Post by Moranna Trakand on Aug 21, 2019 17:18:18 GMT
Name: Moranna Trakand
Age: 112
Nationality: Andoran
Place of Birth: Caemlyn, Andor
Place of Residence: White Tower, Tar Valon
Affiliation: Tar Valon, White/Black Ajah
Rank/Title: Aes Sedai of the White Ajah
One Power Strength: 5
Air: 6 | Earth: 3 | Fire: 4 | Spirit: 6 | Water: 6
Date enrolled in the White/Black Tower: 18 FA
Date raised to Accepted/Dedicated: 21 FA
Date raised to Aes Sedai/Asha'man: 28 FA
Date raised to any other rank: Crowned Queen of Andor: 28 FA - Abdicated Throne: 100 FA
Talents:
Weapon Skills:
Martial: * | Hand-Held: * | Stave: * | Thrown: * | Ranged: * | Mounted: *
Height:5’10”
Weight:140 lbs
Build/Complexion:Tall, voluptuous, fair skin
Eye/Hair Color:Blue eyes, red gold hair
Distinguishing Features:
Moranna had been a happy and warm hearted child, but life has a way of dimming the light in ones who see too much tragedy. After the deaths of her mother, sister-mother, and later her brother, Moranna became more and more withdrawn, adopting the cool, dispassionate logic prominent amongst White Sisters. The icy demeanor earned her the title “Winter Queen” amongst Andorans during her time as ruler. In truth, the harsh, dispassionate exterior is a cover for the absolute emotional devastation she holds within. She clings to logic and facts the way a drowning woman would a branch in a flood. If she allowed emotions to rule for even a moment, she would be swept away on a tide of them that would destroy her completely. Her own daughter, Talana, though loved by Moranna, was kept strictly at arm’s length to never allow the bond to grow too deeply between them. In part perhaps it was to protect her own heart, but more importantly, it was the only gift she felt able to give her child: protection against ever feeling the pain of loss that Moranna has endured. The sole exception to her emotional barricade is Avyanna, her counselor, confidant, and lover.
Moranna and Gawain Trakand were born into the new and hard won peace immediately following Tarmon Gai’don, close as only twins can be. Their mother, though busy with all that ruling a nation entailed, still kept them wrapped in love and joy. So much so, that the absence of their father did not even occur to them until they overheard some of the kitchen staff gossiping about how it “had to have been the Lord Dragon, that Rand al’Thor. A pity and a blessing he died at Shayol Ghul. Young Master Gawain looks his mirror image as much as Lady Moranna is her mother’s.” Upon examining themselves in a tall dressing glass, Gawain announced that Moranna did look just exactly like a miniature version of Mother, and so he too must look exactly as Father did. Armed with this new knowledge, they marched themselves before Elayne, by the Grace of the Light, Queen of Andor and Cairhien, Defender of the Realm, Protector of the People, High Seat of House Trakand, and demanded to know if the Dragon Reborn had been their father. Elayne seemed a bit sad, as she pulled them each onto her lap and kissed the tops of their heads. Then she told them the entire tale, from the moment he fell off a wall into her garden, to the last time she saw him, laying on a funeral pyre. Of how she kept their parentage a secret to protect them and how they must continue to do so. She explained that he’d had no brothers or sisters, but that their adoptive Grandfather still lived in Emond’s Field, as did his near-brother, Perrin.
From that moment on, the children would go every summer to visit their father’s “family” under the guise of building better relations within the realm, strengthening ties with the Two Rivers Stewardship. They spent days exploring the woods with the Aybara children; broad shouldered Tomas who had a gentle but indomitable strength, fierce Calwin who always wanted to duel with sticks, and big-eyed Elia, always with a smile on her face. They even visited another “Uncle” who lived alone in a cabin in the mountains somewhere from time to time. Mother never gave him a name beyond that, nor told the children exactly where this cabin was, nor how to reach it (they always Traveled directly to a marked spot just outside it’s door), but Moranna became fairly certain as she grew a few years more mature that her mother was in love with Uncle. She never knew if it was because he had been close to their father, reminding her of him in ways that drew her heart to his, or for reasons all his own. Either way, he treated them as dotingly as their Papa Tam did whenever they visited. Always exclaiming to Elayne about “how big they’ve grown!” and “beautiful as her mother” or “so strong and tall!”
It may have been an unconventional upbringing, but by and large, it was a happy one. And if they did not have a father, at least they had one another. They were as much one person as two bodies could be. Where Moranna was sharp-witted and logical, Gawain was tender and courageous. She was the head, and he the heart. Any moment of any day their nurses or mother could find them arm in arm with one another, their heads together as they pondered over whatever small mystery only children seem to have the time to wonder about.
When Moranna was sent to Tar Valon to train as Aes Sedai, Gawain accompanied her as her First Sword to train with the gaidin, as was tradition. Unlike her mother, Moranna hadn’t been born with the spark, but she could learn to channel and learning was one of the things Moranna did best! She delighted in intricate puzzles and questions of theory, philosophy, and logic. Novice life consumed her nearly every waking moment with classes and chores, and Novices were discouraged from spending time in the Warder Training Yard. For the first time in their lives, Moranna and Gawain did not have one another’s constant company and support. Gawain flourished. Ever courageous and kind, he made companions as naturally as breathing. Other Younglings looked to him as a benevolent and gracious leader amongst them. The Master of the Yard and other senior gaidin who trained them were impressed with his natural skill and he starred in many of their lessons. Ladies, from scullery maids to full Sisters, ringed the training yard any time he sparred, sighing over the handsome Prince of Andor. Moranna beamed with pride anytime she heard someone praising him. Gawain was a shining star with or without her, but without him, she felt as if she’d lost a limb. The other girls in her Novice Family took Moranna’s social awkwardness and bookish attitude as royal snobbery and avoided her as best they could. She withdrew further and further into herself and her studies.. Recognizing the signs in Moranna, Sharina Sedai, the Mistress of Novices at the time, assigned Moranna as a companion and guide to a new Novice, Avyanna Sarat.
Quickly, Moranna grew nearly as attached to Avyanna as she had been to her twin as a child. Avy was as sharp witted and clever. She could challenge her intellect and did not seem put off by Moranna’s pragmatic demeanor. She was intelligent and sensible and yet could lose herself in wild passions over a subject or cause dear to her heart. And she was here. No one had ever quite understood and appreciated Moranna like Gawain, but Avy did. Before long, the friendship between the two girls lead to their pillows. Moranna knew, logically, she would be Queen after her mother, that she would need to produce a Daughter Heir. Yet, despite its absolute flaunting of sense and reason, she was deeply in love with Avyanna.
When Moranna was raised to Accepted, she was thrilled by the opportunity for more freedom. Both because she could choose her own studies, and, more importantly, she’d be able to see her brother with more frequency. The joy over their reuniting was short lived, however, as within months of Moranna’s raising, Gawain was found to have the innate ability to channel and he was immediately sent to Caralain and the Black Tower for training of his own. With only letters sent back and forth between the twins who had been inseparable, Moranna turned to Avyanna more and more to fill her need for love and companionship.
When the Seanchan War broke out, life at the Tower suddenly took on a dark and foreboding air. While it was obvious that Sharina Sedai and the Amyrlin wished to protect the trainees from the worst of war, it was impossible to disperse the fear it bred. War with Seanchan, especially the faction unbound by the Dragon’s Pact, inspired nightmares featuring suldam marching into the Tower with their silver a’dam, chaining every woman from Novice to the Mother herself. Two years into the war, Gawain became an Asha’man and joined the Andoran forces. Suddenly, Moranna’s nightmares were compounded with dread over her losing her brother. Despite the fear, she could not help but be proud as news of his heroism in battle came in the reports from the front.
The King and Queen of Malkier fell in battle, decimating the invader’s western front, but the Allied morale as well. At Grandmother Morgase’s urging, their mother arranged a political marriage between Gawain and Elia Aybara. The marriage effectively tied the Two Rivers securely to the Andor, but also served as a happy distraction from the great losses in the war. Elia had grown from the pretty, smiling child they had known in their youth to a beautiful kind woman and, for his part, Gawain was more than happy with his “political” match. When Moranna was allowed a break in her studies to attend the wedding, it was clear the pair were smitten with one another. For that moment, despite all the terror and desolation of war, life was again happy and filled with hope and new possibilities.
Moranna returned to Tar Valon renewed by the joyful time with her family and prepared to soon undergo the test to be raised to full Aes Sedai. Sadly, that bright moment was soon snuffed out by great tragedy. Their mother, Elayne, and sister-mother, Aviendha, combined forces in a hard push against the Southern Front, resulting in the loss of both their lives. Their deaths nearly destroyed Moranna. She became a ghost of a woman. She ceased all studying, all interaction with other trainees and Sisters, barely eating and kept confined to her quarters for days on end. Avyanna’s care and attention buffered the worst of the depression, eventually coaxing her to resume something resembling normal eating and sleeping patterns, though her studies remained discarded. Fearing the consequences both for Moranna individually, and for the Andor-Tar Valon alliances if this should continue, the Amyrlin Seat sent for Gawain. The twins spent a month together, consoling one another over their loss. Slowly, the strength of their bond renewed her, and Moranna resumed her studies, though there was no question she would not be prepared for raising for some time. Grandmother Morgase would rule Andor in her stead until she was able to complete her training.
Nearly two years later, the Seanchan were defeated at last. Though the casualties were heavy, the Westlands celebrated their victory. Shortly after, Moranna finally passed her test and was raised as a full Aes Sedai of the White Ajah. For some time she had debated Brown, for her love of learning, or even Green, as her mother had been, so she might fight alongside Gawain, but ultimately it had been dispassionate logic that allowed her to close off the aching grief and emotional depression she had nearly been swallowed by and she valued that above the others. She armored herself in ice and intellect and returned to Caemlyn to be crowned by the Grace of the Light, Queen of Andor and Cairhien.
Despite being trained from birth to rule one day, Moranna struggled to enact the inherent compassion necessary to rule as her mother and grandmother had. Gawain, her First Prince of the Sword, helped soften her sharp edges and the nations prospered. Elia gave birth to she and Gawain’s daughter, Adora, and Moranna felt the first pangs of longing for a family of her own. As Elayne had proven, a Queen of Andor did not need to marry a man, yet one was still necessary for children. A few suitors who would have made smart political matches approached her, but Moranna was unable to put aside her yearning for Avyanna enough to accept any of them. Years passed and Morgase began urging her more earnestly to marry and produce a Daughter Heir, wanting to keep the Lion Throne from undergoing another War of Succession.
Perhaps Moranna would have acquiesced to her grandmother’s urging, if the second and greatest tragedy of her life had not come in her 10th year of rule. Gawain, as a decorated Asha’man of the Earth Legion, took on special assignments from the M’Hael from time to time. On one such assignment in the Blight, his party was unexpectedly overcome and Gawain was killed. The crippling depression she had suffered after their mother’s death struck one hundred fold with the loss of her twin, her other half, her heart. With no Avyanna to soften her pain, and no Gawain to pull her out of the darkness, Moranna was buried by it. For a time, Elia, now widowed, sought her out, to share their grief and help heal one another, but Moranna was unreachable in those depths. Eventually, Elia left Caemlyn for Emond’s Field and the solace of family. Morgase, too, tried to reach her granddaughter, offering love and counsel, but Moranna was a raw, gaping wound that festered and could not be healed. She was cold indifferance or white hot rage in turns.
After two years, Manetheren petitioned for secession from Andor, unable to continue fair governance of their people under the Queen’s mercurial decrees. Apathetic to the plea and their lands, Moranna conceded, but not before Morgase negotiated that Adora would succeed the new King Tomas, rather than any child of his own, ensuring Andor and Manetheren would be tied through blood as well as alliance treaties. Fearing a less amicable revolt in the Cairhienin lands, Morgase also arranged bequeathment of the country to her son, Moranna’s uncle, Lawcion. His shrewd skill in the Game quelled any mutterings of revolution and ensured an iron-clad alliance with Andor instead.
Moranna, for her part, returned to her grief, though the sharpest edges of it had been dulled by time and the pressing matters of state. As she had when Elayne died, Moranna began carefully enclosing her agonizing feelings in layers of dispassionate logic. While an improvement from her previous fickle temper, the detached neutrality of her involvement in politics and policy moved her subjects and various associates to deem her “Winter Queen.” A name only enhanced by her exclusive wardrobe of mourning white.
The suitors who had sought her hand in the youth of her reign had found better prospects elsewhere, and so by her fiftieth naming day, Moranna remained unwed and childless. It seemed that Grandmother Morgase spoke to her of little else. While on a diplomatic visit to the Aiel holding the Stone in Tear, she met a Dragon Blooded Warrior with fiery red hair and an easy smile that reminded Moranna of the happier days of youth. When the man showed obvious interest in her as a woman (what were wetlander titles to him?), she allowed him to take her to bed a handful of times over the week she remained. It hadn’t been an unpleasant tryst by any means, but there was no love between them, and she returned to Andor thinking more of Avyanna than of the man who’s child she unknowingly carried within.
Moranna’s daughter, Talana, was born at the height of summer’s heat and the repressed feelings of attachment that had accompanied the flutterings and later rolling movements of the child burst in to the bright flame of love the moment she laid eyes on her. The tiny wisps of copper curling around the little white shell of an ear, the pursed rose colored lips that parted ever so slightly with each tiny breath, the nose that scrunched up as she screamed out her first demands for food and warmth all sent wave after relentless wave of emotion through the cold stone walls Moranna had so carefully constructed. As with Gawain, suddenly her heart lived once more outside her body, in this tiny creature. And it filled her with a deep sense of dread. She would do anything to protect this child, to have her life filled only with love and sunshine and peace. Moranna knew, with the implacable certainty of her prized logic, that she would one day die and leave Talana an orphan, as she had once been. To allow Talana to love her, as she had loved her own mother and brother, was to sentence her to the immense grief she had been plagued by ever since death had first knocked on the door of House Trakand. So she gave over the raising of her child to nursemaids and tutors, guiding and loving her from afar, never allowing more than luke-warm affection seep through the cracks Talana had created in her frozen porcelain exterior.
When it was revealed that Talana had the spark inborn at 14, it was both a relief and a torment to send her to Tar Valon for training. Gone were the daily trials of keeping her at arm’s length when every fiber longed to embrace her, soothing hurts and sharing in her delights, but gone also were the stolen glimpses that flooded her with love and pride at the strong, intelligent and kind hearted young woman Talana had become.
After Rahlin Dovreh was raised to M’Hael of the Black Tower, relations with neighboring Caralain became strained and Moranna’s attention was forced to trying to reason with a ruler who saw her as another meddling Aes Sedai, playing to the tune of the Amyrlin. Despite the mutterings, no one foresaw the sudden attack on Andoran borders and the White Tower itself, breaking the Dragon’s Peace that had held since before her birth. War brought with it the old fear and while she worked with the other leaders of the combined forces to turn the tide and push the Asha’man back to the Black Tower, she worried daily for Talana and her safety within the Tower. That dread was amplified beyond bounds when Talana abruptly disappeared from the Tar Valon immediately after gaining the Shawl, only to be found in Caralain itself. The reproach Moranna visited on her daughter was of a level not seen since the rages she succumbed to shortly after Gawain’s death. Yet still, there was pride beneath the admonishment. Talana had seen need and filled it, as a good Queen should, and so Moranna asked that she turn that humanitarian eye to those within the safety of Andor’s borders instead.
When her daughter brought home the Shienaran Asha’man for approval, Moranna was at first wary of an agent of the Black Tower. After it was made clear that this Calyas had not been sympathetic nor complacent in the crimes of Dovreh, she looked past his name and allegiances and was surprised to see what she suspected was genuine love between he and her daughter. Regretting the many years she had held herself back from Talana’s love, she was pleased to see a chance for her child to feel and receive true affection and so blessed their imminent marriage. A union that soon produced a grandson, Gareth, and two years later a granddaughter, Ishara, ensuring the succession for another generation.
While Talana and Calyas continued their good works throughout Andor, Moranna continued to rule as the Winter Queen, and the contrast between her and her daughter grew ever starker. She continued to be a just ruler, but could not adopt the warmth and compassion that came so naturally to her progeny, to do so courted the deep and agonizing darkness she kept so tightly confined by that cold exterior. Seeing her daughter’s loving family drew another painful comparison for Moranna as well. She no longer had her own mother or brother, she had shunned her sister-in-law and young niece in her depression, she’d had no love for Talana’s father, and even Talana, who was her life’s breath, knew nothing of love from her. She began to feel the void of loneliness as she had, so long ago now, when first she and Gawain had been separated by their training at the two Towers respectively. Avyanna had filled that void then and more and more Moranna found herself longing for those days spent in Tar Valon, free from the demands of court and politics. At last Moranna voiced her desire to abdicate in favor of Talana on the Lion Throne and, when all had been agreed upon, left Caemlyn for a permanent apartment in the White Quarters.
Despite their decades apart, she and Avy fell back into their old patterns. It was Avyanna who coaxed out each of Moranna’s deeply buried sorrows, and held her night after night while she cried like the child she had been when first the Seanchan War claimed her innocence and joy. And bit by bit, Avyanna whispered soothing words into Moranna’s ear about the Lord of the Grave and his power to bring the dead back again to the world… bit by bit she led Moranna by the hand, deep into the Shadow.
Books read: All. Lots. Like lots and lots.
Age: 112
Nationality: Andoran
Place of Birth: Caemlyn, Andor
Place of Residence: White Tower, Tar Valon
Affiliation: Tar Valon, White/Black Ajah
Rank/Title: Aes Sedai of the White Ajah
One Power Strength: 5
Air: 6 | Earth: 3 | Fire: 4 | Spirit: 6 | Water: 6
Date enrolled in the White/Black Tower: 18 FA
Date raised to Accepted/Dedicated: 21 FA
Date raised to Aes Sedai/Asha'man: 28 FA
Date raised to any other rank: Crowned Queen of Andor: 28 FA - Abdicated Throne: 100 FA
Talents:
Weapon Skills:
Martial: * | Hand-Held: * | Stave: * | Thrown: * | Ranged: * | Mounted: *
APPEARANCE
Height:5’10”
Weight:140 lbs
Build/Complexion:Tall, voluptuous, fair skin
Eye/Hair Color:Blue eyes, red gold hair
Distinguishing Features:
- Tall for a woman
- Known for cold demeanor
PERSONALITY
Moranna had been a happy and warm hearted child, but life has a way of dimming the light in ones who see too much tragedy. After the deaths of her mother, sister-mother, and later her brother, Moranna became more and more withdrawn, adopting the cool, dispassionate logic prominent amongst White Sisters. The icy demeanor earned her the title “Winter Queen” amongst Andorans during her time as ruler. In truth, the harsh, dispassionate exterior is a cover for the absolute emotional devastation she holds within. She clings to logic and facts the way a drowning woman would a branch in a flood. If she allowed emotions to rule for even a moment, she would be swept away on a tide of them that would destroy her completely. Her own daughter, Talana, though loved by Moranna, was kept strictly at arm’s length to never allow the bond to grow too deeply between them. In part perhaps it was to protect her own heart, but more importantly, it was the only gift she felt able to give her child: protection against ever feeling the pain of loss that Moranna has endured. The sole exception to her emotional barricade is Avyanna, her counselor, confidant, and lover.
HISTORY
Moranna and Gawain Trakand were born into the new and hard won peace immediately following Tarmon Gai’don, close as only twins can be. Their mother, though busy with all that ruling a nation entailed, still kept them wrapped in love and joy. So much so, that the absence of their father did not even occur to them until they overheard some of the kitchen staff gossiping about how it “had to have been the Lord Dragon, that Rand al’Thor. A pity and a blessing he died at Shayol Ghul. Young Master Gawain looks his mirror image as much as Lady Moranna is her mother’s.” Upon examining themselves in a tall dressing glass, Gawain announced that Moranna did look just exactly like a miniature version of Mother, and so he too must look exactly as Father did. Armed with this new knowledge, they marched themselves before Elayne, by the Grace of the Light, Queen of Andor and Cairhien, Defender of the Realm, Protector of the People, High Seat of House Trakand, and demanded to know if the Dragon Reborn had been their father. Elayne seemed a bit sad, as she pulled them each onto her lap and kissed the tops of their heads. Then she told them the entire tale, from the moment he fell off a wall into her garden, to the last time she saw him, laying on a funeral pyre. Of how she kept their parentage a secret to protect them and how they must continue to do so. She explained that he’d had no brothers or sisters, but that their adoptive Grandfather still lived in Emond’s Field, as did his near-brother, Perrin.
From that moment on, the children would go every summer to visit their father’s “family” under the guise of building better relations within the realm, strengthening ties with the Two Rivers Stewardship. They spent days exploring the woods with the Aybara children; broad shouldered Tomas who had a gentle but indomitable strength, fierce Calwin who always wanted to duel with sticks, and big-eyed Elia, always with a smile on her face. They even visited another “Uncle” who lived alone in a cabin in the mountains somewhere from time to time. Mother never gave him a name beyond that, nor told the children exactly where this cabin was, nor how to reach it (they always Traveled directly to a marked spot just outside it’s door), but Moranna became fairly certain as she grew a few years more mature that her mother was in love with Uncle. She never knew if it was because he had been close to their father, reminding her of him in ways that drew her heart to his, or for reasons all his own. Either way, he treated them as dotingly as their Papa Tam did whenever they visited. Always exclaiming to Elayne about “how big they’ve grown!” and “beautiful as her mother” or “so strong and tall!”
It may have been an unconventional upbringing, but by and large, it was a happy one. And if they did not have a father, at least they had one another. They were as much one person as two bodies could be. Where Moranna was sharp-witted and logical, Gawain was tender and courageous. She was the head, and he the heart. Any moment of any day their nurses or mother could find them arm in arm with one another, their heads together as they pondered over whatever small mystery only children seem to have the time to wonder about.
When Moranna was sent to Tar Valon to train as Aes Sedai, Gawain accompanied her as her First Sword to train with the gaidin, as was tradition. Unlike her mother, Moranna hadn’t been born with the spark, but she could learn to channel and learning was one of the things Moranna did best! She delighted in intricate puzzles and questions of theory, philosophy, and logic. Novice life consumed her nearly every waking moment with classes and chores, and Novices were discouraged from spending time in the Warder Training Yard. For the first time in their lives, Moranna and Gawain did not have one another’s constant company and support. Gawain flourished. Ever courageous and kind, he made companions as naturally as breathing. Other Younglings looked to him as a benevolent and gracious leader amongst them. The Master of the Yard and other senior gaidin who trained them were impressed with his natural skill and he starred in many of their lessons. Ladies, from scullery maids to full Sisters, ringed the training yard any time he sparred, sighing over the handsome Prince of Andor. Moranna beamed with pride anytime she heard someone praising him. Gawain was a shining star with or without her, but without him, she felt as if she’d lost a limb. The other girls in her Novice Family took Moranna’s social awkwardness and bookish attitude as royal snobbery and avoided her as best they could. She withdrew further and further into herself and her studies.. Recognizing the signs in Moranna, Sharina Sedai, the Mistress of Novices at the time, assigned Moranna as a companion and guide to a new Novice, Avyanna Sarat.
Quickly, Moranna grew nearly as attached to Avyanna as she had been to her twin as a child. Avy was as sharp witted and clever. She could challenge her intellect and did not seem put off by Moranna’s pragmatic demeanor. She was intelligent and sensible and yet could lose herself in wild passions over a subject or cause dear to her heart. And she was here. No one had ever quite understood and appreciated Moranna like Gawain, but Avy did. Before long, the friendship between the two girls lead to their pillows. Moranna knew, logically, she would be Queen after her mother, that she would need to produce a Daughter Heir. Yet, despite its absolute flaunting of sense and reason, she was deeply in love with Avyanna.
When Moranna was raised to Accepted, she was thrilled by the opportunity for more freedom. Both because she could choose her own studies, and, more importantly, she’d be able to see her brother with more frequency. The joy over their reuniting was short lived, however, as within months of Moranna’s raising, Gawain was found to have the innate ability to channel and he was immediately sent to Caralain and the Black Tower for training of his own. With only letters sent back and forth between the twins who had been inseparable, Moranna turned to Avyanna more and more to fill her need for love and companionship.
When the Seanchan War broke out, life at the Tower suddenly took on a dark and foreboding air. While it was obvious that Sharina Sedai and the Amyrlin wished to protect the trainees from the worst of war, it was impossible to disperse the fear it bred. War with Seanchan, especially the faction unbound by the Dragon’s Pact, inspired nightmares featuring suldam marching into the Tower with their silver a’dam, chaining every woman from Novice to the Mother herself. Two years into the war, Gawain became an Asha’man and joined the Andoran forces. Suddenly, Moranna’s nightmares were compounded with dread over her losing her brother. Despite the fear, she could not help but be proud as news of his heroism in battle came in the reports from the front.
The King and Queen of Malkier fell in battle, decimating the invader’s western front, but the Allied morale as well. At Grandmother Morgase’s urging, their mother arranged a political marriage between Gawain and Elia Aybara. The marriage effectively tied the Two Rivers securely to the Andor, but also served as a happy distraction from the great losses in the war. Elia had grown from the pretty, smiling child they had known in their youth to a beautiful kind woman and, for his part, Gawain was more than happy with his “political” match. When Moranna was allowed a break in her studies to attend the wedding, it was clear the pair were smitten with one another. For that moment, despite all the terror and desolation of war, life was again happy and filled with hope and new possibilities.
Moranna returned to Tar Valon renewed by the joyful time with her family and prepared to soon undergo the test to be raised to full Aes Sedai. Sadly, that bright moment was soon snuffed out by great tragedy. Their mother, Elayne, and sister-mother, Aviendha, combined forces in a hard push against the Southern Front, resulting in the loss of both their lives. Their deaths nearly destroyed Moranna. She became a ghost of a woman. She ceased all studying, all interaction with other trainees and Sisters, barely eating and kept confined to her quarters for days on end. Avyanna’s care and attention buffered the worst of the depression, eventually coaxing her to resume something resembling normal eating and sleeping patterns, though her studies remained discarded. Fearing the consequences both for Moranna individually, and for the Andor-Tar Valon alliances if this should continue, the Amyrlin Seat sent for Gawain. The twins spent a month together, consoling one another over their loss. Slowly, the strength of their bond renewed her, and Moranna resumed her studies, though there was no question she would not be prepared for raising for some time. Grandmother Morgase would rule Andor in her stead until she was able to complete her training.
Nearly two years later, the Seanchan were defeated at last. Though the casualties were heavy, the Westlands celebrated their victory. Shortly after, Moranna finally passed her test and was raised as a full Aes Sedai of the White Ajah. For some time she had debated Brown, for her love of learning, or even Green, as her mother had been, so she might fight alongside Gawain, but ultimately it had been dispassionate logic that allowed her to close off the aching grief and emotional depression she had nearly been swallowed by and she valued that above the others. She armored herself in ice and intellect and returned to Caemlyn to be crowned by the Grace of the Light, Queen of Andor and Cairhien.
Despite being trained from birth to rule one day, Moranna struggled to enact the inherent compassion necessary to rule as her mother and grandmother had. Gawain, her First Prince of the Sword, helped soften her sharp edges and the nations prospered. Elia gave birth to she and Gawain’s daughter, Adora, and Moranna felt the first pangs of longing for a family of her own. As Elayne had proven, a Queen of Andor did not need to marry a man, yet one was still necessary for children. A few suitors who would have made smart political matches approached her, but Moranna was unable to put aside her yearning for Avyanna enough to accept any of them. Years passed and Morgase began urging her more earnestly to marry and produce a Daughter Heir, wanting to keep the Lion Throne from undergoing another War of Succession.
Perhaps Moranna would have acquiesced to her grandmother’s urging, if the second and greatest tragedy of her life had not come in her 10th year of rule. Gawain, as a decorated Asha’man of the Earth Legion, took on special assignments from the M’Hael from time to time. On one such assignment in the Blight, his party was unexpectedly overcome and Gawain was killed. The crippling depression she had suffered after their mother’s death struck one hundred fold with the loss of her twin, her other half, her heart. With no Avyanna to soften her pain, and no Gawain to pull her out of the darkness, Moranna was buried by it. For a time, Elia, now widowed, sought her out, to share their grief and help heal one another, but Moranna was unreachable in those depths. Eventually, Elia left Caemlyn for Emond’s Field and the solace of family. Morgase, too, tried to reach her granddaughter, offering love and counsel, but Moranna was a raw, gaping wound that festered and could not be healed. She was cold indifferance or white hot rage in turns.
After two years, Manetheren petitioned for secession from Andor, unable to continue fair governance of their people under the Queen’s mercurial decrees. Apathetic to the plea and their lands, Moranna conceded, but not before Morgase negotiated that Adora would succeed the new King Tomas, rather than any child of his own, ensuring Andor and Manetheren would be tied through blood as well as alliance treaties. Fearing a less amicable revolt in the Cairhienin lands, Morgase also arranged bequeathment of the country to her son, Moranna’s uncle, Lawcion. His shrewd skill in the Game quelled any mutterings of revolution and ensured an iron-clad alliance with Andor instead.
Moranna, for her part, returned to her grief, though the sharpest edges of it had been dulled by time and the pressing matters of state. As she had when Elayne died, Moranna began carefully enclosing her agonizing feelings in layers of dispassionate logic. While an improvement from her previous fickle temper, the detached neutrality of her involvement in politics and policy moved her subjects and various associates to deem her “Winter Queen.” A name only enhanced by her exclusive wardrobe of mourning white.
The suitors who had sought her hand in the youth of her reign had found better prospects elsewhere, and so by her fiftieth naming day, Moranna remained unwed and childless. It seemed that Grandmother Morgase spoke to her of little else. While on a diplomatic visit to the Aiel holding the Stone in Tear, she met a Dragon Blooded Warrior with fiery red hair and an easy smile that reminded Moranna of the happier days of youth. When the man showed obvious interest in her as a woman (what were wetlander titles to him?), she allowed him to take her to bed a handful of times over the week she remained. It hadn’t been an unpleasant tryst by any means, but there was no love between them, and she returned to Andor thinking more of Avyanna than of the man who’s child she unknowingly carried within.
Moranna’s daughter, Talana, was born at the height of summer’s heat and the repressed feelings of attachment that had accompanied the flutterings and later rolling movements of the child burst in to the bright flame of love the moment she laid eyes on her. The tiny wisps of copper curling around the little white shell of an ear, the pursed rose colored lips that parted ever so slightly with each tiny breath, the nose that scrunched up as she screamed out her first demands for food and warmth all sent wave after relentless wave of emotion through the cold stone walls Moranna had so carefully constructed. As with Gawain, suddenly her heart lived once more outside her body, in this tiny creature. And it filled her with a deep sense of dread. She would do anything to protect this child, to have her life filled only with love and sunshine and peace. Moranna knew, with the implacable certainty of her prized logic, that she would one day die and leave Talana an orphan, as she had once been. To allow Talana to love her, as she had loved her own mother and brother, was to sentence her to the immense grief she had been plagued by ever since death had first knocked on the door of House Trakand. So she gave over the raising of her child to nursemaids and tutors, guiding and loving her from afar, never allowing more than luke-warm affection seep through the cracks Talana had created in her frozen porcelain exterior.
When it was revealed that Talana had the spark inborn at 14, it was both a relief and a torment to send her to Tar Valon for training. Gone were the daily trials of keeping her at arm’s length when every fiber longed to embrace her, soothing hurts and sharing in her delights, but gone also were the stolen glimpses that flooded her with love and pride at the strong, intelligent and kind hearted young woman Talana had become.
After Rahlin Dovreh was raised to M’Hael of the Black Tower, relations with neighboring Caralain became strained and Moranna’s attention was forced to trying to reason with a ruler who saw her as another meddling Aes Sedai, playing to the tune of the Amyrlin. Despite the mutterings, no one foresaw the sudden attack on Andoran borders and the White Tower itself, breaking the Dragon’s Peace that had held since before her birth. War brought with it the old fear and while she worked with the other leaders of the combined forces to turn the tide and push the Asha’man back to the Black Tower, she worried daily for Talana and her safety within the Tower. That dread was amplified beyond bounds when Talana abruptly disappeared from the Tar Valon immediately after gaining the Shawl, only to be found in Caralain itself. The reproach Moranna visited on her daughter was of a level not seen since the rages she succumbed to shortly after Gawain’s death. Yet still, there was pride beneath the admonishment. Talana had seen need and filled it, as a good Queen should, and so Moranna asked that she turn that humanitarian eye to those within the safety of Andor’s borders instead.
When her daughter brought home the Shienaran Asha’man for approval, Moranna was at first wary of an agent of the Black Tower. After it was made clear that this Calyas had not been sympathetic nor complacent in the crimes of Dovreh, she looked past his name and allegiances and was surprised to see what she suspected was genuine love between he and her daughter. Regretting the many years she had held herself back from Talana’s love, she was pleased to see a chance for her child to feel and receive true affection and so blessed their imminent marriage. A union that soon produced a grandson, Gareth, and two years later a granddaughter, Ishara, ensuring the succession for another generation.
While Talana and Calyas continued their good works throughout Andor, Moranna continued to rule as the Winter Queen, and the contrast between her and her daughter grew ever starker. She continued to be a just ruler, but could not adopt the warmth and compassion that came so naturally to her progeny, to do so courted the deep and agonizing darkness she kept so tightly confined by that cold exterior. Seeing her daughter’s loving family drew another painful comparison for Moranna as well. She no longer had her own mother or brother, she had shunned her sister-in-law and young niece in her depression, she’d had no love for Talana’s father, and even Talana, who was her life’s breath, knew nothing of love from her. She began to feel the void of loneliness as she had, so long ago now, when first she and Gawain had been separated by their training at the two Towers respectively. Avyanna had filled that void then and more and more Moranna found herself longing for those days spent in Tar Valon, free from the demands of court and politics. At last Moranna voiced her desire to abdicate in favor of Talana on the Lion Throne and, when all had been agreed upon, left Caemlyn for a permanent apartment in the White Quarters.
Despite their decades apart, she and Avy fell back into their old patterns. It was Avyanna who coaxed out each of Moranna’s deeply buried sorrows, and held her night after night while she cried like the child she had been when first the Seanchan War claimed her innocence and joy. And bit by bit, Avyanna whispered soothing words into Moranna’s ear about the Lord of the Grave and his power to bring the dead back again to the world… bit by bit she led Moranna by the hand, deep into the Shadow.
Books read: All. Lots. Like lots and lots.
