You know that 'I love you so much that I'd rather spend my life killing Trollocs than marry you' conversation that Nynaeve and Lan have at the end of the Eye of the World? Pretend it never happened.

Prompt #5 - It's Wrong

"Why do you hate her so much?" Elayne asked. Nynaeve tried to silence her with a stormy glare but it fell rather flat; the Daughter-Heir of Andor had grown up watching her mother deal out much worse looks and Elayne had practised the art on guards she disliked from an early age.

"I just despise everything she stands for," Nynaeve said stiffly. "She manipulates us and the boys in some White Tower plot; we have no idea what her motives are and she thinks she's so wonderful, the high and mighty Aes Sedai!" Nynaeve's voice had become louder and shriller as she spoke, and Elayne looked surreptitiously over at Moiraine, but the woman didn't seem to have heard. "I bet she imagines herself to be noble born, not just raised to that when she became Aes Sedai," Nynaeve finished scornfully.

"Actually she is," Elayne told her. "She's an aunt of mine a couple of times removed, her father was Taringail." Nynaeve looked over at Moiraine, then back at Elayne. She couldn't see Moiraine as ever acting in a very aunt-ish way, nor was there any great resemblance between the two women.

Nynaeve's fit of fury subsided, her bubble of rage burst for the moment, although the residual anger still remained. She became silent, watching Moiraine and Lan talk. Elayne saw her stiffen when the Aes Sedai put a hand on Lan's arm, and wondered.

It was obvious to Elayne that Moiraine and the Warder were in love. Their eyes always searched each other out in a crowded room before anyone else; their words were softer than she'd heard them say to anyone else, particularly in Lan's case; and they often shared gentle touches that seemed to veil a hidden intimacy. Elayne didn't know if they had ever acted on their feelings or if they even realised that the feelings were there, but she was sure they weren't crushing on one another from afar. She couldn't picture Moiraine as a giggly teenager chasing after boys, and she certainly couldn't envision the adult version acting lovestruck.

"So that's why you hate her so," Elayne said aloud. Nynaeve stared at her; Elayne realised she must have been silently watching Moiraine and Lan for the best part of five minutes with a goofy 'aren't they cute together' grin on her face.

"Why?" Nynaeve asked sharply.

"She has Lan, and you want him," Elayne said. Nynaeve turned red, whether from a blush or from anger Elayne wasn't sure until the Wisdom opened her mouth.

"Who even says he bonded to her willingly?" Nynaeve hissed.

"How can you accuse her of something like that? I know you're jealous, but that's not right," Elayne snapped back. She wasn't close to Moiraine and in all honesty she sometimes feared the woman's power, but she would not allow such things to be said of a family member simply from envy.

"Prove to me that it isn't true," Nynaeve challenged.

"Fine," Elayne snapped. "You've heard him talk to her, in that low voice he addresses no-one else with. You've seen the way they look at each other when they think nobody is watching; even the most oblivious fool could figure out something more than Aes Sedai-Warder was going on. And you must have noticed the touches – see?" she pointed over at where Lan was holding Moiraine's cold hands in his to warm them. Nynaeve had been getting angrier and angrier as the facts were pointed out to her and she could no longer deny them. Elayne saw the glow of saidar surround her as she lost her temper and a moment later Moiraine's silk dress was on fire, flames licking their way through the material.

Moiraine screamed and jumped to her feet. She channelled the Power, somewhat suppressing the flames created by Nynaeve's stronger, if more unreliable ability to channel. The flames were put out after a few more seconds, but Moiraine's dress was burnt and tattered, and Nynaeve realised in horror that she had burns covering her legs and body. She reached for the bag of herbs she always carried with her, but Lan's cold glare of fury froze her in place as he helped the charred Aes Sedai out of the room.

"Light, Nynaeve, what possessed you to do that?" Elayne whispered. Nynaeve shook her head and sat down heavily.

"I didn't mean to – that was all wrong, I didn't want that to happen… but light, Elayne, them together? It's just all wrong," Nynaeve muttered, tugging on her braid until Elayne was sure it would tear right out of her head.

Elayne sat silently, scrapping her plans of talking sense into the Wisdom. Talks about what was right and what was wrong and what Nynaeve had any right to meddle in could wait until they visited a stedding, where she wouldn't be able to channel.

I don't like Nynaeve very much. You might have noticed from this one ;-)