Lines in the Wall

[Iris 0]

Moiraine sat alone in the room, a musty, stifling air filling it from wall to stone wall. She ignored the heat, and had long since become used the toxic haze that gave it that odor. Perhaps the one thing she was the most grateful for was her ability to channel. Losing that would have been losing life itself, and she was sure it was that, more than the hope of rescue, that kept her alive in this place. Without it, she would not have been able to care for herself at all, outwardly or inwardly. Of course, whenever her captors came near her, she was unable to touch Saidar.

 

Her eyes counted the marks on the wall of her prison. Time in this place may not entirely parallel that in her birth-world, but she doggedly hewn one line for every sunrise she saw here. The number of lines in the chalky, gray stone made her stomach clench. So many lines. A fear that she tried to silence was now gaining voice with each mark in that wall--the fear that she would never be rescued at all.

 

She knew from Rhuidean that it was entirely possible that she would spend her final breath lying in this room as she was now. But until then she would cover all the walls and the floor and the ceiling itself with lines. She wouldn't submit to those fears. Those lines kept her connected to her birth-world, kept her counting the days until. Until.

 

Had she had a mirror she would have been suprised by the gauntness of her face and the thinness of her body. She knew her hair fell to waist now, another reminder of how long she had sat in this place. But even in a place like this she had standards. She washed her same shift and dress and dried it regularly, and she formed a comb of air to brush through her hair. She channeled water to clean her mouth. She had always been a woman of standards, and even imprisonment by snakes and foxes, or the Dark One himself, wouldn't change that.

 

The sun was starting to sink to the horizon now, and the red and gray streaks that the sunset ignited only served to remind her of just how disturbing this world was. As was her usual routine, she laid back and closed her eyes, memory and dreams allowing her to escape back to her birth-world. My birth-world. Light, please let it be my death-world too.

 

She had been surprised at some of the memories she was able to conjure up after being locked away--memories long ago forgotten but ones that an idle, lonely mind was able to retrieve to preserve its own sanity. She remembered the time she hid in Innloine's wardrobe and jumped out at her, causing Innloine to scream, and the maid to pull the strings so tightly on Innloine's corset that Innloine's scream was abruptly stifled while her eyes nearly popped out of her head. Moiraine had laughed hysterically as she ran from the room, only to run into her aunt who gave her a personal spanking. Moiraine gave a small smile now thinking about that, even though she had already replayed the memory countless times.

 

Then there was the time that she and Siuan played a prank on Sheriam by dipping her toothbrush in some nettle-extract that they managed to sneak from the kitchens. They had let Myrelle in on the secret too so they could wait to hear form Myrelle's room, since she and Sheriam were next door to one another, and a small hole had been bored in the wall connecting them. Sheriam had choked and spluttered and drank all the water in the washing pitcher before running out the door while they three of them laughed, with Siuan falling off the bed.

 

Her mind tried to pull her into thinking about Lan, but she resisted. She preferred to dwell on childish light-heartedness. Thinking of Lan, and the emptiness that had once been Lan, was too painful. And thinking of Rand and what was happening to her birth-world made her too sad to be missing it all. And then there was Thom. Dare she craft romantic dreams about a man she may never see again?

 

But something told her she would go back. Somehow, she just knew it, could feel it. She hadn't given up so much, and risked so much, and braved so much, to die away from it all.

 

Somehow she knew there would only be a few more lines in the wall.

[Vertex 23]

It's really good that her hair is getting long. Girls in towers hang it out the window and then heroes climbs up to impregnate them, I've read about it in books. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapunzel

[Iris 0]

LOL @ Vanille. perhaps that's how the rescue will take place, though i don't know that Thom still has the ability to impregnate anyone. all the better for Moiraine though really , if that is the case

[Vertex 23]

A sudden weight gain would work as well. According to wiki, the important thing is that her dress becomes tight around her belly.

[Kaitlin 22]

Maybe Thom will have thought of bringing baby donuts.

 

Moiraine could pull string from her dress and dangle it down the window for the guys to climb up if only she hadn't worn silk. Damn her fashion sense!

[Aleyna 1]

So sad, but I liked it a lot!

 

"She had always been a woman of standards, and even imprisonment by snakes and foxes, or the Dark One himself, wouldn't change that." -Sooo Moiraine!