Egwene waited impatiently for Elayne.
She was unusually late. She sighed. It had been a long day,
the Hall had been unusually stubborn today. She just wanted to get
some real sleep. Just when she was ready to leave, thinking Elayne
wasn't going to show up, she appeared.
Egwene fought the urge to gasp. Elayne's
face was worn and tired. She looked exhausted and frightened.
Elayne half ran, half stumbled to Egwene, and collapsed in her arms,
in tears. It was several minutes before Elayne could pull herself
together.
"Nynaeve has been hurt. She was fighting
Moghedien. She took a weave meant for the rest of us." Egwene felt
a lump growing in the back of her throat. She cleared her throat.
"Will she be alright?"
"We don't - we don't know. The healer
did all she could with herbs, but she has an awfully high fever, she is
very weak, and is very pale." Elayne said with another sob.
"Why didn't you just Heal her with Saidar?
Why use herbs?" Egwene asked, something just didn't add up.
"She is too weak. Healing takes some
of the energy from the one being Healed. She has no energy to spare.
Healing her with Saidar would kill her for sure. The healer said
she is dying of exhaustion." Elayne broke down crying again.
This time Egwene joined her.
All Egwene could do was cry as she kept repeating
the words dying and weak over and over in her head. After what seemed
like ages, the two of them regained their composure. Egwene watched
Elayne leave after promising to be there in the morning.
She stepped out of the Dream World back to her body.
She had two things to do before she could go. She had to tell the
Hall, and she had to inform Lan. She wasn't sure which would be harder.
2 Hours Later
As she stood outside the cave where Myrelle
had said Lan was staying tonight, Egwene decided that this would be much
harder then telling Hall she would be leaving for a few days had been.
She had to call his name three times before he answered back with a gruff
"Come in". Swallowing, she stepped inside.
Lan was seated on the floor of the cave, not
far from the entrance. He was sharpening a knife. Egwene reached
for Saidar, ready to snatch the knife from him if necassary. She
knelt across from him, eye to eye.
"Lan, I have some bad news. Nynaeve
has been hurt." She watched his reaction closely. The only
reaction visible was a slight tightening of his eyes and an almost imperceptible
tremor in his hands.
He said only one word. But that one
word carried a wealth of emotions. "How?" As she searched for
the right words to tell him, he sat up straighter and put down the knife
and sharpening stone. "How?" He repeated. How do you tell someone
that the one person they love beyond life itself is dying? She finally
decided that if the situation was reversed and it was Gawyn, she'd prefer
that the news was given straight up.
"She was fighting Moghedien. Moghedien
sent a weave at the others, but Nynaeve jumped in front of it, and took
the full assault by herself. That with everything else she threw
at her was too much. She had enough strength to kill Moghedien with
a final blow before she passed out. She hasn't woken up yet."
"Will she be alright?" His face was
tight and the shaking in his hands had increased.
"They're not very optimistic. The palace
healers said that she will probably die. I'm going there in a few
minutes. Are you coming?" She added that last bit after he
started shaking his head.
"No. I've caused her too much pain.
I will not cause her any more. She has moved on with her life.
The last thing, the last thing she needs is me there stirring up old memories."
She couldn't belive her ears. Did he
truly think that not being there for her would cause her less pain.
She resisted the urge to shake some sense into him. Slowly, carefully,
she tried to make him see sense, with Lan wincing with every question.
"Think, Lan, I know you love her. You know you love her. But
she doesn't know that. Do you really want her to die thinking that
you don't love her? That maybe you never loved her? Don't
you want to tell her you love her one more time? Don't you want to
hold her, see her one last time?"
He drew a shuddering breath. "Of course
I do. I want all those things. I dreamed of spending the rest
of my life with her. It broke my heart when you gave me her message
when she found out about Myrelle. I made her cry after swearing I
wouldn't. I broke her heart one to many times, I'll not do it again."
"Lan, if the situation was reversed, wouldn't
you rather know she loved you?"
"Yes, but I have not gotten over her.
She was moved on with her life." That last sentence was filled with
all the pain, guilt, and broken dreams he had been holding in. His
shoulders heaved once in a silent, tearless sob.
"She hasn't gotten over you either.
She still loves you. Lan, you have wasted time these past weeks that
you could have spent with her. This is it. If you waste this
time, you'll never get another chance. Do you really think that you'll
be able to live with your self if you don't go see her?"
Lan's eyes turned inward, he seemed to be struggling with himself.
Finally he looked her in the eyes and nodded. "When do we leave?"
Da da dan…. More coming soon. Please review.