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SEANCHAN [SETTING: Ishamael's office as Acting CEO of the Darkfriends, in the absence of the Chairman of the Board, Mister Great Lord of the Dark himself! (His friends call him "Great Lord" for short). Or at least, this is the T'A'R manifestation of that office, since Ishy is still bound in the flesh for the time being.] [The Station Chief of all Darkfriends in the Seanchan Empire enters. She is wearing a loose black veil, but her clothing and long, lacquered nails betray her status as one of the Blood of Artur Hawkwing.] ISHAMAEL: How are things going around the Court of the Nine Moons, lackey? SEANCHAN: Great Lord! I am proud to say that the Raven is still venerated as a mark of distinction, meaning one is the personal property of the Empress! No Seanchan would ever mount an extensive campaign to kill all the real ravens in a district, although farmers do try to protect their own crops . . . ISHAMAEL (chortling): Good, good! My flying eyes will be able to come and go freely, after the Seanchan land on this continent! Now, if only I could get them to venerate rats as well . . . SEANCHAN (sympathetically): Unfortunately, even the lowliest peasants have realized that rats carry disease, whatever else they may do . . . ISHAMAEL (sadly): It gets harder and harder to start a good epidemic these days. People are finally wising up as regards the vectors that move it from place to place, after only three thousand years or so! But enough of that . . . how is the sul'dam/damane system doing? SEANCHAN: Quite well! We still find EVERY woman with the spark in her, as well as every woman capable of controlling a woman with the spark, and put them to work! ISHAMAEL: Praise be, the Aiel are the only other culture with enough sense to institutionalize mandatory testing of possible saidar channelers. If it had ever occurred to the Aes Sedai to ask their closer allies (Andor and the Borderlands, for instance) to permit such a thing to occur, they would have at least ten times their current numbers, and be a REALLY tough nut to crack. [He coughs modestly] Of course, I played my small part in making sure the Aes Sedai adopted the philosophy that "Anyone worthy of joining us must come to us and BEG for admission!" I still can't believe they fell for that one [snicker]. ISHAMAEL: By the way, will you be placed in command of the Corenne? SEANCHAN: Sadly, no. High Lord Turak is closer to the throne than I am, and thus takes precedence. But if anything happens to him (hint, hint!) I will be next in the chain of command. ISHAMAEL (he picked up on the hint, all right): Well, we'll see how that goes. I suppose Turak means to make landfall on the west coast of the continent, but if - I say IF - he is beaten back and the first beachhead must be abandoned, you should do all you can to relocate the Corenne General Headquarters to the isle of Tremalking, national capital of the Sea Folk and located just off the southwest corner of the lands Hawkwing ruled (with the help of a few suggestions from yours truly). There is a gigantic sa'angreal statue buried on that island, and I want it guarded for future use. You can't miss it - the only visible part is a HUGE hand reaching out of the earth, holding a sphere aloft. SEANCHAN: I shall remember. [Pause] Just out of idle curiosity, how does one control the statue? Could one of my damane do it for me? I mean, for YOU, with me acting as your agent? ISHAMAEL [regarding her suspiciously]: I'm not sure you have Need-To-Know, woman . . . [lets his voice trail off as he gauges her reaction, which is nonexistent except for a slight increase in the rate of her blinking. Very indicative! He decides to make sure she won't do anything that could, er, inconvenience him] But what the heck, I'll give you a few clues. It requires three male channelers, three female channelers, one woman of the highest Blood in the world stripped naked and bound hand and foot as the ritual commences, three Myrdraal, one seal to the Great Lord of the Dark's prison, a billygoat, a live fangfish, and an apple pie. Please don't ask me for the details of how these items are meant to interact together to activate the statue, because even a man of my depraved background finds it disturbing to talk about, especially right before dinner. SEANCHAN [turning pale]: Oh . . . well in that case, I certainly won't do anything . . . rash . . . if I happen to gain custody of the statue. It sounds as though it could be . . . undignified. ISHAMAEL [grinning]: Are you SURE you aren't getting eager to try and control all that power? As my agent, of course? I could lend you the Myrdraal and the male channelers, and if you scrape up a few damane and the other things, you could take a crack at it! Of course, I don't know where you would get a Woman of the Blood . . . SEANCHAN [rising hastily]: No, no, I think I've already taken up more than enough of your valuable time, Great Lord! ISHAMAEL: Good night, Suroth. Pleasant dreams! [Makes a mental note to make sure she dreams all night about the three Myrdraal, the fangfish, the apple pie, and so forth, to insure that she WON'T get fancy ideas about using the statue to mount a Hostile Takeover of his own position as Acting CEO] |