#it’s loving Nynaeve hours

[clearancecreedwatersurvival]

Conclusive list of reasons why Nynaeve is best girl:

-has never taken anyone’s shit ever in her life.

-Lanaeve series long pining will they won’t they doomed romance stuff. You get it.

-she’s so fucking funny for real. Local 25 year old acts old and jaded and tells her maybe three or four years younger friends to respect their elders, wishes she had gray hair already so people will take her old woman coding seriously.

-spends several books trying to make herself angry in increasingly absurd ways in order to successfully do magic. She is the second most powerful being on the planet and she can’t do anything with it unless she’s in a strop.

-while being the second most powerful being on the planet, says fuck you to every other avenue for that power and stays devoted to using her crazy high power level to heal.

-refuses to show deference to any royalty she meets, eventually becomes royalty herself. Karma.

-the Moghedien thing. Oh my god the Moghedien thing. Here comes this ancient and powerful evil immortal out to play with the regular humans and cause chaos and almost immediately gets nerfed by a villager with some jewelry. Outstanding showstopping, one of the funniest defeats of the forsaken by far.

[music-movies-mayhem]

Honestly, how do you watch The Wheel of Time as a book fan and not just sit there smiling like an idiot for a whole hour?

I've read a lot of books and watched a lot of adaptations of those books so I know how this works. The plot will never be the exact same because we're dealing with different mediums and time restraints. But in all those adaptations I have never seen characters so accurately translated from page to screen.

Nynaeve being so stubborn she drinks dish water, but also being so loving she can't bare to leave a daughter she knows isn't real yet behind?

Elayne being introduced as a bubbly kind of spoiled brat and then immediately accepting a punishment she didn't deserve to protect a stranger?

Moiraine's complete and utter devotion to her cause to the point her own family barely knows her?

EVERYTHING about Rand al'Thor?

All of these portrayals are just utterly flawless. All the characters are, these are just the four I can't stop thinking about. Can't we all just sit back and enjoy the ride and appreciate that a bunch of nerds got together to make something for us?

[suckerforcate]

The Wheel's Will

Pairing: Moiraine SedaixReader

Word Count: 3975

Warning: panic attack, character badly hurt, sex, thigh riding, cunnilingus

Request: Hi, I like your fanfics aloot, could you write a moraine x reader where there’s romance angst and smut of course. Where reader is one of the five, and with the time they fell in love 🥰 for the angst something about moraine get hurt very badly in some battle and reader doesn’t know how to channel and they couldn’t help her or maybe a fight between the of them (@nohajnsstuff)

A/n: I hope you like it and it's how you imagined it @nohajnsstuff !!!

■-----------------------------------------■

It had been a long day. The five of you, Moiraine and Lan had travelled far and without break. The sun bad set an hour ago, and it was hard to really see anything between the trees. But Lan kept saying that you couldn't rest here, it was too dangerous. You had to travel further.

You were all tired and didn't really concentrate on your surroundings anymore, when a few Trollocs shot out of the dark. The last time they had crossed your path was at home, in the village. That had been almost a month ago, you had all seen Nynaeve die that day because of these monsters.

Rand and Lan grabbed their swords and jumped off the horses and Moiraine started channelling to fight the Trollocs. Perrin, Egwene, Mat and you felt absolutely useless. You couldn't channel, nor did you have a weapon that would help you in a fight. All you could do was watch and try to scare the Trollocs away with your horses.

Even though it was scary and a situation like this meant fearing for your life, you were being distracted by Moiraine. Sitting on her horse, concentrating, she was channelling and the weaves around her made her look incredibly beautiful. She was the only Ais Sedai you had ever seen, but you were sure no one looked as good as Moiraine when channelling.

Rand was distracted by a Trolloc to your left and Lan was fighting two at a time. So he saw the Trolloc approaching Moiraine just a second to late. When he killed him, his sword had already found its way into Moiraine's shoulder.

You let out a scream and jumped off your horse. Moiraine slowly fell off of hers and Lan caught her mid-air. Rand turned around ready to kill more Trollocs, but froze as he saw Moiraine.

You kneeled at Moiraine's side and pulled her shirt to the side, exposing the wound. Your breath hitched and fear was clearly written all over your face. The others came over as well and Egwene gasped as she saw the wound.

"She can heal herself, right?" You looked at Lan hopeful, but his eyes told you everything. Panic rose in you, "Right?".

"An Ais Sedai can heal everyone else, but never herself." Your eyes flickered up to Lan and back to Moiraine's face, distorted by pain.

"It's alright, (Y/n). I'm fine." Moiraine's voice came out thin and broken. She was not fine, that was clear to all of you standing around her.

Lan looked around you, into the darkness of the woods. He was worried that the Trollocs would come back. He looked at Moiraine and then at the five of you.

"We can't stay here, it's too dangerous. There might be more Trollocs on their way. Can you stand up and ride Moiraine?" She nodded carefully and with your help she stood up. She had a hard time getting up on her horse, but once she was sitting in the saddle it was fine.

You kept an eye on her, riding right beside her at all times. Lan was occupied with looking for Trollocs and a safe place to spend the night and the others were talking to keep their mind off of the things they had seen.

You were incredibly worried. Moiraine's face lost more and more colour, she looked weaker by the minute. The Trolloc poison was infiltrating her. You rode so close to her that you could reach over if she couldn't hold herself up anymore.

"You don't have to do this, (Y/n)." Moiraine looked at you and chuckled, but it came out weaker than usual. Proving your point, that you did have do this.

"Your weak, your skin looks like snow. I won't let you fall off the horse, cause you can't hold yourself up anymore. Let's just hope Lan finds some place to rest. You'll be alright in no time." You wanted to convince yourself more than Moiraine, but she just nodded.

Luckily not much later Lan decided that you could rest now. He had found a clearing with a lot of dry wood to make a fire. You had to keep Moiraine warm, it was the least you could do.

You helped Moiraine down and made her a place to lay down that was a little more comfortable than the bare ground. You didn't leave her side for one second until the next morning.

"Lan, she looks even worse than yesterday. She's white as snow and the wound is getting infected or something. I don't know. We have to get to the Tower, fast." He nodded, you knew that he could feel her pain, all of it. It was hard for you to just see her like this. You couldn't imagine what it must be like for him.

"She can't ride on her own. I'll take her." You went back and woke her up, she was barely awake. Constantly on the verge of unconsciousness. Perrin and Mat helped you get her up on your horse and the seven of you left the clearing.

Egwene rode beside you, looking nearly as worried as you. She gave you a comforting smile, but you weren't sure she believed it herself.

"She'll be alright. She's strong." Perrin said over his shoulder to the two of you. Rand was the only one not saying anything about Moiraine. He had been suspicious of her from the beginning. He annoyed you, she had healed his father, and yet he didn't seem to care about her at all.

A single tear rolled down your cheek, and you held Moiraine closer to you, as if you could prevent her from slipping into unconsciousness completely, if you just held onto her tight enough.

"Be strong, hold on Moiraine. Please." You whispered into her ear and felt her slightly move her head as an answer. Perrin was right, she was strong. She would be okay.

Even when it felt like the wheel didn't want her to be okay. Trollocs attacked you again. Lan and Rand were good, but not that good. There were too many for them to fight on their own. So Lan led you to Shadar Logoth.

It was quiet and abandoned, no one would attack you here. You were safe. Or so you thought.

Lan and you cared for Moiraine. She was still unconscious and very weak. You tried to clean her wound a bit, but it didn't help very much.

"We need Nynaeve. She would know something to do." Egwene stood behind you, looking over your shoulder.

"She would probably be too stubborn to help her." You spat out. It was true, Nynaeve could be incredibly stubborn. Annoyingly stubborn. But she had been Egwene's best friend.

"I'm sorry. I wish Nynaeve was here too." You tried to smile at Egwene, but it came out lopsided and sad. She smiled back and left the hall to look for the others.

A few minutes past before you heard high-pitched screams from the outside. Except for Moiraine, Lan and you all the others were outside. You looked at Lan with panic in your eyes. He stood up and went looking for what was happening. Leaving you and Moiraine alone in the darkness.

As you covered Moiraine with your jacket she woke up and looked around confused. If you remembered correctly, the last time she was awake you had still been in the forest, on your horse. She looked horrible and yet so beautiful. Her face pale as the snow, dark rings around her eyes and hair sticking to her face.

"Where are we?" She whispered. You looked around but couldn't see Lan.

"In some sort of hall in... I think Lan said, it was called Shadar Logoth." Moiraine's weak eyes widened, and she grabbed your hand.

"Where is Lan?" As you turned around to look for him, he was already there. He must have felt, that she was awake. They looked at each other for a second before Moiraine shook her head.

"You've killed us all."

Lan picked Moiraine up and carried her towards the door. Hastily you followed them.

"What's happening?" You left the hall and immediately took a step back, colliding with the closed door behind you.

A black shadow was crawling over everything. The buildings, the stones and floors. It wasn't getting closer, it was rather leaving. Like it was following something, or someone.

"Something dark has been awakened here. Come on, we have to leave." You got on your horse and Lan helped you get Moiraine up in front of you. He got on his own horse and rode off. You followed him, holding Moiraine as close to yourself as you could. You felt her get unconscious again, body falling limp against yours.

"What about the others? We can't leave them!" You shouted at Lan and as he didn't answer you already thought he didn't hear you. But as you crossed the city limits he turned his head around and looked at you.

"We'll find them again." You nodded, feeling paralysed and just followed him. Holding onto Moiraine for dear life.

You rode until you were hidden in the darkness between the trees. Lan jumped off of his horse and helped you put Moiraine down in the soft grass. She was fading away. You didn't need a bond with her to know that.

"I've learnt a bit from Nynaeve. Maybe I can find some herbs that'll still the poison from doing its work. But that's just temporary. We have to get to the Tower."

"Do it. We'll rest for an hour, and then we'll ride to the Tower." So you got to work. You found a few herbs and made a paste out of them.

Going to Moiraine you uncovered the wound and cleaned it a bit. Before you put the paste on, you stroked her cheeks gently.

"This'll hurt Moiraine. It'll sting, but you're strong. You can do this, and in no time we'll be in the Tower, and they can heal you. Everything will be okay." You weren't even sure if she could hear you, but the words were probably more important to you than to her.

Gently you spread the herbs over the wound and the infected parts around it and covered her shoulder with some linen. You sat down in the grass next to her and covered your face with your hands.

Without any warning a sob escaped you. Your body started to shake uncontrollably and tears streamed down your face. All the pressure of the last months, especially since Moiraine was hurt, crushed you beneath its weight.

It felt like your lungs weren't working properly anymore, no air found its way into your system. You couldn't breathe. Your chest felt tight, and the tears didn't stop falling down your face. Panicking you looked up and searched Lan with your eyes.

He was by your side in mere seconds. Kneeling down he held your hand and pulled you into a hug.

"Breath, (Y/n). Its alright, she will be fine. But you have to breathe." Slowly and gently he calmed you down and rocked you in his arms. You felt silly, breaking down like this, when he was right here calm and pulled together. He should be the one crying and panicking. The two of them were bonded, they knew each other longer, better.

After you had calmed down, the two of you packed everything and lifted Moiraine back onto your horse.

You rode day and night, stopping for few breaks. Never longer than one or two hours. You were exhausted, both. But all you could think of was Moiraine. You cleaned her wound, spread new paste, new herbs on it. But nothing really seemed to help.

Lan was strong, for the both of you. Still his facade started to crumble, you could see his fear, his panic growing. Every time he looked at Moiraine's pale, sweaty face.

It had been over a week since you had really slept. More than just a quick nap in between rides. Your whole body hurt, your arms became sore of holding Moiraine up on the horse all day. But it didn't matter, nothing mattered, except for her.

The sun was just rising when you saw the Tower for the first time between the treetops. You gasped and tears formed in your eyes. Relief washed over you and Lan didn't even try to hide his relief anymore.

As you rode through Tar Valon eyes were fixated on you from all sides. They all recognized Moiraine as an Ais Sedai. But you were riding so fast, you couldn't even see individual faces. They all blurred into one big crowd.

Entering the Tower with Moiraine in Lan's arms, multiple Ais Sedai were immediately at your side. Asking questions, wanting to know what happened. Lan dismissed them all and took you and Moiraine to the healers of the yellow ajah.

You were so tired it was hard to even stand up on your feet, so after the Ais Sedai looked for wounds on you, they led you to your own room. You didn't even have the power to argue anymore.

As soon as you had crawled onto the bed, you were asleep.

As you woke up it was completely dark around you. You must have slept for quite a long time. For a second you weren't sure, where you were. But as you felt the soft fabric around you and the cool breeze on your face, you remembered what had happened.

Slowly you sat up and hugged your knees, looking outside into the starry night. You desperately wanted to see Moiraine, but you were scared what you would find if you left your room. You couldn't know for sure if she was alright, if she was still alive.

You weren't sure how much time had passed, when you took up enough courage to get up and leave your room. It could have been five minutes or two hours. You actually had no idea where to go, it was your first time in the Tower after all.

You wandered around a bit before you met a blue Ais Sedai and asked her if she knew where Moiraine was. Without another word she led you to a room close by and left you alone.

Scared of what you would find, you knocked a few times. Upon hearing Moiraine's voice call you in from behind the door, you slowly opened the door and stepped in.

Moiraine sat at her desk and looked up as she heard the door close behind you. She looked healthy, wasn't as pale anymore, and her hair fell over her shoulders, freshly washed.

Tears shot out of your eyes and your hand flew to your mouth trying to silence the sob, that escaped you. Moiraine shot up from her chair and rushed over to you.

"(Y/n), what's wrong?" Her brows were furrowed with worry and confusion.

You slowly raised your hands to her face and cupped her cheek. You needed to feel her under your fingers, to believe that she was actually real.

"You're alive." It came out quieter than planned but the two of you were so close that she still heard you.

Her lips formed a little grin as she wiped your tears away. "Of course I'm alive."

You shook your head violently: "You didn't see yourself, it was... Lan and I weren't sure you'd make it. You were so pale and weak. I didn't think I'd ever hear your voice again. Ever feel your touch again."

Moiraine's eyes widened for a second at that, but she pulled herself together and gently put a strand of your hair behind your ear.

"I've experienced worse, love. Also, my job isn't done yet, and the Wheel knows-..." you cut her off by crashing your lips onto hers. She momentarily froze before grabbing your waist, pulling you closer to her and kissing back. You pull back and look her deep in the eyes, smiling shyly.

"Moiraine, I-", "Don't. Please, I wouldn't know what to do, if you're the Dragon and I would know that you- How you feel for me." You chuckle at her and stroke her cheek.

"Moiraine, I'm not the Dragon. We both know that. I'm older than the others and by far not powerful enough. It's probably Egwene or Rand, everyone can see that. And I-" you kissed her passionately before going on.

"I love you, Moiraine Sedai. And I'm so incredibly happy, that you're alive and well. I was so scared." She closed her eyes and turned her head away as if that would prevent the words from being true. You forced her to face you, even though she was still shaking her head in denial.

"Moiraine, you deserve to be loved." She slowly opened her eyes and looked at you with unspoken pain and fear in her eyes. You wished you could kiss the pain away, could give her the life she truly wanted.

She leaned forward and lightly graced your lips with hers before deepening the kiss. You pressed yourself against her, wanting to be as close as possible to her, feeling as much of her warmth as you could get.

The two of you stumbled backwards until Moiraine hit the bed and fell onto it. She pulled you with her, making you fall on top of her. You supported yourself on your hands on either side of her body and looked down at her.

"You are breathtakingly beautiful." She held your gaze for a moment before laughing and looking away. You were gently kissing her again while you started to take off her shirt and pulled it over her head. It found its way to the floor, just as your jacket and your shirt did.

"I didn't even take a bath, when we came here I fell asleep immediately, and then I came to see you." You panted between kisses, trying to get it out in a straight sentence. Moiraine just kept on kissing you and shook her head as an answer. She didn't care.

Your hand wandered down her body and lightly graced her left nipple. You planted kisses on her neck, over her collarbone and down to her shoulder. You stopped at her now healed wound and carefully stroked over it, before kissing it gently.

With your hand you squeezed her breast and played with her nipple, generating a low groan from Moiraine. You kissed her over her body further and further down. A kiss on her chest, on each breast and nipple, on her stomach and down to the rim of her skirt.

You opened the bow in the front and unwrapped her skirt, taking off all of her clothes completely and throwing them away as well. Having her completely naked right in front of you nearly made you giggle like a teenaged girl, but you managed to pull yourself together.

Your left hand remained on her breast and with the other hand you spread her legs open and held her in place at the waist. Softly you kissed her inner thighs and went upwards until you reached her core. A light kiss and blow on her centre made her shiver and a gasp escaped her. You gently spread her folds with your fingers and licked over her clit. She was practically dripping and you had just started. Your tongue played with her entrance before finding its way onto her clit again. You sucked and licked over it while your finger started to gently and slowly enter her. She shuddered at the touch and let out a low moan.

"(Y/n), please." With mischievous in your eyes you looked up at her and kept on going just as slow as before. You grinned at her before answering.

"Beg." Her eyes widened, and she stared at you, in utter disbelief. Moiraine Sedai didn't beg, and you knew that. But she would have to, if she wanted more.

"Please, (Y/n). Touch me, I need you." You loved the sound of that and as a reward you fastened your pace a little. Thrusting your finger in and out of her faster and sucking on her clit at the same time. After some time you used two fingers and felt her walls slowly tighten around your fingers.

"Oh god, I'm- that's good. Please, I'm close." She covered her mouth with her hand to prevent a loud moan from waking up the whole Tower. She pressed her eyes close together and pushed your head deeper into her as she felt herself getting closer and closer to the release. You licked her clit and simultaneously sucked at it and didn't stop as her release washed over her.

"Yes, love. That's it, ahhh..." With one last muffled scream and your name on her lips she came. Her walls clenched around your fingers, you slowly rode her through the orgasm before pulling your fingers out and licking them clean.

You crawled up again and grinned at her. Kissing her deeply, she could taste herself on your lips. She quietly moaned into the kiss and breathed heavily as you pulled back.

"You looked amazing like this, incredibly beautiful." You said as you stood up from the bed and started to take of the rest of your clothes until you were naked as well.

"Sit up and lean back on the headboard." You told her, it wasn't a question, and she immediately obeyed. She instinctively stretched out her leg and spread them to give you enough room to fit there.

Climbing onto the bed again you sat down on her thigh and let her feel how wet you were. She looked up at you, surprised and flustered that she had this effect on you. She must know, you thought, how beautiful and attractive she is.

Her hands few to your waist to support you, and slowly she started to move you up and down her thigh. At the first friction between your core and her thigh you let out a moan. You had wanted this for such a long time, wanted to feel her, touch her, be hers.

You quickened your pace and held on tightly to Moiraine's shoulders for more support. Her hands were still on your waist, and she swiftly took a nipple into her mouth, as your breasts were exactly in front of her face. At that surprising touch you let out a gasp and dug your nails into her skin.

"Oh, Moiraine. I'm so close-...ahhh..." you moaned her name like a mantra over and over again as you felt yourself approach the edge.

Holding your breath for a second and letting out a loud moan, that you didn't care if anyone heard, you came. Shuddering and gasping you collapsed in Moiraine's lap. She held you tightly as you came down from your high.

After the two of you had calmed down she kissed you gently and stood up to clean herself and came back with a wash cloth to clean you as well. Looking at her care for you, you smiled to yourself. You really didn't deserve her.

She came back to bed and covered you with the sheets and just as you snuggled closer the door opened and Lan came in.

He saw the state the two of you were in and immediately turned around to not make you uncomfortable. He knew Moiraine naked, but not you.

"I apologise. I should have knocked." Moiraine looked at you and you both just burst out laughing. All the stress and fear of the last few days felt so light and unimportant in that very moment. The only thing that matter right now was that you were together. You pulled the sheets a little higher and snuggled closer to Moiraine.

"You can turn around Lan. What is it?"

[markantonys]

More Twitter nonsense.

"Rand has no connection with Tam in the show."

"Rand's relationship with Tam is so central to his character and his development that he feels like a different character without it."

Like...what? It's not missing we just didn't get as much of it as we would've liked. And how is he an entirely different character than book Rand? I hate this idea by the fandom that Rand is an entirely different character than he is in the books cause they didn't include this one specific thing. Rand is probably one of the closest adapted of the EF5 imo

rand's relationship with tam in the books is just a few scenes in book 1, the very occasional thought in books 2-11, and a few scenes in books 12-14. it's not that much! i remember spending much of my readthrough going "okay the rand-tam relationship is sweet but why does it get THIS much love in the fandom? it's barely been in the story at all after the first book?" their relationship is significant to rand's character arc only in books 1, 4, and 12, and even then, only book 1 has it as a book-long theme whereas it just comes up briefly in 4 and 12, but in 12 its brief relevance happens to be as part of rand's biggest turning point in the series, which makes people remember the relationship as being a lot more significant to his overall story than it actually is imo.

if you take all that and adjust it proportionally for the 4 million words:64 hours book:show ratio, then yeah, that's not going to work out to be all that much screentime. the show has and will continue to fit in what they can for that relationship, but it has rightfully deemed rand's relationships with his fellow primary characters as more important to the overall story than his relationship with tam, who is a secondary or tertiary character. and that's the case in the books too; i'm fond of the rand-tam relationship but it 100% is overhyped and isn't nearly as big a part of the story as people think it is.

plus, the thing that's "central" to rand's character arc is the idea that his upbringing and his roots in the two rivers have shaped him into a good, humble man who can succeed where LTT and his arrogance failed. in the books, the rand-tam relationship is one of the vehicles for that, but it's that broader idea that's important rather than the specific relationship. all the show has done is shift the focus to use the EF5 relationships as the vehicle for the very same idea, since the EF5 relationships are a much larger and more constant presence throughout the story than the rand-tam relationship. it was a good narrative choice for a time-constrained medium that must tell the story as concisely and efficiently as possible (the rand-tam relationship only serves this 1 theme & function, but the EF5 relationships serve many themes & functions and serve multiple main protagonists' arcs instead of only rand's, so you get more bang for your buck with them, so to speak). but a lot of book fans really struggle with the idea that the show can and does convey the same themes and emotional beats using different scenes/characters/relationships/etc, and so many Show Complaints stem from that inability to see the forest for the trees.

(also! it's very easy to "shortcut" parent-child relationships because the audience has a prebaked assumption of how deep such a relationship is and we thus don't need to spend much screentime showing its depth. for example, rand and tam had only a couple scenes in s1, but my show-only mom was very emotional when tam asked about rand in nynaeve's test in s2! i don't doubt that if the TGS scene were to make it into a later season, it would hit very hard for her regardless of how much time was spent on that relationship in prior seasons.)

[butterflydm]

s3 spec (distracting myself from waiting for the new episode)

Well, it's a Thursday morning and it's hours until the new episode (plus I have to wait until after work to watch) so... wild speculation about s3! Guaranteed to have many wrong guesses! Let's go!

(contains spoilers through book 8: the path of daggers)

What is it going to mean in a practical sense that s3 will be a 'closer' adaptation of book 4?

What do the characters do in book 4 that needs to be adapted?

I'll start with the easiest person first: Perrin needs to meet Faile and begin the process of falling in love; and he needs to go to the Two Rivers to defend it from Whitecloaks and Trollocs. This is Perrin's clearest and most cinematic plotline in the entire series. It's also been pretty cleanly set up in the show already.

In the books, he goes to the Two Rivers with Loial, Gaul, Bain, Chiad, and Faile.

speculation: the show, he will first meet Faile in the Two Rivers, there as a Hunter of the Horn; Bain and Chiad will go with him in Aviendha's stead, because Aviendha will obligated to go back to the 3FL; Loial has a friendship with Perrin and it makes sense that he would go - in the show, Perrin is the person that Loial has spent the most time with and is closest to; Gaul will probably be introduced when we get more Aiel at the start of s3 and will decide to go with Perrin... maybe because Chiad and Bain are going with him?

Alanna and Verin might also likely be waiting for Perrin in the Two Rivers.

Second easiest: Rand needs to go to the Aiel Waste, go to Rhuidean, and become the Car'a'carn. He's already in place to find out at the end of this season or the start of next season that he's potentially the Aiel's Car'a'carn, but needs to prove it. Moiraine may tell him that he needs an army and the Aiel are fierce warriors, plus he may want to learn more about his biological parents and their past. Moiraine and Lan would naturally want to go with him to keep training him, so that part's easy.

In the books, Egwene goes with him to learn how to be a Dreamer from the Aiel Wise Ones. But that's a book 3 plot and she hasn't touched on it at all yet this season. Will we see any hints of her being a Dreamer this season or will that begin at the start of s3?

Theoretically, Egwene doesn't have to go with Rand to Rhiudean -- she could go back to the Tower with Elayne and Nynaeve so that she and Elayne can take their Accepted tests, find out that Liandrin has flown the coop, and get clues on where to chase her. Then she Dreams and learns she needs to go to Rhuidean, and so she... travels there on her own? While Elayne and Nynaeve head off to chase the Black Ajah on their own? This would mean that Liandrin is 100% revealed to Siuan as Black Ajah. idk this part is wobbly for me (narratively, it's so much easier if Egwene just goes to the Waste with Rand)

Mat also needs to go to Rhuidean. If Egwene does go back to the Tower, then Mat could go with her and then onto the Waste (but why would he ever want to go back to the place he was imprisoned for months? a second round of dagger healing?)

It feels like we need the redstone doorway, or something similar, to keep Mat on his path to Rhuidean rather than going back with Perrin to the Two Rivers. That was the question that Mat originally entered with, iirc -- should he go home to the Two Rivers? And he was told to go to Rhuidean instead.

Will the parts of book 4 that happen in Tear mostly happen in Falme instead?

They can't interrogate any Black Ajah, because there aren't any around in Falme, but we could see the bubbles of evil, we could see the redstone doorway (Turak, as a collector of ancient oddities, might be the owner of it in his version), and we could get the beginnings of the Forsaken Civil War that is kinda happening around this time, as Lanfear works to defend Rand while another Forsaken is sending Shadowspawn to attack him. None of that really needs to happen in Tear specifically.

On an interpersonal level, we might get Rand and Egwene's final breakup in the first episode or so of s3. They've both been through so much, they're on different paths, etc.

The pace in the series has been pretty fast (the Seanchan showed up this season so much sooner than I expected).

New characters that s3 will introduce: Faile for sure; a bunch of Aiel for Rand & co to interact with; and Elayne & Nynaeve may still end up dealing with a Seanchan who was left behind when the Seanchan run away at the end of this season. They might introduce Melindhra next season, to give her relationship with Mat time to develop before the big betrayal. When I did my reread, I was actually really surprised at how little Melindhra there was. We'll probably be getting Moghedien and Asmodean, and potentially Rahvin or Graendal as well. We kinda need both a 'claim Rand' faction and a 'kill Rand' faction in the Forsaken.

We'll probably get an episode focused around the Battle of the Two Rivers (Perrin episode). Hopefully we'll get a focused episode for Rhuidean as well (Rand & Mat episode). So that's two out of eight. The coup should happen this season -- maybe that will be our big midpoint moment, when the momentum of the season shifts? That's three. And the finale would be Rand at Alcair Dal & then capturing Asmodean, while Nynaeve faces off against Moghedien?

So: first episodes does the setup of expectations for the season; then we travel to our new locations from Falme; we get introduced to Caemlyn at some point (are we going to have multiple episodes with scenes in Caemlyn?); boom the coup happens; boom Rhuidean happens; boom the Battle of the Two Rivers happens; then Rand goes to announce himself as Car'a'carn and faces off against Asmodean and ends up with him as a captive teacher.

ep1: Falme taking the place of Tear in terms of set-up events

ep2: having left Falme at the end of ep1, we arrive at our destinations? maybe this is Egwene & Elayne's Accepted tests

ep3: Perrin arrives in the Two Rivers, Wondergirls leave the Tower (again), Rand arrives in the 3FL

ep4: the Tower coup happens when Elaida arrives to find Elayne missing (again)

ep5: Rhuidean?

ep6: something something... maybe Nynaeve & Elayne's plotline?

ep7: battle of the Two Rivers

ep 8: alcair dal & asmodean

Things from the first four books left to be tackled in future books at that point: just the taking of Tear from the end of bk3, basically. Mat's luck, potentially, though that might still get introduced this season (not sure there's time but, hey, it very well could be).

It does make sense to me to wait on introducing Tear until Callandor actually matters in the story which isn't until... wow, The Path of Daggers, I think, is the first time that Callandor really matters in the story. That's when Rand uses it against the Seanchan and it messes him up and he ends up killing some of his own people. Which would mean that it wouldn't need to happen until even after The Box (TM) and Dumai's Wells and such. Is that right? That feels so late in the story for the book 3 Quest Item to actually matter!

Hmm, Tear as happening AFTER the kidnapping would basically make it replace Illian, which I could see working (Rand ruling Illian literally never matters narratively in the books - it's never really a full setting the way that Cairhien, Tear, or Caemlyn are; it has a strong emotional beat of Rand feeling like he's earned it as Rand al'Thor and not just the Dragon Reborn, but that kind of beat can be done in other ways).

idk it depends in part on how they're going to be handling Caemlyn and on Elayne's storylines, because she and Rand need a solid chunk of time together. How and when will the show carve out the time for them? Could the Black Ajah hunt actually lead our main players back to Cairhien, and they meet up with Rand there with the Aiel?

haha okay I am trying to peer WAY too far in the future and we just do not have enough information for that right now. I'm just way too impatient for tonight's episode, lol.

[kevin-sedai]

The thing I like about the show so much is that it gives me actual people in my character tags now. I love all the fanart and incorrect quotes and memes, but it hits different seeing an actual person be those characters. Dónal miming Liandrin in the cell was Mat. Zoë drinking dirt was Nynaeve. Ceara being Elle Woods on her first day at the Tower was Elayne. Marcus being apprehensive about Elyas and the wolves was Perrin. Maddeline doing the Tower chores so seriously was Egwene. And Josha panicking that he channeled in front of "Selene" was Rand.

Yes. The show has some problems. But, I don't even consider it being Rafe's fault or the writers' faults, so much as I fault Amazon for not giving them 10 episodes. Two episodes (hours) would help them cover so much more where they could give more time to explore what they want to explore. But I think they're doing well enough with what they're given by Amazon while trying to cover such a massive world.

Idk, the show takes me into Randland in such a way that I get that home feeling, and I can't thank the cast enough for being so good at what they do.

[qqueenofhades]

Finished s1/started s2 of WOT, thoughts as follows:

1x08 truly was just the LOTR Lite Power Hour, including Helm's Deep

I will say that the bit at the start, where they reveal that 3000 years ago was an advanced sci-fi society, was the most interesting and original plot thing they've done so far

2x01 did feel more interesting and better paced overall; I am hopeful it will indeed be better than s1, which was fun but really nothing particularly special

I am aware that they get together in the book, but I'm still getting nothing from Lan/Nynaeve? They looked at each other meaningfully a few times in s1, they were then in love, or something

Zzzzzzz

Lololololololol poor Lan, tried to be emotionally available and have a nice dinner and then immediately nearly died

GODDAMN IT GOTTA RUN OUT AND FIGHT SOME RINGWRAITHS BECAUSE MOIRAINE DONE DID SOMETHING DUMB AGAIN

I don't ship him and Moiraine exactly (because I like them being platonic lifemates and also I obviously like Moiraine with Sophie Okonedo's character) but I also don't NOT ship them, it's confusing

Rand now has the Buzzcut of Angst, he can talk to Flint in Black Sails s3 to find out how that usually goes

Hint: it's usually Not Good

Me at the end of s1: yeah there's 14 more books in this series, that was definitely not the Last Battle

And indeed, Dark One Guy is back, we suspect this likewise won't go well

I am excited for the arrival of my Hot Evil Eyeliner Wife

[pillowfriends]

TSR new reader thoughts

chapter 6: doorways

best chapter yet of this book, chef's kiss. it took me literally like an hour to read these 19 pages because I listened to part of it on audio, went back and reread, and annotated so much. no regrets, what a banger chapter.

first, great insights into Elayne's character, with her feeling out of her depth and cowardly compared to Nynaeve and Egwene (even though in Egwene's narration she talks about how scared she is of the Darkfriends too), and trying to mediate. I love her conversation later in the chapter with Moiraine about wars and strategy, I feel like this is an aspect of her I hadn't seen/understood before.

also Nynaeve's paragraph about war really struck me.

War used to be something I heard about from peddlers, something far away that I didn't reallly understand. I know what it is, now. Men killing men. Men behaving like animals, reduced to animals. Villages burned, farms and fields burned. Hunger, disease and death, for the innocent as the guilty. What makes this war of yours better, Moiraine? What makes it cleaner?

Moiraine has such a cold ruthlessness about her that most of the other characters can't even begin to understand. it's fascinating.

Moiraine, Egwene and Elayne talking about boys was hilarious. what does Moiraine know about the man she's going to marry?? I mean, I think *I* know because spoilers, but what and how does she know?? I love how she guessed wrong about Egwene's feelings for Rand and Egwene was so happy like, fuck yeah, she doesn't actually know everything, rare W for the Emond's Field girls. also Moiraine being like "btw Nynaeve I don't want to marry Lan, cough cough, hint hint" is so good.

also we learned about Two Rivers courting rituals from the second romance conversation! I am living.

I'm keeping an eye on this redstone doorway, because I've heard it mentioned before in reference to Moiraine's plotline. lore-wise it seems very cool, and I'm excited to see where it goes. I love all the ter'angreal.

< last | next >

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 9 - Decisions

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Crescent moon icon) In which, what are you doing here?

Three days pass in lethargy due to the heat. (1)

PERSPECTIVE: Mat learns the lordlings have spread all manner of rumour, and even some of the servant women who used to enjoy a cuddle are avoiding him. Perrin and Thom seem to be doing their own thing. Moiraine, the one person Mat wants to avoid, seems to be around every corner, though she doesn't approach him. And still he keeps finding excuses to stay just one more day. Once, he carries a lamp down to the Great Holding area, just to look at something new.(2) He also goes into the city, dicing for what feel like small stakes now.

PERSPECTIVE: Perrin sometimes sees Mat in the taverns, but avoids him instead of trying to find out why he's acting so irritable. Perrin isn't there for wine or dice, he's buying bad ale for anyone who looks foreign, looking for any rumour of something that might draw Faile away from Tear. He's sure if she finds something that might put her name in the stories, she'll chase it without him. He hears what he believes to be outdated rumours about the Seanchan and the Horn of Valere. Ghealdan is rioting, Illian is suffering from mass madness, Cairhien is in a great famine, slowing the civil war, Trolloc raids are increasing in the Borderlands.(3) He can't send Faile into any of that.

PERSPECTIVE: Egwene spends more hours questioning Amico and Joiya with Nynaeve, to no avail. No word comes from Tar Valon, to say whether the threat to free Taim is being dealt with or not. Aviendha sometimes visits with Egg, and Egg enjoys the company, though she sees unasked questions in Avi's eyes. Elayne's been busy with something, and Nyn's been spending time with Lan, even cooking foods he likes (or trying, she's never been good at cooking), so Egg is especially glad to find she and Avi have a lot in common and more to talk about.

PERSPECTIVE: Elayne doesn't attend the Black Ajah questionings. Instead, she's become very adept at being nearby when Rand has a free moment, and finding secluded corners where they can be alone. She even makes a sort of deal with the Maidens who guard Rand, who think it's great sport to help El corner him. He asks her advice in governance, and follows it often. She thinks she could love him just for those two things, even if he weren't also kind.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand meets with High Lords, both at appointed times and sometimes when they get together in secret but Thom can ferret out what's going on. He finds El's advice very useful with them, but she tells him not to give her credit: a ruler should take advice, but never be seen taking it. He feels like he's putting off some decision, even though he's building his plans. He thinks of asking El to stay, but he doesn't know what he wants from her besides her presence, and that wouldn't be fair.

Eventually High Lords Meilan and Sunamon come to him with a proposal for a contract with Mayene, to use their ships to move the excess grain for trade elsewhere, but he rejects it as too obsessed with Tairen interests, burns the vellum with the Power, and tells them to go negotiate with Berelain or he'll hang them both. They disgust him almost as much as he disgusts himself, threatening to hang men, and meaning it.

The third evening, he looks at the herons branded in his palms, and remembers the prophecy lines that foretold them. He wonders what the next lines refer to, what are dragons? Lews Therin Telamon was one, but perhaps the creatures on his banner are also dragons. Even Aes Sedai don't seem to know.

Lanfear shows up and says he looks stronger, harder than when last she saw him. She frowns at his face, saying he's been marked, but it's no matter, he was and ever is hers.

He's confused, saying he doesn't know how she got here, he worried she was still in Cairhien, maybe hurt or worse. She can stay in the Stone, but all there ever was between them was companionship, and that's the end of it. When Cairhien is at peace again, he can try to see that her estates are returned to her.

She says she might have had estates there once, but so much has changed. Selene is just a name she uses sometimes, the name she made her own is Lanfear. She shields him from the Power, and he realizes she isn't lying.(4) She keeps calling him Lews Therin, he keeps insisting his name is Rand. He asks if she means to kill him, and she says no, she means to have him forever. He was hers long before Ilyena stole him. He loved her[Lanfear], she cries, and he replies, and she loved power! He's dazed for a moment wondering where the words came from.(5)

Lanfear is as startled as Rand for a second, but continues that he's learned much, unaided, but he's still fumbling in the dark. Some of the Chosen[Forsaken] fear him too much to wait, but there are those who could teach him. Rand says he would refuse even if it was offered, he stands against everything the Forsaken are and do. He will destroy them all, if he can. Lanfear says they fear him because they fear the Great Lord of the Dark will give him a place above theirs. Rand asks if they can't say his name either, and she says it would be blasphemy, and besides, the Great Lord told her himself. Rand says that's ridiculous, he's still bound, or he'd be fighting Tarmon Gai'don now. Lanfear says he is bound, but at Shayol Ghul, in the Pit of Doom, you can hear him. She asks him to kneel to the Dark One, and they can rule the world forever, together.

Rand sees a Gray Man enter his room, and he pushes Lanfear aside, the shield drops so he takes saidin and wields his fire sword, and kills the man. He asks why she'd be so sneaky, when she could have killed him easily. She says she doesn't use the Soulless.

She asks him again to come with her, there's still time. Or does he mean to kill her now? She appears ready to counter an attack, but Rand doesn't make one. He knows she's served evil for three thousand years, in her way, but all he can see before him is a woman, and he can't do it, though he knows it's foolish of him.

A sudden thought boiled up in his head like a hot spring. The Aiel. Even a Gray Man should have found it impossible to sneak through doors watched by half a dozen Aiel. “What did you do to them?” His voice grated as he backed toward the doors, keeping his eyes on her. If she used the Power, maybe he would have some warning. “What did you do to the Aiel outside?” “Nothing,” she replied coolly. “Do not go out there. This may be only a testing to see how vulnerable you are, but even a testing may kill you if you are a fool.” He flung open the left-hand door onto a scene of madness.

=====

(1) I'm very cross with this chapter because it doesn't indicate the perspective shifts. The other chapters all have a double line break, a visible section separation. This one just flows. Very annoyingly. It just shifts every few paragraphs until you get a bunch of pages in a row with Rand. (2) The narration doesn't mention the redstone doorframe, but it's implied. (3) The Seanchan we've seen holed up in the Sea Folk's home, so who's to say whether the rumours are outdated. Ghealdan, isn't that where we last heard Masema ran off to? Illian mass hallucinating under Sammael, and Tear judging as if they weren't suffering Be'lal and Ishamael for who knows how long. Cairhien's civil war devastating an already precarious country. The only bit we don't necessarily have any relevant information about is the Borderlands, but it does make sense Trollocs would be raiding more as the final battle looms over the world and forces prepare. (4) Oh, Rand, you really didn't even suspect? (5) That doesn't seem like a good sign. His past life speaking through him. Nobody's mentioned that as a possibility. But, he did start hearing, perhaps not a real voice, but an urge, all the way back in book 1. Little prompts, to act this or that way. And, is he using his magic instinctively, the way Nynaeve learned her Healing, or is he remembering a skill born of hundreds of years of use?

[mashithamel]

WoTober Day 14

Prompt: Armor

Lan’s armor hung in his royal office where it faded into the background, until Nynaeve found herself in front of it the day they buried him.

“He leaves behind a great legacy,” Maric said.

al’Maric, she reminded herself. She had placed Lan’s crown on his head herself only an hour ago. “You’re ready.”

“I hope so. The feast is beginning, Mother.”

“Go on, I’m coming.” She sighed at her reflection in the breast plate. “Whatever shall I do now, my love?”

She would learn to live without him, somehow, but had no doubt their threads would find one other again.

[liptonrm]

I have learned that the season two premiere is HOURS closer than I thought. So fuck my job, all of my homies hate my job, I'm finishing my rewatch or else.

Here it is, episode 8. Let's all get ready to go to the Eye of the World.

Love a conlang. Love actors being made to act in a conlang.

I get it, Lanfear, I totally get it. Lews Therin is a total smoke show.

The fact that they're showing LTT, his philosophical arguments with Latra Posae Decume, AND his child in a cradle is just SO much. So good, so crunchy. Demonstrate that you know the books and the lore without encyclopedically reciting the books and the lore.

Also, let's not forget, according to the lore Egwene is Latra reborn. Can't wait to see how this scene is paralleled later in the show.

This show definitely knows how to do a pre-credits teaser.

Will the kinslaying be alluded to in season two? Guess we'll find out soon enough.

A part of me wishes we could've seen what could've been before covid hit. Most of me is just sooo happy for everything we got.

Lol Egwene and Perrin bonding over how much they love Rand. So true besties.

The Blight being fungus-based is just perfect. Fungus is horrifying enough all on its own.

Lan! Nynaeve! Lan x Nynaeve!

All of the Forsaken are so obsessed with LTT it makes them look stupid.

Little fat man sa'angreal my beloved.

I knew his eyes were familiar! The actor playing Yakoda also played Boorman on Disney+'s Willow show. Shame that show was stripped from the internet, it was cute.

I'm pretty sure he has the same big-ass blade in that show, too.

Agelmar and Amalisa's conversation is basically if nothing we do matters than everything we do matters. Which is a pretty good WoT thesis too.

So in the show, what is the Eye supposed to be? Is it the Bore? The Age of Legends Hall of the Tower? I'm withholding judgment.

It's really a bummer that covid fucked with the Trolloc army. I get why practical effects were impractical in that situation, but still, a bummer.

Rand just wants to love the people he loves, have a family, and live a good life. Poor boy, life just doesn't give him a choice.

Interesting, Ishamael has a chain in the hand he's using to channel. Is it an angreal?

You just know that tons of Age of Legends philosophy students were obsessed with Ishamael.

"What about what she wants." Feminist king.

His little smirk as he's blasted away. He wins. So, he wins.

I still have no idea what's going on with the circle burning out and Nynaeve "dying" but Egwene healing her? But, hey, seeing the consequences of channeling too much of the power is useful.

There are no beginnings or endings. But it was an ending.

Fuck that one little girl in particular. 🤠🪳

On rewatch, the finale is still a little underwhelming. It's got some great moments, but it falls a little flat, mostly due to covid-related issues (the battle scenes) and the inherent difficulties adapting Eye of the World, problems that won't transfer to the next seasons.

Four and a half more hours! Let's go!

[clearancecreedwatersurvival]

The show keeping us from seeing an actual lanaeve reunion all season is perhaps the most book accurate choice they could have made really.

[again-please]

hi! for the ask game 5 and 9, please!

howdy! thank you!! I've just answered 5 here

9. What’s the significance behind your Tav’s name?

So, meaning-wise, nothing really going on there except that I've always loved the name Niamh (pronounced Neev or Nee-iv), and Neve is an anglicized version of it that also functions as a little shoutout to one of my favorite characters of all time, Nynaeve (Ny-neev) from the Wheel of Time series. Like I think I'd straight up name a daughter Nynaeve if I was the type to procreate. I also gave her the last name "Nomani" as a lil nod to an NPC my husband created, Cynthia Nomani, in our first DND game. She was an apprentice wizard my character Teniel (who I only recently realized was very Astarion-like in many ways) fell in love with and married.

Bonus fun fact: I wrote almost the entire first chapter of A Little Further with Neve named "Win" (Winnifred) instead, but just didn't feel like it fit. Truly find+replaced that in favor of "Neve" like...maybe two hours before posting it lmao

ask game!

[onaperduamedee]

Hello! I watched the wot show and liked it but I’ve been really curious about all the complaints that people made about how the plots don’t fit with what happens later on in the books. My assumption is that it’s not that major a thing but is just the critique people latched onto and repeat. But as you’re now a way through the series and I appreciate the thought you put in, would you say this might be a problem or is it overblown that some later plots can’t be salvaged already? Is part of it true

Hello, that's a really interesting question!

I’m trying to keep this vaguely spoiler-free with the exception of elements from The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt covered on the show, but this still got long.

I do think it is overblown, but I also liked the changes made, so I might not be the best judge here. I'm trying to approach your question from the angle of what is there and how it affects the story.

From where I stand in my reading, the majority of the changes in the show can be categorized in:

moving forward some arcs (dagger theft, visit to Tar Valon),

new material introducing important groups and dynamics early (Aes Sedai, warders),

plainly streamlining those THICK books (cutting the 14578 villages Mat and Rand visit, merging certain elements)

To me, those changes will serve the story going forward, both in terms of pacing and clarity, and do not affect the core of later arcs. The plot points still happen, just differently or later. The complaints about some changes are honestly hair-splitting, like making the girls ta'veren or Lan not being stony enough: it’s POV adjustment, not plot-damaging.

Some important discarded encounters will obviously come up later when there is more time. I get the frustration of fans who wanted to see those relationships play out now instead of new material (Nynaeve/Moiraine dance battle, how I mourn you), but I disagree shifting them around altered the story. The Eye of The World consists of A Lot of traveling and encounters, with a clear focus on Rand, despite the established five main characters. I think these changes allowed the show to lay the groundwork more evenly, particularly for the girls. 

Now, the biggest change that could affect storylines soon is Moiraine being cut from the source. It could change her arc significantly, short and long-term, but I don't see it as a major hurdle since Moiraine gets a meatier arc that is thematically relevant to book 2. I have qualms about how it could make later arcs redundant, but the execution will do a lot of work here. Mirroring is good in a narrative. 

Another aspect is Siuan/Moiraine potentially affecting their respective story. It may require some reshuffling/cutting characters, which will happen anyway with so many side characters gallivanting. But I'd absolutely argue their love life is not the most important element on their gripping journey in the books. Also, although I loathe admitting it, being together now does not necessarily entail being together always: there's wiggle room here, even if I don't want it.

Giving Perrin a wife only to kill her is dumb, but does not really change his later arc, come on. It will certainly add a certain weight to the story, like with Siuan and Moiraine.

Overall, I find the criticism all the more unfair that fans admit the first book is not representative of the rest of the series (it’s mainly Lord of the Rings references with more innkeepers and jugglers). To me, there's a fair margin of improvement in the books, pace-wise and story-wise. If fans come from the books thinking not one line should be rewritten, of course they're not going to enjoy the show doing away with dated or slower elements. I do. Ultimately, we don’t know how the story will be told: even if certain plots seem barred to them now, it may not be always so.

I hope I answered your question and I profoundly thank you for asking it because I could talk about these books/this show for hours.

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

Yes, I'm aware it's Tuesday not Monday but shhhhh XD

Just a quick one this month. Not even going to split it up by fandom as I usually do, just kinda blitz through.

So I ended up...essentially taking January off from writing, apart from a scattered few sentences here and there. Which on the one hand was probably good for me but on the other hand I'm behind on projects lol. Ah well.

Priorities for this month: 1. SWBB I'm picking up the project I had to step away from last year. Anakin was not found at age nine and never became a Jedi; we're handwaving that TPM ended roughly the same way anyway because Padme and Obi-Wan are very good at what they do and one of the other pilots got lucky on the droid control ship. Fast-forward to like a year and a half/two years into the Clone Wars, Ahsoka ends up briefly stranded on a planet that's neutral mostly because it's a black market hub. They click pretty quickly, hang out for a while, stumble into a Separatist plot to test a chemical weapon and blame a limnic eruption for the deaths, and Deal With It. Hondo and Bo-Katan are briefly involved because I said so XD 2. P&J We're getting to the part where Ari actually finds stuff out, lol. Getting to Europe and talking with other researchers, etc. There's some interesting stuff in Marseille, and Calais is important. And Ari and Phil continue to be cute in the background. 3. The Other Battlestar Baltar ends up on Pegasus; there's a bunch of stuff built up around the two OCs who fill the plotholes he left behind...I need to get more text down in general, lol. And also figure out how I want to structure it? Like...I do need to establish the new people (including a few on Pegasus, like the senior medical officer, a marine officer, there will also be a Four who gets pulled from the civilian fleet...) and also clarify why Baltar ends up in a different position (and why Helo doesn't because he and Athena still need to meet). And it would probably make the most sense to just go linearly and handle all the miniseries exposition in order. But then again would that actually be Interesting; or would it be better to pick up later and jump back and forth in time...yeah, you see my problem lol. 4. Acheron Javert Groundhog Day fic; looping the last 36ish hours of his life. (from right before he heads to the barricade to his death). 5. Maybe get back into Precipice or write some origfic if I have time/brain.

Longer-range projects: 1. Percussive Maintenance is still hanging out in my head, so I'm tentatively planning on that for GBB (aka the one where the at least two concussions Sam gets during Downloaded unlock Enough of his memories) 2. Or maybe I'll jump back to The Blood of Angry Men, we'll see. (aka a Zarek character study; looking back on his life (and the allies/friends/tools that he's led to their deaths) from the night before his execution) 3. What I'm definitely not doing is any of the crossovers floating around in my head; either the Star Wars ones or the WoT ones. (the one I talked about the other night; and a fusion is actually sort of building in my head because of course it is. Mostly because of the Kara-as-Mat thing I pinged onto the other night; but also Baltar would be an interesting Logain; possibly Zarek as Taim? I think I'd leave Rand as Rand and just fill in the roles around him. Lee also lines up really well with Perrin...and since this would derail pretty early on I feel a little more Flexible about love interests/etc. lol. For reasons of Tuon, Moiraine, and Lan, mostly. Also Faile. Also I'd still want Caprica as a sul'dam, I think, but Logain doesn't have a canon love interest IIRC sooooo that's easier to sort out XD ...although now that I think about it, Athena as Nynaeve and Helo as Lan could work...) 4. Incinctus/other Castlevania things. 5. I'm doing pod_together again once signups open. I need to refine my fandoms list, haha. Not that I haven't had interesting times the last couple years, but it'd be nice to get matched based on something that Isn't a very secondary/tertiary fandom for me again. 6. AtLA may come floating back into my head enough to pick up some of the projects I wandered away from there, we'll see.

Not writing, strictly speaking, but there's some admin/modding stuff for this year's GBB that I should get a move on, especially since the event is moving to May-October, plus helping out with SWBB the way I do every year.

...yeah, that's pretty much where things stand. Hopefully I'll hit a nice groove this month!

What about you guys, what are you working on?

[butterflydm]

wot reread: a memory of light (ch 5-6)

spoilers through a memory of light, the last book in the series

Rand wakes up next to Aviendha, and goes to the tent entrance to glance at the busy camp, already at work on preparing for the day. "Everyone knew these were their last moments before the storm arrived".

2. Aviendha sneaks up on Rand, delighted that she managed to succeed despite the bond. She had to move very slowly and carefully but she manages to startle him when he turns around to see her right there, still naked.

Yeah, if I were restructuring WoT as a whole, I think I would place the bond way later in time than it happened in the books. Like "last night" late. Still have the love confessions happen in WH (and Rand finally sleeping with Elayne) but don't have Elayne suggest bonding yet (honestly, when you look at Rand's arc as a whole, it's kinda weird that he's willing to agree to bonding at that time).

And when Rand sneaks off with Nynaeve, he should leave Min behind in Caemlyn too, which would (a.) actually give Min time to bond with Elayne & Aviendha and (b.) actually let Rand be genuinely emotionally alone and isolated for the arc where we're constantly being TOLD that he's alone and isolated and finally (c). be a much better reason why Min never tells Rand that Elayne is pregnant than 'doesn't remember due to being blackout drunk from jealousy'. Then Aviendha trains when she's in Caemlyn, and instead of going to Arad Doman with the rest of the Wise Ones, she goes to Rhuidean at that point (since Min is still in Caemlyn; you could have the Semirhage thing be a non-romantic moment where Rand breaks through to save Nynaeve or one of the Maidens). And then the actual bonding happens once the four of them are all reunited in Merrilor before the Last Battle. Plus, this means that Alanna stays important to the story as Cadsuane's Rand mood-ring.

Anyway, obviously not something that Jordan could have done, because he had not yet written all the parts that would need to be restructured. But in an ideal world. Because as it is, after the bond happens in WH, it's extremely underutilized. And Rand doubting that he can really love all three of them without that being an issue between them makes a lot more sense if he hasn't already experienced their affection through the bond.

3. Also, Rand being able to feel the land here ("The Dragon is one with the land" as we were told in EotW) is really neat and I like it a lot. He can feel the life of the land and also how precarious it all is.

4. There's still a bit of a culture clash going on, as Rand is puzzled at how Aviendha can find their first time together (back in TFoH) to now be something that can't be talked about at all (because she has met her toh over it to Elayne), which I like. They were raised in very different cultures. Aviendha also has definitely accepted here the idea that she plans to live in the wetlands, post-Last Battle, and is faintly wistful that they have no time for a bath before the big meeting (in one hour).

5. Ah, and Aviendha here shows us that it seems likely that the Aiel, out of all the nations, may have the easiest time of adjusting to the notion of men being able to channel now that saidin is clean -- she says that concern over men channeling now would be like refusing to forget toh after it has been met. This makes a lot of sense to me when I think about it -- we know that Aiel men who can channel historically left their clans to go face an honorable death in the Blight (even if we've just learned in this book that was being thwarted by the Dark One) so the Aiel haven't really been villainizing male channelers the way that so many cultures have done.

And Rand uses the One Power to give them a shared shower together. A nice hot shower like they used to have in the AoL. Aviendha does not find Rand's ancient memories at all off-putting, the way that Min did. She just teases him that he was easier to manage before he had his new ancient wisdom. They are being so cute together. 🥰🥰🥰

6. But, yeah, I love how Rand feels comfortable talking about the Age of Legends and what "we" did back then with Aviendha, with no worries that she's going to judge him or freak out on him. She 100% teases him and gives him shit about it, though. And when she criticizes the AoL attitudes as naive, he agrees with her. This is also when she requests her future 'boon' from Rand and while it would definitely be nice if she just... told him about her vision, I love the way that she makes her request, because it's couched in a way that is full of not denying his consent in the matter and with respect for her partner:

"Rand, today, I will request a boon."

"What boon? I'm not certain I could deny you anything today, Aviendha."

"I'm not certain yet what it will be."

"I don't understand."

"You needn't understand. And you needn't promise me you will agree. I felt I needed to give you warning, as one does not ambush a lover. My boon will require you to change your plans, perhaps in a drastic way, and it will be important."

Also, on a physical level, I like that Rand likes how rough Aviendha's hands are. <3

7. We switch to Egwene's PoV at this point. In this book, there has been a lot of mid-chapter PoV swapping and I'm not certain that I like it. I mean, that's kinda the reason that Sanderson gave for why he cut scenes like the bridal wreaths scene -- because it might have felt frivolous when set against the attack on Caemlyn (but Perrin and Rand yukking it up didn't??) -- but if there was less mid-chapter PoV swapping, then you could add more of those character beats in without it feeling jarring, because you could continue the story on to move back to a serious plot beat before swapping to the Black Tower storyline in the next chapter or whatnot. It's a self-created problem, is what I'm saying. Jordan would occasionally do mid-chapter PoV swaps but it was much more sparing. I understand the urge to always have the scene be in what you feel is the 'most effective' PoV for that part of the scene but sometimes the story is stronger as a whole if you don't constantly do that. I feel like maybe the PoV swapping extravaganza should possibly have been saved for chapter 37.

8. Egwene is trying to interpret her dreams while they happen. A glass column of light; trying to hold the world together and it continuing to break under her hands. When she wakes up, she's temporarily disorientated, because she's sleeping in a different room than normal, with her own room in the White Tower still being put to rights after the attempted assassination. She's been commuting to the Field of Merrilor, essentially, lol.

Gawyn reads a letter about the latest news from Caemlyn and they talk about "the Seanchan woman" (aka Leilwin née Egeanin) who Nynaeve has said won't cause them any 'intentional' harm. A glowing endorsement! Egwene, much like Rand, is worried that they will have to fight the Seanchan and the Trollocs at the same time (another thing that Mat is sheltered from -- from what I recall, I don't think he ever finds out how much danger all his friends were in from his slaver wife, because the narrative needs to keep the illusion alive for Mat for as long as possible).

9. Hundreds of thousands of people are reported dead in the Caemlyn attack. That's hundreds of thousands of lives that Mat could have saved if he'd been slightly less mistrusting of Aes Sedai. And the city itself is lost, at least for now. The city had also housed much of the planned food supply for Elayne's troops for the Last Battle, also now lost. They also get word of the time for the day's big meeting, and it's in half an hour, so they get moving. (Gawyn suggest letting Rand wait but Egwene says it would be a bad idea to allow Rand to fully set the narrative for the upcoming meeting).

10. Every nation but Murandy, Arad Doman, and the Seanchan-held lands is represented at this meeting. Darlin (of Tear) is worried deeply about the Seanchan threat to his lands, we learn, and so will stand with Egwene if need be, because she has promised him Gateways back to Tear, if he should need to bring his army back to face the Seanchan. But both Darlin and Gregorin (the steward of Illian) tell Egwene that Rand is willing to listen to reasonable arguments. See Egwene's worries here about how much she could trust 'the man he had become' would resonate a lot more in general, if her last meeting with Rand had been ruthless!Rand.

She is surprised to see that, despite what she'd thought going into this meeting, that the flag of Arad Doman is present after all. And so is the flag of Murandy. So only the Seanchan-held lands are not present.

11. Rand arrives, wearing red and gold, and with a carpet of fresh grass growing under his feet (because he's One with the Land <3). The impact that this would have had if she'd only seen ruthless!Rand in ToM and not zen!Rand. It's still pretty good but it could have been an even bigger moment for Egwene. The grass spreads outward until the entire area that the leaders are standing on is covered in green. Egwene sends Gawyn off to see if one of the Aes Sedai & Asha'man pairs will spill the beans on what weave Rand might be using to cause such an effect.

12. He has a large floating bundle that unravels as he walks, setting an enormous pavilion ahead on the green. Egwene reluctantly admires his showmanship, lol. Without breaking stride, he tells all the gathered leaders that they can bring five people with them each, and then heads into the tent. lol at Min being a prop just like the saidin glowbulbs are props. There she is, clinging to Rand's arm like a bracelet, as has been her duty since fucking A Crown of Swords. The Hero's Reward For His Sacrifices And Suffering. When I think of how interesting Min's storyline could have been and then think of how pointless it has been... it's just really sad and frustrating.

Okay, actually, here's a good time to mention an element of weird: Elayne just casually mentioned to Egwene that Aviendha spent the night with Rand. So, off-screen, Elayne has apparently shared the whole "all three of us love him and are in a relationship with him" thing with Egwene, because Egwene has zero thoughts or feelings about the fact that Elayne is pregnant with Rand's kids, Aviendha spent the night with him, and Min is stapled to him today. This is the same woman who believed in ToM that Gawyn shouldn't share a bedroom with her because they were unmarried, mind you. And she has zero thoughts or feelings about Rand hooking up with three different women while not married to any of them; she just recites the facts without any kind of response to them. You'd think that this would come up when she was thinking about how much he'd changed from the boy she used to know!

I say again, definitely not for the first time:

Stop having important emotional moments happen off-screen!

13. When Elayne enters the tent, she and Rand smile at each other, and Egwene is like "ugh, how can she be so pleased and impressed with him!" before reluctantly admitting that she feels some pride in how much he has accomplished as well. When Perrin ("and his wife") and Nynaeve come in, they go stand by Rand, as does Cadsuane. But again, Egwene apparently has no opinion about Min clinging to Rand while Elayne smiles at him from the other side of the tent. Egwene is not a character who is shy about having opinions!

14. Rand thought that the king of Murandy might be Demandred, I'm guessing, by the way all his people went on alert and him going to stare at the guy and then going, "you're not him. Where is he?" but poor Egwene is so baffled by this.

Rand lays out the situation and says that one of the big problems of the last Age is that they weren't all united against the Shadow -- each general led on their own (with LTT being just as guilty of this fault as anyone else). Another emotional beat that kinda fell by the wayside of hurrying to the ending: whenever Rand has revealed in the past that he has LTT's memories, it caused a lot more concern and fuss over his potential madness. Again, I do get why Sanderson would be like "we don't have time for that" but I do feel the need to note it.

15. Rand talks here about how he wants to prevent another Breaking, wants to prevent conflict from breaking out the moment that he's dead.

Ah, I wonder if Egwene's bizarrely uncharitable "Even Elayne had gobbled up another country" thought here is part of what contributed to the whole "Elayne is acting out of power-hunger" fandom belief even though we were actually told in Elayne's own PoV thoughts back in ToM that Elayne is acting out of thinking about the future and the looming threat of the Seanchan Empire. Between Birgitte's increasingly bitter PoV and Egwene throwing Elayne under the bus with the other rulers, readers choose to believe them over Elayne's own actual internal thoughts about her reasoning behind her choices. Though I feel like part of the issue there is how shortchanged the Elayne Takes Cairhien plotline ended up being -- if we'd spent more time getting to see Elayne navigate the politics of it, like we got to see with Caemlyn, then we would have gotten more of Elayne's own thoughts on the reasoning to balance everything out.

16. At this point, Rand presents "the Dragon's peace" -- one of the three things that he says he requires in exchange for him giving up his life to save the world.

Hmm, I wonder if getting Elayne's genuine reaction here was part of the reason that Rand has kept his distance from her? This way, the other rulers see her reaction alongside them and think of her as aligned with them instead of aligned with Rand?

I do feel like I don't really have any good idea here of whether or not the random leaders of the world know that Elayne and Rand are in a relationship but if I assume that they mostly don't, then that's an actual reason for Min to be clinging to Rand's arm here... but then Elayne kinda punctures that idea later in the scene and it kinda seems like, off the page, everyone did get a debriefing on the "so, the Dragon Reborn has three girlfriends, let's not make a big thing about it" issue. I feel like this is not something I should be so confused about at this point in the story, lol.

And I feel like this scene would make more sense if people (especially those not firmly on Rand's side) DON'T know about Rand and Elayne's relationship, because then Min clinging to Rand as a very visible "Hey! Look at me! Mistress to the Dragon Reborn!" distraction technique would make more sense (as part of a thing that the polycule worked out on purpose) and make her choice to do that seem more strategic and less like she's peeing all over Rand in public to make her claim on him. But, again, Elayne publicly telling Rand "I love you" later in this scene ruins that theory and we go back to 'Min feeling the need to reassert her claim after Aviendha slept with Rand last night' because we didn't get to actually see a scene where Min has been okay with the polycule and we've been left with possessive & jealous Min as our only 'on-screen' Min (didn't have to be the bridal wreaths scenes -- any scene of the three of them actually talking would have been nice to get! Bonus points if Rand is actually part of the discussion too!).

17. Egwene cuts off the discussions on this to ask after Rand's other two requests -- the first is that he essentially wants Egwene's blessing on breaking the seals (though he plans to do it even if he doesn't get her blessing). But this leads up to Egwene and Rand having a big argument and... tbh, I don't envy Sanderson for needing to come up with a reason for Egwene and Rand to be so ~at odds~ in this last moment so that Moiraine can swoop in to save the day because it really makes no sense that they can't come to terms with each other! I'm not sure there's any argument that could have been worked up here that wouldn't feel at least a little artificial.

Given the paths that they've both walked to this point, it feels somewhat infantilizing that they need mom holding their hands in order to stop fighting with each other. If the reason you 'kill off' the mentor is to allow the students to reach their full potential, it really does kinda stifle/reverse that growth if it ends up that the mentor needs to come back to fix things.

Oh, and to quote Sanderson's retrospective on Moiraine coming back:

In his notes, Robert Jordan was very specific about the fact that Rand and Egwene needed to almost come to blows in the lead-up to the Last Battle. He called it the grand union of the armies against Rand, whose decisions were considered too radical, too dangerous, to be allowed to proceed. Moiraine was to be the force that brought the two of them together, unifying the armies of light, cementing her importance—and showing why she needed to be rescued by Mat before the Last Battle. (There were a lot of instructions about what Moiraine was to say, and some good writing on that meeting at the Field of Merrilor.)

Just in the interest of having all the appropriate information.

18. Random side note, I love Berelain's reaction to Rand's treaty (it really would be a huge blessing to teeny tiny countries like Mayene!). I just adore her basically going "two thumbs up, five stars, no notes" to the Dragon's Peace. But Berelain has been such a strong & loyal supporter of Rand for a very long time (and deserves a lot more credit for it than the books were willing to give her). idk it's a fun little side note.

19. Oh, and Rand's last request is that he wants full control over the armies for the Last Battle rather than everyone controlling their own army.

Yeah, Egwene thinks here that Rand is acting very much like an Aes Sedai (which feels like a counter-balance to Rand going all, "You're Not Like The Other Aes Sedai to Nynaeve" -- or, I guess, I would say that it counts as evidence that Rand's PoV in that chapter in ToM IS meant to be his own biased PoV and not the objective truth about Aes Sedai), and we also have her thinking that she can tell he still has strong emotions going on underneath the surface but that he's got them under much better control than before.

20. So, yeah, knowing that at least some of what Moiraine says and does here in the tent at Merrilor came directly from Jordan's notes does make me wonder how much that shaped some of the other plot points that happen in this discussion.

21. Man, I do not love having this chapter start out in Perrin's PoV. That really feels like the most useless of the potential PoVs. Either Rand or staying with Egwene would be so much better imo.

Anyway, we are in Perrin's PoV as we see Moiraine enter, and Perrin wonders why Mat isn't with Moiraine and he gets a vision of Mat... "on a horse, riding along a dusty road, tinkering with something he held". I will... hold off my thoughts about that until we actually get to a Mat PoV and I can evaluate it properly. But, just as a reminder: at the end of ToM, Mat was planning to return to Caemlyn and was suggesting that Moiraine do the same so that she could speak to Elayne before trying to talk to Rand. And the group of three did not bring any horses to the Tower of Ghenjei.

22. lol so much at Moiraine just blowing off any attempt to give Mat, Thom, or Noal/Jain credit for saving her and going right to "the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills". Reminds me so much of people who attribute life-saving medical intervention to a miracle from a god and not the doctors & nurses who actually saved their lives. The real reason Mat isn't here: so that he doesn't die from anger & frustration at his sacrifice being completely brushed off by Moiraine.

Perrin also notes the presence of Thom coming in after Moiraine.

23. Rand kneels before Moiraine until she tells him not to, Egwene welcomes her back to the White Tower, and Nynaeve gives her a hug (as sweet as the Nynaeve hug is, I still think she would be better served being in the Black Tower plotline right now). Anyway, Moiraine Fixes Everything by giving everyone present a lecture on how they need to trust Rand and quoting prophecy at them until they give up and agree to go along with him.

24. Also, both the Aes Sedai and the Asha'man are randomly using the Power to smack anyone who protests Moiraine's presence/importance (which kinda does feel like another Jordan Throwback and not one that I super-enjoy).

25. What's weird is that Perrin thinks of Grady as "one of the nearby Asha'man" here but... he should be the person who brought Moiraine and Thom to Merrilor? How is he already at this meeting as one of Rand's Asha'man? How did Moiraine and Thom get here if Grady was already present? Moiraine has been stuck in the Tower of Ghenjei and so didn't have a chance to learn how to Travel yet. Grady was the one opening Gateways to the Tower of Ghenjei in order to retrieve Mat & co once they were done with their task. Did Grady bring Moiraine and Thom to Perrin's camp, and then leave and go over to Rand (without telling him about it), and then Moiraine and Thom eavesdropped on the meeting until the ~most dramatic moment~ for her to enter and save the day? Not that this is necessarily out of character for Moiraine, of course, but... that should mean that Mat is here too, because Mat was with Moiraine and Thom. The logistics of this are not adding up for me.

26. One of the Aes Sedai (Perrin doesn't know her name) points out that even if they all agree here to the Dragon's Peace, there's a huge flaw remaining -- the Seanchan.

...wow, Mat really should be here for this conversation. I'm feeling sorta like I did at the start of Crossroads of Twilight, where it feels like the author decided to do a major swerve from what was set up in the previous books. Logistically, Mat should have come to Merrilor with Moiraine & Thom... it's honestly difficult to see how he possibly avoided it? Assigned Gateway-maker Grady is at Merrilor. Literally right here, in this meeting. Perrin just mentioned him.

Logically: Mat should have arrived at Merrilor, mentioned that he had been planning to return to Caemlyn (for the Band & Olver) and found out that Caemlyn was attacked (learning from Talmanes that the knowledge of the attack was in the letter that Verin had left for him). This would bring his arc re: mistrusting Aes Sedai to an appropriate conclusion: mistrusting Aes Sedai so strongly has led to massive death on a scale as bad as anything in his war memories. Then Mat should have learned that the only thing holding back the potential peace for the world post-Last Battle is the Seanchan. He finds out how worried everyone is that the Seanchan will attack, either while the Last Battle is happening or afterwards.

Then, as a show of self-sacrifice (and guilt over letting Caemlyn be attacked), Mat tells Rand & co about his marriage and volunteers to be the one to go to Fortuona, to make one last desperate attempt at a peace treaty before the Last Battle. Because of his marriage, he's the best person for the job (making his marriage actually matter in the narrative and giving it a reason to have a prophecy about it).

Before he goes through a Gateway to Ebou Dar, he and Rand talk about Rand's LTT memories and Rand confesses to Mat that he believes that he genuinely is insane but that he has control of himself (basically shift over those two conversations that Perrin had with Rand earlier, the ones that felt like they had zero relevance to Rand and Perrin's friendship). This would bring Mat's arc re: Rand and the role of the Dragon Reborn to an appropriate emotional conclusion.

And this would mean that the Emond's Field Five actually all get to reunite before the Last Battle kicks off!

27. "I see what you're trying to do, Rand, and I love you for it." This is the wtf moment that kinda throws the 'what DO all the various random rulers know about Rand's relationships?' question into the pot. Visibly pregnant Elayne saying this to Rand while another woman was desperately clinging (silently) to his arm only minutes ago should be raising so many questions and red flags for the various rulers who are present here. Especially since Rand doesn't publicly reciprocate her affection here. I feel like just having Elayne say, "I see what you're trying to do, Rand, but that does not remove the fact that this document is fundamentally untenable" would have made a lot more sense here. There's no point to Rand and Elayne avoiding spending time with each other if Elayne is also throwing out 'I love you's in public. Pick a lane, essentially. But Rand agrees to add the provision that if the Seanchan do not sign to the treaty, then the document as a whole is void.

28. Elayne says that only addresses the problem of the Seanchan and not the issue of how to enforce the treaty, which is what leads to Aviendha speaking up and telling Rand that she wants the boon that she'd requested earlier -- that the Aiel be treated the same way as the wetlanders in the treaty. Rand says that leaving them out of the agreement was meant as an expression of his trust and Aviendha tells him that it is an insult instead.

(and it is not the Aiel themselves who say that war is their purpose or that they are tools; they actually respond negatively to the suggestion -- it's Rand and Perrin, wetlanders who both canonically have the bad habit of using their people as tools, who make that comparison)

But anyway, the Aiel are written into the document as the official enforcers of the peace.

Hmm, we do get this cute moment from Perrin here that Elayne 'smells' proud of Rand even as she continues to 'stare daggers' at him, lol. But just like Egwene, Perrin has no thoughts on the whole "Rand has multiple girlfriends" situation.

Moiraine asks Rand how he plans to lead the armies if he's going to Shayol Ghul, so that's now an open question.

29. I do feel the need to point out: Aviendha is here spearheading the Aiel & the Wise Ones; Elayne is here representing Caemlyn & Cairhien; and they are both vocal in this meeting and actively facing and talking with Rand as equals. Min... is silently clinging to Rand's arm. And the saddest thing is that this is perfectly representative of them in the series as a whole, too. Aviendha and Elayne both have other things going on and get to be fully-realized characters and people, while Min... not so much, and the story has to keep trying to manufacture ways to occupy her time* because once she leaves Salidar, she has literally nothing else going on in her life but clinging to Rand.

(*hilariously, it's usually something that someone else had already discovered or realized earlier in the series -- ex. Rand himself has the realization about needing to break the seals all the way back at the start of Lord of Chaos, long before Min arrives in Caemlyn; or there's that time she uncovered the flaw in Callandor... that Cadsuane had already told Rand about in an earlier book)

30. As Faile brings up some pertinent questions about the Seanchan, Mat not being here at this meeting feels so weird and jarring. It makes zero narrative or purely logistical sense.

The question: if the Seanchan sign this document, does that give them formal permission to keep all the people they've enslaved and the lands that they've conquered? And are they allowed to kidnap and enslave anyone who crosses their borders (women who can channel in particular)? Very important questions and ones that Mat needed to hear being brought up. Shielding him from any of this, like he's a toddler who is too young to hear the truth about the world, doesn't help anyone, especially not him.

31. Rand says that he will go to the Seanchan after this meeting, either to find a way to get them to sign this treaty or to find a way to destroy their ability to make war (guessing this would be something to do with the damane -- maybe springing all their collars with the Power all at once?). So Rand still considers fighting the Seanchan to be a very viable possibility for him at this time.

Here is the point in the meeting when Mat (who should be here) would speak up and say, "I'll go and talk to her first" because he's just found out that the other option is Fortuona getting killed by his best friend and/or Fortuona attempting to kill his friends & people.

"We cannot have them striking at our backs when we attack the Shadow."

lol, Min silently takes Rand's arm again as the rulers proceed with the treaty signing.

32. When it comes time for Elayne to sign (she's last), she notes that it's a difficult thing that Rand is asking of her, and he gives her the control of the armies of the Last Battle. Though some of the leaders push back against the idea, none of them do so based on the whole "you two are romantically linked" conflict-of-interest idea, so I once again have to wonder what exactly all the random rulers know about their relationship (maybe they just assume Elayne is very free with her 'I love you's).

33. The question of the Seanchan is brought up again, and Rand says that he will see what he can do about trying to trade with the Seanchan to get their people back (from what we saw in Aviendha's visions, this is a trade that Fortuona and her successors refused in the alternate future) and try to persuade them to return back over the sea but if worst comes to worst "if forced to it, I am content to allow them the lands they have, so long as they do not spread further".

"Thousands are enslaved," Egwene points out.

"What's done is done," Rand says. Yikes. He does follow this up with, "Let us worry about the world first, then do what we can for those held captive" so again, he's not letting the Seanchan entirely off the hook here -- he's leaving an explicit opening for the leaders to push the Seanchan on this in the future. But, you know, saying "what's done is done" about people being kidnapped into slavery is extremely Yikes.

We also get the pro-'strongman' yikes argument of "the lands they have taken have benefited from strong leadership", which is something that Jordan first brought up in TPoD as propaganda that the Seanchan were spreading but wasn't actually true (as we heard stories about how violent the Seanchan mainland still was, with uprisings and civil wars), was treated as an article of faith by Fortuona in CoT & KoD even as we were cut off from hearing any counter-arguments, and now is basically taken as literally true.

And, once again, I feel the need to point out that the 'strong leadership' that Rand is praising is mostly the work of Darkfriend Suroth and Forsaken Semirhage, as Fortuona was ~under the veil~ during her first weeks in Ebou Dar and so in a weird in-between place as far as her authority went, then kidnapped and missing for at least a month and maybe closer to two or three months, and has only recently been returned to power. So this is more an argument in praise of the Dark One than the Seanchan, though Rand (and I guess Sanderson) doesn't realize it.

34. Things are getting bad in the Borderlands, we find out, as we check in with Lan.

Yeah, I feel like this section here would have been enough to illustrate how bad things were getting without us needing the attack on Caemlyn. Too many battles, not enough character moments! (especially if Mat isn't there to face his failure with Caemlyn and Verin's letter, making it all feel much more pointless and 'battle for the sake of battle')

Right when Lan believes that he's facing his last stand, Gateways open up and reinforcements pour in from Merrilor. And Lan is relieved that what he thought was his death becomes "a promising battle" instead.

This is a pretty nice, upbeat moment to end this section of the reread on, I think, since I feel like it's gotten long enough. I had a lot to say about the big meeting, lol.