An unbreakable bond

Chapter 2

Perrin Aybara came and observed the ogier as well. The young man with his curly brown hair and brown eyes looked worried. "Are you sure that he will survive?"

"I don't know, Perrin," Nynaeve snapped at him "I don't know anything about these creatures. At first, I thought he was dead, just like you said. But now... it looks like he is healing. So, I used what I could find and hope that his body is doing the rest."

"Moiraine would know what to do.", Egwene said quietly.

"Well, SHE isn't here. And I wouldn't be too sad about it if she would stay out of our lives forever."

"But then she would take Lan with her."

Nynaeve threw Egwene an angry look. "Lan can make his own choices."

"But he follows wherever she goes."

The wisdom opened her mouth, but no word came out. She knew that Egwene didn't want to be mean. It was the truth. Lan was a warder. No, it was even worse because he was Moiraine's warder. He was bonded to her and he always would be by her side for the rest of his life.

Nynaeve threw a look to Tarwin's Gap, which had been the place where Lord Agelmar had tried to fight off the Trolloc army. It had been two and half days now since Lan had followed Moiraine and Rand to the eye of the world, and neither of them had returned by now. Has he been too late? Did she wait too long? Maybe she should have told him earlier about her being able to follow his Aes Sedai. Or did he arrive in time, but was killed protecting Moiraine and Rand? No, Rand would have returned to them no matter what. But he wouldn't return if he was dead.

"Nynaeve?" The wisdom turned her attention back to the young woman and saw the fear in her eyes. She was afraid that Rand was dead. She and Perrin both knew that Lan had left them to find Rand. But they also were no fools.

The three of them had survived the battle against the Trolloc army, but after that, they had been on their own. No one was here anymore. The people of Fal Dara had escaped the attack and the Lord and his sister were dead. Nynaeve wanted to leave this place, but they had to wait for Rand and Lan..., and Moiraine.

"We have to wait."

"For how long?" Perrin asked frustrated.

"A few more days. Let's get Loial back on his feet – at least I hope he will get better – and then... we'll... see." Nynaeve knew that she didn't sound convinced, but right now she couldn't do better. They were far away from home, in a foreign city, left alone to deal with the problem themselves.

"Where is everyone?"

All three of them almost jumped when they heard the male voice. Perrin grabbed his ax, while Nynaeve pulled out her dagger until she recognized Lan. He was standing at the door with Moiraine by his side. The woman looked as if she had gone through hell, but at least they both were alive.

The wisdom put her dagger back before she jumped to her feet and moved over to Lan. She couldn't see Rand. Where was he? Was he hurt? Did he need her help?

"Are you alright?"

"Where's Rand?" Nynaeve and Lan spoke at the same time, but the young woman wasn't in the mood to explain their situation, so, she repeated her question. "Where's Rand?"

Sadly, Lan was sometimes as stubborn as Moiraine. He ignored her question and let his eyes wander over Egwene and Perrin before he saw Loial. "What happened here?"

"Trollocs and fades.", Perrin explained quietly "The people of Fal Dara got evacuated."

"The lord and his sister are dead.", Egwene continued with tears in her eyes.