48 The Blight

Restless in Fal Dara’s dining hall, Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Loial await Moiraine. Agelmar entertains the women, then at Egwene’s prompting recounts Lan’s heritage: Malkier’s fall through treachery, al’Akir and el’Leanna’s last stand, and infant Lan’s consecration as Dai Shan and the Uncrowned. Agelmar praises Lan as the Borderlands’ finest guide into the Blight.

Moiraine and Lan return from interrogating Padan Fain. Moiraine, appalled by Fain’s spiritual corruption, reveals he has been a Darkfriend for decades and was reshaped at Shayol Ghul three years ago into a hound to hunt three youths from Emond’s Field. Fain led Trollocs via a local Waygate tied to Manetheren and pursued the group relentlessly, even through Shadar Logoth and Caemlyn.

Moiraine details Fain’s compulsion and degradation: forced runs with Trollocs, torture by Myrddraal, surviving Shadar Logoth’s evils, and a disturbing encounter with Machin Shin, which oddly recoiled from him. She warns the Dark One’s reach is growing—moving from touching a sworn Darkfriend to invading the dreams of the Light’s followers, and flickering manifestations at Shadar Logoth—evidence the Seals are weakening. She orders Mafal Dadaranell’s Waygate sealed and guarded.

Agelmar urges replacing the boys with veterans, but Moiraine refuses. She declares Rand, Mat, and Perrin are ta’veren whose presence is crucial at the Eye of the World, invoking the strong old blood of Manetheren. With time short and danger rising, they decide to depart at sunrise; Moiraine keeps the boys close overnight to shield them from another strike.