Entry tags:
Wheel of Time Ficlet: Renascent
***
Title: Renascent
Author:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kat_lair
Fandom: Wheel of Time (books)
Pairing: Rand Al'Thor/Mat Cauthon
Tags: Ficlet, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Manipulation
Rating: G
Word count: 474
Summary: “The important thing was that he knew Mat had gained more on the other side of that doorway ter’angreal than a tendency to spout the Old Tongue when not thinking. And knowing that, Rand would surely make use of it.”
Author notes: Seventh and final of my spring themed palate cleanser ficlets. The prompt for this was the title and I admit a loose interpretation, but in my defense 'reborn' does rather bring this canon to mind...This is a small canon divergent moment for the scene in Ch42 of The Fires of Heaven, when Mat tells Rand he's leaving. Two of Rand's lines are straight from the book.
If not for the trees, Rand could almost imagine they were in the Waste still. The air was almost as dry, almost as hot here. It wasn’t atypical for Cairhien, he was told, but there was an edge to it, something unnatural, something not quite right that made people uneasy, scraping against their skin like sand. No one said it out loud, but most people knew the cause, or at least suspected, even if they didn’t admit it even to themselves.
Rand couldn’t afford such luxury anymore. His stint with self-denial had been brief, if intense, and as futile as his attempts to escape the inevitable.
There were a lot of things Rand couldn’t afford anymore. Like not using every tool at his disposal, every advantage available. Every skill or quality of value that anyone had was now something Rand would take, whether freely offered or not. Everyone was weighed, every person measured, evaluated, positioned like a pawn on a board; valued, respected, perhaps even loved, but a pawn nonetheless.
So, when Mat told him he was leaving, Rand said, “I will be sorry to see you go,” and it was the truth, said, “I’ve never tried to make you stay,” and it was the truth too, he’d never had to try, the ta’veren connection between the two of them had taken care of that all on its own.
But sometimes even fate needed a little help.
“A drink,” Rand said, “before you go. Just you and I,” he said, “like old times.” He caught Mat’s eyes with his, squeezed Mat’s arm just once, not so light as to seem dismissive, not so hard as to seem restrictive, not nearly as long he would’ve liked, the urge to keep Mat here, close, his, clawing under his breastbone. A voice at the back of his mind, both his and not his, whispered about tactical advantage, about turning affection into allegiance, friendship into fidelity.
“There’s a battle happening tomorrow, and you want to drink and… What? Reminisce about Two Rivers?” Mat shook his head at him, but there was something like a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Rand knew it would taste like victory. He knew because he remembered. “What better time than this?” he asked. “We could even play some dice.”
Mat barked a laugh, his posture relaxing all at once, some of the wariness that had taken permanent residence in his body, as poorly hidden as the scar on his neck, flowing out like water. “You’ll lose, my friend,” he said.
“Oh, I’m counting on it.”
Mat raised his eyebrows at him, incredulous, but Rand only grinned. He was going into a war, and every war needed a general. This war needed a general who could win.
Rand was going to bet whatever it took to make sure they had one.
***
Title: Renascent
Author:
kat_lair Fandom: Wheel of Time (books)
Pairing: Rand Al'Thor/Mat Cauthon
Tags: Ficlet, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Manipulation
Rating: G
Word count: 474
Summary: “The important thing was that he knew Mat had gained more on the other side of that doorway ter’angreal than a tendency to spout the Old Tongue when not thinking. And knowing that, Rand would surely make use of it.”
(Chapter 42, The Fires of Heaven, Book 5 of the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan)
Author notes: Seventh and final of my spring themed palate cleanser ficlets. The prompt for this was the title and I admit a loose interpretation, but in my defense 'reborn' does rather bring this canon to mind...This is a small canon divergent moment for the scene in Ch42 of The Fires of Heaven, when Mat tells Rand he's leaving. Two of Rand's lines are straight from the book.
Renascent on AO3
If not for the trees, Rand could almost imagine they were in the Waste still. The air was almost as dry, almost as hot here. It wasn’t atypical for Cairhien, he was told, but there was an edge to it, something unnatural, something not quite right that made people uneasy, scraping against their skin like sand. No one said it out loud, but most people knew the cause, or at least suspected, even if they didn’t admit it even to themselves.
Rand couldn’t afford such luxury anymore. His stint with self-denial had been brief, if intense, and as futile as his attempts to escape the inevitable.
There were a lot of things Rand couldn’t afford anymore. Like not using every tool at his disposal, every advantage available. Every skill or quality of value that anyone had was now something Rand would take, whether freely offered or not. Everyone was weighed, every person measured, evaluated, positioned like a pawn on a board; valued, respected, perhaps even loved, but a pawn nonetheless.
So, when Mat told him he was leaving, Rand said, “I will be sorry to see you go,” and it was the truth, said, “I’ve never tried to make you stay,” and it was the truth too, he’d never had to try, the ta’veren connection between the two of them had taken care of that all on its own.
But sometimes even fate needed a little help.
“A drink,” Rand said, “before you go. Just you and I,” he said, “like old times.” He caught Mat’s eyes with his, squeezed Mat’s arm just once, not so light as to seem dismissive, not so hard as to seem restrictive, not nearly as long he would’ve liked, the urge to keep Mat here, close, his, clawing under his breastbone. A voice at the back of his mind, both his and not his, whispered about tactical advantage, about turning affection into allegiance, friendship into fidelity.
“There’s a battle happening tomorrow, and you want to drink and… What? Reminisce about Two Rivers?” Mat shook his head at him, but there was something like a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
Rand knew it would taste like victory. He knew because he remembered. “What better time than this?” he asked. “We could even play some dice.”
Mat barked a laugh, his posture relaxing all at once, some of the wariness that had taken permanent residence in his body, as poorly hidden as the scar on his neck, flowing out like water. “You’ll lose, my friend,” he said.
“Oh, I’m counting on it.”
Mat raised his eyebrows at him, incredulous, but Rand only grinned. He was going into a war, and every war needed a general. This war needed a general who could win.
Rand was going to bet whatever it took to make sure they had one.
***
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