The rays of the sun warmed Lan's muscular back, while he slowly woke up. It felt good to be back in the Borderlands. This was his home. The place where he was able to relax. Everywhere else, he had to be on high alert. Even in the White Tower. Well, maybe he wasn't on high alert when he was surrounded by the other Warders, but he was still careful.

Maybe it was the smell. The smell of being home. Of being close to Malkier that allowed his body to calm down and to get the rest he needed.

Lan sighed and stretched himself. He knew that it was important to leave Fal Dara very soon, but right now he wanted to… Suddenly, Lan was fully awake and raised his head alarmed. He couldn't feel Moiraine anymore! `She must have masked the bond again! But why should she mask our bond?! She knows how much I hate it when she does it!´

The Warder was already on his knees when he suddenly noticed a different smell on his blanket. Confused, he inhaled and memories of last night filled his head. Nynaeve, who had followed him through the streets of Fal Dara. Nynaeve, who entered his bedroom and asked him if she should leave. His fingers moved gingerly over her arm. The feeling of her soft lips on his own. Her skin…

Lan sighed and dropped the blanket. `Light, I'm an idiot. Of course, she masked our bond after last night. She must have felt how Nynaeve and I… light.´ Relieved, he rubbed his tired face. Moiraine probably had fallen asleep, while their bond had been masked.

But it didn't explain where Nynaeve was. The other side of his bed was still warm, which meant that the young woman of the Two Rivers must have left him recently. Although he was more impressed that she had been able to leave the room without waking him. This woman… there was something about her. No one else was able to sneak up on him. But not only had she done that, but she had also tracked him down after the Trolloc attack on her village.

Lan took a closer look at his room. Nothing. No, Nynaeve was truly gone. Was she embarrassed? What would she do now? Would she never mention it again?

`Stop thinking such nonsense. She will never be yours, and you have work to do. You need to make preparations for our departure. Soon, Moiraine will be awake, and then you have to be ready.´

A last deep sigh, then the Warder got out of bed. He couldn't waste any more time.

After Lan had informed the kitchen of their departure and had ordered food for the way, he walked to Moiraine's room. Their bond was still masked, which made him extremely nervous. It was unlike his Aes Sedai to sleep that long. Usually, she was up with the first ray of the sun. Her mind was constantly working and developing plans. Or did she assume that he was still with Nynaeve? But that would be ridiculous!

The Warder reached the door and knocked. Silence was his only answer. Was she really still asleep? Carefully, he opened the door and slipped in. The bed was empty, and so was the room. One look at the balcony confirmed that Moiraine wasn't in there. Where was she?! And why was their bond still masked?!

Alarmed, Lan turned and started to run through the corridors. He searched everywhere, but his Aes Sedai was nowhere to be found. Slowly, Lan felt how panic was rising within him. Without the bond, he had no clue where to search. She could be anywhere. What if she was hurt? Why hadn't she called for him? `Damn you, Moiraine! Where are you?! Last night, you were ready to strangle the seer just to get a clear answer. Why would you suddenly delay our…?´

Lan passed a window and stopped. The view showed Tavern's gap in the distance. And behind it was… `Oh Moiraine. Please, you can't be that foolish.´

This time, Lan ran through the corridors in search of his friends from the Borderlands. Uno, who wore an eyepatch since he had lost an eye, should be able to give him the answer he was searching for. His Shienarer friends knew Moiraine, as well as they knew what she was.

Lan found Uno at the entrance, joking with the other warriors. All of them bowed respectfully when he approached them.

"Dai shan. Are you alright? You look…"

"Have you seen Moiraine Sedai during the last hours?"

Uno raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Yes, I have. She left the fortress hours ago."

"Was she alone?"

"No, this… boy, ehm… the redhead followed her."

`Rand.´ Rand was the Dragon Reborn. During the night, he must have gone to Moiraine. Why hadn't he searched for him? Why hadn't Moiraine told him? `Moiraine, what have you done?´

Uno seemed insecure when he noticed Lan's angry look. The Shienarer knew him for quite a while now and knew that it was rare when Lan's calm mask fell. "Dai Shan? Are you…? Did I…? Was I not supposed to let them leave?"

Lan took a deep breath to calm his emotions. It hadn't been Uno's fault. His Aes Sedai had decided to leave him behind. She had made this decision without him. "You did nothing wrong, Uno.", Lan said "Thank you for telling me."

The Warder placed his fist over his right collarbone and bowed then he turned around and went back inside. He had to find the other Emond's Fielder. Nynaeve and the others needed to know about Rand's departure.

`I don't want you to die, any of you, but whichever of you goes to the Eye of the World and is not the Dragon… you will die there.´

Oh, he knew very well why Moiraine had left him behind. She had never wanted to kill those children. And she definitely had never wanted to kill him. He wasn't the Dragon, and she knew that he would be killed there too if he would have gone with her.

`Aren't there goodbyes you need to make in this city before we go?´

She had tricked him. This story about being reminded of their first meeting… she had forced herself to think about it. This way, he hadn't questioned her sadness. Like a newbie, he hadn't listened closely enough to her emotions. He was her Warder for over twenty years now but at this moment, he had acted like a fool. Why hadn't he asked her to accompany him?

`I like her, you know. The Wisdom.´

She had pushed him in Nynaeve's direction. For over a month, she had watched his struggles with this beautiful, young woman. How he had tried to keep his distance, while his feet had always brought him back to her. He had been confused when she hadn't talked to him much after she had saved his life with the One Power.

"Have I ever thanked you?"

Nynaeve, who was checking on a sleeping Stepin, froze when Lan started to talk. It had been only a day since Kerene had died, and the Aes Sedai had gentled Logain. Only a day since Nynaeve had used the One Power to save Lan's life. But she had barely spoken since to anyone.

Lan had tried after Moiraine had ordered him to bring back the Wisdom to the camp. Back then, Nynaeve had been too shocked by herself to notice his attempts, and after a while, Lan had stopped trying. She had been safe in the tent, while he had had to help the other Warders to bury the dead.

During the night, he had comforted his Aes Sedai, who had distanced herself from him because she was afraid to lose him. Lan had been relieved when Moiraine had finally opened up to him. He had held her close until the sun had been rising and even then, he hadn't been able to leave her. Moiraine had been thankful that he hadn't left her side until it had been time for him to check on Stepin in the afternoon.

Since then, he had been sitting in Stepin's tent, watching over his friend. He was sleeping a lot, though it was a very unsettled sleep. When Nynaeve had entered the tent, she had flinched at his sight. Lan hadn't needed to ask her where she had assumed he would be. Surprisingly, she had her mask back in place pretty quickly and had told him that she was simply here to check on Stepin.

The Warder had watched her in silence, but now, he thought that he could start a new attempt.

"Thank me for what?" Her voice was cold, while she continued to work on Stepin.

"For saving Moiraine's life. Without your poultice, she never would have made it here."

"Is that all you care about?! Her life?! Her well-being?!" Angry, the Wisdom turned to the Warder, and her eyes were shooting daggers at him. "What about your life?!"

Lan didn't blink. Calmly, he looked into her beautiful eyes and said: "Without you, she wouldn't have survived. And then, I would've been in Stepin's position."

Nynaeve opened her mouth to yell at him when finally, his words reached her brain. Her eyes softened when she realized that Lan would also feel as terrible as Stepin. Her gaze returned to the devastated Warder, who was murmuring in his sleep. She hated it to see him like this. From the first moment they had met, Stepin had been nice to her. She didn't want this for Lan.

"I didn't do it for her.", Nynaeve said finally, while her fingers found her braid and pulled at it.

"I know." A small smile appeared on Lan's lips when she looked at him in shock before she blushed and turned her head away. She didn't like that he knew about her feelings.

"I will make some tea." Smiling, Lan watched how she fled the tent.

She almost crushed into Ihvon, who entered the tent just at this moment. "Why do I have the feeling that I missed something?"

"She is worried about Stepin."

Ihvon raised his eyebrow questionably. "Are you sure she is just worried about… 'Stepin'?"

Sighing, Lan got on his feet. "Since you are here, I'm assuming that you will watch over Stepin now?"

The other Warder nodded. When Lan passed him, he couldn't help himself and said: "Don't think I didn't notice how you changed the subject. She may be worried about Stepin, but she was definitely angry about you."

Quickly, Lan left the tent, but he still heard Ihvon chuckling inside. He saw that Nynaeve kneeled by the Warder's fire, which was now empty. Everyone was still on duty. The Wisdom was preparing hot water, and it seemed as if she was mumbling angrily to herself.

Lan thought about going to her when he noticed how his Aes Sedai approached the young woman. Surprised, he moved closer by checking on Mandarb. The horses stood close enough for him to listen to their conversation without drawing attention.

"May I talk to you?"

"How many times do I have to repeat myself?! I don't want to become a Novice! I don't want to learn how to use the One Power! Just leave me alone!"

Lan risked a glance at his Aes Sedai. He could feel how the anger was filling her, while on the outside she showed no emotion. At least her face stayed calm. Her fingers were twitching as if she wanted to use Saidar to teach this girl a lesson.

"I'm assuming my sisters tried to talk you into becoming a Novice."

"And teaching me how to use my powers! And everyone was mentioning how strong I am and that I will need their help!" Every child learned that it was never a good idea to anger an Aes Sedai. But Nynaeve had obviously no problem doing that. Luckily, Moiraine seemed to understand the situation of the young woman. "You're rather late compared to your sisters! You're the last one, who comes here to advise me!"

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing that I'm not here to 'advise' you."

Lan smiled when he saw Nynaeve's surprised face, so he quickly turned his face back to Mandarb. This young woman thought she knew Moiraine. He wondered how long it would take her to realize that she knew nothing about his Aes Sedai and her methods.

"You're not?"

"I'm not. I came here to thank you." Lan took a step aside, so he was able to see the two women again, while he absently stroked Mandarb's flank. Moiraine was smiling, and Nynaeve looked shocked. Apparently, she hadn't expected to hear those words out of Moiraine's mouth. "Are you surprised?"

"What do you want to thank me for?"

"Isn't that obvious? I wanted to thank you for saving Lan's life when I couldn't do it."

"He didn't deserve it to die."

"No, he didn't." Nynaeve narrowed her eyes at the woman in front of her as if she was waiting for something else. Moiraine tilted her head aside questionably. "Is there something wrong?"

"Is that all you want to thank me for?"

"Yes."

"That I saved Lan."

"Yes."

"But not that I saved your life? Twice now, by the way."

Moiraine chuckled at the words of the Wisdom. "Let's be honest, girl. You didn't help me because you like me. You helped me in the woods because you want me to reunite you with your friends. And because Lan asked you. And in this cave… you wanted to save Lan and no one else in there. But since it was the first time you touched the source, you used too much of the One Power and healed everyone around you too." Nynaeve lowered her head, and Moiraine nodded. This conversation was over.

Lan watched how Moiraine turned around when the Wisdom suddenly straighten up again. "I'm surprised that Lan is still alive with an Aes Sedai by his side who is too slow to heal him."

The Warder hissed angrily. This stupid girl! Why couldn't she stop?! His feet started to move when Nynaeve suddenly yelped and rubbed her butt. "Don't overstrain my nerves, child. I'm thankful that you saved him, but don't you dare say that I don't try hard enough."

She threw Nynaeve an icy look, then her eyes locked with Lan's for a moment before she left the Warder's fire. She had known that he had been listening.

Grumbling, Nynaeve shot daggers at Moiraine's back, while she was still rubbing her butt. "Insufferable woman!"

Lan stopped beside her for a moment. "You're lucky that it was just one blow. For such an insult, you would deserve at least three."

Satisfied, the Warder noticed how her ears turned red when she realized that he had heard their whole conversation. Then he left her behind and followed his Aes Sedai. He needed to find out how much damage Nynaeve's words had done to Moiraine. This Wisdom had a quick and sharp tongue.

Slowly, Lan blinked and noticed that he was standing in front of Moiraine's room again. While he had been caught up in his memories, his feet had brought him back to the place his heart wanted to be. He opened the door and stepped inside. Although Uno had confirmed that Moiraine had left Fal Dara, Lan noticed that there had been a splinter of hope in his heart that the warrior had been wrong. That his Aes Sedai hadn't left him behind.

His eyes moved over the furniture as if he had missed something the first time. No, the room was still empty. Moiraine was gone. When his eyes moved over the untouched bed, he noticed an envelope. The Warder stepped closer. His name was written on it, and immediately, he recognized Moiraine's beautiful handwriting. Lan's hand trembled when he reached for it and unfolded it. `Oh, Moiraine.´

Lan stuffed the letter in his belt then he turned around and left the room. It was time to inform the Emond's Fielder about what had happened during the night.

His first destination was Nynaeve's bedroom. Since the Wisdom had left his room while he had still been asleep, Lan assumed that she must have returned to her room. When he finally reached the door, he heard Egwene's voice from behind it. "I haven't seen him since last night. When I awoke this morning, he wasn't there."

Sighing, the Warder closed his eyes. Rand. Rand al'Thor was the Dragon Reborn. He had left the fortress with Moiraine without telling his friends. `Probably Moiraine's advice. If she hadn't informed me about their departure, she definitely didn't want those kids to know.´

And now, it was up to him to explain everything to them. He had to tell them that they couldn't do much more than wait. Wait if the Dragon Reborn was strong enough to defeat the Dark One or would die there. While he would have to wait for the moment his bond with Moiraine would break. The moment, which would tell him that his Aes Sedai had died without him.

Lan took a deep breath then he knocked at Nynaeve's door.

The next chapter will be uploaded on Monday, because Sunday, it's my birthday, and I will be too busy to upload the next chapter.

Enjoy the rest of the week 3

And remember: reviews make the author veeeeery happy :D