The smell of acrid smoke of burning corpses drifted even into the wide hallway before the Hall of the Sitters, deep in the Tower. Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan wrinkled her nose at the smell. Was it just in her mind that Asha'man corpses smelled worse than those of Sisters? Elaida stepped forward and answered the summons to the Hall as she had done before. The light fell through the rose window at the end of the Hall, onto the black and white mosaic on the floor. The Dragon's Fang had not yet been removed, nor had the dragon-carved throne in the Hall. Elaida stripped to the waist, as did all the other women. Fyra, the youngest Sitter among them, stood and moved through the room, inspecting every woman to ensure only women were present.
Romanda then stood and spoke 'Who stands for this woman and pledges for her, heart for heart, soul for soul, life for life?'
Lara and two others stepped forward, a Gray and a White.
Romanda nodded and intoned 'Why are you here?'
Elaida answered 'I was summoned by the Hall of the Tower.'
Romanda asked 'What do you seek?'
Elaida replied 'To serve the White Tower, nothing more and nothing less.'
Romanda prompted 'How would you serve?'
'With my heart and my soul and my life, in the Light. Without fear or favor, in the Light,' Elaida said, for the second time in her life.
'Where would you serve?' Romanda asked.
'In the Amyrlin Seat, if it pleases the Hall of the Tower.'
Most stood the first round. Romanda and Seonid did not. Elaida gritted her teeth. Of course Romanda would make her wash her feet. Elaida knelt and took the cloth from the basin. She washed Romanda's feet and asked 'Please allow me to serve'. She repeated this with Seonid. Then the second vote was called. Seonid stood after a few moments, but Romanda lingered on her seat longer, before finally standing. The Tower was united in its decision. Elaida had been raised to the staff and stole for a second time.
The day after the ceremony, she addressed the Tower. The -White- Tower. She stated the obvious. Many of the Asha'man had fled, but the White Tower and particularly the Red Ajah would be ready to hunt them. Few Reds had sworn to Torres. They would be able to go about their duties without the baggage of having supported Torres. Dragon Reborn or not, the White Tower had suffered a blow it would take decades to recover from.
'If only she could have had Siuan arrested and Stilled, she had gotten off easy by being killed,' Elaida thought. THE Siuan, not the OTHER Siuan. Oddly, she had respected the other Siuan. Abducted from the Amyrlin's chambers in the other world and without a means to escape, her presence had been a deciding factor in swaying many Aes Sedai when Torres first took Tar Valon. Still Oathbound, she had worked quietly and deftly against Torres as much as she could in her position. That Siuan was certainly not to be envied for the years she spent as Torres' prisoner. As for Torres, his death brought uncertainty. He had been the Dragon Reborn and he was now dead. What that would mean for her world, she did not know. Either way, the Tower had to be cleansed and united in order to face what was coming and Elaida would make it happen.
~@~
In the same Tower, but in a different world, Siuan Sanche had finally returned home.