Lone Wolf smiled to himself as he walked down the halls of the White Tower. He had some good news to tell Chissa about some of the Workings in the Warder's Barracks. There were more and more Warder's coming in all the time, and soon, the Dark wouldn't be able to stand against them.

He knocked lightly on her door, but got no reply. She was in her quarters tonight, he could feel her there. He knocked again, harder this time, but there was no reply. He cracked the door open, and peeped in.

Chissa was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, he felt her as her pulse rate sped up, and a moaning started in the back of the room.

He stepped forward, hand on the hilt of his sword, not knowing what to find. He moved cautiously, cursing under his breath every now and then. <I>Ahhh, a shin</I>, he thought. <I>A device for finding furniture in the dark.</I>

He stepped into Chissa's bedroom, and saw her asleep on her bed. She was obviously dreaming. He could see her eyes moving frantically around under her eyelids. He smiled to himself, and wondered what she was dreaming about.

Then, the most unexpected thing happened. She cried out, and he heard a crack somewhere. Pain lanced through his chest, but it was gone in an instant.

He took a step closer to her, and looked at her face. It was scrunched up in a rictus of pain. She cried out again, and blood started running from her nose and eye.

Lone Wolf jumped up with a cry of surprise, and nearly stumbled on the chair near the bed. He watched in horror as blood ran down her face and lay gleaming against the white sheets. He watched, breathless, as her face twisted even more, and her hands hooked into claws and pawed at the air.

That was when he noticed the third finger of her right hand.

There was something on it. A ring. A twisted ring.

A Ter'angreal. Not just any Ter'angreal, though. This was a dream ter'angreal. One that allowed easy access into Tel'aran'rhiod. Suddenly, he had a horrifying premonition.

Chissa was dying in the dream world, and she was going to die here, unless he did something. He stepped closer to her, and took her shoulders, and shook her lightly, whispering her name.

She didn't respond.

He shook her harder, and slapped her cheek lightly. "Please, please wake up, Chissa!"

No response.

He had to wake her up. There was no protection for her if she died in Tel'aran 'rhiod. He looked frantically around the room, and grabbed a wine glass and some wine.

He poured the wine into the cup and threw it on her.

Nothing.

He turned the bottle upside down, and drained it onto her head.

She sputtered, and blinked, and cried out.

Lone Wolf rushed to her, and took her up in his arms. he looked over her body, and noticed a number of bruises, cuts, scrapes, gashes, and nasty looking bumps all along her body.

She looked up at him and coughed. A gout of blood flew out and spilled all over his tunic. He lightly stroked her hair, and briefly entertained the thought of running for Soraya, or Therva, but dismissed it. By the time they got here, Chissa would be dead. <I>Face it Wolf, she's dead anyway.</I> A voice inside his head said.

She coughed again, and spoke, barely above a whisper. "You were supposed to be asleep. I was supposed to meet you in your dream. You weren't there."

"No... no.. i was on my way-"

"I was going to tell you... the truth. I was going to tell you why I wanted you to be my Warder. But you weren't there. She was.

"Graendal.

"She attacked me. I fought back... but I was too weak. She...." A deep spasming cough racked her body. "She hurt me.

"But everything will be alright now. I can see the Creator...." She pointed to the ceiling. Lone Wolf looked up, but saw only the vaulted archs that decorated the top of her room.

"He's telling me that everything.. will be.. alright... I love you... Wolf..."

He watched her, and felt her body tense, and then it went limp, and her eyes, formally bright with life, went dark and dead, just as the rest of her body did.

Shock. Disbelief. Denial. Time froze. He looked at her, and wished she could look back at him. His head was about to crush itself. His chest was collapsing also. Worlds shattering and coming together, stars exploding, all inside his head. The pain was there, and it was real. He had never felt pain like this. He couldn't believe he was still standing. He thought his legs would collapse anytime.

He looked at her limp body again, and cradled it to him. He held her head against his chest, as if to rejuvenate her with his own heartbeat. The sudden silence that had fallen in his head was deafening. He wished to the light that he could have the last ten minutes to do over again. He held her, and rocked back and forth, as asteroids, and comets continued to flare through his head and chest.

After an uncertain amount of time, certainly after her blood had turned tacky, he began to weep.

The next morning dawned fair and bright, as if to deny what had happened the night before, and as the first rays reached the top of the White Tower, Lone Wolf walked out of the White Tower, and laid Chissa's prone body on a funeral pyre he had built during the night.

Given the position of the Pyre, it would be hard to miss, and many people had gathered around to watch what would happen.

When Lone Wolf appeared with Chissa, a nervous titter ran through the audience. He laid her on the pyre, and looked out at the assembled crowd.

He saw Therva, weeping bitterly. He saw several novices crowded together, whispering among themselves. He saw Soraya and Segurant standing close together. Kathana was nowhere to be seen. If there was anytime he could have used her love and support, now was the time.

He looked at her body, and wiped away several tears from his eyes.

"Aes Sedai and Warders of the White Tower," he began.

"Last night, an experiment in Tel'aran'rhiod went horribly wrong, and a good Aes Sedai was lost to us. Chissa was our beloved Keeper of the Chronicles, and she was a good friend to me. As her Warder, I would have defended her with my life. I loved her very much, and held her closer to me then a sister. A great void is left in her parting, and in our hearts. A void which will not be filled until we all meet with her again in the shelter of the Creator's Hand. I would give anything to have her back with us, and anything to keep her back with us, but the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, and we can only go along with the ride. And so, it is to the Creator that I commit the spirit, and the body of our beloved friend, and Aes Sedai, Chissa Zeramane."

Lone Wolf bent down and kissed her lightly, then took the torch he had set up nearby, and set the pyre on fire.

The fire burned all that day, and most of the night. Aes Sedai came and went, and watched, and paid their final respects, but only person stayed the whole time, watching the Aes Sedai fall away into nothingness.

He was waiting for the time when his beloved would come and comfort him, but she never came. Affairs of state kept her away. it was a hazard of the job, and he had to accept it.

He didn't have to like it.

Lone Wolf stayed and watched her until she was gone, and wept silently, when the last flame died out on its own.

He stayed at the side of the pyre until dawn, and then slowly, silently, reverently, scooped up her ashes, and laid them to rest in a golden urn.

The next evening saw Lone Wolf sitting in the Spring of Morning Inn. He was nursing his ninth or tenth mug of ale (he had lost track right around the time his fingers became too blurry to count), but he didn't feel drunk, or sick in the slightest.

He looked around at all the people in the Inn, and wondered how they were handling the news that the Keeper of the Chronicles was dead. They probably were shocked, and then moved on.

Lone Wolf wouldn't be able to move on. Not for a while.

Kathana still hadn't come to visit him, and that was another thing. Where was she? Why wasn't she helping him through his depression? He briefly considered calling a tavern boy over, and sending him to inquire as to why Kathana hadn't come to visit him, but decided against it. No tavern boy would willingly go to the White Tower, to speak to the Amyrlin Seat herself.

So he drank his ninth or tenth mug of ale and wiped his mouth on his sleeve when he was done and walked back to his quarters, staggering a little.

He woke up the next day, and didn't get out of bed for another couple of hours. He couldn't seem to rouse enough energy. This was the first time in a long time he had woken up without Chissa in his head, and it was rather disconcerting.

He looked around the room, and saw no evidence that Kathana had been there. Sometimes she would send a messenger to leave something for him when he woke, and once, she was even there in his room, waiting for him to wake up, but today there was nothing.

Which was even worse. Where was she?

He got out of bed, and got dressed, moving over to the practice yards, and into the White Tower. He walked up the flights of stairs, and knocked on the door to the Amyrlin's office.

"Come in." A voice said from behind the door.

Lone Wolf opened the door and stepped inside. He placed his fist over his heart and bowed. "Mother, the Watch is not done."

She smiled, and stood up from behind the desk, and crossed to Lone Wolf. She wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him.

"How have you been, dearest?"

"Not too good actually, what with Chissa, and all."

"Oh, yeah... sorry. I should have..."

"No, it's okay..." He began to weep again.

Kathana held him while he cried, and patted his back.

After a few minutes, his tears abated, and he was able to get control of himself. Kathana stepped back, and smiled at him.

"Do you feel better?"

"Yeah, i spose so. Where have you been? You weren't at her Service, and you never came to see if I was alright."

She sighed, and put her hand on his cheek. "I have been so busy, what with all the kidnappings, and those Spider Cultists, and all that. I'm so sorry."

Lone Wolf took a deep breath. "Yeah.. me too."

"Why are you sorry?"

Lone Wolf looked at her long and thoughtfully. "I don't think we can stay together."

"Really." It was not a question.

He sighed. "Really."

"Why?" Again, not really a question, more of a demand.

"I don't... I don't know. Over the past few days, I have realized that more and more, I need to live up to my name. I need to be a true Lone Wolf.

"I don't... know... if... I love you anymore. I don't know how I feel."

"Okay....."

"All this time with Chissa, and now she's gone, and my head is really a mess, and I just don't know what to think anymore."

"Okay......"

"Are you angry at me?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I can understand that. Do you hate me?"

"I don't hate you. I'm just extremely mad at you."

"I don't want you to be mad at me."

"It's a little late for that."

"I know." He sighed.

A moment of silence passed between them.

"Are you done?" she finally said.

"I... I guess so."

"Alright. I have to get down to business. Good bye." Se sat down at her desk and began to write, and didn't look up at Lone Wolf.

Lone Wolf excused himself, and left the tower, and headed for the nearest vendor of Alcohol, in order to get himself most appreciatively drunk.