Rem:

Summary: Women are scary. Magical women even more so, especially when they want to run experiments on you.

Disclaimer: I own my OC and the alternativeness of this plotline. Everything else belongs to Robert Jordan.

Authors Notes are at the end of the chapter.

(thisisalinethisisalinethisisaline)

CHAPTER THREE- Amys Almighty

Loran continued to trudge behind the white-haired Aiel with arms folded across his chest, scowling miserably. He had yet to receive a shirt, and when he asked Amys for one, she had smiled and said, "Now why would a handsome young man want to cover such a fine physique?" Her tone of voice had made Loran's skin crawl. He was then quiet the rest of the way to the Palace gates. As the boy blinked his eyes to adjust them to the sunlight, he finally saw the devastated state of the city. Though the whole of the city was in better shape than the palace itself, despair hung in the atmosphere like a stench, and the silence they met was the abrupt quiet of death. They began their journey past the gates and turned off the main road that spiraled away from the palace to a side street that took them outwards in a straight line, resulting in a more prominent view of the destruction.

"Damn, this place is messed up," Loran muttered as some well-dressed but heavily bandaged denizens scurried by them.

"It was the Car'a'carn's will," murmured the Wise One.

"The candy-corn-who?" Amys shot her companion a look. They had stopped in small intersection of a main road that wound from the center of the city and a smaller road that ended well before it reached the palace. By now, the area was devoid of all but the occasional Aiel that scouted the rubble for both survivors and darkfriends.

"The Car'a'carn," corrected Amys, and then seeing her companion's confusion, "though wetlanders refer to him as the Dragon Reborn." Loran searched his mind for a clue as to what she might mean, and an almost forgotten memory drifted to the front of his thoughts.

"I think one of my friends was telling me about some Dragon Reborn once. It was from a new series she had started reading called….well it doesn't matter what it was called. I can't be sure though. She was always shoving books onto me to read and I've never been very interested. I kinda learned to tune her out a long time ago," Way to be attentive, moron, Loran groaned to himself. If I'd been listening, I'd probably know where the hell I am- wait. Does that mean I'm in a book? No, no, that doesn't happen to people like me; that only happens to people like me geek friends. I'm not even interested in the fantasy genre. Oh, nononononooo- this rather unappealing train of thought was stopped by as a small fizzle appeared in the back of his mind. It was almost not there, a tingling in the place where his head and neck met. As he concentrated on it, the fizzle turned into a cold shiver. The shiver spread down his spine and to the rest of his body. He turned slowly toward Amys.

"Holy shit! You're glowing!" Amys, whose eyes had been closed in concentration, opened them to give the rusty-haired boy another critical stare.

"You can see that," it was more of a statement than a question, but Loran nodded his head vigorously nonetheless.

"You're glowing brighter than a nuclear reactor. Of course I can see it!" He waved his hands in the air to emphasize his response.

"Nuclear….reactor?" Amys questioned, frowning. But Loran was already on another train of thought.

"Does this mean…you're magical," the boy gasped, his face a vision of absolute glee, "Are you an angel? A genie? My fairy godmother?" He fell to his knees, grasping the Wise One's skirt in desperation, "Send me home, please? Pleeease?!" An invisible force suddenly knocked Loran back and as he glanced at Amys, he could see a strange…weave that seemed to flow out of her.

"The heck was that?!"

"I do not know these things of which you speak wetlander- but you will stop this foolishness now," Amys's voice was flat and terse, and Loran could feel a wave of dread and fear wash over him. He gulped and followed quietly after the Aielwoman as she continued the journey outside of the city.

--An Hour Later--

"So, you're telling me you guys- I-I mean girls- can use magic," Loran slowly repeated the information he'd had metaphorically shoved down his throat for the past forty-five minutes or so.

"Basically, yes," another white and brown clad Wise One deadpanned. About five or six of them sat in a semicircle around Loran, owl-eyed and closely observing him like a new pet.

"And there's a male and female side to it, with the male side being…tainted?"

"Yes."

"And they go mad?"

"Yes." Loran briefly wondered how long he could go on like this before they became annoyed with him. From the way they were reacting to his obvious lack of knowledge about this world in general, you'd think interdimensional visitors happened upon their group all the time.

"And you think, for some reason, that I can use both of these?"

"If what Rand said to Amys is true, then yes," replied a younger member of the group.

"Ah," Loran replied, pinching the bridge of his nose to waylay a forming migraine. Just because the information shoving had been metaphorical did not make it hurt any less. One of the Wise Ones gestured to a figure swathed in white and the person stepped forward quietly to fill each woman's cup with a dark brown tea. A sudden movement caught his eye and he glanced once again at the dark-haired girl who'd answered his last question. What was she doing there anyway? She was obviously a foreigner among these light-haired people. Another Wise One seemed to sense his unasked question.

"This is Egwene Sedai. She has been traveling with the Car'a'carn since the beginning of his journey and is now under the tutorship of Amys and Bair," the girl blushed slightly at the blunt introduction but immediately composed herself. Despite what he'd already been told about Rand, Loran could still not believe he was the 'Dragon Reborn' or whatever they called him. He couldn't be more than a year or two older than Loran was.

"You know," began the voice that broke into Loran's thoughts, "if you could tell more about yourself, it would aid us in understanding why you are the way you are." All eyes once again turned toward him.

"Don't get me wrong, I want to tell you, but I- I don't know. It's like I remember where I'm from and about my world, but things about me personally are..blurry. Like there are holes, ya know?" The Wise Ones hmmmed and muttered among each other. Loran began shifting slowly toward the tent entrance. If he could just get a little closer, he could make a break for it. A hand gripping his shoulder made him freeze.

"Going somewhere?" Loran scowled at Amys. This woman was starting to get on his nerves.

"No," he ground out, a smile on his face that did not match the menace in his eyes.

"Good," the white-haired woman shoved him a bit more roughly than was needed back into the center of the tent.

"We have a few things we would like to make certain of before you return to the palace," Loran noticed a bit too late that he was now completely surrounded. That strange cold feeling crept down his spine again as he saw several of the women in the room begin to glow.

In the palace, Rand was looking for Asmodean to talk to him about the recent events, and to hear what the Forsaken had failed to tell him earlier that day. Suddenly, he turned to the two Maidens who were with him.

"Did you hear that?" The Far Dareis Mai looked to each other and then at him in slight confusion.

"Hear what?"

"Nothing. It's nothing," replied Rand, returning to his search. He shook his head slightly in disbelief. He was certain he had heard Loran calling for help.

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Just to clarify one thing: Loran has never read WoT, or any fantasy books for that matter. He's a very reality oriented person, which will definitely bring up difficulties as he learns about Randland. All other mysteries about him will be revealed at their due time .

I would like to thank theamyrlinseat for her review and critique! Thank you again!

This chapter took place between books 5 and 6, kind of because that's the most logical place timeline-wise that I could put it in, and partly because…I still need to retrieve my book six so I can start rereading it! (I know: I stall, I procrastinate, and I'm a horrible person! >