more experienced.

“With respect, Aes Sedai, I don’t know what … “

Before she could finish, three other people joined them, all cloaked and hooded. All four started glowing with saidar.

“There is no simple way to put it, Child,” the woman said cheerfully. “Your conversation with young Master Cade was most unfortunate. It pushed back certain plans because of the … level of detail Jerid Asha’man showed for his two children.”

“You’re an unknown and problematic variable, bastard,” growled deeper, more high-pitched voice belonging to one of the closer of the four.

“Manners, Sister,” the unhooded Aes Sedai said.

In the moments that the dialogue took place, Bryn already assessed her situation. She was young but not so naive as to place one and one together.

Black Ajah.

They were going to kill her. Or at least make the attempt. Escape was impossible, rushing them might surprise one, but she’d be burned to a cinder before she could take out any others and …

Saidar flowed through her like a wellspring and she embraced the feeling like an old friend. And she drew as much as she could, until it was almost like drowning.

Her eyes saw the weaves being formed in front of the hooded Aes Sedai who had called her a bastard.

Bryn was quicker. She grasped at the threads of Fire and Air, entirely on instinct, and shoved her hands forward, as if pushing the ball.

If the woman showed any surprise, it wasn’t evident until she started screaming, on fire. And then she crumpled to the floor. One of the women quickly cut the weave Bryn had used, but appeared too late. The body was unmoving.

Bryn’s gold-green eyes glanced toward the short grey-eyed woman, but suddenly she felt a jolt and saidar was cut off.

She attempted to embrace it, but found herself slamming against an invisible barrier.

“That was uncalled for, my sweet,” Bryn heard the woman say. The first lash of air sliced across her back, and she could feel blood.

“Now we’ll have to make you suffer before we —“

Whatever the woman was to say next was cut off by the only action Bryn knew would attract any attention.

She screamed at the top of her lungs.

[Bella]

Lysira Walker Gaidar There was an itch between Lysira's shoulderblades that she didn't understand, and couldn't explain.

It wasn't about the meeting. She had reconciled herself to her husband's romantic and paternal past, so she did not mind being his shadow when he met with his daughter. Even Cade had had a meeting and talk with her, and had enjoyed the time--if not the abrupt and unsettling way that it'd had to end...but that was another matter.

No, it had nothing to do with their meeting. There was something else and she just couldn't understand it. It made her fidgety, the sort of fidgety that had her trying to touch her bow in search of comfort. But she didn't have her bow, because she wasn't in the habit of wearing it when she was inside the Tower but outside the Yards. She did have her sword, because she rarely was without that.

Only at dinner and when naked of all other things... was how her brain went with that one. So she was at least armed and had a habit of touching the hilt, but it wasn't the same for her as her bow.

The darkness shivered within her. It was always there, hovering like a ghost at the edges of her mind. Usually it was quiet, but there were times when it felt like it was a living things, trying to get her attention. Almost like a child seeking the notice of its parent when its parent was doing other things. This was one of those moments.

The darkness leaped.

Without the ability to shout, Lysira grabbed her husband's arm and pulled as she began to run. She didn't hold on because she knew he would follow. Her short legs might not have looked very intimidating but so many years as a warder, even if her training had been lax until recently, had kept them strong and muscled. She had her sword pulled and was running at an armed, breakneck speed that only warders could.

She didn't know what she was running to, but she knew that something bad was taking place...

...and the scream that happened just moments later proved her right.

It was the scream of a young woman. So loud and so ragged that no identity could be discerned. There might be other young women near, for it was the gardens public to the Tower, but somehow she just knew that it was Bryn. It was her husband's child, nearly her step-daughter even if she did not know her, and her heart rent in two for the girl she knew little of. It rent for her husband, and son.

It made her run faster than she knew was possible.
Seira Ji'dar The compulsions had worn off, as they always did, far earlier than her handler knew. This was her "Light" period, as she thought of it in the privacy of her own thoughts.

She had known a woman once who used to have these moods. She would go so high and then crash so low. It got to the point where the others in her caravan knew it. They would recognize and know the signs, even be able to predict it. This made it easier to live with her, and that's how Seira felt these days: cycling from Light to Dark and Light again. Only no one knew.

Only Seira knew.

Now in a Light phase, she hated that she had been unable to get out of this. She knew what this horrible little group had been assembled to do and she had not wanted to be a part of it, but she couldn't escape. Maybe she could try to do something to send the plan awry, as that plan had worked to help this family once before, hadn't it? Until she was there, however, she didn't know how.

They cornered the woman. She was big for a woman, dwarfing all of them, and powerful...but only one.

The others embraced Saidar, but she knew she was meant to do so only when no one else would know... So her mind rushed for an escape, but the attack began too fast. One wicked one was burned immediately, and Seira rejoiced. Another managed to shield the girl, though, and it would be all over...
Lysira Walker Gaidar The diminutive Gaidar was barely human when she rounded on the scene.

Yes, Bryn had screamed.

Yes, there was trouble.

A flaming corpse was on the ground and the others were focused hard on Bryn, who was like the animal backed into the corner. Her scream had already been truncated and the evil was already ensuing. Lys sent a prayer to the Creator that they had made it in time, but she didn't know if the words managed to escape her through the darkness that was closing in.

The closest body had a hand outstretched towards Bryn. Then, very quickly, she didn't. The hand was on the ground and the strump where it had been spurt blood from an angry, truncated artery. The once-bearer shrieked in pain and shock and offense, whirling around to face the source of her pain. Her aghast mouth was open as Lysira drove her sword into it.

Her weight, if slight compared to some, was enough to drive the blade hard through and splash blood back on her face.

The darkness sighed in pleasure.

Her momentum carried her forward, driving the clearly dead body to the ground with her atop it.
Seira Ji'dar Thank the Light! was Seira's first thought.

Think fast... was her second.

This was a chance, she realized. She tore the dagger from her waist. One of the two still upright was right next to her, as Seira had almost been using her as something of a shield to stay away from what was to come. Now it became her downfall and the woman did not even know it as Seira surged forward and drove the blade into her back.

A small, shocked sound came from her but was no more as she fell forward with Seira standing over her...

I heard the scream and rushed to the scene, Asha'man... The words just rolled through her mind. Was it too late, though? Had the objective been aborted, or achieved...?

[Jack]

Jerid Walker Jerid fretted. He wasn't normally a fretter, more the type to brood.

He looked at Lysira, more than thankful that his wife was here. In his very long life, the small Gaidar was one of the constants in his life, however infrequent it might be. And at the moment, he needed that stabiity.

The First Seeker had grown fond of his daughter, even protective over her. He had done the same thing with Sojin Majere when he was but the same age, but the man had Caden Ives' training and at least five years of military training behind to fall back on.

Bryn was his only living daughter, and like him, a creature who enjoyed the more carnal delights in life. He came to terms with that after his first meeting with her, the bastard daughter of an Aiel Wise One's apprentice and an Asha'man, and a woman who suffered in silence when she arrived at the Tower.

His Gaidin son had betrayed the simple fact that the Dedicated who attacked Miahala Sedai was the man who raped her. Jerid had promptly demanded the man's head and he wasn't shy about his reasoning. In his own mind, all Dreadlords needed to burn.

The meeting was simple: He wanted to thank his daughter for driving home the point that Cade was a man grown. And it was time for him to be a father again, one who wasn't beholden to duties beyond his family and Ajah.

He intended to step down as First Seeker.

He felt the flood of panic in Lys then and his hand went to the long knife at his side. He was never without it, as much as the jade ring that he wore with his wedding band. Both were weapons, both lethal in their own accord.

Then she was running, and Jerid followed suit. Saidin coursed through him like a flood of fire and ice, and a thousand deadly weaves were ready at his fingertips. The First Seeker was gone, replaced by the Demon of Ebou Dar, the man who slew Seanchan Seekers and Dreadlords alike.

Then the scream hit the air, and Jerid knew.

Bryn.

Bryn Riverstone Walker The world slowed down for Bryn Walker. Her gold-green eyes took in everything, including a fifth person. She didn't hold the Source … was she something else?

Her eyes were on the short woman in front of her when she noticed the sudden flurry of activity. All the while she clawed at the shield that was in her way of reaching the bliss of saidar. The very simple truth was that her father arranged for a Green Ajah Aes Sedai to teach her basic battle weaves.

“You'll pay for this,” was all that she murmured before all hell broke loose.

The small Cairhienin woman smiled in the brief seconds of calm.

“He won't know. She has been very careful.”

Without another word, the weaves popped forward. Bryn saw them and wept, for she could not do anything.

The flows of Air snapped her neck and seized her heart seconds before chaos erupted. She uttered her last words in those precious few seconds: “I am Bryn Walker, daughter of Sevia of the Aiel and Jerid Walker, stepdaughter to Lysira Walker, she who was trained by the Lord Caden Ives..”

“You die a whore, unloved,” was all the small Dreadlord said.

Her gold-green eyes flared. “I am a Towerborn. I die free.”

Bryn fell to the earth, limp and unmoving.

Jerid Walker Everything happened in the flash of a second. Lysira and he arrived on scene only to see a smoldering corpse and four other people surrounding his daughter.

His Warder-wife attacked. And the woman was dead.

But it was the wrong Aes Sedai.

His gold-green eyes watched as his daughter fell to the ground.

Whatever remained of Jerid Walker, First Seeker of the Indigo Ajah, was gone. The demon took over.

The Cairhienin Aes Sedai realized what was going on and the moment she saw the Indigo Asha'man enter the glade, seconds after one of her heart was cut down, she wove a deadly weave to end his life.

It was shredded by unknown powers as Jerid moved in. He was one of the oldest Asha'man living, and he had spent his life combating the Shadow. Where saidar was concerned, he could at least estimate and best destroy the actions the unseen half of the One Power could do.

“She was my daughter, not a whore,” Jerid murmured as the weaves of Air wrapped around the small Aes Sedai and the shield of Spirit slammed in place. He was stronger than she was, and the jade ring angreal only increased his ability to hold saidin.

The Dreadlord smiled. “She whored her way out of here and into your heart. She was raped and ravaged so she could serve the Great Lord”

“She was my daughter, and she was loved,” was all he said.

The weave was complex but so simple in the end. He wove it a few times before, a bit of Air and Fire, a flicker of Water.

The Aes Sedai breathed and then erupted. Nothing remained but bits of body parts as she exploded from the inside and sprayed the entire area.

By then the threat had been neutralized.

Sojin was at his daughter's side, cradling her unmoving form in arms. He pushed back a streak of red hair covering her pretty face and shook her body.

“Wake up. Papa is here.” They were words he spoke to Cade and before that his first two children when they were but infants suffering from nightmares. The only problem was that Bryn didn't move.

The next few moments were whirlwinds.

He sensed the pair of Tower Guard, along with a Gadin, arriving and Lysira's own intent toward the fifth woman present.

The woman who killed the other attacking Aes Sedai.

“Lysira, hold!” It was one of the few commands he gave And it was one that stuck. He could sense the darkness in her eager for a fight, but she stood still.

To the Tower Guard, he looked at them without emotion. “Bring men in to secure the area. I want this place closed off.” His eyes fell on the lone Gaidin. “Summon Balen Asha'man and Zae Sedai. Summon the Amyrlin Seat if you have to, but I want this place secure.”

He forced himself away from his daughter's body and stood, looking at the woman who stabbed one of her daughter's attackers. He delved into the Void as he spoke.

He stood and mechanically murmured, “Thank you for trying to save my daughter.”

[Bella]

Lysira Walker Gaidar A war was waged inside the small woman, between the woman that she was and the darkness that wanted to be. The shadow monster at the edge of her mind hated that there was no one else to kill...while the wife and mother in her felt herself shatter for her beloved. Then she realized that another still stood, and the darkness tried to take over. She lives. Kill her.

"Lysira, hold!"

The voice cut through the dark and she stopped. Her muscles wished to obey it, but did not. Her heart heard the voice and rose to control and she froze, although there was still a hint of blood-read murder in her inky black eyes. The younger woman--the Ji'dar--could quite obviously see it and looked afraid.

Good.
Seira Ji'dar That woman is going to kill me. Seira stared at the Gaidar. She knew who the woman was, but had had no idea she could...look like that, and it terrified her. Swallowing hard, she tried to keep her stomach from rising over her tongue. What did they do to her? But she stopped her advance and Seira thought...maybe...she might survive. Should I?

"Thank you for trying to save my daughter."

Swallowing hard again, she turned and looked at the man. He was in the Void. She could tell. And who could blame him? "I'm so sorry, Asha'man," she said, her voice weak and thoroughly sincere. She'd had no wish to see the woman dead, even if she was lying now about the details of the matter...because no matter of that, she was sorry.

"I...I heard the scream. I wanted to help..." Still all true, even if not all of it. "I'm so sorry, sir. I'll be sorry for the rest of my days." Her eyes drifted to the young woman. The body on the ground, now long gone back to the arms of the Creator. I'm so sorry.
Lysira Walker Gaidar The guards rushed to heed Jerid's commands. Lysira fought the darkness down and looked at the young woman, now without the bloodlust demanding its satiation. She looks almost as heartbroken as Jerid would feel, if he had not submerged. She knew the man she had married and bonded twice now. She understood.

Hanging her head, the Ji'dar looked away. Lysira crossed the corpses without care. The guards would take care of the details, and now her normal onyx eyes were only for her bond-mate. Will I lose him to this? Coming up to his side, she did not take him in her arms as her instinct told her to. Not here. Not now. Later. But she would not leave the moment bereft.

Bryn had not been her daughter, but she would mourn her. And she would not let herself into the land of what if because she knew what darkness lay there. No, right now she focused entirely on Jerid. She let the world narrow down to the single focus of him.

She stood at his side, as she had promised she would for all time, and wrapped her tiny hand around his with a gentle squeeze. With her hand tied, she could not speak.

But what words were there to say?

[Jack]

Jerid Walker Jerid's eyes were hallow as the young woman spoke. Oh, he was acutely aware of the words, of the emotion in the younger channeler's voice, but they passed over him.

He and Lysira shared a curse. The darkness in Lysira he could feel at times, that demon that attempted to crawl its way to the surface, all but took control of him. He looked at the woman now and a hundred fatal weaves crossed his mind, ready to be woven.

For her failure she could die. But what would be the point, Jerid Walker. She helped.

“You did your best, Child,” Jerid murmured, the Void all but consuming him. He released saidin, lest he do anything with it he would later regret.

He was only distantly aware of Lysira at his side, of the tactile feeling of her hand around his.

The demon inside of him called, begging to be released. To hunt down those responsible. He didn't even look at the corpses, or what remained of them.

“It should have been simple,” he murmured to Lysira. “A few threads, searing light, and it would have been undone.”

Jerid knew the weave all too well, though he used it only once long ago. Balefire rewrote time, reversed the effects of the Pattern. Bryn would be alive.

He looked at the bits of the Aes Sedai that remained … nothing more than stumps. He nearly reached for the Power again. Perhaps there was still a chance …

Lysira's hand clenched his and the Indigo looked at his wife briefly. Perhaps she knew what her foolish husband intended to do, perhaps not, just that he risked his own future.

Saidin did course through him then with the approaching sound of footsteps.
Zae Sedai Ten Tower Guard were present, with both Balen and Zae at the forefront. The Grey Asha'man let out an oath unbecoming of his Ajah and Zae stood in silent contemplation. Her eyes went from the Gaidar to the Ji'dar, and she lifted an eyebrow in askance.

A look from the Indigo and Zae murmured, “Child, you will answer Balen Asha'man's questions about what happened.” The Indigo motioned for the Guard to secure and surround the area as she took a step toward the Asha'man and his Gaidar. She did so slowly, hands held open.

Her blue-green eyes shimmered in the dim sunlight, and her eyes fell on the girl. She was unmoving, unbreathing. A part of her smiled at the simplicity in the mission. Her orders had been simple: execute without hesitation and escape.

She looked at the bodies before her now and she sighed. Zae was used to dead bodies; it came as part of a package for being associated with the man in front of her, the man she loved like a brother and more.

The Great Lord had spoken and her orders had been successfully carried out … by a group of morons. All she knew was that two of her own heart would attack, and they would pull in from other resources. She didn't know whom and didn't care. It was how the Black Ajah survived.

The slender, statuesque Aes Sedai murmured, “Peace, Brother, Sister of Battle ...”

Her eyes fell on the beautiful Aiel girl, now gone. The part that was sworn to the Shadow was overcome by simple humanity. Such a waste, such a flaming waste. From what Zae saw of Bryn Walker, she would have been magnificent, greater than her father.

“Jerid, I'm so sorry ...”

Jerid only vaguely heard the words. His mind was still set on one course of action. He lifted his free hand, the flows already forming.

“No.” A blade of Spirit cut the weave to shreds. Balen stood in front now and Zae looked at the Grey Asha'man. “Balefire is not the answer. We are not the Creator, Jerid, and we have not the right to ...”

A glance from both Zae and the Indigo shut him up, but his point was valid. He moved away, back to the Ji'dar, taking care to step around or over bodies, and kicking off a bit of dead Shadowsworn guts in the process.

“He's right,” Zae murmured, looking at the withdrawn First Seeker and his silent Warder-wife. “We haven't the right nor the inclination, or the ability. You killed the woman who wrought this damage and now what could be unwoven is now fixed. Burning her remains with balefire doesn't unfix time. She would be alive, but the damage to the Pattern would be catastrophic.”

Jerid only shot her a look and Zae took the hint. She had invested too much time in the man, too much in this fiasco of a plan, to not risk alienating him now.

She was barking orders, calling for Tower Guard to summon other channelers.
Jerid Walker Jerid's eyes were on his daughter's unmoving form. The world moved now at a different pace. Part of him knew he should withdraw, to preserve the scene and let the investigation go on without his involvement.

He looked briefly at Lysira and he felt her hand squeeze his own. There was a reason he protected his children, even after they grew up. Cade was one of his youngest and the layers of protection that went around him were enormous. Bryn was different … she wasn't hunted by the Shadow, and had survived in a world most unkind.

Instead of moving, he sank once more to the ground, his arms around his daughter's unmoving form. He kissed her forehead softly and murmured, words only the air and Lysira would hear.

“You asked if I was a good man, of many people, but I'm not,” he said softly. He stroked her fiery hair. “My children are the best of me, to have them walk in the Light when their father must stalk in the Shadow.”

He smiled, a sad small smile that vanished. “You would have been so much more, so amazing and beautiful, so much … better.”

The world collapsed around him then, and for the first time in more than three decades, Jerid Walker wept while he cradled the body of his daughter.