Nightmares
Disclaimer: Ono je ne rudnik. Slovenian. Funky.
A/N: I know it's been ages, but I've had so much to do. I got a lot of reviews asking whether or not that was the last chapter. Shame on you! You didn't really think I'd leave it like that?
Lan:
He dreamed about her again that night, for what seemed like the millionth time since she had left. In this dream she was out in the open fields, daisy chains around her neck, and braided into her hair, laughing and dancing.
As usual he woke up with his heart aching. He moved over to the window, and sat looking out. Five months. It had been five months since the last time he had seen her. He wondered if she had changed. He wondered if she had met another man, if she had fallen in love again. It hurt him even thinking about it.
Moiraine had felt him getting weaker. Not physically, on the contrary, he had trained harder and harder everyday, desperately feeding his emotions into his sword forms. But emotionally. That was a different story. His dreams had become more laboured, and he had taken to avoiding sleep.
He smirked bitterly. Now he was even acting like her.
Nynaeve:
Nynaeve sat slumped in her chair, absently playing with a lock of her hair. She had long ago tuned out the conversation in the room, and now focused intently on her thoughts.
By all accounts she should be happy. She was back home with her brothers and her sister, she was surrounded by familiar surroundings, and wearing her favourite emerald green dress. But she wasn't happy. Not even slightly. There was an empty space in her heart that needed filling. By Lan.
"Nynaeeeeve? Hellooooo?" She looked up with a start, to find her brother staring at her oddly.
"Hmm?" She replied.
"I say, Nynaeve, you've been acting really strangely recently. Care to share the reason?"
"Not really." Nynaeve got up from her chair.
"Where are you going?" Jame yelled after her as she rushed out of the room.
"To write a letter!" she called back.
Lan:
Lan took a gasp of breath. Rand had greatly improved, and was even proving a challenge to beat. Then again, his thoughts were elsewhere lately.
"Good fight, sheepherder," Lan congratulated him gratingly, wiping his face with a towel. Rand nodded. The Aiel watched them with an emotion between amusement and disgust. They still had not become accustomed to the fact that these "sword-wielders" were living in their hold.
Just then, Lan spotted a figure moving out of the corner of his eye. He whirled around to find a small man glaring imperiously at him. Before he could say anything, the man spoke.
"I will have you know that I am on a Very Important Mission. The only reason I took this lengthily detail to find you –she described you perfectly, by the way. Scarily tall, stony, and frightening looking-, was as a personal favour to Amber. Who, by the way—"
But he was cut off as Lan snatched the letter from his hand. The name spun round his head. Amber. Amber equals Nynaeve. Nynaeve. Nynaeve. Nynaeve.
The small man scowled and stormed off. "Don't bother thanking me," he yelled back over his shoulder. But Lan wasn't listening he was focusing on unwrapping the letter in the shortest amount of time possible. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he noted that the seal on the back was the same as the floral pattern on the ring he had noticed on her hand in the Ways, what seemed like a lifetime ago.
It seemed like it took forever to get the envelope off, but eventually he did, and there it was. A beautifully long letter, in Nynaeve's exquisite, precise handwriting.
My Lan,
I don't know how to start this. How can I describe the thoughts, emotions, which have gone through me since I left?
I love you, Lan. So, so much. I miss you more than anything. I think about you everyday, and dream about you at night. Do you miss me?
I'm with my family, now, a relief after all those years I spent away. I am surrounded by my old life, but somehow I still want the new one. The one with you. Words cannot begin to describe how much I love you, and want to be with you. But I can't.
You have made it abundantly clear that it would not work, and I have my work and position to think of. I love you Lan. Don't forget me.
Say hello to the Emond's Fielders for me, would you? And tell Moiraine she's won this round, but not the fight.
Always yours,
Nynaeve.
Lan stared at the paper, long after he had finished reading the message. His throat felt dry.
Rand wandered over to his side. "What's that?" he asked.
Lan cleared his throat. "Nynaeve says hello," he said, as matter of factly as he could.
"Nynaeve! Is that from Nynaeve? Let me read it!" Rand tried to snatch it out of Lan's hands, but he held onto it.
"I'd rather you didn't, sheepherder. Its private."
Rand nodded his understanding. "If you say so. I'm going to tell the others."
Lan stayed behind, watching the paper. He let a smile slip onto his face.
Nynaeve.
Just a short chapter to keep you going, and to make sure you didn't think I was dead! Longer chapter to come soon. I promise!
