Mr Miliardo: Thank you again for reviewing, it's nice to know that my story is good enough to catch someone's interest for me than a chapter :D. I definitely like the idea of keeping their genders, but I also like the idea of genderbending Elayne because of the simple fact that it will mean Rana is the heir to the throne, which will certainly make certain things I plan on doing with this much more interesting, since at a point it will start splitting from cannon quite a bit.

After Rana and Matt had finished unloading the cart they stopped briefly to have a couple of Mistress al'Vere's famous honeycakes.
Then they headed out to see if they could find Perrin, ignoring Ewin Finngar. They had both decided to find Perrin and tell him of the gleeman before going to find him, just to be fair to their friend. As they walked towards the Green Rana found the back on her neck prickling, felt the familiar sensation of being watched. And from the look on Matt's face he felt it too. They both looked around, and something caused Rana to turn completely and let her gaze to the edge of the inns tile roof.
There was a large Raven perched on it, watching them and her eyes narrowed. "Filthy carrion eater."
Matt followed her gaze and scowled, "I'm tired of being stared at." they exchanged looks before both crouching down and scooping up rocks. The stones flew true, and they should have hit the raven, but it stepped aside, never once looking away from them. Not at all disturbed by the stones.
Rana swallowed hard. "Have you ever seen a raven do that before Mat?"
Mat shook his head, not looking away from the bird. "Never, nor any other bird either."

"A vile bird," came a woman's voice from behind them, melodious despite echoes of distaste, "to be mistrusted in the best of times."
With a shrill cry the raven launched itself into the air so violently that two black feathers drifted down from the roof's edge.

Startled, Rana and Mat twisted to follow the bird's swift flight, over the Green and toward the cloudtipped Mountains of Mist, tall beyond the Westwood, until it dwindled to a speck in the west, then vanished from view.
Rana turned towards the sound of the voice when it was finally gone, blinking at the woman. She looked fairly young, though her dark eyes had a strange maturity to them. She was a beautiful woman, with dark hair hanging in soft ringlets, unbraided, and strange looking to Rana, wearing a sky blue velvet cloak with thick silver embroidery all along the edges.
Her dress gleamed faintly as she moved, a darker blue than the cloak, and slashed with cream. A necklace of heavy gold links hung around her neck, while another gold chain, delicate and fastened in her hair, supported a small, sparkling blue stone in the middle of her forehead. A wide belt of woven gold encircled her waist, and on the second finger of her left hand was a gold ring in the shape of a serpent biting its own tail. She had certainly never seen a ring like that, though she recognized the Great Serpent, an even older symbol for eternity than the Wheel of Time.
She curtsied quickly, her eyes wide, "Good morning my Lady." and she giggled when Matt flushed.
"Good morning my Lady." he stammered slightly, and the woman smiled at them both.
"My name is Moiraine, please do not hesitate to call me such, I don't wish to be called Lady." then she nodded to them both. "And what are your names?"
"I'm Matrim Cauthon, La... ah... Moiraine." Matt made a stiff jerking bow and Rana laughed even harder at that, and when she calmed she smiled at Moiraine.
"I'm Rana al'Thor, it's a pleasure to meet you Moiraine."
Moiraine looked from her to Mat and back again, before giving a small, secretive smile, "I may have some small tasks to be done from time to time while I am in Emond's Field." she said. "Perhaps you would be willing to assist me?"
Rana and Matt both nodded eagerly, and Rana was surprised when she pressed a coin into her palm, closing her hand tightly around it with both of hers, and Moiraine ignored her protests as she went on to repeat the process with Mat.
"After all you cannot be expected to work for nothing. Consider them tokens, and keep them with you so you will remember you have agreed to come to me when I ask. There is a bond between us now."
Rana nodded, "Of course."
Moiraine nodded, "Later we must talk, and you must tell me all about yourselves." her eyes flicked towards Rana's sword before she focused back on their faces.
"Moiraine?" Rana asked just as the woman started to turn away, swallowing before carrying on. "Why have you come to Emond's Field? I don't mean to be rude it's just... so rare for us to get visitors other than the merchants and peddlars when the snow isn't too deep to get down from Baerlon, almost no one, certainly no one like you."
Her smile faded slowly, and after a moment she stated, "I am a student of history, a collector of old stories. This place you call the Two Rivers has always interested me. Sometimes I study the stories of what happened here long ago. Here and at other places."
And Rana found herself silent at that. A student of history. A well learned woman. It was certainly a good thing that she was wearing her scarf to hide the locket. She got the feeling that this woman would recognise her mothers sigil, Mat glanced at her worriedly, and Moiraine focused on them again.
"Later we will talk. Later." she turned away and walked off, and as she did a man that neither of them had noticed before moved away from the front of the inn and followed her, one hand resting on the long hilt of a sword. His clothes were a dark grayish green that would have faded into leaf and shadow, and his cloak swirled through shades of gray, green and brown as it shifted in the wind.
It almost seemed to disappear at times, that cloak, fading into whatever lay beyond it. His hair was long, and gray at the temples, held back from his face by a narrow leather headband. That face was made from stony planes and angles, weathered but unlined despite the gray in his hair. When he moved, Rand could think of nothing but a wolf.
In passing the three youths his gaze ran over them, eyes as cold and blue as a midwinter dawn. It was as if he were weighing them in his mind, and there was no sign on his face of what the scales told him. He quickened his pace until he caught up to Moiraine, then slowed to walk by her shoulder, bending to speak to her.
Rana let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding before she opened her hand and looked down at the coin in it. "Oh." she breathed out, staring at the coin. She didn't recognise it, the raised image of a woman balancing a single flame on her upturned hand. But it was fat and silver, it was a great deal of money for someone from the Two Rivers.
"I wonder what kind of chores she could have to give us this kind of money." she glanced at Mat, who shrugged.
"I don't know, and I don't care. I won't spent it either. Even when the peddler comes. And with that he thrust the coin into his coat pocket, and Rana shoved it into the front pocket of her dress.
"I don't think I shall either." Rana admitted, reaching up and flicking her braid over her shoulder, "To think, a Lady in Emond's Field." it was a strange thought, despite the fact that she most probably technically would outrank the Lady, at least in terms of blood, but then again, she very rarely thought about it these days, she didn't consider herself a Lady or a princess, whatever it was that her blood would make her.
She was pulled from her thoughts as shouting drifted across the Wagon Bridge, and when Rana and Mat looked to see what was causing it they both grinned. A milling crowd of villagers, from gray haired oldsters to toddlers barely able to walk, escorted a tall wagon toward the bridge. A huge wagon drawn by eight horses. The Peddler had come at last. Rana and Mat exchanged excited looks before they both took off towards the cart.