Elayne Trakand, Daughter-Heir of Andor, lounged on a chair in the sitting room off her apartments for a few well earned seconds, resting. She was all too busy, nowadays. Sea Folk Windfinders to appease, the army supporting Arymilla, a competitor for the throne of Andor, camped right outside the gates to defend against, Houses to somehow convince to support her, or at least not support Arymilla. The list went on and on.

Ever since she had returned to her mother's palace in Caemlyn, she had hardly a moment to herself. Rhavin, one of the forsaken, posing as Lord Gaebril, had used compulsion on her mother, Queen Morgase, forcing her to commit atrocious acts, and eventually killing her. Some said Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn, had done the deed, but she had it from Rand's own mouth that Gaebril was actually Rhavin, and that Rhavin had been her murderer, not him.

Even though Elayne loved Rand with all her heart, he could still be a woolhead at times. After all, he didn't really need to have come charging in to Caemlyn through one of those accursed Gateways of his with several Asha'man, intent on killing Rhavin, and likewise oblivious of all else. He needn't have brought the atrocious Dragon Throne into the throne room, putting the Sun Throne of andor off to the side like a trophy. He definitely shouldn't have brought the Aiel into the city, or started the Black Tower nearby for training those accursed Asha'man of his. However, the mistake he made that still had the most negative repercussions, the one that, above all else, she wished he hadn't done was say that he was going to give the throne of Andor, the Lion Throne, to her. The Daughter-Heir does not receive the throne from anyone, especially not a man.

All this reminded her of a saying Nynaeve used, that she had rather taken a liking to. It's always a man's fault. How true that was. In fact, in many, many respects, he was the bane of her life. Why ever did she have to be in love with him? It wasn't fair. Being in love with a normal man can be pretty infuriating at times. The stubborn and muley ones were even worse, but even so, women could usually get them to be reasonable if they tried. But why did she have to be in love with Rand, the Dragon Reborn, destined to go mad, fight the Dark One, break the world and save it, and die on the slopes of Shayol Ghul? Why?

It wasn't that she didn't love him. She loved him with all her heart. But at times it seemed like all the troubles in her life stemmed from Rand. It reminded her of one of those songs Thom Merrilin had sang to her a long, long time ago. Thou cause of all my torment, O love, the fault is thine! She remembered, long ago, laughing at the song's sly sarcasm, whiling sitting on Thom's lap, pulling his long, white mustaches. She had sworn to him, in the foolishness of a young child, that she would never, ever, fall in love. Thom had just laughed, telling her it wasn't that easy.

Elayne decided she would discuss this with Aviendha when next she saw her. She would understand. In the meantime, though, she had work to do. She can't simply lie about reminiscing all day, can she. She got up, slowly, and went off to see how Birgitte's recruiting for the Queen's Guards was going. There was a lot of work to do.


Thank you for reading this. This is my first story ever, and I wrote for a teacher who has never read WoT, so that is why it explains a lot of things that aren't necessary if you have read it. I really, really, really, really, really, would appreciate some reviews. Thanks.