After entering the Ways, Perrin and Faile have an altercation that would have landed at least one of them in jail on domestic abuse charges in the real world. They narrowly escape from Shadowspawn and Machin Shin before arriving in the Two Rivers.
Believe it or not, that slog through Aiel lore almost made me miss the childish dynamic between Perrin and Faile. Recall that this odd couple is traveling to the Two Rivers via the Ways with Loial as their guide and a few Aiel for support. Machin Shin could be waiting on the next platform to greet them, and danger of any sort could be lurking just around the next corner. Surely Perrin and Faile will set aside their differences for a moment, right?
JERRY SPRINGER: Oh ho, no! You are so wrong. Thanks for joining us, everybody. She says he won’t let her get close and be a part of his life. He says she needs to stay away from him and the danger that haunts him as a ta’veren. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Perrin Aybara and Faile!
Perrin has just plunged recklessly into the Ways. Faile strides up to him.
PERRIN: Did you come to apologize?
Faile slaps Perrin across the face.
FAILE: What did you mean, charging in here like a wild boar? You have no regard. None!
PERRIN: I asked you not to do that.
Faile slaps him again, then slugs him in the gut. Meanwhile, Bain and Chiad are just standing in the corner watching this domestic meltdown like it’s a particularly spicy episode of The Real Housewives of the Three Fold Land. Perrin grabs her by the back of her neck and… well, Jordan is incredibly vague about what happens next, deliberately skipping straight to Perrin’s retrospective. “Well, it was her own fault. It was. He had asked her not to hit him, told her. Her own fault.” Perrin sounds like an alcoholic redneck fabricating justifications for beating his wife. Whatever happened, Loial had to intervene just like one of Jerry Springer’s security guys. Faile spends the rest of the journey through the Ways casting accusatory looks in Perrin’s direction, adding awkwardness to the foreboding sense of dread.
After this, the trip through the Ways is uneventful. But remember: no trip through the Ways is complete without an asshole-puckering moment of panic tossed in, so of course a group of Trollocs and a Fade attack them just as they reach the final Guiding, and of course Machin Shin chooses this exact moment to make an appearance. Our heroes battle the Shadowspawn and dash through the Waygate, condemning the last few surviving Trollocs to their doom.
JERRY SPRINGER: It’s time for a commercial break, but when we come back we’re going to meet Berelain — the “other woman” — and see what she has to say about Faile’s attitude toward Perrin. Stick around!