The Wise Ones ask Egwene what it would take for Rand to allow Aviendha into his bed. Egwene says he’ll need a “good reason.” Everyone spends the entire chapter naked.
Egwene is taking a sweat bath. Perhaps this should seem ordinary — water is rare in the desert, after all — but it still seems somehow inadequate. Essentially, their bathing ritual amounts to sitting in a sauna, sweating, and scraping their skin with a tool meant to clear away the dirt and perspiration. Yuck! I’ll bet those tents smell like ass, and the people inside aren’t faring much better. Egwene actually feels guilty for using soap she bought from Hadnan Kadere because it feels “like cheating.” Really? Cheating? Because last time I checked, it was a practical necessity to not walk around smelling like a transient. Oh god, that’s probably exactly how Aiel camp smells. If you closed your eyes and took a good whiff, you wouldn’t know if you were in Rhuidean’s town square or Downtown San Francisco.
Egwene’s bath is interrupted when a servant comes to summon her to the Wise Ones’ sweat tent. Since it is freezing nighttime in the desert and Egwene is naked, she takes time to put on a cloak and make small talk with the servant, who is the newest member of the Shitty Name Club. Everyone, I want you to meet Cowinde! Wow. How much do you have to hate your daughter to give her a name that begins with “cow?” Then we have “wind” which has the slang meaning of “fart.” C’mon, you’re doing the school bully’s work for him!
When Cowinde and Egwene reach the sweat tent, Egwene doffs her robe and dives inside. The Wise Ones are busy telling Moiraine that they don’t share her concerns. Everything will be fine if Rand takes the Aiel over the Dragonwall!
MOIRAINE: And when the nations turn against you?
AMYS: None of us fears death, Aes Sedai.
Sometimes I really think the Klingons had undue influence on the Aiel. “We do not fear death and we live by a strict code of honor. Qapla’!”
Moiraine leaves, and the Wise Ones are all business:
AMYS: Egwene — how would Rand al’Thor take it if Aviendha asked to sleep in his sleeping chamber?
EGWENE & AVIENDHA: Wait, what?!?
The Wise Ones insist they don’t mean anything sexual about it, meaning that this is definitely completely sexual. And so, we end up with endless paragraphs of naked, sweaty, smelly women discussing the logistics of getting Aviendha into Rand’s bed. Egwene says Rand would probably allow it if he had a “good reason.” Ah yes, slay the problem with logic! That’s how you reason with a man who is slowly going insane, right? Why didn’t I think of that?
On this wholesome note, the meeting ends. The Wise Ones go back to their tents, but not before sending Aviendha and Egwene to run fifty laps around the camp — in the cold desert night, completely naked.
Congrats, Mr. Jordan. This was your porniest chapter in the series thus far. It invited the reader to picture practically every character naked, and to imagine Aviendha whoring herself out to Rand. Keep up this pace and Sanderson won’t have any choice but to work a full-blown orgy into the last couple books!