Here's a thought that I had after re-re-reading WoT.....Kari al' Thor could be As- if she was stilled or if she was accepted and got thrown out of the tower for bonding a warder too early.... Elyane did it with B. And I am sure that she is not the first one. And there is some kind of taboo on it in the tower there must be a reason for it. Perhaps Kari broke this rule and so was thrown out of the tower for it.... Plus... if Kari was accepted or AS and stilled it would make sense that Tam would not have died or gone nuts or whatever when the bond was severed- he still had her for a few years and he had Rand. I think it more likely that she was Accepted than AS. The other part of my theory is this---What if AS can't have children? I do not ever recall reading that they can-- just that they don't. Can they? Perhaps that is why Kari was so willing to accept a child found by her husband-because she know she couldn't have one of her own. Just a thought.