InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Shablagu!"

WHO: Lan Mandragoran and Moiraine Damodred
WHAT: Wondering if the creepy monsters are Fade, tracking them, fightin~
WHEN: This morning, Jan 24th
WARNINGS: Here be violence & beheadings
STATUS: Complete!

Lan was well used to following Moiraine around, especially when she had an idea in her brain or a path to follow. He could find complaint in it, in that sort of lifestyle, but he very rarely did.

In this case, however, his eyebrows had creased slightly in annoyance as he silently walked out to the forest where he knew Moiraine was - from tracking, as his ability to sense her was still just empty air. It was a protective instinct for him, to want to keep an eye on her even when she might require privacy, but the recent reports from this morning had put him on edge.

Moiraine’s missing channeling ability only further pushed him to the very tips of that edge, and he wouldn’t apologize for following her without invitation. Regardless of masked bond or not, he was her Warder, and was sworn to protect her. But also as her friend, he didn’t mind throwing out a comment as he spotted her dark hair and blue clothes when he approached. “Do you think it’s wise to be out here after the reports of monsters this morning?”

It wasn't as though Moiraine was purposely putting herself in danger—she knew that anything resembling danger with Lan around was going to cause more tension than she was in the mood to deal with—but stubbornness and perseverance seemed to win out above reason. There was part of her that was determined to continue to move through this new strange world as if she wasn't still woefully absent of magic. Moiraine was not simply her channeling, and though being an Aes Sedai consumed her whole being, allowing it to drag her down into inaction was unacceptable.

The monsters in the forest were a constant occurrence in this world, but the reports of these particular ones worried Moiraine more than she liked to admit. Going off without Lan initially was a poor choice, but she didn't want to cause alarm on a hunch or insufficient information. She should have expected him to track her down before she even got started.

As she stood from crouching over a trampled patch of bramble and fallen leaves, Moiraine dusted off her hands and met him in the middle. "Why do you think I am out here?" Moiraine asked, sounding both amused and distracted. She seemed to still be looking for signs that didn't require magic. "Their likenesses sounded too similar to the Fade. I needed to be certain."

He’d wondered the same, when he heard the reports. Their connection was muted, but Lan still had his innate Warder abilities in the back of his brain, the parts of him that made him stronger, faster, more resilient, and the bonus shadowspawn sense. Even with those extra senses swirling around him, he took Moiraine to her word, as usual.

“I haven’t sensed any Myrddraal.” But that didn’t mean they weren’t here, they were navigating new territory without Moiraine being able to touch the Source and being in a completely different world. He knew realistically there was a large margin for error.

But he was still worried for her. Lan couldn’t help it, knowing they were navigating that new territory only made it worse. “What will we do if it is the Fade? Tell those in charge?” We, because there was no one without the other, and he would stay true to that.

Moiraine gave a small noise of indifference. She took Lan's question and shuffled it into the deck of questions she was currently cycling through. Would they tell those in charge? How did they explain something that should and shouldn't exist here in this world? How did they impress upon them the urgency that followed? There was too much history to truncate into a quick explanation. The Fade being here had bigger implications, though Moiraine had imagined every person had their own similarly dire evils to face.

"I'm not sure," Moiraine answered as she paced past him to look up at the canopy of trees. Everything about this place was peculiar, but it held its own Source of magic. One that would be exploited if the Dark One managed to make it here. She did not want to consider what that would mean. "I do not want to cause alarm prematurely. Their defensive groups have enough to deal with, without the added threat of—"

A noise from the left interrupted her, and she spun toward the sound. Her hackles were instantly raised, and that instinctual reach for her magic was a gut punch when it wasn't there. Moiraine was not afraid, but she did step back closer to Lan's side.

Lan had his sword out and in one hand and his other was reaching for Moiraine before she even moved. He turned slowly towards the sound, but saw nothing in his immediate gaze. Even if it turned out to be a squirrel or some sort of woodland creature, he was on high alert and preferred a preemptive readiness over being caught unaware.

But it was another reminder that he was missing a part of himself in not being able to feel her emotions, even if he could assume or guess she was frustrated being cut off from the Source. “I believe they would rather be aware and on guard than in the dark.” He preferred that, anyway.

He glanced back at her and then down to his boot. “Do you want a sword? I have a short one in my boot. There’s the dagger in my belt, as well.” Next time he’d make sure to bring a hand-axe along too, and maybe add in a few extra knives just for compliments.

Her attention flicked from the treeline to his boot, then his belt. She considered her options in rapid succession, opting for the dagger at his waist. A sword might be unwieldy against what was possibly a Myrddraal, which would only bring destruction. Moiraine knew that close combat may be inevitable, and a dagger left little room for error. She hoped.

"This will do," was all she said, low and quiet. She missed the days when communication could be done non-verbally, instinctively. Now she had to trust that their years together had truly solidified how they moved in sync.

She could feel her heart pounding, she could hear her own breathing which sounded deafeningly loud against the silence that had fallen over the two of them and the woods. Her worry for Lan spiked, knowing that she was a liability more than usual without her magic. It was only now that she realized what danger she put them both into and how his life was not something she should have easily wagered.

Moiraine didn't have time to contemplate it because what stepped out of the forest was not the monsters from home or an innocent squirrel but something all the more horrific. Moiraine managed out, Lan before another followed up behind it.

Lan’s eyebrow shot up as he glanced at the knife she took, and then down to his boot, and back up again. It was almost a mirror of her own look and then he turned back to the now-emerging creature in question. “I hope you don’t regret going for the bigger one.” It was rarely a case of bigger-is-better, Lan knew that full well, but it was difficult to not narrow his eyes at the situation that lay before them.

He glanced behind Moiraine, and then back to the approaching creatures, and let them come to the pair instead of moving. Even when he could feel her, and knew she could touch the source, they worked better back to back or together than when he parted from her.

Lan readied himself and braced a foot on the ground, put his second hand to hold his sword with more stability. The monsters gave pause, but only for a moment before roaring and lunging towards them. Lan matched it’s movement, bringing his sword to the side so it sliced through the monster’s arm. “Moiraine, behind you!”

Moiraine watched Lan fight by her side for decades, but there was always a small, private appreciation for the way he moved into battle. This was usually for her benefit, the job of a Warder, while she grasped for the magic that often left her vulnerable. Now she was without that too and it seemed to only solidify her need to have someone by her side, even if she was more than capable of going alone.

She was no fighter, not like him, and so as the monsters rushed them—not the Fade, but something more sinister and foul—Moiraine stepped down and away, trying to create space for Lan to fight and for Moiraine to not be in his way. She watched the monster take the blade to the arm, and stony horror ran across her face when it seemed unfazed by the blow.

Lan's warning had her turning, ducking just in time away from the other, and the hooked blade followed suit in a well-timed attack right to the gut. Moiraine went to stab again but the blade was stuck. She knew better than to stack so close to the beast, and stumbled back toward Lan, now weaponless.

Even with space, Lan moved around her naturally, much like he did when she was channeling, but with an added need for extra attention to the moves, as they couldn’t feel one another. He swore quietly under his breath as his swipe seemingly did nothing, and swung again, just barely dodging a claw headed for his face. In return, his sword sliced smoothly through the creature’s neck.

It’s head dropped to the ground, and then the body followed after with a solid thump. Lan swung back around quickly and stepped in front of the weaponless Moiraine. It was just in time for the second creature to grab - and Lan’s arm was the unlucky recipient rather than Moiraine’s body.

The heat seared through his shoulder and he hissed in pain, and had to take a moment to readjust the grip on the pommel of his sword, giving the monster another chance to lunge for the pair.

Moiraine would have given anything to channel at that moment. Even for as many battles as they trudged through together, seeing Lan hurt never ceased to get wound her too. It seemed pointed that he would take a blow in her steed, and even more so that it was when she was not at her full capacity. But those were things to worry over later. They still had another one of these monsters to deal with.

"The head," Moiraine directed, noticing that the one that fell was fully incapacitated by decapitation—as she hoped. The brutality needed to take them down was not lost on Moiraine. And something to further investigate once they were clear of them.

The eyeless beast swung again toward Lan, claws and fangs ripping out of his grotesque mouth. Moiraine shuffled low behind Lan, and swiped the blade from his boot. Between one breath and the next, she threw it. Though her aim was not nearly as sharp to get it in the head, the knife made an ungodly squelch as it sunk into its shoulder. Enough of a distraction to give Lan the opportunity to finish it.

He did just that. Moiraine’s blow was enough to stagger the enemy and slow it down, to push off of them just enough to give him enough room to slide his blade clean through. It wasn’t as smooth as the other one, given the pain in his shoulder, but Lan pushed through regardless and followed her instructions.

When that body dropped, there was the silence that came after many battles, the woods around them noisy and matching their heavy breathing, cut through with Lan’s his off pain as he glanced down at the blood dripping down his arm and soaking into his shirt.

He touched it tentatively, just to make sure he wasn’t about to lose his arm to something this ridiculous, and then opted to shrug it off for now. Healing could come later. He had a wry grin on his face when he glanced back up at Moiraine. “Nice throw. Did you learn that one in finishing school?”

Moiraine's heart was racing, her pulse pounding defiantly in her throat, her breath sounding terribly loud once the second monster fell and the forest stillness overtook them once more. It took far too long for her nerves to settle, waiting for the monsters to get back up in some false sense of security. Moiraine wasn't paranoid, but she knew better than to immediately give into relief.

She watched Lan examine his arm and then shrug it off. Moiraine was not so quick to do the same. "Would you be flattered to say I learned it from all those years watching you? I was aiming for the head," Moiraine said, brushing her hair from her face with one hand, and extending out the other for him to give over his arm. Without her ability to heal, her concern for his injury was tenfold.

"Let me see." It was not a request, but a demand. Her touch was ultimately gentle as she pushed back his sleeve to expose the slash. It was ugly, but treatable. Moiraine tried not to mourn the fact that it should have been her to do it. "Nothing stings? Numbness?" She glanced briefly at the headless undead, then to Lan's face. "I'll know if you're lying."

“I would.” He didn’t sheath his sword, but did reach down to retrieve the one that had been thrown at the monster now laying at their feet. He pushed that back into his boot for later before willingly offering up his arm for her to inspect. He had been relatively spoiled in combat being at Moiraine’s side for twenty years, having an on-hand healer when it was required.

And it had been required many, many times over the years. He had no doubt she was right that she would know if he was lying, she usually did. “It feels no worse than any other gash. Tie it off, I will get Nynaeve to look at it later.” Lan glanced at Moiraine and then down at the wound. It was bleeding, but sluggishly. A piece of linen would do the trick for now, even if it meant he might get a lecture later. “I will not lose my arm today, Moiraine. I would rather track them and see if there are more in the vicinity.”

Moiraine raised one knowing, curious brow, echoing "You will get Nyneave to look at it later," to Lan. But that moment of playfulness with Lan had come and gone, before she was tearing at his already ruined sleeve, and making a makeshift binding for his wound. She was quick, efficient, but still frowning as she tied it off.

"It could have been worse," Moiraine said. It was unlike her to fret over things that almost were and could have been—there was no point when there was nothing to be done to hypothetical situations. But in this instance, it was an important thing to say. A reminder that even at their most reckless in battle had proven nearly fatal despite planning and fighting skills. They could not be in such a way until she could regain her magic. If she could. The idea had been circling in her mind since they arrived—was it possible?

She didn't bother pointing out the hypocrisy of her thoughts; Moiraine had been out here alone, without a healer on hand or a weapon to defend herself. It could have been worse. She walked past him and crouched over the headless corpse, doing her own examination now that they were not an immediate threat.

"I hope you do not intend to track them alone. Do you think it’s wise to be out here after the reports of monsters this morning?” Moiraine asked, repeating his earlier question, and gesturing to the two bodies of the monsters.

Lan walked around the area slowly, to survey where they came from. He crouched for a moment to mesmorize a track, something definitive that could stay in his mind when searching for others. He kept his ears opened and listened, pushing the pain from his arm out of his mind. It would be of no help to him now to focus on it.

Eventually he stood again, once he was sure he heard nothing but wildlife, and looked to Moiraine. “If only I had someone willingly to accompany me.” It was a dry joke, pointed straight in her direction. When she’d been able to touch the source there would be no question of it - though he’d spent numerous times tracking things by himself, Moiraine had always had an open connection to him to feel if he discovered trouble - now was a little more risky.

He still preferred no one other than her at his side when it came to this. “Should we grab you a more suitable weapon first?”

"If only," Moiraine repeated, knowing full well that it was her. That it would always be her. Because Moiraine would always choose him in return. There was no other Warder, person, friend that she trusted to always watch her back. That became more evident as their bond stayed hidden, and her magic plainly out of reach: they still relied on something bigger than that to keep them close.

She gave Lan a quick once over—the wound first to make certain it wasn't worse, then the weapons sheathed on his person—and then nodded toward the direction to continue on in the woods. "I believe you have more than plenty to offer when the time comes."