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Book 7, "Next Door to a Weaver"
Garenia: "That was Setalle Anan? How did she-? Light of Heaven! Even after seventy years, the tower would-"
Book 8, "Crimsonthorn"
Adeleas: "This is not Garenia Rosoinde. I finally recognised her. Zarya Alkese, a novice who ran away just before Vandene and I decided to retire."
"Elayne was recalling something she had heard this woman say the first time she met her. How would Zarya face novice white again after living as her own woman for seventy years?"
So, Zarya Alkese ran away seventy years ago, but Setalle was around to know her. That puts Setalle at at least 80 years old. But,
Book 7, "Small Sacrifices"
"The speaker [Setalle] stalked down the hall toward them, a woman with a touch of gray in her hair."
People who are 80 years old don't have a touch of gray in their hair - unless they have Slowed. Thus at one time Setalle was a channeler.
Book 7, "Small Sacrifices"
Setalle: "I know a few women who take in the occasional wilder or accepted who failed her test for the shawl... There must be at least fifty of them... Did you ever run away? If you did, you may as well go back. The Tower caught most runaways even in the War of Hundred Years."
Setalle: "You look to be, oh, 21 give or take a year, so you might be as much as ten years older if you've already reached the slowing."
Elayne: "Slowed. Slowing. How did an innkeeper in Ebou Dar know those words?"
Book 7, "The Kin"
Garenia: "What of this Setalle Anan, then? The girls know about the circle. The Anan woman knows about the Circle, though how she knows..."
Setalle knows some of the Kin's secrets, but not all correct. She tells Elayne and Nyneave of its existence and about the Knitting Circle, but she thinks there are only about 50 Kinswomen, so she has obviously never been a member of the Kin. Who knows this almost-true knowledge about the Kin? All Aes Sedai, as soon as they reach the Shawl (except Elayne and Nyneave, of course). Setalle's knowledge is almost exactly the same as how Vandene describes them in "The First Cup." She also knows Aes Sedai terminology such as "slowing," and she recognised Zarya Alkese, a novice runaway.
So, Setalle was undeniably Aes Sedai at one stage of her life.
Book 7, "Small Sacrifices"
So, Setalle has either been burnt out, stilled, or is disguising her ability to channel. How do we find out which?
Book 9, "Another Plan"
[Setalle tries to use the a'dam as a sul'dam, with Joline as the unfortunate damane. When she clips it on, there is no visible reaction, then when Joline tries to move, she gets cramps, as Egwene did in Book 2 when no-one was wearing the leash on their hand.]
So, Setalle is not hiding any ability to channel now - she doesn't have any! So, Stilled, or burnt out?
Book 6, Prologue
[Suian and Leanne, stilled, try to use the a'dam with Marigan as the leashed one.]
Suian's turn: "A look of wonder came onto her face immediately, then her eyes narrowed at Marigan. 'She hates us, and there's fear and... shock.'"Leanne's turn: "the delight on Leanne's [face] as the bracelet snapped shut..."
c.f. Setalle: Book 9, "Another Plan"
"Setalle closed the collar around the Aes Sedai's neck... Joline's mouth twitched, that was all... Side by side, the two women took a small step. Joline frowned uncertainly..."
The two stilled women are amazed at the reaction from the contact of the a'dam. Setalle shows no reaction at all. But is it realistic to say that burned out women and stilled would have different reactions?
The Guide, page 12
"The stilled woman, like the gentled man, is cut off from the True source, always tantalised by the sense of saidar, yet unable to touch or channel it. The woman who is burned out can neither channel nor sense the Power."
Since the burnt out woman cannot even sense the source, at seems more likely that she will not be able to sense a damane through an a'dam.
So, Setalle was burnt out.
Book 3, Glossary, "Talents"
"The last known Dreamer was Corianin Nedeal, who died in 526 NE."Book 3, "A World of Dreams"
"Corianin Nedeal's notes, everything she had leaned in fifty years of studying that peculiar ter'angreal."
Assuming for some reason Corianin didn’t die as was believed, we know she studied for 50 years after she attained the shawl on one ter'angreal, and she must have had at least 5 years for Novice and Accepted each, starting at about 15 years old, so she is at least 550. Even had she been burnt out in 526 and faked her death, she would be on her last legs of life. However,
Book 7, "Small Sacrifices"
"The speaker [Setalle] stalked down the hall toward them, a woman with a touch of gray in her hair."
A touch of grey does not begin to describe a woman, however slowed, coming close to her last years.
So, Setalle isn't Corianin.
Book 8, "Unweaving"
"Martine Janata also knew what she was doing... She was the last sister to really make a business of studying ter'angreal. She did it for over 40 years, almost from the time she reached the shawl... the one day Martine's maid found her burnt out. That was more than 25 years ago... she vanished once she was well enough to slip out of the Tower."
So, she reached the Shawl at a bit more than 65 years ago - say 70 or so. So she would have been at the White Tower when Zarya ran away, which fits the evidence from (1).
Yes.
