A/N: Guys engage with me on this fic, this is one fanfic I have no idea whether I am doing even a passable job. WoT is a completed series instead of like ASOIAF. I have less room to play around and the series is very well loved, I fear I wouldn't know if I am screwing up too badly. I would seriously appreciate some comments and reactions to work with.
POV Moiraine
It is week of leisurely journey from Emond's Field to the destroyed ruin of once capital city of Manetheren, it could have been a shorter one if they had left their horses behind, perhaps three days shorter, even with their easy pace. Lan and Moiraine fell into the routine they developed during their trek through Bream Wood, a sparse breakfast of dried jerky, cheese and hot tea, five hours of walking, a midday meal same as the breakfast, another five hours of walking, then they made camp and cooked either any of the game that Lan could bag or a soup of once again dried jerky on a Saidar assisted fire with a tied of Weave of ball of Light to give them light for few more hours after the sun set.
The light they used for an hour session of teaching knife work to Moiraine by Lan, then Moiraine worked on stealth suit for Lan, one which Lan insisted on assisting, turns out Lan is a deft hand at needlework and only needed some initial guidance in making clothes instead of mending torn ones, benefits of a life spent as much on road as at inns, palaces or forts of Borderlands. And repeat.
One the fourth day into their journey, Lan asked a most pertinent question, "How do we go about this Moiraine? Manetheren is said to be city capable of housing a million people, that paints the picture of a sprawling metropolis and it has been near two thousand years since it was destroyed. After all this time I would be surprised if there is even a stone left standing, especially not after what Manetherens last queen has said to have done in her grief by overdrawing One Power. Where do we even look?"
Moiraine having thought of this for some time, replied without hesitation, "We will start at the Waygate."
"Waygate? I thought they were legends! Unseen roads capable of shortening a journey of months to days! You are telling me they are real?", Lan asked, even though his tone and expression remained as stony as ever, Moiraine detected a small hint of surprise through the bond.
Moiraine grinned a small grin of pleasure and said, "Yes they are, during the Breaking the few Ogier that found the Stedding early offered sanctuary to the rare male Aes Sedai who hung onto their sanity despite the taint of Dark One on Saidin, oh those male Aes Sedai were mad too, but the madness of taint does not affect every male channeler equally or even in the same way, those rare few accepted the offer of sanctuary and managed to stave off madness for years, they couldn't resist the allure of One Power forever of course, but they did hang on for awhile, as everyone of them inevitably left the Stedding when they could resist no longer, they left the Ogier with gifts, Ter'angreals to grow Waygates, usable by the Ogier who have the Talent of Treesinging," when Lan raised an eyebrow questioningly, Moiraine further explained, "a Talent exclusive to Ogier, those that have it can shape trees, help them grow faster, stronger, those who have the Talent strongly can even shape living wood into furniture and extract the wood out of the tree wuthout harming the tree itself, Sung Wood furniture is prized among those who know of it. Anyway, each of the Ter'angreals, called Talisman of Growing, can be used to literally grow Waygates by those with the Talent, Aes Sedai do not know just how many of the Talismans are left, the Ogier were not willing to discuss about them and the White Tower never pushed for concrete answers. And when someone crosses the threshold of a Waygate they enter, for a lack of a better word, a World of bridges and crossroads, called The Ways. The Ways were said to have been a place of light and greenery, they were given as gift so that the Ogier could get from one Stedding to another without having to undergo a perilous journey through a land that was still in the midst of the Breaking. And the Ogier grew those Waygates for humans when they built cities for Humanity after the Breaking, alongside planting groves of any kind of trees that they coax into growing. Enter a Waygate in Tar Valon walk for a day in the Ways, one could exit in Caemlyn or Cairhein or any other Waygate really, depends on the bridges one walked. Every inhabited Stedding has one, just outside its borders. They are near impossible to destroy, second only to Cuendillar in their durability. It should still exist."
"You speak of beauty and utility of The Ways and Waygates, as though a thing of past, so the legends are true about the cursed nature of The Ways too?", Lan asked incisively.
"Yes, they grew corrupted sometime during the Hundred Years War, after Hawkwings Empire imploded on itself. They grew dark, started to decay, the trees inside died, the grass withered and an ill wind grew and became Machin Shin, the Black Wind, the wind that is said to drive people mad and devour their souls, perhaps as a reflection of tainted Saidin that was used in their creation. They were no longer safe to use. Many don't know this, but loss of the Ways is another one of the insidious and devastating blows to humanity in this long war against the Shadow. The consequence of their loss needs a lot of scrutiny of history to piece together. The Ways were a secure, reliable and fast route of travel. They were near useless for purpose of invasion. They are a easy chokehold and could be closed shut in seconds. So the Monarchs of the continent were very agreeable to having them in the middle of their cities, even their capitals. Since purposes of invasion and conquest were off the table, the Ways were extensively and sometimes exclusively used for trade, between cities of every nation, it is no exaggeration to say half the riches of Ten Nations were earned through or because of the Ways. And they were a great tool for diplomacy, information exchange was faster and more importantly more accurate. The people talk of the White Towers influence as far reaching now, but in the days when the Ways were functional, Aes Sedai could reach anywhere in the Continent in force in the matter of days", and here Moiraines voice softened in regret, "and that is why the White Towers and even other nations of Second Covenants failure in sending aid and reinforcements to Manetheren in their hour of need is so egregious betrayal. Because there was a reliable way to send that aid, the Manetheren army held the Trolloc army for long enough for that aid to arrive", Moiraine sighed wistfully and continued, "Anyway, because of their importance and utility the Waygates are usually located at the outer edges of the Ogier groves, with a straight path to the main thoroughfares of the city and near the Royal Palace. Once we find the Waygate, we should be able to guesstimate where everything else important in the city used to be."
"You have been particularly melancholy of late Moiraine, I kept my peace hoping you would open up about whats bothering you on your own, but you have been like this for weeks now. Whats going through your head?", Siuan Sent one evening on the fourth day of Moiraines journey.
"Its about the Wisdom", Moiraine replied
"What about her?", Siuan questioned.
"The proper form of address for the Amyrlin is 'Mother', signifying how the Amyrlin cares for Aes Sedai and the whole world as a mother cares for and protects her children. What a joke! What do we Aes Sedai know anything about Motherhood? What do we even know about familial love?! The Wisdom was a mother, Twelve times over, she had grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren. True, she left them for awhile, but she came back, she is the Matriarch of her community, she spent centuries of her life in their service, that's love, that is the Mother's Love. But what do we Aes Sedai do? We demand every Novice who arrives at our doorstep to forget their past life, we demand their absolute loyalty and what do we give them in return for that loyalty? Power, we answer, Control, we say. What meaningless empty things. Those poor young girls, they gave up everything for us and as if thats not enough, we mold them in our own image, we demand their loyalty instead of earning it through love and care. What sort of people are we Siuan that we can't even love our own kind freely. We isolate ourselves from the world at large, but name ourselves that same worlds caretakers. We distance ourselves from our families, even the idea of starting one of our own for the fear of loss and grief. If love is not worth the grief then what is, Siuan? We turn our hearts to stone, then become surprised and indignant that the World does not trust us? Why should it? When we purposefully harden our hearts against the most basic and strongest human emotion of them all?", Moiraine knew that her secret bitterness was all too evident to Siuan, both in her words and through their bond, it is evident to Lan too, if his concerned expression is anything to go by.
Moiraine soothed Lan with a careless hand wave and said she was talking to Siuan through their bond about something she was not yet ready to discuss with him and he gave a disgruntled nod in return.
Siuan mulled over her thoughts for awhile, even though Moiraine could feel Siuans inner turmoil over Moiraines words and concern for her, Moiraine left her be, after half an hour Siuan sent, " I thought you reconciled yourself with the sacrifices we make as Aes Sedai, Moiraine? Not that I do not understand your perspective, but this bitterness is unlike you."
Moiraine sighed out and replied, "I did reconcile myself to it. For the salvation of the world I would make same sacrifice a thousand times more without blinking an eye. But Siuan, my bitterness is not just for my potential loss, its for every Sister, living and dead, how did this come about Siuan? Why did we turn ourselves into this?! Its coming face to face with what we could have been that ignited this bitterness, a true part of world at large, nurturers in the light instead manipulators and schemers in the shadows."
"Perhaps a time will come when we are those nurturers, as you say, we can hope for it, pray for it. The Wheel Weaves as the Wheel Wills", Siuan soothed Moiraine.
Hearing those from Siuan lightened Moiraines mood and she smiled and replied, "And the Wheel Wills that I sleep soon if I don't want to be irritable due to sleep depravation in the morning. Good night, love."
