a little less than a year after the war ends, when beverly is busy planning the celebratory jamboreen and hardwon has already had the opportunity to meet his long dead father, moonshine approaches erlin with a question.
āyounginā, i know when you died last year you thought that would be it. and iām sure you were hopinā for it to be an experience other than witnessing your god die. that youāve lost people.ā she pauses for a moment, and he is unsure where she could possibly be going with this. āif you want the chance to rewrite that with a new memory, to see your parents, i can make that happen.ā
blinking back tears, he responds, quieter than heād been since before he got kidnapped by bullywogs, āi thought that wasnāt allowed.ā
āno one has yelled at me yet, erlin. and iām more than happy to push it as far as theyāll let me right now.ā she puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes it. āthink about it. talk to your people. let me know. the offer is open-ended.ā
but he doesnāt talk to his people. not to bev. not to egwene. he feels like this decision has to be his own.
a week or so later, he finds her outside by the crick, with no one else around. and says yes.
how she gets hardwon to distract bev for the entire time theyāll be gone without hardwon asking questions is beyond erlin, but when she comes to him and tells him itās all set, heās nervous.
interplanar travel should be slower, he thinks. that would give him more time to worry about it.
but before he has too long to overthink, heās in the lush greens of pelorās plane. and moonshine whispers, ātake your time. iāll find you when youāre ready.ā before vanishing.
for a moment, he worries theyāll be hard to find. that they wonāt recognize him.
and then thereās a tap on his shoulder and he turns to see them.
they smell exactly how he remembers.
heās not there long. moonshine may be willing to push limits, but heās not. he knows heāll be back some day.
he gets his hug. to refresh the image of them in his mind.
something about the life of adventure becomes easier after he gets home.
a little tiny follow up to this
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