Mave smiled at Johanna’s joke. The young woman had been good company since they had joined the merchants caravan. While she missed Ali’s company, a situation forced on her by the necessity of not attracting too much attention, she had to admit that it was good to be around another woman. Since coming to the Tower her world had been a female one, other novices, and Accepted and of course Aes Sedai with males largely being the occasional glimpses of Warders and their students. She also had to admit that she was, at least in part, distracting herself from what awaited her in Illian.

The great port city stretched out before them, as they road along the causeway she could see dozens of ships making their way around the point and heading towards the mouth of the great harbor. In Watch Hill she could convince herself that the place was too small and insignificant to have Darkfriends, but here, it was a certainty. There was no way for her to know how much her shadowy opponents knew of her task, but the risk increased as she neared her goal.

“Are you sure you don’t want to say lass?” Rocye asked as she moved to the front of the wagon train to rejoin Ali. The man looked nervous, she suspected because he had never seen a city the size of Illian before.

“I could use a woman that knows her numbers and knows her way around herbs, I’d make space for young master Alidren too,” the old man wheedled. Mave smiled at him. Rocye’s son had fallen sick with a fever during the trip. She had made some show of treating him with herbs and then, once he was asleep had performed a healing weave. 

“I’m afraid not master Royce, I have family business here in Illian I must be about, but I wish you safe travels,” she responded. As always she was careful not to tell an outright lie. This was the business of the Tower, of which she was a daughter after all.  The merchant sighed theatrically.

“Well you can’t blame me for trying, the Light shine on you both,” declared before shaking Ali’s hand. The both smiled and made their goodbyes before slipping away into the city. An hour later they had found an inn by the unassuming name of the Rosegarden. Mave used some of her dwindling supply of gold to pay for a single room as well as food and access to the bath house. Ali still looked a little unsettled and she resolved to have a talk with him after she bathed. It had been a long time since they left the stedding, the last place she had a chance.

Mave luxuriated in the water, allowing her dark hair to float behind her as she steeped. She had paid of soap and had cleaned herself thoroughly before allowing herself to relax and enjoy a few moments. The smell of the stew that was being prepared for dinner was faintly detectable over the fires that heated the water. Perhaps she would take Ali for a stroll and show him some of the city. She had never been here before but Tar Valon and Caemlyn had prepared her for the sight. She thought she heard a faint sound behind her and turned to find an ordinary looking man standing in the single room of the inns bath house. Her eyes slid off him and she returned to her musing for a moment before the feeling something was wrong washed over her she turned back to the man who was now only a few feet away, a gleaming knife in his hand. Her eyes began to slide away again but the man lunged at her and the motion was enough to restore her interest. She snatched Saidar but the man was on top of her before she could form a weave, she managed to catch his wrist, foiling the knife thrust but he shoved her down under the water with the weight of his body. She clung to his wrist for dear life even as the water closed above her. The man, if that is what he was, dropped the knife and grabbed her with both hands, holding her under the water as she thrashed and struggled.