#cause for separation

Thanks for asking and sorry for answering this a bit late. I wanted to write a rec anyway, so anon, your timing’s excellent! There are a few things, however, I need to clear up first: I’m not suggesting here, that these are the best fics ever written in the fandom, this is not a hall of fame. This is a collection of my comfort fics as a reader who loves to read intricate and unlikely AUs about Siuan/Moiraine and plotless stories about That weird thing Lan and Moiraine have. I’m 100% sure there are great fics out there about Rand&Mat and the Polycule(tm), it’s not a judgement of value that I’m leaving stuff out. 

Also before the rec, psst here’s my wishlist of the things I’d love to see on AO3: the “How I met your Greenman” story, outtakes from Birgitte’s lives, an entire story from Aviendha’s POV. If you’ve read anything similar, hmu pls (I mean I was desperate enough to write a Birgitte story recently, rip.)

An incomplete list of fics I adore (might write a 2nd part):

Their Dinners by aptasi (T)

A truly in-character piece about Lan and Moiraine: there is no dialogue, they are just having dinner in complete silence and that’s the entire plot. Such a brilliant story, I’d say this is my favourite but aptasi has tons of gutting short stories  and I’m not able to just choose one. aptasi also writes amazing  Rand & Moiraine dialogues, the kind that leaves you staring out of the foggy window, rethinking your ways.

echoes of her dynasty by alittlelesspain (E) There are so many things in this fanfic I still think about every once in a while, just to list a few of them:

- Alric has an actual personality in this story?? he’s the saltiest ace/aro Warder and I absolutely loved how being someone on the grayscale was not depicted as being innocent or clueless about stuff, but “When she looked up, Moiraine was staring at her, not the puzzle. “Oh,” said Alric in a voice of revelation, when Siuan got back to the inn that night, puzzle dangling uselessly from her hand, and brain equally useless to holding any sort of sensible conversation with him. “I understand now. She’s equally pathetic.”

- most of the story is from Siuan’s POV which is a relatively rare thing and it was so amazing to stay in her mind for a while. Technically this story is a Very Reluctant Sun Queen AU where Moiraine re-builds Cairhien with her Dream Team (Siuan, Alric, Lan and Bukama) instead of becoming Aes Sedai. There are also heavy Beauty and the Beast undertones, as the story starts with Siuan encountering the last surviving Damodred lurking in the Royal Library with her stone faced Borderlander bbf

- a battle is won because Siuan loves to chat with Ogier stonemasons and re-uses a centuries-old waterway for her tactics.

- a lot of this fic is about the importance of rebuilding lost knowledge and making education more accessible. The entire thing has such a positive message while keeping the reader on their toes by staying brutally realistic at the same time. Ugh, just make a huge pot of tea and read this.

The Path of Fires and Foxes by LarraineLynch (M)

Time-travel AU from multiple POVs and I loved reading all of them. The first book of this series is already finished, it’s so intricate and masterfully woven that I don’t know how to describe this story, I just want to say that her weekly updates kept me going through a vacationless summer. What I liked best about it was 1. that instead of pitting women against each other the author lets them communicate (or for Moiraine’s part, manipulate, but we love her nonetheless) and plot against the system 2. it felt so gross to read about stilling men then leaving them to go crazy and die alone through the series and finally, this fic addresses this waste of human life and potential and creates an amazing solution.

cause for separation by fuelprices (G)

Delicious long-distance relationship angst and crack! don’t want to spoil the plot, I just want to say I love her way of writing the Siuan-Lan dynamic <3 (+check out the rest if you’re unlike me and can read some good hurt & comfort stuff rn) Fractal by aptasi (E)