WOTRR recap: TEOTW Part III (Chapters 11-15)

Better late than never! This post was complicated. Not a lot of stuff in the last few chapters I felt I could gloss over. Lots of important groundwork being laid.

1) Spoilers up to TOM in every post.
2) Helpful links to the right, including EWOT. I use the hell out of their resources (including in-text links for chapter summaries and character profiles) and you should too. For those who want to go deeper on this sort of thing, use 13th Depository.

Chapter 11 - The Road to Taren Ferry
Chapter 12 - Across the Taren
Chapter 13 - Choices
Chapter 14 - The Stag and Lion
Chapter 15 - Strangers and Friends

Chapter 11 - The Road to Taren Ferry

By the way...thematically, the chapters of TEOTW break up very nicely into groups of five and ten, with the last three chapters being significant enough to stand alone in that sense. The first five chapters were a build-up to Winternight; the second five build to leaving the Two Rivers. These five chapters lead to Baerlon, and on the way, both Rand and Egwene touch the True Source for the first time.

How many people even notice this on first read? I can't remember if I did or not, to be honest. My first read has long since faded mostly to myth:

Lying low on Cloud's neck, Rand kept a worried eye on Bela and on her rider. When he had said the shaggy mare could stay with the others, he had not meant on the run. She kept up now only by running as he had not thought she could. Lan had not wanted Egwene in their number. Would he slow for her if Bela began to flag? Or would he try to leave her behind? The Aes Sedai and the Warder thought Rand and his friends were important in some way, but for all of Moiraine's talk of the Pattern, he did not think they included Egwene in that importance.

If Bela fell back, he would fall back, too, whatever Moiraine and Lan had to say about it. Back where the Fade and the Trollocs were. Back where the Draghkar was. With all his heart and desperation he silently shouted at Bela to run like the wind, silently tried to will strength into her. Run! His skin prickled, and his bones felt as if they were freezing, ready to split open. The Light help her, run! And Bela ran.

I mean, how blatant is that? Also, 'And Bela ran' is such a great line. Tells us everything, and nothing at the same time. But if that wasn't blatant enough, we have this just a few paragraphs later:

"You were right about your Bela, Rand," Moiraine said from where she stood by the mare. "She has a good heart, and as much stubbornness as the rest of you Two Rivers folk. Strange as it seems, she may be the least weary of all.

A scream ripped the darkness, a sound like a man dying under sharp knives, and wings swooped low above the party. The night deepened in the shadow that swept over them. With panicked cries the horses reared wildly.

And in true RJ style, he doesn't even give Rand time to think about it.

Odds and ends:

1. You might call this a foreshadowing of Rand's ability:

He had vaguely noticed her moving among the horses, but he had not paid any real attention to what she did. Now she pushed past him to lay her hands on Cloud's neck. Rand fell silent. Suddenly the horse tossed his head with a soft wicker, nearly pulling the reins from Rand's hands. The gray danced a step sideways, as restive as if he had spent a week in a stable. Without a word Moiraine went to Bela.

"I did not know she could do that," Rand said softly to Lan, his cheeks hot.

"You, of all people, should have suspected it," the Warder replied. "You watched her with your father. She will wash all the fatigue away. First from the horses, then from the rest of you."

Of course, Lan gives the real reason he said that, but on re-read this one always gives me a split-second of cognitive dissonance before I read the rest of what he says.

2. Following that passage, I love Lan's little proclamations of doom in the early chapters, before the Two Rivers kids start growing on him:

"The rest of us. Not you?"

"Not me, sheepherder. I don't need it, not yet. And not her. What she can do for others, she cannot do for herself. Only one of us will ride tired. You had better hope she does not grow too tired before we reach Tar Valon."

He tries to make them appreciate her at first, probably because it annoys him to see them suspect and resent her after all of her years of searching and sacrifice. But by the next book, he's already starting to take Rand's side. Sometimes. He never stops trying to get Rand to see Moiraine in a better light, and he never wavers in his dedication to protecting her. Or he only did that once (before Nynaeve left for Tanchico) and it didn't have anything to do with Rand. Or at least, it did only because Rand was in the same state over Elayne. :D

3. Maybe a foreshadowing of the relationship between dogs and Aes Sedai:

A lone dog, unseen in the cold mist, barked at them furiously, then ran away. Here and there a light appeared in a window as some early-riser stirred. Other than the dog, no sound save the muted clops of their horses' hooves disturbed the last hour of the night.

Cats love Aes Sedai, but hate Asha'man. Dogs hate female channelers but love male channelers. It's like RJ codified a gender stereotype.

Chapter 12 - Across the Taren

This chapter, in a very subtle way, goes a long way toward developing Moiraine's character. Twice in a row we are given a glimpse of something like the younger, more carefree Moiraine, and this little scene is one of the best:

Lan leaned against his saddle with apparent casualness, but one hand rested ostentatiously on the long hilt of his sword. There was an air about him of a metal spring, compressed, waiting.

Rand hurriedly copied the Warder's pose – at least insofar as putting his hand on his sword. He did not think he could achieve that deadly-seeming slouch. They'd probably laugh if I tried.

Perrin eased his axe in its leather loop and planted his feet deliberately. Mat put a hand to his quiver; though Rand was not sure what condition his bowstring was in after being out in all this damp. Thom Merrilin stepped forward grandly and held up one empty hand, turning it slowly. Suddenly he gestured with a flourish, and a dagger twirled between his fingers. The hilt slapped into his palm, and, abruptly nonchalant, he began trimming his fingernails.

A low, delighted laugh floated from Moiraine. Egwene clapped as if watching a performance at Festival, then stopped and looked abashed, though her mouth twitched with a smile just the same.

This is before Min even sees them together in Baerlon, but Moiraine is already showing an appreciation for Thom. How often does she let herself laugh? Not very often, that's for sure. But Thom observed in TSR17 that she often laughs at his quips, and you might say this was the first time.

The next example of the real Moiraine comes in her satisfaction at a job well done with the fog that distracted the Draghkar. It shows that she is not so arrogant as to take such things for granted:

"It follows the river as if drawn with a pen," Moiraine was saying in satisfied tones. "There are not ten women in Tar Valon who could do that unaided. Not to mention from the back of a galloping horse."

"I don't mean to complain, Moiraine Sedai," Thom said, sounding oddly diffident for him, "but would it not have been better to cover us a little further? Say to Baerlon? If that Draghkar looks on this side of the river, we'll lose everything we have gained."

"Draghkar are not very smart, Master Merrilin," the Aes Sedai said dryly. "Fearsome and deadly dangerous, and with sharp eyes, but little intelligence. It will tell the Myrddraal that this side of the river is clear, but the river itself is cloaked for miles in both directions. The Myrddraal will know the extra effort that cost me. He will have to consider that we may be escaping down the river, and that will slow him. He will have to divide his efforts. The fog should hold long enough that he will never be sure that we did not travel at least partway by boat. It could have extended the fog a little way toward Baerlon, instead, but then the Draghkar could search the river in a matter of hours, and the Myrddraal would know exactly where we were headed."

Thom made a puffing sound and shook his head. "I apologize, Aes Sedai. I hope I did not offend."

And another moment of development for Thom and Moiraine. But in between these two glimpses of the real Moiraine...she sunk the ferry:

"No whirlpools on the Taren." Hightower sounded empty. "Never been a whirlpool..."

"An unfortunate occurrence. " Moiraine's voice was hollow in the fog that made her a shadow as she turned from the river.

"Unfortunate," Lan agreed in a flat tone. "It seems you'll be carrying no one else across the river for a time. An ill thing that you lost your craft in our service." He delved again into his purse, ready in his hand. "This should repay you."

Moiraine's 'hollow' voice and Lan's 'flat tone' are meant to convey a sort of cold-bloodedness. The Two Rivers folk certainly picked up on it. Against the nature of the coin bond with Moiraine, Mat tried to question it:

"Ah, Moi ... ah, Aes Sedai." Mat stopped to swallow audibly. "The ferry ... ah ... did you... I mean... I don't understand why ..." He trailed off weakly, and there was a silence so deep that the loudest sound Rand heard was his own breathing.

Finally Moiraine spoke, and her voice filled the empty silence with sharpness. "You all want explanations, but if I explained my every action to you, I would have no time for anything else." In the moonlight, the Aes Sedai seemed taller, somehow, almost looming over them. "Know this. I intend to see you safely in Tar Valon. That is the one thing you need to know."

That must have been very difficult for Mat to do. This action - despite the fact that it harmed no one, and that the ferryman was compensated - was to define the way the boys in particular saw her for a very long time. Perhaps Mat in particular. How much of that would have been averted if Moiraine had deigned to answer this one question, as she answered Thom's?

As much as has been made about Egwene's reaction to learning that Rand could channel, it's easy to forget that Rand had the same reaction to learning that she could:

"And you really think I can learn?" Egwene asked. Her face shone with eagerness. Rand had never seen her look so beautiful, or so far away from him. "I can become an Aes Sedai?"

Rand jumped up, cracking his head against the low roof of logs. Thom Merrilin grabbed his arm, yanking him back down.

"Don't be a fool," the gleeman murmured. He eyed the women – neither seemed to have noticed—and the look he gave Rand was sympathetic. "It's beyond you now, boy."

And Thom's sympathy is, of course, very amusing in retrospect.

This is certainly one of the more blatant foreshadowings in the entire series:

For a moment Egwene continued to stare at the small stone, then she looked up at Moiraine. "I ... I thought I felt ... something, but ... Perhaps you're mistaken about me. I am sorry I wasted your time."

"I have wasted nothing, child." A small smile of satisfaction flitted across Moiraine's lips. "That last light was yours alone."

"It was?" Egwene exclaimed, then slid immediately back into glumness. "But it was barely there at all."

"Now you are behaving like a foolish village girl. Most who come to Tar Valon must study for many months before they can do what you just did. You may go far. Perhaps even the Amyrlin Seat, one day, if you study hard and work hard."

"You mean ... ?" With a cry of delight Egwene threw her arms around the Aes Sedai. "Oh, thank you. Rand, did you hear? I'm going to be an Aes Sedai!"

Poor Rand. Moiraine, however, is two for two on Amyrlin predictions. Nice job!

Chapter 13 - Choices

Back to Harriet's lovely chapter names. I'm not sure if she did this intentionally, to be honest. It's such a simple and generic chapter name. Choices. It could refer to anything.

She used it again, for TFOH52, probably one of the most dramatic chapters in the entire series, and barring their eventual reunion, the culmination of the relationship between Rand and Moiraine. A vital seed for the relationships between Moiraine and Mat, and Moiraine and Thom. The event that made Moiraine a legend among Aes Sedai.

Back to the chapter of the same name in TEOTW13, which covers the journey to Baerlon. From the opening paragraphs, the chapter is about Moiraine:

Before they went to sleep Moiraine knelt by each in turn and laid her hands on their heads. Lan grumbled that he had no need and she should not waste her strength, but he did not try to stop her. Egwene was eager for the experience; Mat and Perrin clearly frightened of it, and frightened to say no. Thom jerked away from the Aes Sedai's hands, but she seized his gray head with a look that allowed no nonsense. The gleeman scowled through the entire thing. She smiled mockingly once she took her hands away. His frown deepened, but he did look refreshed. They all did.

Beautiful. Not even to Baerlon yet, and Moiraine is already flirting!

Rand had drawn back into a niche in the uneven wall where he hoped he would be overlooked. His eyes wanted to slide closed once he leaned back against the timber jumble, but he forced himself to watch. He pushed a fist against his mouth to stifle a yawn. A little sleep, an hour or two, and he would be just fine. Moiraine did not forget him, though.

He flinched at the coolness of her fingers on his face, and said, "I don't —" His eyes widened in wonder. Tiredness drained out of him like water running downhill; aches and soreness ebbed to dim memories and vanished. He stared at her with his mouth hanging open. She only smiled and withdrew her hands.

"It is done," she said, and as she stood with a weary sigh he was reminded that she could not do the same for herself. Indeed, she only drank a little tea, refusing the bread and cheese Lan tried to press on her, before curling up beside the fire. She seemed to fall asleep the instant she wrapped her cloak around her.

Already, Rand mistrusts her, but RJ is very clearly highlighting the strength of her character, and how much she is willing to sacrifice for their safety. And again:

The Warder awakened them all, except Moiraine, and he sternly hushed any sound that might disturb her. Even so, he allowed them only a short stay in the snug cave of trees. Before the sun was twice its own height above the horizon, all traces that anyone had ever stopped there had been cleared away and they were all mounted and moving north toward Baerlon, riding slowly to conserve the horses. The Aes Sedai's eyes were shadowed, but she sat her saddle upright and steady.

Most of the trip to Baerlon involved a lot of sentimental wonderment from the Two Rivers folk as they left it further and further behind. Lan begins to give the boys lessons with their weapons. After they wow him with their archery skills, he moves on to Rand and the sword.  This is probably Lan's first real clue that Tam al'Thor really was a blademaster:

"Moving the blade is not enough," Lan said, "though some think it is. The mind is part of it, most of it. Blank your mind, sheepherder. Empty it of hate or fear, of everything. Burn them away. You others listen to this, too. You can use it with the axe or the bow, with a spear, or a quarterstaff, or even your bare hands."

Rand stared at him. "The flame and the void," he said wonderingly. "That's what you mean, isn't it? My father taught me about that."

The Warder gave him an unreadable look in return. "Hold the sword as I showed you, sheepherder. I cannot make a mud-footed villager into a blademaster in an hour, but perhaps I can keep you from slicing off your own foot."

Rand sighed and held the sword upright before him in both hands. Moiraine watched without expression, but the next evening she told Lan to continue the lessons.

And of course, it's likely that Moiraine instructed him to give the lessons in the first place.

It's really no surprise that Egwene came to admire and respect Moiraine rather quickly; the strength of her character became evident quickly. But the boys (and Thom) were a different story. They felt like Moiraine was pushing them and pulling their strings, and they didn't trust her motives:

"Aes Sedai don't braid their hair," she said simply. "At least, not unless they want to."

"You aren't an Aes Sedai. You're Egwene al'Vere from Emond's Field, and the Women's Circle would have a fit if they could see you now."

"Women's Circle business is none of yours, Rand al'Thor. And I will be an Aes Sedai. Just as soon as I reach Tar Valon."

He snorted. "As soon as you reach Tar Valon. Why? Light, tell me that. You're no Darkfriend."

"Do you think Moiraine Sedai is a Darkfriend? Do you?" She squared around to face him with her fists clenched, and he almost thought she was going to hit him. " After she saved the village? After she saved your father?"

"I don't know what she is, but whatever she is, it doesn't say anything about the rest of them. The stories —"

"Grow up, Rand! Forget the stories and use your eyes."

"My eyes saw her sink the ferry! Deny that! Once you get an idea in your head, you won't budge even if somebody points out you're trying to stand on water. If you weren't such a Light blinded fool, you'd see – !"

"Fool, am I? Let me tell you a thing or two, Rand al'Thor! You are the muliest, most wool-headed – !"

"You two trying to wake everybody inside ten miles?" the Warder asked.

And there goes the ferry again. What's the big deal about the ferry? This always annoyed me, but really, both of them have points. Moiraine need not have been quite so secretive as she was, but Rand was focusing on the ferry to the point of ignoring all of the evidence that she was trying to do the right thing. His mistrust more than likely made Moiraine afraid:

Warily, Rand looked around the camp. Everybody was looking at him, not just the Warder. Mat and Perrin, with their faces white. Thom, tensed as if ready to run or fight. Moiraine. The Aes Sedai's face was expressionless, but her eyes seemed to bore into his head. Desperately, he tried to recall exactly what he had said, about Aes Sedai and Darkfriends.

"It is time to be going," Moiraine said. She turned to Aldieb, and Rand shivered as if he had been let out of a trap. He wondered if he had been.

But that was not how Rand saw it. She feared that he would escape her protection out of stubbornness, but Rand probably feared that she would harm him, maybe even kill him. And while it is clear that Moiraine had reason to say what she said here, it still did not help:

"What's so special about Illian?" Perrin said, yawning.

"For one thing," Mat replied, "Illian isn't full of Aes Se —"

A silence fell, and Rand was suddenly wide awake. Moiraine had come back early. Egwene was with her, but it was the Aes Sedai, standing at the edge of the firelight, who held their attention. Mat lay there on his back, his mouth still open, staring at her. Moiraine's eyes caught the light like dark, polished stones. Abruptly Rand wondered how long she had been standing there.

"The lads were just – " Thom began, but Moiraine spoke right over the top of him.

"A few days respite, and you are ready to give up." Her calm, level voice contrasted sharply with her eyes. "A day or two of quiet, and already you have forgotten Winternight."

"We haven't forgotten," Perrin said. "It's just – " Still not raising her voice, the Aes Sedai treated him as she had the gleeman.

"Is that the way you all feel? You are all eager to run off to Illian and forget about Trollocs, and Halfmen, and Draghkar?" She ran her eyes over them – that stony glint playing against the everyday tone of voice made Rand uneasy – but she gave no one a chance to speak. "The Dark One is after you three, one or all, and if I let you go running off wherever you want to so, he will take you. Whatever the Dark One wants, I oppose, so hear this and know it true. Before I let the Dark One have you, I will destroy you myself."

It was her voice, so matter-of-fact, that convinced Rand. The Aes Sedai would do exactly what she said, if she thought it was necessary. He had a hard time sleeping that night, and he was not the only one. Even the gleeman did not begin snoring till long after the last coals died. For once, Moiraine offered no help.

She was only trying to impress upon them just how much danger they were in, how badly they were wanted. The last thing she could have done was say, "No really boys, one of you is the Dragon Reborn. You can't just go running off somewhere before you learn to protect yourself." Any hint of that would have sent all three of them running screaming, and Moiraine knew it well. How else could she tell them how important they were? That she was on their side?

She continued to gain Egwene's trust, while continuing to stoke Rand's paranoia:

"You want to know that Aes Sedai are good and pure, that it was those wicked men of the legends who caused the Breaking of the World, not the women. Well, it was the men, but they were no more wicked than any men. They were insane, not evil. The Aes Sedai you will find in Tar Valon are human, no different from any other women except for the ability that sets us apart. They are brave and cowardly, strong and weak, kind and cruel, warm-hearted and cold. Becoming an Aes Sedai will not change you from what you are."

Egwene drew a heavy breath. "I suppose I was afraid of that, that I'd be changed by the Power. That and the Trollocs. And the Fade. And ... Moiraine Sedai, in the name of the Light, why did the Trollocs come to Emond's Field?"

The Aes Sedai's head swung and she looked straight at Rand's hiding place. His breath seized in his throat; her eyes were as hard as when she had threatened them, and he had the feeling they could penetrate the leatherleaf's thick branches. Light, what will she do if she finds me listening?

He tried to melt back into the deeper shadows. With his eyes on the women, a root snagged his foot, and he barely caught himself from tumbling into dead brush that would have pointed him out with a crackle of snapping branches like fireworks. Panting, he scrambled away on all fours, keeping silent as much by luck as by anything he did. His heart pounded so hard he thought that might give him away itself. Fool! Eavesdropping on an Aes Sedai!

But RJ seems to be trying to tell the reader that, no matter what Rand thinks, Moiraine can be trusted. Her words are logical and wise. The men who broke the world were not evil, but insane - was she preparing both of them for that inevitable problem? It is foreshadowing, at the very least. Rand kept Moiraine at arm's length because he felt she used him, pulled his strings. In a way, she did...but Rand learned from the best, and started pulling his own multitude of strings well before Moiraine finally grew so desperate that she swore to obey Rand, just before they left Rhuidean to follow Couladin across the Waste to the Dragonwall in early TFOH.

If he mistrusted her because she used the Power...at least her half was untainted. And as for the ferry...Rand left Perrin and the rest of the Two Rivers to defend itself against thousands of Trollocs with only two Aes Sedai to aid them (which Rand did not even know....in fact, he only knew about the Whitecloaks). Rand had his reasons, just as Moiraine did...but which was worse? In a way, you might say that Rand believed that Moiraine burned their bridges for them when she took them out of the Two Rivers. He believed that for a long time, even though a part of him always knew (since chapter eight, anyway) that none of them had any real choice in the matter.

Even after Moiraine swore her oath, Rand only barely respected her. That was not to truly change until her battle with Lanfear in the 'Choices' of TFOH. There were many choices referenced in that chapter: Asmodean's "You know my choices. I am clinging to that tuft of grass on the cliff's lip, praying for it to hold one more heartbeat." Rand's choice to refrain from killing Lanfear. Of the three possible futures Moiraine saw, Rand killing Lanfear was not one of them. Moiraine's choice, to avoid the two roads that would lead to doom for all.

The 'Choices' of TEOTW culminates with a piece of advice, from Moiraine to our three heroes:

"And you, Rand?" Moiraine said. "What do you think of your first sight of Baerlon?"

"I think it's a long way from home," he said slowly, bringing a sharp laugh from Mat.

"You have further to go yet," Moiraine said. "Much further. But there is no other choice, except to run and hide and run again for the rest of your lives. And short lives they would be. You must remember that, when the journey becomes hard. You have no choice."

Rand exchanged glances with Mat and Perrin. By their faces, they were thinking the same thing he was. How could she talk as if they had any choice after what she had said? The Aes Sedai's made our choices.

From all of Moiraine's impassioned speech earlier, all they remember is the threat. They don't remember what she said about the Dark One wanting them. They don't even want to believe it.

Did she make Rand's choices for him just because she threatened him? Hardly so - he needed her protection, then and for a long time after.

Did Rand make her choices on the docks of Cairhien? I think there's no way to get around that. Moiraine had no way to change the fact that the Dark One wanted Rand, that Rand had to step up to rule the world with peach fuzz still on his cheeks. But Rand was the only one who could have changed Moiraine's choices at Cairhien, and from what Moiraine saw at Rhuidean, the Pattern knew that Rand was far too stubborn for that.

Odds and ends:

1. This makes me laugh every time I see it (which is far more often than I do rereads):

"I'm only saying what I heard, ain't I? Just what I heard, Master Andra. They say, some do, that [Logain is] moving his army east and south, toward Tear." His voice became heavy with meaning. "They say he's named them the People of the Dragon."

"Names mean little," Moiraine said calmly. If anything she had heard disturbed her, she gave no outward sign of it now. "You could call your mule People of the Dragon, if you wanted."

"Not likely, mistress." Avin chuckled. "Not with the Whitecloaks around, for sure. I don't expect anybody else would look kindly on a name like that, neither. I see what you mean, but ... oh, no, mistress. Not my mule."

Avin seems like my kind of guy.

2. Rand gets his first taste of the KC:

The way led through dirt streets barely the width of two wagons, empty of people, all lined with warehouses and occasional high, wooden fences. Rand walked a time beside the gleeman. "Thom, what was all that about Tear, and the People of the Dragon? Tear is a city all the way down on the Sea of Storms, isn't it?"

"The Karaethon Cycle," Thom said curtly.

Rand blinked. The Prophecies of the Dragon. "Nobody tells the ... those stories in the Two Rivers. Not in Emond's Field, anyway. The Wisdom would skin them alive, if they did."

"I suppose she would, at that," Thom said dryly...(cut prophecy we all know)

...Rand frowned. "The Stone cannot fall until the Dragon wields the sword, but how can he, unless the Stone has already fallen? Is the Dragon supposed to be a Great Lord of Tear?"

"Not much chance of that," the gleeman said dryly. "Tear hates anything to do with the Power even more than Amador, and Amador is the stronghold of the Children of the Light."

"Then how can the Prophecy be fulfilled?" Rand asked. "I'd like it well enough if the Dragon was never reborn, but a prophecy that cannot be fulfilled doesn't make much sense. It sounds like a story meant to make people think the Dragon never will be reborn. Is that it?"

"You ask an awful lot of questions, boy," Thom said. "A prophecy that was easily fulfilled would not be worth much, now would it?"

Too late, buddy!

Chapter 14 - The Stag and Lion

First up: a bath! With MEN. That's right. This is one of the few scenes in the entire series with MALE NUDITY, against which RJ was very prejudiced. :) (No really, did you notice that you almost never see the men hanging out in sweat tents among the Aiel? Just women. And only women get naked for rituals.)

In any case, I always thought Mat's blabbing about the Trollocs was just a little bit unbelievable. I mean, was he really that dumb before his first POV? It's a sad thought. More interesting is a foreshadowing of Rand's talent for reading between the lines:

"There was something that fellow wouldn't tell us," Rand said. "Something he thought was trouble, but he wouldn't say what it was."

"Probably the Children," Lan said, pouring more hot water into his tub. "Most people consider them trouble. Some don't, though, and he did not know you well enough to risk it. You might have gone running to the Whitecloaks, for all he knew."

And then Rand goes to sleep:

One wall opened in a series of arches onto a gray stone balcony, and beyond that was a sky such as he had never seen. Striated clouds in blacks and grays, reds and oranges, streamed by as if storm winds drove them, weaving and interweaving endlessly. No one could ever have seen a sky like that; it could not exist.

He pulled his eyes away from the balcony, but the rest of the room was no better. Odd curves and peculiar angles, as if the chamber had been melted almost haphazardly out of the stone, and columns that seemed to grow out of the gray floor. Flames roared on the hearth like a forge-fire with the bellows pumping, but gave no heat. Strange oval stones made the fireplace; they just looked like stones, wet-slick despite the fire, when he looked straight at them, but when he glimpsed them from the corner of his eye they seemed to be faces instead, the faces of men and women writhing in anguish, screaming silently. The high-backed chairs and the polished table in the middle of the room were perfectly ordinary, but that in itself emphasized the rest. A single mirror hung on the wall, but that was not ordinary at all. When he looked at it he saw only a blur where his reflection should have been. Everything else in the room was shown true, but not him.

A man stood in front of the fireplace. He had not noticed the man when he first came in. If he had not known it was impossible, he would have said no one had been there until he actually looked at the man. Dressed in dark clothes of a fine cut, he seemed in the prime of his maturity, and Rand supposed women would have found him good-looking.

"Once more we meet face-to-face," the man said and, just for an instant, his mouth and eyes became openings into endless caverns of flame.

Since this is the first dream of the series that visits Ishamael's little penthouse overlooking the Pit of Doom - the same place Rand visited in TGS when he chatted with Moridin - I figured I would address a few questions about the nature of the place. Is it Rand's dream? Is it Moridin's? Is it in Tel'aran'rhiod?

It certainly seems to have some properties of Tel'aran'rhiod. Fires that give no heat, and an ever-present light that comes from nowhere. But Moghedien makes an observation in ACOS25 that is worth noting:

No door or window broke the featureless stone walls of her small prison, and there were no glowbulbs or even lamps, but light came from somewhere...(she is taken to visit Moridin, obviously not far away)...

...She did not doubt it was somewhere close by Shayol Ghul, though; it did not have the feel of Tel'aran'rhiod, the only other possibility.

Rand says the same thing - that it does not have the feel of Tel'aran'rhiod - when he visits in TGS15:

Was this the World of Dreams? Though he had visited it on occasion, he knew very few specifics. Egwene and the Aiel dreamwalkers spoke of it only guardedly.

This place felt different from the dream world, and oddly familiar. He looked down the hallway; it was so long that it vanished into shadows, walls broken by doors at intervals, the wood dry and cracked. Yes . . . he thought, seizing at a memory. I have been here before, but not in a long time.

So, it's not Tel'aran'rhiod. It feels different because it is somehow close to Shayol Ghul, even though the most likely possibility seems to be that it is Moridin's dream, and that Rand has been pulled into it. We know that Ishamael was able to find the boys in TEOTW because they are ta'veren, and he and the other Forsaken have some unexplained ability to read the Pattern, though only Ishamael and Lanfear seem to have any real Talent for it. (This is discussed more thoroughly in KOD3 than anywhere else.)

The reason it is supposed that Rand has been pulled into Ishamael's dream rather than the other way around is that it is supposedly impossible to control another person's dream. You can only control your own dreams. However, Lanfear has shown up in Rand's own dreams (once Asmodean showed up too, in TSR50), and both Lanfear and Ishamael showed up in Perrin's dream at the same time (in TDR4). We can't really be sure how much control they had over the dreams.

The most important aspect of the dream, aside from the blurred mirror - Ishamael does not yet know if Rand is the one - is Rand's refusal to drink:

"You seem thirsty," the man by the fire said. "Drink."

On the table was a goblet, shining gold and ornamented with rubies and amethysts. It had not been there before. He wished he could stop jumping. It was only a dream. His mouth felt like dust.

"I am, a little," he said, picking up the goblet. The man leaned forward intently, one hand on the back of a chair, watching him. The smell of spiced wine drove home to Rand just how thirsty he was, as if he had had nothing to drink in days. Have I?

With the wine halfway to his mouth, he stopped. Whispers of smoke were rising from the chairback between the man's fingers. And those eyes watched him so sharply, flickering rapidly in and out of flames.

Rand licked his lips and put the wine back on the table, untasted. "I'm not as thirsty as I thought." The man straightened abruptly, his face without expression. His disappointment could not have been more plain if he had cursed. Rand wondered what was in the wine.

Some have theorized that perhaps Mat drank the wine, but it's impossible to know for sure.

Ba'alzamon tells Rand that he will be used by the White Tower, just like all of the other false Dragons, though Rand does not know quite what he is getting at. Ba'alzamon claims that the Eye of the World will not serve him. Most interestingly, he tells us a few things about his plans:

"Fool, I have never been bound!" The fires of his face roared so hot that Rand stepped back, sheltering behind his hands. The sweat on his palms dried from the heat. "I stood at Lews Therin Kinslayer's shoulder when he did the deed that named him. It was I who told him to kill his wife, and his children, and all his blood, and every living person who loved him or whom he loved. It was I who gave him the moment of sanity to know what he had done. Have you ever heard a man scream his soul away, worm? He could have struck at me, then. He could not have won, but he could have tried. Instead he called down his precious One Power upon himself, so much that the earth split open and reared up Dragonmount to mark his tomb.

"A thousand years later I sent the Trollocs ravening south, and for three centuries they savaged the world. Those blind fools in Tar Valon said I was beaten in the end, but the Second Covenant, the Covenant of the Ten Nations, was shattered beyond remaking, and who was left to oppose me then? I whispered in Artur Hawkwing's ear, and the length and breadth of the land Aes Sedai died. I whispered again, and the High King sent his armies across the Aryth Ocean, across the World Sea, and sealed two dooms. The doom of his dream of one land and one people, and a doom yet to come. At his deathbed I was there when his councilors told him only Aes Sedai could save his life. I spoke, and he ordered his councilors to the stake. I spoke, and the High King's last words were to cry that Tar Valon must be destroyed."

As Brandon noted in reference to the prologue, Ishamael is pretty much insane by now, probably due to his 3000+ years of being half-trapped in the Bore with the Dark One. As I noted (also re: the prologue), he was probably lying about having stood by Lews Therin's side when he killed Ilyena. However, the info in the BWB indicates quite strongly that he wasn't lying about being behind Luthair Paendrag's armies and Hawkwing's paranoia.

Last thing of note (because it's important) is that Ishamael kills a rat by breaking its back. He did the same thing in WH13. Apparently he likes killing rats.

Chapter 15 - Strangers and Friends

And of course, when Rand wakes up he discovers that all of the rats in the inn were found with broken backs. He talks to Perrin and realizes that they all had the same dream. Of course, they don't trust Moiraine enough to talk to her about it, even though she suspected this would happen, and warned Rand about it (in chapter seven, before he has a chance to ask her to Heal Tam). So, instead of Moiraine, they go to Thom. Which is, of course, amusing in retrospect. You might say this Moiraine vs. Thom thing continues until TSR17 when Moiraine finally takes the initiative to put an end to the competition.

But first, Rand meets Min! Much to cover here. First, the vision of the Shadow and the fireflies:

"She says I see pieces of the Pattern. " Min gave a little laugh and shook her head. "Sounds too grand, to me. I just see things when I look at people, and sometimes I know what they mean. I look at a man and a woman who've never even talked to one another, and I know they'll marry. And they do. That sort of thing. She wanted me to look at you. All of you together."

Rand shivered. "And what did you see?"

"When you're all in a group? Sparks swirling around you, thousands of them, and a big shadow, darker than midnight. It's so strong, I almost wonder why everybody can't see it. The sparks are trying to fill the shadow, and the shadow is trying to swallow the sparks." She shrugged. "You are all tied together in something dangerous, but I can't make any more of it."

"All of us?" Rand muttered. "Egwene, too? But they weren't after – I mean —"

Min did not seem to notice his slip. "The girl —? She's part of it. And the gleeman. All of you. You're in love with her." He stared at her. "I can tell that even without seeing any images. She loves you, too, but she's not for you, or you for her either. Not the way you both want.....When I look at her, I see the same as when I look at ... Mistress Alys. Other things, things I don't understand, too, but I know what that means. She won't refuse it."

The three ta'veren and their closest associates - including Moiraine, Lan, and Thom - are all major players in the war against the Shadow. That viewing is easy enough to interpret. And now we know that Rand and Egwene won't marry.

About Lan:

"The War ... ah ... Master Andra has seven ruined towers around his head, and a babe in a cradle holding a sword, and ... " She shook her head. "Men like him – you understand? – always have so many images they crowd one another.

Obviously this is about Malkier, but there has been some discussion over this viewing because RJ said that Min's viewings are always about the future:

DragonCon 4 September 2005 - Emma reportingQuestion: The auras that Min sees: would they ever show the person's past or other elements that are simply unique to that person?
Jordan: No, it is the future.

Perhaps this simply indicates that the oath he was given as a baby is very important for his destiny. At the end of TOM, he finally declared himself a king. But will he survive Tarwin's Gap?

Thom:

"...The strongest images around the gleeman are a man – not him – juggling fire, and the White Tower, and that doesn't make any sense at all for a man.."

Some have argued that the man juggling fire must be Owyn, but the RJ quote above seems to suggest we should look for other answers. Rand is a possibility, certainly, but Mat is the juggler. Thom has several connections to the White Tower, but perhaps this will have something to do with his marriage to Moiraine (though you'd think Min would have picked up on that...maybe she did and just didn't want to tell Rand about Moiraine's business).

Perrin:

The strongest things I see about the big, curly-haired fellow are a wolf, and a broken crown, and trees flowering all around him.

The wolf is obvious, and so is the broken crown (though we're still not sure if he will ever wear it personally....we do know now that Faile is second in line for the throne after Bashere, who seems like the abdicating type). The trees are still a mystery, though. Some have said it might refer to the hill with the apple trees where his family was buried in TSR. That experience was in many ways pivotal for Perrin. Many others think that Perrin will have something to do with re-instituting the practice of seed-singing, partly because of his relationship with the Tinkers, and partly because of the connection to the Slavic god Perun upon whom Perrin was partly based. Some think that Perrin will invite Loial to plant a grove in the Two Rivers.

Mat:

"...And the other one – a red eagle, an eye on a balance scale, a dagger with a ruby, a horn, and a laughing face..."

The red eagle is Manetheren. Many of Mat's memories come from Manetheren, and he even had memories of the battle of Aemon's Field (apparently from the POV of Aemon himself) before he ever went to 'Finnland. The Band of the Red Hand was based on these memories. The eye on the balance scale is finally fulfilled - his eye for Moiraine. The dagger with the ruby is, of course, both obvious and imminent. The horn, obvious. The laughing face...we still don't know. Some think this might already be fulfilled, but it's hard to be sure as it's so vague.

Rand:

"The same kind of things as the rest. A sword that isn't a sword, a golden crown of laurel leaves, a beggar's staff, you pouring water on sand, a bloody hand and a white-hot iron, three women standing over a funeral bier with you on it, black rock wet with blood —"

"All right," he broke in uneasily. "You don't have to list it all."

"Most of all, I see lightning around you, some striking at you, some coming out of you. I don't know what any of it means, except for one thing. You and I will meet again." She gave him a quizzical look, as if she did not understand that either.

"Why shouldn't we?" he said. "I'll be coming back this way on my way home."

"I suppose you will, at that." Suddenly her grin was back, wry and mysterious, and she patted his cheek. "But if I told you everything I saw, you'd be as curly-haired as your friend with the shoulders."

Callandor and the crown of Illian are obvious. The beggar's staff was fulfilled in TGS49. Rand pouring water on sand might refer to the rain at Alcair Dal, but more likely refers to the new lake in Rhuidean.  The bloody hand and the white-hot iron are less certain. Some think the bloody hand refers to the loss of his hand, but it's not certain (especially considering that the hand itself was simply destroyed, rather than bloodied). The white-hot iron might have been Semirhage's fireball, but it might be something else. The three women over a funeral bier viewing is interesting, because we know that dead-yet-lives Rand will be on a boat, not a funeral bier (though it's all the same to the Sea Folk). Min has another viewing later of three women before a pyre (this is a viewing of Rand, so it's implied that Rand is on the pyre), and Egwene also dreams of Rand on a funeral bier, though his body breaks apart like a paper puppet when she touches it. The lightning seems to refer to using the Power as a weapon, which Rand does, and has done against him. And of course, we know why Rand and Min will meet again.

Rand woke up with a headache, and after he left Min, it started to get worse. This was the first time that Rand experienced channeling sickness. Moiraine explains it to Nynaeve later on, and it fits perfectly. First, Rand runs into Padan Fain, and (stupidly) tells Fain where they are staying. Then he (quite literally) runs into Mat.

"Mat?" People still streamed by without paying them any heed, but Rand lowered his voice anyway, and leaned closer. "Mat, did you have a nightmare last night? About a man who killed a rat?"

 Mat stared at him without blinking. "You, too?" he said finally. "And Perrin, I suppose. I almost asked him this morning, but ... He must have. Blood and ashes! Now somebody's making us dream things. Rand, I wish nobody knew where I was."

"There were dead rats all over the inn this morning." He did not feel as afraid at saying it as he would have earlier. He did not feel much of anything. "Their backs were broken." His voice rang in his own ears. If he was getting sick, he might have to go to Moiraine. He was surprised that even the thought of the One Power being used on him did not bother him.

Mat took a deep breath, hitching his cloak, and looked around as if searching for somewhere to go. "What's happening to us, Rand? What?"

"I don't know. I'm going to ask Thom for advice. About whether to tell ... anyone else."

"No! Not her. Maybe him, but not her."

The sharpness of it took Rand by surprise. "Then you believed him?" He did not need to say which "him" he meant; the grimace on Mat's face said he understood.

"No," Mat said slowly. "It's the chances, that's all. If we tell her, and he was lying, then maybe nothing happens. Maybe. But maybe just him being in our dreams is enough for ... I don't know." He stopped to swallow. "If we don't tell her, maybe we'll have some more dreams. Rats or no rats, dreams are better than ... Remember the ferry? I say we keep quiet."

"All right." Rand remembered the ferry – and Moiraine's threat, too—but somehow it seemed a long time ago. "All right."

The stupid ferry again. Why is Mat so much more paranoid about Moiraine? Was it just to delay suspicious about his connection to the dagger, or was there an actual reason? Did he drink the wine?

But Rand's channeling sickness is coming on strong, now. It's the reaction to his channeling days before when he gave strength to Bela in chapter eleven. Mat plays a prank...and the first Whitecloak we meet in the series is Dain Bornhald - a minor character who ends up playing a very pivotal role throughout the series:

"Does fear of the Light hold your tongue?" Anger made the Whitecloak's narrow face seem even more pinched. He glanced dismissively at the sword hilt sticking out from Rand's cloak. "Perhaps you are responsible for this, yes?" Unlike the others he had a golden knot beneath the sunburst on his cloak.

Rand moved to cover the sword, but instead swept his cloak back over his shoulder. In the back of his head was a frantic wonder at what he was doing, but it was a distant thought. "Accidents happen," he said. "Even to the Children of the Light."

The narrow-faced man raised an eyebrow. "You are that dangerous, youngling?" He was not much older than Rand.

"Heron-mark, Lord Bornhald," one of the others said warningly.

The narrow-faced man glanced at Rand's sword hilt again – the bronze heron was plain – and his eyes widened momentarily. Then his gaze rose to Rand's face, and he sniffed dismissively. "He is too young. You are not from this place, yes?" he said coldly to Rand. "You come from where?"

"I just arrived in Baerlon. " A tingling thrill ran along Rand's arms and legs. He felt flushed, almost warm. "You wouldn't know of a good inn, would you?"

"You avoid my questions," Bornhald snapped. "What evil is in you that you do not answer me?" His companions moved up to either side of him, faces hard and expressionless. Despite the mudstains on their cloaks, there was nothing funny about them now.

The tingling filled Rand; the heat had grown to a fever. He wanted to laugh, it felt so good. A small voice in his head shouted that something was wrong, but all he could think of was how full of energy he felt, nearly bursting with it. Smiling, he rocked on his heels and waited for what was going to happen. Vaguely, distantly, he wondered what it would be.

The leader's face darkened. One of the others drew his sword enough for an inch of steel to show and spoke in a voice quivering with anger. "When the Children of the Light ask questions, you gray-eyed bumpkin, we expect answers, or – " He cut off as the narrow-faced man threw an arm across his chest. Bornhald jerked his head up the street.

The Town Watch had arrived, a dozen men in round steel caps and studded leather jerkins, carrying quarterstaffs as if they knew how to use them. They stood watching, silently, from ten paces off.

This is also the first time Rand ever lets anyone think he's actually a blademaster. But I think Dain Bornhald's progression as a character was probably one of the most unexpected in the series. Good stuff. By the KOD Prologue it was clear that Galad would probably have an influence, but it was looking like Byar was the more likely turn. In retrospect, it's easy to see that the flaws of rabid personalities like Byar's are typically insurmountable. Masema and Aram come to mind, and Abdel Omerna too. They probably weren't Darkfriends. They were just crazy.

Dain Bornhald was always a little on the pissy side, but he wasn't crazy. He became an alcoholic after Byar brought him the fairy tale about his father, but he was sane enough to do the right thing when it came down to it in TOM41. It's rather like the comparison to TSR in chapter nine, isn't it? Alongside that comparison, we have Bornhald and his Whitecloaks (including Byar) on the Green, sitting armed and pretty and forcing the women to join the fighting, but Bornhald never showed any humility when it came to being a thorn in the Dark One's foot. That wasn't what his story was about. You might say that's where his story really began - with a nice comparison to Paet al'Caar, he vowed that he would see Perrin dead. Both of them were wrong.

Continuing in the topic of character development, now we get back to the way the boys look to Thom for guidance, as an alternative to Moiraine, and the biggest thing they don't like about Moiraine is the fact that she's secretive. But watch Thom here:

"If only one of you had had this dream ..." He tugged at his mustache furiously. "Tell me everything you remember about it. Every detail." He kept up his wary watch while he listened.

"... He named the men he said had been used," Rand said finally. He thought he had told everything else. "Guaire Amalasan. Raolin Darksbane."

"Davian," Mat added before he could go on. " And Yurian Stonebow."

"And Logain," Rand finished.

"Dangerous names," Thom muttered. His eyes seemed to drill at them even more intently than before. "Nearly as dangerous as that other, one way and another. All dead, now, except for Logain. Some long dead. Raolin Darksbane nearly two thousand years. But dangerous just the same. Best you don't say them aloud even when you're alone. Most people wouldn't recognize a one of them, but if the wrong person overhears ..."

"But who were they?" Rand said.

"Men," Thom murmured. "Men who shook the pillars of heaven and rocked the world on its foundations." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Forget about them. They are dust now."

"Did the ... were they used, like he said?" Mat asked. "And killed?"

"You might say the White Tower killed them. You might say that." Thom's mouth tightened momentarily, then he shook his head again. "But used ... ? No. I cannot see that. The Light knows the Amyrlin Seat has enough plots going, but I can't see that."

Maybe a bit of foreshadowing here for Siuan's lie about Logain and the Reds - especially considering that the names Siuan used were most likely the same names Moiraine promised Thom in TSR17.

But the point is, Thom didn't tell them the whole truth here. It's easy to see why he didn't, but he was clearly being evasive. Why didn't the boys mistrust him for it? Because he couldn't use the Power? Because he was a man? In any case, Thom seemed to consider advising them to tell Moiraine about the dream, but then he decided against it:

"What do we do, Thom?" Rand said. "Do we tell her? I don't want any more dreams like that. Maybe she could do something."

"Maybe we wouldn't like what she did," Mat growled.

Thom studied them, considering and stroking his mustache with a knuckle. "I say hold your peace," he said finally. "Don't tell anyone, for the time, at least. You can always change your mind, if you have to, but once you tell, it's done, and you're tied up worse than ever with ... with her. "Suddenly he straightened, his stoop almost disappearing. "The other lad! You say he had the same dream? Does he have sense enough to keep his mouth shut?"

"I think so," Rand said at the same time that Mat said, "We were going back to the inn to warn him."

"The Light send we're not too late!" Cloak flapping around his ankles, patches fluttering in the wind, Thom strode out of the alley, looking back over his shoulder without stopping. "Well? Are your feet pegged to the ground?"

It's easy to assume in the beginning that Thom's mistrust is just normal - that people just typically don't trust Aes Sedai at all, perhaps men in particular. But it's made very clear by a number of clues that Thom's mistrust is mostly tied up in his experience with Owyn. If not for that, he might have advised them to tell her about the dream. It would have been the wise thing to do. As it is, he's even more paranoid about it than they are. Well, Rand at least.

And one more time...TAKE THAT YOU STUPID FERRY:

"All right," Perrin replied slowly, still looking confused. Suddenly he slapped his head. "You almost made me forget why I was looking for you, not that I don't wish I could. Nynaeve is inside."

"Blood and ashes!" Mat yelped. "How did she get here? Moiraine... The ferry..."

Perrin snorted. "You think a little thing like a sunken ferry could stop her? She rooted Hightower out – I don't know how he got back over the river, but she said he was hiding in his bedroom and didn't want to go near the river – anyway, she bullied him into finding a boat big enough for her and her horse and rowing her across. Himself. She only gave him time to find one of his haulers to work another set of oars."

Like, it's not the end of the world people. But Nynaeve? Different story...

"She can't make us go back. Winternight should have been enough to make her see that. If she doesn't, we will have to make her."

Mat's eyebrows lifted higher with every word, and when Rand finished he let out a low whistle. "You ever try to make Nynaeve see something she doesn't want to see? I have. I say we stay away till night, and sneak in then."

"From my observation of the young woman," Thom said, "I don't think she will stop until she has had her say. If she is not allowed to have it soon, she might keep on until she attracts attention none of us wants."

That brought them all up short. They exchanged glances, drew deep breaths, and marched inside as if to face Trollocs.

Hilarious.

Odds and ends:

1. Just as Moiraine said, Rand's sickness disappeared almost as soon as it appeared:

Rand still rocked on his heels, waiting. The tingle was so strong that be almost quivered; he felt as if he were burning up.

Mat came out of the shop, staring at him. "You aren't sick," he said finally. "You are crazy!"

Rand drew a deep breath, and abruptly it was all gone like a pricked bubble. He staggered as it vanished, the realization of what he had just done flooding in on him. Licking his lips, he met Mat's stare. "I think we had better go back to the inn, now," he said unsteadily.

"Yes," Mat said. "Yes. I think we better had."

And even Mat was overwhelmed by Rand's audacity with Bornhald. That's saying something.

2. First detail on the Eye:

Mat shivered. "He said so many things. Crazy things. All that about Lews Therin Kinslayer, and Artur Hawkwing. And the Eye of the World. What in the Light is that supposed to be?"

"A legend," the gleeman said slowly. "Maybe. As big a legend as the Horn of Valere, at least in the Borderlands. Up there, young men go hunting the Eye of the World the way young men from Illian hunt the Horn. Maybe a legend."

I get the feeling that Thom has heard some stories of it that he was tempted to believe. But of course, he wasn't with them when they went, so we never learn any more about that, just like we coincidentally never learn more about how he knew Fain because they haven't since crossed paths. In fact, like Barthanes' manor, this chapter is one of those places where they narrowly miss each other, and because Rand doesn't make the connection between Fain and the Fade, he never tells anyone (besides Mat) about seeing him in Baerlon until he shows up again in Fal Dara.

But we will talk about that Fade, among other things, in the next chapter. I was a day late on this one, so I'm going to hold off on promising a date for the next one. I will be getting to work on it after I catch up on cataloging Brandon's feed (which ballooned quite a bit yesterday).