Contents
Chapter 21
Overview
Egwene meets Verin, who provides a dossier on Liandrin’s group and introduces Tel’aran’rhiod, the World of Dreams. Verin gifts Egwene a dangerous ter’angreal ring to enter it, warning the wounds there are real. Verin secretly withholds Corianin Nedeal’s extensive notes, choosing to keep that knowledge hidden.
Summary
After a grueling day of novice chores, Egwene hurries to Verin’s quarters above the library. In the cluttered, dim study, Verin shows Egwene an ancient fragment naming Ba’alzamon as Ishamael, then dismisses its certainty while filing it away. Verin hands Egwene a compiled dossier listing the Black Ajah women who fled with Liandrin, including scant descriptions of stolen ter’angreal.
Verin shifts to broader lore, sketching on dusty wax the idea of multiple worlds and constants: the Creator, the Dark One, and Tel’aran’rhiod, the World of Dreams. She explains that a true Dreamer can enter this realm, where events are real and dangerous, and where many mortals glimpse fragments in ordinary sleep.
Insisting Egwene cannot wait, Verin produces a twisted stone ring ter’angreal once held by Corianin Nedeal, the last known Dreamer. Verin explains it eases entry into Tel’aran’rhiod if touched while sleeping, shows a long-ago scar as proof that injuries there endure, and urges secrecy, as novices should not possess such a thing. Egwene, torn between fear and the desire to learn, accepts.
After Egwene departs, Verin reveals her private calculus: she possesses Corianin’s hidden, near-complete notes on the ring, unknown to other Aes Sedai. She contemplates destroying or sharing them but decides to keep them secret, then turns back to her papers, already moving past Egwene.
Who Appears
- Egwene al'VereNovice summoned by Verin; receives Black Ajah dossier and a ter’angreal ring to enter Tel’aran’rhiod; resolves to be cautious.
- Verin MathwinBrown Ajah scholar; instructs on Tel’aran’rhiod, gives Egwene the dream ring, warns of real danger, and withholds Corianin’s secret notes.