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| [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_lft.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=ACoS,Ch18'}] 
| %%(display:block; text-align:center;) [{Image src='Chapter Icons/tar_valon_bw.gif' align='center' link='Wiki.jsp?page=Tar Valon Chapter Icon'}] ''[ACoS|A Crown of Swords]: Diamonds and Stars'' %% 
| [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_rgt.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=ACoS,Ch20' align='right'}]
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! __Merana Ambrey__ POV

[Merana|Merana Ambrey] and [Annoura|Annoura Larisen] follow [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] to their rooms in the servants' quarters.[1] She barely knows [Annoura|Annoura Larisen], though both are [Gray Ajah]. She met [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] once as a [novice|novices]. [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] is the strongest [Aes Sedai] in a thousand years till the girls. She refused to be [Sitter|Sitters] twice and generally avoids [Tar Valon]. [Merana|Merana Ambrey] has been [Aes Sedai] about seventy-five years. [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] retired twenty-five years before the [Aiel War], reappeared briefly for the [Aiel War] then retired again. [Merana|Merana Ambrey] thinks she came with the other [Aes Sedai] who arrived after [Rand|Rand alThor] was taken. They pass [Edarra] and [Leyn], [Wise Ones|Aiel] who can [channel|True Source] strongly. The non-prisoner [Aes Sedai] and the [Wise Ones|Aiel] have reached a compromise that allows them into the palace. [Merana|Merana Ambrey] wishes [Verin|Verin Mathwin], [Rafela|Rafela Cindal], [Seonid|Seonid Traighan], [Masuri|Masuri Sokawa], or [Faeldrin|Faeldrin Harella] were there to share the heat. They go to the room shared by [Kiruna|Kiruna Nachiman] and [Bera|Bera Harkin]. [Merana|Merana Ambrey] shares a room with [Seonid|Seonid Traighan] and [Masuri|Masuri Sokawa]. [Daigian|Daigian Moseneillin] of the [White Ajah] is there, a marginal [Aes Sedai]. [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] knows [Merana|Merana Ambrey] is with the [Salidar Aes Sedai] and is disgusted. [Annoura|Annoura Larisen] claims not to have taken a side yet. [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] helped capture both [Logain|Logain Ablar] and [Taim|Mazrim Taim]. She asks if either [Merana|Merana Ambrey] or [Annoura|Annoura Larisen] was involved in the "vileness" after the [Aiel War].[2] [Merana|Merana Ambrey] does not know what she is talking about, but [Annoura|Annoura Larisen] denies any involvement saying she spent the years after trying to hold together the nations which joined to fight the [Aiel]. [Merana|Merana Ambrey] did not know [Annoura|Annoura Larisen] took part in that.[3] 

[Bera|Bera Harkin] and [Kiruna|Kiruna Nachiman] enter with [Corele Hovian] of the [Yellow Ajah]. [Bera|Bera Harkin] and [Kiruna|Kiruna Nachiman] are shocked to see [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin]; [Bera|Bera Harkin] thought she was dead, too. [Merana|Merana Ambrey] thinks it must be like her seeing [Alind Dyfelle], [Sevlana Meseau], or [Mabriam en Shereed].[4] [Corele|Corele Hovian] tells [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] that [Bera|Bera Harkin] and [Kiruna|Kiruna Nachiman] could not come with her till [Sorilea] was done with them. The [Wise Ones|Aiel] have made the [Aes Sedai] apprentice [Wise Ones|Aiel] and [Rand|Rand alThor] approves! [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] asks a string of questions: Are the [Forsaken] really loose? Is there proof? She learns [Rand|Rand alThor] was kidnapped. When she is told that [Alanna|Alanna Mosvani] bonded [Rand|Rand alThor], she frowns hard. [Merana|Merana Ambrey] thinks she might have wanted to bond him herself.[5] They manage to keep some information from her, how [Rand|Rand alThor] was treated while a prisoner. [Annoura|Annoura Larisen] knows quite a lot from letters she received from [Berelain|Berelain sur Paendrag]. [Merana|Merana Ambrey] is worried that their oath to [Rand|Rand alThor] might force them to oppose [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] and her followers, [Corele|Corele Hovian], [Daigian|Daigian Moseneillin] and whoever else might be with them.
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More [Merana Ambrey POV]

! __Min__ POV

The same afternoon, [Min|Min Farshaw] goes to see [Rand|Rand alThor] from [Colavaere|Colavaere Saighan]'s apartments. [Riallin] tells her he is in a foul mood. She is still confused about her feelings about sharing [Rand|Rand alThor] with [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] and [Aviendha]. She sees auras around [Rand|Rand alThor] and [Aes Sedai] whenever they are around. He tells her that [Herid Fel] was killed the day before. She is very interested in [Fel|Herid Fel]'s books. She tells him that [Colavaere|Colavaere Saighan] hanged herself wearing her finest silk and [Sovarra|Other Locations] lace dress. [Min|Min Farshaw] kisses [Rand|Rand alThor] thinking of what her aunts [Jan], [Rana] and [Miren] told her about teasing men. They have sex.
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More [Min POV]

! __Cadsuane__ POV

[Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] leaves the [Sun Palace] with [Corele|Corele Hovian] and [Daigian|Daigian Moseneillin]. The [Aes Sedai] at [Arilyn|Arilyn Dhulaine]'s palace were with her but she sent them on.[6] She wants to direct [Rand|Rand alThor] and nothing can interfere. She is really angry with [Elaida|Elaida do Avriny aRoihan] for making her job so hard. The sigil on her coach is a pair of silver stars atop red and green stripes.[7] It has been over 270 years since she took on a task she could not accomplish.[8] Any day now may be her last.
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More [Cadsuane POV]
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! Notes (Possible Spoilers)

[#1] Curious. How does [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] know the way?
\\[#2] For a discussion on the vileness and what it involved see the [FAQ, Section 2.4.11|http://steelypips.org/wot-tgs/node/121.html].
\\[#3] Very odd that [Annoura|Annoura Larisen] knows about the vileness and that [Merana|Merana Ambrey] did not know that [Annoura|Annoura Larisen] was involved in the same task that she was.
\\[#4] Evidently famous historical [Grays|Gray Ajah].
\\[#5] She did. ([TPoD,Ch12])
\\[#6] Where did she send them?
\\[#7] The coach and the sigil are Lady [Arilyn|Arilyn Dhulaine]'s. ([TPoD,Ch12])
\\[#8] And what might that have been?
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