Changing of the Watch
This is actually my first fully-fledged fanfic for the Wheel of Time. Moiraine is still a character who I’m trying to completely understand to write her dialogue. She’s so good that it’s hard. Haha. But I hope you all enjoy this! Please be gentle!
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The skies were covered thickly in darkness. Violet flushed with an indigo-violet, silver splattering across in fragments over the darkening shroud. Amongst the shadows, Perrin could just make out the small silver disk, though it was hidden behind grazing thin strips of clouds. Silvery light still spun out in flowing wisps, layering the river with a gentle sheen which rippled across the rolling surface, and over swaying grass, nearly covered in shadows expect in places where moonlight pooled. The wind was as faint as light from the moon, flitting from the east.
The flames had burned away hours ago, leaving only specks of flickering embers twined upon a mound of ash to give the semblance of light. But for Perrin, the light helped little. He could still make out the thin spines of the trees tied together in a thicket, a canopy of leaves blanketing across their heads in a dark veil. On the riverbank, a shore of pebbles and rocks glittered silver; and Perrin could make the slow ebb of the river as it bounded southward—curving gentle at one moment, turning the next, before straightening once more for a few intervals.
It was his turn to take watch, and the roaring snores of Loial was the only sounds to entangle with the river’s soft rush. Besides all that, excluding the wind’s whisper and the few break of twigs but pattering animals, the night was silent and quiet. And with that quiet was the gift of allowing Perrin a few moments of thoughtfulness.
But that thought fullness evaded him, seemingly, with only one thought pummeling through the others. The Aes Sedai, Moiraine, and her plans.
Moiraine had been his first access to the One Power, and it was through her that he was able to see a world that would had otherwise been alluded and fogged away. Yet that viewing of the world became murky behind the danger placed upon him by the Aes Sedai. Aes Sedai did what they did only for themselves, even if they claimed they served some form of higher purpose, and often enough the thing they wanted you to do—no matter how one hard tried to push the other way- was the thing you were forced to do. It was puzzling, irritating, and all of Perrin’s efforts to counter against Moiraine’s plans seemed to work all-too perfectly to her own desires.
An urge to growl gnawed at the back of his throat, and he leaned back against the ragged tree he was resting against.
He could make out the forms of the others, their bodies shrouded by darkness that wavered by the blinking of moonlight. It was hard to imagine Lan ever being capable of sleep. His body rose only faintly as a sign that he still took breath, but he slept up against a broad tree trunk, similar to Perrin’s. Even then, he seemed more than capable of slipping awake to defend the camp. Perrin was sure that he could.
“You inhale deeper than you should.”
Perrin jumped, though he resisted the heavier urge to scream. Head whirling, Moiraine was resting by his side, legs tucked beneath herself, laying to the side. The lost of light did little to hide the brightness in the Aes Sedai’s deep brown eyes, almost hazel with the tiniest hints of gold weaved in flecks within them. It was nerving, the way she stared at him, with a knowing gaze which sparkled with power constrained by her will alone. That gaze took him all within, body and soul, weighed him as if he was a shoe she was debating on purchasing; it knew almost all his secrets and judged all of his open truths. And he hated the fact that she was capable of doing so much without doing so little. Those eyes thought him little more than a tool, a thread that she sought to weave into the right twine. “The night is quiet.” A warmth doused his cheeks and he grimaced inwardly. “I’m sorry if I woke you up.”
For a moment, like a flash of lightning, Perrin swore he caught sight of a smile twitching at a corner of the Aes Sedai’s full mouth. Though, he assumed it could be as much from his imagination than a truthful one. Moiraine only smiled when it seemed to suit her, and no less.
She patted her skirts, as if dusting off dirt, before clasping her hands together and resting them on her lap. “You did not.” Her face returned to that smooth, detached, and cold expression that he slowly began to associate with Aes Sedai. “It is almost the changing of watch, Perrin.”
His eyebrows notched together and his mouth pursed into a deep frown. He was not quiet sure if she could see his face, but he would not put it pass her. Moiraine was always found out about matters without you even noticing that she did. She had plans that she kept deep within her heart, and could not help to be more wary with her when she smiled. Even if it is a pretty smile.
What? He shook his head, that urge to growl intensifying. Where had that come from? Perrin took that opportunity to turn away from the woman to stare up at the cloud-streaked, blue-black sky. Every once and a while, he can make out the twinkle of stars cutting through the darkness to shine vividly. Indeed, it was a quiet night. Almost peaceful. The wolves that always tickle at the back of his mind almost seemed to fade away by the soothing sweep of the river and the curling echo of the night’s breeze. “Would you like to get a head start?” he asked, wrapping himself tighter with his cloak.
For a few moments, Moiraine was silent, and from the edge of his vision he could see her leaning back against the trunk that he rested on. Her expression never shifted, but he watched her; watched as the misty pale silver cast a soft sheen across her dark brown locks, billowing down to the ground. Her veil rested on her shoulders, allowing her hair to be caught gently by the breeze and rolled to the side in a sway. The trunk was wide enough that they did not touch, but there was little enough room that they very much could had. A scent filled his senses, though he could not quite decide what exactly it was. It smelt of rose, but sweeter and lighter. “No. Stay with me for a while. I find this silence peaceful, and your snoring is almost as worse as Loial.”
He blinked, the warmth of before rushing back up to his cheeks to burn hot. Peering through the shades of night, he saw that she was smiling, easy and amused. Instinctively, Perrin did not trust it. Regardless on how pretty it fit her smooth, unmarred features – despite the fact that the Aes Sedai seemed more like a more than, well, an Aes Sedai – Perrin could not find himself to be soothed. The peacefulness of before became marred, and the hairs at the back of his neck prickled. “You were still able to sleep with Loial.”
“One can tune it out after a while, but with the both of you I fear that would be impossible.” Her voice did not lose that even, cool, authoritative tone that she often wielded as sharp and easy as a blade. Perrin did not know if his eyes were playing tricks, but that smile still rested on Moiriane’s features.
He grunted. It was hard enough with woman, even more so with Aes Sedai, he decided. “How long is the next shift?”
“An hour.” She tilted her head to face Perrin, with all the calm and serenity that he expected and was unnerved by. “And do close your mouth, Perrin. You’ll catch flies.”
Those deep brown eyes were faintly touched by a hint of silver, seemingly drawing out the amber within them. They twirled, as if a fire danced in those eyes, warm and captivating and alluring. A fire that could easily burn him if he draw far too close. Though, for whatever reason, he could not tear his gaze away, nor stop that lump from forming in his throat, unable to get a single word out, even as his mouth shut and opened. He was pulled, probed, all the things he despised from the Aes Sedai, he eyes did easily, and Perrin was again thrown into that sea of flames, unable to swim out.
Cursing himself inwardly, he sighed and fought to turn away. He swore he saw that smile grew by his action. Light, woman were as harder to understand than the Dark One, and Aes Sedai were even harder.
But what harm could there be by staying a single hour up with one?