14 Meetings

Nynaeve enters Tel’aran’rhiod in the Heart of the Stone, carefully avoiding Callandor’s rumored traps. She meets Birgitte, who says Gaidal Cain may have been reborn and reports seeing Lanfear, Rahvin, Sammael, Graendal, Demandred, and Semirhage stalking one another in the World of Dreams. Concerned, Nynaeve urges caution and asks Birgitte to hunt Moghedien; Birgitte agrees to try but refuses to let Nynaeve reveal her presence to others.

After Birgitte departs, Nynaeve wrestles with embarrassment over revealing dream-garments, then Egwene and the Wise One Melaine arrive. Nynaeve recounts their peril in Sienda with Ronde Macura and hints at a larger plot, masking some details. Egwene and Melaine report that Couladin has crossed the Dragonwall, Rand is driving hard for the Jangai Pass, and, shockingly, Moiraine obeyed Rand during a dispute.

Nynaeve urges Egwene to help Rand remember himself amid rising arrogance. She then warns that the Forsaken are planning something in Tel’aran’rhiod. Melaine confronts Nynaeve for wandering the dream unschooled, demands a promise to seek Wise One guidance first, and pointedly invokes Lan’s fate to pressure her. Nynaeve refuses, and Melaine departs after humiliating her with child’s garb to underscore her inexperience.

Alone and angry, Nynaeve reasserts control of her appearance and, rebelling against the Wise Ones’ warning, resolves to find a way to seek information—perhaps about the White Tower—herself in Tel’aran’rhiod.