Copy Protection Void Part 9 (Patreon)

Egwene waited for Nynaeve to leave the infirmary then asked, "What did you get that you didn't want Nynaeve hearing about?"

"A couple of things," Mist admitted as he pulled a silver bracelet out of his gift menu and examined it with his sunglasses, wanting to make sure there weren't any surprises. He slipped the bracelet on and conjured a tennis ball sized sphere that looked like blue jello on the table.

"What is it?" the clone asked.

"It's a portable cleaning device, it's also safe for sticking inside of girls to deal with their monthly issues," Mist explained.

"Sort of creepy but useful, why wouldn't you want to tell Nynaeve?" the clone asked.

"Because I can also make it vibrate," Mist replied with a smile.

The clone laughed. "I can see where you wouldn't want to tell her that part."

Egwene shook her head. "What else did you get?"

"I also got a chalice that dramatically and permanently increases your agility and strength and your ability to dance, juggle and sing when you drink from it. Of course, it also twists you into a hunchbacked dwarf so it's basically useless unless you're planning on using the bunny ears to transform into a girl."

"We'll have to run some tests," the clone mused.

"This is why you didn't want to tell Nynaeve, isn't it?" Egwene asked as Mist pulled a pair of strange blue gloves out of thin air.

"I didn't want to listen to a lecture about taking unacceptable risks and the gloves are more than a bit suspect," Mist admitted as he checked the gloves with his glasses. "That's annoying, they're bind on use which means that the first person that puts them on is the only person that can make them work."

"What do they do?" Egwene asked.

"They let you give a female a decent amount of protection from injuries that don't come from silver weapons, magic or elemental damage like fire, cold or lightning if you play with her breasts and nipples for ten minutes while people are watching."

Egwene stared at Mist, trying to figure out if he was joking. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Mist agreed as he took his sunglasses off.

"How long does it last?" the clone asked thoughtfully.

Mist handed the clone the sunglasses. "It's permanent as long as at least twenty people are watching, otherwise it wears off after a couple of days."

The clone put the glasses on and looked at the gloves. "You could get stabbed in the back with a dagger and unless Perrin was the one that stabbed you, I doubt you'd even get a scratch."

"There's something seriously wrong with your ability," Egwene grumbled when she realized that the protections were good enough that she'd have to let someone play with her breasts while people were watching.

"I'm aware," Mist replied with amusement. "I also picked up a number of things that aren't morally questionable, three crystals that give you the skills of a blademaster, thirteen that give you expert horse riding skills, seven that give you archery skills, two that give you exceptional archery skills, one that gives magical glass blowing, a crystal that gives someone the ability to conjure a temporary horse, a crystal that gives the person that uses it the ability to cast continual light and a bag that generates coin shaped chocolate candies when you pay mana."

"Beyond the fact that we killed a bunch of whitecloaks for them," the clone pointed out.

"The one's near Baerlon?" Egwene asked.

"To be fair, they were trying to cause a rebellion that would get a lot of people killed and they had seven darkfriends in their ranks," Mist argued. "You'd think they'd be better at spotting them considering how long they've been hunting them."

"Did you get anything else?" the clone asked.

"A deranged house elf in a box and a chicken bone that combines two living creatures into a mutated abomination with all of the skills and powers of both creatures when they break it," Mist admitted.

"What's a house elf?" the clone asked, not sure if Mist was joking about the chicken bone.

"They're basically magic using family servants or at least that's what the description says," Mist told them.

"And someone stuffed them in a box?" the clone complained.

"Apparently," Mist replied as he headed for the door to the infirmary. "We should probably go outside in case they start destroying things."

"Good idea," Egwene agreed as she followed Mist outside, not wanting to give Nynaeve a reason to complain if they made a mess.

"Are you going to use the gloves or are you going to give them to someone else?" the clone teased as she followed them outside.

"I'll probably give them to someone else and use the spell from the bunny ears to conjure a costume and temporarily turn into a girl so I can get the damage reduction," Mist replied as he pulled the two foot by three foot wooden box with air holes out of his gift page and set it on the ground.

"Most young men would happily use the gloves," Egwene said as she read the warning on the box.

"Especially since you don't know for sure that you'll be able to take advantage of the effect," the clone pointed out.

Mist shook his head. "Most people aren't stuck in the middle of a war and giving the gloves to a girl makes more sense, you'll have less fights and hurt feelings by having a girl be in charge of the gloves."

"Besides, he can play with my breasts any time he wants," the clone paused when she realized that she needed to amend that statement, "unless our parents are standing there, I don't want to listen to the lecture or cause Dad to die of shock."

"That's fair," Mist replied with amusement, looking forward to having some fun once they had time.

"Try to keep things discreet, she's my twin," Egwene complained. "Why do you think they called the house elf deranged?"

"Probably because I turned Mr. Malfoy's head into an ashtray and skinned him alive to make a book for my mistress," a female voice in the box replied cheerfully. "If he didn't want to die screaming, he shouldn't have called my mistress a bad word."

"You skinned someone to make a book?" Egwene asked, feeling a bit sick.

"I also made a dice bag out of his sack," the voice replied smugly, not seeing a point in mentioning that she'd had to use magic to enlarge it. "I need someone to open the box."

"Can you put it back?" the clone asked Mist silently, mouthing the words.

He shook his head then opened the box, revealing a scarred looking eye patch wearing house elf with a smashed up face that was missing her left ear and looked like she'd been tossed in a fire and left to die at least once.

"What happened?!" Egwene blurted out.

"Bad master wasn't happy with Twist, bad master burned Twist's eye out with a poker after having his fun with her," Twist offered as she reached out and poked Mist's hand with her finger. "No touch, you're not mistress."

"I was just opening the box," Mist assured her as he quickly pulled his hand away from the box and took a couple of steps back. "How did you get free?"

"Bad master was stupid enough to toss a shirt at Twist while drunk enough that he couldn't see straight. Once the bond broke I fucked him to death with a wine bottle," she explained gleefully, a manic look in her remaining eye.

"Good," Mist told her, wondering if the torture connection explained why she'd ended up in his gift page from killing whitecloaks or if it was just random chance. 'At least I got a pattern.' His gaze jumped to the house elf's ruby red slippers when she climbed out of the box and jumped back up to her skirt when he realized that the patchwork leather skirt she was wearing had dozens of dark marks scattered around it. "Interesting skirt."

"Mistress hates death eaters, so Twist kills them every chance she gets and turns them into useful things, like clothes and bags for mistress," Twist said proudly, causing both Egwenes to stare at her in horror. "Do you have death eaters?"

"No, we don't have any death eaters," Mist assured her, deciding it was probably better not to mention the whitecloaks or the Black Ajah.

"Do you have another socially acceptable source for human leather?" Twist asked hopefully. "I need to bring the mistress a gift."

"Sorry," Mist replied, having already tossed the whitecloaks' bodies through a portal so that they wouldn't be found. "What about a hat?"

Twist smiled at Mist, showing off the fact that half of her teeth had been replaced by metal. "That would be an acceptable tribute for the mistress."

Mist handed the house elf the hat. "Do you have a way to find her?"

"Yes," Twist replied as she clicked her heels together. "There's no place like home," she said as she clicked the heels of her ruby slippers together twice more, vanishing on the third tap.

"That was disturbing," Egwene admitted, wondering if the slippers were a ter'angreal or if the strange creature had a way to teleport herself.

"Yep," Mist agreed. "I need a drink."

"Same," Egwene agreed as she turned and headed for the inn.

Mist dropped the plastic gloves in the box then picked the box up and followed Egwene, looking forward to grabbing a cider and relaxing for a bit before trying to grab some sleep.

0o0o0

Leane glanced up from the paperwork she was working on when she heard footsteps approaching, having already been told that Moiraine was in the Tower and wanted an audience with her or Siuan. She glanced between Moiraine and Verin then focused on the young woman that was walking with them when she realized she was stronger than Cadsuane by a fair amount. "I thought you were traveling."

"Until half an hour ago, I was in a small village in Andor," Moiraine replied with a smile.

"How?" Leane asked, knowing it generally took at least that long to get from the edge of the city to the tower most days or even nights, let alone somewhere in Andor.

Moiraine gestured at Nynaeve. "Nynaeve was kind enough to open a gateway to Verin's apartment."

"Traveling?" Leane asked in surprise. "How did you discover that?"

"I didn't," Nynaeve admitted. "A friend of mine figured it out along with a way to keep people from copying the weave, it's quite useful."

"And annoying," Verin offered, a touch annoyed that she hadn't managed to learn how to create a gateway as it would have made things easier.

Siuan opened the door to her office and stepped out, having been listening to the conversation. "How did she rediscover traveling?"

Nynaeve shook her head. "That's not my secret to tell."

Siuan glared at the young woman. "Do you know who I am?"

"Siuan Sanche, you grew up in Tear and left for the Tower when you started channeling. You used to get into trouble with Moiraine and Leane when you were novices and accepted and you have a decent sense of humor when you relax. You're also currently the Amyrlin and no, I really don't care, it's just a title and a weight around your shoulders," Nynaeve told her, knowing she'd been happier without the position.

"What have you been telling people?" Siuan asked Moiraine.

"I haven't told her anything about our time as novices or accepted," Moiraine assured her.

"Why are you back?" Siuan asked Moiraine, knowing that Moiraine wouldn't have returned without a good reason.

"Nynaeve wanted my help securing your assistance to deal with the Black Ajah," Moiraine replied.

"What about it?" Siuan asked warily, wishing she could say that it didn't exist.

"The black ajah have discovered several ter'angreal that allow the user to enter the world of dreams while they sleep, they're using it as a meeting place and a way to discover secrets that have been written down and not properly secured," Moiraine explained.

"How did you learn that?" Siuan asked.

"One of Nynaeve's friends is a dreamwalker," Moiraine replied.

"You're telling me a couple of wilders rediscovered traveling and that one of them is a dreamwalker?" Siuan asked.

"We live in strange times," Moiraine replied with a faint smile. "I can explain some details later but we have three unconscious members of the black ajah in the Tower that are going to be waking up shortly and I don't want them to tell the rest of their associates that the world of dreams isn't safe anymore. I'd also like to secure the sleepweavers that they're using so the rest of the black ajah has a harder time."

"Sleepweavers?" Siuan asked, not familiar with the term.

"They're a type of ter'angreal that let people step into the world of dreams in their sleep," Verin offered. "I've studied Corianin Nedeal's research, that's the term she used."

"Is that why she contacted you?" Siuan asked Verin.

"It was probably one of the reasons," Verin replied, not wanting to explain the fact that she'd joined the black ajah to discover their identities and to avoid death and that Nynaeve's friend had wanted access to her list because she didn't remember everyone on it.

"It's late, I can't justify searching everyone's quarters and it would be morning before we finished even if I could, do you have names or at least descriptions?" Siuan asked, hoping they had something she could use.

"Liandrin, formerly of the red though in her case she was a darkfriend before she came to the tower, Joiya Byir was gray and Amico Nagoyin was yellow," Nynaeve offered.

Siuan focused on Nynaeve. "How do you know their names?"

Nynaeve shook her head, wanting to make sure Siuan could honestly tell the Hall that she didn't know their names if it came up. "I'd have to ask my friend."

"They're black," Verin cut in before Siuan could argue. "I've spent the last seventy years investigating the black ajah and trying to figure out everything I can about them. The Oath Rod can be used to release people from their oaths so they can swear new ones."

"Do you know what oaths they swear?" Siuan asked, figuring it was a long shot.

"They swear to obey all commands given by those placed above them in service to the Dark One, to prepare for the day of his return and to hold the secrets of the black ajah until the hour of their death. That means you're not going to get them to reveal anything unless you still them, use the oath rod to remove their oaths or convince them that you've poisoned them and that they're going to die within an hour."

"If you knew the identity of members of the black ajah, why not come forward before?" Leane asked, curious why Verin hadn't come forward earlier.

"Because there are over two hundred members of the black ajah and I don't know which servants or warders are darkfriends," Verin explained.

"Two hundred?" Siuan sputtered. "That's a fifth of the Tower!"

"Which means that it would be remarkably easy to trust the wrong person, like Sheriam who is part of the black ajah," Verin stated.

"Do you have any evidence?" Siuan asked, feeling like she'd just been punched in the gut.

"Bits and pieces over the years and Nynaeve's friend's word that my list is accurate," Verin replied. "One of the problems with the oath against lying is that you can lie if you don't realize it's a lie. That means that catching someone in a lie doesn't always mean they actually broke their oaths."

"You can hash out details later, we need to grab the three that were knocked unconscious and we need to do it in a way that doesn't alert people that they're black ajah," Nynaeve cut in, trying to distract Siuan from poking at Verin's story.

"What makes you think you have a say in anything?" Siuan asked, wondering why Moiraine hadn't instilled some respect into the girl.

Nynaeve resisted the urge to grab her braid, having forgotten how much the Tower had changed over the years and the difference being a powerful Aes Sedai made when dealing with Aes Sedai. "Beyond the fact that you wouldn't have the information without me and I have a way to keep the prisoners secure and alive, nothing."

"Why would I want them alive?" Siuan asked.

"Because if they're dead, you can't extract information from them and the Dark One might be able to get information out of them. He's known as the Lord of the Grave for a reason." Nynaeve yawned. "It's been a long couple of days, if you want my help making sure you don't run into problems with the three black sisters, I'm willing to help. If not, I'm going home and getting some sleep."

Siuan glanced between Moiraine and Verin. "What do you think?"

"I think I'm going to collect my warder and take a vacation," Verin mused. "I've never had a chance to talk to an actual dreamer before."

"If the three of them go missing, we can let it be known that they'd illegally borrowed ter'angreal and were serving a penance, by the time the rest of the black ajah realize that they've vanished, we should have everything in place to capture the rest," Moiraine suggested.

Leane nodded. "Legally, you're allowed to give them a penance for taking ter'angreal out of the storeroom without properly documenting it, making them serve on a farm in the middle of nowhere sounds like an acceptable penance to me."

"Recruit someone from each ajah that you can trust and deal with it. Once you're done I'm going to want a longer explanation," Siuan told Moiraine.

"Understood," Moiraine replied, not looking forward to having to explain why the Dragon Reborn shouldn't come anywhere near the Tower until they dealt with the rat problem.

0o0o0