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butterflydm · 11 months

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wot reread: a memory of light (ch 7-10)

spoilers through the final book, a memory of light

While they were inside having the meeting, Rand's presence in Merrilor has caused trees to sprout and grow outside the pavilion. Perrin says they're the same kinds of trees that he's seen inside an Ogier stedding. The trees are already hundreds of feet tall. I like all of this One with the Land stuff for Rand. It's enjoyable.

2. Elayne doesn't let herself get too distracted, instead calling for maps so that she can start figuring out the logistics of the army. Bryne being cold to Elayne because he holds the actions of her mom against her: damn, Siuan, you really settled when you went for him (he does mellow later and make it clear that he respects her as a leader but that his loyalties are now with the White Tower, so I will give him partial credit). Elayne does take charge here, even when Amys tries to say that the Aiel can handle their own parts of the battle and she doesn't budge when Aviendha tries to press her either, which I really like.

Proud as I am of Elayne for being the wrangler for the entire war effort here (she spends hours here with the generals, clan chiefs... and Perrin, lol), I am not super interested in the details of battles, so I'm not going to be relaying troop movements or anything like that unless it's emotionally important to one of the characters.

3. Let's talk about the Five Great Captains thing for a hot minute: one of the frustrating things that Jordan did was create five continent-famous generals and... they're all men. And the one place where maybe we could find a female Great Captain (the Green Ajah), we're explicitly told: nah, she isn't. So I am definitely glad that Elayne was placed at the head of all the armies here because it's really a Dude Show apart from her (and some input from Amys & Aviendha as Wise Ones).

I kinda hope that the show just does away with the whole "the Five Great Captains" concept as a whole. Give us one or maybe two really good generals on the Westlands side (Bashere is the most important) and then let the Captain-General of the Green Ajah actually be one of the big military leaders, along with including representatives from the Aiel (Rhuarc, Amys, & Aviendha) -- instead of Bryne, let the head of the Green Ajah in Salidar be the one leading Egwene's army.

Because as awful as the Seanchan are, one thing that they do have over the Westlands is that women are just as likely to be important military leaders (like Perrin's slaver BFF Tylee) as men are -- though even there, we had the weird thing where, at least for some of the female soldiers, marriage disqualifies you from service (just like with the Maidens).

So clearly Jordan was aware that women are capable of having strong tactical minds. He just... decided not to do that with the Westlands. For whatever reason.

(oh, I just realized that Lord Agelmar, one of the great captains in the books, has already been killed off in the show! My wish is partially granted already; and we've also seen that the Greens are more willing to fight in the show as well, so the other half of my wish -- that the Green leader in Salidar lead Egwene's armies -- seems pretty plausible, and that would cut Bryne out of the story fairly neatly)

4. The Ogier arrive, which is also when Elayne finds out that they were on the verge of leaving the planet entirely. But Loial's speech worked and every Ogier who is able to fight has come to fight on the side of the Light. lol, forever at Perrin pretending that he did anything when it comes to this; he says that he went ~looking for the Ogier~ to try to see if they could help but then they were already here at Merrilor. You stepped outside a tent? That's your big accomplishment here, Perrin?

5. When Elayne goes to assign Perrin a task, he refuses, because he is a useless person, but Faile steps up to volunteer, because she is a useful person. Anyway, Faile is now in charge of the supply chain, because Perrin thinks he's too good to listen to the person that Rand put in charge of the battle. The excuse he gives is that Rand ~needs Perrin by his side~ so I will wait and see if Perrin actually does stick right next to Rand's side to protect him or if he wanders off on his own.

6. Speaking of people who won't do as they need to: we get a mention of Mat not being here (this time in context of shirking his duty as the Hornblower for the Horn of Valere) and Perrin says that Mat is in Ebou Dar "doing something with the Seanchan" (you know, the people who are still the enemy right now).

How could Perrin know that? He's never been to Ebou Dar. He wouldn't recognize it even if he saw that Mat was there in a color swirl vision. Also, it's only been "hours" since Perrin had the vision of Mat on a dusty road and it takes a bit longer (weeks longer) than "hours" to go from the Tower of Ghenjei (which is in Andor) to Ebou Dar (which is on the southern tip of Altara).

...but I will refrain going into detail on this until we get a Mat PoV chapter, in case there is an explanation on his travel logistics.

7. Also, wow, we really needed to get more from Elayne on what she thinks is happening here. Perrin does not mention here that Mat is married to the Empress of the Slavers Seanchan so... interesting for him to leave that out, since he knows and was so tickled pink by it in his conversation with Mat; and Elayne is only aware that Mat had kidnapped one of the High Blood during his escape from Ebou Dar and that he'd freed Aes Sedai who had been captured as damane. Per ToM, Elayne got the 'heroic' story from Thom while Perrin got the 'Mat married a slaver' story from Thom.

So Perrin and Elayne are actually approaching this conversation from incredibly different levels of knowledge but we don't really get any implication here that Perrin is intentionally hiding the truth about Mat's relationship with the Seanchan from Elayne (due to her being a channeler and Mat's slaver wife being someone who would happily torture and enslave her), he just... doesn't happen to mention the full extent of what Mat is doing. Also: Perrin doesn't mention here that if Elayne wants to know more about what Mat was doing last, she should talk to Moiraine, Thom, and Grady. Why not? Why are we acting like Mat's movements are a state secret that can only be found out via mystic color swirls? Mat cannot go from Point A to distant Point B instantaneously unless he has a strong channeler helping him, because Mat can't channel.

8. All we get from Elayne here is "the Seanchan are the enemy. Mat doesn't seem to understand that, considering what he's done," which could just literally be a reaction to Perrin telling her that Mat has quit the field to go hang out with slavers. Especially since Perrin's 'explanation' was so vague and cagey despite how he actually knows for a fact that Mat is married to the fascist leader of the slaver empire. It could be that he's worried that if Elayne is hesitant to trust Faile due to not really knowing her*, that Elayne definitely wouldn't be willing to trust Mat with the Horn, if she knew that Mat had run off to play house with the enemy (because they are under the impression that the Heroes fight for whoever they're called to, rather than fighting for 'the Dragon' specifically). But, again, we don't really get a hint of that in his thought process here. He just doesn't tell Elayne about Mat's true relationship with the Seanchan for... reasons, I guess.

Elayne even worries here that Mat's "put himself into trouble" with the Seanchan, which makes sense, since the story she got from Thom was focused on Mat being a sneaky freedom fighter who frees slaves! And Perrin offers zero clarification.

(* I am going to point out that Elayne knows Perrin and Faile roughly equally well? She doesn't actually have a developed friendship with Perrin. She saw him briefly in Falme, post-battle, probably, would have spent an equal amount of time with Perrin and Faile during Tear because they were basically joined at the hip, and then the next time she saw him was when he showed up in Caemlyn in ToM. It's Mat who Elayne has spent time with and knows, not Perrin. It's weird because it felt like Sanderson was aware of this in the Elayne & Perrin scenes back in ToM)

9. Yeah, I really do feel like having Caemlyn be one of the battlefronts of the Last Battle doesn't feel needed at all. I'm guessing it's supposed to be there to add ~personal stakes~ to the fight for all our Andor-born characters but... literally all of them are people who understand that all of existence is at stake. They didn't really need the fight to have additional personal stakes. The stakes are already there. All the Caemlyn battle did was make it so that the book doesn't have room in the pacing for the important character moments that we keep skipping. This scene with Lan at Tarwin's Gap is good, though.

10. Elayne talks to Talmanes about the tragedy of Caemlyn. Perrin and his troops have... apparently come with Elayne to Caemlyn? Even though Rand isn't here? Wow, that really does make it seem like Perrin used Min's viewing as an excuse to get out of work that he didn't want to do rather than it actually being the main concern in his mind. That was literally only last chapter and Perrin has already gone away from Rand's side, lol.

Elayne notes here that Talmanes is one of Mat's "most trusted" men and is slightly disappointed that Mat hasn't 'corrupted' him into swearing more. I will note again that Talmanes is the one person* who knows that this entire tragedy could have prevented if Mat had been willing to read a letter. Mat not being confronted with his failure here is another example of Mat vanishing from a storyline and leaving a gaping hole, which is something that Jordan (and now Sanderson) did with Mat but not really any other character. It really does feel like Mat should have been two separate characters by this point in the story (honestly leaning towards feeling that Harriet was wrong to suggest Jordan cut The Fourth Ta'veren Boy back in TEotW) because he just leaves these massive narrative holes all over the place that have to be hastily shored up with tertiary characters.

(* apart from Olver, who didn't really seem to fully understand the note; also, side note... where is Olver? I dimly recall that he isn't dead -- no thanks to Mat -- but no one has mentioned him)

The Boy Who Defects To The Seanchan and The Boy Who Saves Moiraine At The Tower Of Ghenjei really are incompatible character through-lines, including just needing to be in completely different physical locations at roughly the same time. If we still had Fourth Boy (who I am assuming would be Seanchan-Defector Boy), then I assume Seanchan-Defector Boy would have simply gone back to Ebou Dar with Fortuona.

11. Elayne notes that it has been 'one day' since Talmanes was pulled out of the city. The attack on Caemlyn began literally while Talmanes and Olver were still waiting for Mat to return from the Tower of Ghenjei, something that Mat was explicitly planning on doing at the end of ToM.

I'm trying to wait until Mat's PoV chapter to truly judge this storyline but, wow, the logistics are a mess and make zero sense in terms of the timeline and geography involved. Mat is not a channeler. The channeler who was helping Mat with the Tower of Ghenjei is at Merrilor.

Mat has no viable path to Ebou Dar that doesn't go through Merrilor, not if he wants to get there sooner than a month or two months from when he and the others exited the Tower of Ghenjei. Moiraine went into the 'finn doorway before Egwene rediscovered Traveling for female channelers, so Moiraine would not know the Traveling weave (though I'm sure she's learned it by now -- probably the first thing she did after the meeting with Rand!).

I'm... extremely curious to see how Mat's first PoV chapter makes sense of the logistics of his storyline. Because as it stands right now, it looks like Sanderson & Team Jordan simply dropped the ball when it came to Mat's timeline in comparison with everyone else's, because this makes no logical sense.

12. It's so weird for Elayne to casually be thinking about how "Tam" has come along with Perrin with absolutely zero internal acknowledgement that he's the grandfather of the kids that she's currently carrying. I'm... pretty sure she knows that he's Rand's dad, right? Otherwise, why would she even mark out this specific captain of Perrin's as special? Also, Bashere has told Elayne that Rand gave him ~special instructions~ to watch over her. The contradictions of whether or not Elayne is being treated as Rand's love interest (who is pregnant with his kids!) continues to be super-weird.

Bashere suggests that Elayne make it public that her kids are also Rand's, and she tells him a. it's none of his business and b. that sort of thing would make her kids targets. Also, you know, if she does decide to do that, maybe she should... tell Tam first? Separately? Because he's their grandfather?

But, nope, Elayne decides to just make a general announcement, against her better judgement. I will note again that Tam is part of this wing of the army, so he would find out here that his son, who gave him a ~special introduction~ to Min back in ToM, also got the Queen of Andor pregnant. How is it possible that Tam doesn't have some questions about that?

13. The Last Battle is actively occurring on four different fronts, and Mat Cauthon is a deserter. It's hard to avoid that thought, as we move from battlefield to battlefield and Mat continues to be inexplicably not present. In Tarwin's Gap, Lan's forces have to retreat from the full crush of the Shadow's forces.

14. We learn from Egwene's thoughts that she and Gawyn got married in a private ceremony. Once again, I say, stop having important emotional moments happen off-screen!

How is the Morgase & Tallanvor's wedding ceremony more relevant to spend page time on than Egwene & Gawyn's wedding? Baffling priorities!

I feel like that's the main issue at hand with A Memory of Light: it does not feel like the narrative priorities are in the right place. We keep skipping important emotional moments so that we can have battle scenes instead. We've spent way too much time on tertiary characters in a subplot that is completely detached from the main plotlines (the Black Tower plotline).

I have absolutely no idea what rumors or gossip is currently out there about Rand's various relationships (especially after Elayne has now had it announced that she's pregnant with his kids -- Rand parading around with Min while Elayne is several months pregnant seems like it could hurt morale as much as it boosts it, because now Rand looks like a philandering douchebag, which is maybe not super-reassuring to the rank-and-file, who already viewed Min as Rand's "pet", per Min's PoV in TGS. we saw what kind of impact the Berelain situation had with Perrin back during the Slog; it made his men look at him with less trust and respect. not ideal!).

And we keep getting reminded that Mat isn't here, but it also makes no logical sense for him not to be here, given the set-up we were left with in the last book.

15. Elayne has suggested setting up a hospital for the wounded soldiers, run by Yellow Ajah Sisters. Of course she has! <3 <3 <3 <3 Egwene agrees that it's a good idea and suggests that they set it up in Mayene, far away from the various battlefields.

16. It's finally time for Egwene to talk to Leilwin née Egeanin, who Nynaeve has deemed 'marginally trustworthy', lol. Leilwin née Egeanin swears herself to Egwene's service but then admits that she doesn't have the kind of inside knowledge that Egwene is asking for. Even so, Egwene tells Leilwin née Egeanin to tell her what she can of the Seanchan & the Empress's plans. I, uh. Hope that someone is taking notes. For. Reasons. For the future.

17. Are Rand and Elayne finally going to interact in private? Rand snuck into Elayne's tent and is checking out her maps. It's so weird that he feels like he needs to sneak around to see her when she's literally throwing out public 'I love you's (and now announcing that he's the father of her future kids), what on earth is the public status of Rand's relationships?

(if Rand is here 'in secret', does that mean that Perrin still gets points for 'staying near him'? The color swirls aren't a radar detection technique that tells him where Rand is at all times, so I'm going to say 'no')

18. I genuinely loved this reunion but the timing makes no sense -- either they should be cutely sneaking around at the very beginning of the book (before the big meeting) or they both should have been firm on doing the spy games and pretending that they don't have a relationship and then it would make sense that it took this long before they could arrange to be in the same place. The half-and-half thing that the books actually went with it... kinda just weird.

19. But I will choose not to focus on that at this time and will instead focus on what we actually got out of the reunion: he's impressed by Elayne's battle planning (🥰🥰🥰); "golden hair with a hint of honey and rose" (🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 he is GONE for her 🥰🥰🥰🥰); here is life (🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰) ; he thinks everything about her is beautiful and amazing and wonderful (🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰). I love that he is capable of being absolutely gone over her in his head but also had zero issue treating her like fellow a capable ruler that he respects. They have the range. Ugh, we were cheated out of so much Rand & Elayne time in the books!

20. Elayne and Rand both mourn that they've never had time to figure out where their relationship fit into the whole 'the world is ending' scenario. Hey. Hey, there would have been a quick fix for that: Rand not immediately bouncing after their day & night together in Winter's Heart and actually staying in contact with Elayne & Aviendha after the bonding!

And even if his head was too screwed up to do that until after the epiphany, Rand had all of Towers of Midnight to visit Elayne BEFORE it was literally 'the middle of the Last Battle'; he knew exactly where to find her. But, in addition to letting him find out about the pregnancy, Rand visiting Elayne in Towers of Midnight would have also meant a Cauthor reunion in Towers of Midnight, and that would have made it even more ridiculous that Mat spontaneously deserted on the eve of the Last Battle, I guess. I mean, it's still ridiculous, because Mat was planning to return to Caemlyn at the end of ToM, but I repeat myself, lol.

(yes, yes, I promised I would hold off on complaining about the Mat plotline until we actually got there. I'm trying! lol)

AU idea: Rand goes to Caemlyn after his epiphany; runs into Mat and I guess maybe Perrin too, lol.

21. Okay, if she didn't know before that Tam is Rand's dad, she definitely knows now because he just said "Tam will be a grandfather" (which Tam also knows, because Elayne literally announced it to her army). So if Tam and Elayne interact in the future, they do so with Elayne knowing that's her boyfriend's dad and with Tam knowing that's the mother of his son's kids. So I would expect to actually see that reflected in how they interact.

Rand kneeling in front of Elayne so that he can touch her stomach is pretty cute. 🥰

So, Rand tells her here that he didn't know about her pregnancy "not until the night before the meeting." This would have been a perfect place for a justifiably puzzled Elayne to ask, "why didn't Min tell you? She told the entire Royal Palace," but then Min might actually be treated like a person who is capable of making mistakes* and not just as Rand's Sexy Accessory, so of course it doesn't come up.

(* the mistake in question being blabbing all over the palace about Elayne's personal secrets, which resulted in Elayne getting objectified by much of her household staff and being treated as nothing but a vessel for her pregnancy; Min getting so drunk that she forgot everything is just the Hand of the Author making sure that Rand isn't allowed to get any positive news during his downward spiral)

22. Rand feels "warmth" at the knowledge that he's going to be a dad but sorrow at the thought that he will probably die and leave them fatherless.

Awww, at this "last lesson" from Elayne on being a monarch. "It is all right to plan for the worst possibilities but you must not bask in them. You must not fixate on them. A queen must have hope before all else." As @markantonys and I have talked about, this really does feel like such a major part of why Jordan kept Elayne separated from Rand for so long -- because she could have given him useful advice on how to balance the concerns of being a ruler with what he needed to do to keep himself emotionally centered as a person.

What we've seen Rand get from both Elayne here and from Aviendha earlier on in the books, it's advice and reassurance that Jordan felt he needed to withhold from Rand in order for him to spiral down to rock-bottom. Rand wasn't allowed to have hope, so that's why Jordan made sure he couldn't spend too much time with Elayne. We saw in his private scenes with Min that she brushed off moments like this or tried to distract Rand with sex rather than engaging with him as a person (or sometimes she would threaten him with a knife).

23. Our two workaholics talk shop during their romantic dinner together. Of course they do. Elayne talks shop when she's taking a bath, lol.

Aaaah, I really do love Rand's thoughts here about how his love for Elayne was forged because of the things that they have in common and the burdens that they share. He feels like she can really understand the part of him that has been crushing him the most (maybe the second-most, after the prophecies of the dragon). Respect, understanding, attraction, and affection.

24. Elayne asks him about what happened "that day atop Dragonmount" and Rand thinks that he's not talked about that specific moment with anyone yet. He tells her that he realized how important it was that he care in order to fight this battle, and that means that he now truly feels the pain of all the deaths that are happening due to the Last Battle again, whereas before he could block it out.

Elayne intuits that he has Lews Therin's memories and when he confirms that he does, she's thrilled and tells him what an advantage that it gives them, and Rand is just blown away by her reaction.

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

I do like Rand and Aviendha and I find a lot of their culture clash elements charming and enjoyable, but Elayne and Rand Just Get Each Other on a fundamental level (and they always have! Elayne often had thoughts about how Rand would likely react a certain way to something and she's usually correct!). If they'd actually been allowed to spend more time together... *regretful sigh*

And even with how much they have in common, Elayne's passion about doing her part in his fight still pleasantly surprises him and he compares talking with her to watching fireworks -- always beautiful but the form that the beauty will take can still surprise him. I love them, your honor.

25. Rand literally uses his ta'veren One With The Land Dragon Reborn powers for fix Elayne's tea so that it isn't spoiled any more. I will die from the cute. I will die. Such a lovely and sweet quality of life thing for him to do for her!

And then he gives her a personalized gift that shows how well he knows her and respects her both as a person and with her specific Aes Sedai Talents: a Seed to help create angreal. And she gives him the ter'angreal knife that will protect him from the view of the Shadow, to help him during his fight, the one that Aviendha gave her (so in some ways, it is a gift from both of them to Rand -- one way that the show could, imo, improve on this scene is by letting Aviendha, Rand, and Elayne's reunion all happen together the same night rather than Aviendha's right before the Last Battle and Elayne's while the battle is already underway; then they could give him the knife as a joint gift).

26. "They stayed together long into the night. " Oh, I bet they did. *wiggles eyebrows*

🥰🥰🥰🥰

27. Hmm, we get the info on how many medallion copies currently exist:

There's Mat's medallion

There's a medallion copy that Mat currently has that he was planning on giving to a slaver

There's a medallion copy that Birgitte currently wears

And one copy was stolen by the Darkfriend queen's guard dude

So one original medallion and three copies, at this point in time. And Elayne has said that she can't make any more copies without the original, I think.

28. Birgitte has also continued to get ever more bitter and controlling, which I have speculated was a deliberate change of characterization to show how her memory loss is affecting her but the issue is that some readers of the book will take any bitter rant against a character they dislike as the gospel truth, rather than treating it as a biased PoV. And that can be very frustrating.

Just... man, remember when Birgitte was a fun character to be around? I miss when Birgitte was fun.

29. On her way back to the battle-planning tent, Elayne runs into Uno here, and he tries to watch his language and she ~generously~ tells him that he doesn't need to. Haha, she should just tell him that she likes to listen to swearing; he would probably find it a relief.

30. Lan's front continues to need to retreat from the battlefield and it makes him feel like he's abandoning the idea of Malkier all over again. Aww, Lan.

Oh, also, the 'dreadlords' of the Shadow have shown up (the Black Ajah and various Turned channelers and Darkfriend Asha'man, I assume. No mention of the Aiel in red veils yet).

31. ...we just casually mentioned that Elayne is relaying some news to "Talmanes, the Aiel, and Tam al'Thor." You can probably guess what I'm going to say.

Stop! Having Important Emotional Moments! Happen Off-Screen!

Elayne and Rand have reconnected. That is Rand's father, who presumably knows by now that Elayne, Queen of Andor, is pregnant with his grandkid(s). How is it possible that we completely skipped over any kind of conversation between them at all? We got a whole, like, page-long scene about Bashere pressuring Elayne into publicly announcing her pregnancy, but this scene we skip? Priorities!

32. Also, I just want to note that Perrin is off "engaging the Trollocs" and not, in fact, hanging around Rand in case he's needed to save his life. I really do think that Perrin was just using Min's viewing to get out of a job that he didn't want to do.

33. It is genuinely so bizarre that Elayne is hanging out with the Two Rivers archers, led by Tam al'Thor, and absolutely no one in the scene acknowledges that she's pregnant with Rand's kids. Everyone is just strictly all business.

...did Elayne have a sword before? I don't remember her having a sword before.

34. Feels weird that Mat isn't the one who sees the dragons finally being used in action for the first time. Again, it feels like Mat is missing out on all the conclusions to his various character arcs -- this one being about the industrialization of war. Mat has been tied to this from very nearly the beginning (TDR when he used fireworks to blow a hole in the Stone of Tear), even before he got his 'finn memories, and yet he's not allowed to finish out this character arc either. Of seeing this moment and realizing how much the battlefield has changed. Sure, he can see it again later on, but the impact of the first time that the readers saw this weapon of war in action, and the destruction that it leaves behind... this is part of Mat's story. That's the third story element where it feels like Mat has been abruptly cut out of completing part of his character journey:

irrationally mistrusting Aes Sedai leading to the attack on Caemlyn -> Mat doesn't see the results of his mistrust and doesn't actually learn the lesson

accepting Rand as the Dragon and as a friend at the same time -> doesn't actually talk with post-Dragonmount Rand about it, to bring their story full-circle

bringing new (non-Powered) war to the world -> is not one of the first people to see the destruction & cause it, not there to realize how much this changes the future of war (Birgitte gets to do it instead)

Theoretically, that could all be on purpose, in order to deliberately leave the feeling that Mat's story is the most unfinished at the end, but the way that he's been vanished from the Westlands stories just doesn't add up on a practical level, either logistically or narratively. Doesn't make sense.

I'm about a third of the way through, so here are my feelings about the book so far in my reread:

There are some fantastic individual scenes:

The Avilayne reunion: adorable

The Avirand reunion: funny and sweet and cute

The Randlayne reunion: peak romance; I died several times

Rand setting up the pavilion at Merrilor: amazing

But the overall priorities of this book feel like they are in the wrong place. The center does not hold. Those great individual moments are in a framework that is rushing past and ignoring many other potentially great character moments. And I get why the book feels rushed -- it is rushed. AMoL would have been, like, three or four books all on its own if Jordan had lived to write it. But I feel like Sanderson was choosing some of the wrong things to brush over and some of the wrong things to linger over.

Anyway, this is getting long enough, I think, so I will end this section of the reread here.

spoilers for the rest of the book below, past chapters that I've done in my reread

Was the Elayne & Bashere scene meant to be a clue that Bashere had been Compelled?

Because Elayne is correct that there's no need to announce that her kids are also Rand's, and all it does it paint a new target on her back from Forsaken & Shadowspawn. Though from what I recall, there's absolutely zero story impact from this at all? Which kinda makes it even more unnecessary.

Arguments against this: Birgitte also seems all for it, for whatever reason?

I think that Bashere should have made the suggestion to make the announcement, Elayne should have rejected it, and then Bashere should have done it anyway. That would have been a very good clue that something was wrong with Bashere (though he could still justify it to himself by saying that he believes it will motivate the soldiers) without having Elayne cave to him for no real reason.

Elayne could even have found out that Bashere went behind her back because Tam came to her asking if it was true! We could have had an actual conversation between Elayne and Tam that led to them talking about the whole "Tam is gonna be a grandfather" thing.

#wot reread #wot #wheel of time #the wheel of time #elayne trakand #rand al'thor #egwene al'vere #mat cauthon #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #wot amol spoilers #wot a memory of light spoilers #randlayne

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asha-mage · 6 months

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Rand/Elayne, secret 👀

[Send me a character or pairing, and a one word prompt, and I'll write you a drabble!]

Here is what the people of Andor know-

Queen Elayne Trakand, Radiant of the Light, Lioness of the Sun, is the finest Queen they’ve had in a very long time, maybe the finest in Andor’s long history. She is brave and compassionate and wise in equal measures, unafraid to be ruthless and cunning when duty demands, but unwilling to be cruel or harsh without cause. She keeps trade open and the granaries full, the nobles in check and the alliances that make up the Court of the Sun strong. If there is one fault to be found in Queen Elayne it is the fault of all Trakand rulers, the fault that had ended her mother’s reign and almost destroyed the world, though she has kept it better checked then her predecessors. A fault that is all to human, and yet easy for the bard’s to romanticize and rationalize away- the kind of thing that will fit neatly into both her legend and her her history books, and something that is easy enough for her subjects to forgive given all else she does.

After all, what doe sit matter if the Queen has a truly terrible taste in men? The Queen can do as she wishes as long as duty is satisfied and the rule of law kept and the realm stays prosperous. So what if she had loved a traitorous Darkfriend? She had taken his head during the Last Battle in the end. So what if their had been some rough handed mercenary? Was a woman not allowed to enjoy making a scarred man bend to her will? So what if she had taken her new Captain General to Warder and lover both? The man she would be grateful to rise so high on her esteem. So what if a some dark haired bard slipped in and out of the palace’s private chambers? A woman had needs.

Queen Elayne Trakand was the most powerful woman in the Dragonlands, perhaps the world. She was Aes Sedai and twice a sovereign and the leader of the stronger alliance to ever been seen, and even if none of that was true she was the Queen. She could do as she pleased, and if anyone had any aspersions to cast, the meanest crofter, the lowest beggar in all of Andor or Cairhien would raise a hand to silence such.

Here is what the palace knows-

The Queen has no husband and never will. It is not an unheard of state of affairs for a leader, particularly one with a secure heir already in place. If some of the nobles and dignitaries are nervous about the lack of a second in line after the Daughter Heir or the missed potential of a marriage alliance, well it was their job to fret about such things.

The Queen was the Queen, and her duty was to provide an heir which she had done. Her private affairs beyond that, where her private affairs. The why is not that important. Rumor in the palace would name a thousand different reasons, but the most common accepted is that she had seen what love had done to her mother’s reign, to the rules of countless men and women throughout the long history of the Dragonlands, had tasted it herself with that snake Mellar and thought better of laying herself so bare in heart and soul. She was wedded to her realm and that was more then enough. Pretty musicians and handsome commoners who would ask no questions and be grateful for their Queen’s attention, could fulfill any other required need, without risk. It was no more then her due as Queen, after all.

And if there is one particular dark haired musician who stays for irregular but frequent periods in the royal apartments, well. Maybe she just likes his singing voice.

(The rumor that she had loved the Dragon comes up too from time to time, that he had been father to her children and first flame of her heart, but it it’s solidly in the middle of the pack in terms of believers, and evne it’s adherents would never begin to guess at the full extent or truth of it).

Here is what the Lion Guard knows-

The rumors of a bond with Mellar where trash, any woman of the Guard could tell you that. Captain General Guybon is her Warder and Captain General, but no more. There had been a mercenary at one point, though he had been more of a fop then a rough sort, and belonged to the Seanchan now these days. And there had been a man with a face like misshapen clay, a rough laborer whose smile could curdle milk.

There had been an Aiel woman too, sometimes, beautiful as the sun and sharp tonged as a viper, but soft and gentle for the Queen. She still visited sometimes, when her duties as Wise One did not call her away, but there was a distance there too, created by the Aiel’s role as peacekeepers.

But the Dragon? That was foolishness. A rumor cooked up to strengthen morale, to lend the First Prince of the Sword and the Daughter Heir an air of mystique, of divinity to their legacy. A pretty thing for the legends, and the footnotes of history books. The Dragon had never looked twice at Queen Elayne as far as her personal bodyguard knew- and there was no way such an affair could have been carried off without their knowledge. Certainly not.

And none of them, not Dragon, not mercenary, not laborer or Aiel, or Warder or Darkfriend traitor could claim the truth of the Queen’s heart. That honor when to the pretty dark haired man who sang the sad songs for her in the Old Tongue, who juggled and told stories to make her laugh and lounged with her long evenings on the garden.

It was him who taught the First Prince how to use his sword, who listened to the Daughter Heir cry out her night terrors, who played games with them, and read to them, and showed them the affection and love and devotion of a father. The matter of blood was irrelevant really- weather they where the laborer's or Cauthon’s or hells the Dragon’s didn’t matter. It was the gleeman they called father, and it was the gleeman who fulfilled that duty.

That was enough for the Lion Guard. He might never been Prince Consort in name, but in all the ways that mattered he was one of the House od Trakand, and so, they would spend their lives to guard him, for the sake of their Queen, and their realm, and the man himself.

Here is what the children know-

It is a secret. A very very important secret.

Your father saved the world once their mother had explained to them, time and time again. It nearly cost him his life. If it is found out he still lives, it will cost him the rest of it.

Cethlyn does not mind, not really. She is a bright girl, and can put together the pieces as they stumble into her hands growing up. The tale of the boy who had climbed the garden wall, and the Dragon who had given everything over to saving the world. The way mother laughs when she is in father’s arms, the same laugh as when she dances with Aunt Avienda or Uncle Mat in the small hours of the morning, or hidden away at the secret cabin that they only ever visit by Gateway. They form the whole picture in time, and she keeps her silence and lets tongues wag. One day she will be Queen in turn, she knows, she will have to put up with worse said about her.

It bothers Shevan a bit more. He hates people thinking some filthy Darkfriend’s blood runs in his veins. But he knows duty, and he loves his fahter, and can’t stand the thought of anyone taking his father away from them forever. As it is they see him rarely- and though he always returns with a song and a laugh and a new story, Shevan is hungry for more. Hungry to travel with him, to know him, to be trained by him in earnest, even as he is to shy to ask.

Neither child doubts or questions or wonders, why they look so different from the dark-haired man their mother calls Rand. It dosen’t really matter. The world is full of impossible and strange things. What is one more?

Besides, when their parents hold their hands and laugh, when they gaze into each other’s eyes and smile, when father sings in the soft lilting Old Tongue and their mother seems to breath it in like air- their can be no room for doubt. Not witnessing the raw love that fills them both, the admiration, the bond.

It seems a shame to keep it secret, and yet it seems right too, to hide this fragile brilliant light from the world, lest it be broken by the eyes of those that can not be trusted.

Here is the secret-

Elayne Trakand loves Rand al'Thor, despite all that lays between them, and maybe because of it. Their are others too, other compartments in their vast hearts, and that dose not preclude their love for each other. They have a family together, and Rand does his best balance his wanderings, and his abstaining from events, and being their father too. He has earned his peace and Elayne does not begrudge him it.

It should be tawdry and scandalous and dangerous. But it isn't. It is shockingly, almost disappointingly wholesome and pure.

They love each other, and it is a secret, but changes nothing. When it's true love, it never could.

#WoT #WoT Fanfic #Wheel of Time #Wheel of Time fanfic #elayne trakand #Rand al'Thor #WoT Book Spoilers #AMOL Spoilers #randlayne #No beta we die like 'rand'#Geo Political Polycule #lightly implied #drabble challenge #I keep calling these drabbles and they keep turning into 1k+ beasts #but I don't think anyone minds

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