Missing and extended scenes of Wheel of Time - TV series

2x01 (Story A) - Water buckets

Notes: I'm back with writing some missing and extended scenes for Season 2. I'm certain that Moiraine's bathing scene is probably taking place on the same day she meets Bayle Doman, but my brain thought, 'What if it happened on another day?' Comments are always loved and welcomed.

Quote: She fills up those buckets. No matter how many trips to the well she has to make. No matter how much water she spills along the way (Verin).

Moiraine's arms were aching from pulling up the filled water bucket. Her body wasn't used to that kind of work. For twenty years, she hadn't carried a water bucket on her own – let alone two at the same time. It had always been Lan who brought the water that they used for cooking or cleaning themselves. She had been responsible for heating the water.

The Aes Sedai hissed when the rope slipped through her fingers for a second because her grip had loosened. Cursing, she pulled up the bucket, placed it on the edge of the well, then looked at her burning fingers. They already started to turn red. Blood and ashes! That would hurt terribly again!

It wasn't the first time she had burned her fingers in the last few months. When she had started to get her own water, it happened daily. After the first week, Verin had to heal her fingers since she could barely move them anymore, and the wounds started to discharge. They had burned like fire, had turned into a dark red, and refused to heal on their own since she opened the wounds every day again with her doings. Verin had worried Moiraine could catch an infection if she wasn't careful.

Over the months, Moiraine had gotten better. The rope rarely slipped her now, and her arms got stronger. But when her mind was drifting off, it occasionally happened that she lost her grip on the rope for a moment, regretting it in the next heartbeat – like she did now. Her fingers already turned slightly reddish!

Angry with herself, she closed her hands into a fist, then poured the water into the last bucket. It was useless to whine about her stupid mistake.

Once she was done, she hung the buckets over the yoke before she placed it over her shoulders. The weight on her shoulders almost pulled her down to her knees – her body wasn't made for such work! – but the stubborn woman refused to give up. She had proven that she could do that by herself. She didn't need Lan or anyone else to carry the buckets for her. She had lost Saidar but wasn't useless!

Carefully, she took a wobbly step forward, then the next. One foot in front of the other. Her steps became more secure the further she walked.

The Cairhien woman knew the path back to Verin and Adeleas' house. It wasn't an easy path – Moiraine had to step over stones and fallen trees – and the ground was uneven. More than once, the woman of the Blue Ajah stumbled or hit her toes against a stone.

But the bigger problem was to keep the water in the buckets. She was still far from being trained in balancing the yoke on her shoulders, and it happened more than once that she lost some water on her way.

Slowly, Moiraine walked higher and higher. It was her twentieth walk to the well today, and she was exhausted. Her legs wanted to give in with every step she took forward, but she refused to give up. She didn't need help to carry the water! She could do it by herself! She wasn't useless!

Moiraine sighed, relieved when she finally reached Verin and Adeleas' house. She was drenched in sweat. It was exhausting to carry the heavy buckets up the hill, and it wasn't helping that the hot sun burned down on her. Once, she had taken a short break on the way after her right leg had given in, and she fell to her knees. The Aes Sedai had cursed when pain shot through her leg, and she lost more water due to the sudden stop. For a moment, she had even thought she had seen Tomas – Verin's Warder – hiding behind a rock from the corner of her eye, but if he had been hiding there, he never showed himself to her.