Third Place - Most "RJ-esque"
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legends. Legends fade to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave its birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age long past, an Age yet to come, a storm raged on the sea that men so rightly called the Sea of Storms. The storm was not the beginning, for there are neither beginnings nor endings as the Wheel of Time turn, but it was _a_ beginning.
The storm blew through a fleet of Atha'an Miere on its way north, towards Illian, only the skill of the Sailmistresses and the channeling of the Windfinders keeping it above water as the storm whipped the ships ruthlessly.
The storm had faded to a strong wind as is blew through the bog surrounding the city, and into the part of Illian called the Perfumed Quarter. The wind carried a heavy scent of hemp and pitch across the Square of Tammuz and into the Kings Palace, where Rand al'Thor stood in front of one of the high arched windows. He wore a dark blue silk coat with laurel leaves and the Golden Bees of Illian embroidered on the sleeves buttoned to the neck. Not for the first time he thanked the Light that he could ignore the Shadow wrought heat.
"Scouts in Amadicia and Tarabon do report that a people who do call themselves the Seanchan have with great ease invaded and overrun these countries, and possibly others as well, Majesty. Others reports, although I must say I do doubt them, claim that the do ride on strange beasts and have Aes Sedai on leashes fighting for them. Yet other reports claim that they do be the forces the High King Artur Hawkwing sent over the Aryth Ocean some one thousand years ago, Majesty." All Illianers called him Majesty; being the King seemed to supersede being the Dragon Reborn. Lord Gregorin, who spoke for the Council of Nine since he had killed Sammael, Lord Brend, was no exception. He rather liked that. Not because he wanted to be called majesty, but it let him forget that he was the Dragon Reborn for a while.
Illian had turned out to be the country most firmly behind him. Maybe because they had named him king, maybe because he had sent grain to people Sammael had left starving so that he could feed his army, maybe because he was Ta'Veren. Not that that had helped in any other country. But the grip had its price. Since they he was their king, he had an obligation the people of Illian. He spent more time dealing with Illian than he did with all other countries together; here he could not just lump over the responsibility on someone else. And the bloody Crown of Swords nearly pierced the skin of his forehead. Why couldn't all the bloody swords point _up_?
Rand turned around to face the man. "I will give your reports due consideration, Lord Gregorin" Rand said. "If you have nothing else to say, you may leave."
Gregorin gave a start. "Majesty, we have not yet gone through the grain supplies, and the..."
Rand barely quelled an urge to tap his fingers against window ledge; that had been something Lews Therin did when he was irritated. He could not take care of _everything_. He had to leave the day-to-day matters to the Council if he wanted _any_ time for other matters. "Gregorin, you are _dismissed_."
Gregorin murmured a short "Yes, Majesty" and gave a quick bow before leaving.
"What did you see, Min?" he asked.
Min walked out from behind one of the gray stone columns, where she had been hidden from Gregorin. She wore a rose colored coat and tight breeches, her hair in dark curls twined around here ears, slightly longer than it had been when he first met her. For the thousandth time he reminded himself that he only kept her with him because he needed her to view people for him. But Light, she was beautiful.
"Nothing important around Gregorin; all I saw was that he'll die an old man in bed at home. It was a long while since I saw _that_ around someone." Rand only nodded for reply. "If you don't have anyone else you want me to view, I'd like to go and take a bath" she said.
"Go ahead. I think I'll go and take a look at the library, and then I have to go see Taim" he replied. "I won't be back until sunset."
She walked up to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Take care sheepherder" she whispered in his ear. She always said that when he went to see Taim, the man seemed to make her anxious.
As he walked down the corridors to the Royal Library he wondered whether there where some records over the library. Even the librarians were usually ignorant of many of the treasures their libraries held.
Librarians scurried around, none noticing him. He wondered if they were even aware that he had taken the city.
As he wandered around among the shelves, picking out a book here and there, he noticed a large, white book with the Great Serpent and the Wheel of Time on the back.
As he took out the book Lews Therin began to chatter frantically in the back of his head. The books was it the poorest condition imaginable, the paper nearly crumbled from merely touching it. The title was in a language that had been ancient already in the Age of Legends. Even with Lews Therins memories and knowledge of the Old Tongue reading it took some doing. The best translation of the title he could think of was "Robert Jordans world of Wheel of Time".
He decided that he would look at it closer later as he tucked it under his arm, when something fell out from between the pages.
The document was in better shape than the book; it must have been warded with the Power to survive this long, but even more puzzling. The title read "RASFWR-J Plot Contest for the Path of Daggers". As he looked through the pages he saw that most of the pages were unreadable despite the warding, the ink faded or blurred. He did stop to read one that seemed to be in decent shape. If he thought the title had been strange, his eyes bulged when he read this.
· Taim will be revealed as Demandred and run from the Black Tower, taking a few darkfriend Asha'man with him. Logain will show up to take his place.
· Berelain will be acknowledged by the Seanchan as being of the Blood since she is a descendant from Hawkwing, thus giving Rand a slight foothold with the Seanchan. Rand will try to drive the Seanchan away, but by the end of the book the Seanchan will be behind him. They will join him because of the above and because of the DotNM (see below).
· Mat will be taken to Seanchan as "property of the empress" because of the ravens on his spear and his signet ring. There he will marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons. She will be a messiah-like figure for the Seanchan (remember that passage in LoC where a Seanchan in the same inn as Mat hears him say something about the DotNM and thinks something like "Could the Daughter of the Nine Moons really be coming"?). This will bring the Seanchan to Rand.
· Perrin will have more TAR encounters with Slayer. He will defeat him and free Moiraine _and_ Lanfear from Slayers metal tower/the World of the *'Finns.
· After deposing Elaida Egwene will decide that all sisters must swear on the Oath Rod that they are not BA, or be stilled and executed, thus cleansing the Tower from BA. The support for this is Egwenes test for accepted, where she as Amyrlin remembers clearing away all BA. I know that the Accepted test doesn't tell a certain future, but there she was also an Amyrlin who had never held the Oath Rod, which she'll likely be in real life. I think this is a hint that the rest of that experience is also true. After that she'll use the same technique as the BA for breaking the Oaths to remove them altogether, since she thinks they do more harm than good.
· The female characters will sniff, snort, fold their arms under their breasts and glare at the male characters for no other apparent reason then to make them nervous and uneasy.
· Rand will, despite trying to avoid it, at some point get alone in the same room as Min, Elayne and Aviendha at the same time, with none to hear him scream in agony...
· Sammael will turn out to be alive, but working from the shadows in Moggy style, rather than the Sammy we've all come to know and love.
· If we don't find out who killed Asmodean, an author we know of will get dragged into a dark alley and get beaten half to death. The same will happen if the bowl of the winds does not get used or gets stolen in Horn of Valere fashion.
· As Rand sees that many AM are on the brink of madness, Rand will decide that he must get the Last Battle overwith before all of his "weapons" are insane. To do this he'll crack the Seals. This will be the "fateful decision" mentioned in the Tor/Forge catalogue. This will _not_ however speed up the finishing of the series as each book now covers about a week and no time between.
· RJ will keep introducing new sub-plots and characters, while finishing relatively few. The proof for this is the Tor/Forge catalogue and, well, common sense (why would he end this fine tradition _now_?). I also think we are no more than halfway through the series. Tops.
· Rand will meet someone who knew Tam when he served in Illian. This person will be one of the Companions, the Illianer elite troop.
As Rand put the paper back into the book, he wondered what this was all about. His face was a study in puzzlement. How could a document predating the Age of Legends mention _him_, and many other people, by name, when no prophecy he had ever seen had? And what was a "Tor/Forge catalogue"? Maybe it was some prophetic writing of their Age. The document had mostly just confused him, but about one thing it was absolutely clear. Taim was Demandred. He could not begin to understand why he would pose as an ex false dragon, but it would certainly explain why Lews Therin started raving whenever he even thought of the man. And how would he kill him without the Asha'Man rioting?
As he opened the gateway to the Black Tower with a grim smile he faintly remembered that Demandred had always hated surprises, and he was in for a big one now.