Turns out the woman on the list wasn’t the mother of the Dragon Reborn. Moiraine realizes that the Black Ajah doesn’t know when the Dragon was reborn, so they have been murdering men of any age who display signs that they might be the Dragon. Moiraine shares everything about her quest with Lan, and he agrees to become her Warder.
This was a handy way to cut to the denouement. When the book set up the Lady Edeyn plot line, I thought for sure it was going to lead to a conflict between her and Lan — at least over the matter of her arranging to have him marry her daughter. Instead, Robert Jordan took the wind out of her sails by killing off her daughter. Ouch!
Moiraine returns to her chambers. Siuan shares definitive proof that Rahien can’t be the Dragon. Then the two friends puzzle out a key piece of intel — the Black Ajah knows that the Dragon was reborn, but they don’t know when he was reborn. All they know is that men who can channel exhibit unexplained luck and inexplicable success. So while it’s good on the one hand that they aren’t targeting babies, this does mean that the Black Ajah is essentially murdering any man who is experiencing a modicum of good fortune.
The two friends decide that Siuan can best serve their cause in Tar Valon under Cetalia’s employ, where she can send intel to Moiraine, and Moiraine rides off to continue her search for–
Hey, wait one goddamn minute! Lan isn’t Moiraine’s Warder yet. Shit, we’d better fix that. Moiraine finds Lan north of the city, burning his daori before heading into the Blight to get himself killed fighting shadowspawn. Moiraine decides to tell him everything — about the search for the Dragon, and the Black Ajah. He agrees to join her cause and become her Warder.
It’s a little depressing to realize that since the events of The Eye of the World don’t take place until Rand is approaching 20 years old, that means Moiraine is doomed to wander endlessly for two decades before she finally makes any progress in her quest. Ah well, c’est la vie.
The end.