Nightmares
A/N: All right, so I suppose you could say that I am cheating by leaving out the end of EotW, but it's mostly Rand stuff. So just imagine that everything that happened in the book happened in my fic. Okay? Good. Onwards! Again with the too much sugar!
Disclaimer: No es mina. Yes, moving on to Spanish. Thank you Google translator!
Nynaeve:
They had stopped for the night to make camp. They would be at Fal Dare again soon (not soon enough), perhaps tomorrow. Nynaeve was exhausted. She sat down warily to think about all that had happened at the Eye of the World. Rand could channel. Oh blood and ashes, she had had too much experience with male channelers. Come to think of it, she had had too much experience with Aes Sedai, Malkieri, Warders, and Trollocs. She smiled wryly. History really was repeating itself.
"Nynaeve? Do you want some meat?" Oh, light, why would they not just keep their meat to themselves? Couldn't they see that the very smell of it made her sick?
"No, I do not want any meat." She snapped. Egwene recoiled, looking upset, but Nynaeve didn't regret it. She needed to take her anger out on someone.
Very intelligent, Nynaeve. Just tell an Aes Sedai you'll go to the White Tower to be trained. That's the way. Well, it wasn't as if she had had any choice. She remembered the meeting a few nights before.
Suddenly, her sharp ears caught the sound of someone behind her. She bent down with the pretence of looking at a flower, and her hand went to her boot; or more specifically, the dagger hidden in her boot.
She pulled it out, straightened, and spun around in one fluid motion, knife pointing directly at the person following her. The man put his hands up in amusement.
"I surrender!" He said, in a voice laced with humour. She glowered at her colleague.
"Oh. You."
"I'm hurt," He responded, "Is that any way to talk to an old friend?"
"What do you want? I'm having a bad day."
"I noticed. The knife you have pointed at my heart was a bit of a give away. Next time try and be a bit subtler if you want to keep me guessing. I..." He was cut off by Nynaeve's knife moving to his neck.
"I am not in the mood for your puerile jokes right now, so say what you came here to say, and then leave," she spat, acidly.
"Wow, you really are in a bad mood, huh? Okay, I have a message from Z. He says that you have the perfect opportunity. You should allow yourself to be taken to the White Tower and trained. We need more ears amongst the Aes Sedai, and an Aes Sedai herself working for us would be brilliant." The colour drained from Nynaeve's face.
"N-no! I would not become one of those goat kissing bloody fools if my life depended on it!" She cried, vehemently, "I will not!" His look was sympathetic.
"I'm sorry, Nynaeve, but that's a direct order from Z." And then he was gone, slipping noiselessly into the undergrowth, leaving Nynaeve standing angrily staring at the spot where he had vanished.
Nynaeve sighed, and put on her 'I'm going to bed, can't you see?' performance. She unlaced the knee high soft boots that she always wore (practical-they didn't make a sound- and comfortable, and besides, she was used to them. The trainees all wore boots like that when they were going through training, so she had become accustomed to them), making sure that the knives hidden inside of them weren't exposed. Then she loosened her hair from its customary braid, and began to run a comb through it.
She hummed softly as she did so, a song that her mother had sung to her as a babe, and to her brothers and sister. Once her hair was neat, she began to plait it again. Then she crawled under the blankets, and looked up at the night sky. It was going to be a long night.
Moiraine:
Moiraine lay awake contemplating the now sleeping (or so she thought) Wisdom. She had heard enough during their short stay in the Two Rivers to determine that Nynaeve had only been there for three years. What was bothering Moiraine now was where Nynaeve had come from before. She looked Andorian, she supposed, with dark hair and eyes, but there was something vaguely exotic about her, from the way she moved, swaying slightly, to the very pale colour of her skin, which in comparison with her dark hair, made her look almost Carhienin.
But there was also something about her accent; she softened her vowels slightly, giving her voice a lilt, which Moiraine had never heard before. There was certainly something odd about their friend the Wisdom, but Moiraine had no doubt that within a few months at the White Tower, Nynaeve would be telling all. At least, she hoped.
xxx
Lan:
Weeks after they had arrived back in Fal Dara, Egwene, Nynaeve, Loial, Perrin and Mat sat watching Lan and Rand fighting with practice swords. Perrin appeared beep in thought, while Mat's foot was slung lazily over one arm of his chair as he juggled several balls; Egwene was watching the two men with swords intently, and Nynaeve and Loial were eagerly discussing a book. Loial had found a kindred spirit in Nynaeve; she appeared to have read every book ever printed, and had an almost scholarly knowledge of any topic you could imagine. The others had not even known that Nynaeve could read, let alone that she was so knowledgeable, but they had grown accustomed to seeing the large Ogier, ears twitching, walking alongside the small Wisdom, both energetically arguing one topic or another.
Rand and Lan gave up after Lan scored another blow, and turned to see Nynaeve watching them thoughtfully. Lan made himself think of other things. He didn't have time to worry about her. But he did all the same.
"You're holding it wrong, sheepherder. You need to use it like this." He demonstrated. Rand frowned.
"Yes, I can see how you're doing it, but I cant do it myself. Can't you just describe it?" Lan gave an irritated growl.
"No I cant. For the love of the Light, boy, like this." He showed him again.
"You need to describe it!" Rand yelled. They looked on the verge of dropping the wooden swords, and lunging at each other with the real ones, so they were both surprised when Nynaeve appeared at Rand's elbow.
"Here." She said, uncharacteristically gently. She reached out and shifted Rand's hands, moving his fingers and changing his grip. "That's better." She was suddenly reminded of how Corby had done the same thing the first time they had met. Lan and Rand were staring at her is surprise. Well, Rand was. It was hard to tell (as ever) with Lan.
"That's exactly how it should be held." Lan stated. "You've done it right."
"Well don't sound so surprised," Nynaeve snapped defensively.
"How would you know that?" Lan asked intently.
"Oh, I picked up a few things, here and there." She smirked infuriatingly, and turned to go back to her conversation with Loial. They were all startle by the sound of trumpets blaring and drums banging. They rushed to the railing only to see column upon column of riders approaching. Women with ageless faces, flanked by Shinearan warriors, with a scattering of men with cloaks that blended into their surroundings amongst them.
"Aes Sedai." Lan said simply. He turned to face Nynaeve, and saw that her face had gone white. She looked like she couldn't decide whether to be angry or afraid.
"Light help me." She whispered softly.
Yay yay yay! The Great Hunt! It's one of my favourite of the ten (soon to be eleven!) books. Okay, so here you go, will try to update ASAP.
