Nyna-Fic

[Iris 0]

A Nyna-Fic

 

 

Nynaeve made her way down the torch-lit corridors of the Fal Dara keep, toward a pair of arched doors at the end of the hall. She was lost in her own thoughts, but she came back to reality with a nervous startle as she finally arrived at the doors. She gave one hasty glance up back down the hall, which was empty accept for a chill which rustled the tapestries. Steeling herself she pushed one of the doors open and slipped inside, as quietly and quickly as if she were being heeled by the Dark One himself.

 

 

 

Inside was an enormous pool of water, steam rising from its glassy surface. Ripples made their way from splashes of water that broke the surface, large pipes constantly cycling in fresh water while drains at the bottom of the pool sucked out the used. But other than the ripples, which stilled to barely a tremor at the center of the pool, there was no other evidence of movement in the water. Good. I can bathe in privacy like a decent human being!

 

 

 

Finding that both men and women bathed together in the enormous pool was initially a shock. Thankfully, Egwene had spared her the experience. Red-faced, breathless, and dripping-wet, Egwene had scuttled into their shared room to report that a man had come into the enormous chamber while she was bathing with the Lady Amalisa herself and some other noblewomen. Egwene had thought he meant to attack them or some such, but the Lady Amalisa assured her with a smile and a pat that it was all normal in Sheinar.

 

 

 

Well, that news did not go over well Nynaeve. Custom or not, she was from the Two Rivers, and in the Two Rivers people bathed alone, let alone with someone of the opposite gender! The idea of it was proposterous! The Shienarans would have been aghast had someone taken to walking the Keep in the nude for all to see, yet in the enormous pool all such propiety was, well, stripped away! She wondered what other ridiculous customs these Borderlanders would surprise her with, yet nothing aside from the co-ed bathing had come up yet.

 

 

 

Gripping her braid and moving through the bathing chamber cautiously, she was startled when a maid popped out of side-room, bobbing a curtsy and saying she would fetch a cake of soap and scrubbrush. At least she’s a woman, thank the Light. Nyaneve had not gotten up in the middle of the night to take a bath, just to have it spoiled by a servant who was a man.

 

 

 

After being presented with the soap and brush, Nynaeve removed her clothes so quickly she barely felt a breeze before dropping rather gracelessly into the water. The serving woman came by to collect her clothing, which was left in a crumpled pile. “Leave my shift,” Nynaeve snapped. The woman seemed confused but obeyed, laying the shift out nicely on a nearby chair. Nynaeve growled. Now she would have to get out of the water and walk ten paces to put in on should anyone come in.

 

 

 

Nynaeve set to unbraiding her hair, which took too much time. She liked her hair long of course and would never give up braiding it, but she wanted to be out of this fool bath as quickly as possible. Finally her hair was open, and she let herself slide down into the water, carefully keeping her back toward the entrance.

 

 

 

She began scrubbing soapy hands though her hair, and couldn’t help but appreciate the heat of the water which unknotted her very tensed shoulders. Too tensed. She didn’t think any herb known to mankind would be able to relieve the tension she had felt these past weeks, and arriving in Fal Dara hadn’t made her any more relaxed. She worried over Rand and the boys and was embittered with Egwene’s abandoment of the Two Rivers. She also brooded over Lan and positively despised Moiraine. The whole lot of her travelling companions each owned a knot her shoulder, and Moiraine’s was definitely the biggest. Burn the woman!

 

 

 

She rubbed the soap on the brush and began scrubbing her back. Light take her! She’s ruined my life, Egwene’s life, Rand’s life, and Lan’s life! She must ruin everything she encounters! Who is she really anyway? She had come to know Lan’s history, but Moiraine was still a complete mystery. She had taken to wearing that blue gem on her forehead again, but Nynaeve had not seen any other women doing similar here in Fal Dara. And she didn’t think Moiraine was from the Borderlands. Borderlanders seemed tall, and Moiraine was even shorter than herself. And her coloring seemed a little off too and her accent… Moiraine’s accent was different from everyone else’s. She hadn’t heard a single person sound like her. She speaks so fast, I don’t know how Lan can stand it day after day! Why did the man ever bond such a woman? But Moiraine was….no, she wasn’t pretty! Moiraine was a snake! “Evil, fast-talking, underhanded, sna—“

 

 

 

“A nice night for a bath,” came a deep voice from behind her.

 

 

 

With a squawk Nynaeve spun around, eyes popping. Lan was sitting in the water, reclining casually against the side of the pool. Of their own volition Nynaeve’s eyes dropped, but as soon as she realized what they were doing she brought them back up to Lan’s face. He looked her in the eye, not taking a glimpse at the rest of her. Gasping, Nynaeve remembered she was naked and looked down, finding that thankfully she was submerged in the water from the shoulders down. And strangling her scrubbrush? Oh yes, Moiraine…

 

 

 

“What are you doing here?!” Nynaeve demanded.

 

 

 

Lan looked around and gave a wry smile. “I thought I was taking a bath.”

 

 

 

Nynaeve bit off a growl. “Obviously,” she said scathingly, “but it’s the middle of the night! Only someone crazy takes a bath in the middle of the night.” Lan’s lips twitched as if he was trying not to smile. “Of course unless they want privacy, like a decent person should!” Nynaeve continued, attempting to recover herself. “I can’t believe the custom of your Borderlanders, men and women bathing together!” She pointed the scrubbrush at him accusingly, forgetting her nudity as her temper flared. “You should be ashamed, Lan Mandragoran! You should have turned-tail and left when you saw me in here!”

 

 

 

Lan took it all in stride and then inclined his head. ‘Forgive me, Nynaeve. I would have left had I not—“

 

 

 

She cut him off. “I don’t want to hear any excuses from you,” she retorted, blushing as she realized she had been scolding him with complete disregard for her nudity and his. She turned her back on him and resumed her back-scrubbing. Silence stretched between them, and Nynaeve began to wonder why he hadn’t gotten up and left by now. Very private thoughts began playing through her mind, and her cheeks were so red she was sure the rest of her must be turning red too. But it seemed that for every thought she had of her and Lan doing something very indecent in the bath together, Moiraine’s face flashed through her mind, ruining everything. I can’t get away from her, even in a bath! Even in my own mind!

 

 

 

Lan was about to speak when Nynaeve spoke, her voice harsh enough to grate stone. “What do you see in her?”

 

 

 

“In who?” Lan asked.

 

 

 

“What do you mean, “In who?”” Nynaeve replied, her voice a mocking imitation of Lan’s. “Who do you think? Unless there’s another woman in your life I’m unaware of? Although I’m sure now that you’re back in your homeland, you have a whole string of women waiting in line for you.” Lan said nothing, which served no purpose but to infuriate Nynaeve. “See? You don’t deny it.”

 

 

 

“I have no interest in any of the ladies here, Nynaeve,” he said gently. His gentleness stoked her anger. As if she needed Lan to pacify her!

 

 

 

“Well, your love-life is irrelevant anyways,” Nynaeve said. Then why did I bring it up? Burn me! “You’ve decided to spend your life shackled to that woman. How can you stand her?” You deserve better than her. You deserve me!

 

 

 

“Nynaeve, I’m not quite sure I understand what your difficulty is with Moiraine,” Lan replied frankly. And in truth he didn’t understand it. Nynaeve should have been able to put these feelings toward Moiraine behind her, now that it was clear to Nynaeve that Moiraine had done what was necessary in taking those farmboys from Emond's Field. Yet she seemed to hate Moiraine more than ever now. In actuality it troubled Lan that Nynaeve hated Moiraine so much. He was in love with Nynaeve, but he was bonded to Moiraine and cared deeply for her. It was a very disturbing triangle to be in.

 

 

 

“Of course you don’t understand,” Nynaeve spat. “You’re blinded by her.” Somehow it was easy to have this conversation in the bath. Nynaeve kept her back toward Lan, scrubbing away. “You’d follow her to the Pit of Doom, and she’d use you in one of her plots and discard you if it served her interests. You deserve better than that.”

 

 

 

“Nynaeve, I think it best that you don’t speak of Moiraine in this way,” Lan said.

 

 

 

Nynaeve made a sound of disgust. “See, there you are defending her when she doesn’t need your defense, Lan!” Nynaeve dipped her head back, rinsing her hair, then pulled it back up. “She’s probably upstairs hatching some scheme right now about Rand. And she’ll use you to whatever ends she needs to see that scheme come to fruition. And you’ll do whatever she tells you to! You’ll do exactly as she says, even if it puts Rand or Mat or Perrin or Egwene or me in danger! You’d do anything for her!” Nynaeve’s voice seemed reverberate in the marble room. Had her voice really became that elevated?

 

 

 

“Nynaeve, Moiraine is only trying to do what is best for everyone. Even you,” Lan replied, his voice void of emotion. Although Nynaeve thought somehow he sounded like a parent assuring a child.

 

 

 

“That,” Nynaeve said, pausing for emphasis, “is the tallest tale I have ever heard. That woman only cares herself and her Tar Valon strings.”

 

 

 

“Nynaeve I really think you shouldn’t—“

 

 

 

“I’ll say whatever I want about whoever I want, Lan Mandragoran!” Nynaeve hurled the words at him as she spun to face him, scrub-brush uplifted.

 

 

 

And found Moiraine sitting next to Lan in the water.

 

 

 

“A nice night for a bath,” Moiraine said, her voice as serene as the silence that followed it.

 

 

 

Nynaeve realized her mouth was hanging open and she shut it with a click. “You!” she said. It sounded strangled. She looked to Lan, her voice rising “No---you! You set me up!”

 

 

 

“Set you up?”

 

 

 

“You must’ve summoned her somehow, with the bond, to come here while I was talking! About her!” Nynaeve could feel Moiraine’s eyes on her but she shamefully didn’t have the courage to return her gaze, so she kept her eyes fixed on Lan, who shook his head.

 

 

 

“I didn’t summon her. Moiraine and I had plans to meet here,” he said. “And if you’ll remember I tried to interrupt you multiple times, to change the subject.”

 

 

So the man hadn’t been trying to defend that woman, he had been trying to stop me from talking about her when he knew she would was coming? Wait. She was coming here? To meet him??

 

 

 

Nynaeve felt a hot sting in her eyes, and she caught Moiraine’s dark-eyed gaze briefly as she turned her back on them both. They were so unruffled, like two rocks with eyes, watching her. After what felt like a long moment, Moiraine spoke. “We had arranged to meet here to discuss some plans privately. That was all.”

 

 

 

Moiraine thought Nynaeve need her….reassurances? Nynaeve snorted. “Please, don’t tell me any more.” Light, they were meeting together to make plans in a bath in the middle of the night!? What else…? Light, I need to leave now, but how do I get out without them watching? It was a terrible conundrum.

 

 

 

“Light, Moiraine, but you pick the bloody oddest places for meetings,” came another voice from behind, followed by the sloshing of water. There was a pause. “Is this one of the ones you mentioned?” the voice asked.

 

 

 

Moiraine made a sound of agreement.

 

 

 

There was a long pause and the woman’s voice continued. “No doubt she is strong,” the voice commented. “She’s the tempremental one?” Nynaeve felt anger suffuse her. So Moiraine had been telling others she was tempremental, had she? Nynaeve reached for a braid that wasn’t there, when the voice spoke again. “Well, child, you must learn to control your temper if you want to become an Aes Sedai. Tantrums are not tolerated in the White Tower.”

 

 

 

And a tantrum was exactly what Nynaeve was about to have. “I do NOT want to become an Aes Sedai!” she shouted hotly. She kept her back toward the group, as she went on. “I’ll be lucky if I ever manage to cut myself out of the strings that woman’s tied to me,” she said with a backward gesture of her head to Moiraine. “The last thing I want is spend the rest of my life being tied like a puppet to the Amyrlin Seat!” No one said anything, so Nynaeve decided to end it. “I’m getting out of the bath now,” she said, “And you, Lan, need to close your fool eyes while I do it.” She waited a few seconds and with a swirl of water got out of the pool and stalked over to the chair that held her shift, along with a towel and robe. She didn’t bother with the shift, but wrapped the robe around herself and towel around her hair. She began to walk away without a side glance at the party when the voice of the unknown woman spoke.

 

 

 

“It is unwise, child, to speak ill of the Amyrlin Seat.” That, followed by what felt like a switch smacking Nynaeve’s backside. Nynaeve turned to confront the woman, to tell her she would say whatever she wanted about whoever she wanted, and was met by the cool gaze of Siuan Sanche. All the color drained from Nynaeve’s face as the woman continued. “Either you learn to control that temper, or you’ll find yourself gutted like a fish for frying.”

 

 

 

The Amyrlin Seat! Light! Nynaeve almost ran the length of the bathing chamber and out the door.

 

 

 

“Much worse than you ever were,” Siuan said to Moiraine.

 

 

 

“And just as bad as you are now,” Moiraine replied with a smile.

 

 

 

“Burn me if the tempremental ones don’t make the best,” Siuan said with a nod.

Edited May 8, 2010 by Iris

[Vertex 23]

Poor poor Nynaeve, she must be petted

[Kaitlin 22]

I feel bad for Nana too.

[Aleyna 1]

Yeah, poor Nyn.

 

Although, I do like the idea of four of them, taking a long bath together.