Contents
Chapter 7
Overview
Elayne and Nynaeve join Sheriam’s council in Tel’aran’rhiod to search Elaida’s study. They confirm Elaida is sending an embassy to Rand and witness Tower politics in disarray. A vast nightmare traps six Aes Sedai until Elayne and Siuan dispel it. Elayne then visits Caemlyn’s throne room; Demandred secretly observes.
Summary
Exhausted from ter’angreal work, Elayne and Nynaeve prepare to enter Tel’aran’rhiod using Elayne’s copied dream rings. They meet Siuan and Leane, then Sheriam’s six-woman council, and head to the World of Dreams despite frictions over authority and inexperience.
They shift to Elaida’s study in the White Tower to sift her correspondence. Leane departs to check eyes-and-ears; Nynaeve is sent after her. An apparition of Elaida proclaims a Foretelling-like reunion of the Tower, but it appears to be a dream. Sheriam, Beonin, and Myrelle continue reading documents, revealing Elaida’s arrests, political pressures on rulers, a reduced sister (Shemerin) fleeing, and the near-panic over absent Aes Sedai. Crucially, they discover Elaida has dispatched an embassy to Rand, intending to offer “support” and an escort to the Tower.
Sudden screams draw them into the anteroom, where a massive nightmare has overrun the corridor, seizing Carlinya, Morvrin, Anaiya, Sheriam, Myrelle, and Beonin in grotesque Trolloc tortures. The linked trio mistakenly channels at it, accepting its reality and becoming trapped. Elayne and Siuan enter the nightmare and, unable to channel, force everyone to deny its reality and fix the true corridor in mind. The nightmare collapses, leaving the six Aes Sedai battered and shaken.
Morvrin orders a return for Healing. Siuan stays to glean more intelligence; Elayne departs separately to Caemlyn’s Grand Hall, finding Rand’s gaudy dragon throne installed before the Lion Throne. Worried he mishandles Andoran sensibilities, she vows to set matters right and to bond him. After she leaves, Demandred emerges, recognizing Elayne and welcoming the chaos.
Who Appears
- Elayne TrakandAccepted; co-leads Tel’aran’rhiod foray, frees Aes Sedai from nightmare, learns of Elaida’s embassy, inspects Caemlyn and vows action.
- Siuan SancheStilled former Amyrlin; guides intelligence-gathering, helps dispel nightmare, remains to seek further information.
- Nynaeve al'MearaAccepted; enters Tel’aran’rhiod, lectures Aes Sedai on safety, sent after Leane; catalyst to group dynamics.
- Sheriam BayanarAes Sedai leader in Salidar; searches Elaida’s papers, is trapped in the nightmare and rescued.
- Beonin MarinyeGray; confirms Elaida’s embassy to Rand, participates in document search, caught in nightmare.
- Myrelle BerengariGreen; impatient and volatile, helps comb Elaida’s box, trapped and scarred by the nightmare.
- MorvrinBrown; pragmatic, organizes withdrawal and Healing after surviving the nightmare’s torture.
- AnaiyaBlue; calm teacherly presence, seized and flogged in the nightmare, needs Healing.
- CarlinyaWhite; cool logician, nearly boiled headfirst in oil within the nightmare; hair shorn by it.
- Leane SharifStilled former Keeper; checks eyes-and-ears in Tel’aran’rhiod, prompting Nynaeve to follow.
- Elaida do Avriny a'RoihanAmyrlin of the Tower; appears as a dream-phantom, her papers reveal an embassy to Rand and harsh decrees.
- GeraSalidar cook; briefly appears dreaming herself as Aes Sedai, highlighting how dreams touch Tel’aran’rhiod.
- DemandredForsaken; secretly watches Elayne in Caemlyn’s hall and embraces the chaos strategy.