The hallway was empty as Lori walked tiredly from the blazing heat of the courtyard outside into the blessed shade of the Tower. The broom was balanced carefully in her hand to keep it from rubbing on her recently acquired blister. Stupid broom. Finally, after hours of sweeping, the entire courtyard was free of leaves. Long long ago, so far back she could barely remember, at the beginning of the day, the thought of spending some time outside had seemed pleasant. Lori grinned wryly. Ah yes, as pleasant as a stroll through the Aiel Waste. Stupid broom.

She walked through the light streaming in from a window and blinked rapidly to clear her eyes of the glare. When she rounded the next corner her vision was still blurred by purple shapes and she didn't see Liranan Sedai until the Mistress of Novices was almost upon her.

"Come now, child, we're going to be late," she chided with a preoccupied frown. "If that absentminded Brown hadn't remembered she'd set you out on a chore I'd never have found you in time." She lifted an eyebrow when she noticed the broom. "You'll have to leave that here. We have no time to stop by your room."

"Late for what, Liranan Sedai?" Lori asked as she nervously pushed a loose strand of hair from her eyes.

"For your Arches, of course." With that the Aes Sedai turned and began walking back the way she had come. Lori struggled to keep up. In silence they descended down a stairway worn smooth by the tread of many feet into a part of the Tower Lori hadn't known existed. The corridors were brightly lit but a sense of looming darkness began to engulf Lori. She swallowed nervously and straightened her shoulders. They had only gone partway down the stairs when Liranan Sedai reached a landing and turned off into a another hallway. Lori spared a moment to wonder at what else lay further down beneath the Tower, but her curiousity was forgotten when the Mistress of Novices opened a door and gestured for her to go through.

Inside was a large room dominated entirely by the silver ter'angreal Arches that stood imposingly in the centre. One Aes Sedai sat crosslegged before each of the Arches and all turned when Lori entered.

"Novices are given three chances at this. You may refuse twice to enter but at the third refusal you will be sent away from the Tower forever." Lori turned towards the Mistress of Novices and then looked hesitatingly back at the flickering white light of the Arches. She could refuse now and in time she could have her old life back. She was in no danger of dying now, she knew how to control her power... but that wasn't enough for her anymore. She was a part of the Tower and she wasn't going to fail. Besides, the life she would return to would be one of grief and emptiness. Grief for a lost sister and emptiness for a life without a purpose.

"I will not refuse," Lori said shakily, holding her head high.

"Good. Now I will tell you two things no woman hears until she stands where you do. Once you begin you must go on to the end. Refuse at any point and you will put out of the Tower just as if you had refused to begin for the third time." There was sympathetic sterness in Liranan Sedai's voice that Lori had only heard once, her first day in the Tower. "Second. To seek, to strive, is to know danger. Some women have entered and never come out." The Aes Sedai's eyes looked pointedly at the ter'angreal before returning to bore into Lori's mind. "When the ter'angreal was allowed to grow quiet, they - were - not - there. And they were never seen again. If you will survive, you must be steadfast. Falter, fail and..." The rest was left unspoken but the implications were unmistakable; Lori shivered. "This is your last chance. Refuse now, and it counts only as the first. You may still try twice more. If you accept now, there is no turning back. It is no shame to refuse, Lori. Choose."

"I accept," Lori said firmly, without hesitation.

"Then prepare yourself." She gestured to a place on the floor and after a surprised start, Lori undressed. The ceremony began.

"Whom do you bring with you, Sister?" one of the other Aes Sedai intoned formally.

"One who comes as a candidate for Acceptance, Sister," Liranan replied.

"Is she ready?"

"She is ready to leave behind what she was, and, passing through her fears, gain Acceptance."

"Does she know her fears?"

"She has never faced them, but now is willing."

"Then let her face her fears." The first Aes Sedai - a Gray sister - stepped away from the first arch.

"The first time," Liranan Sedai said, "is for what was. The way back will come but once. Be steadfast."

Lori took a deep breath and stepped through.

The road lay long before her. Dust rose in a cloud from the treeline ahead but she bowed her head and ignored it. It was no different than before. A cloud would rise, the sound of pounding hooves would come from ahead, distorted by the distance but beating ever louder. Shadowy forms, half hidden by the dust, would come galloping into view. Cloaks flaring in the wind, the riders would pass by with barely a glance to spare for the young woman dressed in the ragged remnants of a fine silk dress. And Lori would continue her lonely trek.

This time it was a single horseman that appeared down the road, moving swiftly on the packed earth beside the farmer's fence. There were lots of those, Lori remembered vaguely. Lots of farmers working cheerfully in their fields while Lori walked by on the other side of that uncrossable wooden fence. As the faraway rider neared, the horse began to slow until, with a spirited toss of it's head, it came to restless stop before her. Lori looked up in surprise. No one stopped anymore. The face that gazed stonily down at her was different from the one she remembered from so long ago. That memory face rose haltingly up in her mind and merged waveringly with this other, strange face. She smiled slowly, feeling a surge of happiness well up in her. Dry lips that hadn't opened in days, moved to utter one, heartfelt word:

"Father!"

"No." The word dropped like a stone into still water. Lori's smile faded and her memory image shattered.

"No," he repeated, rasping voice harsh in Lori's ears. "We don't need you any more! You left us! You failed us! It's all your fault!" With a glare as angry and hurt and broken as the world after the Breaking, her father reared his horse and galloped away.

"Father!!!!!!!" she screamed. "Come back! DON'T LEAVE ME!" Her voice cracked and inside her heart withered. Tears streamed down her cheeks, as healing as poison and as searing as blood. She moved one foot forward, then the other, and slowly, painfully, desolately, continued her journey.

Suddenly, she lifted her eyes to see another dust cloud billowing on the horizon. Moments later, faster than she had thought possible, another lone rider raced into sight. This one didn't stop, or even turn around, but a harsh voice drifted by on the wind.

"You're alone now, as you deserve to be! Utterly and completely alone!" Dagera Sedai's words cracked like a whip and Lori fell to her knees by the side of the road - on the other side of the fence. Alone. She was alone now. Forever.

"You never were good enough, were you, Lori?" The broken girl lying forgotten in the dust looked up. Fiery hair glowed in the sun from the back of a great black horse. The face beneath it was pale but the green eyes were almost demonic in their intensity. They were filled with a despising pity. Lori pushed herself to her feet and stood to face this caricature of her sister.

"You're dead," Lori rasped, refusing to meet those eyes.

"And you're alone." The one was far the worse; Lori cried out.

"No!"

"Lori?" It was a faint wail. "Lori, help me." Elyn looked down at her and for a moment her eyes were free of the pity, and the hate, and the evil that was in them. "The Lord of the Grave has called me. I am his. Not even death has..." She gasped in pain and writhed horribly on her horse. Lori had seen this before. She shook her head viciously in denial but the memories surged up. This was how Elyn had died, writhing in uncontollable agony, screaming in torture. No, not again.

"Lori, don't leave me!" She cried in that hopeless whisper. "Stay with me. Please!"

Lori felt a presence at her back and turned to see a glowing arch resting on the fence behind her.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast...

"Lori, please!" Elyn's voice was barely audible. With a cry that shredded her heart, Lori leapt through the arch, leaving her twin just as everyone else had left her - alone.

She stepped out of the arch into a room blurred by her tears. A stream of water was emptied over her head, cool and clear and useless.

"You are washed clean of what sin you may have done, and of those done against you," a voice intoned. "You are washed clean of what crimes you may have committed, and of those committed against you. You come to us washed clean and pure, in heart and soul."

There was a silence, as if the Aes Sedai expected her to say something. There was nothing to say.

"You remember what happens if you refuse now?" Liranan Sedai murmured. Lori nodded listlessly and raised her head to look into the Mistress of Novices eyes.

"I am ready to go on."

Liranan Sedai nodded her head in acknowledgement and smiled slightly.

"Good. The second time is for what is. Be steadfast." With a wave of her hand, the Aes Sedai gestured at the second arch. Lori swallowed hard and stepped through...

... and was confronted with herself. She was surrounded on all sides by a maze of mirrors, all reflecting back at her an image that made her skin crawl. As far as the eye could see an army of weak, hopeless, empty women glared back at her with no spark of intelligence lighting the multitude of cold green eyes. Lori shook her head in disbelief and denial. That wasn't her, it couldn't be! She was better than that! The grief-bruised faces around her told a different story, one of pain and despair and worst of all, cowardice. Lori began running, needing to escape the horrifying figure that haunted her vision. But the walls of silver glass that spread out towards a distant horizon - where stood another line of haggard, hunched reflections - was no more than the insane prison of a madman. Wherever Lori walked, however she turned her head, the scene was always the same. Suddenly a streak of lightning arced overhead and the sound of the accompanying thunder echoed loudly all around. The thunder boomed continuously, changing subtly until it was the sound of mocking laughter.

"Face yourself," it seemed to hiss. "Do you like what you see? Can you face yourself?" Lori stopped and lifted her face to scream "I'm better than this! What I see is a lie! I will face myself, but not this illusion you send to make me give up. I won't give up! I'm better than this!"

"We'll see," hissed the voice and it was the sound of a hideous snake coiling for a final strike.

Suddenly, behind the images of herself, appeared a glowing gateway...

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

... but there were so many of them! Behind every haggard figure stood a glowing archway, but which one was the true one?

The way back will come but once.

Which was the real one??

...but once...

Lori turned hurriedly in a cirle, searching frantically for the way out.

...once...

Then she grinned once in defiance... and a single reflection grinned back, transforming the empty face into one of iron determination. Lori raced towards that one mirror until she was standing directly in front of it, facing the reflection of the true arch. She turned around, about to leap, and was stopped short by another reflection, this one hollow and weak and terrible. The gateway flickered. I will not give in! Lori closed her eyes and leapt through the mirror. The shards sliced her skin like fire but before she could cry out...

...she was again standing before Liranan Sedai. Cool water splashed over her head and washed away the crimson blood flowing from the twin cuts on each upper arm.

"You are washed clean of false pride. You are washed clean of false ambition. You come to us washed clean, in heart and soul." Lori stood straight and prepared herself for her final test.

"Are you ready?" Lori nodded, thinking that for some reason the question sounded rather useless. "Then continue. This is your final test. The third time is for what will be. Be steadfast." Lori stared for a moment at the last, glowing archway - not hesitating, just looking. Then, with a deep breath, she ran forward into the light...

...and was met by the sight of a dark tunnel forking in three directions before her. A single, guttering torch glowed weakly on each of the outer tunnels; the entryway directly in front of her was pitch black. Each new tunnel began with an intricate stone arch carved into the wall around it, and writhing shadows emphasized the strange patterns engraved upon them. Lori stepped forward towards the right-hand tunnel, squinting to read the letters written on the stone tablet by the side of the arch.

'For what was: The past is a time of brilliant memories and joyful laughter; the past is always better remembered than lived.' For any number of unknown reasons, Lori began to shiver. She moved away from the first tunnel and passed quickly by the middle one. The middle tunnel was full of darkness and a bitterly cold wind howled from inside like a host of angry wraiths wailing hopelessly for release. Her footsteps echoed loudly in the emptiness and Lori rubbed her arms as a sense of looming fear began to overtake her. When she stopped at the entrance to the left-hand tunnel the sound of her footsteps could still be heard for a few moments more. Lori breathed deeply and leaned forward to read the second inscription.

'For what is: The present is an unchanging road. It leads towards the unknown horizon but never reaches the end. The present is all you have.'

Lori stepped back, pondering the strange words. She shivered again. Then the sound of the howling wind suddenly became much louder, echoing frighteningly through the dim hallways. There was only one more tunnel left and Lori moved slowly towards it. When she was finally standing before the third archway she hesitated, not wanted to move any closer. She stepped forward. The engraved tablet was cast in darkness and the words written upon it were unreadable. With a determined look down the middle tunnel, Lori decided she wanted - no needed! - to know what lay down that wailing road. She walked quickly away but returned a moment later holding one of the guttering torches. She held the light up to the stone arch, searching the shadows for for meaning. There were no words engraved in the stone, only a single picture: a serpent biting its own tail. Lori's face twisted in a confused frown. That image seemed familiar somehow. It made no difference anyway and Lori moved back until she was standing facing each of the tunnels.

If one tunnel stands for the past and another for the present, the middle one must stand for the future. Which road should I choose? If go back to the past then Elyn will be alive again! I won't have to watch my sister die!!

Another thought interrupted: But Elyn is already dead. Even if you return to the past, nothing can change that. It wouldn't be real. Lori sighed with a bone-deep sadness and turned away from the far-right tunnel.

If I choose the present instead, I'll never have toworry about losing what I have. Nothing will ever change or end!

Could you really live like that? asked the other voice.

No

Then only the future is left.

The middle tunnel howled in menace. Lori took one step towards it, then another, and another until she was standing directly under the middle archway.

"I choose the future," Lori said loudly into the darkness, and took one last step forward.

The sun shone brightly on a beautiful garden and Lori rested her head against a tree. Beside her, a handsome young man - Taragil, her Warder and best friend - rested his hand on her shoulder. Behind them rose the towering white pillars of the Sun Palace. Lori was happier than she had ever been.

"It's time to move on, Lori," Taragil murmured with a grin.

"Yes, it is. It's wonderful isn't it?" She gestured around her and Gil knew she meant more than the garden.

Ah, the adventures they'd had, and the roads they had yet to travel.

Suddenly Lori turned around to see a glowing silver gateway. She knew it meant something but she couldn't quite remember what.

Be steadfast...

And it hit her all at once.

"Gil, I have to go," she choked out. Oh, Light, she didn't want to leave!! More than anything she wanted to stay.

"That's what I just said," he answered with a laugh.

"No, I mean I have to leave now, without you." She stepped away from him and he cried out.

"Don't go!"

"I have to Gil."

She ran forward into the archway and was swallowed up by the light.

"There is still the future," murmured another voice in her head. "There is always the future."

Lori stumbled out of her final Arch to face the Amyrlin Seat. She was holding the last silver chalice and with a grave look in her eyes, she dumped the water over Lori's head.

"You are washed clean of Lori Disanta of Mayene. You are washed clean of all ties that bind you to this world. You come to us washed clean, in heart and soul. You are Lori Disanta, Accepted of the Tower of Chasaline. Welcome, daughter." She held out her hands and resting in one was a white dress banded in the seven colours of the Ajahs, and in the other a ring in the shape of a serpent biting its own tail. A symbol of the future. Lori accepted them gravely and curtsied. The twin cuts on her arms might be a symbol of who she had been and what she had gone through to change that, but the ring was a symbol of everything she had to gain in the future. It meant more to her at that moment than anything else ever had. She slipped it on her finger with pride.