Nightmares
A/N: Okay, I am baaack! Sorry. I probably had too much sugar today. Anyway, next chapter.
Disclaimer: Ce n'est pas à moi. I've also probably spent too much time in French class.
Nynaeve:
Nynaeve lay awake that night, looking up at the sky. She remembered when she had been a child and afraid of the dark.
"But Mama! I don't want to sleep! I hate the dark! I hate it!"
"Come now, Nynaeve, get into bed."
"I'm scared!"
Elnore smiled and moved over to sit on the edge of her daughter's bed. She reached out and gently stroked her hair.
"How can you be afraid of the dark, little Nynaeve? It's the only time when you can see the stars."
Nynaeve smiled faintly. The stars. She had never feared the dark again after that night, and always begged her mother to take her outside to see the night-sky.
Memories floated across her awareness.
"Dada!" Nynaeve and Anona threw themselves at their father. Laughingly, he scooped them up into his arms.
"And how are my two precious jewels today?" He always teased them like that. His little jewels.
A single tear escaped her eye. She missed it all so much.
The man was taller than anyone she'd ever seen before.
"Nynaeve? This is Corby. He's going to protect you. Nothing will happen while he's here." It was Duchess Willongeriv, her favourite of the hundreds of Ladies, Duchesses and Countesses who wandered the halls in the palace.
Nynaeve looked doubtfully up at the big man, and then pointed to the kitten which lay sleeping in her arms. "It's okay, Duchess. Nyrim can protect me good."
"Well. Nyrim can protect you well. Not good." The Duchess corrected her gently. "And I'm sure he can, but just in case, Corby is going to stay with you." And with that, she was gone, her silk skirts swishing behind her.
Nynaeve looked at the man silently. He was clad in full armour, and a very impressive sight.
"Why are you wearing metal shoes?" She asked him, inquiringly.
"Why do you have dirt all over your face?" He asked her.
"Because," She said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "The Trollocs were coming, so I had to hide in the gardens so that they could go past me, and I could sneak up behind them. I fought them off with my sword!" She brandished a small twig.
Corby smiled softly, and leaned down in front of her. He took her small hand in his gauntleted one, and corrected her grip on the stick.
"Much better." He said.
And that had been the start of a great friendship. Corby had taught her about swords and knives and other assorted fighting tools before she had even entered training, and had been a protector and companion besides.
Nynaeve stood in the cold, watching her cousins play in the snow. She smiled at their delighted faces as they hurled snowballs at each other. Suddenly, a huge lump of snow was stuck down the back of her shirt. She shrieked and whirled around to see her brother doubled over with laughter.
"I'll get you for that, Jame Mawell!" She picked up a handful of snow and threw it as hard as she could towards her brother. It struck him right in the center of his back.
Bull's-eye.
He yelled, and started sending snow towards her as well, and, in time at all, the air between them was filled with snowballs flying in either direction. Eventually, tired as they were, they collapsed on the ground in hysterical laughter.
A face looked down at them, one eyebrow raised disapprovingly. Their elder brother.
"Hello, brother mine! Having fun?" Jame asked cockily.
"How old are the two of you again? Because I was under the distinct impression that you were fourteen and sixteen. Not three."
Jame and Nynaeve exchanged looks, and broke out in yet more laughing. Their brother rolled his eyes and then joined in.
She missed her siblings dearly, all three of them. Four. She closed her eyes tightly. She didn't want to think about that. Her thoughts wandered to Lan. NO! That was even worse. She didn't want to think about him. She just wanted to sleep. But she couldn't. She sighed and turned her eyes up toward the skies again, and started naming constellations. She had played this with other people before, and knew it would bring her peace.
Well, it's just a bit of drabble to fill in the space between now and me not being too lazy to find my copy of EOTW to check what I have to include in the next chapter. So this is my filler.
