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 15: A Pile of Sand
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Egwene al’Vere
Egwene is still recovering from the attack on her by Lanfear, when Moiraine and Lanfear fought and both died. When she looks in the mirror she is blushing as she remembers the dream she shared with Gawyn and what happened there. She decides to sleep a bit longer to recover from being in Tel’aran’rhiod all night. She has some dreams:
- Egwene cupping Gawyn’s face in her hands.
- Twice she dreamed of turning him around against his will. The first time he pushed her hands away. The second time she was stronger and forced him around.
- In another Gawyn was closing a door and she knew that if he closed it all the way she would die.
- Perrin with a wolf at his feet, and a falcon and a hawk on his shoulders glaring at each other, while he tries to throw away his axe.
- Perrin turning away from a Tinker and running from him.
- Mat speaking the Old Tongue while two ravens land on his shoulder, sinking in their claws.
- A woman beckons Mat toward great danger but her face is shrouded.
- Elayne forcing Rand to his knees.
- Elayne, Min, and Aviendha in a circle around Rand, then each laying a hand on him.
- Rand walking toward a burning mountain while something crunched beneath his boots―the Seals on the Dark One’s prison.
Cowinde wakes her and she decides to skip breakfast until Amys wonders what is wrong with her to not be hungry. She then decides she needs to make the Wise Ones believe her to be healed, so she eats. Melaine becomes irritated with Cowinde, who should have put off the white by now, and sends her to perform a useless task looking for a red grain of sand in a pile of sand near her tent. The Wise Ones discuss Egwene’s health and when she will have permission to return to Tel’aran’rhiod. The Salidar Aes Sedai are very insistent that Egwene come to the next meeting. After asking the Wise Ones some questions, Egwene mostly resolves to avoid Gawyn’s dreams in the future.
Point of view: Elayne Trakand
A large crowd waits outside the Little Tower to hear the results of the negotiations between the Salidar Hall and the White Tower representative, Tarna Feir. Elayne is very tired, having stayed awake most of the night dealing with the aftermath of the bubble of evil. Nynaeve joins her, even more tired since she did not go to bed at all trying to comply with Theodrin‘s orders to stay awake all night to see if that breaks her block on channeling. Siuan joins them, with everyone impatient for the announcement. In the end, nothing has changed. Salidar will not return to the White Tower while Elaida is the Amyrlin.
Nynaeve goes to speak to Sheriam, with Elayne following. They ask to speak privately with Sheriam, Morvrin, and Carlinya. Nynaeve tells them of the ter’angreal they found in Tel’aran’rhiod last night and that it may be able to affect the weather. Nynaeve and Elayne wish to go to Ebou Dar to find it but the Aes Sedai won’t let Accepted make the trip. They decide to send a letter to Merilille, an Aes Sedai in Ebou Dar, instead. To try to bring the Salidar Aes Sedai together with Rand, Elayne tells them the bowl will need a man channeling to work. Nynaeve then berates the Aes Sedai for not doing anything proactive and gets a punishment for her outburst.
Point of view: Sheriam Bayanar
Sheriam, Carlinya, and Morvrin are watching Elayne and Nynaeve at their chores through the fence. They have plans for the criticisms that were made, but can’t make them public yet. They still don’t know how they should handle Rand, though.
REACTION:
The Wise One’ explanation for why Gawyn’s dream pursued Egwene (they don’t realize they are providing the explanation, mind you) is that he is *passionately* in love with her. She thinks to herself that she loves him, too. The love must be particularly passionate to create what happened to Egwene though… where Gawyn’s dream pursues Egwene, draws her in, and then refuses to relinquish her.
Given that these two hardly know each other, and that Egwene believed herself to be in love with Rand during her last face-to-face with Gawyn (a belief confirmed by the Accepted Testing ter’angreal), doesn’t the “Lanfear used compulsion to break Egwene up with Rand” theory make sense? (Yes, it does.) Compulsion would explain their odd dream affinity, too. Egwene also notes that her own dreams re: Gawyn are more romantic and less steamy (which again points to Lanfear lying about Egwene’s spicey dreams, to Rand, back in Book #4… and yet also implicates her as probably putting that situation into motion.)
Re: Egwene’s dreams:
+ At some point, she’s going to have a will they or won’t they moment with Gawyn and the answer will dictate whether or not she lives.
+ Perrin is going to have some post-marriage relationship drama. If Faile is a falcon, somebody else is the hawk. (It pretty much has to be Berelain.)
+ Perrin is still at war with his killin’ side.
+ Mat’s two ravens… they’re on the weapon he got from the Fox-people, inside the ter’angreal. It’s also a reference to Odin – who Mat is derived from.
+ Elayne forcing Rand to his knees… hmm. Trouble in the Caemlyn succession? She bonds him as a Warder (like she keeps vowing)?
+ I assume the Three touching him indicates a poly marriage or some kind of agreement to share him.
+ The Seals breaking is just the story’s plot, so no big mystery there.
Nynaeve comes off so well in the Elayne POVs. Staying awake all night despite the Bubble of Evil fight, just because Theodrin had asked her prior to said fight… she’s the best.
We basically learn nothing about what the Salidar Aes Sedai plan after Elaida’s emissary, Tarna, leaves.
Nynaeve and Elayne make their pitch to go to Ebou Dar. It goes nowhere. So I guess their arc for either the next few chapters or the rest of the book will be figuring out how to go, and then going. Maybe we’re entering a “Supergirls to the Stone of Tear” type plot. The interesting thing – and it relates back to the “need” part of their World of Dreams search – is that Elayne tells the Aes Sedai that the weather ter’angreal requires a man channeling to make it work. Elayne is lying on purpose, but with the goal that the lie will tie the Salidar contingency to Rand, for the sake of him using the ter’angreal with them, and the hope that the lie will mean they are tied to him beyond any ability for them to back out later. The weather situation is apparently so dire that this is plausible.
Nynaeve accurately berating the Aes Sedai was epic. Nynaeve sticking her nose way in the air to make fun of Elayne is also awesome.
Siuan indicates in the chapter that she knows what the Salidar Aes Sedai are planning, and the Sheriam POV at the end also indicates that they aren’t just sitting on their hands – there is a plan. It’s just super secret. Are there any clues? Well, we know from Nynaeve’s spying earlier that they are waiting on “the biddable child” (who almost has to be Egwene) and that they are very agitated toward the Wise Ones regarding Eggy’s whereabouts. But that’s about all that we know.
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