A/N: I don't even know. Okay so there's a story behind this story. Today is my friend's birthday, and I wanted to write a fic for her. And it couldn't contain AMoL spoilers, because she hasn't read it yet. And we both find a certain scene in the Winter's Heart prologue highly amusing. And thus... This. (Happy Birthday! ^_^)

I'm sorry. I'll go hide in a corner now and continue TWitL. x)

The trip to tel'aran'rhiod was not going as planned; Elayne finally had to admit it, if only to herself. It helped that there was nobody else around to witness the situation, that she could possibly have made the admission to. In all honesty, she wasn't even sure this place, if a place it was, was in the World of Dreams. She had gone to sleep, that much she was sure of. And she had been using a new copy of the stone ring ter'angreal that was supposed to take the user to tel'aran'rhiod. So logically thinking - she was not as obsessed with logic as the White Ajah, but she had a passing acquaintance with the concept - she should have been there. But unless she had somehow, by some stray thought managed to take herself to the sky of tel'aran'rhiod, among the stars, she couldn't begin to imagine where she was and how she had come to be there.

She looked around - she had the impression of turning her head even though as far as she was aware she had no body in this place - and stared. She did indeed seem to be surrounded by stars, and she found that she could move among those stars, floating past them as a bodiless being.

Her curiosity was piqued. This was nothing Egwene had ever spoken of. Could it be that she had discovered something that even Egwene was unaware of? Or, more likely, she had to admit, something that Egwene simply hadn't shared with her and Nynaeve. Cautiously she approached one of the stars. It was almost as if she could see something inside the star. She floated closer, just to have a better look…

And she found herself in a vast hall that looked remotely like the throne room in the palace in Caemlyn, only bigger and with different colour themes - black and crimson and gold - and instead of the Lion Throne, there was a monstrous thing with gilded Dragons… But that wasn't what made her stare. The man lounging upon that throne looked familiar…

Elayne moved closer through the crowd that suddenly filled the space, lords and ladies in colourful silks but with somehow blurred features; she saw bright smiles and judging stares, but the faces themselves were somehow indistinct. The effect was disturbing, and she tried to avoid looking at them, instead focusing on making her way towards the man on the throne. She was almost in the front row when she realised that the crowd had parted and someone was striding towards the throne; a tall man in a black coat embroidered with silver scrollwork on the high collar and the cuffs, and glittering blue-and-gold dragons wound around the sleeves. She felt cold all of a sudden; she didn't need to look at the face, darkly handsome with the typically Saldaean features and an arrogant cast, to know this man. What had she dreamed herself into?!

Mazrim Taim stopped and knelt at the foot of the dais. "My Lord Dragon."

Elayne's eyes darted again to the man on the throne, and indeed, it was Rand! He looked different in many subtle ways, he was not as handsome as in reality, and the way he looked contemptuously over the featureless masses of lords and ladies just wasn't like him at all, but it was Rand. The expression on his too-ordinary face changed as he looked at Taim; smiling warmly, he stood up and closed the distance between them and touched Taim's shoulder lightly. "Oh, don't be an idiot, Taim," he said, with a touch of exasperation in his voice - that part did sound like Rand, although Elayne could hardly imagine him addressing Taim in such a tone. "You kneel to no-one."

Taim stood up - he was as tall as Rand; Elayne was fairly sure that he wasn't in reality - and the almost-smile that never touched his eyes seemed somehow triumphant. "As my Lord Dragon wishes," he replied.

Rand rolled his eyes theatrically, but Elayne got the impression that the two men were sharing a joke. Rand made a dismissive gesture at the faceless crowds, and suddenly they were gone and instead of the throne room, the three of them were standing on a garden path. "Walk with me," Rand said, more of a request than a command, but he didn't wait for the other man to respond before he started off along the path. Taim fell in beside him, half a step behind. Rand spoke again. "You've done miracles with the Black Tower," he said. "And in such a short time. I wish I had more time to spare for visits, but the world isn't going to prepare for Tarmon Gai'don by itself, and…" He shook his head with an annoyed sigh. "At least I can count on the Asha'man. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Elayne, following the two men at a small distance, nearly tripped over her feet at that last comment. She was beginning to suspect she knew what this was, where she had landed… But the whole idea, especially combined with what she was hearing, was almost too absurd to consider. She must have made a noise, for when she regained her balance and looked up, the men had stopped and were now both staring at her, looking equally baffled. They could see her? She hadn't expected that. So, she wasn't just an observer in someone else's dream, then; she was a part of it.

The confusion was gone and then Rand was striding towards her. "Ah, Elayne!" he greeted her with a smile, but not the smile she remembered. No, it was more like a smile for a friendly acquaintance than the woman you loved. "Taim, I'm not sure if you've met Elayne. Elayne, meet Mazrim Taim, the M'Hael of the Black Tower."

Taim made a slight bow, that infuriating almost-smile flickering across his lips. "A pleasure to meet you, Lady Elayne."

The way he said her name made Elayne shudder - or should have. Instead, she realised she was blushing. Blushing! "The pleasure is mine," she murmured as she answered the bow with a curtsy. Looking down she realised that she was wearing a very low-cut gown of crimson silk, something she might imagine Berelain wearing but most certainly wouldn't have worn herself, certainly not before this man of all the people..! She glared indignantly - or tried to, but her body didn't seem to be obeying her commands. Instead she took Taim's offered arm and they continued together through the garden. In her shock, it took her a moment to realise that Rand had vanished.

"You're Aes Sedai, aren't you, Elayne… You don't mind if I call you Elayne, do you?" Taim spoke in a conversational tone.

Bloody well I do, Elayne thought, but what came out was, "Not at all. And yes, I am Aes Sedai." She looked up at him with a smile. "Does that bother you?"

The look Taim gave her was almost amused. "The Lord Dragon insists we maintain… friendly relations to the White Tower," he said. "Perhaps you can be of assistance in that." That almost smile again. "Perhaps… you would like to visit the Black Tower. I will give you a tour myself."

The scene changed again, and now they were on the Black Tower grounds, except that everything was much more finished than Elayne remembered from her visit to the place in the waking world. They walked through the streets with an escort of five Asha'man, all as featureless as the crowd in the throne room. Elayne clung to Taim's arm like a brainless flipskirt, making polite little exclamations at the sights Taim pointed out. And then they came to the building that she could remember the Asha'man calling Taim's Palace.

Taim led her up to the tall doors, where two featureless Asha'man stood guard. "Would you like to see my… library?" Taim asked, the pointed hesitation before the 'library' implying heavily that he had quite some other location in mind.

Elayne looked up at him and grinned. Then, to her utter mortification, she leaned closer to him and raised a hand to touch his face, gently running a finger along the line of his jaw. A voice that she refused to believe was hers spoke through her mouth, "I would love to see your… library."

Then there was a knock on the door. Door? What door? Elayne blinked as Taim shot a sharp glare at something she couldn't see. "What is it now?" he muttered darkly, sounding much more like the Taim Elayne had met in the waking world than he had in the dream until now. The knock sounded again, more insistently-

And the scene dissolved.

Taim woke up with a start, glaring at the ceiling. "What is it now?" he barked. Why did he have the feeling he had said that already? He shook his head. No matter. He was up and getting dressed before he knew it; whatever was the matter, it had to be important to warrant disturbing his sleep and he wasn't going to receive anyone in a dressing robe.

"Asha'man Marle has returned, M'Hael," came the muffled reply through the door. "Your pardon, M'Hael, but you said you wanted to hear his report as soon as he does."

So he had. "Send him to my study," Taim said as he shrugged into his coat and took a glance at the mirror; he didn't look like he had just been woken up. That was good enough. He wove a gateway to his study and stepped through, and seated himself behind the desk to wait. Now, if he could only remember that dream…

Elayne Trakand, High Seat of House Trakand and the Queen of Andor, woke up in her bed in the palace. The memory of the dream made her face heat up with anger and indignation. How dare the man dream of her like that! How dare he… She thought of what might have happened if the dream had not been interrupted right then. Her blush deepened; she was glad nobody was there to see it. She frowned and set the stone ter'angreal onto the small table beside the bed. Was it a fault with the ter'angreal that had caused her to end up… where ever it had been, instead of tel'aran'rhiod? She couldn't tell. She would have to find a way to ask Egwene about what had happened. Discreetly. A way that didn't require her to share the… the details. She took a deep breath, grateful for whatever intervention that had woken Taim.

She would never have admitted even to herself that the gratitude hid just the tiniest hint of disappointment.