Moiraine begins her trial for the shawl.
Oh, I see. “It begins.” Everything up to this point was like the opening credits sequence of a movie for Mr. Jordan, wasn’t it? To him, New Spring is merely a novella — an inconsequential side story, a trifling piece of pocket fluff, a Christmas television special — and everything we’ve read so far has been prelude.
So yay, the story is finally beginning. Buckle up!
Merean leads Moiraine down into the bowels of the White Tower.
MOIRAINE: [under her breath] Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuckity fuck.
Merean gives her a pointed look and leads Moiraine to the testing room where a sister representing each Ajah is already present. Moiraine does a strip tease and steps naked into the ter’angreal that is used to facilitate testing.
What follows can only be described as a dreamscape that serves as a vehicle for Moiraine to perform the 100 weaves she has been practicing. She keeps finding clothes to wear and then they keep dissolving into the wind. Each weave involves a scenario that is nightmarish to Moraine in some kind of personal way, and although we aren’t given the specifics of all of them, it seems that her insecurities primarily revolve around physical harm and arriving at school only to realize that she has forgotten to wear clothes.
The chapter ends before all of the weaves have been completed, leaving the reader to wonder how Moiraine will fare. Or actually, wait a second, it doesn’t do that at all because we already fucking know Moiraine becomes an Aes Sedai. Nice try, Mr. Jordan. Nice try.