"Ellette? Wake up!"

She slowly opened her eyes, which she realized were clenched shut, to find a concerned, but otherwise normal Rand shaking her awake. She tried to calm her ragged breathing and wiped at her face. She pulled herself into a sitting position and put her face in her hands. The emotions evoked from the dream were still raw, and she couldn't hold back the tears.

Rand got up and fetched a box of tissues. "What happened?" he asked, handing her one.

She wiped her cheeks and shook her head.

"It was just a dream," she muttered, all too aware that her dreams were rarely just dreams. She took a deep breath, wadding the tissue in her hands.

"More like a nightmare," he suggested, though he too, knew that her dreams were anything but normal. Ellette nodded and looked at him, half expecting to find his eyes once again empty and dead. She struggled to blink back more unbidden tears. Hesitantly, he put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "You going to be all right?"

"Yeah," she said hoarsely, her throat still tight. "I just won't be able to sleep the rest of the night," she tried. The initial terror had begun to fade, and she knew she'd be fine once she calmed the flutter of her heart and shaking hands. He squeezed her shoulder and pulled away, but didn't get up from the edge of the cot.

In the awkward silence, the night noises once again began to fill the air. Ellette pulled her knees up to her chin and shivered slightly. Rand sat, shoulders hunched, gazing over the shadowy room. A gunshot sounded in the distance and the blare of sirens followed a while later. Rand turned to study her, the poor light betraying each hardship he'd endured through time etched across his face.

"What was it... what did you dream that was so terrible?" he asked finally. She just shook her head. Describing the still too vivid image would bring her to tears again. She didn't like to cry.

"It wasn't so much what I dreamt, it was the frightening realness of it. The fact that I can't tell the difference between my dreams and reality is disturbing." She stretched her legs out before her. "At least I know this one wasn't real." On impulse, she reached out and ran a fingertip along a scar tracing his arm.

He flinched self-consciously.

"So long as it isn't real, again."

Somber understanding filled his dark eyes.

She sighed and turned to look at the sliding door that led to the balcony. There was no curtain, and it stood shut and locked. For once it had only been a dream.

"You going to be all right now?" Rand repeated. He hovered, not wanting to overstep his bounds, but not wanting to neglect his duties as a friend. She nodded and he got up. He kissed her lightly on the forehead and went back to his room. She watched him fade into the shadows. Despite her fears, sleep, dreamless this time, overcame her once more.