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 32: Summoned in Haste
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Egwene al’Vere
Since the White Tower Aes Sedai arrived in Cairhien and met with Rand, the city is in turmoil―especially the nobles. The Wise Ones are having very frustrating meetings with Rand but Egwene doesn’t know why. Sevanna has been accepted as a Wise One, even though she never received any training nor has she been to Rhuidean. Egwene believes Sevanna is only there to spy. Egwene is just trying to get by while waiting to be allowed back in to Tel’aran’rhiod, which is only a few days away now. She still meets Gawyn at an inn every day.
One day Egwene decides to visit the Sea Folk ship in the river by the docks. She hopes to learn weather channeling from them. When the Sea Folk recognize that Egwene can channel, they assume that she is an Aes Sedai in disguise and cut the boarding ladder and she falls into the river. When she manages to get back on the boat, she shields the Windfinder and dumps several of the women into the river.
Finally the night arrives when she will go with the Wise Ones to meet the Salidar Aes Sedai in Tel’aran’rhiod. Suddenly she is apprehensive that the Aes Sedai might reveal that she is only an Accepted to the Wise Ones, when she has been passing herself off as Aes Sedai for months.
She arrives in the Heart of the Stone where Amys and Bair are waiting for the Aes Sedai, who are late. Shortly after, seven Aes Sedai appear―six that she recognizes and one she doesn’t (except that she has seen her in Tel’aran’rhiod many times before). The Aes Sedai speak formally then:
“Egwene al’Vere, you are summoned before the Hall of the Tower.”
— Sheriam
“Ask not why you are summoned, it is yours to answer not to question.”
— Carlinya
“Delay not in your coming. It is yours to obey in haste.”
— Anaiya
“It is well to fear the summons of the Hall. It is well to obey in haste and humility, unasking. You are summoned to kneel before the Hall of the Tower and accept their judgement.”
— All three in unison
She isn’t sure what she has done that requires such an urgent summons, but she will face whatever it is. Egwene replies that she will come, but it may take a long time and she doesn’t even know where Salidar is. Sheriam suggests Egwene enter Tel’aran’rhiod physically to make the journey quickly. Amys and Bair object and say they will not teach her such a thing. Egwene tells them she believes she knows how and so will come quickly. The unidentified young Blue creates a map to show Egwene how to reach Salidar. Egwene is astonished when Sheriam praises the Blue and then calls her, “Siuan“.
Egwene returns to her tent and wakes to begin packing for the trip.
Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand had come to the Heart of the Stone to look at Callandor but found the meeting between the Aes Sedai and Wise Ones. More importantly, he now knows where Salidar is, and where he can find Elayne.
REACTION:
The first section of the chapter is just setting up the aftermath of Rand’s first meeting with the White Tower Aes Sedai in Cairhien, from Egwene’s perspective. To the credit of the Aiel, they are now using Wise Ones to scout the Palace and city for One Power laid traps. Rand can sense a woman holding saidar, but I don’t think he can sense saidar itself – absent someone who is present and holding it. That’s probably not as good as sitting in on meetings with Rand and the Aes Sedai, but it is significant. We may eventually get the “sitting in on meetings” bit, too. We also learn that the Shaido are using Wise Ones (the leaders of the Shaido Wise Ones – Sevanna and Therava) to spy on the city. They can do this openly, because Aiel custom permits it. On the whole, things are tense.
Egwene went to visit a Sea Folk ship and learned a lesson in humility by being bodily tossed into the river. It’s funny that every woman from the Two Rivers is constantly concerned about keeping their men from getting a big head, but never really embrace that need for themselves. I don’t get the impression Egwene learned much humility from the Sea Folk, given that she threw the Sea Folk women into the river in turn, using the One Power, in full view of anyone who might have been watching (including the Tower Aes Sedai.) This is the sort of thing you might have expected Nynaeve to do while angry, but Egwene is not much different in temperament than her former mentor. Given the events that follow, it probably doesn’t matter *for her* even if she was seen. But maybe a public display like that will matter for other Rand-friendly channelers.
Egwene finally meets the Salidar Aes Sedai in the World of Dreams after a LONG build up and is immediately summoned to Salidar. She’s obviously part of their plans, re: Elaida. She doesn’t know that, though. She thinks she’s in trouble for pretending to be an Aes Sedai among the Aiel. That seems unlikely to us as the Readers, though, given that we’ve never heard them mention that in the Salidar chapters – not that they won’t hold that against her once she arrives (assuming they know / find out.)
It’s interesting that “The Pattern” finally let Rand find out where they are, at this exact moment. For some reason, it was important that he now know until after Egwene had been summoned. I assume his knowledge of where they are will finally be important to what they are doing and probably helpful. I mean… there is another of the Forsaken (Halima / Aran’gar / Balthamel) in their camp now unbeknownst to them. Moggy is there, too, an unsquished spider who is probably furious to be there.
Jordan does a little necessary / important retconning here, too, by creating an explanation for why none of the male Forsaken has ever shown up to try to unravel the trap Rand laid on Callandor (it would be worth a lot of risk, to all of them, to get their hands on a sa’angreal.) When Rand made the trap around it initially, the weaves would have been visible to any male channeler. That implies strongly that a sufficiently skilled male channeler could/should probably have been able to unweave Rand’s traps and take it. So why not do it? We learn here that Rand – at some point – sneaked back into the Stone and remade the trap with inverted weaves, after Asmodean taught him how. Now the trap is invisible and it is MUCH riskier to try to take it. And now it makes sense that no one i trying. If we go from the timeline of The Shadow Rising, Rand went to Rhuidean immediately, on the same day, after setting the visible Callandor trap. He was there for about 10 days. Then two or three weeks later, on the day he proclaims himself to the Aiel publicly, he captures Asmodean. That means Callandor was relatively exposed to theft for about 4-6 weeks minimum (depending on how quickly Rand learned to do the weave inversion trick and Travel back to fix it.) I can buy that it remained safe for that short a time. The others would have been nervous about approaching at all and then nervous about potential traps. He’d already killed Ishy, Be’lal, Aginor, and Balthamel at that point (not to mentioned maybe also Asmodean who had disappeared) and that Lanfear might be watching over him and angry if anyone else killed him.
So if we’re keeping track of things, here are the tension points in the story:
Sammael is plotting something and has been set up as the Biggest Bad guy for most of this book. Graendal is working for him now because she thinks the Dark One has named him Nae’blis. Rand has some secret plan for Sammael, involving Mat and the giant military build-up on the border between Tear and Illian, that the plot continues to elude to but to which we have no specifics.
Taim (who Lews Therin connects with Demandred) appears to be a Darkfriend, and is recruiting and training male channelers in Andor on “Rand’s” behalf.
Fain is near to or inside of Caemlyn and has some kind of dark magic powers now that isn’t related to the One Power.
The White Tower Aes Sedai appear overtly (but subtly) hostile to Rand. They’re plotting to put people on the throne of Cairhien absent his consent, once he is “escorted” to Tar Valon. We know Mesaana is in the White Tower and is likely pulling these strings.
Rand’s insanity is getting worse. He’s talking to the voice of Lews Therin directly now, and getting answers.
The Salidar Aes Sedai don’t seem to be overtly hostile to Rand, but they are harboring two of the Forsaken and at least one (but probably several) members of the Black Ajah.
The Shaido are still around just outside of Cairhien, their numbers are growing due to “the bleakness” among the other Aiel tribes, and Sevanna and Therava are in Cairhien spying on events there.
That feels like most of the on-going and imminently arising high threat level situations. The Sea Folk, the Seanchan, the Sharans, the return of non balefired Forsaken, etc., remains an on-going concern, too. If it felt like Rand was about to win at the end of the last book, it now feels much less the case.
This is the first book, since maybe the first, wherein it’s really hard to guess what direction the end of the book might go. If there’s going to be a traditional big fight to end the story, I have no idea who it will be against yet. That’s a well-hidden eventual surprise.