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Egwene groans and flops down on the mattress again. As soon as she opened her eyes, she felt how sore her entire body was. Fighting Lanfear, even if only in dreams, was not a small feat.
She groggily tries to sit up again, with more success this time. Her arms are full of bruises, and she knows her throat looks no better, if not worse. Outside, the soft sunrise light cast a pinkish glow on the stones. The air is still cool, and it soothes Egwene aches a bit. She knows, as the heat will rise during the day, that her injuries will only feel worse.
She is glad, though. She managed to kick the Forsaken out of the Dream World without any help, again. Her pride and joy is short-lived as her legs scream when she stands up. She's limping. Badly.
Egwene sighs. This is going to be hard to hide. And as if on cue, the second she steps a foot outside, Siuan Sanche is waiting for her, leaning nonchalantly on a wall. Egwene closes her eyes in annoyance.
"Why are you here, Siuan? No one is awake yet."
"How come you are?" Siuan asks instead, scanning the length of the younger woman's body.
She pinches her lips at the sate of her. She looks like she fought an armada of piranha and barely escaped with her life. Which, if Moiraine's accounts are accurate, is probably not that far from the truth. Lanfear migh have fled after her fight with Siuan's wife, but she is relentlessly tormenting Egwen since then. Of course, the younger Aes Sedai hasn't said anything, but all the older women around her know better. And it needs to stop.
"I need to pee," Egwene states with a stubborn frown.
"Sure. And I'm the Queen of Tear. What happened?" the older Aes Sedai asks again, in a much firmer tone.
She closes the distance between them, taking Egwene's chin in her hand and moving her face from side to side and then up to look at her neck. Egwene squirms under the intensity of her gaze. She still refuses to answer and swat Siuan's hand away after a few moments.
Siuan stares as Egwene tries to bypass her. She just wants to get away. Doing so, she notices that Moiraine is coming their way. The other Aes Sedai's eyes widen almost immediately when she sees her. Egwene turns around and finds herself trapped between the two women.
"I don't need your help," Egwene huffs.
Moiraine and Siuan exchange a glance, which only infuriates her further. Her eyes are shooting daggers, shining in the sun's ever warmer light.
"I know how to take care of myself," she asserts again. Flashes of Falme cross her vision but they fuel her anger rather than weaken her.
"No one is denying that," Siuan says softly.
"Then let me go."
Moiraine raise a hand to stroke Egwene's arm, but she recoils. Moiraine frowns. "You may not need our help, but you need healing, Egwene."
"I'll ask Nyneave. No need to bother you."
"It's not a bother," Siuan frowns.
The sun is now completely risen, and the heat is starting to bother Egwene. She has a pounding headache, and she realises how tired she still feels.
"Yeah, well, it's not your problem to fix, then," she says, hoping to finish the conversation here and there, pushing past them to go back to bed.
She doesn't even know why she went out in the first place. As she forces her way, Moiraine grabs her wrist. "Egwene, what's the matter? We could heal you here and now, why are you being so stubborn?"
Egwene scoffs, throwing her head back. "I'm not."
"You are," Siuan says as Egwene shakes her hand free. "You've been ever since you came back from Falme. Insisting to pass the Test to be Accepted and then leaving the Tower, even though you did not have the proper training."
"Throwing yourself away in Tel'aran'rhiod, never letting yourself rest," Moiraine adds.
It's like they're being annoying on purpose. Egwene breathes, hoping the gesture will calm her. "I didn't need your training. I managed to escape the Seanchan without you. I managed to get away from Lanfear without you. I'm perfectly capable to take care of myself."
They don't answer right away and Egwene thinks she finally got through to them. She starts to turn away when she hears Siuan laughs.
"Light! I never thought we'd find a bigger pufferfish than you, love, but I stand corrected."
Egwene glares at Siuan's smug face, and Moiraine trying and failing to hide a smile.
"Siuan, this is not really helpful, I think," she whispers.
"Well, clearly, she does not want our help, so I'm not trying to be," Siuan deadpans, brow rising.
"She is right here," Egwene says indignantly, and she hates how it sounds like she's whining.
"I though you were going back to sulk on your bed, my bad," Siuan says, rising her hands in a mock-apology.
"Siuan," Moiraine warns, but her voice is full with bubbling laughter. "Egwene, we'll leave, if you don't want our help," she adds to the younger woman's attention.
"You know, it reminds me of that time you fell while trying to put living tunas in the White Tower fountain and refused to let us heal your ankle because, I quote, 'It's just a bad strain'. Even though it had already doubled in size," Siuan smirks.
Moiraine blushes, and Egwene sighs. She knows what Siuan is doing. She saw Nyneave use that same technique with Rand and Mat a thousand times over. And yet.
"Why were you putting living tunas in the White Tower fountain?" she finds herself asking against her better judgement.
Moiraine turns to her and chuckle. "It was Siuan's idea. But I'm burning up here, let me tell you inside," she says gently, taking Egwene by the elbow to guide her inside.
Siuan follows them and stands before her as Egwene sats on the bed. Moiraine crouches down next to her wife. As Siuan and her start drawing on the One Power for their healing weaves, Moiraines explains how they were the most vicious pranksters during their novice years. As funny as the story is, Egwene is most amazed by their confidence in the One Power, the ease with which they weave, the calm that allows them to talk at the same time.
When the story is finished, Egwene doesn't look like she's been fighting a bear all night. Just feels like it. She looks at her hands, waiting for the two older women to leave.
"Egwene," Siuan says with a tone that makes her raise her head to look at her in the eye. "Next time, you come to us first thing, okay? Don't try to fight Lanfear alone again."
Egwene cries out in surprise, and blushes instantly. "How did you know it was her?"
"She has a strangulation kink, I think," Moiraine winces.
Egwene frowns but doesn't ask. She just nods.
"I… I'll try."
She can't promise more.
"Good," Siuan says.
And with that, they're gone. Egwene has to wonder how many time these two women will come to help her like that. And in the following months, the apparent absence of limit to that help will even worry her.