The Battle of Cairhien
Author: Alenya Al'Roran
Published: December 9 2019 Tar Valon Times Blog
What might the Second Aiel War have been like—from inside the city of Cairhien?
20 Maighdal 999 NE
My husband says that we’ve been doing good business this week, but I fear for what is to come. There is a rumor that the Aiel are on their way here, and I do not know if Cairhien can handle another invasion. I feel like we’ve barely recovered from the last one twenty years ago. It might not have hurt the nobles all that much, but here in the lower levels of the city, it was much harder to recover.
I guess we’ll just have to see how things turn out.
23 Maighdal 999 NE
The rumors say the Aiel are getting closer to the city. It turns out that it’s not just a rumor, but almost a certainty. They have attacked a bunch of small towns between here and the Waste, and the survivors are starting to pour into the city. We haven’t even had time to recover from the civil war, and the nobles are too busy playing their “game of houses” like our lives are actually a game. I think my husband and I would do best to stay here in the city, but we’d better get provisions before more refugees arrive here.
Or, worse, the Aiel.
25 Maighdal 999 NE
It’s happened. The Aiel have arrived and the city is under siege. We have a lot of refugees in the city, now. My husband is a cobbler, so we have barred the doors and windows of the store, and we are holed up in our home above the shop. I hate to keep people out in the elements and in danger of whatever these Aiel might throw over the wall, but I need to think of my family. They will always come first, so my husband and I, and our children, will stay up here for the duration. We laid in stores at the start of the civil war, and we added to them when the refugees started entering the city. We will endure.
26 Maighdal 999 NE
The Aiel burned the Foregate. We could see the smoke from the windows, but the people on the streets are saying they didn’t get through the walls. May the Creator help us if they do.
8 Choren 999 NE
More Aiel have arrived outside the city, but it looks like they are not a part of the Aiel who were already here. If we stand on the roof, we can see them at the top of the hill preparing for battle, but there is no way for us to know if they are here to help us or to attack. After the last time the Aiel were here, I’m not going to get my hopes up that they are going to help us.
9 Choren 999 NE
The battle is already over. It happened so fast, and was over in a day. There was a lot of lightning falling out of a cloudless sky, which terrified us all. My children and I hid under the beds. I’m not sure it would have helped if we had been hit, but it made the children feel better, and that’s all that matters.
My husband says the battle was something to see, but I’m glad I didn’t watch. From what we can see now, there was a lot of death, and I don’t think I would have liked seeing people killed. It turns out the Aiel who came later on were here to help us. There are rumors they came with the Dragon Reborn. I don’t know if that is good news or bad.
10 Choren 999 NE
The Dragon Reborn has entered the city. He earned a lot of regard here in Cairhien by giving the Tairens a well-earned slap and put us on an even footing with them. The nobles were so happy they offered him the throne of Cairhien. He denied it, and is only going to rule as a regent until the Lady Elayne can come from Caemlyn to claim the throne through her father’s bloodline.
I don’t know how things are going to turn out in the future, but the Tairens are sending grain into the city, and the Dragon has already started ordering people to help rebuild the Foregate and care for the wounded. I am really hoping things are going to improve for us from here on out. My husband will reopen the store now that things are settling down, and our family is safe.
That is all I can ask for.
