Missing and extended scenes of Wheel of Time - TV series

3x08 - Story C - It was her

The Aiel want to understand why Alsera died and what had happened during theirabsence.

Quietly, Moiraine stared into her cup, watching how the steam of her tea moved. Again, her thoughts returned to the moment when Rhuarc had left with Alsera's dead body in his arms.

Bair and Melaine had arrived soon after Rhuarc had left. Pain had filled Bair's eyes when Aviendha had informed her about Alsera's death, but not one tear had rolled over her cheeks. Instead, she had ordered Melaine to get Aviendha and Egwene to safety. Besides, the girls had needed to clean themselves.

After that, some of the remaining Aiel warriors had taken care of the rocks. Once the rocks had become too big, Bair had used Saidar to reveal the body of the Forsaken.

Rand had tried to warn her, but it had seemed as if Bair hadn't been listening. Perhaps she had imagined killing the man, who was responsible for Alsera's death. But if she had imagined killing the Forsaken, she hadn't gone through with it. The Wise One had simply stared at the unconscious man, nothing more.

At some point, Moiraine had carefully moved between the rocks. Lan hadn't been happy about it, yet he had followed her until they had reached Bair. The uncrowned king of Malkier had still not trusted the Aiel not to attack them.

None of the Aiel warriors had stopped the Aes Sedai. Either they had believed Aviendha, or they had thought Bair could handle one wetlander. The Wise One had still not moved. She had released Saidar, as if the unconscious man was just a simple man and not a three-thousand-year-old, deadly Forsaken.

It had been a wild guess, but Moiraine had offered to shield their enemy. The memory of Ishamael shielding her at the Eye of the World was still haunting her, but there wasn't much else they could've done to keep a Forsaken imprisoned. In the White Tower, the Cairhien woman would have had the support of her sisters, but in the Aiel Waste... well, there weren't enough channelers to hold a Forsaken.

Carefully, Moiraine put her cup down, then looked at her fingers.

Must be an awful feeling. To know the One Power is there. Just at the end of your fingertips... But you can't quite touch it.

Shielded. For over six months she had been shielded, believing she had lost the One Power forever. If Lan hadn't figured out that Ishamael had tied off his shielding weave, and if Rand hadn't cut the knot...

Just at the end of your fingertips... But you can't quite touch it.

Suddenly, Lan's fingers intertwined with Moiraine's, pulling her hand toward his knee. Blinking, the Aes Sedai turned her attention to her Warder. What had happened?

The uncrowned king of Malkier looked at her as if he knew exactly what had been going on in her mind. The Cairhien woman knew he couldn't read her mind, but Warders learned how to interpret their Aes Sedai's emotions, movements, and reactions. It was the reason why it sometimes felt like they could read minds.

"He wasn't alone." Egwene's angry voice reminded Moiraine that she and Lan weren't alone in the cave.

Once Moiraine had succeeded at tying off her shield, the Aiel warrior had taken care of the Forsaken. But the night had been far from being over. Bair had sent Lan and Moiraine to Rhuarc's cave – an order, not a question. The Wise One had wanted answers but had seen that Moiraine had been exhausted after her attempts to tie off her shield. Never before had she tried something like that, and she hadn't been able to copy Ishamael's weave since women couldn't see male weaves.

In the meantime, Rand had accompanied Bair and the Aiel warriors to guarantee the Forsaken wouldn't be able to kill them should he wake up before reaching his new home.