The Fires of Heaven: Chapter 54

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Author: Val a'Shain

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To Caemlyn


Chapter Icon: A Dragon

Points of View: Rand, Nynaeve

Summary

Rand's Point of View:

Characters: Rand, Sulin, Bael, Aviendha, Asmodean, Mat, Sorilea, Amys

Setting: the Sun palace, Cairhien, Caemlyn

Some five hundred Maidens Sulin managed to get together follow Rand to the Sun Palace where Bael is waiting for them. Rand manages to catch a part of a conversation between Aviendha and the Wise Ones. She is to guard him closely. Amys also hints at some success of Aviendha's the other Wise Ones don't know about. Rand doesn't understand what they mean but the Wise Ones see him and make it clear whatever they are discussing is not for his ears.

Bael quickly gathers the Aiel that are to accompany Rand. Mat and Asmodean are also ready to leave. Rand creates a gateway and a Skimming platform as large as he can. After Skimming through the void between the Pattern they arrive in Caemlyn near the place where Rand first met Elayne. The Aiel spread out into the city. Without warning Trollocs and Myrddraal appear and the battle starts. Lightning starts raining from the sky. Rand is barely fast enough to raise a shield. He envelops most of the inner city in it and ties it off. He has to move quickly. Rahvin obviously knows he is here.

Rand takes a moment to survey the damage the volley of lightning bolts has done. The Forsaken didn't care if he hit any of his own. Rand sees Aviendha and Mat lying dead. Asmodean has been turned into a charred corpse. Anger rises in Rand and he yells Rahvin's name. Channeling to kill the Shadowspawn around him Rand becomes death.




Nynaeve's Point of View:

Setting: , The World of Dreams

Characters: Nynaeve, Siuan, Birgitte, Moghedien

An angry Nynaeve is trying to teach Siuan the few things she has learnt about the World of Dreams. Teaching Aes Sedai is not a pleasant experience. They don't make obedient pupils. Siuan remarks on Nynaeve's bad temper. She guesses it may be the fact that Theodrin has been assigned to help break Nynaeve's block. Siuan is right of course. The failure and Theodrin's methods do little to help Nynaeve's temper. Nynaeve strikes back with a remark about Siuan having to serve Gareth Bryne. Before she knows it she and Siuan are rolling on the floor trying to yank each other's hair out by the roots.

The fight goes on for a while until Siuan realizes the absurdity of the situation and stops. It takes Nynaeve a while longer but in the end they decide to handle their differences as adults and just yell at each other. During the conversation Nynaeve sees a face from the corner of her eye. Was that Moghedien? She tries to convince Siuan to return to her own dreams but Siuan demands Nynaeve continues teaching her. Nynaeve sees no other solution than to take the ter'angreal Siuan is using away from her. Too late she realizes she doesn't know what happens if you do that.

No time to think about it. Nynaeve moves to another location in the World of Dreams. She still doesn't know if it was Moghedien she saw. Then the Forsaken shows up. Nynaeve was right after all. She tries to shield the Forsaken with all her strength but Moghedien brushes her weave effortlessly aside. Moghedien captures her in a weave of her own. Then Birgitte shows up on the scene. She fires an arrow at Moghedien but the Forsaken makes it disappear long before it can hit her. She channels and changes Birgitte into a child playing with a toy bow. Fear rises in Nynaeve. She falls to her knees and begs the Forsaken not to hurt her as the Forsaken draws her closer using the One Power. An idea comes to Nynaeve but she has to get close enough. Finally the Forsaken is in reach. Nynaeve forms the image of an a'dam in her mind and snaps it shut around the Forsaken.

Rage and horror reach Nynaeve through the a'dam but there is no escaping. Nynaeve makes Moghedien restore Birgitte. It turns out Birgitte saw Siuan wake up briefly and used the ter'angreal to go check on Nynaeve. Moghedien pleads for her life now. She has knowledge that could be useful. Nynaeve hesitates to kill the Forsaken. Moghedien tells them about the trap Rahvin set up in Caemlyn. He doesn't trust the other Forsaken who are plotting to have Rand attack Sammael in Illian. Nynaeve decides to take Moghedien to the reflection of Caemlyn in the world of dreams to see if she can do anything from there. Birgitte is waking up so she can't go with Nynaeve. With warning to the forsaken that anything that happens to her will be magnified tenfold by the a'dam they set off for the capital of Andor.

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