Kerin woke up slowly in the predawn hours. The sky was a lightening shade of grey. She rolled over and stood, stretching slowly as she walked over to the window and drawing back the edge of the curtain. She ran her fingers through her hair as she walked away, shaking her head. She hadn't been back to the Tower for very long, since returning after the debacle in Four Kings. She shivered slightly, trying not to imagine the horror the other Aes Sedai had to be undergoing.

What costs were there to serving the Light?

She dressed slowly after washing, choosing a rich emerald green dress with a low-cut back and a fine mesh neck and collar that came up from her V-cut front. The bodice fit snuggly down to her hips, then flared out, hanging in wrinkles around her ankles. Sleeveless as well, it was a good summer dress. Neglecting shoes, and putting her hair up in a simple ponytail, her bangs hanging loose in slight curls around her face and darkly painted eyes, she went outside. She was tired of being inside, tired of being pinned into a building. There was a building pressure in the world, and she was feeling it for sure.

She was walking for a couple of hours around the Yards, this time blissfully ignorant of the startled grunts that trailed her around the Tower. The Guards were not getting any better at ignoring her. She was beautiful, and graceful, and she . . . just didn't understand it. However . . .

She noticed one Warder in training standing slightly apart from the others, working harder than the others, destroying the practice dummy in front of him quite effeciently. A small smile crept across her face. She watched for a moment. crossing her arms beneath her breasts.

When he stepped back for a moment, shaking his head to himself, she seized the moment. "Working hard?" he turned to face her, and she realized that he most likely wouldn't recognize her as full Aes Sedai right away. She was only twenty-two, for starters, and had not nearly begun to adopt the ageless Sedai look. The other fact that she wasn't wearing her ring . . . well. She supposed it wouldn't matter right away. "If you don't mind me asking . . . why are you working so hard?"

Kerin sat on the fence, feet kicking idly, watching him spin through his fighting, moving gracefully and flawlessly in her eyes. He was lightning-quick, one of the better guards that she had seen in the Grounds. And . . . he wasn't staring at her instead of focusing in on his target, despite what had just occurred. She watched until he slid back into his stance, breathing a bit harder, and clapped her hands in front of her, putting on a bright smile.

"You're much better than some others," she said, in all honesty. "Usually, the others act like little boys." She turned her head, looking away from the Tower, away from the city, out across the river towards the rising sun. A new day rising on Tar Valon. A new day rising within her heart.