Prompt 14 - Why Won't You?
"Moiraine is back!" Rand called, and Lan sprung up from where he'd been sitting punching his hand into the rocky ground. Moiraine was staggering up towards them, exhausted from her ordeal at Rhuidean and the long walk back under the hot sun. Lan rushed down to meet her, sweeping her up carefully to try and avoid causing her too much pain. However gentle he was, though, Moiraine still whimpered with every movement as his clothes chafed her burnt skin. She was so red that if her skin had tanned just a slight bit before it burned, she would have appeared charred, and Lan wondered what had happened inside the Aiel city. He wondered what Moiraine had gone through, and he wondered if the sun was all that had burnt her.
Moiraine murmured something and passed out, her head lolling against Lan's shoulder. Lan ran faster, knowing that the hot sun burning his face must be causing her agony as it beat down upon her naked body.
Lan passed Moiraine over to the Wise Ones, then made to follow them into the tent, intent on remaining by Moiraine's side. But Melaine forced him to stay outside, and Lan protested with vigour.
"Why won't you let me in, woman?" Lan asked angrily.
"You would get in the way," Melaine told him and returned inside. Lan paced back and forth, not caring that the sun was burning his hands and face.
It was dark when Moiraine finally followed Melaine out of the tent. She wore a troubled, distant look; Lan wondered again what she'd gone through at Rhuidean.
"Are you alright?" he asked, not entirely trusting in the healing skills of the Wise Ones. Moiraine turned to him and nodded, placing a reassuring hand on his arm.
"I am fine, if a little sunburnt," she told him.
"A little?" Lan asked; Moiraine wasn't usually given to such understatements. She shrugged.
"I must go," she said. Lan nodded and stepped aside, but not until he'd felt her forehead to check for fever. A brief look of irritation passed over her face at being coddled in such a way, but all the same Lan didn't let her go until he was completely satisfied she wasn't suffering from too bad a sunstroke. He watched her leave with no small amount of regret, cursing the harshness of the Aiel and their Waste, and wishing that for once Moiraine would let herself rest instead of pushing herself to and past her limits in order to continue her plans. But, he thought, she wouldn't be Moiraine if she did.
I'm hoping this was somewhat in character, as some of my characterisations have been pretty dodgy. Thanks for the reviews, they've been really helpful :-)