Amy
	Amy wasn't sure of the plan initially, spending the day touring museums and
whatnot didn't seem like a great way to find out information.  But as the day
wore on she began to relax and enjoy the educational pursuits.  Patty was a
fun tour guide, not something she expected from the former Brown.  Browns as a
rule tended to ramble and lose track of whatever topic they were expounding
on, but Patty was different.  She could sense boredom well before the telltale
signs of eyes glazing over, and she was as enthusiastic as her "students" when
discovering something new.
	They'd spent some time at the Art Museum in the morning, then moved on to the
Museum of Natural History.  Patty clearly favored the latter, especially the
diorama devoted to wolves and Wolfkin.  But the object of their tour and final
stop was the central Tarien library.  Amy had to admit it was awesome.
	The building itself was a marvel of architecture.  The sweeping marble stairs
and columns seemed to invite casual travelers to come inside and find a good
book.  Amy was amazed at the sheer volume of books visible from the entrance
hall alone.  She could almost see Patty glowing with anticipation of getting
her hands on all those books.  The former Brown many have been able to
restrain herself on their museum tour, but this monument to her former calling
looked like it could be too much for her to resist.
	"Okay girls, dive in." Patty said with a grin.  "Lose yourself in the stacks,
we'll meet back here at the front desk in three hours."
	Amy felt herself comfortable enough to respond, "Just don't lose
yourself...you're driving us home."  Patty had the grace to blush, then with a
wink and a wave headed off for the newspaper section.  Amy knew from the
discussion in the van that she'd be investigating recent businesses and
fraternal groups active in Tear.  Until she found something to really work off
of though, Krysten and Amy were on their own to really look around.
	The girls took off in two different directions.  Amy wasn't sure where
Krysten was heading, but she headed for recent nonfiction.  She wanted to see
if she could find any recent books or essays on the structure of the White
Tower.  Now that Solandra had been in power for a time she might even be able
to find one of those "unauthorized" biographies on the former Amyrilin,
Mayadi.  She was eager to see if the revisionist historians or damage control
personnel from the White Tower had gotten on the case yet.  If she was really
lucky, she'd find a balanced, non-biased biography on the woman.
	When she searched the computer index, Amy found any number of books on White
Tower history and its Amyrilins.  What surprised her was what she *didn't*
find.  According to the index, the most recent nonfiction book available on
recent politics, was printed about 6 months before Mayadi's death.  And though
there was the obligatory biography or two on the new Amyrilin, there was an
obvious lack of written information on what had happened in between the two
events.  Even the biographies of Solandra skirted around the issue of how she
came to be elected and what had happened to her predecessor.
	Amy was intrigued and continued searching.  In spite of the supposed lack of
material on the subject, Amy *knew* there had to be something here.  And she
*knew* if she tracked it down in the computer, she'd be able to find it in the
stacks.  She supposed that regular citizens looking for this kind of
information would easily give up and move on.  But Amy knew better.  Tariens
were proud, and the Tarien library one of the best in the world.  If there was
a book out there on Mayadi and her time as Amyrilin, they'd have it, if only
because it would kill them if the library in Caemylin had it and they didn't.
Amy also knew, that if they did have the book, it would be on public display
somewhere.  It was a matter of pride; they had to give the public access, they
just didn't have to make it easy.
	Amy was itching to do a Purple Tower search too, to see if the books on them
were off-limits too.  But no, there was no reason to draw unwanted attention.
If anyone was monitoring these computers, her search for Mayadi would draw
enough attention as it was.  Amy did a general search, and found what she'd
already figured - books on the Amyrilins past and present, but nothing about
Mayadi's death.  She searched biographies, histories, genealogies, hell even
medical journals.. *anything* that could get her back to Mayadi.
	A polite cough beside her got Amy's attention.  She turned to see a librarian
at her elbow.  ~~Damn, they were monitoring the search.  Shit.~~  Amy decided
to go for wide-eyed innocence over Aes Sedai arrogance.  She let her eyes go
wide and turned to the librarian.  "Yes?"
	"I noticed that you've spent some time here at this console, but you haven't
found what you were looking for.  May I help you with something?  There are
others who need access to these computers too."  The gray haired librarian had
a motherly face, but steely eyes.
	Amy tried not to grimace.  The librarian had tactically put her on notice
that she was being watched, and she wouldn't be allowed access to the computer
anymore.  More wide-eyed innocence.  "Yes, maybe you can help me."  Amy
stepped away from the console and whispered conspiratorially to the librarian.
"I have to write a report."  ~~Please let her think I'm an idiot, that's why I
spent so long at the computer.~~
	With no additional information forthcoming, the librarian prompted, "A report
on what, dear?"
	Amy huddled closer, and used a dramatic stage whisper.  "The Amyrilin."  
	Amy could see the "helpful" librarian beginning to be irked.  She couldn't
admit to knowing Amy was looking for information on Mayadi because that would
prove that they were monitoring the computers.  Amy just stared at her as if
she had found her personal library angel; she stopped just short of drooling.
	"Which Amyrilin, dear?"  The steely gray eyes were investigating now - how
much did this girl really know?  was she a threat or not?
	Amy called on every acting trick she'd learned at the Imperial.  ~~She needs
to think I'm an idiot...a walkin', talkin' mess o' brains.~~  "That last one.
You know.  My sister told me all sorts of stories about her, that I just know
can't be true.  And I read that other book about her, it took me a while, but
I read it.  But I though maybe I could find a new one to bring home to my
sister to prove to her that all the stuff she said wasn't true.  I mean, and
Aes Sedai is an Aes Sedai, and the Amyrilin is the most special Aes Sedai,
right?  I'm sure she was a good lady, but I just can't find a good book on her
... and my report is due in a few weeks.  It'll take me that long to read
another book!"  	
	Amy allowed her eyes to fill with tears, desperate in her search for the
truth.  They pleaded, ~~Please help me library angel.  Please.~~  The woman
looked more and more frustrated that she'd spent so much time on someone who
was obviously not all there.  "No problem, dear.  We'll find a book for you.
It is Mayadi you're looking for isn't it?"
     "Yes!" Amy's excited reply caused a few patrons to look up in surprise.
"That's her.  Oh I should've come right to you and not wasted so much time on
the computer.  The thing about the computer is, unless you know right what
you're looking for, you'll never find it.  I'm so glad you can help me."  Amy
beamed disarmingly, and the library lady finally gave up any notion that the
girl was a threat.
	In short order, the librarian had Amy settled in the "Young Adult" section of
the library.  She found a "High Interest, Low Vocabulary" biography on Mayadi.
Amy wasn't sure whether to laugh or be insulted.  She consoled herself by
admitting that this was exactly what she wanted; the librarian certainly no
longer thought she was a threat if she was trying to pass this book off to
her.  Amy picked it up excitedly.  "Oh....I've never read this one before."
	The librarian left her then, and stopped just short of patting her on the
head.  That would've been the end of it because Amy would've laughed in her
face.  She had a strangely giddy, exhilarated feeling pulling this off.  Back
at the Imperial she'd concentrated on singing, and spent all her other free
time in the Infirmary.  Maybe she should look into this acting stuff a little
more.
	Amy's little bubble was burst when a small, soft-cover book was dropped on
the table in front of her.  A nondescript man was standing across the table
from her.  "You might find this a little more interesting than what you're
reading there." was all he said before disappearing back into the stacks.
	Amy half-rose to follow him when the title of the book he'd given her caught
her eye.  "The Final Days of Mayadi: The Mad Amyrilin."  She choked back a
gasp of shock and snatched the book up.  Amy looked around furtively, but her
benefactor was long gone.  With trembling fingers, Amy placed the smaller book
inside the one she'd been reading before, she turned the page and started to
read.

	Amy found herself an overstuffed arm chair, with its back to the wall, to sit
down and read in.  She didn't want anyone coming up to her from behind and
reading over her shoulder.  Though she'd been looking for a non-biased
biography on Mayadi, she hadn't expected anything as outright as The Final
Days of Mayadi: The Mad Amyrilin.  It was ... close to blasphemous.
	Amy cursed herself for her own inattentiveness during her time at the White
Tower.  It was just so much easier to close herself off and stick to her
books.  She hadn't any idea half this stuff was going on.  If the book was to
be believed, Mayadi's obsession with the Purple Tower and bringing down its
denizens was only the most overt display of her descent into madness.
	It frightened Amy down to the core of her being.  The atrocities Mayadi had
committed for "the greater good" and "in defense of the Light".  How many like
her had unthinkingly followed commands simply because they were given by the
Amyrilin?  And how many Aes Sedai were out there, just like her, following
orders resulting in the deaths of innocents?  
	A few months ago, even thinking thoughts like this would have sent Amy into a
near panic.  But her time with the Purple Tower had corrupted her way of
thinking.  ~~ No, truth be told, they *liberated* my way of thinking.  And
that was Mayadi's greatest fear.  People thinking for themselves.  How many
had to die to uphold her hidebound way of life ... to hold back inevitable
progress? ~~
	Amy's eyes began to fill with honest tears   Tears of shame and regret.
Tears of fear.  Tears for her loss of innocence.  For if this book had been
printed ... though the Tariens made it hard to find, it was out there.  As
hard as the White Tower fought to propagate anti-Purple feelings, it was
obvious to Amy that those feelings were held by some against the White Tower
itself.
	And that was the scariest thing of all.  If the atrocities outlined in this
book were true - some of the most recent being the "trial" and hanging of
Eddie Gaidin; the deaths of eight sisters in the Tower itself on the day
Mayadi herself had died - then everything Amy had ever believed in was no
longer true.  Ruined by the insanity of one woman.  ~~No.  Maybe not.  The
White Tower still stands.  Solandra is Amyrilin now.  And most people don't
really want to know what happened to Mayadi, why should they?  The White Tower
is whole, unbroken as it has stood since the days of reunification in the time
of Rand al'Thor.~~
	But even that wasn't true.  The members of the Purple Tower were a living
testament to the fact that the Tower wasn't whole.  And Amy feared down in her
soul that these living reminders would someday soon become object lessons on
order of the new Amyrilin.  Amy could feel something inside her shift.  She
had come too far now to turn back.  Her soul had been infected by these free
thinkers, and for the first time, she welcomed it.  Never in her life had she
felt such purpose.  ~~ This must be what it feels like to be a Blue.~~
	Finally, having decided her loyalty, Amy snuck the smaller book under her
blouse, and returned the book given to her by the librarian back to the table.
She'd already deftly removed the scanning tags off the paperback book; she'd
been sneaking books out of the White Tower library for years, sneaking this
one was no problem.  She headed back up to the front of the library to meet
Patty and Krysten.  She hoped they'd had as much luck as she had in their
first day in Tear.


Patty)

    Patty leaned back in her chair and massaged the bridge of her nose.  Then
she leaaned forward placing her head on the heels of her hands and gave her
eyes a good hard push.  If there was one thing about research that Patty
hated, it was bad microfilm.  One would thnk in this age of technology someone
would've come up with a better way to store information.  But no, old issues
of newspapers were still shrunk and copied onto microfilm, making research
tedious and strenuous on the eyes.
	Patty leaned back again and attempted to work the knot out of her shoulders.
She leaned backward over the chair to crack her spine.  It offered some
relief, but not much.  Giving up, Patty finally decided what she needed to do
was get up and walk around.  She looked around her quiet cubicle.  Not many
people were down in the microfilm section.  **Why should they be?  It's a
disposable society.  Get your information off the TV or web and move on.**
	Wondering what Amy and Krysten might be up to prompted Patty to look at her
watch.  "Shit.  I'm late."  Snatching up the microfilm she'd already reviewed,
she returned it to the desk.  The bored college student earning minimum wage
to babysit a bunch of plastic in the basement barely looked up as Patty flew
by.  Patty jogged up the stairs and headed for the main desk.  **If Jen were
here, she wouldn't let me hear the end of my Brown tendencies.**  A fleeting
wish passed through Patty's mind and she hoped Jen was okay.
     Hustling to the main desk, Patty spotted Amy and Krysten waiting
together.  Amy had a strange, wide-eyed expression on her face Patty couldn't
figure out.  "Sorry I'm late girls.  I got caught up."
	"Me too, " Amy gushed, "I found a great book.  Well I didn't find it exactly.
The library lady helped me find it and I think it will be great for my
report."
	It was a credit to Patty's many years of teaching and dealing with non-
sequiters that she was able to hide her astonishment at this ramdomness from
Amy.  "Well that's great.  I'm glad you found what you were looking for.  You
all set too?" she asked Krysten.  Krysten nodded and the three women headed
out the door.
	Once they were back in the van, Amy explained her strange behavior.  Her
imitation of the librarian's facial expressions had Patty and Krysten cracking
up.  The two younger women were so caught up in their chatting and swapping
notes on the day's adventures that they didn't notice Patty's silence.  They
*did* notice when Patty took one too many sharp turns and practically threw
they out of their seats.
	Amy shot her a questioning look and Krysten asked, "Is everything okay?"
	Patty's look of intensity decreased sharply.  "Something's going on with
Betsy and Liam.  I think they've got it under control now.  We've got to pick
them up at the park."
	Her anxiety generated from Moonlight Dancing's urgency waning, Patty eased up
on the gas pedal, and they made it to the park with no further mishaps.
Betsy, Liam and the wolf were waiting in one of the many parking areas
scattered throughout the park.
	Patty parked and quickly got out.  Amy and Krysten followed.  Patty
approached Liam, and a breeze brought his unusual odor to her nose.  "What
happened to you?"  Liam managed to look chagrined and perplexed at the same
time.  "You might want to talk to our friend about that."  He looked pointedly
at Moonlight Dancing.
	Before Patty could address the wolf, the bundle that Liam carried started to
whimper softly.  Patty's eyes went wide and Amy drew quickly near.  In a near
whisper Patty choked out, "Please don't tell me that's what I think it is..."
     Amy moved past her to pull back the blanket.  Liam protectively pulled
the baby in to his chest.  "It's a baby." said Amy softly.  She stroked the
soft black hair on the baby's head, and the blue eyes that had filled with
tears a moment before looked at her in appreciation of her attention.  
	"What are you...?  What did you...?  Where...?  Liam!!" Patty was aggrivated
at her own incoherentness.  What were these two thinking?  They knew how
important this mission was.  To just pick up a random baby is a nice impulse,
but this was neither the time nor the place.
	Liam could see Patty working her way up to a serious fit.  He'd only seen her
go off like this once or twice before, and he'd never been the target.  He
wasn't looking forward to it.  Liam reluctantly gave the baby into Amy's care,
giving up what little protection he'd had.  He sort of felt if he'd kept the
baby between himself and Patty there would be less of a chance of physical
violence.
	Patty never got a chance to start.  In a move they'd perfected in training,
Moonlight Dancing tangled herself up in Patty's legs causing her to fall on
her ass.  ~~Not a good move wolf.  Now her head's likely to explode.~~
	Then Moonlight Dancing did something he'd never seen her do before.  Patty
ended up sitting with one leg tucked under the outstretched one.  Moonlight
Dancing placed her paws on Patty's knees, then in one motion, hitched herself
up so her paws were on Patty's shoulders and she was right at eye-level.
Something passed between the woman and the wolf then; the sending was so tight
Liam couldn't even feel any spill-over from it.  It was over in moments, and
when she got up, Patty wasn't ready to rip him a new a-hole even though she
was still angry.
	"Amy, is the baby okay?"  she asked.
	"He's malnourished and he's running a slight fever.  I think whoever had this
baby just got tired of him... or bored."  She made a sound of disgust.  "If we
can hit a pharmacy or hospital, we should pick up some antibiotics."
	"I don't think a hospital is a good idea," interrupted Liam.  "That would
cause too much attention.  And what if they want to keep him?"
	"He's right."  added Patty.  "We need to take care of him ourselves."  There
was a fierce undertone in her voice and her mental tone.  No longer worried
about himself, Liam started thinking that whoever had tossed this baby in the
trash better start putting as much distance between themselves and Patty as
possible.  "Amy, can you do any Healing for him?"
	Amy finished rewrapping the bably.  "Some.  What he really needs is some food
and nurturning.  But I really would feel better if we had some antibiotics for
the infection."
	Patty nodded.  "Okay.  If we can't get a prescription, then we steal some.
Let's get back in the van.  We have some shopping to do."
	A short while later,  they were back in Tear's bustling downtown district.
Patty, Amy and Krysten were on a mission to find antibiotics, baby things and
new pants for Liam.  They'd decided to make him leave his pants in the park,
and pick up something new since they had to go shopping anyway.  Liam was
really glad he'd decided to wear boxers.
	Liam didn't mind the excuse to stay with the baby.  While the women went
shopping, he stayed in the van with Betsy and Moonlight Dancing.  Betsy didn't
seem inclined to talk, so Liam found himself curled up in the back seat with
the wolf and his foundling.  "Where'd you come from, little guy?  Who'd throw
you out like that?"  he crooned to the baby as he stroked his downy hair.
	The baby, seeming to realize he'd found a safe shelter at last, slept soundly
in Liam's arms.  Liam was entranced.  He'd never been so close to a baby for
so long.  Usually there was a gang of women around demanding to hold the baby.
But right now, the women were gone, and he had a strong sense of possiveness
toward the child in his arms.  ~~I found you, little guy.  I'll take care of
you.  I promise.~~
	~~ He knows, Sunrise Dancer.  The pup knows he is home.~~