#wotober

Prompt: Hall

The hallway to the room she shared with Lan was too bloody long. Nynaeve was far too irritated to notice her language. If just one more of the Kin or the Light-forsaken Atha’an Miere interrupted her she would explode.

This morning Lan whispered what he planned for tonight and her breath caught at the thought. He’d left dinner early, murmuring he would “prepare the room,” whatever that meant, and the rest of the meal had been endless.

She’d been stopped no fewer than three times since.

Her hand was finally on the latch.

“Nynaeve Sedai!”

Prompt: Corruption

“The fire keeps some away, but will attract others. I will keep watch.”

“How many times have you been here?” Moiraine was unsure she could sleep at all in the corrupted wasteland of the Blight.

“Many,” Lan replied with a grunt. “Survival requires luck as much as skill. But I will see you out, Moiraine Sedai.”

“I never expected otherwise.” She tried to imagine him as a boy, as young as ten, navigating the horrors here. That he was brave and skilled was not in question.

Prompt: Tavern

“Must it always be the dirtiest tavern whenever we meet, Matrim?”

“You need variety. Aren’t the Seven Towers stuffy?”

*sniff*

“Anyway, ten this month, ready to go when you are.”

“Mat, does Tuon know?”

“Honestly, I think the number who take the offer shock her. Only two assasination attempts in the last six months? She’s practically giving her blessing.”

“This is too dangerous for you—“

“And sneaking along the Seanchan border isn’t? Lan knows you’re here?”

“He knows better than to interfere in Aes Sedai business.”

Prompt: Cloak

Nynaeve’s snore announced she was no longer listening. Lan gazed at her curled on the rugs in front of the fire, wrapped only in the unbound waves of her hair. She worked herself too hard. Up well before dawn and rarely back to their rooms before the torches burned low. The time they ekked out for each other was precious, hardly enough for a new bride.

Perhaps tomorrow he would keep her to their rooms, dedicating some real time to the proper practice of marriage.

Prompt: Honeycakes

Egwene was trying so hard. “I saved you some honeycakes.”

The last time she had eaten honeycakes they had been made by Lan. He made them every year for Elnore’s name day. They were a family favorite.

Except they weren’t. They had never been. Not really. Even though she could remember sticky crumbs wiped from her daughter’s face, smell the delicious aroma that accompanied a special occasion.

She couldn’t forget. It had been so real. Even though it had never happened.

Prompt: Ruler

Nynaeve waited until the last of Lan’s advisors finally left the room. “You handle it all with such grace,” she murmured. “But as king, once we are alone you only need do what I tell you.”

She was pleased to see his fatigue lift. “What does my queen desire?”

Her hand slipped to his trousers. “For you to let go of the weight you carry and allow me to care for you.”

Prompt: Lesson

The Yellow Sister looked at her askance. “What under the Light are you doing, child?”

Nynaeve did not look up from helping a child swallow the tea she had prepared. “My job.” When the cup was empty she added, “You should not call me child, Larissa.”

“You have no need of such foolish tinctures and salves. And whatever the Amyrlin calls you, child, you are not fully Aes Sedai yet.”

Prompt: Fade

“Tai’shar Manetheren.”

It was as much the way he said it as the words themselves. Elayne and Alise and the others faded away as she spun to face him. Not that she had any reason to doubt he loved her (not after this morning!), but any uncertaintly would have drowned in his look.

It was not just the love. He was proud of her. He knew all her flaws, and still he was proud of her, of what she was. He delighted in her success.