#heirn (wot)

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 49 - Cold Rocks Hold

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(Aiel icon) In which the author makes another very interesting, pointed choice.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand asks Avi to ride behind him on the horse, so he doesn't make some fool mistake because he can't hear her while she's walking next to him in all the noise. She agrees reluctantly.

Cold Rocks Hold is a canyon hidden in the land. It's named for a stretch of rocks on the far end from the entrance, where the sun never reaches, so the rocks are always cool. Rhuarc asks permission of Lian to enter the hold, and she grants it warmly. Heirn, the sept chief of the Jindo, asks leave to come beneath the roof, and is welcomed.

Couladin asks leave to enter the hold, and Lian says nothing. Rand asks why, and Avi says he is wrong to ask as if he's a clan chief, but if she refuses him, it will mean trouble with the Shaido. At last, Lian says Couladin has leave to step beneath her roof, and the crowd gasps. Avi explains she's welcomed him as one, alone, like a beggar. The gravest insult to him and none at all to the Shaido. Then she shoos Rand off the horse to go and ask as well, as she taught him. 

Rand bows and asks the way Heirn had, though Avi had told him to ask as a clan chief. Lian appreciates his humility, saying it's often lacking in men,(3) and says for the Car'a'carn there will always be water and shade at Cold Rocks. There's an ululating cry from the crowd, and Couladin glares daggers at him.

Rhuarc puts an arm over each of Lian and Amys and introduces Rand to the wife he hasn't met formally. Rand hadn't quite believed that Rhuarc was married to both. Amys starts telling Avi off for not teaching him everything, but she says there were more important things, and he doesn't listen. Rand says any mistakes are his own, she tried very hard and did teach him a lot, and asks if she can stay on as his teacher. Amys agrees, and glares down Avi's protest.

Lian brings them to her personal home, beautifully furnished with pieces from all over Rand’s known world and with some unfamiliar designs. Rand and Mat give her gifts as is the custom for Aiel. Moiraine tries as well, but Lian refuses, saying the presence of Aes Sedai is gift enough, the hope that their failure was not beyond forgiving. Rand realizes the taboo about talking about Rhuidean must even apply between husbands and wives and between sister-wives.

They share a meal all together,(4) though Avi looks ready to throw her food at Rand the whole time. He whispers that he doesn't know what he's done to her, but if she doesn't want to be his teacher, he can ask them to find someone else. Avi says he hasn't done anything and he never will, then continues instructing him on how to comport himself.

They discuss when to leave for Alcair Dal, and what to expect. Rhuarc says there's no way to imitate the Dragons of Rhuidean, at least, and he knows a couple of clans who will support Rand. Sevanna, the wife of the now-dead clan chief of the Shaido, is wily and will be displeased when another clan chief is chosen and she no longer has a whole hold.

Rhuarc asks if Rand still insists on wearing wetlander clothes, and he does: he doesn't want to pretend to be something he's not. If his tattoos don't mark him, nothing will.

Moiraine asks where Rand means to lead the Aiel to war, apparently referencing some part of the prophecies, and Rand excuses himself to go for a walk.

=====

(1) So we know something's up with Keille, and she may or may not be some part of a Lanfear plot, and she's making an awful lot of allusions, so many I just didn't bother writing them down. But, why the gleeman? Who could he be, why was he halfway to interrogating Mat about Rhuidean (and yet strangely passed over the mention of Avendesora), and why is he bickering with Keille? (2) So, any thoughts now on why Avi is protesting too much, since she's obviously the third woman in the polygamy setup, the one Min's never met before? Avi had glimpses of her potential futures in Rhuidean. She knows the wetlanders don't share their spouses. If she thinks Rand really belongs to Elayne, then there's no hope for a relationship with Aviendha. (3) Once again, the Pattern guiding Rand's actions subtly to curry favour and put him where he needs to be. Ta'veren shape the world around them, but they are equally shaped by the needs of the world around them. (4) I can't identify all the bits, but it sounds a lot like chili, cornbread, a corn (zemai -> maize) and tomato (t'mat) salad, something like prickly pears. Very interesting assortment, that, something to subtly put you in mind of a certain region of the world without saying so, as with so much of RJ's cultural references. And since this is the last note I felt a need to add: there's a lot of nuance in these chapters that I'm kind of skimming over out of lowkey fatigue and highkey wanting to get on with the plot already. They're worth reading, especially for the details of Aiel culture that get dropped, since they're clearly a big part of the story going forward.

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 36 - Misdirections

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(Crescent moon icon)(1) In which these new characters sure are suspicious.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand, breaking camp. The Shaido worry him. Their path home takes them in the same direction as the Jindo, and they follow about a quarter mile behind, though they could have waited another day for Muradin to return. The Wise Ones walk halfway between the groups, probably to keep the peace.

Aviendha walks beside Rand's horse, and hasn't been more than three paces away from him since he awoke. She gets all up in his face about setting El aside when she poured her whole heart into those two letters, even to the point of describing El’s virtues (body) to convince Rand that El is the one meant for him. Rand thinks that's impossible, the letters contradict each other entirely. He finds himself missing Min, who never made him feel like an idiot the way El and Avi both do.(2)

PERSPECTIVE: Mat tries not to look at Rand and Avi. Sweat stings his wounds: Moiraine offered healing last night, but he refused. A few cuts are a small price to pay to not have the Power used on you, and what really ails him, he doesn't mean to talk about until he understands it himself.

He thinks about how he went to Rhuidean, like the snake folk said he should. He got his blood-priced items. He could leave now... if not for Rand's pull still keeping him here. And if not for having to make his way alone out of the desert without dying.

They come across some peddlers, and Rhuarc and Heirn go on alone, or would, except that Rand and his hundred-strong honour guard go too. Mat goes with Rand. Couladin trots out from the Shaido, and Moiraine is about to follow, but the Wise Ones seem to talk her out of it. Still, she watches everything very carefully, something glittering in her hands.

The peddler leader is Hadnan Kadere, seeking Cold Rocks Hold. Rhuarc says he's headed away from Cold Rocks. Why does he not have a guide? This is the first time Kadere's come so far south and he thought perhaps there were no guides.

Rhuarc says there are always guides, and Kadere had nearly stumbled into Rhuidean. Kadere's face goes grey. Rhuarc offers that Kadere can travel with him to Cold Rocks Hold, it would not do for him to get lost again.

Couladin says they should travel with the Shaido, as the more populous group. Rhuarc asks if Coul became clan chief while he wasn't looking, and besides, the peddler seeks Cold Rocks. Coul says the Shaido will camp next to Cold Rocks, because He Who Comes With The Dawn concerns all Aiel. Mat notices how Coul doesn't ever acknowledge that Rand is He Who Comes.

Kadere offers to show his wares, and Rhuarc suggests when they camp for the night. Mat, however, interrupts to ask to buy Kadere's wide-brimmed hat for a gold mark.(3) A woman accepts, calling herself Keille Shaogi, a peddler traveling with Kadere. She asks if anyone else needs anything for the sun and heat, even singling out Rand to ask him, though he's wearing a shoufa around his head and looks every inch an Aiel except for being on horseback.(4)

They get back to their respective groupings, and Mat asks Rand if he saw the gleeman. He did, but he's more focused on Kadere, calling him a dangerous man. All that sweating, going white in the face, but his eyes never changed. Like he knew what he was doing, going to Rhuidean.

Rand mutters about time setting snares, and he has to avoid theirs while he sets his own. Mat can make neither heads nor tails of it. Rand says they ride with evil now, and Mat should watch himself. Mat asks if Rand thinks Kadere is dangerous, and Rand says yes, a dangerous man, the eyes always give it away... but who can say? But, Rand continues, he doesn't have anything to worry about, with the Wise Ones and Moiraine watching out for him, and we mustn't forget Lanfear. Has any man been under so many watchful eyes?

Mat wonders what Rand meant, thinking Rand's walking a razor's edge now, make no mistake. There has to be a way out of the Waste before it's too late.

=====

(1) Why is this icon here? Lanfear doesn't appear in this chapter… or does she? I don't think this is at all subtle: something about this is Lanfear's influence or presence. (2) What an interesting comparison he makes here. Now why would these three women in particular come to his mind in this situation, in these positions in his life, when we know he might be destined to an Aiel-style marriage with more than one wife since Min saw him with three women? (3) Well well well, if you've seen any fanart of Mat, he's always pictured with a wide-brimmed hat, because he buys it here and is never without one again. And it adds a certain something to set him apart from other characters. (4) It's curious that Rand seems to think he's being watched by Lanfear, here in the Waste. There's only one unfamiliar woman we really talk to in this chapter, and admittedly, "Keille" does seem suspicious here in particular. Why would she pick out Rand like that, even if he is on horseback when no Aiel ride by choice? What about the disconnect between her voice and her appearance?

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 37 - Imre Stand

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(Trolloc icon) In which, of course this guy isn't suspicious.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand, asking why they're stopping when there are still hours of daylight. Avi says there's water at Imre Stand, and it's best to camp near water when you can. Rhuarc adds that he doesn’t want to leave the peddlers there, where the Shaido can spare people to watch them but Rhuarc can’t. Rand can’t help but laugh at this.(1)

Rand is suspicious that the Wise Ones are all gathered around Moiraine and something sparkling instead of watching him. He thinks how Egg is the only one of them he really trusts, and he hopes he can still trust her. He laughs bitterly, and Avi asks if he thinks the Three-fold Land is funny, and says when it breaks him it will be fitting punishment for what he did to Elayne. Rand snaps she could find a little respect for him, but Rhuarc chuckles and says a clan chief isn't a wetlander king, there is respect but anyone can speak to a clan chief, or the Car'a'carn.

A pair of scouting Maidens come back at a dead run, one for the Shaido and one for the Jindo. The one who comes to Rhuarc says there's trouble at Imre Stand. Rand asks Avi what kind of trouble it could be as everyone prepares for a confrontation, and she says it's probably a raid, but they didn't mention raiders or gai'shain who would be tending goats or sheep at pasture there.

When they approach, there are still goats, which raiders wouldn't have left behind. There's a small building, blended into a hill and almost invisible, but the inside is ransacked. There's even blood splattered and splashed, but no bodies. Mat says it looks like Trolloc work, but Avi says Trollocs don't come this far south of the Blight.(2)

They make camp, warily. Kadere produces a surprise: a dark haired young woman in a red silk gown and red slippers out of his wagon. As Keille and the gleeman watch at a distance, Kadere takes her to see the butchery inside the building, then to see Rand. She confirms that he's He Who Comes, and says she thought he'd be handsomer, then goes back inside her wagon. Kadere calls her Isendre, and apologizes for her forwardness, and excuses himself to the wagon.

Avi chides him for staring at other women when he belongs to El. Rand says he doesn't belong to anyone, and El can't make up her mind what she thinks. Avi says El laid her heart bare to him, he is hers and no other's. Rand throws up his hands and walks away, though Avi shadows him still.

Knowing the taboo against swords is still in place even if almost nobody knows why, Rand seeks out Lan to practice the sword forms and hopefully make Avi back off a bit. It doesn't work, and she distracts him, earning him a gentle reprimand from Lan to always keep his focus. They discuss Aiel tactics in battle, and Avi asks why he wants to know how to fight Aiel, isn't he meant to bind them together and return them to old glories? Besides, ask an Aiel not a Wetlander.

Rhuarc steps in to say Bordermen know well enough how to face Aiel in battle, and he's had enough sulking out of her. She's given up the spear for her obligation to the people, and that obligation cannot be met by tantrums. Rand feels silly for not realizing sooner that that's why she went to Rhuidean. Rhuarc comes to Rand and offers to help him learn the spear. He feels the weight of duty, and exhaustion, but he takes the lesson.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat watches the Jindo watching Rand. He's been watching the trading between the Aiel and the peddlers, mostly trade for goods since Aiel don't deal in coin, but many have nuggets of silver and gold in various sizes. Lace and velvet sell in a hurry, but silk is cheaper to the east. Needles and pins are snapped up quickly, but Aiel smiths do better work on pots and knives.

Mat thinks about a crossbow one driver keeps trying to interest the Aiel in, and how a crossbow is slower than a longbow, but has a longer range at that size. With two men doing nothing but keeping a crossbow loaded, and stout pikemen to hold a cavalry off... wincing, Mat stops the train of thought. He keeps thinking in terms of battle tactics since Rhuidean.

He wonders again how he could escape from the Waste, but it wouldn't solve his problems. For one thing, nobody in Emond's Field would know what the snake folk meant about the Daughter of the Nine Moons, or dying and living again.

Before Rhuidean his memory was full of holes. He might remember walking up to a door, and leaving the building, but nothing in between. Now there was something in between that felt like waking dreams of battles and cities he's not even sure ever existed. And he can read the Old Tongue as easily as any book now.(3)

Aloud he says a line in the Old Tongue, and repeats it in his own: I am lost in my own mind. The gleeman calls him a scholar, but Mat says it's just something he heard once. The gleeman introduces himself as Jasin Natael, can he join Mat? Mat nods, and Jasin settles on the ground next to him, saying the Aiel aren't what he expected. Mat warns him against ever playing Maiden's Kiss.

Natael asks a few questions, oddly specific about Rand and Moiraine but without ever saying what he's really looking to hear. Eventually he asks if Mat got his spear at Rhuidean, and to hear what Mat saw there. Mat asks why, and he says he's a gleeman, and Mat's seen what no other has, except a handful of Aiel bound to secrecy. What stories could he make of it? He'll even make Mat the hero. Mat says he doesn't want to be any bloody hero, but thinks there's no real reason to keep silent. He tells the story, from walking into the fog to coming back out, leaving out a few bits like the twisted doorway.

Keille asks if this is what they're meant to be doing, and Mat jumps. Natael says Mat's been telling him the most fascinating things about Rhuidean, and Keille says they're not here for Rhuidean. He says "I tell you-" and she says "You tell me nothing." He says "Don't try to silence me!" and they continue on down the wagons, arguing in low voices.(4)

At supper, Rhuarc asks for a song, and Natael sings Midean's Ford, a song about a battle in old Manetheren that Mat recognizes, and has heard Thom sing. Natael does a fair job of it, though of course the battle didn't go the way the song says, Mat can remember - he doesn't want to, but it comes anyway - and relives several parts of the battle as the song goes on. This is worse than the holes in his memory were.

Natael asks if he didn't like the song, but Mat realizes he's talking to Rand, not himself. There's a few lines of discussion before Trollocs pour out of the night. There's a page or so of battle, and when it's over, Mat collapses, his muscles feeling like water, though he took no injury.

Rhuarc walks up looking grim. Rand asks if it's bad news. Rhuarc says besides Trollocs two hundred leagues south of their stomping grounds, fifty of them attacked the Wise Ones' camp and would have overrun it if not for Moiraine, and the Shaido were harried but not attacked in great numbers, as if the Trollocs were just trying to prevent them from coming to the Jindo's aid.

Mat half hopes the attack encourages the peddlers to turn and leave the Waste. If they do, he intends to go with them.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand lets Moiraine check him over, and she says this was directed at him. He wonders if it was, and her eyes glitter in the firelight before she leaves him. Egg tells him to stop upsetting "her", and the glance she shoots at Avi leaves him in no doubt who she means.

He stumbles and shivers to his tent. He's never been this tired before. He barely even had control of saidin to make his sword to fight with. He hopes it's just the tiredness.

As he goes to sleep, he's a little grateful for Aviendha. She's a spy, but at least he knows who and what she is, and how she feels about him.

=====

(1) What does Rand know that the story isn't saying in words? Does he recognize Kadere and Keille from somewhere we don't know of? (2) Nobody thought they'd come to the Two Rivers, either, and yet here we are. (3) Weird, because he never really thought much in tactics directions before. But, do you recall what he asked for? The holes in his memories to be filled. The Finn are the stuff of fairy stories, why shouldn't they fill his head with heroics and tactics? Every major battle will need a tactician, and nobody else really seemed equipped for it in this story yet, did they? Ta'veren, I tell ya. (4) What's up with those two? Why would they be bickering like that?

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 34 - He Who Comes With The Dawn

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(Dragon icon) In which we finally get some answers, and one's a real heartbreaker.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand and Mat jog across the valley, right where we last left them. Rand realizes Mat must be in real pain, because he's not complaining about anything. His own old wound in his side is feeling pretty gnarly. He thinks about the prophecy he's heard: he will take you back, and destroy you. Prophecy also says he'll break the world again. The idea horrifies him. He wonders if he can escape that... but war, death, destruction seem rather inevitable since they already dog his footsteps.

They climb the slope of Chaendaer, and Couladin asks what Rand did to Muradin. He entered two days before Rand, he could not have failed where Rand succeeded. Rand must have murdered him. He calls attention to Mat's spear, saying they entered Rhuidean armed, they have murdered Muradin! Couladin and his companions throw spears, but are shocked when they realize they've all missed Rand and landed in a perfect circle around him.

Bair runs down the hill and says Couladin has tried to break the Peace of Rhuidean twice now. Once more, and he is outlawed, cast out of all Aiel. She asks if Mat found the spear in Rhuidean, and he says he paid for it, and intends to keep it.

She says they both look like they've rolled in knife grass, then tells Rand to show them the signs before Couladin tries to whip them up again. Rand remembers Rhuarc showing him once, and rolls up a sleeve to show the shape of a tattoo much like the Dragon banner. He raises his arm high so all can see it and be calm, but they seem to expect something else. Bair walks over and rolls up his other sleeve, to expose the second Dragon marking. Rand almost laughs, realizing at last what the "twice and twice" markings are.

Bair declares that the Car'a'carn has been chosen, a chief of chiefs, born of a Maiden, and come with the dawn from Rhuidean to unite the Aiel. Couladin glares more hatefully than he already had been, and disappears into the Shaido tents.(1) Soon, only Rhuarc remains of the Aiel.

Egg comes over and asks what happened, but Bair says it's forbidden to speak of what happens in Rhuidean. Rand asks where Moiraine is, but Egg says she's still in Rhuidean, probably, and Aviendha too. They've all been gone so long. So long? Egg says it's seven days since they left. Rand's only thought is that the Forsaken might be catching up to him with a lost week.

Rand asks if any of the Wise Ones can heal Mat, since Moiraine isn't here. They all say no. Egg says not all Aes Sedai can heal very well, most who can become Yellow Ajah. Seana says there are herbs and ointments, if they come to the Wise One tents. Out of the sun, they'll tend the injuries.

Melaine tells Lan and Rhuarc to go elsewhere, but Rand says he wants them with him. Partly he wants answers from Rhuarc, partly he just doesn't want to be led around by the Wise Ones any more than he wants to be led by anyone else.

Rand asks Rhuarc how he's supposed to unite the Aiel. The Shaido and Jindo don't even want to look at him. Rhuarc says it's one thing to know a prophecy will be fulfilled eventually, and another to come face to face with it. Rand asks if everyone who goes into the columns sees the same thing, and the Wise Ones snap that it is forbidden to talk of what happens in Rhuidean except with those who have also seen it. Rand says he means to change what is and isn't permitted, so deal with it.

Rhuarc says they know he brings change. Since it must be, let it begin now: no, no two clan chiefs have seen through exactly the same eyes, or exactly the same things, until the sharing of water and the meeting where the Agreement of Rhuidean was made. He thinks they see through the eyes of their direct ancestors.

Rand asks what the sharing of water is, and Rhuarc remembers that he wasn't raised among them. Among outlanders, there was only one people who never attacked the Aiel, from the Breaking of the World until they entered the Three-fold Land, one people allowed them water when it was needed. The pledge of peace between them is destroyed now, though, when the treekillers spat in their faces. Cairhien, Rand realizes. The young man, son of the village leader, the village would become Cairhien. Rand thinks of how complicated the Age Lace must be. If the ancestors of the Cairhienin hadn't let the Aiel take water, three thousand years ago, then Cairhien would never have had the right to the Silk Path for trade, with the Avendesora cutting for a pledge. No pledge, and Laman wouldn't have cut down the tree, there would be no Aiel war, and he could not have been born on Dragonmount's slope. How many more small events have there been, that affected the Pattern for thousands of years after? Even he and his friends are branching points, their actions will ripple through the years, through the Ages.(2)

They finally get to the tents, and Mat's already seated with his shirt off, being washed down for bandaging. Melaine tells Rand to strip to the waist, so they can have a look. There's some fuss over the injury in his side, but Egg confirms it's old.

Rand asks Rhuarc how he can go about telling other clan chiefs about his markings. Rhuarc says there's no formal way, how could there be, for something that only happens once? But there are places to meet. The nearest one, to here and to Cold Rocks Hold, is Alcair Dal. Mat repeats it, with different emphasis, and translates it to "the Golden Bowl". Rand realizes he's not the only one marked by the trip to Rhuidean: Mat's understanding the Old Tongue very well now. Rand asks if messengers can be sent to the other clan chiefs, to meet at Alcair Dal. Rhuarc says the Wise Ones can speak to them in their dreams, and to all the other Wise Ones, so none mistake it for just a dream. Rand asks if they will do it for him, and Amys asks if he's so eager to destroy them. He says he doesn't mean to goad them, but there is no time. Nine Forsaken still live and hunt him, or will when they figure out what he intends. She finally agrees.

Finally, it’s time to address another bit of business. Rand says Amys knew his mother, and she says yes. He asks to hear about her. Amys says Shaiel's story begins when Amys was still a Maiden, more than a year before she gave up the spear. A number of them ranged to the Dragonwall together, and saw a woman, a golden-haired wetlander in silks, with packhorses and a fine mare to ride. They would have killed a man, but she had no weapon except a belt knife. She was searching for something. They followed her to see what. Her horses died, her food ran out, her water, but she didn't turn back. She stumbled on by foot until she fell and couldn't rise. Then they decided to give her water and ask for her story. It was a full day before she could speak again.

Her name was Shaiel? Where was she from? Why did she come? Rand has all the questions. Bair says Shaiel is the name she took for herself, meaning Woman Who Is Dedicated. Amys goes on that she was bitter in the beginning, spoke of a son she loved and abandoned at her home. A husband she did not love. She never forgave herself for leaving the child,(3) but would say little she didn't have to. An Aes Sedai called Gitara Moroso had told her disaster would befall her land and her people unless she went to dwell among the Maidens of the Spear, and she couldn't return until the Maidens went to Tar Valon.

It sounded absurd, of course. No Aiel had crossed the Dragonwall since they day they first reached the Three-fold Land. It was four years before Laman's crime brought them to the wetlands. And, too, no one not of the Aiel had ever become a Maiden, but she was so stubborn, they found themselves agreeing to let her try.

Rand thinks how he has a half-brother somewhere, and he's heard the name Gitara Moroso before somewhere.(4) But, Amys continues.

It was harder for Shaiel than for Aiel girls. She was alright with a bow, but had never run a mile or survived on what she could find, but she persevered, and in a year she had spoken her vows to the spear, adopted into the Chumai sept of the Taardad.

Seana says Rand has much of Shaiel in his features, and less of Janduin. He asks if that's his father's name. Yes, Seana confirms, the clan chief of the Taardad, the youngest in memory. He had a way to him, a power of leadership. He was renowned for ending feuds between warring clans. Young as he was, he led the charge to seek Laman's bloodprice.

Rand, realizing from their phrasing, asks how Janduin died. The Wise Ones exchange hesitant glances, and Amys says Shaiel found herself with child. She should have returned to the Three-fold land, a Maiden is forbidden from carrying the spear when she carries a child,(5) but Janduin could forbid her nothing, so she stayed and fought.

In the last fight, she was lost, and the child was lost. Janduin couldn't forgive himself for not making her obey the law. He gave up his place as clan chief, though nobody had ever done it before. He went north to the Blight, with a group of young men. Those who returned from that trip said he was killed by a man who looked like Shaiel,(6) and Janduin could not raise his spear when the man ran him through.

Egg tries to comfort Rand, but he's lost something he never had. And, he has memories of Tam and Kari, which is as much as any man could want or need. Eventually he lays at the side of a tent, watching Rhuidean. He suggests going back to Rhuidean to look for Moiraine, and Melaine explodes that no man can go twice to Rhuidean. Rand asks why they want him to live, why they don't plot like Couladin to kill him. Bair says everyone thinks they know the Prophecy of Rhuidean, but what they know is what Wise Ones and clan chiefs have told them. Not the whole truth. Rand asks what the whole truth is, then.

Bair says Rand is their doom, yes, and their salvation. Without him, none of them will live beyond the Last Battle. With him, some will survive. He rolls back over to watch the valley.

In the midafternoon, he sees Aviendha, and Mat was right: she's naked. She looks sunburned everywhere but her tanned hands and face. When she sees him, she freezes, and glares fire at him. Rand, assuming Avi saw the same thing he did or near enough, thinks it's no wonder she hates him now.(7)

Shadows are stretching out by the time Moiraine appears, as naked and sunburned as Avi.

Mat asks what Rand is going to do now, and Rand says he's going to break the rules. For the first time, he thinks, someone is going to learn what it means that he's the Dragon Reborn. He's going to break the rules in a way no one expects.

=====

(1) Couladin isn't gonna give up this vendetta in a hurry. (2) Careful of the big thoughts, they can be a bit overwhelming. (3) Tigraine regretted leaving Galad behind until her dying day. Considering the morality complex he's developed, I wonder if he'll ever get to learn about that, if it would give him any comfort. (4) We've definitely heard that name before. In book 2, Moiraine says Gitara Sedai was the Amyrlin Seat who foretold the moment that Rand was born. So, she'd told Tigraine, at least four years before that, to go cross the Dragonwall. (5) We can guess why, after the Ancestatron 9000 trip. They still believe violence is a sin, deep down, so the violence might stain the child. And, risking the pregnancy itself, especially if the Maiden is killed, would be risky on a whole social and cultural level since they knew the Car'a'carn would be the son of a Maiden someday. (6) Do we happen to know someone who would look like Tigraine, who was in the Blight around that time? Maybe someone who's now masquerading in the Two Rivers? Yeah, Janduin was killed by the man who should have been his brother-in-law, Luc, who wouldn't even have had the first clue who Janduin was or why he didn't raise a hand in his own defence. Fucking hell. (7) Only, Avi was going through the three rings, like Moiraine was. She didn't go through the ancestor columns: Rand would have seen her there, as he saw Muradin, surely. The Wise Ones mentioned a different ter'angreal, some rings, and something about visions of the future. What could Avi have seen?

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 23 - Beyond the Stone

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(Aiel icon)(1) In which meeting some new friends and enemies comes with a requisite info drop.

PERSPECTIVE: Egg stumbles as they land in an intense dry heat. The Portal Stone here is worn by centuries of windblown sand. Mat, nearby, is intensely grateful they made it without a repeat of the first incident. Rand is told off by Moiraine for almost drawing too much of the Power, but he's just happy it worked. Moiraine relieves some of Rand's fatigue from the working, after which Rand pulls away from her and tells her to ask first. He's not a pet dog, she can't do whatever she likes to him, whenever she wants.

The city that must be Rhuidean lies in a valley visible from this slope they've landed on, but the Aiel that came with them are staring out perpendicular to it, at two separate encampments, on either side of them, both about a half mile away. A woman speaks from up the hill, and Egg notices a third, smaller camp farther up the mountain. She recognizes Amys among three others who must be Wise Ones.

The Wise Ones remind the Aiel that the peace of Rhuidean means they can go back to their clans unharmed, and many take off. They call for Aviendha to stay. Rhuarc greets Amys, saying he bets she didn't expect him back by this route, but she says she knew he would arrive here, today. Egg asks Moiraine if something like that was in the letter she'd received, and Moiraine confirms it was, though until Rand mentioned the Portal Stones, she didn't know how it could be true. This makes Egg all the more eager to learn Dreaming.

Lan offers water skins to Moiraine and Egg, and the Aiel discuss that the Shaido clan chief is dead, and one Muradin has entered Rhuidean, and another, Couladin, stands ready to try if he fails. Another Wise One says Couladin hasn't asked and may not be given permission to try, because he's flawed within. Egg thinks Couladin reminds her of the Coplins and Congars back home, always making trouble for trouble's sake.

Amys asks Rhuarc about "one who came with you" and Rand steps forward, making a complicated bow, and asks a question with the ring of ritual. "By the right of blood, I ask leave to enter Rhuidean, for the honor of our ancestors and the memory of what was." The Wise Ones are surprised, it's a much more ancient form than they usually hear. Couladin protests, Rand isn't even Aiel, he says, but Bair asks if he wishes to be a Wise One, and if so, he should put on a dress and come see if he can be trained.(2) Until then, shut up.

Rand says his mother was Aiel, and Amys says, not his mother, his father.(3) Egg has no idea what this all means, but the Wise Ones all say yes, granting Rand permission to enter Rhuidean. Mat asks a much shorter permission to enter, and Couladin straight up stabs at him with a spear. Amys and Melaine take on the glow of channelling, to Egg's eyes, and Couladin gets flung back a dozen paces. Egg and Moiraine are both shocked to stillness at the revelation that some of the Wise Ones can channel.(4)

Couladin stomps like a toddler about Mat being even considered. The Wise Ones dismiss all men except Rand and Mat to their camps, and say Mat absolutely cannot go. No woman may go to Rhuidean more than twice, no man more than once, and none who have no Aiel blood. Bair mentions that the Time of Change is clearly upon them, with Aes Sedai and Aan'allein standing on Chaendaer. Is it even right to hold the old ways when so much is about to change?

Amys says fine. Rand must go to the heart of Rhuidean, and if Mat wishes to go with him, remember that most men who enter Rhuidean don't come back, and some return mad. They're told to disarm themselves (and Mat's pile of hidden daggers impresses even the Aiel women) and there's a ritual intonation before they take off. Mat wonders if this counts for his prophecy. The Wise Ones also dismiss Lan, telling him to go see Rhuarc. They call him Aan'allein again, and Moiraine asks why they call him One Man. They know of him, the last of the Malkieri. Though, they weren't sure he'd come, even if Moiraine did. Egg files this away for later pondering.(5)

The Wise Ones call Avi over, and tell her it's well past time, she's been a Maiden far longer than she ought to have been. Amys says when she waited too long, her spear sisters broke her spears in front of her eyes, trussed her up naked, and delivered her to the Wise Ones with a doll tucked under her arm, to remind her how childish she was being. Egg finally realizes why she felt a kinship with Avi: she can channel, she was born with the ability, like herself and Nyn.(6)

Bair notices Mo's look, and tells her that Avi is Aiel, she will not be taken to the White Tower. Moiraine says she could be very strong if properly trained, as strong as Egg. Melaine says they can train her better. She's spoken to Aes Sedai, and they coddle women in the Tower. Egg is aghast.(7) They think the Tower is fun and games compared to their methods? She was worked and disciplined harder as a novice than ever in her life.

Avi has to cast down everything she's carrying, her bow and quiver, her knife, even her clothes, since they're cadin'sor, Maiden garb. Egg protests, but they repeat that the Three-fold Land is a hard place, soft things die here. She must treat her old things as trash. They will be burned on her return, and the metal used to make simple, non-weapon objects, that she will give away herself.

Amys tells her to go to Rhuidean and find three rings, laid out in a certain pattern. She may enter any one. Her possible futures will be laid out before her, though not clearly enough to guide her wholly, but she will remember enough. Egg realizes they're talking about a ter'angreal. Avi takes off, and Egg introduces herself properly.

The Wise Ones say they've been hasty, because they feared what the Shaido might do if they realized who Rand was. Amys says he has his mother's eyes, and something of his father in his face, but Couladin was blinded by the clothes and horse, and four others now stand on ground forbidden to them. Change is coming like an avalanche, but Rand is no outlander.

Bair says there's no haste now, they should come, and they offer water and shade. Egg and Moiraine are both grateful to follow the Wise Ones to their tents, and they share cool wine and relax. Egg comments on the servants, clothed in white, and Melaine chokes on her drink. They're gai'shain, not servants. As if that explains anything. Moiraine doesn't know how that's supposed to translate, and Amys asks if they know of ji'e'toh. Honor and obligation, Moiraine replies, but Amys says it’s about the meaning, not the words. They live by ji'e'toh. Bair cautions not to bother explaining, she spent a month trying to explain it to a wetlander and at the end she had more questions than at the start.

Amys tries to explain anyway, with interjections from the others. In the dance of spears, the most ji, the most honour, is earned by touching an armed enemy without harming them, because it's so difficult to do. The smallest honour comes from killing the enemy. In between is taking the enemy captive, though there are other shades between. Gai'shain are such captives. Some may never be taken as gai'shain: a Wise One, a blacksmith, a child, a woman pregnant or with children under ten. A gai'shain must serve for a year and a day, obeying humbly, touching no weapon, and doing no violence.

Egg asks if they ever try to escape, and some try, but there is no honour in it. They would have to begin the year and a day anew, and the loss of honour is so great that a sibling, or multiple people, might feel obligated to also serve as gai'shain to discharge their sept's toh. They tell a story of a complicated gai'shain situation and all fall over laughing.

Mo asks about the letter, and why they sounded so certain when clearly they didn't know if it would come to pass. Melaine says the present is easier to see than the future in TAR. They didn't see Egg or Mat coming at all, and there was only an even chance Rand would come, though if he didn't, he and the Aiel would all die.(8)

But come he did, and if he survives Rhuidean, at least some of the Aiel will survive. If Lan hadn't come, Moiraine would have died. If Moiraine doesn't go through the rings-- Melaine cuts off like she bit her tongue.

Seana jumps in to say there's no one set path, is all. Moiraine talks about the Old Tongue, and how any word or phrase might have many meanings depending on context. Aan'allein means One Man, but also The Man Who Is An Entire People, and several other translations. Even some words that are taken for granted. Warders are called Gaidin, meaning brothers to battle. Aes Sedai meant servant of all. And Aiel meant dedicated, an oath as if written on your bones. She's often wondered what the Aiel were dedicated to. The Wise Ones' faces have turned as if to stone.(9)

Egg asks about Dreaming, and Amys says she'll start learning tonight. Moiraine, having heard that she's to go through the rings, asks if she must go as Avi did. Bair is reluctant, there are already changes from what they saw, but then, nothing they see is certain. Moiraine asks them not to let Lan follow her, and leaves. Egg asks if they saw whether she'd survive, and Seana says in TAR, you can't enter an Ogier stedding or Rhuidean. What happens there is shielded from a dreamwalker's sight. Egg asks if there's anything they can teach her before sundown, and Amys asks her to promise not to enter TAR until they say she can. She says she can accept that, hoping she doesn't sound too doubtful.

Bair says she'll tell Egg about TAR, and Egg will repeat back what was said. If she can't touch on every point raised, she'll scrub pots tonight. If she can't recite it after a second telling... they'll deal with that when they get there. Almost anyone can touch TAR but few can enter it truly. Only they four can dreamwalk, and the Tower hasn't produced a single dreamwalker in almost five hundred years. It's not a Power thing, she and Seana can dreamwalk as well as Amys or Melaine.(10)

Most dreamers only brush TAR, so if they take an injury, they wake with an ache or a bruise where they should have mortal wounds. Dreamwalkers enter dreams fully, so every injury is real on waking. Death in the dream is death here. It's said that some used to be able to enter TAR in their waking bodies, and disappear from the real world, but this is evil and forbidden, it makes you lose some of what makes you human.

The lecture goes on. Egg is absolutely fascinated. She's only a little jealous of everyone going to Rhuidean, but she doubts they'll get any more out of it than she will from these women.(11)

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(1) I'd call it the shield and spears but this is shorter and gets to the point of what it represents. (2) You know what? Given how gender essentialist the rest of this world has been, I think we'll take this one as a win. (3) Hmm. He was born on Dragonmount to a woman fighting with the Aiel, as one of them… But she wasn't Aiel. How much does Amys know? Have you picked up all the clues I've drawn attention to? (4) How much did the Aes Sedai of the Tower suspect? Every population seems to have a certain ratio of channelers. Even in the case of the Sea Folk, they send some few to the Aes Sedai so as to not raise suspicion. (5) There was a chance that, if Nynaeve had asked, he would have forsaken his oath to Moiraine. Make you wonder what the other timeline might look like, huh? (6) There it is! Everyone'll get there in the end. (7) Yeah this gets real big and real complicated. But, I don't want to comment too much on it because we're obviously about to learn a whole lot about the Aiel now that we're here on their turf. (8) Not at all worrying as a prospect, I'm sure. Then again, if he dies, it's possible the whole world, the whole universe, dies. (9) All of these little points have their own whole-post essays hidden inside them. But I'll just point out the most obvious here: who are the Aes Sedai serving? Certainly not all the world. Oh, how things twist over time, how an incomplete and history and imperfect humans can slowly turn something that was intended to be one thing into entirely another. (10) Just like Min's visions aren't tied to being a channeler, and the whole Wolfbrother thing is its own separate ability as well. Interesting… (11) My little Ooh Ooh Girl. <3