Nynaeve hires the thief-taker, Juilin, to find the thirteen Black Ajah. Mat finds Gaebril’s lackey and kills him, but learns there are others hunting his friends.
The thing about a bitch slap is that things get awkward afterward. The women sip their tea in uncomfortable silence until Mother Guenna returns with Juilin.
Nynaeve gives the descriptions of the thirteen women to the thief-taker, who is certain he can find them. She warns him that they are dangerous Darkfriends with a murderous history, but he seems unconcerned. Normally this would be reassuring, but here’s the rub: Juilin says the High Lords of Tear also have work for him. If Illian has Sammael and Caemlyn has Gaebril, who’s pulling strings in Tear? I smell a conflict of interest.
That night, they use the Dream ter’angreal again. Nynaeve jerks her braid (twenty-four tugs now, bitch!) as she and Elayne keep vigil. Egwene transports herself to the Stone of Tear and finds the thirteen Black Ajah sitting in a circle around Callandor. Liandrin turns to look directly at Egwene, startling her awake as a storm rolls in.
Thom and Mat arrive in Tear amid driving rain and thunder. Once lodging is secured, Mat insists on heading back out to search common rooms for Lord Comar. They are at the brink of exhaustion when Mat picks one more inn at random, and there he is. Comar is cheating people out of their money with a rigged set of dice.
Mat sits down for a throw, and he can feel his luck pulling at the Pattern, forcing the dice into a winning constellation despite the unfair weighting. Comar is stunned, and Mat warns him against messing with his friends. The encounter quickly escalates to violence, and Mat flips Comar onto a table, breaking the man’s back. With his dying breath, Comar says he isn’t the only one hunting the girls.
Mat decides his luck works best when applied to random situations, so his plan for finding the ladies? Wander Tear as his fancy takes him and hope for the best. It sounds like a horrible plan, but with Mat, dumb luck is the only strategy that ever works.