Chapter 27: Gifts

Egwene and Gawyn continue their romance in the city, and conveniently keep meeting at the inn; just saying.. Anyway Egwene isn’t able to get much from Gawyn about the Aes Sedai he’s with, aside from them apparently looking for her (or rather the person who channeled at their house). Afterwards she returns to the camp and finds out the Wise Ones are in an all-day meeting, giving all the apprentices the day off. We find out Rand is back in Cairhien, and Egwene sets off to see him. She warns him about these Aes Sedai, and tells him to be humble with them. Probably a smart move in general, but I think I side with Rand on this one (or at least I think this is how he’s thinking) in that you can only be humble so far. He is the bloody Dragon Reborn after all! Yes, he probably needs Aes Sedai help, and yes they could make his life a living hell. In the end, though, he is and should be seen as above them. He can’t let them all push him around. It doesn’t look to be going the greatest at the moment, but I feel down the road the Aes Sedai will accept him as someone they can’t necessarily or should try to control. Definitely would be a shock for Aes Sedai, who considered themselves above everyone for hundreds and hundreds of years now.

The Aes Sedai arrive before Egwene can leave, so Rand weaves some type of invisibility shield around her so they can’t see her in the room. It appears like the Aes Sedai are going to try to bribe or impress Rand with chests full of gold. I don’t feel like this would sway Rand at all, but the Aes Sedai think so. He ends up telling them he will consider their offer, and sends them away empty handed for now. Egwene then tries to learn how to travel from Rand, but with no luck. Also, although the shield was good enough to hide Egwene, it did not hide the presence of her channeling ability. I think it ends up working somewhat in his favor as they still believe it was Moiraine, but it’s still not clear from their thoughts on what exactly their plan with Rand is.

Chapter 28: Letters

Furious and thinking over whether or not he’s mad, and if Lews Therin is really there, Rand stays in a bad mood the rest of the day. He shouts at pretty much everyone, and has some bad dreams that night. He finally snaps out of it the next day, deciding he won’t run from anything anymore. He travels back to Caemlyn and Aviendha is pissed about him leaving without her. She makes the maidens promise to know when he leaves and where he goes at all times. These two really just need to make up and get married. We also hear a little more of the Sea Folk and how they believe Rand is their “Coramoor”. I’m guessing this is just another version of the Dragon Reborn or the Car’a’carn, man he’s really starting to get a long list of titles. Anyway he keeps putting off meeting with these two different delegations from the Sea Folk, not sure why. If they already acknowledge him as their Coramoor or whatever, you’d figure they would have some help to bring to the table. Anyway Sulin is now serving her toh as a servant, and as Rand tries to understand it all, he embarrasses Aviendha further. With all this going on, it’s lucky that Rand was able to sense the Gray Man as he comes in the door. He kills one of them, and is about to kill the other as Taim kills it. He says there is a promising new recruit in Jahar Narishma who has the spark in him. Not sure what exactly this means yet, but seems important enough for Taim to tell him about.

We also have another appearance from Fain. Still creepy as ever, and from his thoughts it’s clear that he had a huge part in playing the Whitecloaks and White Tower against Rand. We know what the Whitecloaks are up too, but this just makes me more nervous about Elaida’s embassy. I can’t remember if I mentioned this already, but it really seems like Fain is working on his own now. He sent the whitecloaks to kill Rand, which would be against the DO’s orders, and he gets upset when he finds out about the Gray Man attack. Which is also confusing because if a Forsaken sent them, wouldn’t they be going against the orders to let the Lord of Chaos rule? That is unless it was Sammael who apparently has no knowledge of this order. Anyway he tortures some local darkfriends for information, and we know he’s in Caemlyn somewhere.

Chapter 29: Fire and Spirit

We head back to Salidar, where Elayne and Nynaeve are still scrubbing pots as punishment for their outburst. There isn’t much going on aside from Nynaeve giving the low down on who is coming and going in the Little Tower, until Thom and Juilin return! Good to see them back. Their reports mainly deal with the Whitecloaks, and rumors of Morgase being in the Fortress of the Light. Elayne dismisses it and says her mother is dead, but I wonder what they could of done if this was actually true. Rather, she believed it was true. It would make one interesting rescue attempt. Anyway I was about to write off this chapter as not much happening, when the unimaginable happens. Nynaeve heals Logain! She frantically shields him and has Elayne go to get Sheriam.

Chapter 30: To Heal Again

Luckily for Nynaeve she reacted as fast as she did, but she is barely able to hold Logain with as strong as he is; which is surprising because everyone goes on about how strong Nynaeve is, and how she even rivals one of the Forsaken. This makes me wonder where Logain lies then? Anyway still an amazing accomplishment. You could kind of see it coming with Nynaeve focused on healing them, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen her work at it. So this came at me out of nowhere. Sheriam soon enters with like half of the Aes Sedai in Salidar. They don’t really believe her at first, and make her heal Siuan and Leane as well. Only then do the rest of the Aes Sedai marvel over this and demand to show how it’s done. You feel bad for Nynaeve here as she becomes completely overwhelmed by them. Only curious thing is that while Logain seems to have regained his former strength, the two female end up not being nearly as strong. What is the reasoning behind that, did Nynaeve mess it up somehow the second time around? I do feel bad for Logain, even at full strength. Siuan and Leane have such a joyous reunion with everyone, even if they aren’t as strong, and pretty much accepted back as Aes Sedai. Logain, on the other hand, has been stilled far longer than the two, and is now the only difference is he’ll be forced to be shielded all day. I guess at least he has that empty void filled, and he should be allowed to go to Rand. Wow, now that would be interesting; Rand, Logain, and Taim all working together. Rand is obviously stronger than anyone aside from maybe the Forsaken, but from what I can gather, the other two are stronger than any living Aes Sedai? I hope they do let him get their eventually, and not severed again.

Aside from all that, Siuan and Leane visit the two girls (Elayne and Nynaeve) in their rooms and basically decide to be friends still. We also have an interesting POV from Delana Mosalaine. A beautiful woman named Halima arrives and shows her Black Ajah signal and says she traveled with Cabriana Mecandes (that woman who was tortured?). She pretty much puts Delana in her place and says she works for her now, especially after she revealed she is Aran’gar. Not looking good here in Salidar now that we know for sure a Black Ajah and Forsaken are on the loose. Not to mention Moghedien! What happens when they find out about each other? I’m guessing we’ll soon find out.

Chapter 31: Red Wax

It seems not even the Whitecloaks can avoid trouble, as it seems to be brewing within their ranks. We start with Valda as he arrives at the Fortress of the Light (previously at Tar Valon). Valda sounds to be the typical overzealous Whitecloak who will assumes everyone he doesn’t know or like is a darkfriend. He thinks Niall is soft, which is our first clue that something is up. He also meets with the head questioner guy in Rhadam Asunawa, and says he is ready to talk. We don’t find out what exactly about yet, but we can guess it won’t be good for old Niall.

Speaking of Niall, he isn’t any more trustworthy of Valda, but doesn’t seem to be too concerned with him. At least in the sense of mutiny. Niall has received another tube from his agent in Tanchico. Things don’t be going well there, and it certainly sounds like we are seeing the return of the Seanchan, only they are being extremely quiet about it. We also see Morgase finally break, and sign the treaty with the Whitecloaks. Not sure if it was the failed attempt at her escape and the two men’s hanging, but the deed is done now. Niall doesn’t plan to move just yet, so it will be curious to see how things turn out here. I mean common, I’ll give the Whitecloaks a 2% chance at actually being able to take Caemlyn away from Rand. At the least, maybe it’ll get out that Morgase is somewhat of a prisoner with them, and Rand can free her.

I did NOT see what's next with Egwene coming at all. More on that with the next blog which I should be able to finish up tomorrow afternoon.