15 Strangers and Friends

Arriving at the crowded Stag and Lion, the group follows innkeeper Master Fitch through the bustle to baths. Moiraine confirms Whitecloaks are in town and asks after Min. In the bathhouse, Lan interrupts when Mat nearly speaks of Trollocs, warning the boys to trust no one and avoid attention, especially from the Children of the Light.

Afterward, Moiraine briefly confers with a short-haired girl—Min—before leading everyone to a private dining room, where Egwene rebuffs Rand’s attempt to reconcile. Master Fitch serves a simple but welcome meal. Lan reports common-room talk: Logain, the false Dragon, has won a battle in Ghealdan, with conflicting rumors about Aes Sedai involvement. He adds that Baerlon is quiet of Trollocs and Myrddraal, while Whitecloaks press the Governor.

Moiraine decides they will remain two nights to rest, departing early the following morning, provided the youths heed Lan’s cautions. Lodged with Lan and Thom, Rand falls asleep despite the lure of the gleeman’s performance downstairs.

Rand dreams he wanders dank stone corridors into a warped chamber beneath an impossible sky, where a man calling himself Ba’alzamon—whose eyes and mouth blaze like furnaces—confronts him. Ba’alzamon tempts Rand to drink spiced wine, boasts of stirring calamities through history, claims he has never been bound, and mocks the White Tower’s designs. He snaps a rat’s spine to show power in dreams and crooks a finger to bend Rand in agony when Rand resists.

Shouting that it is only a dream, Rand finally wakes in his bed at the inn, trembling and head aching. He considers seeking Moiraine’s help with the nightmares but hesitates, lying awake long before sleep returns.