"...if there is such a thing as perfect human beauty, in face and form, then you--"
"Loial!" Rand shouted. The Ogier's ears stiffened in embarrassment. Rand's own ears were red; Loial's words had been too close to what he himself was thinking.
The woman laughed musically, but the next instant she was all regal formality, like a queen on her throne. "I am called Selene," she said. "You have risked your life, and saved mine. I am yours, Lord Rand al'Thor." And, to Rand's horror, she knelt before him.
__________
Those days spent in that...
place,
that other world that was a dim reflection of the real world, weighed heavier on Rand than he let on. Sure, it was dreary. Yes, he and his friends almost died. Of course, meeting the most beautiful woman in existence in the most unbelievably coincidental manner imaginable would be enough by itself to addle anyone. Yet, it was none of these things that had him mulling quietly, even sullenly, as they travelled through Cairhien.
It was the dreams.
No, not dreams; nightmares, and not the kind he had, sadly, been growing used to. Ba'alzamon... well, the Dark One was the Dark One. Mortally terrifying, but in a way that was dishearteningly predictable now, all these weeks after leaving Emond's Field. He could deal with them, after a fashion, or at least he'd convinced himself that was the case. What was burning furrows in his mind were nocturnal visions of a different and, in many ways, darker sort.
The first time it'd happened was in that shadow-touched reality where they'd met Selene; in fact, that very night. After a day of being enchanted by the comely stranger, of hearing her tales and marveling at her knowledge, he'd gone to bed that night with a smile; nodding off to the sounds of conversation between the woman who made him think so many inappropriate, yet exciting thoughts, and Loial, his forever-inquisitive Ogier friend. After so long with his nerves frayed to a dozen twisted strands, the comparative normalcy was a welcome balm.
He didn't know how long it was after that when he opened his eyes. Well, when he
dreamed
that he opened his eyes. It was still dark, but even in the mists of the false reality, there was an ample amount of moonlight bathing the group; more than enough to make out details of shapes and figures, all washed in silver. Figures especially.
Especially
one figure that was a vision gifted by the Light. Selene, the young Cairhienen noblewoman, disrobed, on her knees, with her back arched and neck bent so that her gorgeous face was oriented to take the silver orb above full-on.
Paralyzed in a way that often happened in a dream, Rand could only stare, wetting dry lips, attempting to do all he could to fix the image in his mind so he would never forget it. He'd thought he knew was perfect was--Egwene, Elayne, Moiraine all came to mind, even Min, the tomboy from Baerlon, had her own kind of unassailable beauty--but he'd been so, so wrong. Selene gave new definition to the word with her flawless body. Her sleek, trim-but-firm midriff was gently swaying, which translated to the hypnotic wobble of a pair of breasts that could only have been duplicated by a master sculptor working with the purest of marble. Even what should have been the less lust-inducing parts of her set him aflame. Her lustrous, ebon hair brushing the small of her bare back, her lush, parted lips sucking in the still night air, her delicate, fluttering lashes that veiled her eyes... it was all a wash of imagery that spawned a maelstrom of emotion in the young wayfarer. The whole thing was so surreal, even the orientation of her body seemed unnatural; she was too high up off the ground, and the movements of her body were too wide to be natural.
It was when Rand forced the dream's shackles to relent a bit, and he shifted on his blanket to get a look at what he knew had to be Selene's mouthwatering rump, that that last mystery was cleared up, and he felt his stomach clench.
It was
me
she was making eyes at!
The young woman who'd suggested such tantalizing things to him was not there alone; underneath her, between her spread knees, Loial, son of Arent son of Halan, lied prone, his own face screwed up and teeth gritted in an expression that could either be pain or ecstasy. Maybe both. In any event, the Ogier's huge, sausage-like fingers were gripping the woman's pale cheeks hard, almost threatening to crush the globes like melons as he pulled her pelvis into his again and again.
"Ahhhh, there's nothing like an Alantin." Selene was humming, her body vibrating as she copied Rand's gesture of seconds before and wet her lips with her tongue. Her undulations never ceased, though, even as her hands came up to caress her breasts, her fingers roughly plying her own nipples like she was punishing herself. "Oh, Oh by the Great Lord... I'd forgotten..." Back still arched, the young woman's spine twisted to-and-fro, helpless as she reached her crest. "Yes! Yesssss..." Her back bent and she hunched over Loial, planting her palms on that broadest of chests, her achingly firm rear flexing and jerking in a silver-limned blur while her black hair brushed the Ogier's own exposed nipples. "Give it to me, you beast man. You aberration! You invader! Give it all to meee!"
Loial roared then and bucked his hips up, driving himself into her in a way that Rand imagined should have been maiming for Selene, if not physically impossible.
It's good that this is a dream
. Rand was barely aware of the sentiment as he kept watching, riveted, the hair on his arms standing rigid, as Loial drove himself up again and again, harder and harder, seeking to empty himself completely into her. Selene, for her part, looked to be experiencing nothing but bliss, and matched her mate hammer-blow for hammer-blow. After a surprisingly long time, though, the pair had exhausted their lusts on each other and relented; Loial dropping fully back to earth, and Selene draping herself across him, looking like a child being held in her father's arms. The pristine stillness was only broken by her soft susurrations.
"Talented young Alantin, aren't you?" She shakily pulled a few inches off him, her full breasts making pools of pale skin on his chest, and stroked his beardless cheek. "And so eager. I barely had to do a thing. You're primed for humans in a way, I think." At a rumbling murmur from him, she put a finger on his broad lips to shush him. "No, don't speak. It would be inane anyway. Just let me enjoy this." She placed her head softy back down on his sternum. "It's been so long, and you're such a good distraction. Should I let you remember something of this, I wonder? You'll never have a woman like me, especially a human one. You're too gentle, and without... preparation, we're too delicate. Perhaps..."
Her eyes drifted closed then. "I'm not unkind. I'll give you access to my domain and let you have dreams of our time together, for as long as you can enjoy them. For now, sleep. We have a long way to go, and I have a long time to make up for."
__________
That had only been the first. If his insane dreaming had begun and ended there, Rand would have chalked the whole thing up to Grolms and Portal Stones muddling his head, especially since both Selene and Loial dealt with him just as they always had after that night; companionable on his part, pure sultry temptation on hers. Light, at one point, when she put his shirt on to clean her dress, Rand almost saw all of the woman's legs! There was a good chance that she did it on purpose because she was interested in him. Maybe even wanted to marry him.
But that night was not the end. Even when they found their way back to their own world, the nightmares continued, and Rand grew increasingly sure that the madness of Saidin was taking him.
