We cold open on the Seanchan fleet returning to Falme. Lady Suroth, accompanied by Alwhin, Ishamael, and their brand new slaves Loial and Ingtar, are brought before High Lord Turak, who is pissed that Suroth conquered a town that was too far away for them to hold. For her punishment, she is barred from the council until she is once again presentable, and her long fingernails are ceremonially chopped off, which garners a horrified reaction from the assembled Seanchan. The now disgraced Suroth is dismissed and Ishamael takes the opportunity to present Turak with the Horn of Valere, which is carried in by- cue the whistling- Padan Fain. Turak is greatly pleased.
Rand and Moiraine book it through the woods because they’re in a horror movie now. Back up in the cabin, Lanfear mutters, “Bitch.” While black dots fill her eyes, she channels black weaves to heal herself and she is after them. Rand and Moiraine find a stable and take off with the horses, along with the female stable master. Before leaving, Moiraine kills an extra horse, because she is on a throat slitting roll tonight. Lanfear can’t use that dead horse but she can explode a nice old man’s head clear off his body and take his.
Still traveling with Elyas, Perrin uses his slowly changing wolf eyes to notice Elyas has taken him back toward Atuan’s Mill instead of after the caravan. Elyas tries to tell him his friends and even his wife are not his pack. When Perrin yells, the wolves gather around because they are thirsty for drama. Perrin decides against taking them all on- wise decision- and leaves to help his friends, with Hopper whining as he goes.
Rand and Moiraine pull the second most popular trope in fiction and hide off to the side of the road as Lanfear rides past. Moiraine finally tells him what’s going on re: the Eye of the World and the Forsaken being freed. Rand turns with tears in his eyes. He misses Selene and his life is terrible. Someone hug him!
Hopper follows after Perrin and tries to push him back toward Atuan’s Mill. Perrin sees a vision of Uno dead in a cage and decides to head back to bury him. I mean, Uno literally could not care less about his status right now, but you do you, Perrin. He sneaks back into the town and sees not only Uno’s body in a cage but the bodies of some Seanchan soldiers and a living female Aiel. A man approaches and warns Perrin off from her, although he gives her some water. He tells Perrin he has to stay, due to the curfew, and brings him to the inn. He recognizes Perrin as being from the Two Rivers. Suddenly Perrin notices some familiar garb on the other men, and under his new friend’s cloak as well. Whitecloaks! In the inn, Perrin finds out the previous innkeeper followed her granddaughter, who was taken by the Seanchan, but the new innkeeper preferred the Seanchan to the Whitecloaks. Same.
Outside, our old friend, Child Valda, who is still wearing a sling on his arm due to Egwene’s back stab, tells the new guy, Dain Bornhald, to stop giving the Aiel water and says he will continue to “question” her. Dain mocks him about still being afraid of wolves.
Lanfear comes across the stable master. We find out Moiraine had her take the horses to draw Lanfear off the trail. To make sure she doesn’t tell anyone what’s going on, Lanfear uses the power to sew her mouth shut. It’s better than an exploded head, I guess.
Verin returns to her brown Ajah friends in the White Tower, Yassica and Naomi. They have some drinks and want to hear what Verin’s been up to, but Verin’s only interested in meeting these powerful novices she’s heard so much about. And Egwene.
Well, she’ll have to wait, because Liandrin has the girls with her in the Ways. They are knocked out, but Nynaeve wakes up first because she’s Nynaeve. She realizes Liandrin broke the three oaths by attacking them and Liandrin tells her that all those Aes Sedai rules are just to keep others from being too afraid of them. Liandrin wanted to recruit Nynaeve to the dark but Nynaeve says she will never turn, no matter the price.
Suroth is hella pissed at Ishamael for making her go to Atuan’s Mill in the first place. She wants to kill Turak but Ishamael is playing a long game. He knows why Suroth swore her oaths to the dark and suddenly, her attitude softens. Ishamael says the last battle will happen in Falme, written in the skies, and the Dragon will join them.
After seeing Valda, Perrin knows it is time to exit, stage left even. On his way out of town, he frees the Aiel. Her name is Aviendha and her water is his, whatever that means. They’re suddenly surrounded by Whitecloaks, including Dain, but not Valda, because he probably sensed a fight and went to hide somewhere. Dain obviously attended SNL Ninja School because he tells them to make sure to attack her all at once, or she’ll kill them. Guess what? She does anyway, because she’s a goddamn Maiden of the Spear and she likes to dance. Perrin grabs a hammer and does some damage, too. He stops Aviendha from finishing Dain off, and they leave.
Back in Cairhien, Moiraine explains the world of dreams to Rand, Tel’aran’rhiod, have you heard of it? Lanfear can get them in their dreams, she’s kind of like Freddy Krueger in that way, so no sleeping. You can do that, right, Rand? At Moiraine’s house, we meet Barthanes Damodred, Moiraine’s nephew and winner of best hair this season. Barthanes is engaged to Queen Galldrian and hopes they can attend their wedding in a few weeks. Moiraine and Rand plan to wash up and rest and then ride on.
In Sheriam’s study, Verin lets Sheriam know that Nynaeve and Egwene are nowhere to be found, as well as Elayne. Sheriam checks her book and sees the girls left to go to Caemlyn, accompanied by Andoran soldiers, and she can’t believe it slipped her mind. When Verin and Sheriam leave the room, Yassica sneaks in and takes a closer look at that sign out book. Back in the brown Ajah quarters, Yassica says the notation about the girls leaving had a slight tremor in the handwriting. Verin posits that maybe someone was using Compulsion on Sheriam? Yassica does not like this idea at all, because it means the Black Ajah is real.
A waygate opens in the forest outside Falme and Liandrin exits with the still unconscious girls. Suroth and a contingent of soldiers with damane are waiting for her. Liandrin’s mad that Ishamael didn’t come himself. She hates Suroth and what the Seanchan do to channelers. Suroth says that all marath’damane will be leashed eventually. Liandrin mumbles a threat and leaves, but not before waking all the girls. Nynaeve can’t channel so the other two take over and they try to escape but Egwene doesn’t make it.
Aviendha gives Perrin a little Aiel lesson. She says she came looking for their car’a’carn but now she has toh to Perrin for saving her life so she will stay with him. They’re heading to Falme.
Nynaeve and Elayne arrive in the city that night and try to keep a low profile among the patrolling Seanchan guards. However, keeping a low profile is not Nynaeve’s strong suit, so the girls get their heads knocked into a wall and they’re unconscious again. I’m no doctor but two concussions in two days is probably not very good.
Verin confronts Liandrin back at the Tower, who also conveniently signed out at the same time as the girls for a totally unrelated reason. Verin tells her the girls left for Caemlyn and oh no! Liandrin heard of a group of Andoran guards getting attacked. What if the girls are hurt?!
Moiraine rubs her eyes and gazes lovingly at her pillows. As she cleans herself up, she has the closest thing possible to a heart to heart with Anvaere. Moiraine says her family and all of Cairhien is in danger, and Anvaere can tell she has no idea what to do next. She asks Moiraine to think about what her biggest problem is- protecting Rand- and whether it’s really necessary. A light bulb suddenly goes off for Moiraine.
As Rand sleeps, we see Ishamael lying next to him in bed, caressing his face. But he knows Rand is really Lanfear, playing in his dreams. She reveals herself, and she’s mastered a beautiful smoky eye. They drink together and discuss the past, the other chosen, and their plans. You could cut the sexual tension with a knife. Ishamael says the dark one only speaks to him because he is the only one who truly wants to stop the Wheel. Lanfear only wants the dragon. Ishamael has been working on destroying Rand’s friends so that he will break. Outside tel’aran’rhiod, a slave awakens Ishamael to attend an audience with Turak.
Turak wants to know who Ishamael is, and how he has risen so high in the Seanchan court. Also, isn’t he the guy who saw the omens that led them to begin their return in the first place? But no, according to Ishamael, only the Empress can see the omens for what they are. Turak says because he brought the horn, Ishamael can ask one thing of him, but he just wants Turak to accept an upcoming gift from Suroth in good faith.
Nynaeve and Elayne awaken in beds. A man and woman approach them but it’s a yellow sister, Ryma, and her Warder. He concussed them for their own protection!
Otherwise, they would be where Egwene is, being presented as a gift to Turak. She’s in full damane garb now and is collared and leashed before the court.
Rand is hanging with Barthanes when Moiraine says Time for bed! Lanfear could have hurt him all this time but she didn’t. She loved the dragon, but he broke her heart and she turned to the dark to try to get him back. Rand needs to find out what she wants. Moiraine says it’s Rand’s choice and she means it, and he decides to sleep. As soon as he’s out, he’s instantly in tel’aran’rhiod, shirtless, strapped to a wheel in a desert. Lanfear sits before him on a throne wearing black bondage gear. This is going to be good. See you next week!
Comments