So in Lord of Chaos, Chapter 54: The sending, Nandera and Sulin both seem to be responsible for the Maidens that are heading to rescue Rand. Eventually they fight and Sulin wins the fight. But after this, Nandera appears to be the leader of the Maidens. Can anyone explain this reasoning? Why isn't Sulin in charge? Clearly it's something I'm missing something about Aiel culture.

You wouldn't need to hold the Source, but you would need to be able to. In a stedding you couldn't hold the Power, so you couldn't sense if someone was a channeler there. Outside of a stedding, a woman could sense another woman's ability to channel with neither of them holding the Source.

Is there a source for this? I just don't remember reading this anywhere and was wondering where you got it from.

My impressions are similar, in that a channeler doesn't need to hold the source to detect one's ability to channel, but I am wondering about that second part.

Anyone think the story Birgitte tells of her raid on the Tower of Ghenjei is similar to the tale of Hansel and Gretel?

Hansel and Gretel are the 2 characters, reflected by Birgitte and Gaidal Cain.

Birgitte leaves a trail of iron behind her to use to return to the real world.

Hansel and Gretel use a trail of stones and breadcrumbs.

Hansel and Gretel are to be eaten by the witch is reflected by the Aelfinn and Eelfinn who feed on human emotion.

The witch is cooked in her own over, and the Aelfinn and Eelfinn are afraid of fire.

In Knife of Dreams, Chapter 4, where did Perrin get the letter from Suroth that he gave to Tylee?

I have wondered for some time, wouldn't it be possible to make yourself invisible with a Mirror of Mists? Or make yourself look that small nobody will see you?

Ummm... Rand made himself invisible once- and Egwene too- but I don't remember if it was a Mirror.

It wasn't called anything, as it was in Egwene's POV (though you might say Rand was laughing at his pun):

 

"Don’t move!" In a disgusted tone he added, "Burn him, it seems it ripples if you move. I’ll fasten it to the floor, but you still can’t jump about. I don’t know how big I can make it, and this is no time to find out." Somara’s mouth had fallen open, though she snapped it shut quickly.

 

Fasten what to the floor? What was he talking —? It came to her so suddenly that she forgot to wonder who the "him" was. Rand had woven saidin around her. Her eyes widened; she was breathing too quickly, but she could not stop. How close was it? Every shred of reason told her the taint could not seep out of whatever he channeled; he had touched her with saidin before, but if anything, that thought only made it worse. Instinctively she narrowed her shoulders and held her skirts close in front of her.

 

"What —? What did you do?" She was very proud of her voice, a trifle unsteady maybe, but nothing like the wail she wanted to let out.

 

"Look in that mirror," he laughed. Laughed!

 

Grumpily she obeyed – and gasped. There in the silvered glass was the gilded chair on its dais. Some of the rest of the room. But not her. "I’m... invisible," she breathed. Once Moiraine had hidden them all behind a screen of saidar, but how had he learned it?

 

***

 

I think it was called Bending the Light or something...something with "light". Or I could be imagining it...

Moiraine contributed the 'bending':

 

Setting the bay's saddle in line with the others, he unfastened his saddlebags and blanketroll from the cantle, turned, and stopped with a tingle of fear. The Ogier and the women were gone. So was the stove and all the wicker panniers from the packhorse. The hilltop was empty except for evening shadows.

 

With a numb hand he fumbled for his sword, dimly hearing Mat curse. Perrin had his axe out, his shaggy head swiveling to find the danger.

 

"Sheepherders," Lan muttered. Unconcernedly the Warder strode across the hilltop, and at his third step, he vanished.

 

Rand exchanged wide-eyed looks with Mat and Perrin, and then they were all darting for where the Warder had disappeared. Abruptly Rand skidded to a halt, taking another step when Mat ran into his back. Egwene looked up from setting the kettle atop the tiny stove. Nynaeve was closing the mantle on a second lit lantern. They were all there, Moiraine sitting cross-legged, Lan lounging on an elbow, Loial taking a book out of his pack.

 

Cautiously Rand looked behind him. The hillside was there as it had been, the shadowed trees, the lakes beyond sinking into darkness. He was afraid to step back, afraid they would all disappear again and perhaps this time he would not be able to find them. Edging carefully around him, Perrin let out a long breath.

 

Moiraine noticed the three of them standing there, gaping. Perrin looked abashed, and slipped his axe back into the heavy belt loop as if he thought no one might notice. A smile touched her lips. "It is a simple thing," she said, "a bending, so any eye looking at us sees around us, instead. We cannot have the eyes that will be out there seeing our lights tonight, and the Blight is no place to be in the dark."

 

"Moiraine Sedai says I might be able to do it." Egwene's eyes were bright. "She says I can handle enough of the One Power right now."

 

"Not without training, child," Moiraine cautioned. "The simplest matter concerning the One Power can be dangerous to the untrained, and to those around them." Perrin snorted, and Egwene looked so uncomfortable that Rand wondered if she had already been trying her abilities.

And then Janya contributed the 'light' bit:

 

"Good day, child. Do you have any more discoveries for us today?" As usual, Janya Frende spoke as though there was no time to get the words out. "Such remarkable strides you’ve made, you and Nynaeve, especially for Accepted. I still don’t see how Nynaeve does it, when she has so many difficulties with the Power, but I must say I’m delighted." Unlike most Brown sisters, often absentminded beyond their books and studies, Janya Sedai was quite neat, every short dark hair tidy around the ageless face that marked Aes Sedai who had worked long with the Power. But the slender woman’s appearance did hint at her Ajah. Her dress was plain gray, and stout wool – Browns seldom thought of clothes as more than decent covering – and even when she was talking to you, she wore a little frown, as though squinting in thought about something else entirely. She would have been pretty without that frown. "That way of wrapping yourself in light to become invisible. Remarkable. I’m sure someone will find how to stop the ripples, so you can move about with it. And Carenna is quite excited over that little eavesdropping trick of Nynaeve’s. Naughty of her, to think of that, but useful. Carenna thinks she sees how to adapt it to talk to someone at a distance. Think of it. To talk with someone a mile away! Or two, or even – " Anaiya touched her arm, and she cut off, blinking at the other Aes Sedai.

Sorry if I'm wrong, but I always read Rand's weave of Folded light as the same thing Moraine did, or the same thing he used on Egwene. He uses it when trying to catch a glimpse of his attackers of the Sun Palace. Here's the passage.

Frantic shouts and clamor rose in every direction, some screaming to know what had happened, others crying that the Dragon Reborn had gone mad. The bundle of frustration in his head that was Alanna provided one small comfort. She was out of the Palace, as she had been all morning, maybe even outside the city walls. He wished Min was, too. Sometimes he saw men and women down one hallway or another, black-liveried servants mainly, running, falling down and scrambling up to run again. They did not see him. With the Power in him, he could hear every whisper. Including the whisper of soft boots running, light-footed.

 

Backing against the wall beside a long table topped with porcelain, he quickly wove Fire and Air around himself and held very still wrapped in Folded Light.

 

Maidens appeared, a stream of them, veiled, and ran by without seeing him. Toward his apartments. He could not let them accompany him; he had promised, but to let them fight, not to lead them to slaughter. When he found Demandred and Asmodean, all the Maidens could do was die, and he already had five names to learn and add to his list. Somara of the Bent Peak Daryne was already there. A promise he had had to make, a promise he had to keep. For that promise alone, he deserved to die!

 

Eagles and women can only be kept safe in cages, Lews Therin said as though quoting, then abruptly began weeping as the last of the Maidens vanished.

 

Rand moved on, sweeping back and forth through the palace in arcs that slowly moved away from his apartments. Folded Light used very little of the Power—so little no man could have felt the use of saidin unless right on top of it—and he used it whenever anyone seemed about to see him. His attackers had not struck at his rooms on the chance he would be there. They had eyes-and-ears in the Palace. Maybe it had been ta’veren work that pulled him out of the apartments, if a ta’veren could work on himself, and maybe just happenstance, but perhaps his tugging at the Pattern could bring his attackers within his grasp while they thought him dead or injured. Lews Therin chuckled at the thought. Rand could almost feel the man rubbing his hands in anticipation.

I mean, it sounds like he is invisible, because the maidens run right by him, but it could be something else.