The Wheel of Kin: A Daughter's Journey

And I will wait for you. Every time.

Night blanketed Cold Rocks Hold in silence, save for the whisper of desert wind moving through the stones like a breath too heavy to release. The fires in the heart of the village had burned low, their embers glowing softly against the rock.

Elara moved like a shadow through the winding paths, the hem of her cloak brushing stone. She was tired—soul-tired—but she needed to find them.

Her mother. Lan.

She nearly collided with Egwene, who emerged from behind a hut carrying a small woven pouch of herbs.

"Elara!" Egwene hissed, startled. "Where have you been? It's been hours."

"I'm sorry," Elara said, brushing a curl from her damp forehead. "I had something I needed to take care of."

Egwene narrowed her eyes, then sighed. "Okay. Well, the Wise Ones want us to stay with them tonight. They say we need to keep working together."

Elara froze mid-step. "Why? Did something happen after I left?"

"Yes," Egwene said, lowering her voice. "They told me the person attacking me in my dreams... is a Forsaken."

Elara's stomach dropped.

Her throat went dry.

"What..." she asked, carefully, "what did she look like?"

Egwene frowned, trying to recall. "Dark hair. Black as pitch. Skin fair and cold."

Elara's lips parted, the truth slamming into her chest.

Lanfear.

Egwene noticed the shift in her eyes. "Do you know who it is?"

Elara shook her head slowly. "I... I'm not sure. But I'll be there soon. I just need to find—"

"Lan and Moiraine?" Egwene pointed toward the edge of the village. "They're by a fire pit just past the far ridge."

Elara looked in the direction she pointed. A small fire flickered in the distance, just outside the village. Two figures sat near it—Lan's broad silhouette and Moiraine's smaller form, drawn inward around something in her hands.

The sakarern sphere.

Elara nodded. "Thanks."

She walked away, but not toward them directly. She veered off, circling around until she could sit behind a rock near enough to hear, close, but unseen. Not to spy... not exactly. She just didn't know what to say.

The quiet crackle of fire carried through the air.

Moiraine's voice was hushed. Shaken.

"I saw it, Lan," she whispered. "I saw it. I won't be at the Last Battle."

Lan said nothing. The fire snapped quietly between them.

Moiraine's hands trembled slightly around the glowing sphere. "Everything we've done... everything we've sacrificed..." Her voice broke. "It's all for nothing. Because I won't be there."

Lan's tone was gentle. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because in every future where I live," Moiraine said, her eyes fixed on the flames, "Rand dies. And the only way he lives... is if I don't."

Elara bit down on her knuckle to stifle the sound that wanted to rise in her throat.

Tears welled in her eyes and spilled over, streaking down her cheeks.

Lan reached for Moiraine, his hand closing gently around her shoulder. He pulled her into his chest, his arms folding around her like armor.

"Come here," he murmured.