“I’d marry you today if I could, you know.”
Moiraine lifted her head and smiled, trying to shake off her melancholy. She picked up her mug of ale and settled back on to the bed, leaning into the curve of her lover’s body. “Would we live here? Have a home in the Fingers of the Dragon?”
“Mmn.” Siuan reached out to run her fingers through fine strands of long brown hair. “I’ll fish and cook for you, we’ll have a garden and raise the juiciest, sweetest fruit you’ve ever tasted.”
“I’d have to learn how to brew my own ale if you insist on drinking this horse piss.”
"Language.” Siuan tugged lightly at the hair wound around her fingers in admonishment. She laughed a little as Moiraine winced, before sitting up to kiss her in apology. “But anything to keep you by my side. Would a life like that make you happy, my love, after all your years in a saddle?”
“When I’m settling down to sleep, stones and branches digging into me through my bed roll and only half of me warm from the fire, that life is what I dream about. A home that we can make together. Being in the same bed every night, with you beside me.” Moiraine's lips curved up in a wry grin. “Hot baths. Our own bathing hut, that no one will judge me for using too long, which will always be scented with oils we like. We can build a fireplace inside, make the heat so intense that it hurts to breathe...”
“Sounds like you dream about that bathing hut more than me.” Siuan noted dryly.
Moiraine pinched the skin on her thigh where the robe fell open, knowing that it was one of her ticklish spots, smiling fondly as Siuan laughed and pushed her away. “Don’t be jealous. I dream about you in the bathing hut too.”
“Well, that’s something at least.” She let Siuan take her mug to set it aside, watching as her lover shrugged off her robe and dropped it on the floor. The other woman got back into bed with her, guiding her down until they shared a pillow. Moiraine swallowed at the look in her eyes, the love obvious in her soft smile as she reached out to trace her brow, her touch gentle and soothing.
“Siuan...” she haltingly began to confess. “The thought of being married to you, having a home together... it’s a dream I almost don’t dare to have. Tarmon Gai'don is coming, and the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills...”
“I meant what I said earlier, Moiraine. One day, we will have more time, either in this life or the next.” Siuan’s voice took on the timbre it had in the Hall of the Tower, the look on her face was incandescent. “Every turning of the Wheel, I will find you. I promise.”
This was the woman she fell in love with, decades ago. She was a member of House Damodred, one of the royal line in Cairhien, yet it had been so easy for her to follow the daughter of a poor Tairen fisherman. Part of it was being hopelessly spellbound by Siuan’s quick mind and the mischievous smile that got them into trouble with the Mistress of the Novices more times than they could count. But it was also Siuan’s strength and conviction, that had her predicting from the day they met that her friend would eventually become the Amyrlin Seat and the most powerful woman in the world. She let that strength envelop her now, feeling safe in a way that she never allowed herself to feel on the road or in her own quarters, and finally slept.
