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| [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_lft.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=TSR,Ch23'}] 
| %%(display:block; text-align:center;) [{Image src='Chapter Icons/dice_bw.gif' align='center' link='Wiki.jsp?page=Dice Chapter Icon'}] ''[TSR|The Shadow Rising]: Rhuidean'' %% 
| [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_rgt.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=TSR,Ch25' align='right'}]
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! __Mat__ POV

[Mat|Matrim Cauthon] and [Rand|Rand alThor] arrive at the fog bank surrounding [Rhuidean]. They are sunburned and dehydrated. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] insists that he saw [Aviendha] running toward [Rhuidean]. [Rand|Rand alThor] says the [Snake people|Finn] never mentioned [Rhuidean] to him.[1] They walk through the fog and find themselves in a city. Many of the buildings are unfinished. They walk by a fountain and [Rand|Rand alThor] laughs. He [channels|True Source] and the fountain starts flowing so they both have a good drink. He says there is an ocean of good water deep under [Rhuidean]. In the center of the city they find a huge plaza. At the center is a tree next to a formation of [glass columns]. There are also hundreds of items scattered about the plaza.[2] [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] realizes they must be items of the [One Power]. [Rand|Rand alThor] stops briefly to look at two small statues.[3] They reach the tree and realize it is %%ot [Avendesora]%%. When [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] sits down against the trunk he feels contentment and peace. They recall the story of [Ghoetam] who sat beneath %%ot [Avendesora]%% for forty years to gain wisdom.[4] [Rand|Rand alThor] enters the [glass columns] while [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] waits. As he walks around, [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] notices another [twisted red doorway|Twisted Red Doorway]. Thinking to get better answers to his questions he enters.

[Mat|Matrim Cauthon] finds himself in a different place than what he expected. It smells like a wild animal's lair. One of the fox people[5] approaches and asks if he abides by the treaties, no iron, instruments of music or devices for making light. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] says he has none of those. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] wonders if he is speaking the [Old Tongue] again. The creature leads him through convoluted passageways[6] to a room with several fox people on pedestals. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] asks about the [Daughter of the Nine Moons|Tuon], dying and living again, and giving up half the light of the world, but they ignore his questions. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] says he wants the holes in his memory filled and they reply, "Done."[7] Confused, [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] continues talking about what he wants. He says he wants to be free of [Aes Sedai] and the [One Power] and he wants to be back in [Rhuidean]. They reply, "Done," then tell him he is foolish for not negotiating a price. They will set the price. Darkness closes on [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] and he cannot breathe.
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More [Mat POV]
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! Notes (Possible Spoilers)

[#1] During his trip through the [twisted red doorway|Twisted Red Doorway] in [Tear|Tear (Country)]. ([TSR,Ch15])\\
[#2] The %%ot *[angreal|Angreal]%% brought by the [Aiel] during the [Breaking].\\
[#3] The male and female [access keys|Control Statue].\\
[#4] A reference to Gautama Buddha sitting under the bodhi tree to achieve Nirvana.\\
[#5] They are the [Eelfinn|Finn].\\
[#6] In response to a fan letter Robert Jordan wrote, "The world on the other side of the doorway has a radically different set of natural laws. The odd optical effects witnessed in that other world are not artificially produced artifacts."\\
[#7] The [Aelfinn|Finn] and [Eelfinn|Finn] accumulated these memories over the centuries from previous visitors via the [twisted red doorway|Twisted Red Doorway]s and the [Tower of Ghenjei]. ([Glimmers Q&A|Guide])\\
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