Rand waits for the inevitable

Rand Al’Thor paced around in his tent waiting impatiently for Moiraine who would inevitably come. She always came around in the evening, attempting to preach to him why he must do this or that, he had made a promise to himself, that he would dance to no Aes Sedai puppet strings, and he intended to keep that promise. He had recently gone down to the Aiel Holy site of Rhuidean where he underwent the test to become an Aiel chief, and where he fulfilled the Aiel prophecy to become “One Who Comes With The Dawn”. The test would’ve been difficult for any Aiel, but since Rand was not raised an Aiel, he had no real problem accepting what the magic test showed him. At the center of the abandoned city lay a ter’angreal, which is an object that holds great power. It showed him the history of the people called Aiel, a history that had shaped the hard people into what they were today. He looked down at his arms, looking at the shiny scales of the twin dragons encircling his forearms, a symbol of who he was, and an answer to the prophecy. Aviendha had been spending much time with him lately, and it seemed as if she were being to do it. He had no suspicions other than the fact that it seemed as if she really disliked him. Whenever his eyes inevitably shifted to another woman as young men are wont to do, she always made a comment about he belonged to Elayne. Really? Elayne was on the other side of the world, doing something important or another. She had written him two letters after they had spent some time stealing kisses before she left the city of Tear. One letter set his cheeks aflame with her writing, and the other basically recounted everything she had previously said, and both were sent on the same day! He apparently belonged to Elayne according to Aviendha, and yet he didn’t know which letter to believe.

The longer Elayne stayed away, the more she shifted to the back of his mind, never forgotten, but not at the forefront of his memory either. She was still in his dreams, but now she was joined by the red headed and toned Aviendha, and surprisingly Min, a girl who he had met some time ago. Those three were always in his dreams, some of which made him wake with a quickly beating heart, and a hardon as well. There were others in his dreams too, some he was not proud of, he sometimes saw Nynaeve, Moiraine, and even Egwene in his dreams as well. He had been betrothed to marry Egwene when they were children, and they still cared for each other, but they knew especially after she decided to be Aes Sedai, and he turned out to be the Dragon Reborn, that their relationship wouldn’t even get off the ground. Being a man who can channel meant he would eventually go mad, that was a fact. It was up to him to try and survive, let alone stay sane until the time of the final battle against the Dark One. “She’s coming!” Rand heard the voice of Lews Therin Telamon in his head say. He had starting to hear the dead man’s voice recently, and he took it as a sign of his impending madness. Lew Therin was the former Dragon Reborn, before dying by his own hands due to taking too much of the One Power in at once. Rand successfully shut Lews Therin out of his mind until it was only him once again. He didn’t have time to think about who Lews Therin meant about someone coming, when his tent flap opened.