Welcome back to my re-read, recap, and reaction to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. This post will only have spoilers through the current chapter.
You can find my previous chapter recaps HERE.
Chapter 13: Under the Dust
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Nynaeve al’Meara
Nynaeve has been taking a lesson from Theodrin Dabei, who is attempting to remove her block. Theodrin tried to shock Nynaeve into channeling by drenching her with ice water, but Nynaeve just hit her in the face. Nynaeve thinks that they might as well leave her block alone; Theodrin ignores her and begins droning novice exercises. Theodrin’s final instruction as Nynaeve leaves the lesson is not to sleep that night.
Several hours later, Nynaeve returns to her room. Elayne Trakand is waiting there for her and starts to complain about her day. Nynaeve tells her that she has eavesdropped on the Salidar Six and that their message to Elaida is that they need more time. Nynaeve thinks that the two should run away to Caemlyn, so they will not be handed over to Elaida. Elayne disagrees, and as the two argue, Tarna Feir, Elaida’s ambassador, suddenly sweeps in.
Tarna attempts to persuade the two to return with her to the White Tower and dismisses Elayne when she refuses. Then, Tarna induces Nynaeve to talk about Rand, although Nynaeve just feeds her false information. After a long moment, Tarna departs, still encouraging Nynaeve to join her.
Elayne returns to the room with the two twisted stone ring ter’angreal. She plans to use Need in Tel’aran’rhiod to find something that will convince the Salidar Aes Sedai to join with Rand. Nynaeve agrees and that night they enter Tel’aran’rhiod. The search first brings them to the White Tower, where Elayne sees Egwene briefly. Egwene disappears immediately. They adjust their Need to exclude Tar Valon and then the search brings them to a dusty storeroom where they find a ter’angreal that looks like a shallow bowl with clouds. Elayne identifies the city as Ebou Dar, and the two agree to journey there as soon as possible. Elayne goes back to sleep, but Nynaeve, remembering Theodrin’s order, stays awake, pacing.
REACTION:
Nynaeve has a somewhat intense relationship with Theodrin, given what the latter is trying to help her with. I wonder if Theodrin will have a larger role in the story going forward. She’s definitely getting “good guy side character of growing importance” treatment.
Tarna seems to know a lot about what’s happening inside Salidar. Despite not seeing them, and presumably not having them brought up at her official meetings with the Salidar leadership, she knows about Siuan, Leane, and Logain. Nynaeve thinks to herself that maybe Elaida does have supporters in Salidar, but if she’d thought about it more, this knowledge all but confirms it. For starters, how did she know where to find the two of them?
Elayne suggests that the primary thing preventing the Tower from reuniting under Elaida is their own presence in Salidar. I guess the idea she has is that their presence gives the Salidar bunch an edge on having Rand’s support. Is that right? I doubt it. The split happened without them. The disbanding of the Blue Ajah should keep them away, too. And beyond all of that, the Salidar AS formed an army. Too many of them face an execution sentence for the two sides to reunite under Elaida. It might be true that Rand’s support is the Rebel faction’s biggest potential aid against the Aes Sedai in Tar Valon, though. If Elayne has some other reasoning, I wish we could hear it. She’s supposed to be the political genius of Rand’s three love interests.
They use *need* in the World of Dreams to find something to keep the Salidar Aes Sedai from re-joining the Tower. This took them first to Tar Valon and then into a ter’angreal storeroom in the White Tower. What do they find? We don’t know because they leave immediately. I think the best guess is that they found another of the exact same thing that they later find in Ebou Dar. They also find Egwene, for just a second, before she vanishes.
Something subtle happens, though. At first, the need is an object to convince the Salidar Hall to not re-join the White Tower. When they regroup in the White Tower storeroom, they look for an object that will convince the Salidar Hall to support Rand. Those are two different things, even if they seem related to Nyn and Elayne.
We don’t know how a weather ter’angreal that nobody knows how to work will convince the Salidar Hall to support Rand. Elayne explains this away by noting that what you need isn’t always what you want. However, as the Readers, we know that this isn’t how the World of Dreams works. It doesn’t decide for you what you need. On the other hand, I can see how a large stash of objects of the Power might convince the Salidar Hall to feel more confident standing alone against Elaida. Elayne and Nyn think there might also be angreal and sa’angreal in there, too.
I’d guess the lack of angreal and sa’angreal is a big concern for a lot of the Sisters with respect to fighting an otherwise even fight against the Tower.
We learn at the end that Ebou Dar is a dangerous place and that its herbalist healers are world famous. We also learn that Elayne and Nyn will want to travel to Ebou Dar. Will they be allowed to go without Siuan sending them covertly? Probably not. Will they sneak off? We shall see. I’m guessing they’ll go.