Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wilraine Sanche , also known by many as Wil, loved many things—but most of all, he loved his mother.

He was but a boy of 19 years old “ green as grass,” as some would say but he had a lot to say, and he’d lived plenty of life for a boy his age. From being raised on the river in a shack near Tear with his adoptive father Huan, to traveling to Tar Valon and training to be a Warder in the White Tower, was quite the jump, as he often said. And he didn’t mean the distance.

Finding out the woman who’d visited him for years during his early childhood was his mother made all the dots click. Besides having a photographic memory and vividly remembering the woman, there was something Huan would often say.

“Your mother loves you, surely as the river flows. The line that connects mother and child is primal—it’s beautiful.” Wil genuinely thought his father was just a poetic river man, but it didn’t click until the day he died.

That same day, Wilraine went back to their home and packed up his things, just like he promised Huan. In Huan’s belongings he found letters between him and his mother. Eventually, he found the letter addressed to him—the one Huan had told him to look for if anything ever happened to him and he didn’t hesitate to open it up.

Hello Wilraine,

My name is Siuan , and I am your mother. As a girl, I grew up on the very same river you do now. I helped my father catch fish, and many of the things you’ve learned—I once did too.

I left because channelers weren’t welcome in Tear, as you likely know by now. You may have noticed my visits stopped, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you.

I’ve recently become the Amyrlin Seat , and I have enemies and those enemies would gladly use you against me. If given the chance.

By keeping you in Tear as you grew, I kept you out of Tower politics. I know I’ve neglected you as a mother, and I pray you can forgive me.

Come find me when Huan gives you this letter. I’ll be waiting to see who my little river boy grows up to be.

Even if you never forgive me, know that I have always, always loved you

— Siuan

Despite not growing up together, he understood her, confided in her, trusted her, and most of all respected her like no other. After all, they’d been raised on the same river, taught the same lessons, shared the same values, and had their lives uprooted by powers greater than their own. So when he visited her the morning of her death, he thought she’d be fine.

Of course, she was taking a risk by trying to ally the Tower to back Rand al'Thor in the Last Battle, but nonetheless, she seemed fine.

That did not prove to be the case.

After his brief visit to his mother, Wilraine used the subtle knife, Æsahættr, to cut a gateway through to the woods outside of Tar Valon. Even though he had a somewhat generous allowance from his mother, Wilraine was both a gardener and a harvester. He loved gathering herbs from around the forest and selling them in nearby towns and cities. Whenever he came across a rare herb, he made sure to keep it for himself and add it to his garden.

Wil often spent delicate amounts of time channeling the small amount he could into feeding sunlight to his garden, helping it grow faster, stronger, and healthier. Combined with the Song of Growing he found in the White Tower’s archives, gardening became much less a chore and more a hobby that kept him in shape and connected with nature.

Wil was channeling into one of his special projects he always keeps on his person when he felt the shielding in his necklace—which his mother had placed on him—come undone. A massive burst of saidin erupted from him, going straight into the dimmed golden flower.

“That was too much,” he thought worriedly.

With the amount of sunlight that went into the flower, he was surprised it hadn’t caught fire—but that wasn’t what worried him. The taint was.

Being gentled was never the better option from a mother to her child, so another solution was devised. Constant shields were strenuous to hold, even if consensual, so a ter’angreal necklace that could hold a weave was retrieved from the 13th Depository vault. Siuan recharged it every year but left a small hole in the weave so he could channel small amounts for minor things, filtering the taint along the way.

“Mom must’ve not done it right. I’ll go see her later,” he said to himself, going to work on something else.
He told himself she’d fix it. She always did.

The temptation to touch the Source was intense, but between the shielding consistency and his sworn oaths, he kept it under wraps. He remembered the day he swore his oaths on the Oath Rod like it was yesterday. He had just turned 16, and it was before he left to train with the subtle knife, Æsahættr.

(*Flashback - 3 Years ago - White Tower)

He knocked on the door of her chamber, as usual.

“Come in,” Siuan answered.

“You called for me, Mother?” Wil responded, closing the door behind himself and Leane Sedai.

“Seat?” she gestured as they stood waiting. “Do you know why I called you here today?”

“For tea?” He teased before cackling. “I’m sorry, I had to,” he added, his expression shifting to serious. “I know there’s a prophecy.”

“They spoke of the Æsahættr,” Leane cut in. “Something that will be the difference between winning and losing the Last Battle.”

“Æsahættr, the subtle knife can cut the fabric of the Pattern itself, and it has been passed down from Amrylin to Amrylin for over 3 thousand years since before the breaking of the world, But only a male channeler can use it's full potential.  Anything mentioned here will never be spoken of outside of us. Do you understand?”

“We do,” Leane and Wil answered in tandem.

Siuan grabbed a chest from behind her setting it down and opening it in front of her two guests. "This is Æsahættr, you can take it with you for now but only until you pass the bearer's test then it'll be yours. Do you understand?"

"Yes,"

Siuan grabbed and held out the Oath Rod to Wil, and he grabbed the other end.

“Follow after me,” she told Wil. “I, Wilraine Sanche, swear to obey the judgment of Siuan Sanche and accept her control over my power. I swear to never take off this shielding necklace and use what access I have to the Source wisely.”

“I, Wilraine Sanche, swear to obey the judgment of Siuan Sanche and accept her control over my power. I swear to never take off this shielding necklace and use what access I have to the Source wisely,” Wil repeated, reaching out with his own tendril of the One Power to meet her own before letting go of the Oath Rod.

“You'll be going to live in Far Madding for some time. A Scholar Mr. Paridici will teach you what he can about the knife and many other things including the one power, but you will not be able to use it in the city or channel there. Your real goal is to adapt to life without touching the Source. Will you accept this mission?”

“I do,” Wil accepted.

“You have two years, then you can come back, okay?”

“I understand, Mother,” he responded.

Standing up at the same time, Wil hugged Siuan affectionately before turning to Leane and giving her the same hug. Looking up at the clock, Wil realized something.

“I’m late for training! See you later!” he energetically rushed out the door.

“He’s really grown up,” Siuan commented fondly.

“He has,” Leane agreed.

‘That was over 3 years ago, but it felt like yesterday. With the Dragon Reborn at Falme, the royal family visiting, and the Black Ajah on the loose, everything has felt like it was going too fast,’ he thought.

Suddenly, as Wil was walking back to the town, basket full of medicinal herbs, he felt his bonds with his mother unravel themselves.

“Mom?” The oaths unraveled further until they were no longer existent, confirming Wil’s fear. He dropped the basket, immediately reaching for Æsahættr. He searched the strings in the Pattern for close to a minute before he found any trace of Leane.

“Something’s wrong,” he thought aloud, noting how weak Leane’s presence was compared to ever before, and he could only come to one conclusion. “She’s being shielded.” Wil poked at the strings until he closed in on Leane’s signature and cut straight through the Pattern to where she was.

On the other side of the portal, Wil heard nothing but deafening screams. He didn’t even have to look further to know whose screams they were, as his rage strummed beneath his skin. Stepping through the portal and closing it, the darkness of the dungeon hid him—but it did not hide the Aes Sedai brutally torturing Leane, who was bound in chains with whips of Air and Fire nonstop. Her skin laced with cuts and lacerations bothe shallow and deep, bruises turned black and purple all over and burns worse than anything he’d ever seen before. The sight made Wil almost gag at the sight. He didn’t say a single thing stepping out of the shadows, as strings of saidin slowly circled themselves around one of the necks of the Aes Sedai present.

Wil snapped his fingers. *Snap* her neck went at the same time, and she dropped to the ground. Before the other sister could react, a precisely sharp weave of Air slit her throat, leaving her gasping and choking on her own blood before she fell to the ground.

“Leane,” he rushed over, breaking her shackles with his bare hands.

He caught Leane and gently laid her down, taking a look over her extensive injuries.

“You shouldn’t be here, Wil…” Leane whispered through the pain as her mind drifted back to the first times she met Wil.

(Flashback -19 years ago - White Tower)

“Siuan? Are you okay?” Leane asked, concern written all over her face.

It didn’t help when Siuan, who was sweating bullets and flushed red all over, stumbled to the couch and promptly passed out before even sitting down.

“Siuan!” Leane got up, rushing over immediately.

She felt her forehead. It was warm but not abnormal. She scanned the rest of her body, not seeing anything. Summoning saidar and using a diagnostic technique to see what was wrong, it wasn’t long before she noticed the second life inside her. Not only that, but by the time she reached the lower abdomen to be scanned, she saw the head of the baby starting to protrude from Siuan’s vagina.

“Oh,” was all she had to say before her mind started racing. “None of that matters right now.”

As one of the novices came back with the water and towel, Leane took them, placing the towels to the side and pouring some of the water on Siuan’s face.

Siuan woke up with a gasp, sitting up immediately, catching her breath. Looking over at Leane, she watched curiously as she did something with saidar, though she couldn't tell what it was beyond her own pain.

“I sealed and silenced the room. I’m going to need you to push as hard as you can," Leane explained quickly, helping Siuan stand up. She laid the towels on the floor. “Squat down, let gravity help you,” she told her calmly.

Siuan decided to trust her sister and squat down over the towels laid out. Leane positioned herself close enough to Siuan to reach under her and hold her hands out for the baby to be caught in.

It didn’t take long for Siuan to push the baby out, and as Leane handed her the baby wrapped in towels, she felt a sudden protective feeling fall in place. He was hers, and that was all that mattered.

“What are you going to do with him?” Leane asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

“I don’t know,” Siuan answered honestly.

“We’ll have to figure it out quickly, but he can’t stay here. The White Tower is no place for a child.”

“We?”

“We.”

(Flashback - 5 years ago - White Tower)

“Leane Sedai,” the girl called out.

The woman known as Leane Sedai turned her head to see who was calling out to her, and to her curiosity, it was a novice and a boy she’d never seen before… or so she thought.

“Novice.”

“This boy would like to schedule a private audience with the Amyrlin,” the girl said.

That piqued Leane’s interest, as she noticed the boy’s gaze focused on her not in lust, but as if she were some painting he was looking over.

“I’ll take it from here, you can go,” Leane told the novice girl.

“Ok,” the novice girl answered, taking her leave.

“I know you. You’re Auntie Lili. You used to come see me when I was little,” Wilraine grinned.

In that moment, Leane struggled to hold her composure as memories over a decade old resurfaced.

“Wil.”

(Present - White Tower)

“Where’s Mom?” he asked softly, weaving together threads of all five Powers before noticing the taint and stopping. 

“I’m sorry,” he said. 

“Don’t worry about me. Go help Mother.” 

Wilraine’s expression darkened. “They killed her. I felt it. Besides… she wouldn’t want me to leave you here anyway. I won’t lose anyone else,” his voice wavered with emotion. 

Bringing his hands together, summoning his weaves again, he worried for a second that he might overdo it like with the flower but he quickly pushed that thought out of his mind. “We are all connected,” he closed his eyes, envisioning as he spoke. “Water for blood that flows like a river. Earth for the body, keeping us grounded in substance. Air for the soul, ever flowing in motion—freedom itself. Fire for energy that ignites our will. Spirit for our mind that holds infinite potential.” He took the golden flower out of his pocket he’d put in there for safekeeping. “Sun for light, life, and love itself.”

Suddenly, the weaves circulating into his hand glowed a blinding light, illuminating the dungeon as he separated them laying one on Leane’s chest and the other reaching, pulling out. He took a risk and snipped the taint away from his other weaves as he poured all he had.

The White Tower shook as nature responded to the surge of power emanating from the bottom of the White Tower. Over the tower, the stormy sky itself parted, making way for the sun that shone brighter than ever before as Wil finished healing Leane Sedai. When the light died down, Leane who was barely conscious before was fully awake and looked brand new to boot, as if no one had ever laid a hand on her.

“I can feel it! I can feel it!” she cried happily.

Wil was confused, but nonetheless, he offered her his jacket. “Did they take Mother to the Hall?” he asked, to which Leane nodded yes.

“I need to get to Mom’s office. Do you know any shortcuts?”

“I do. Follow me,” she told him, getting up and leading the way.

Sneaking their way through the secret tunnels up to the high chambers of the White Tower took a lot of stairs, but eventually they made it.

Opening the hidden door, Leane Sedai looked out to see if anyone was there, and when it wasn’t, they entered the room. Wil unsheathed Æsahættr, cutting open a portal straight to his residence in Braemwood.

“Help me grab everything of value, like that,” he pointed to the dream ter'angreal on the wall.

Within five minutes, the Horn of Valere, his mother’s chest, even the letters she hadn’t sent, were all transferred over to his room. Leane even managed to find a new outfit compared to the rags she had on before.

“What’s next?” Leane asked.

“Mom’s body, we’re probably going to have to fight for it, so I’ll go first,” Wil told her.

“No!” She immediately answered.

“I know you want to protect me, but we need to surprise them. I’ll make a little hole to see where her body is and how many sisters there are. Then you go through the main entrance and capture their attention, and I’ll shield them and tie it off one by one, using Æsahættr to open gateways behind them so they won’t expect it.” He explained 

“They won’t be expecting me to channel either.” She added 

“Why not?” His confusion evident on his face.

“They stilled us Wil,” She revealed 

‘Then how can you channel?’ He asked obliviously 

“How? You’re the one healed me.”  She responded 

“Ohhhhh, I thought you were just shielded.” 

“You’re so clueless sometimes.” She sighed 

“I know.”

Chapter Text

Cutting open a small gateway through to the balcony above the hall, Wil peered down through the hole to count the number of sitters still present. But seeing his mother’s barely dressed, decapitated body laying still in the middle of the hall made his heart race like a beating drum.

Nothing else mattered in that moment as he heard his heart thumping in his ears. His breathing grew heavy with various emotions: shock, sadness, anxiety, but most of all, rage. Pure rage raced throughout his body

“We can’t be rash, we can’t be rash, we can’t be rash, we can’t be rash.” The repetition of the mantra and the balling of his fists didn’t stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks as his mind flew back to the first day he met her.

(Flashback - 5 years ago - White Tower)

Wil’s nervousness showed as he fidgeted in silence while they walked up the stairs to the high chambers and down the corridor to the Amyrlin’s study. Being at the Tower for several days now, Wil had become accustomed to its etiquette and how to behave and approach people. Besides the Warders, whom he lived with in the Warders' quarters as he started his Warder training, Wil was getting along with whoever he came in contact with fairly easily, which mostly consisted of novices around his age. But the Aes Sedai wouldn’t come near him with a ten-foot pole, except for those close with Leane Sedai. He was glad her presence alone was enough to ward off any potential enemies. Eventually he'd been introduced to all the blue sisters but only Moiranie Sedai stuck around. They knocked at the door to the Amyrlin’s study and waited for a response.

“Come in,” a voice responded from inside.

Moiranie opened the door, Leane ushered for Wil to make his entrance, and closed the door behind him.

“Welcome to the White Tower. I’m the Amyrlin Seat, but today you can call me Siuan, Seat?” Siuan gestured.

Wil sat down with a neutral expression.

“Am I not what you expected?” Siuan spoke after a minute of silence.

“No, it’s just… you’re much prettier than I remember. I don’t want to ever forget this,” he blushed admiringly.

“Me either,” she grinned agreeably. “How is Huan?” she asked.

“He passed away a couple months ago,” Wil told her.

“Oh. How?” Her voice was genuine in care. 

“He was saving kids from a burning building. He wouldn’t stop going back in until they were all out, but he died later from the smoke,” Wil told her the whole story about how he laid Huan to rest. But one part caught her attention.

“I set his body on fire and left,” Wil told her.

“Leane told me you’ve only been here a few days. Did you travel here by yourself?” she asked with concern evident on her face.

“I just followed the river up. Upstream,” he answered nonchalantly.

Leane, Moiraine and Siuan's eyes met in a way that made words meaningless as they grinned.

“Leane has also mentioned that you can channel,” Siuan stated, unsure, as if she was asking.

Panic hit Wil like a train. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he denied immediately.

“Every Warder in training who comes here gets tested for affinity to channel. You don’t have to be afraid. We’d never let anything happen to you,” Siuan told him kindly.

“I’ve never done it before,” he told them truthfully.

“Do you want to try?” Siuan asked kindly. “I’ve heard that you’re the most powerful channeler we’ve seen in over a thousand years — well, male at least.”

“I thought men who channel go mad.”

“They do eventually. We’ll do everything we can to help you, but we can only help you if you listen to us. No one else can know.”

“I trust you,” Wil responded honestly.

“Good. Because the fate of all of us rests on you now, on the decisions you make in the coming days, on the strength you find within -"

"I'm not strong," Wil interrupted shamefully looking away.

"The wheel cares not how strong you are , petty or weak, young or afraid- it certainly doesn't care how you feel, the wheel calls you to this. T he Last Battle is coming. We will need your strength on our side whether you acknowledge it or not." Siuan finished

Before he could tell Leane not to look, she was already peering through the hole. And based on the way she stumbled back immediately, the damage was done.

“They really did it,” a sob wrecked up her throat as the tears came.

Wil closed the hole as his mind raced. “Change of plans. It’s only five of them in the hall.” Wil grabbed her hand gently. “I’m gonna distract them while you get Mom’s body. Don’t worry about me.”

“How?” Leane asked, wiping away her tears.

“Don’t get mad, but you know about balefire, don’t you?”

Leane’s eyes widened, looking at Wil in disbelief. “You know balefire?”

“Yes,” he responded awkwardly.

“Where did you learn that?” she asked seriously.

“For a city that bans channeling, the library Mr. Pardici had was full of some really old stuff. Like, thousands of years old. Did you know that Aesahaettr isn’t just a ter’angreal — it’s a sa’angreal too?” Wil chuckled awkwardly, trying to change the topic.

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not? If we do this, our lives are on the line. We can’t afford to hold back.”

“I made a promise to your mother, and I plan to keep it. No balefire,” she said strictly.

“Fine, but don't blame me for what's about to happen” Wil pouted.

Cutting through to the white tower again Wil chose to open a portal to the blue ajah’s quarters first dropping off Leane, “When you see a blinding light its the signal to go,” Wil said closing the portal on her.  Cutting a new portal open for himself to a place teeming with Sunlight, Wil stepped through taking a look at the mountain peak over the area of the Erinin river he grew up with and its beautiful serene aura. 

Without unsheathing Aesahaettr he channeled into its hilt and felt the surge in the one power, having his shielded necklace off was one thing but this was was pure bliss like never before and he wrangled with it until he had a firm grip on the sheer scale of saidin he was pulling in. Reaching up and around him he pulled together the sunlight and kept it circulating. He cut open to the main hall and stepped beside his mother’s decapitated body. 

Looking down then up he counted every sister in the hall in a split second as the sunlight that circled him, he closed his eyes raising the ball of sunlight above his head, letting the ball explode sending out a blinding light. 

The next few seconds were hectic as Leane ran in pushing down her revilement and grabbing Siuan’s body but she couldn’t help but look back and notice Wil, their eyes met briefly as a shield of air wrapped around her, siuan’s body and the portal the second she was within range. Tying off the shield Wil flicked his hand forward at Alviarin Sedai quickly shielding her and tying it off but not before Elaida linked with every other sister in the hall tossed point blank blasts of air and fire at him knocking him back into his air shield. 

Drawing on more of the one power it soon became evident who the superior channeling force as wil laid his palms out in front of him like he’d always done with the sun and gathered all for elements but more sun, air and fire than the rest, he took a wide stance planting his feet bringing his hands down concentrating the energy into a circular motion as he kept gathering, once his hand were in front of his chest he bring them in taking a deep breath before pushing them out exhaling both the air and letting the energy fly forward in a massive beam of solar energy.

“May light be your judge,” He muttered

Everyone in the room watched as Elaida not only burned but melted alongside the amyrlin seat and pretty much everything in that vicinity, even the stone of the tower melted. Nobody could believe it but it did. Wil watched closely but felt displeasure when he looked back to see his mother still dead; he felt empty.

“I might’ve over done it,”  Wil Sighed

Weaves of Spirit tried to wrap around Wil being produced by one of the sitters in the hall linked with the others but it was blocked by his own tied off shield of spirit around his body.  “You traitorous bitches!” Wil circled the room with a  whip of spirit that targeted each of their heads immediately putting them to sleep.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Wil said 

With a flick of his hand, he unraveled the shield of Air around Leane and the portal, watching it dissolve into nothingness. Picking up the Keeper’s staff  form where Alviarin sedai had dropped it he clanged it against the marble floor of the hall.\

“Attend you all she comes, the keeper of the chronicles, the voice of the flame, regent of the seat, do you accept this duty until the next amyrlin rises?

There was a pregnant pause as Leane looked unsure, "Take it," Wil whispered softly

“I do,” Leane Sedai responded

“May light give you strength and guide your hand, Leane Sharif,” Wil kneeled, handing her the keeper’s staff.

The world went dizzy or Will as he stumbled, then fell.

“Wil!” Leane’s scream of concern echoed as his consciousness faded to sleep.