WHERE Vallo Forest WHEN Today, January 7th WHAT Moiraine’s arrival, right before patrols get there. STATUS Complete! WARNINGS Snark & a little angst. Spoilers for the end of Season 1.
Having only arrived recently himself, Lan was by no means an expert on the terrain of Vallo. He should have left that to the people who had clearly been here much longer than him, and seemingly knew what they were doing.
Lan did not. If it had been anyone other than Moiraine, he might have. He knew she could take care of herself, had known that for years, but things were different now. More distant. He hadn’t felt this disconnected from her in ever, and it was putting him just on the edge of frantic.
It was possible she wouldn’t show, that Lan was searching a moving forest for naught, but Nynaeve had taught him her tell (which, in hindsight, was still a little amusing to him, as he hadn’t been able to see what was right in front of his face) and he wouldn’t stop looking while he had the opportunity to do so. Moiraine could be here, or might arrive, and he couldn’t feel her to know for sure.
He was certain he’d been through this area once before, though. It wasn’t far from the place of his own arrival, and he took note of certain markers. But he’d only gone north. Which meant the forest had shifted, again, and Lan heaved out a loud sigh of frustration and slumped against a nearby rock. “Only we would get thrown from a Blighted forest to one that moves.”
Moiraine did not have time to wallow. She never could truly mourn losses or regret the choices she made. Hindsight was a cruel mistress, but Moiraine had often made their meetings fleeting. Stagnancy wasn't allowed. Any time wasted was simply a moment that she could never get back no matter how much her passion wanted it back. That had been a lesson that not even Aes Sedai training could give her. One she had to learn independently, ferociously, and tuck away for years.
Which was why, as much as it pained her to leave the chamber without the inherent call of the Source, Moiraine couldn't stay and wait for something else to happen. Knowing that the initial danger had passed should have brought some sense of calm but there was so much more filling up their metaphorical hands.
Following behind Lan through the Blight had been tedious. That awareness of her Warder was dampened so significantly that even the moment he was out of eyesight felt like miles between them instead of a dozen feet. The silence had been deafening. Moiraine refused to panic, but she pushed through the decaying trees, ducked under a low branch, and as she lifted her head the scene had changed.
The trees were lush, alive, in a way this side of the world had not been in decades. An uncomfortable instinct churned in her gut. She was quiet and she kept heading south—what she assumed south—until she could sense another presence close.
She stepped out from the underbrush to see Lan against the stone. Her face controlled the immediate relief that flooded through her, only showing her familiar stoicism.
"I believe it does more than move," Moiraine said as she approached him to offer a hand up. "How long have you been waiting? I was not more than a few paces behind you."
“By the light.” Lan’s exclamation might have sounded a little more surprised from someone else, but with him it was filled with both relief and with annoyance. He closed his eyes to compose himself before taking her hand and lifting himself to his full height. “More than a day.” A very, very long few days.
It had been a long week, in his brain. A rollercoaster of emotions, of knowing some of them might die, of Moiraine withdrawing, and changing, trying to push him away. He had known exactly what she was doing when she’d given her permission with Nynaeve, but it was different. The bond was different, and he wouldn’t give up on Moiraine that easily, no matter the passion he felt for Nynaeve.
Lan looked at her as he often did, searching for something he couldn’t quite see, no matter if he was a person that knew her better than most. She was good at hiding in herself when she wanted to. “This isn’t our world at all. They call it Vallo.”
As Lan watched her, attempting to decipher something unsaid, Moiraine did the same. The bond had often given an easy insight when words were insufficient or purposely withheld, but now Moiraine had to do it simply through observation. The only clue that something was off was the slight crease that formed between her brows when Lan mentioned not our world. Time was playing tricks on them if days had passed in seconds between them without Moiraine knowing. A pang of sadness banged inside of her—almost like guilt—at not being able to touch the Source and solve this puzzle laid out before her.
Moiraine started to pace in the small clearing, pulling up pieces of arboreal debris to use as context for where they might be and which direction they should go. The Blight felt easier to navigate than this. "I do not recognize the name, but that does not mean it doesn't exist, somewhere in places we have not ventured," Moiraine said, an excuse for not knowing Vallo immediately. But she would if they could get to a town.
She paused, staring Lan down. "Who are they? You said they call it Vallo."
Lan made a little noise and looked behind him, at the way he had come - it now looked different. It wasn’t often he had more knowledge than Moiraine about things, but he’d also never been the type to keep things from her, and he hadn’t even shown her the phone they had given him, either. He pulled it out of his pocket and pressed the delicate button so the screen would emit light.
“The natives to this place, and the others called Outlanders, here from other worlds as we are.” Lan glanced around the forest again, watching for movement. “They found me soon after my arrival, but I was not held captive. They gave me this and explained things. I assume they will be here in mere minutes.” He looked back to her, meeting Moiraine’s gaze. “I wanted to find you first.”
Moiraine watched Lan curiously as he spoke, the object in his hand doing all sorts of magic on its own. Curiosity sucked her in, and she reached for the device, repeating the word Outlanders, as if saying it out loud would recall the information from her mental indexes. She was full of secrets—names, places, events, all kept with the intent to use at the right time—but Moiraine was still coming up frustratingly empty. Another absence to add to the gaping one where the Source had been.
Years beside Lan, regardless of the bond, had Moiraine lifting her head to check their environment, just as he did. His caution was enough to distract her from the glowing, thin box. "You did not need to," Moiraine said, a natural compulsion to have him not worry about her. But she was something to worry about now, right? Moiraine didn't want to think of it, and the look she exchanged with him seemed to say thank you.
"And you trust them enough? That what they are saying is true? If I am to assume they will stumble out here and explain things to me, I want to know your doubts before I hear from these Outlanders because I trust you." Always to the point, business as usual, despite how unusual it all was.
Lan didn’t bother to comment on her trying to push off the worry. He was going to do it regardless, he knew that and she knew that, so there was no point in focusing on it. Masked bond or not, they went far beyond that and had for years.
“I--” Lan huffed out a long, stressed sigh. “Do not know. I do not trust them, but I do not think they are lying, either.” What benefit would they have to lie, unless it was to keep them complacent? At the same time, neither Warder or Aes Sedai were prepared to face something this large head-on, and would have to likely figure things out on their own, quietly. “The magic of this place is different, you’ll see.”
He felt it in the earth, the far off footstalls of the patrol touching the ground, and Lan’s head turned away from her. “It might be different enough that we can find a solution here, before we are sent back home.”
"Lying is not always straightforward," Moiraine reminded him, with an arch of her brow. She swore never to lie, but there had come times where the whole truth had not made it past her lips. They would sort this out, Moiraine was certain of it. She just needed some time, a longer walk in these moving woods that did not present the same dangers as the Blight.
She didn't say anything immediately to his magic comment, only a small noise of acknowledgment, and simply watched him turn toward the direction of the approaching noise, the Outlanders. Moiraine did not want to put too much stock in that sliver of hope, of the possibility that whatever the Dark One did could be undone, by someone else here. The wound was still too raw, and she struggled to fathom so much information at once, despite wanting it desperately.
Moiraine knew one thing for sure: she would not let Lan out of her sight again. She assumed as much from him as well. "Are they open to negotiation? I would like you there with me if that is allowed. Or even if it is not."
Lan nodded silently in agreement, where he was able to lie for her when a direct one was required, he had seen her talk her way around circles of people if required. It was impressive when the tactic wasn’t being used on him. Most days they were far beyond such things, with explicit trust between the two of them, but Lan knew they had a few things to work on now, after everything that had happened with the Dark One.
“I believe so.” The fact that his hand didn’t immediately go to his sword as he heard a greeting call out from the treeline was telling, and generous. “And if they do not, I will make them.” He had no plans to leave her side anytime soon, not if he could help it.
Even powerless, Moiraine was likely still one of the most powerful people he had ever met, and he knew full well that she did not need the ability to touch the Source to destroy an army if it was required of her, but it worried him nonetheless and a masked bond did not break his own oath. “I am still your Warder.” It likely wasn’t necessary to point out, but that was half for his own benefit, a comfort where he needed it.
Moiraine's attention was on the furthest treeline, waiting for their dubiously-trusted escorts to appear. She couldn't tangibly feel the shift in Lan's mood toward their approaching Outlander acquaintances, but she felt it like a sixth sense. It was a start, as questions swirled in her mind, and pressure of the last weeks started to part for this new, immediate situation she and Lan found themselves in.
But it was Lan's words—I am still your Warder—that made Moiraine's fierce expression drop briefly. She hadn't thought about how much she had truly worried about what this masked bond would mean between them. If she never got her power back, then what? Would Lan be pulling around dead weight? She took a deep breath, considered her words carefully, and rested her hand on his forearm, as gentle as she was firm.
"And I am still your Aes Sedai. We are in uncharted territory, on many levels, but I do not doubt for one moment that together we will persevere. There is no one else I would rather be with here at the end of the world and the beginnings of a new one than you," Moiraine said, wishing desperately that Lan could feel the whole intensity of her words through the bond. For now, this would have to do.
The slightly more petty side of him, the one that was still a little singed from being masked and left behind, wanted to point out that she hadn’t taken him when it came to the potential end of the world before, but he also knew her mission, and knew what it meant for the Dragon Reborn to do as was asked of them. He wasn’t a channeler and certainly no match for the Dark One, but that wouldn’t have stopped him.
Lan reached up to clasp his hand over hers, and squeezed. “Just don’t run off this time without leaving a note, hmm?”
She’d have to make do with that joke, as serious yet light as it was, for his gentle reminder that he didn’t want to be left behind again, if he could help it. But he’d continue to follow her and to find her no matter what, even if she did.
Her blink-and-you'll-miss-it smile was reserved for a handful of people; Lan being one. It felt like a century since they could joke, since the world wasn't on the brink of disaster. She huffed out a soft noise that sounded like a laugh, before adding, "You will have to keep me supplied with paper then before I promise to do that."
She knew what was left unsaid, the parts of this request that she couldn't always keep. She would protect Lan when it came down to it, and bringing only Rand to the Eye had been a decision that she could never regret. Who knows what would have happened if Lan had come?
Moiraine nodded, as if to say all right, the moment is over, before she lifted her hand to call to the team coming through the woods. If she was going to start getting to the bottom of this, she might as well walk into the situation with her head held high.