Multi-Fandom One Shots

Incoming Calm (Moiraine Damodred)

You hadn't left the cottage for long, you swore. It had only been long enough to give your lessons at the Tower. You were a teacher and you were sworn to your post.

She hadn't felt too bad when you'd left that morning, but your mind had gone into overtime thinking about all the reasons she felt unwell enough not to leave bed. Moiraine Sedai was not lazy. She did not shirk.

So, you returned to the tiny cottage by the edge of time and found a foul smell coming from the kitchen, a mess in the living room, and a bundle of every blanket in the house bundled around a lump in your bed. You covered your mouth and nose with your Ajah, taking the water-less pot from the lit stove and dropping it in the wooden bucket of water before pulling down another pot, the only other pot, and placing it on the stovetop. You pulled out the broth you knew to still be good and placed it in the pot. Once that was started, you pulled her outer-wear off and hung them up, tidying the living room enough to tread through it, and put the kettle on. You finished re-organizing the living room to be liveable again and sighed. A quick check-in with your woman and you re-arranged her blankets. Rather than piled on and disorganized through her tossing and turning, you covered her with a few, tucking her in carefully, and feeling her face. A cold sweat dampened her skin and it was flushed all at the same time.

Bleary blue eyes opened at the touch and she frowned at her perceived defenselessness. Not being able to do anything about a stranger in her home, she turned away, shoving her face in the blankets.

You laughed fondly, eyeing her greasy hair with disdain. You'd only been gone a few hours. The kettle started whistling and you poured the water into the only teacup you had in the cottage. You let the loose bag of herbs rest inside for a moment, mixing the broth. You took a bowl from the cabinet and took some water from the bucket, now a nice warm temperature. Returning to the room, you pulled the woman by her shoulder. "Chalin asam," you sang gently. "Come on, love."

"Go 'way," came the muffled response from within the bundle of cloth.

You rubbed her back sympathetically. She clearly wasn't feeling well at all. "You don't mean that."

"I do," she answered insistently.

Smiling at the grump, you dipped the cloth in the warm water, laying it on the exposed back of her neck. "And after I came all this way from the Tower."

With no regard for the warm cloth on her neck, your love rolled to face you, bloodshot eyes focusing on your face. She called your name distantly and sighed in relief at your smile. "I thought- I didn't know who you were."

You snuck your hand beneath her, retrieving the wet cloth. "Lucky for you, then." You smiled accommodatingly. You wrung the rag over the bowl before collecting new warm water and squeezing it do you weren't bathing your love. You ran the cloth over her sweaty face and down her neck.

She hummed, eyes slipping shut.

"Now, I have tea on and your soup should be done in a few moments."

A rotten invalid, the brunette scrunched into a weak frown. "I don't need soup."

You replaced the cloth in the by-now tepid water and ran the back of your hand over her face. "Have you eaten anything?"

Pouting, the woman shook her head.

You gasped dramatically. "Do you know what that means?"

Her pout deepened.

Your eyes flicked down to the twisted lump of flesh. "Look at that lip. Gonna get it," you teased, pinching it gently.

She smiled despite herself and turned away from you, trying to pout petulantly. "Have to eat," she mumbled, answering your previous question.

With a pleased nod, you stood from the chair by her bed and left briefly enough to make the bowl and fetch the cuppa. When you re-entered your shared bedroom, you nodded at the bowl of water and it floated behind the chair, a ring of silver mist suspending it from behind. "Can you sit?" You set the bowl down with one hand, watching the older Sedai shuffle to sit up, leaving her mountain of covers to sit against the wall. First, you held out the tea.

Sadly, your ever-strong love couldn't even raise her arms so you moved to sit beside her. Sympathetically, one hand ran along her jaw, backs of your fingers trailing gently. The other brought the cup up, careful not to over-spill. Your fingers on her jaw trailed down to capture and hold up her chin. Once she had a good gulp, you slowly lowered the fancy cup, finger trailing to wipe off her bottom lip. "'at's my girl," you whispered.

The shaking brunette smiled tiredly.

You moved to hold the cheek opposite you and dropped the teacup. The soup floated up to you and the cup landed carefully on the bedside table. Your thumb trailed up her throat as you used the spoon to gather some soup. You brought it to her lips and the bowl followed, floating cautiously below to catch any mess.

"Cheat," Moiraine whispered before leaned forward and taking the spoon in with a wide mouth.

"Only for you," you sang back, equally quiet.

Her head eventually got too heavy for her tired mind and you tipped the spoon for the next few gulps, pouring in carefully. Your free arm now wrapped around her back petted her horribly unclean hair. Ah, the things we did for love.