Chapter 51

Over a tense meal, Bayle Domon recognizes Egeanin and exposes her as Seanchan. After a brief scuffle halted by Elayne’s weaves, Egeanin admits she learned sul’dam can learn to channel and reveals she freed the sul’dam Bethamin the previous night. Nynaeve, furious, demands answers while Elayne weighs Egeanin’s calm honesty against her origins.

Domon reports sighting two Black Ajah women at the Panarch’s Palace, and Juilin independently confirms seeing a Domani Black sister and a woman with a white streak in her hair there. Thom arrives with matching news. The group debates how the Black Ajah could operate inside a fortress swarming with Whitecloaks, the Panarch’s Legion, and the Civil Watch, and whether Panarch Amathera is complicit, duped into believing they are Aes Sedai, or held captive.

They conclude that Amathera’s role must be clarified while the men use their street contacts to gather more proof. Egeanin offers pragmatic suggestions that Thom accepts when sound, despite Nynaeve’s distrust. Repeated leads about Amathera prove contradictory: rumors range from petty scandals to reports she receives the Black Ajah openly, leaving her true status uncertain.

As night falls, with tensions in the streets flaring and fading, Nynaeve orders the men to guard their door. She compels Egeanin to sleep in their room, searches her, and has Elayne bind Egeanin’s hands with Air. Nynaeve then dons the stone ring ter’angreal, intending to meet Egwene in Tel’aran’rhiod. Elayne keeps watch, planning how they might penetrate the Panarch’s Palace.