Berisha Terakuni
Author: Atarah al'Norahn
Contents
General
Berisha Terakuni is an Aes Sedai of the Gray Ajah who sides with Elaida when the White Tower splits (ACoS, Prologue). She is from Arafel (KoD, Prologue).
She is described to be lean and hard-eyed (ACoS, Prologue). She is no taller than Egwene (KoD, Prologue).
Berisha has a reputation for having the strictest and often the harshest interpretation of the law. She follows the law to the letter, and never with any mercy. Despite this, she thinks that novices should be guided, not bludgeoned, which Egwene thinks to herself is a far cry from Berisha's view of the law (KoD, Prologue).
Timeline
- As Alviarin leaves Elaida's apartments, she sees several sisters. Berisha and Kera curtsy to her. Alviarin thinks to herself that Berisha and Kera are all too aware that they have been pushed aside by Elaida, and that perhaps they think that if they show courtesy to Alviarin, Alviarin might intercede with Elaida should it become necessary (ACoS, Prologue).
- Berisha (along with Barasine, Felaana, Katerine, and Pritalle) is one of the Aes Sedai who discovers Egwene at the harbor. She is one of the five sisters who travel in a carriage with a captured Egwene from the harbor to the Tower. She sits on the opposite side of the carriage from Egwene, with Katerine and Barasine. Egwene notices that she huddles away from the two Reds. When Berisha tells Barasine that Egwene will have to be tried by the Hall, and that because the Hall is not eager to please Elaida they may not Sit for the trial until they wish to, Barasine taunts her by saying that perhaps Berisha will be named the Chair of Pardon. Apparently, in some instances the Chair of Pardon faces the same penalty as the one she defends (KoD, Prologue).
- When Egwene and her captors reach the Tower, Berisha is the only one to allow Tower-liveried backriders to hand her down from the carriage, and Egwene suspects that she accepts the help so that she can reach the paving stones quickly while eyeing the other sisters. After Pritalle and Felaana take off, Berisha is left alone with Egwene and the two Reds, who turn on her and ask if she means to accompany them, when there is only one of her and two of them. When Berisha tells them that threats are prohibited by the Tower, Katerine responds that it was not a threat, only a question. Berisha, afraid, decides to take a walk in the grounds instead of accompanying them with Egwene to Silviana's office (KoD, Prologue).
- During the Last Battle she is assigned to the Traveling Grounds in Tar Valon. When a Bubble of Evil hits, she opens a gateway to the blight and is stabbed as she steps through (AMoL, Ch. 33)
Miscellaneous
Berisha wants to know what Egwene did to the harbor chain (KoD, Prologue).
When Berisha backs down before Katerine and Barasine's threats, Egwene thinks to herself that something is very wrong in the Tower, because no woman who gives in to fear as easily as Berisha did with the two Reds could have become Aes Sedai in the first place (KoD, Prologue).
Quotes
"Not tonight or tomorrow, Barasine, not unless Elaida is willing to summon the Sitters in the middle of the night, and they're willing to answer. This requires a High Court, no thing of minutes or even hours, and the Hall seems less eager to please Elaida than she might wish, small wonder. The girl will be tried, but the Hall will sit in the matter when they choose, I think." (Berisha to Barasine about Egwene; Knife of Dreams, Prologue).
Berisha licked her lips uneasily. Her face was bloodless, and her eyes grew wider and wider, as though she saw things she had no wish to see. "I...I think I will take a walk in the grounds," she said at least, in a strangled voice, and sidled away without ever taking her eyes from the two Reds. Katerine gave a small, satisfied laugh. (Berisha after Katerine and Barasine's threats; Knife of Dreams, Prologue).
