Pevara POV#

Pevara walks through the Black Tower village with Javindhra and Mazrim Taim. There is constant activity and construction. The wall around the grounds is nearly complete and guard posts are manned. Taim refuses to let them bond any full Asha'man, only Dedicated and soldiers.[1] He tells her to make choices soon or he will invite in the other Aes Sedai camped outside the Black Tower.[2] He tells them they must now ask permission before they can leave. He leaves them to themselves. Pevara wants to bond a few Dedicated and leave, but Javindhra wants to stay and study them some more. Pevara returns to her house where Tarna is writing a letter. Last night she had agreed that they should leave, but now Tarna wants to stay as well. Her eyes look different, colder.[3] Pevara leaves and goes to a stand of trees where she is hidden. The Highest[4] forbade gateways unless the situation becomes dire, but Pevara thinks it has reached that point. She tries to weave a gateway, but the weave fails again and again.[5] They are trapped.

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Perrin POV#

Perrin bids farewell to Mat, Thom and Noal as they prepare to leave to rescue Moiraine. They will meet again at Master Denezel's place. Grady opens the gateway. He will stay in the area and open another to the same place every day at noon.[6] Perrin thinks of Rand and sees an image of him speaking with a group of Borderlanders.[7] They pass through and the gateway closes. Perrin's leg still throbs faintly from Slayer's arrow even though he was Healed.[8] Faile and Gaul arrive. She thinks Mat is a bad influence. Perrin sees an image of him walking along a river. She says that Aravine has everyone ready.

Soon, Grady and Neald link with the Aes Sedai and Edarra and open a large gateway to the Field of Merrilor. There are many armies already there, Tear, Illian, Cairhienin, but no Borderlanders yet. Faile thinks Perrin agreed with Elayne to help stop Rand, but Perrin says he trusts Rand and breaking the seals seems right to him. He orders Aravine to set up camp away from the other armies. Sulin and Gaul can pick the site. He is puzzled why Aravine did not return to Amadicia as she is clearly a noble. Berelain rides next to Galad as the Whitecloaks ride through the gateway. Gallenne and the Winged Guard ride near them. Alliandre, Arganda and the Ghealdanin ride through next. Perrin has sent to Mayene and Jehannah for more soldiers and Tam is gathering more from the Two Rivers. Azi al'Thone and Jori Congar carry the wolf banner as Two Rivers men ride by. Jori apologizes for spreading rumors about Perrin and Berelain. As he steps through the gateway, Perrin hopes that Rand comes quickly. He can feel it starting.

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Mat POV#

Mat, Thom and Noal stand on a grassy plain near the Arinelle River at the Tower of Ghenjei. Thom has his gleeman's cloak while Noal wears strange clothes.[9] Mat has his ashandarei with an iron counterweight. With a bronze knife, Thom draws a small triangle with a wavy line through it and the steel in the triangle vanishes. It is way too small so he repeats the move making a large opening.

They step through with a blinding flash of light and are in a room with four openings. The doorway is freestanding in the middle of the room. They walk down a hallway and through a window Mat can see that he is in one of the spires that he saw on his earlier trips. At the end of the hallway they find another similar room. They retrace their path and find they are in a different room. There is no way to map their route. Mat asks Thom if he ever heard a story of someone in the Tower and he replies that Elmiara spent a hundred days in the land of the Shadoweyes hunting the spring of Sund to heal her lover, very much what Birgitte told Mat.

Suddenly one of the Eelfinn confronts them saying they have broken the bargain. It tries to trick them, speaking of the Chamber of Bonds, but Thom's music puts it to sleep. Noal compliments Mat on his mastery of the Old Tongue.

Mat begins selecting passages by random rolls of his dice and they soon find themselves in a large room with fluted black columns. It is familiar to Mat.[10] They are on the right track.

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