Notes: This chapter was a possible alternate ending but I ended up going for the final epilogue. I love badass Moiraine more than I love most things, and I kind of wanted to explore the Eelfinn/Aelfinn a little more, but in the end I thought maybe sort-of-mystery was better. Also Moiraine has already accepted her title by the end of For All The Perfect Things That I Doubt, so it seemed a little redundant for her to do so again.
It is a dream, Moiraine knows. She also knows that dreams are sometimes real.
"You called us," the Eelfinn says.
"Did I?" she asks.
"What payment do you offer?" it asks, and she hears the echo of two more voices. She does not need to look to know more have appeared behind her.
Moiraine considers. What price, to keep Egwene safe? Anything, really. She can't think of anything she wouldn't offer.
"Speak quickly, human," the first Eelfinn says. "What price for your child's eternal wellbeing?"
It is interesting, she thinks. The Eelfinn either does not know or does not care that Nynaeve gave birth to Egwene - but then, Egwene is Moiraine's too, and she always has been, and the Eelfinn operate on how the world is and not how others necessarily perceive it.
It doesn't matter either way.
"That isn't how this works," Moiraine says, and smiles when the Eelfinn blinks at her.
Her own foxes prowl a circle around the three Eelfinn and Moiraine. She feels her snake curl possessively around her ankle.
The Eelfinn flinch away from the foxes.
"The last time I visited," Moiraine says, "You took far more from me than we bargained."
Her snake pokes its head from beneath her skirt and bares its fangs, hissing. The Eelfinn eye it with distaste, but only briefly: they are too focused on the foxes, who have begun to glow.
"I forgot to set the terms of my departure," Moiraine continues, holding her hand down. Her snake wends its way up the outside of her dress until it can wrap itself around her wrist, and from there work up to her shoulders. "I realize that was foolish, and so you could keep me - but we did not agree to any of the rest."
"You escaped," the talkative Eelfinn hisses at her. "And you stole these!"
"I bought them," Moiraine says. "With all those memories you rifled through, all those feelings you fed on, all my talent you stole."
She waits until the Eelfinn look at her instead of her foxes. Fire and iron, they feared? She has brought both.
"I bought something else, too," she tells them, and wishes. The door to her left opens, back to her room in Malkier. She can see herself asleep, curled up against Nynaeve, Lan's arm slung over both of them as if he is afraid they will disappear if he doesn't touch them. Egwene is only two rooms over, she knows, and will wake Moiraine, Nynaeve, and Lan at first light, unless she decides she wants Thom to tell her a story first.
"Don't bother me again," she orders, and turns to leave.
"You are one of us now, Moiraine Damodred Aes Sedai," the Eelfinn call after her in eerie three-part harmony. They even stress her title the same way, disgust dripping from every syllable. "How long until you heed the call?"
Moiraine stops and looks over her shoulder. "You'd best hope I never do," she says. "And it is El'Moiraine to you."
She steps through the door, and it closes. She sleeps peacefully until Egwene throws herself onto the bed.