This is an idea that I had a while ago and I wrote something on it, but after reading New Spring I realized how terribly off canon I was. So, this is my do over. It's still about Moiraine but more about before she goes to the Tower, leaving the Sun Palace and the Journey there. I hope you like it enough to review, or hate it enough to review.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Wheel of Time or any of it's characters, Robert Jordan does. Lucky guy.
A young woman, no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, sat at her window seat, looking out in to the gray gardens of the Sun Palace. The rain disturbed the otherwise tranquil waters of the pond that her father had had made when she was born. She let out a deep sigh and plucked at her dark skirts slashed with colour. The day was heavy on Moiraine Damodred's shoulders.
She stepped down from the bench and walked across her chambers to the fire that had gone out. She sighed again, it had grown cold after the fire had faded but lost in her thoughts she hadn't noticed until now. I should call a servant, she thought, but really, a servant should already be here. Clicking her tongue in vexation she reached for the poker hoping to see if any of the ashes were still glowing. The gentle motion of her hand calmed her and she closed her eyes absentmindedly. In that moment she felt happy and vibrant. The first smile her face had seen all day spread across her small mouth. Moiraine opened her eyes to a small fire alive in the coals of the old.
"I suppose it wasn't as dead as I thought." She said aloud to herself. She used the tools to coax the small fire into a merry blaze and warmed her hands.
Moiraine wandered lazily over to her large vanity sitting opposite her window. Sitting one the cushioned seat she stared at her refection. Sitting as she was one wouldn't be able to tell that she was short, compared to most people, but for her native Cairhien she was a respectable height. Of course her tower of curls added to that height a considerable amount. Her dark, dark eyes looked out from her small face and upon the small blue teardrop jewel hanging from her hair onto her forehead. She shook her head from side to side, making her curls bounce around her head. The melancholy mood had settled over the young noble again. She poked and prodded the various boxes of jewelry around her and opened and closed the shallow bottle with the fair face powder in it.
Her skirts rustled when Moiraine stood up to and moved toward the book shelf that was beside the fire. She drew her finger over the volumes of prose before deciding on an old favourite, a tome of love stories and adventure. She took the book over to the window seat hoping to waste away the dreary day in fantasies of brave warriors, beautiful ladies, corrupt kings, and powerful Aes Sedai. No sooner had she opened the book then the door from her anteroom swung open admitting a tall, fair woman.
"Has Wenia Sedai been here to see you, girl?" Said Teila Tomnas, striding into Moiraine's private chambers. The woman was nearly a head and a half taller than Moiraine, but she was Andoran so it was quite normal. Teila had a manly figure as far as Moiraine was concerned, and her hard and wide mouth added to her manly appearance. Carefully and quickly stepping down from her bench Moiraine curtsied deep for the woman.
"No, Teila Sedai, I believe she is still in the countryside, as she has been for the past week. Why ever do you ask?" Moiraine said rising to her feet. This was highly unusual, as Aes Sedai walking into our rooms demanding to know if one of her sisters had seen you. Teila's serene, ageless face flickered for a moment upon hearing Moiraine's reply.
"How strange..." Teila said quite under her breath, probably assuming Moiraine could not hear her. "Come here, child." She said, louder this time. "Come here and sit down." Moiraine complied, crossing the room and sitting in the arm chair opposite the one Teila had taken in front of the fireplace. The stern woman looked Moiraine over for sometime without speaking. Teila blinked and something told Moiraine that she had begun to channel. The two sat in silence for a few moments, Moiraine beginning to feel increasingly awkward. Suddenly Moiraine felt something, a stirring inside her. Teila eyes snapped open.
"Well, I've always thought there was something about you, girl." She said folding her hand satisfyingly in on her dark blue lap. "You, child, were born with the ability to channel and I believe you have already touched the source. More than once maybe."
Moiraine felt like the sun had come bursting forth from the clouds. She could channel. She could become Aes Sedai! She opened her mouth to say something, but found she could only stammer unintelligibly.
"You have great potential, my girl, and with your utmost dedication you could become one of the greatest Aes Sedai in many years. I must ask, but I fear you that if you say no I may make you agree, but would you come train at the White Tower?" Teila said, her face as warm as Moiraine had ever seen it.
Moiraine fund her words, "Yes." She said.