Chapter 2

News that Mazrim Taim has arrived throws the Andoran nobles into panic while Bashere readies for violence. Rand reasserts his amnesty for male channelers but vows to kill Taim if he challenges him as a rival. He clears the nobles from the courtyard and prepares to confront Taim without revealing fear.

Taim enters under heavy Saldaean guard, cool despite swords at his ribs. Rand battles Lews Therin’s intrusive rage while Bashere verifies Taim’s identity. Taim mocks Bashere with memories of Irinjavar and servants broken to obedience, forcing Rand to intervene and demand purpose: amnesty or provocation.

Taim probes Rand about fighting Ba’alzamon and the Forsaken. Rand recounts Forsaken atrocities to frame Taim’s crimes as lesser by comparison, then demands Taim’s commitment against the Shadow. When Taim proposes a “compact” as a lesser partner who could teach, Rand furiously refuses—no partners, only obedience. Taim instantly kneels and submits, citing pragmatism and Rand’s fulfilled Prophecies.

Pressed for utility, Taim claims he can both test for male ability and teach, though one past student went mad and he killed him. His composure amid armed Aiel and Saldaeans suggests either nerve or a strain of madness. To earn trust, Taim offers a gift: an Aes Sedai symbol made of cuendillar—a weakening seal on the Dark One’s prison.

Hearing Lews Therin’s compulsion to “break them all,” Rand nearly smashes the seal before Bashere restrains him. Shaken, Rand secures the seal with Bashere and questions Taim, who says he found it at a humble Saldaean farm whose family had guarded it for millennia. Rand reflects on unity for the Last Battle, declines Bashere’s company, and resolves to bring Taim to his secret farm where men answering the amnesty train, even as he weighs deep distrust against urgent necessity.