Disclaimer: Neither The Wheel of Time nor Dragon Age: Inquisition belong to me, but rather to their respective creators; if you can recognize it, it ain't mine.
Update 8/18/16 - It's been a long summer, but neither I nor the story have perished; look for the next chapter within a week or two.
Stepping out of the Gateway in the Mountains of Mist, Perrin Aybara took in the overgrown Shienaran camp. It had been abandoned two years prior, the soldiers descending to Ghealdan while he chased after Rand with Moiraine, Lan, and Loial. That felt like a lifetime ago; Tarmon Gai'don had come, the Last Battle had been won, and the blacksmith's apprentice had found himself saddled with the burden of lordship. Perrin had stopped resisting, but he doubted it would ever rest easy on his shoulders. He couldn't quite grasp how men and women he'd known all his life suddenly needed his approval to do what they'd done their entire lives.
Loial exited the Gateway behind Perrin, the tall Ogier stooping to pass through, followed by Thom and Moiraine. The Aes Sedai let the Gateway snap closed as soon as they were through. Moiraine remained as composed as ever, but Perrin could smell the hint of exhaustion on her. Traveling was not where her Talents lay, and even with her bracelet angreal, reaching the valley took a heavy toll. Still, she had insisted against involving any more people than necessary on this excursion.
"So this was the so-called 'First Camp of the Dragon.'" Thom's wry voice broke the silence. "Your book doesn't do justice to just how… humble it was, Master Ogier. No offense meant, of course."
"Peace, husband," Moiraine said as Loial harrumphed. "More than anyone, you should know that the truth deserves embellishment from time to time."
Perrin simply shook his head. Ever since the Gleeman-turned-Warder had arrived with Moiraine a week back, he and Loial had spared no opportunity to disparage the other's work. It was good natured, but they each had their professional pride to uphold, even while they traded notes and swapped stories. Neither Thom's epic nor Loial's history would have been possible without the other's assistance. Those involved had been scattered to the eight corners of the world – while both of them had their trusted sources, each also knew the other had the foresight to consider posterity during their travels.
"It is fortunate I recognized the place when it was described, or we may have lost weeks searching; the Wheel weaves in mysterious ways," Moiraine continued. "But I see no sign of this 'tear' that so worried the Wise Ones. It is possible it is something purely of Tel'aran'rhiod, of course, but I would not consider that a comfort – that place is strange, even as it mirrors the waking world. What of your friends, Perrin? Have they any knowledge of this occurrence?"
"It is unnatural, but beyond that I cannot say; no pack has remained nearby, in the Wolf Dream or the waking world. If this has happened before, the memory is a shadow of a whisper to the wolves." That Perrin could speak with wolves wasn't exactly a secret any more, but that he walked the Wolf Dream was known to only a few; a bare handful among the White and Black Towers had the knowing of it, as well as his wife Faile and his closest friends. Among the Wise One Dreamers, of course, knowledge had spread quickly, but though they disapproved they considered it a private matter. They considered him a child, even after demonstrating he wasn't just some untrained pup playing in the lion's den. A talented child, but a child nonetheless. The Wise Ones had seemed ready to string him up when he had described shifting bodily between the Wolf Dream and the waking world, and had calmed only when he explained he had been unable to repeat that feat. No matter that it had been critical to the Light's victory, they saw it as a thing of evil, the way they always had.
Moiraine believed that it was the strain the Dark One had placed on the Pattern that had allowed Perrin and Slayer to step between the dreaming and waking worlds, and he was inclined to agree with her. During Tarmon Gai'don, the Wolf Dream had felt like it was collapsing, drawing so close to the waking world that the two could touch; stepping from one to the other was as easy as breathing, once he knew how. Rand's re-sealing of the Dark One's prison had restored the normal order of things. Now he could only reach the Wolf Dream while he slept – even at Shayol Ghul, and at Merrilor where Balefire had scorched the Pattern.
"Unnatural how, Perrin?" Loial asked. He cradled a notebook in his massive hand, and Perrin could smell his concern. "Do you think it is Leafblighter's touch, his counterstroke, like the tainting of saidin? The world is not prepared for another Breaking, not so soon after the Last Battle."
"I don't think so. It feels wrong, but somehow not the same way as a Fade or Trolloc. It doesn't feel like the Bore, either – I've been close enough to know if that were the case." Perrin shivered. Thinking of that place reminded him of Lanfear, how she'd used Compulsion in an attempt to force him to kill Moraine. Burn him, but she'd nearly succeeded; he had nightmares that place, of killing Lanfear, of what might have happened if he hadn't. Neither were pleasant. "Besides, it was first seen barely a month ago, and it's been twice that since Rand sealed the Bore. It is something new, I think."
"The Father of Lies has power and guile, but I am inclined to agree with Perrin, Loial. I was linked with Rand when he sealed the Bore, and while my memory is strained, I do not believe it to be his doing; his prison is too tightly sealed for him to touch the world, not for another Age or more." Moiraine strode across the campsite, walking back and forth as though searching for something. "I sense nothing of saidar, no trace of weaves, and no obvious sign of a ter'angreal that might be responsible. Perhaps I should have asked for an Asha'man to search for traces of saidin, but what is done is done – I doubt he would have been successful in any case, and if what I believe is true, the fewer who know, the better. It would not do to have a loose tongue incite panic." She turned to Perrin. "You may sense what I cannot, though it would confirm my fears. Can you feel it? Can you touch Tel'aran'rhiod?"
Perrin grimaced, but gave her a not and reached out with his mind. It was, after all, why Moiraine had passed through the Two Rivers on her way to the hidden camp; she believed that the 'tear' in the dream world reflected a tear in the Pattern, rather than something physical or some artifact of the Power. If that were the case – if the Pattern was weaker here – he should be able to shift into the Wolf Dream. It wouldn't explain anything, not directly, but his failure or success could at least give them a clue. Besides, if this turned from a curiosity into a threat, he would be called upon to contain or eliminate it; though the camp was on the border of Ghealdan, across the Mountains of Mist from the Two Rivers, Queen Alliandre had sworn fealty to Perrin in the events leading up to the Last Battle. He owed it to her, if nothing else. Pacing through the campsite, he let the world fall away as he brought himself to the brink of sleep –
His mind ground to a halt. The road toward the Wolf Dream was forked, one path leading to sleep, the other to… somewhere in between. Signaling his companions, Perrin steadied himself.
"I'm going to make the attempt. Hopefully I'll be gone just a moment – I don't intend to linger, but time moves strangely in the Wolf Dream. If I'm not back by nightfall, contact the Wise Ones. I've caught their scent around the tear, though I have yet to see one of them; they seem to be keeping watch over it. They'll know if something goes wrong." Moiraine seemed to take it in stride, but Perrin's nose could sense her apprehension; Thom and Loial made no such attempt to conceal their concern.
"Faile knows I'm here, so don't try and sidestep her questions; you'll just make things worse when I get back. Light knows she already thinks I'm a wool-brained idiot for agreeing to help," he continued, determined not to let either get a word in. He didn't need them trying to talk him out of it – Loial at least would try, and Perrin feared he stood a strong chance of succeeding if he did. Still, this was a thing that needed to be done.
Perrin shifted, and the world wavered around him.
The wooden huts remained, having stood long enough to achieve a level of permanency, but his companions faded along with the echoes of birdsong and animal cries. He had grown used to the sourceless light and sensation of watching eyes that permeated the Wolf Dream, and barely took notice of the change, his attention focused on the thing in front of him that Aes Sedai and Wise Women Dreamwalkers had named a 'tear.'
Shining a pale green, it undulated in an unseen wind, resembling nothing so much as sheet hung up to dry. A sense of wrongness flowed out from it, almost overpowering at this distance and magnified by the strange sight of it – even with eyes fixed on the thing, Perrin couldn't tell if it had too many angles or too few. It was real, he supposed, in the sense that it had an independent existence – the first time he had seen it, he had tried to dissolve it as he would a nightmare, and it hadn't wavered. Later, he had learned that the Aiel Wise Ones had brought their full will to bear on it with similar results.
Perrin circled the languidly swirling energies, reaching out with his mind. Walking the Wolf Dream in the flesh did not simply let one influence the dream world more strongly; it made you more, and Perrin hoped it would give him a glimpse of what this tear was. To his senses, it was almost like a tight knot in the middle of a sheet, hard where the rest of the dream was malleable. All of the dream except for a bush to his right. He focused; the scent was elusive, well masked, but it still hung on the surrounding terrain.
"Well met, Amys. I trust you and your clan are well?"
The bush shuddered, resolving into a brown-shawled woman of indeterminate age. Blue eyes peered past white hair as she fixed Perrin with a disapproving glare. "You are here in the flesh, boy. I thought you had more sense than that. Moreover, I recall you saying this was a thing now beyond you." Light, she could make him feel like he was fifteen again, being dragged before the Village Council for one of Mat's harebrained ideas. But he was that boy no longer, and refused to be cowed.
"I have no plans on staying, Amys, and I'd appreciate if you stopped worrying over me like I'm a stray pup." That earned him a snort. The Wise Ones still saw other Dreamwalkers as intruders into their domain, and while they had come to accept he was no novice, he still ranked a bare step above the Aes Sedai who needed ter'angreal to touch the Dream. "I was testing a theory of Moiraine Sedai, that this so-called 'tear' reflects a weakness in the Pattern. She believes that the weakness caused by the Dark One was what allowed me to shift between the Dream and the waking world; if I could do so while nearby this 'tear'… it does not feel like his taint, but what else could corrode the Pattern?"
Amys' face grew troubled. "I cannot agree with the Aes Sedai's methods, but her reasoning is sound. We will gather the clans; I will leave it to you to gather the Wetlander nations. If this is Sightblinder's work, it would not do to be caught unprepared."
Perrin nodded, but some instinct sent Mah'alleinir flickering from his belt to his hand, a dagger formed in his off hand as he grasped the haft of the massive hammer. Amys felt it too – she grasped a short spear, ready to throw, and her garments were replaced by the cadin'sor she once wore as a Maiden of the Spear. It took Perrin a moment to realize what had disturbed him: the knot in the Wolf Dream that was the tear was unraveling. Rather than disappearing, however, the ghastly green shape seemed to be growing larger, tendrils reaching toward the sunless sky. Shapes were forming in it, faint but growing sharper. He heart a catch of someone's voice, as though from a great distance.
"Focus past-"
Focus past what? Perrin wondered, thoughts racing. "Amys! I'm going to try to return to the waking world – get clear and warn the others," he bellowed, taking a shaking step toward what was becoming a tear in truth. Tell Faile I love her, he finished in his head. Saying it out loud would be tantamount to accepting the worst.
Perrin took another step forward, struggling as though swimming against a current, and another, reaching for the path to the waking world that danced just out of reach. The tear was his only way back, and he had strayed away from it while speaking with Amys; precious few had known the weave to reach the Wolf Dream, and they had all fallen in the Last Battle. He was out of options. Just one more step, and he would be close enough to –
The tear exploded in a wave of blinding light, swallowing him, and his world turned to darkness.
Hello folks! I'm Nhobdy, and this here is the first of (hopefully many) chapters that are the brainchild of wondering "How would Perrin react to getting stuck in the Fade during Here Lies the Abyss?" It segwayed into considering how the Dread Wolf would react to a Wolfbrother, and kinda grew from there.
This is also my first go at actually writing one of these damn plot ideas, so I'd appreciate any feedback (positive, constructive, or - Maker forbid - negative) you might have.