Drabbles of life after 2 (Wheel of Time fanfiction)

WoTtober #3 Shield

This meeting was taking much too long. Moiraine was not a beginner in negotiations, but these merchants were trying her patience with their outrageous demands. Lan laid out perfectly reasonable conditions, taking into account all the limitations of the still rebuilding nation, yet these men flatly refused all of those. She was grateful for Thom who insisted on staying and who was discreetly touching her back right now, helping her keep her composure.

While Moiraine was agitated, she could see Nynaeve was close to bursting. She started with more explosive nature and never really got the full Aes Sedai training. She was, probably unconsciously, reaching for saidar even now. Strings of every element, starting to form a weave that couldn't possibly lead to anything good. Lan was probably too preoccupied with the talks to notice his wife getting angrier. Their feelings probably fed each other's, making the situation even worse. Lan blowing up could break the negotiations. Nynaeve... could be more destructive.

Moiraine reached for her arm and remembered she gave her bracelet to Thom this morning for the duration of the talks. Her meagre ability would have to suffice. She reached for saidar on her own and weaved a shield. Nynaeve gasped, feeling the constriction and she and Lan suddenly got silent for a moment. Before the young woman noticed what was happening and got herself under control on her own, Moiraine could feel sweat dripping from her forehead. Keeping a successful shield on and unrivalled power like Nynaeve's would be hard even with the help of her bracelet, but without it...

She wouldn't be able to recall anything that was discussed after barely contained outburst. She lost track of time. It was Thom who prompted her to get up and helped her stand up. At the time the only other person in the room was Nynaeve.

"Thank you, Moiraine Sedai," she said, surprising them both, "for your vigilance. I'm sorry you had to intervene."

"Would you tell me, what happened, exactly?" Thom asked, when they were finally alone in their rooms and he helped Moiraine into the large cushioned chair she so liked. "I could feel you channel, but..."

"Let's just say I prevented some bodily harm and diplomatic incident."

Moiraine closed her eyes with a smile. It was worth the effort to prove her shield was still working.