Nightmares

Disclaimer: Itway isway otnay inemay. All right, so technically Pig Latin isn't an actual language, but I'm too lazy to actually translate something properly, so Pig Latin it is. Also, I don't own Prince Kheldar from David Eddings's books (although I wish I did :D) or his hangover cure…

A/N: Pink's gone! Yay! But traces still remain… Anyway. Next chapter is here! This is kind of different from the others. But bare with me, this will help with the general understanding of the story and the plot…

Five years ago…

(A/N: This is going with the assumption that Nynaeve is approximately 24 when she begins her training at the White Tower- see http/ therefore, she will be about 19 at this time).

Nynaeve:

Nynaeve sat at the corner table, furthest away from the door. Right now she did not want to be interrupted. She fiddled absently with the large glass in front of her. It wasn't the best quality wine, but all she wanted at the moment was to forget. She hated this time of year. It was her nameday, and by all accounts she should be happy, but today was also the anniversary of the two worst events of her life. And she just wanted to forget.

She raised the glass to her lips, and took a large gulp. She pulled a face as she lowered the glass. It was disgusting. But she drank again, and then again once more, and continued to drink until she was out of wine. She ordered a few more glasses- she had lost count of how many exactly- and drank them too. Then she squinted at the room she was in. That brought a faint smile to her lips. I didn't know that the room could spin like that. That's a clever trick. She rose to her feet, and swayed unsteadily. Not good. A man at a table next to her rose and leered down at her.

"Hello, mistress. Perhaps you would like some assistance?" she frowned up at him. She and her colleagues were here on a very important mission. But were exactly were they? Andor? Shinear?

"I will have you know," she said to him, slurring slightly, "that I am jusht fine." She poked his chest, "And you had better move out of my way, before…shomething bad happensh." She smiled triumphantly, pleased with her little speech. The man however, just smirked at her, and grabbed her arm.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" a voice inquired. Nynaeve and the man both turned, coming face to face with Ruan. Nynaeve beamed.

"Ruan! You're by besht friend you know that? You and…whatsh her name? Tua? Tia? Tya?" Ruan pushed the man out of the way roughly, and grabbed Nynaeve around her waist. He pulled her out, with her stumbling and swaying all the way. When they got outside of the tavern, Ruan sighed, and looked her over.

"Nynaeve, what did you think you were doing?" He asked her, exasperated.

"Drinking wine," she informed him.

"Yes, I can see that. You're going to have an awful headache in the morning. Come on, let's get back to the inn." Arad Doman! That's where they were!

"I don't want to go back!" She protested. "I want to go shomewhere!" Ruan looked her over again. She was wearing a revealing red dress, of the type that all Domani women wore, and her hair was loose. She didn't look drunk, but this was Nynaeve. He had seen her drunk before, and she was one of those people, that if you discounted the slurring, stumbling, singing and nonsensical phrases that she came up with every now and again, was as in control of her facilities and clever as ever while drunk.

"We're not going somewhere else, Nynaeve. We're going to the inn, you're going to sleep, and in the morning, you're going to take some jandil root for the headache that you will undoubtedly have. All right?" Nynaeve pouted.

"You're no fun, Ruan. No fun at all. You shpoiled the evening. Who wantsh to go back to the inn? Not me! Letsh go shomewhere elshe!" Ruan rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Nynaeve, let's get back to the inn. Come on." Nynaeve yawned.

"I'm tiered. I think I'm going to go to shleep." She stumbled slightly, and closed her eyes where she was. Given as how where she was, was in the middle of the road, standing up, Ruan sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that night, and scooped her up into his arms. She shifted slightly, resting her head on his chest, slipping into some very strange, drink-induced dreams.

xxx

The first thing Nynaeve noticed when she woke up was the mind numbing pain shooting through her head. She groaned and rolled out of bed. She looked down at herself. Her boots had been removed, and she was still in the dress she was wearing last night. With some effort, she managed to take it off and pull on a robe. She stumbled through to the next room in their apartment.

"Good morning!" Ruan chirped happily. She directed a dark scowl his way.

"Stop yelling," she rasped, "Just because I'm feeling bloody awful doesn't give you the excuse to be so flaming chipper." Ruan grinned.

"If it's any consolation, Atuan is in the same state that you are. Of course, his was induced by too much ale, rather than wine, but it's all the same. He's busy in the steam room. I think he mentioned that next he was going to swim in the freezing cold pool." Ruan shuddered.

"I think I'll join him," Nynaeve mumbled. "And don't sound so disgusted by the cure, I know that you've used it before." Ruan grinned. When they were in training, five of them had formed a small group, Ruan and Nynaeve being the most troublesome and mischievous of the lot.

Nynaeve slipped into the steam room, heading towards the bench where Atuan already sat.

"Hello," she greeted her old friend.

"Hello," he answered back. "You too?" Nynaeve nodded.

"Ale?" She asked.

"Yes. I feel terrible."

"Well, that makes two of us," Nynaeve smiled slightly, then winced at the effort.

xxx

A few hours later, Nynaeve felt much better. The drummer in her head had stopped banging, and she no longer felt the need to scream and duck whenever she came across a light brighter than a single candle. The mission was completed, and they would be headed back home soon. She shook her hair out, and began to brush it. As she did so, she allowed her thoughts to wander to the mission. It was fairly simple: get in, get the information, and get out. It had gone very well. Z. would be happy. She loved these. They were exciting, and dangerous, and…well, they took her mind off things for a while. She set her brush down, and leaned over to pick up a book. She settled down in her chair, and began reading.

Present day…

Lan:

Nynaeve paged through her book, paying more attention to the conversations going on around her than to the story. Moiraine had arrived at the grassy back where she, Elayne, Egwene, Gawyn, Galad, and Min were sitting. She had immediately involved Nynaeve in a long interrogation about her health, the questions in which Nynaeve dodged, ducked, ran away from, ignored, and swallowed whole. Eventually Moiraine had given up, and turned to Egwene and Elayne, and started talking to them about some Aes Sedai thing that inevitably got them excited and awed. Lan however continued to watch him thoughtfully, and she bestowed upon him her most fearsome scowl. He tuned his head away.

Elayne tilted her head to one side, and asked thoughtfully, "Nynaeve, you lived in the Two Rivers, right?" Nynaeve looked up from her book and nodded slowly.

"Well, I was thinking, why is it that you didn't live near your parents. Most people do." Gawyn looked up, and nodded his agreement.

"I would probably find that difficult." Nynaeve replied shortly, looking back down at her book.

"Why?" Elayne asked.

"Because they're both dead." Nynaeve answered, turning a page. Elayne gasped.

"I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have asked!"

"It's all right," Nynaeve responded, eyes not leaving her book, "you didn't know."

"How did they die?" Moiraine asked. Elayne's eyes widened in shock, but she stayed silent, indicating that she didn't approve of the question, but loved Aes Sedai too much to speak against one.

"They were killed," Nynaeve said shortly. Lan looked back at her. That he hadn't known.

"Who would kill a farmer and his wife?" Moiraine asked scornfully. Nynaeve rose to her feet, and Lan could see all sorts of conflicting emotion in her eyes.

"Trollocs." She said abruptly, then hurried away, but not before Lan caught sight of the tears brimming in her eyes. The children looked shocked.

"Trollocs!" Egwene exclaimed, leaping to her feet, and running after Nynaeve. Lan turned to watch. Nynaeve tried to push Egwene away, but the younger girl kept on pestering her, until Nynaeve finally turned around. She said something to Egwene, forcing a smile and making soothing motions. Then she shrugged and turned away again. Egwene sighed and came back up to the bank where the others waited.

"What did she say?" Elayne inquired.

"That I shouldn't worry, that everything was fine, and that she'd be all right. You'd think that I was the one who just admitted that my parents were killed by Trollocs." Moiraine frowned slightly at that.

"Let's go, Lan," she suggested. "I'm sure that these children have something important to do."

As soon as they were out of sight, Moiraine turned to him.

"Trollocs?" she asked, bewildered. "Trollocs? I didn't see that coming.

"Neither did I." Lan murmured. "Neither did I."

I know this was kind of short, but school is hectic, so this was really all I could manage. But I will try to update soon, and thank you to all my reviewers, you really make my day!