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Sucks to be blown out of the water there, but what can one do. Also strange considering the circumstances. Moiraine did start before her but maybe Siuan grew faster.
Moiraine and Siuan joined the Tower on the same day. Moraine's training before that was pretty short, per the companion, and she can't have been using the OP all that much at such an early stage. Further, we have this from Vandene's entry:
She
progressed in near lockstep with her sister; they were raised within a month of each other in both instances. About 5'5" tall, and slender and graceful with a straight back—a mirror image of her sister—she wore her nearly white hair gathered at the back of her neck and had dark eyes. Vandene had a potential strength level of 20(
but never achieved it because her older sister was weaker;
some women who were close did not diverge greatly in strength even if their potentials did.
The situation is different here. Despite her same start time, though, Vandene stopped growing when her sister did. With Moiraine, despite her earlier start, her rate of growth was such that she and Siuan also grew in "lockstep". It seems close women do grow in "lockstep". A similar thing seems to have happened with Bera and Kiruna, and for further proof that Moiraine and Siuan were close:
A frown creased her forehead for a moment, and then Moiraine felt that small tingle again as the light of saidar briefly surrounded the other woman. Any woman who could channel could feel another wielding the Power if she was close enough, but the tingle was unusual. Women who spent a lot of time together in their training sometimes felt it, but the sensation was supposed to fade away over time. Hers and Siuan’s never had. Sometimes Moiraine thought it was a sign of how close their friendship was.
Will reply to your longer post above later. Don't have my computer on me.