Perrin and Egwene bumble their way through the wilderness. They meet Elyas, a man who can speak with wolves. Elyas tells Perrin that he has the ability as well, and agrees to guide them toward Caemlyn.
This is one of those character-defining chapters. Perrin, you’re up, buddy!
If the trek through the wilderness teaches Perrin and Egwene anything, it’s that they’re shitty hunters. They manage to catch one rabbit, then spend the rest of their time barely subsisting on shoots and tubers. It’s no wonder why — they spend so much time bickering like a married couple that neither of them has time to hunt. Egwene pesters Perrin about taking turns riding Bela, and Perrin pesters Egwene about not trying to channel to start a fire.
One evening, they smell a cookfire. Perrin scouts ahead and meets Elyas, a man who is dressed head to toe in animal skins. He invites Perrin and Egwene to share his food, and hunger makes the decision for them.
When their stomachs are full and darkness falls, Elyas’ “friends” show up. Turns out he doesn’t work well with others, so these friends are of the four-legged lupine variety. With all the trouble Two Rivers folk have had with wolves, you can imagine their terror when four wolves saunter into the camp and casually seat themselves around the fire.
Elyas is as wary of strangers as anyone else, so he asks Perrin and Egwene what brought them out into the middle of nowhere. The fabricated story they deliver lands flat. Elyas knows it’s a load of shit because he can talk to the wolves, and the wolves can essentially read peoples’ minds. Elyas presses them to tell the truth — they might be Darkfriends, after all — and before long they spill everything about what brought them to the wilderness.
Satisfied that Perrin and Egwene aren’t Darkfriends, Elyas introduces them to Dapple, Hopper, Burn, and Wind. He says that Perrin possesses the ability to speak to wolves too. Most of the wolves seem to accept that Elyas wants to help guide them toward Caemlyn, but Burn shows his dissatisfaction by leaving the camp.