Tamra, the Amyrlin Seat, dies. Her replacement makes it clear that she intends to use Moiraine for her connection to Cairhienan nobility, so Moiraine escapes aboard a river boat.
Wow, what an apt title for this chapter. Whatever else you want to say about it, you have to agree: stuff finally happens. It’s like Robert Jordan sat down one day, realized that he was halfway done writing this novella and nothing much had happened whatsoever, so it was time to change that.
But the chapter begins innocently enough. You can almost imagine the musical montage as Siuan and Moiraine get used to life as Aes Sedai, which is as full of petty politics as any other sector of society. For example, Blue sisters are by and large forbidden from wearing the color red, owing to their enmity with the Red Ajah. A host of similar allegiances and ancient feuds makes Moiraine realize that Cairhienan nobility is not the only place where Machiavellian maneuvering is a useful skill to have.
Oh! And we finally learn the secret to the oft-mentioned Aes Sedai quality of being unaffected by hot and cold conditions, which is…? breathing! Yes, that’s right. The Aes Sedai are using the Wim Hoff method. Not convinced? Go read about it and you tell me.
So Moiraine and Siuan quickly become expert practitioners of yogic breathing. Gosh, I guess it isn’t all about the One Power… the Aes Sedai really do work quite hard to have earned their reputation as a bunch of ferocious, austere stuck-up bitches.
Some of Moiraine’s dresses arrive just in time for a festive time of year that sounds suspiciously like Christmas. But Moiraine is too worried about being used by the White Tower to attend any of the parties.
One of the accepted, Ellid, disappears during her own trial for the shawl. Apparently, if you test to become Aes Sedai, it is possible for you to not emerge from the ter’angreal. Like no body, no trace, just poof gone. Fuck, I used to think this was like that scene in Contact (1997) where it’s like, “Did she really interstellar travel, or didn’t she? Like, maybe she’s just crazy because look at her, she’s fine!” But sometimes you don’t come out? Gosh, that might have made Chapter 9: It Begins a little more full of dramatic suspense, don’t you think? But we’re only learning about it here, five chapters later.
Anyway, the period of mourning is short, because Siuan joins the perky breasts club! Yes, we already suspected as much, but just so we all know: Siuan folds her arms beneath her breasts, ok?
Just when this chapter is starting to feel like it is a mish-mash of too many different things, Tamra — the current Amyrlin Seat — kicks the bucket in her sleep. Hmm, ok. That sounds suspicious, especially given the reputation Aes Sedai have for living abnormally long lives owning to the rejuvenating effects of recurring contact with the One Power. But ok! I will simply accept it. Shortly thereafter, this dreadful Gray sister named Sierin, who by all rights sounds like she should have chosen Red, takes the seat. Moiraine asks to be relieved of her duty to distribute the baby bounties, and although this request is granted, the new Amyrlin Seat directly orders her to not leave the Tower, with the strong implication that Moiraine is still very much being treated as a game piece, destined to become the Puppet Queen of Cairhien.
Moiraine will have none of it. She says some hasty goodbyes, gets the rest of her dresses from the seamstress, obtains some funding from Door Mail, and hurries to the harbor to abscond aboard a swift moving river boat.