Thom Merrilin and Juilin Sandar board the Wavedancer, sent by Moiraine and Rand respectively to protect the girls. The ship sets sail, the Sea Folk ladies set their girls free, and Elayne learns that the Windfinders can channel.
University of Queensland pitch drop experiment
This being a slow chapter, I want to point out that we are roughly one-third of the way through this very long book, and none of the characters have even left Tear yet. Maybe this is why I didn’t make it through the series the first time: I must have gotten distracted by something more engaging, like the University of Queensland’s pitch drop experiment. Say what you will, but pitch actually moves.
The Wavedancer is preparing to cast off when two familiar faces stumble up the gangplank: Thom Merrilin and Juilin Sandar. This is the first we’ve seen of Sandar since he was hired to find the Black Ajah in The Dragon Reborn. You’d think he would have been smart enough to get the fuck out of Tear while he had the chance, but it sounds like he was just waiting around for Rand and Lan to shanghai him into going to Tanchico.
Once they are away from the sight of land, every single pair of tits on the ship comes out. Presumably this leads Nynaeve below deck to hyperventilate into a paper bag, and Elayne heads to the back of the ship to aggressively stare at the ocean. Elayne meets Thom and instantly makes things awkward by compulsively tugging on one of his mustaches. Presumably she used to do this as a child when Thom was part of Morgase’s court, but even after speaking with him for a few moments, she falls just short of being able to connect the dots.
Not being able to articulate the familiar feeling Thom evokes, Elayne excuses herself and runs right into the ship’s Windfinder, who is channeling flows of Air and Water to make the ship go faster. Suddenly the Daughter-Heir realizes why Aes Sedai aren’t generally welcome on Sea Folk ships. These people are basically hiding a massive population of channelers from the White Tower. In a moment of surprisingly good diplomacy, Elayne pledges to keep their secret.
So, to recap: We’ve got a magic ship that’s like Hooters at sea, two women pretending to be Aes Sedai, an old gleeman with a limp, and a private detective who went up against the Black Ajah and lost in every way that matters. Tanchico isn’t going to know what hit it.