Fist Of The North Star Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Dragon is Reborn ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 5 )

The first thing Lews Therin found after everyone settled in, and he had dealt with the overly depressed maidens - who were near suicidal from the shame of failing him so badly - was that there were Ogier sitting in the palace. Wanting to meet him. Ogier had been useful during the War of Power, very useful. But it seemed that they had turned into almost complete pacifists. Which might mean that he would end up having to defend them as well. That problem would have to be fixed. Rand al'Thor had been worried about the Ways. They weren't a great problem except that he didn't know where they all were. So they might as well be gateways when an attack came through. More dangerous in that his wards wouldn't warn him, at least for human insurgents. So he told Sulin to bring him maps of all available places, and asked the servants to bring the ogier to the throne room. The servants seemed wide-eyed at this for some reason. Perhaps the protocols involved were different from what he expected. Not that his decision could be changed now. Plus it was better in general to not look like a supplicant.

The ogier came in surprisingly little time. Unusual for such a slow going race. Ogier had been slow to act or make decisions even in his age, and from Rand al'Thor's observations, he would have expected to wait an hour more. Josh had brought with him a Molder - a computer Ter'angreal that could change the structure of a building into whatever was needed in only a few minutes, as long as the materials were available - and with it he had changed the entire nature of the Throne Room in Caemlyn. The walls were all now covered with gold and silver dragons that seemed to shift and move, with the symbol of the Aes Sedai in the middle on both sides. Air Exchangers had been installed to make the air fresher and of a more comfortable temperature to the people who came. Also the walls were luminescent causing the room to be lighted without the need for glow bulbs or the torches that were in use in this era. And of course, all this lead to the throne, made in such a way as to make the person sitting on the throne seem larger than life. Quite impressive he thought. When the three Ogier arrived along with the maidens - left to themselves they would likely never leave him alone again - he saw from their reactions that they seemed to agree with his assessment. For a while, they seemed not to be able to speak, staring at the dragons. "They almost seem alive" said the younger of the ogier females. This seemed to bring them back to reality. "Your name sings in my ears Rand al'Thor", said the only male in the group. He was followed by the women. And they introduced themselves. He was Haman son of Dal, son of Morel. The older female was Covril daughter of Ella, daughter of Soongh. The young girl he recognized. Erith daughter of Iva daughter of Alar. The girl Erith's ears seemed to be sagging in worry over something. And Covril also seemed to have a stern look on her face. She looked towards him and said, "You will excuse me for being hasty, but a mother has some right to be anxious." She drew herself up, chin firm. "What have you done to my son?"

"I presume you are talking about Loial?" Lews Therin asked.

"Yes, what have you done with him. You told the Eldest of Elders of Stedding Tsofu that you would look after him… My Loial is too young to be outside, doing the things that you no doubt have him doing. Tell me where he is so I can take him back and see him properly married to Erith. She will settle his itchy feet." said Covril.

Well this was an interesting problem. Loial obviously did not want to be married. For that matter, he could not say with surety that Loial was even alive. Which made him think of a serious problem. The lack of a decent spy network could cause disasters. Master Ranma seemed to maintain one spy per country, just enough to affect a few things and keep him informed. That was obviously not going to suffice, if he was to win a war. Well, first he had to deal with the matter at hand.

"He is not here, as you have likely guessed. Last I saw him, he was setting out in good company. Beyond that, I will have to check. So you will have to stay here until I can determine how and where he is. And understand that it may well take some time." - some time to find out what had happened to him and Perrin, and then to decide what to do about it. After he dealt with some of the more immediate problems. 'I wonder if those Two Rivers people will be a decent source of channelers to start with.'

He was brought out of his thoughts by Covril speaking or shouting as it sounded, "Time, my Loial could be dying." He raised an eyebrow at that. What were they talking about. "We have to find him quickly and return to the stedding" she continued. Then he remembered, the Longing as these Ogier called it. He remembered a theory of some sort that the ogier had adapted to the stedding, and might not be able to live as well outside. Of course with Chora trees everywhere in his time. Much of what the ogier required from stedding was available everywhere. Only now there were almost no Chora trees. Yet another problem to be dealt with. He should have been more grateful for all of those things in his time. In this savage land into which he had been reborn, it seemed that the human race had decided to live like animals. Putting no real effort into rebuilding civilization. If he was going to help these people then they were going to need better schooling. And a great many more changes, just to survive Tarmon Gaidon. He would never be able to do it all, all by himself. He had to delegate. Berelain would be a good place to start. She could likely find the required people. Except that she was in Cairhein. Maybe he should ask his grandfather for help… Like that was ever going to happen again. Which meant finding some decent lords or ladies he supposed, capable of doing what he required. Best to set up a body of competent people to solve these problems. If he could find them that is. Covril clearing her throat loudly brought him back from his thoughts. He looked towards Haman. Loial had said that Haman knew more than anyone else he knew. "I suggest that you return to your rooms. I will get you word of Loial, when I can." He looked towards Sulin who was now standing in the throne room, along with gai'shain carrying several maps. He looked towards Haman again. "While you are here, I need information on the positions of the Waygates. It seems that no one here knows the location of all of them. So I would be pleased if you would help mark them on the maps that Sulin has brought." He motioned towards Sulin. "Sulin go with them, and bring the maps to me later." His voice had taken on a tone of command, and from the expression on Sulin's face she was caught between not liking it, and approving of it. He also wanted her to have people keep an eye on them. Impetuous ogier could cause problems, except there was no way to say it without them knowing about it, or at least knowing that something was kept from them, if he kept the conversation behind a shield. He would have to develop some hand signals, or code phrases. Though the Aiel possibly already had something of that sort, even discounting Maiden handtalk. Now he would just need to learn some of the necessary gestures. He could deal with it later.

The ogier were not pleased with being dismissed, but there was little they could do at the moment. He would decide what to do about the waygates after he had analyzed their strategic value. He suspected that wards would suffice for most.

Now back to more immediate problems. He had to get his hands on some decent informations sources, and gain channelers to back him. Not to mention that food storage could be a problem. As things were, there was no way to prepare for a war, with even a minimal expectation of success, if it was anything like the War of Power, or even the Trolloc Wars that had come afterwards. Yes… There was much work to do. He wondered if he could get his hands on a memo-manager somewhere, as he walked towards his rooms where he had left Ilyena, maybe she'd have some ideas.