At Fal Dara, the group receives a royal welcome, thanks to Lan and Moiraine’s good reputation. But just when everyone is enjoying a relaxing evening, Padan Fain shows up to shit all over it.
On the way to Fal Dara, the conversation proceeds thusly.
MAT: Fuck, it’s cold.
LAN: Sissy. It’s a fine spring day.
RAND: Hey Nynaeve, Egwene — maybe the two of you should stay behind while we go to the Eye.
NYNAEVE: We’re coming with you men. By the way, did anyone think to ask what the Eye is or what we’re going to do there?
RAND/PERRIN/MAT/EGWENE: Nope!
MAT: Heh. She called us men.
EGWENE: Rand, I only danced with Aram. I didn’t do anything else.
RAND: Yeah, and I only talked with Min, so let’s drop it.
Jesus Christ. This is like a hellish cross between Boy Meets World and Dawson’s Creek. If I had to travel with these people, I’d go insane. I know Moiraine said Machin Shin is confined to the Ways, but maybe if I ask nicely enough it could reach a tendril out and strangle one of these fuckers?
Mercifully, the group finally arrives at Fal Dara. Entering the city, it’s like a medieval version of Cheers, because everyone there seems to know Lan and Moiraine’s name. Remarkably, they aren’t even afraid of seeing an Ogier, and keep greeting Loial with “Glory to the Builders!” Lan, for his part, seems to also be known by the name “Dai Shan,” and the people of Fal Dara are eager for the Golden Crane to fly again — whatever that means.
Entering the fortress in the middle of the town, the group receives a royal greeting, with servants seeing to their horses. Ingtar, an old acquaintance of Lan’s, takes them to Agelmar, Fal Dara’s leader. It sounds like things at the border between Fal Dara and the Blight are bleak — they’re expecting to fight a big battle at nearby Tarwin’s Gap, and people keep trying to persuade Lan and Moiraine to come fight with them. When it becomes apparent that they have urgent business at the Eye of the World, Agelmar tries to convince them to take men from Fal Dara with them, but Moiraine insists that “low-profile” is the name of the game.
Soon they are dining together and sharing stories, until Ingtar interrupts with news that a man has been caught trying to scale the city walls. When the man is marched in, Rand recognizes the beggar from Caemlyn — and everyone sees it’s a very haggard, wild-eyed Padan Fain. He says the rags are a disguise, and he can show Agelmar how to defeat the Dark One, if he’ll only listen. And hey, maybe while he’s at it he can show everyone how to spin straw into gold!
Moiraine insists on having a talk with him in private. Just her, Lan, Padan, and that Compulsion weave we saw in New Spring.