Lan awoke gasping, but when he tried to sit up, his arm and stomach were on fire. Moiraine was breathing heavily as well and she was terribly pale.
"Finally!" Nynaeve was by his side and pressed a towel on his arm. "What did you do?"
This was the time, Lan noticed the blood on his arm. It was the arm, where the sword had hit him. Moiraine was trying to push herself up, but her arms were shaking as if she had no strength anymore. But what shocked him more was that her tunic was drenched in blood.
The warder helped his Aes Sedai to sit upright, while he ignored his own pain, then he was checking her for wounds. Nynaeve growled when he freed his arm from her grip, so, he was able to use both of his hands.
"Lan, stop.", Moiraine whispered, but he couldn't. There was so much blood! "Lan, it's not mine."
Finally, her words came through to him and his hands stopped. It wasn't her blood? Confused, he watched how Moiraine was putting her hands – which were cold as ice – on his stomach and examined the cut on it.
"What happened?", Moiraine whispered "Why… were you there?"
"You don't remember?", Nynaeve asked confused, while she returned with a new towel for Lan's stomach.
Moiraine furrowed her forehead, while she was trying to remember anything, but it was all gone. "I… know that Rand was in pain, and then… Lan was… I felt Lan, but… that's impossible. Our bond is masked! What did those herbs do?!"
The question was for the wisdom, who was examining Lan's stomach. The bleeding had stopped, and she cleaned it with the towel. "They allowed Lan to enter your mind. At least, I hope that's what they did. Have you been able to see something?"
The warder lay back on the bed, while the two women were still hovering over him. The cuts weren't deep and the pain wasn't that bad. "How did you enter my mind?" Moiraine wasn't happy about this development. "You shouldn't be able to…!"
"Moiraine." She heard his exhaustion, and for a second, it looked as if she wanted to continue with her questions, but then she bit her lip and laid her hands on his stomach. Lan watched how she closed her eyes and concentrated, and a sad smile appeared on his face.
Even Nynaeve watched the Aes Sedai curious as if she wanted her to channel, but she realized soon that Moiraine was still not able to use the One Power. The wisdom stood up to get some fabric to patch up Lan's wounds.
Meanwhile, Lan covered the cold hands of his bonded woman with his bloody ones. "Moiraine." Her eyes opened fluttering and were shinning from the tears, which she was trying to hold back. He knew how much she wished she could heal him and that it was hurting her that she couldn't.
"So, our plan didn't work?", Nynaeve asked when she returned with the fabric and her herbs "You didn't see anything from Rand?"
"Give me a sheet and the quill."
"No, I need to take care of your wounds!"
"Do you want me to forget what I saw? Give me a sheet, Nynaeve." The young woman was torn between her duty to help Lan and getting new information about her friend. Finally, her curiosity won and she grabbed the sheet, quill, and ink and brought it to Lan, who was getting in an upright position again. Moiraine and Nynaeve protested, but he ignored both of them and started to make a simple drawing of the mountain, which he had seen Rand on, with the Blight and Fal Dara in the background.
"Is this Fal Dara?" Although the wisdom was angry with the warder for moving, she couldn't resist looking at the drawing.
"It looks like he is moving East and he is using the mountains.", Moiraine added "What is this?"
Lan drew the burning symbol, which he had seen on the black layer in Moiraine's mind, into the right corner of the sheet. This was probably important and he couldn't risk it to forget it. Sighing he put the sheet and quill down. He still had his memory about what had happened with Rand and the other Lan, but he wasn't sure how long it would stay this way. He needed to tell them everything. This way, they wouldn't lose important information.
The tired warder lay down on his back again, and immediately, Nynaeve was over him again to patch him up. "I need you both to listen because I don't know for how long I will remember everything. Don't interrupt me and just listen." Of course, both opened their mouth to protest, so, he growled: "I said listen!"
Moiraine glared at him, while Nynaeve was mumbling something he didn't understand. Those two stubborn women were driving him crazy!
"It looks like Moiraine and Rand are connected through a black string of weave. I don't know if it is the same thing, which Loial saw the other days before. When the string bonds them, it creates this room, where it puts Rand's and Moiraine's spirits together. She can hear everything Rand and the Dark One are saying to each other, but she can't see the Dark One or what he is showing to Rand. The boy can't even hear her or me."
"You tried to talk to him?" Of course, Nynaeve couldn't help herself and interrupted him, while her hands were still busy putting the fabric over his open wound.
"I did, but it didn't work. And as soon as he awakes, Rand and the room disappear."
The wisdom was done with his stomach, but he was still covered in blood. Nynaeve handed Moiraine the wet towel, while she was taking care of the wound at his upper arm. At first, the Aes Sedai looked a little bit lost, as if she wouldn't know what to do with it, then she used it to wash off the blood from his body.
"What does this symbol mean, which you draw?" Lan tried to grab Moiraine's hands to stop her, but she swatted them away and continued with her work. "Answer the damn question."
"Do you know that your mind is built like the White Tower?" Her eyes met his for a second before she looked away. So, she did know. "Well, I should be thankful for that, because it made it easier for me to find what I had been looking for. When I arrived in your mind, I noticed that the door of the Hall of the Tower was covered with a black, shining layer, which was moving like waves, and weird symbols appeared and disappeared."
Nynaeve stopped in her movement and glared at him angrily. "Let me guess. You examined this door BEFORE you went looking for Rand."
Lan gave her a bittersweet smile. She was so predictable. "No, I didn't. But thank you for proving me right. You really do assume the worst of me."
At least, she looked ashamed at his words and her cheeks turned red, but her voice was strong when she answered: "I don't assume the worst of you. But it is no secret that you put HER first."
Of course, Moiraine opened her mouth to argue with the young woman, but this wasn't the time for it. "She is my Aes Sedai, Nynaeve. She will always be first." Lan felt how Nynaeve's grip around his upper arm became tighter for one heartbeat. He didn't mean to be so harsh on her, but now he couldn't take it back. All he could do was to explain everything to them. "When I made it through the barrier, I didn't know what I should expect. When I recognized the White Tower, I was relieved that I would have a home-field advantage, but I still had no idea where to start my search. On my way, I passed the hall and saw this… weird layer on its door, but I decided to search for Moiraine AND Rand first. This is when I saw this black string, which led me to them. At one point, Rand woke up, and the room was starting to crumble, but the door back to the White Tower was still there. Moiraine told me that she couldn't see it, so, I asked her to keep herself from waking up, while I was running back to the hall."
Again, Moiraine furrowed her forehead in confusion and shook her head. Obviously, she couldn't remember their conversation. "The problem was that Moiraine has a protector, who fights against everyone, who is invading her mind."
"I have what?!" The shocked voice of his Aes Sedai sounded higher than normal.
Nynaeve sounded more curious than shocked when she asked: "What kind of protector?"
"Well… it's me." His words were rewarded with silence. Both women looked as if he had lost his mind. "It's the truth! Your mental protection-" He lifted his hand and tapped with one finger against Moiraine's temple. "-appears as me. And he even has my sword. As much as I feel honored that you choose me as your mental protection form, I have to tell you that it's no fun to fight against a version of myself. Besides, I've been your warder for over twenty years. I'm disappointed that he attacked me. He should have recognized me at some point."
Moiraine touched her temple, as if she was listening to herself, then she looked at her other hand, which was lying over Lan's stomach wound. "My protection did this to you?" Her voice wasn't more than a whisper, and there even was a hint of panic.
Quickly, Lan intertwined his fingers with hers. "Technically, I did this to myself."
"You said that my mental protection…"
"I could've run, Moiraine. It was my decision to stay."
This time, she looked him directly in the eyes. She was searching for a lie, so, he waited calmly until she was satisfied. "Why did you stay?"
He didn't need to answer. She read the confirmation in his eyes. Before she was able to pull away from him, he tightened his grip on her hand. "This symbol was different than the others. It was practically burning. I thought that this was worth remembering it."
"What does it mean?", Nynaeve asked the Aes Sedai, who shook her head.
"I don't know. I haven't seen it in my whole life."
Nynaeve sighed heavily as if she had expected this answer. Then she stood up and moved to the door. "Well, whatever it is, we'll figure it out. But not tonight. I'll go and search for new bedsheets. You can't use them anymore."
"I get them myself.", Moiraine protested and tried to climb out of the bed.
Lan, who had been concentrated on Moiraine's movement, noticed in the last second, that the wisdom had returned to the bed and she was furious. She gave the Aes Sedai a hard push. This way, the exhausted woman was landing beside Lan with their intertwined fingers beneath her.
"Are you insane?! You can barely push yourself up! Stay where you are and don't get in my way!" Lan chuckled when Nynaeve stormed out of the room. No one else would treat an Aes Sedai like this without fearing her wrath. But this woman… wasn't afraid at all.
Very slowly, Moiraine was pushing herself on her elbows. Her face was still terribly pale. A fact, Lan didn't like.
"I would really like to strangle her."
"You couldn't." He moved their hands further over to her left side. This way, his good arm was lying under her stomach and he was able to pull her to his side, while he also managed to turn her on her back. She groaned in discomfort but wasn't able to move on her own.
For a couple of minutes, they lay there in silence, just listening to each other's breathing.
"I don't want you to do it ever again."
Lan tried to open his eyes, but his body wasn't obeying. It was already hard just to think about his response. "What exactly do you mean?"
"I don't want you to enter my mind ever again."
"Moiraine, I'm too tired to fight."
"Then don't." Her head fell on his chest since she was just as exhausted as he was.
When Nynaeve returned with fresh bedsheets, the Aes Sedai and her warder were fully asleep.