Rand meets with the Aiel clan chiefs in Rhuidean to strategize about how to gain the support of the remaining clans. Moiraine interrupts and shows Rand a seal on the Dark One’s prison — it is intact, but clearly ready to break at any moment.
Rand is in Rhuidean. The Aiel who have pledged their loyalty to the Dragon Reborn already occupy the city. Down in the town square, Moiraine oversees men sorting through artifacts that survived Rand and Asmodean’s climactic struggle. Moiraine intends to cart them off to the White Tower for study and safekeeping. I guess that’s because she still has no idea that her friend and confidant, Siuan Sanche, has been stilled and deposed.
Rand steps away from the window and focuses on the other men who are gathered in the room. Asmodean, posing as Rand’s gleeman, quietly strums his harp. The clan chiefs who recognize Rand as the Dragon Reborn are gathered to advise him. They seem pretty sure that all clans except Couladin’s Shaido will accept Rand as their messiah. But the Shaido are a problem — all scouts sent to gather intel on them have been killed, and nobody has the slightest idea what to do about the situation.
Moiraine cuts the strategy session short, and the clan chiefs leave when she arrives. She has found one of the seals on the Dark One’s prison. Normally those things are indestructible, being made of cuendillar and all, but she shockingly demonstrates that she can chip a sliver off this one with her dagger. It’s a sobering development, suggesting that the seals are weakening and the Last Battle approaches whether Rand is ready or not. She insists he needs to plan and prepare.
Rand insists that he does have a plan.
RAND: First, I mean to put an end to the wars and killing, whether I started them or not. If men have to kill, let them kill Trollocs, not each other.
Oh, brilliant! Let’s just march back over the Dragonwall and tell everyone they need to be nice to each other! This sounds awfully similar to what Artur Hawkwing tried to do, and you can see how all that worked out.
Not that Moiraine has anything constructive or useful to say. Instead, she berates Rand for leaving Callandor in Tear and running off to the Aiel Waste. It’s typical Moiraine style — criticize what he has done and what he intends to do without being able to offer a better alternative.
Ugh, they’re both insufferable. Could someone get Mat in here, please? His brain is filled with the expertise of the most skilled tacticians who have ever lived. He’ll know what the best next move is. And even if he doesn’t? He can just roll the dice and lean on Lady Luck instead. Rand doesn’t seem to realize what a power player he has on his team. C’mon, dude. He’s your childhood friend. Step it up!