Ok that was probably the most fanfic-ass series events I’ve ever read in a published novel.
Aviendha, who is (to the audience; he’s convinced she hates him, for maximum tension and Jordan Oppositional Sexism Moments™️) very clearly in love with Rand and one of the three women he’s destined to marry according to Min, has been forced into sleeping in the same room as Rand for Plot Reasons
She decides to wash up in the room they’re unwillingly sharing (this should not be a problem for her, since she’s Aiel and Aiel are very comfortable being naked around people of other sexes, but this is conveniently forgotten for the scene)
Rand comes back early and finds her naked. She is horrifically flustered and embarrassed by this, yelling that she has to get away, and in her desperation makes a Traveling gate. Traveling is a completely lost talent that no Aes Sedai has been able to use since the Breaking of the World (even Rand, the fucking Dragon Reborn, can’t quite figure out how to Travel, though he can do something kind of close). She’s so freaked out she just does it by instinct though and she runs through. Naked
Her Traveling gate has conveniently opened into the middle of a blizzard in northern Seanchan. Seanchan is a massive fucking ocean away from where they are in inland Cairhien, and is very conveniently the worst possible nation in the world to Travel to, since they either kill or magically enslave anyone who can channel
Despite suddenly finding herself naked in a blizzard half a world away, she’s just so embarrassed that she keeps running away from the gate and Rand when he comes to get her out of the fucking blizzard. She then immediately stumbles onto a frozen lake and falls in
Rand must now pull her out of the frozen lake and warm her up. The gate is too far away by now for them to survive getting back to, naturally, so they have to wait out the storm. Rand uses the Power to create a super-strong igloo and heat the air, but oh no! She’s not warming up fast enough. The only choice is for him to get naked and cuddle with her, using body heat to warm her up (the only choice, because conveniently Rand does not know how to Heal)
This works incredibly well, and very fast. Aviendha wakes up completely fine (and apparently quite energized), with no frostbite or lost extremities or anything, despite running a mile in a blizzard and falling straight into a frozen lake, and upon waking up naked cuddling with Rand, can no longer run from her feelings for him
They have sex
Robert Jordan how did you write this *checks dates* fifteen years before AO3 was invented. I’ve read this exact storyline at least fifteen times from authors who have never even heard of the Wheel of Time. Also why. It’s so fucking jarring.
