Book 1: Ripples from a mountain
Chapter 2: The Wheel starts a new weave
"A man who trusts everyone is a fool and a man who trusts no one is a fool " -Robert Jordan/Lews Therin Telamon
As Rand and Tam were walking through the forest and Edmond's field started coming into view, Rand decided that this was likely the last place they could talk without being overheard by the villagers, at least until they got a private room.
"Father" he started "there is something i need to talk to you about"
"Is this thing why you have been so quiet today, lad?" Tam replied looking unsurprised.
"Yes, it's probably better to talk about this in a warm room though. Can we get a room at the inn where we can talk privately?" Rand asked
"I can't say I like the sound of this, lad" Tam said sounding uncertain "But I trust you would only ask if it's important, so I will get us a private room as soon as Bela is stabled"
Walking through the streets of Edmond's field Rand looked around the village and marvelled at how simple everything still was. It was weird to think about the fact that in two years from this point he was the de facto leader of four countries and the queens lover for two more. And that was discounting the fact that he was fighting the last battle by then. He was not the only one who changed though. Egwene became Amyrlin, Perrin made Two rivers important and became the wolf king. Mat was leading the armies of the Light, Nynaeve revolutionized healing and those were only the people he had already met. So many people important to him he had not met yet. As they were approaching the inn he shook himself out of his musings and went inside.
As Tam was talking with Master al'Vere Rand looked around the inn. The common room was empty apart from the three of them. As he was inspecting the kitchen Egwene came down the stairs and walked into the common room. Catching his eye she nodded once and went outside, presumably looking for Moiraine and Nynaeve. He wondered how she was gonna get them to his room at the inn. Tam had just finished talking with Bran and turned to Rand.
"Come on then, lad" Tam said "Let's talk about what has you spooked"
"That would be good" Rand replied, a touch of uncertainty entering his voice.
Walking slowly to give Egwene some more time he made his way towards the room. As he entered it and went to start talking he hesitated. After a moment Rand started again "What I am about to tell you is very complicated and is going to sound absolutely insane, and as such I would prefer to wait a bit so I only have to tell this once"
His eyebrows climbing up his forehead Tam said "Well, now I am very curious to what you have to tell me. And just who are you waiting for lad, no one knows we have this room."
Just as Tam finished talking the door opened once more and Egwene, Moiraine and Nynaeve came in.
Looking towards Rand, Egwene said "Well everyone is here I believe, so you can go ahead and explain now Rand"
"Only if you will make us private Egwene" Rand replied.
Rand could see the questions forming, however as Nynaeve was opening her mouth Moiraine let out a small noise of shock at the same time as his skin erupted into goosebumps. Nynaeve just looked irritated and snidely asked Moiraine "What are you gasping about then?"
Ignoring Nynaeve, Moiraine looked wide eyed at Egwene and said "You should not know how to do that, most novices ,let alone village girls, wouldn't even know that a ward like that exists, never mind how to make one"
Looking towards him Egwene tightly said "Now would be an excellent time to start talking"
Steeling himself Rand started talking "Alright this is gonna sound mad and you probably won't believe me at first, but I assure you I am telling the truth" Taking a deep breath he continued "This is a bit simplified but basically I am the Dragon Reborn and both Egwene and I travelled back in time from two years in the future"
While three faces stared at him incredulously Egwene sighed "Blunt as always Rand"
"Well did you have a better idea then" Rand replied irritably.
Before Egwene could reply Tam interrupted "Well son, you were right. This sounds absolutely mad, however I don't think you would say something like this if you didn't have some sort of proof. I would like to hear that proof now"
"So would I" Moiraine said stiffly. While Nynaeve didn't say anything it was plain that she was also waiting to for him to convince her he wasn't insane. Thinking quickly Rand said "My birth mother is Tigraine Mantear and my birth father is Janduin of the Iron Mountain Taardad. Tam found me on the slopes of Dragonmount after the battle of the Shining Walls. During that time Gitara Moroso gave a foretelling ´He is born again! I feel him! The Dragon takes his first breath on the slopes of Dragonmount! He is coming! He is coming! Light help us! Light help the world! He lies in the snow and cries like the thunder! He burns like the sun!´".
Once more shocked looks greeted him, after a minute Tam grabbed his pipe and lit it.
"Well I have certainly never told you any of that, Light I only knew about a quarter of you just said. Assuming you are speaking the truth of course."
"He is" Moiraine replied "At least about the foretelling, I was there when Gitara gave the Foretelling, the only two people still alive who know of it are the Amyrlin and me. I am inclined to believe him because he has absolutely no way to know that information."
"Well if this is true I would quite like to hear why you came back and why you decided to tell us about this" Nynaeve said taking this revelation in stride even as she looked warily at Moiraine.
"Alright, I will explain why we came back" Rand replied "The main reason is that the Last Battle is coming in two years and the light was barely prepared enough. The Dark One and Darkfriends have been undermining the light for at least four centuries, I intend to help reverse that and have a better outcome for all of us. I made the decision to go back while I was sealing the bore after I saw just how much the Shadow has influenced the Light"
"When Rand says the Light was barely prepared he means it" Egwene tacked on "The white tower lost at least two thirds of their Aes Sedai, the borderlands fell and Caemlyn was in ruins. Meanwhile the Seanchan were not weakened in the slightest compared to the rest of the world"
"Seanchan?" Moiraine interrupted.
"I will tell you when we have more time" Egwene continued "So after I died and was talking to Rand about sealing the bore he gets this wool-brained idea in his head and I thought it better to come along so I could stop him from messing all of this up"
"You died!" Nynaeve all but shouted.
"Yes, but again I will tell you later" Egwene calmly replied.
"If you would like to give me a basic summary of everything that happened I might be able to start mending all my plans you just rendered obsolete" Moiraine said after a moment of silence
"Right, so after we left the village you took Me, Mat, Perrin, Egwene and Thom Merrilin with you, Thom is the gleeman in the inn right now" Rand explained "A lot happened, we found ourselves at the eye of the world, we fought some Forsaken, the Green Man died, we found some seals for the Dark One along with the Dragon banner and the Horn of Valere."
"After that you took Nynaeve and me to the White Tower" Egwene continued "Eventually we found ourselves in Falme with Min Farshaw and Elayne Trakand. There I was captured by the Seanchan but eventually managed to get free of them. Rand fought Ishmael while Mat blew the Horn, after the battle the Seanchan were expelled"
Letting Egwene gather her breath Rand went on "After that I proclaimed myself the Dragon Reborn, I went to get Callandor while Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne went on some mission from the White Tower. After I had Callandor and ruled in Tear I went to the waste and got accepted as Car'a'carn and unveiled Rhuidean"
"During this time" Egwene interrupted him "Elaida staged a coup and stilled Siuan and Leane, as a result of this the white tower split in two. After a while Nynaeve managed to heal stilling and accidentally did so on Logain. After Rand held Cairhien and Moiraine killed Lanfear in what appeared to be a suicide attack, I was called to Salidar and was made Amyrlin Seat of the rebel tower."
"During this time I came to hold Caemlyn and established the Black Tower, the male equivalent of the White Tower. After a while in which a lot happened I became king of Illian and decided to cleanse saidin, with Nynaeve's help and the Choedan Khal I managed it" Rand went on once more.
"After a long while the White Tower was unified and I became Amyrlin of the entirety of the White Tower." Egwene said after Rand remained silent "Rand wasn't insane any more and then the Last Battle started on four fronts which were reduced to two eventually. We reluctantly worked together with the Seanchan against the Sharans and the armies of the Dark One, mainly because Mat was now married to their Empress. Perrin defended Rand in Tel'aran'rhiod and then you already know what happened after that"
During their speech the other three occupants stared at them more and more baffled. After they had ended their speech Moiraine found her voice again and asked "Is there anything I need to know about in the near future?"
"A fist of Trollocs will attack Edmonds field tonight" Rand replied "I suggest letting Lan ´find´ some tracks and getting the townspeople prepared, Two river longbows have proven to be very deadly, to both men and Shadowspawn"
"I will" Moiraine replied "Speaking of Lan, is it alright if I tell him about this?"
"Of course" Egwene replied "We will talk again after the Trollocs have been defeated, all five of us. Any questions or revelations you might have will have to wait, my father is probably already wondering why we are in here so long. Let's get prepared for the attack and act like nothing is out of the ordinary" After she was done talking she walked out, Nynaeve and Moiraine following her while Tam remained behind.
A/N
I was not looking forward to writing this chapter honestly, probably because I knew it was gonna be a boatload of exposition and not much else. I had to write this and not just hand-wave it shorter because this is important dialogue, the three of them will remember this you can be sure of that. Next chapter there will be our first bit of action and some more questions will be answered. Not many though since almost all chapter will be about the attack. One thing I really like about WOT is the general amount of competence there is, every is very capable but not perfect(except Gawyn, he is only mostly capable) and you will see that next chapter.
Thank you AuntT and parralplex for your kind words, a further thank you to parralplex for helping me make this fic more readable. That is always the hardest to judge when you write something.
I hope you enjoy, please review and until next time
-Rallar
