moonrosesstuff

[moonrosesstuff]

The Dragon’s Solace

Angst. Angst. Angst

___________________________________________

Chapter Two: The Ones Who Stay

The fire cracked low between you, casting golden light against the stone walls of the cave you’d found. Rand sat across from you, legs drawn up, arms braced on his knees. The shadows danced over his face, and you could almost imagine he was just a man again, not the Dragon, not the reborn soul of Lews Therin, but just Rand. Yours.

But he wasn’t. Not really. Not yet.

He hadn’t spoken in over an hour, his gaze fixed on the flames as if they held answers he couldn’t find in himself. You didn’t press him. You’d learned long ago that silence was safer than hope.

You watched the way his fingers flexed, restless. How he pressed his thumb to the heron branded on his palm like he was trying to feel the pain again. Trying to remind himself he was real. Alive.

You wanted to reach out. So badly it hurt. But you kept your hands in your lap, clenched tight.

“I used to think,” Rand said suddenly, voice low and hoarse, “that if I survived… everything would be fine. That the pain would stop. That I’d earned peace.”

You met his eyes. “And now?”

He laughed, bitter and quiet. “Now I think surviving might’ve been the cruelest part.”

Your chest twisted. You leaned forward, elbows on your knees. “That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?” he snapped, sharper than he meant to be. His voice softened again almost instantly. “I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know who I am without the war. Without the prophecy. The world thinks I’m dead. Maybe they’re right. Maybe I died on Dragonmount, and this is just… what’s left.”

“No,” you said, louder than you meant to. Your voice shook with it. “You’re still you. Even if you’ve forgotten how to be.”

Rand stared at you. You could feel the weight of his gaze like sunlight through stormclouds. Slowly, carefully, you reached out and placed your hand over his.

He didn’t pull away.

“I remember,” you whispered. “I remember who you were before the world told you who to be. And I’ve been here, every step, watching you burn for people who never saw you the way I did.”

You froze.

It had slipped out before you could stop it.

Rand blinked. Once. Twice.

“...What did you say?”

You tried to pull your hand away, but he caught it. Gently, but firmly.

“Say it again,” he said, voice barely more than a breath.

You didn’t. You couldn’t.

So instead, you looked at him. Let your eyes say all the things your mouth never had. Years of quiet loyalty. Quiet love.

Rand stared like he was seeing you for the first time, not as a friend. Not as someone who waited.

But as someone who could’ve been everything.

The moment stretched.

And then he whispered, “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Because you were always looking somewhere else.”

He closed his eyes. And when he opened them, something was different. Softer. Sadder.

And scared.

“I don’t know if I can love again,” he said. “Not after Egwene. Not after everything I destroyed.”

You nodded slowly. “Then let me just be here. Until you can.”

Rand didn’t answer. But he didn’t let go of your hand.

And maybe..... for now..... that was enough.

___________________________________________

Let me know what you guys think will happen next!

[moonrosesstuff]

The Dragon’s Solace

This has so much angst, and I'm just writing it as I go, so please, if you see errors... no you didn't! Thanks for reading!

___________________________________________

Chapter One: The Ones Who Wait

The wind howled down from the Mountains of Mist, cutting through your cloak and tugging at the hem like a child begging for attention. It was the kind of wind that reminded you the world didn’t stop for grief. Or longing. Or love.

You saw him before he saw you.

Rand al’Thor stood at the edge of a narrow ridge, overlooking a valley lost in cloud. The light of dawn gilded his red-gold hair like flame, and for a moment, he looked like the legend they said he was. The Dragon Reborn. The man who broke the world and saved it in the same breath.

But to you, he would always be just Rand.

Just the boy who used to sneak you honeycakes at Bel Tine, who carried buckets of water from the Winespring Inn with a grin too big for his face. The boy who held your hand when lightning struck too close. Who spoke of the stars like they were secrets only you and he could understand.

Now, he barely saw you.

You stayed in the shadow of a gnarled pine, heart tight in your chest as you watched him stare at the sky like he was trying to forget the shape of the world. His sword hung at his hip, though he no longer seemed to feel its weight.

And then her name left his lips, soft and broken.

“Egwene…”

You flinched like you’d been struck. Not because it was cruel. But because it was true.

You remembered the way he used to look at her. Like she was sunlight made flesh. Like she was his. Even now, even after everything the Tower, the war, the Last Battle, he said her name like a prayer. But Egwene was gone, flame extinguished in a storm too large to stop.

And you? You were still here. Still watching him. Still waiting.

Rand didn’t move when he finally spoke.

“I thought if I climbed high enough, I might feel like myself again.” His voice was quiet, frayed at the edges. “But there’s no air up here. Just memories.”

You stepped from behind the tree, boots crunching lightly on frost-laced earth. “You always hated the cold.”

His head turned slightly. He knew it was you. Of course he did. No one else would follow him to the end of the world without asking why.

“I didn’t ask you to come,” he said, not unkindly.

“You never do.”

The silence between you stretched thin. It had always been like this quiet spaces, things unsaid. You had learned to live in those gaps, in the pauses between his choices. Watching. Waiting. Loving in secret.

You stood beside him now, your shoulder inches from his. The wind carried the scent of snow and pine and something scorched beneath the lingering mark of saidin, perhaps, or just the echo of what he’d been.

“Do you still see her?” you asked, not sure why you gave the question voice. “Egwene?”

Rand didn’t answer for a long time. When he did, his voice cracked.

“Sometimes in dreams. Sometimes when I wake. I see her smile, and then I remember she’s gone.”

You nodded. The ache in your chest bloomed like frostbite.

“She knew you loved her.”

“I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.”

You wanted to reach for him. To take his hand. To tell him you’d loved him all this time. That you had waited while his heart wandered through fire and fate. But you said nothing. You always said nothing.

Because if he didn’t know by now… maybe he never would.

Rand looked at you then, really looked. His eyes were tired, ancient, threaded with things no man should have seen. But beneath it all, there was still a flicker. Still him.

“You stayed,” he murmured, almost to himself.

You shrugged. “Someone had to.”

He stared at you like you were something he’d forgotten the name of. Not love. Not yet. But maybe something close to home.

And then he said the last thing you expected.

“Sometimes I wonder… if I looked the wrong way all this time.”

The words hung in the air between you. Not quite confession. Not yet. But something had shifted. You felt it in your bones.

He turned back to the valley, and you stood beside him, both of you quiet. Both of you bruised. But not broken.

Not yet.