#my beta is out of town on their honey moon

            Drawing his sword, and suppressing the pang that he now always felt looking at it now, remembering his father, Rand took a deep breath and tried to form the Void. 

            It had not come easily these last few days. In his mind he formed the flame and fed everything into his: his fear, his anxiety, his anger at the Aes Sedai, his doubt about their situation about whether or not he had caused it somehow, even the mess of tangled feelings that reared up in him anytime he thought of Mat now. He wanted to shake the other man, and he wanted to hold him close and never let go. He wanted to kiss his stupid smirking mouth until it was red and panting, and he wanted to chase Mat away to a place beyond where Rand could hurt him, or let him down.

            All of it fed into the flame, but no matter how large it grew, it never winked out into the emptiness as it was supposed to. It always wavered, flicking just on the edge. Finally Rand gave up and shifted into Heron Waiting in the Rushes, to begin working the forms of the sword.

-Sworn, Chapter 9: Elsewhere (WIP)