A widow, she ruled her extended family with a strong hand; she was a very strong-willed and forceful woman. She had sons and daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren; her eldest child was born in 958 NE, her youngest in 977 NE. After she was taken on as a novice, most of the Accepted found themselves asking her to do things instead of telling her, and some found themselves doing what she said. She became a leader and a stabilizing influence among the novices. Even some Aes Sedai found themselves being less forceful with her than they normally would be with a novice, and others bore down harder, all because of her own forceful personality and disturbingly direct looks. She organized the novices into “families,” which enhanced group cohesiveness and made handling all the novices easier.
Sharmad Zeffar. A Domani woman. She was one of the refugees who went to the Two Rivers. She and Rhea Avin were both interested in Wil al’Seen and went to Faile to get her decision on which one had the right to him. Faile sent them to Daise Congar, the Wisdom, to sort them out.
Sharom. A huge white sphere, one thousand feet in diameter, used as a scientific research facility. It floated high above the blue and silver domes of the Collam Daan during the Age of Legends. Mierin accidentally blew up the Sharom while experimenting with a new source for the One Power and drilling into the Dark One’s prison.
Sharplyn, Anthelle. An Andoran noblewoman and High Seat of her minor House. She was loyal to Elayne.
shatayan. The term for a head housekeeper in the Borderland nations.
Shayol Ghul. During the Age of Legends, Shayol Ghul was an idyllic island in a cool sea, a favorite escape of those who enjoyed the rustic. After the Breaking, it became a mountain in the Blasted Lands, where the Dark One’s prison was located. More precisely, Shayol Ghul was a sort of focus point, a place where the Dark One’s prison lay close to the world—there was a thinness in the Pattern, allowing the Bore to be detected—so the focus of the Dark One’s strength was there.
shea dancers. Seanchan dancers who wore transparent veils almost identical to those worn by Taraboner women, but little else. They were a favorite topic of discussion among Seanchan soldiers.
Shedren. The clan chief of the Daryne Aiel after the Last Battle, seen in Aviendha’s visions of the future in Rhuidean.
sheepstongue. A root used in tea along with rannel for an energy boost; it had a terrible lingering taste. It was also used to alleviate eye pain and as a punishment for silliness. Nynaeve, mad at Elayne, offered to give her sheeptongue and red daisy tea for a headache that the latter must have gotten from thinking too much, but it was unclear whether she really used it for headache in other cases.
Shefar, Ispan. See Ispan Shefar
Shein Chunla. An Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah who served as Amyrlin from 578 to 601 NE. Shein, the youngest Amyrlin since Deane Aryman, was a weak Amyrlin. She attempted to run the Hall of the Tower autocratically, but failed miserably. She had been the head of the Green Ajah—although this was not known outside the Ajah—and was well respected by other Ajahs. It was not until she was chosen Amyrlin that they saw examples of how she had run the Green. The other Ajahs did not find that way to their liking at all. The Hall made her little more than a figurehead and ceremonial puppet. Although the world at large thought she died in office, in fact she was toppled by a rebellion, and a good part of the Hall that had tolerated her fell with her. Many in the Hall had been willing to deal with and around her, but discontent grew until the Sitters who were no longer willing carried out a coup. Shein actually lived another fifty-one years in a very closely controlled exile until she died in 652 NE. There was some evidence that she was assassinated—smothered in her sleep by her guards—because of a plot to return her to power. The secret Tower records did describe several plots that were aimed at returning her to Tar Valon at the very least. All of these were dealt with strongly, and Shein herself was punished in each instance, though there was no concrete evidence that she knew of all the plots. It was fairly certain that she knew of some.
Sheldyn. Estates, or the location of estates, held by Ellorien Traemane in Andor. In a meeting with other House seats, she announced her intention of returning to Sheldyn after refusing to stand for Elayne, but she said that Traemane would ride behind the Lion of Andor at the Last Battle.
shellback. An animal also called a goerant (singular and plural). Its body was covered in hard shell armor. The shellback grew to as much as twenty-five pounds. It lived in burrows, could dig itself into the ground very quickly and could move beneath the ground by burrowing a tunnel. Aviendha killed and ate one while traveling to Rhuidean.
Shemaen. An Aes Sedai. Adelorna reportedly told Shemaen that Gitara had had a Foretelling that the Last Battle “would come in the lifetimes of sisters now breathing.” Ellid overheard them, and reported it to other novices.
Shemari. An Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah and the rebel contingent. A librarian, she was square-faced and vigorous, and curtsied to Egwene in a way that seemed like mockery. She and Phaedrine linked were barely able to form a gateway large enough for them to walk through.
Shemerin. A plump Aes Sedai of the Yellow Ajah and the loyalist contingent, with a strength level of 15(3). Born in 828 NE, she went to the White Tower in 845 NE. After spending fourteen years as a novice and seventeen years as Accepted, she was raised to the shawl in 876 NE. The length of her training resulted from her unsuitability for testing; except for her potential, she might have been put out of the Tower without being allowed to test for Accepted; as it was, she refused the first two times. Shemerin hid for three days after finally passing, and when she was found she was still shivering. She took all three tries to pass the testing for the shawl, and barely passed the third.
Shemerin had a good talent for Healing and a very high skill in administration and organization, as well as a deft hand in internal White Tower politics, but she never had the outward Aes Sedai calm. Often she seemed slightly anxious, wringing her hands and nearly fainting. She was, in point of fact, a coward and knew it. During her brief time out of the Tower, supposedly looking for a Warder, she actually went no farther from Tar Valon than she could manage.
Shemerin served on the council advising Elaida when she took the Amyrlin Seat; Elaida grew tired of her lack of backbone and demoted her to Accepted for having shown herself unfit to wear the shawl. Although the Sitters were aghast at the precedent, the Hall seemed unable to figure out how to oppose the decree. The Mistress of Novices received orders from the Amyrlin to pick up “the Accepted Shemerin” wherever she was to be found and escort her to the Accepted quarters, where she was to be held. Silviana took this as some sort of imposed penance, took along a pair of Red sisters for assistants, snatched Shemerin from the hallways and hustled her to the Accepted quarters, where she was stuffed into an Accepted’s dress despite her protests, since Silviana had no patience with that sort of thing. Elaida entered Shemerin’s name anew on the roll of the Accepted. Most sisters thought that Shemerin herself should simply refuse to accept this and return to her own quarters, something which she was constitutionally unable to do, especially since it would have meant trying to face down Silviana. In a way, her ineffectiveness at protesting and the inertia and indecision of the rest of the sisters as to what to say or do led to nothing happening until everyone simply drifted into realizing, or deciding, that she had been being treated as Accepted long enough that she was Accepted. She was also treated very strictly by Silviana, the loyalist Mistress of Novices, who felt that Shemerin was in truth Aes Sedai no matter what was decreed, and as such she should have known both how to maintain the dignity of an Aes Sedai and how to stay within the rules so long as she was kept as an Accepted.