While the little group followed Tarin through the camp, Moiraine finally started to notice the women of this group. None of them were laughing or smiling. Everyone looked to the ground and avoided eye contact with the men, who didn't seem to notice. She saw women, who were cleaning the clothes, while others were preparing dinner or stood with a mug of some vine in their hands beside a group of men until they were called. When those men started to let their hands wander over the body of the woman, Moiraine had to turn away. She couldn't understand, why these women didn't complain or at least, try to run away.

It was already hard to ignore all these lustful gazes these men threw at them when they passed their tents. Neither of them should walk through this camp without Lan or Perrin by their side. Otherwise, she wasn't sure what those men would do to them.

"You can have those tents." Tarin had stopped and pointed at four big tents, which were obviously built for important guests. "Liana will show your women where they can get the water. Enjoy your bath." The warrior walked in Moiraine's direction, who was stepping aside to let him through. But she couldn't prevent it that his eyes were moving over her body again, or that this slick smile appeared on his lips.

Nynaeve grabbed Moiraine's arm and pulled her closer to herself, while her angry eyes followed Tarin until he disappeared between the tents. "I don't like him."

"Tarin is a great warrior, who has fought against the Trollocs many times." Everyone shrugged when they heard Liana's quiet voice. It was the first time, she had said anything. "It is an honor to be chosen to spend the night with him."

"None of us will spend the night with him.", Nynaeve growled.

"But you are three women and only two men. The fourth tent is for the woman, who decides to pleasure Tarin with her body tonight."

Before Nynaeve could strangle the poor woman, who sounded confused as if she couldn't understand the wisdom's anger, Lan stepped forward. "I'm afraid that Tarin will have to look elsewhere for the company. Those two-" He pointed at Moiraine and Nynaeve. "-will stay with me."

Liana's eyebrows raised in surprise. Obviously, she was pulling the wrong conclusion, but Lan didn't correct her. As long as this meant, that Tarin would stay away from their group. The warder smiled friendly at the young woman and said: "I believe that Beram promised us a bath."

Immediately, Liana fell back in her role. Her head dropped and she answered: "If your women would like to follow me? The waterfall is in this direction." She didn't wait for an answer. Instead, she walked away as if it was quite natural that they would follow her.

Moiraine sighed, then she moved her feet, so, she wouldn't fall back. Quickly, Egwene joined the Aes Sedai. Only Nynaeve threw a questionable look at Lan.

"Go.", he said and moved his head in Moiraine's direction "I don't want you to walk around here on your own. Stay with Liana and come back as quick as possible."

Nynaeve rolled her eyes, but she didn't argue with him. "And Nynaeve?" She stopped, although she didn't turn to him. "Don't start a fight. We don't want them to kill us."

Lan smiled when he saw how the wisdom was opening her fists and closing them rapidly. This situation was driving her crazy, and it was against her nature to stay mum.

"What shall we do, Lan?", Perrin asked and stepped closer "You don't think that this Tarin would…"

"Egwene will sleep in your tent, Perrin. Loial, you take the third one. I will protect Moiraine and Nynaeve, but I want you two to be very careful. This group, they… have their traditions. We don't want to anger them, but we also don't share their traditions."

Perrin nodded, then the three men brought their bags to the tents, where they waited for the women to return with the water.

Moiraine, Nynaeve, and Egwene had to walk a few times to the waterfall and back, but before they were able to put it into the bathtubs, the water needed to be heated over the fire. Since it was almost bath time for all men of the camp, the other women were helping too, although some of them had to stay with the fire.

While they had to wait for the water, the three strangers sat together, but only Nynaeve and Egwene were whispering.

"Do you think that Tarin will appear tonight?" Egwene sounded nervous. She was afraid that those people would force her to sleep with the warrior.

"I think that he will find someone else to have fun with."

"What if he doesn't take no for an answer?"

Nynaeve looked at Moiraine, who wasn't paying attention to their conversation. Her eyes were open, but her mind was somewhere else. Meanwhile, her right fingers were rubbing over her left middle finger, where her ring had been. "Lan won't allow Tarin to touch us. And Perrin and Loial will help him to protect us."

Egwene noticed Moiraine's empty glance as well. "I don't like it how he had looked at Moiraine. Like it was only a matter of time until she would be his'."

"He'll make contact with Lan's sword before he is even able to lay one finger on her."

The women from the Two Rivers turned silent when they saw how Liana was approaching them. "The water is heated now. You will have to bring the water to your men, then they can clean themselves."

Gently, Nynaeve put her hand on Moiraine's arm to pull the Aes Sedai out of her thoughts. The woman blinked in confusion as if she had awoken from a dream. "The water is ready."

Moiraine nodded, then the three of them stood up and started to carry the water buckets again, but this time they had to be way more careful since the water was hot. Lan and Perrin tried to help them, but when Liana was close to a heart attack, they didn't try it again.

After what felt like an eternity, the three bathtubs were filled. Moiraine, who wasn't used to working that much with her hands, dropped her water bucket beside Lan's bathtub before she sank to her knees. Even Nynaeve felt exhausted and sat down on the bed.

Liana appeared in the tent and bowed in front of Lan. "It is a tradition that the man will bath first, while the women clean him. After that, the women will clean and prepare themselves for the night. Enjoy your bath, Sir."

"Thank you, Liana.", Lan answered and bowed to her. Quickly, the young woman left the tent and closed the entrance.

"It is our tradition.", Nynaeve imitated Liana's voice then she threw an angry look at Lan "I will kill the next person, who's saying the word 'tradition'."

"You're doing nothing like that. I don't like their behavior as much you do. But for now, we have a warm bath and a bed for tonight, which we all could use very well."

Nynaeve mumbled something, which not even Lan understood, but he smiled. "Why don't you two jump into the bathtub, while I make sure that no one comes in?"

"Didn't you hear what Liana said? The men are supposed to go in at first."

"In case you didn't notice, I'm not Liana."

"Thank you very much, I noticed. But I don't trust them." Nynaeve's eyes wandered to Moiraine, who hadn't moved at all. She was still kneeling, while her right fingers were again playing with her right middle finger and her eyes were focused on nothing. "Maybe you should start with her. She is lost in her thoughts again."

The warder turned to his Aes Sedai and furrowed his forehead confused when he saw what she was doing. "She did that before?"

"When we were waiting for the water to heat up. I don't know where her thoughts are, but I think you should talk to her."

Lan moved to Moiraine, who didn't see him. Carefully, he kneeled beside her and watched her face. Her eyes were empty. She probably didn't even see what was in front of her.

'What is going through your head, Moiraine? What are you planning?'

For like the thousandth time now, he cursed their masked bond. He couldn't help her, while her thoughts were a mystery to him. Especially with Moiraine, it was hard to actually know what she was thinking and feeling. Lan cupped her cheek with one hand, while he put the other one over her moving fingers to stop her.

Immediately, her eyes were on him, but she blinked rapidly as if she needed to focus on what she was seeing. "What's on your mind?"

Moiraine opened her mouth, but then she shook her head slightly. Her eyes fell on the steamy bathtub. "Shouldn't you take a bath? After all, we had to carry the water buckets quite a few times to fill this thing."

"How about you join me?"

"Didn't Liana say that the men go in first?" Lan groaned, then he pushed her cloak off her shoulders. Moiraine tried to protest, but he ignored her and helped her to free her arms. Next were her boots. "Lan. What if Liana comes back? Or worse. What if Tarin comes and he sees me in the bathtub?"

Lan stood up and pulled his Aes Sedai to her feet as well. "Then they will see that I'm not taking the bath alone." His fingers grabbed her tunic, but this time, Moiraine pushed them away.

"I may have lost my powers, but I'm still able to undress myself."

Lan crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. Moiraine tilted her head to the side and imitated the raising eyebrow.

"If you two keep staring at each other, the water will be cold before you're in there.", Nynaeve said and rolled her eyes.

Lan chuckled, but then he started to undress himself. The wisdom was right, and he didn't want to waste the warm water. Not since they had to work hard to get it in here. At least, Moiraine stopped protesting and undressed herself as well. Then she slipped into the warm water, shortly followed by her warder.

Lan sat down beside her, then he pulled her to him until her back was pressed against his chest and her forehead resting against his jawbone, while he had his arm around her collarbones. It had been a long time since they had enjoyed the easing of a nice bath.

"Tell me what's bothering you.", Lan whispered, while his fingers were drawing circles on her shoulder.

"A lot of things."

"Like what?"

"Lan.", Moiraine sighed "Don't be…"

"Sir?" Tarin's voice appeared at the entrance and only a heartbeat later, the fabric was pulled away and the warrior entered the tent. Nynaeve jumped to her feet and her hand went to her dagger, while Lan remained calm. Slowly, he moved his arm to Moiraine's waist and turned the woman, who had stiffened at Tarin's voice, until her breasts were covered by being pressed to his chest. Then he laid his arm over her shoulder.

"What can I do for you, Tarin? Don't you see that I'm taking a bath?"

"I can see that." The warrior crossed the room until he was standing beside the bathtub. His eyes narrowed when he saw that he couldn't get a clear look at Moiraine's body. "I'm sorry, but it is a tradition in our group that the men bathe first, while the women…"

"And I do bath first. But I don't like to do it alone. This is why I have one of my women with me."

Tarin raised an eyebrow. Obviously, he didn't believe Lan. "So… this woman is your lover?"

"What else should she be?"

"It's just… you don't show much… emotion."

"You mean like that?" Without a warning, Lan leaned down and pressed his lips on Moiraine's. The surprised Aes Sedai tried to pull back, but Lan's free hand encircled her neck and hold her in place, while he kissed her hungrily.

Nynaeve watched the scene with shocked eyes. Was it possible that Lan and Moiraine…? No, he would've told her that. Lan wasn't the type of man, who was romantically involved with two women. This was an act for Tarin. To keep him away from Moiraine.

Finally, Lan broke the kiss and looked at the warrior with cold eyes. "Was that enough emotion for you?"

Tarin bowed his head apologetically. "You have proven your point. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to anger you. I just wanted to make sure that you have everything you need."

"I do, thank you very much."

Tarin nodded, then he turned his head to Nynaeve, who gave him her best evil eye. "Since you are already occupied with this one, maybe you allow me to taste…"

"No!" Lan was ready to jump out of the bathtub if he had to. "They both belong to me! And I don't like to share my women! Do you understand me?!"

"You can't have both at the same time. In our group, it is usual that…"

"With all due respect, we are trying to accept your traditions as best as we can do. The women got the water for the bathtub and I'm using it first. But we are only guests here. This means that we're doing things differently, like that I'm not sharing my women with you."

It felt like ages when Tarin finally nodded and smiled at Lan. "I understand, Sir. Enjoy your… bath." His eyes fell on Moiraine's bareback, then he bowed and left the tent.

Moiraine released a deep sigh when she heard how the fabric of the entrance fell back in place. "Don't ever do this again."

"I'm sorry, but I had to. He needs to believe that you both are my lovers. Otherwise, it will be really hard to keep him away from you."

"A simple kiss would have done the same thing."

"It wouldn't have. He wants your body, Moiraine. He needed to understand that you're mine."

"We have to be careful tonight.", Nynaeve said, while she sat down on the bed again "I don't trust Tarin."

Lan threw a glance at the entrance of the tent and nodded. This warrior would probably not give up that easily.

When Moiraine and Lan had washed themselves, it was Nynaeve's turn to bathe. Although Lan had seen her naked before, she asked both the warder and the Aes Sedai to turn around, while she undressed herself.

Meanwhile, the other two put their clothes back on. Moiraine had only her boots left, when she suddenly felt how her mind became foggy, just like it always did when the bond to Rand was formed. "Lan.", she said weakly before her feet gave in.

Luckily this time, Lan was close by. He was able to catch her and placed her carefully on the bed. Nynaeve was torn between jumping out of the bathtub and staying inside to be covered.

"It is way too early. This shouldn't happen for at least two hours."

"Maybe Rand is tired. Who knows what he is doing with the Aiel? They are warriors. Maybe they train him, and this training is exhausting. There are many possibilities." Carefully, Lan tucked Moiraine in, then he sat down beside her. "Whatever reason it is, she'll be knocked out for as long as the Dark One tries to get to Rand."

Nynaeve relaxed again and closed her eyes. Lan was right. They couldn't do anything for Moiraine, except to watch over her body. Meanwhile, she would enjoy the luxury of having a bath.