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| [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_lft.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=TGS,Ch21'}] 
| %%(display:block; text-align:center;) [{Image src='Chapter Icons/snake_bw.gif' align='center' link='Wiki.jsp?page=Snake Chapter Icon'}] ''[TGS|The Gathering Storm]: The Last That Could Be Done'' %% 
| [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_rgt.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=TGS,Ch23' align='right'}]
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! __Semirhage__ POV

[Semirhage] sits alone in her room. She does not understand how she could have been so humiliated by [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin] with her [paralis-net|Paralis-net].[1] [Shaidar Haran] appears. He tells her she failed greatly, injuring [Rand|Rand alThor], revealing herself, losing valuable pawns,[2] being captured and broken. Her shield vanishes and she can channel again. [Shaidar Haran] tells her she has been given one last chance. She tries the door and it opens to reveal three corpses.[3] [Elza Penfell] kneels before her. She tells [Semirhage] that she is instructed to remove the [Compulsion|Weaves#co] on her[4] and gives her the [Domination Band|Sad Bracelets].[5]
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More [Semirhage POV]

! __Rand__ POV

[Rand|Rand alThor], on [Tai'daishar] with [Bashere|Davram Bashere] and [Ituralde|Rodel Ituralde], fifty soldiers, fifty [Maidens|Maidens of the Spear] and [Narishma|Jahar Narishma], rides through northern [Saldaea] near the [Blight]. [Lews Therin|Lews Therin Telamon] remembers the area. [Saldaea] looks similar to [Fal Dara]. [Lan|al'Lan Mandragoran] told him that a boy becomes a man when he earns the right to a sword. They can see the foothills of the [Mountains of Dhoom]. The [Blight] is slowly advancing. [Rand|Rand alThor] orders [Narishma|Jahar Narishma] to open a gateway then tells [Ituralde|Rodel Ituralde] to send reports via [Asha'man] to [Bandar Eban]. He will move his headquarters there in four days. [Rand|Rand alThor] thinks he can trust [Narishma|Jahar Narishma] one of the men from [Dumai's Wells|Dumais Wells]. [Lews Therin|Lews Therin Telamon] does not. [Rand|Rand alThor] thinks back on his dream of [Moridin] with no [Lews Therin|Lews Therin Telamon] in his head. He wonders why [Moridin] saved him at [Shadar Logoth|Aridhol (City)] when fighting [Sammael]. He thinks that he must be hard, yet [Min|Min Farshaw] does not want that. "To live you must die." How can one laugh and face that? 

[Lews Therin|Lews Therin Telamon] tells him that [Min|Min Farshaw] is right. He must break the [seals|Seals]. [Lews Therin|Lews Therin Telamon] says they touched the [Dark One|ShaiTan] with %%ot [saidin|Said]%% and that is how he tainted it. [Deira Bashere] is waiting for her husband. [Rand|Rand alThor] thinks of [Tam|Tam alThor] as his father even though he knows [Janduin] was his real father. A small voice in his mind asks if he cares about his legacy. He founded schools in [Cairhien|Cairhien (Country)] and [Andor] because he wanted to leave something. Now he thinks he cannot fix everything. The voice asks if the goal is to survive or to thrive? 

Back at the manor, Lord [Tallaen] still complains of the smoke smell. [Rand|Rand alThor] goes to his room where [Min|Min Farshaw] is waiting. A serving woman moves dishes. As he talks to [Min|Min Farshaw], something clicks around his neck. The "serving woman" is [Semirhage] and she put the [Domination Band|Sad Bracelets] on him. [Min|Min Farshaw] throws a knife that grazes [Semirhage]. She knocks [Min|Min Farshaw] to the floor and gags her with [Air|One Power]. [Elza|Elza Penfell] enters and dons the other bracelet. [Semirhage] tortures [Rand|Rand alThor], but the pain hardly affects him. He tells her there is nothing more she can do to him, but she smiles, forces him to hold %%ot [saidin|Said]%% and begin torturing [Min|Min Farshaw]. She tells him to beg. He does, and [Min|Min Farshaw]'s torture stops. Then [Rand|Rand alThor] begins to strangle [Min|Min Farshaw]. Something snaps inside [Rand|Rand alThor] and all emotion goes away. He can sense a new force.[6] [Rand|Rand alThor] takes hold of it and [Lews Therin|Lews Therin Telamon] screams. The collar around his neck explodes. [Semirhage] looks stunned, then realizes what must have happened and asks why the [Great Lord|ShaiTan] betrayed her. [Rand|Rand alThor] uses [balefire|Weaves#b] to destroy her[7] and [Elza|Elza Penfell].[8] As [Min|Min Farshaw] recovers, he tells her they have now taken everything from him. It was the last that could be done.
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More [Rand POV]
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! Notes (Possible Spoilers)

[#1] This is the first time that we have heard a term for [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin]'s hair ornaments, implying that similar adornments were known in the [Age of Legends].
\\[#2] [Tuon|Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag] and/or [Suroth|Suroth Sabelle Meldarath]
\\[#3] The three are [Corele|Corele Hovian], [Nesune|Nesune Bihara] and [Daigian|Daigian Moseneillin]. Only [Daigian|Daigian Moseneillin] is dead; the other two are in a deep trance. ([TGS,Ch23]) Somehow [Shaidar Haran] knew which [Aes Sedai] had [Warder] who would be alerted. At a signing, Brandon Sanderson stated that [Shaidar Haran] was working through [Elza|Elza Penfell] who was the source of some of his information. The experience for her was not pleasant.
\\[#4] [Verin|Verin Mathwin]'s Compulsion from [TPoD,Prologue]
\\[#5] AKA the "[sad bracelets|Sad Bracelets]" taken from [Cadsuane|Cadsuane Melaidhrin]'s document box.
\\[#6] The [True Power] from the [Dark One|ShaiTan]!
\\[#7] Afterwards [Min|Min Farshaw]'s neck is still bruised so [Semirhage]'s thread in the [Pattern|Wheel of Time] was only burned back a few moments. 
\\[#8] We do not learn what becomes of [Elza|Elza Penfell]'s [Warder|Warder] [Fearil].
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