53 The Wheel Turns

Rand regains consciousness under a racing sun, lying in oily ashes and scraps of green cloth—Aginor’s remains—aching and disoriented. He staggers down to the Green Man’s grove, finds Egwene, Nynaeve, and an exhausted Moiraine, and initially exults that he has killed the Dark One. Confronted, Rand recalls wielding the One Power and recoils in fear as Egwene hesitates, then embraces him.

Moiraine explains Aginor and Balthamel were likely trapped near the prison’s surface and recently freed by its weakening. She reveals her early suspicions about Rand, citing Bela’s unnatural vigor at Watch Hill as evidence he unconsciously channeled to protect Egwene. Moiraine cannot teach him, as she knows saidar, not saidin, and suggests only extreme will might keep him from touching it again. Rand fears gentling, but Moiraine withholds revealing his secret to all, telling only Lan, Egwene, and Nynaeve.

Rand resists being used, invoking the names of false Dragons Ba’alzamon named, while Moiraine warns him against trusting the Father of Lies and being driven like a hound. As Lan, Loial, Perrin, and Mat return from the drained Eye, Rand offers a stumbling cover story for his absence, which his friends accept.

Moiraine examines fragments Mat found, reassembling a black-and-white disc and proving its indestructibility—cuendillar—before revealing it is a shattered seal on the Dark One’s prison. From a finely wrought chest Loial carried, she draws a golden horn inscribed “The grave is no bar to my call,” confirming it as the Horn of Valere. Finally, Lan and Loial unfold a seamless white banner bearing the Dragon, Lews Therin’s standard.

As dead leaves begin to fall and flowers fade without the Green Man, Moiraine questions whether the Eye was intended to guard these relics. She declares they will take them—especially the Horn to Illian—and depart at first light. With the Blight already reclaiming the grove, she tells Rand their purpose here is fulfilled and to rest and dream of home.