Prologue: Sparks Falling

- OK. You can go and prepare yourself, we're leaving in half an hour. - the man goes out, and Caralin enters.

- Caralin: So, you still mean to go forward with this? Chasing after three oathbreakers, instead of ruling your lands?

- Oh, come on Caralin, you did this for more than 20 years in my name, and you did splendidly. I doubt that all your skill has evaporated all of a sudden.

- But why, Gareth, why? It's just three girls! Well, one of them, the Domani, she was pretty enough to be...

- Stop it, Caralin! I'm not taking a wife anymore, I'm too old for this, and you won't nag me anymore about it! But if you want to know why, it's the other one, Mara.... with those deep blue eyes.... She was no oathbreaker, or I'm ready to eat my hat. I want to know why she ran away, so I'm gonna track her, take her by the scruff of her neck, and make her tell me. - he goes out, and a little later climbs his horse and leads the men gathered.

• 
  Scene 4. Rhuidean.
  

[camera shows a general of the valley - there are thousands of tents, many different camps around the once-sacred city. Some temporary structures are being built already close to the lake, with many Aiel still staring at the never-seen before sight. Camera sweeps inside Rhuidean, which is being cleared of the rubble, and goes to the central plaza, centering on Rand staring out of a window]

Rand is thinking, while observing the scene bellow: men packing and loading things from the plaza into Kadere's wagons, with Moiraine overseeing them. Soft harp music in the background. "Change..... everywhere I go, I bring change. This city was once inaccessible, except for chosen men and women, now everyone could enter. And they are entering, despite some Wise Ones' objections - because there's water here. Here, in the Waste, where never before even a drop of rain fell. And the city, left unfinished by his original builders, will now be finished - the Ogier are coming to see of that. Despite what I did to destroy it... So, how will the Aiel seem me after this? Are they gonna love me because I gave them a city? Or they're gonna hate me, because I took their sacred place away?" - [The workers load the red doorframe ter'angreal, when an accident happens - one of them falls through and part of him simply ... vanishes. There's confusion, the others run away, but Moiraine quickly comes and installs order, then makes them drag the guy back.] "Moiraine... the one that found me in my village, the one that ... changed me. No, that's unfair, she never could change what I am, she simply made me realize it. She is still trying to change my way, though - I think she'll never give up trying to control me. She can't understand that I can make my own plans how to walk my path." - [The workers are terrified, Moiraine tries to calm them down. Camera shifts to a fountain nearby where Mat is playing a game with some Aiel]. "And Mat.... how much has he changed from the shepherd boy I grew up with? He blurted out in the Old tongue before, without realizing, and without knowing what is he saying, but now suddenly he does know! Whatever he claims the visit to Rhuidean changed him, too." [Mat laughs and starts flirting with a tall Maiden] "I'll have to use him, like I used Perrin to deal with the Two Rivers, like I'm using the Aiel.... baaaah, when did I start seeing only tools instead of people, instead of friends? And yet.... the Pattern doesn't ask whether I'm using a friend or an unknown person - it only cares whether the deed is done or not. I'll do whatever it takes. I'll be as hard as I need to! So many things to juggle at the same time... Uniting a world that resists being united; evading Aes Sedai that want nothing more than to gentle a man who can channel, as if that would save a world that's being touched by the Dark One; the Forsaken waiting to pounce on my smallest mistake; and now the Aiel. Oh, and the madness... lurking in the dark, seeping in me every time I touch the source, dooming me and the whole world with me.... But now I may be able to do something about that.... about the taint.... the Choedan Kal must be good for something more than destruction on a scale unheard of. I need to learn more. At least I'm not that ignorant of the ways of saidin anymore."

A cough behind him makes him turn - the six Aiel chiefs are sitting in the room on cushions, watching him. He goes to them and sits on an empty cushion.

- Rand: So, let's continue. What do I need to do to bring the other clans to me? You were sure they would come, Rhuarc, yet it's been more than a month since Alcair Dal and they are still dragging their feet, despite having gathered their spears.

- Rhuarc: You must be patient, Rand al'Thor. It is no small deed you want of them, to drop their previous life and join the others. Besides, news of the words spoken at Alcair Dal are spreading - there are more and more men and women affected with each day. They need time to deal with that too.

- Jheran: Cowardly snakes! Throwing down their spears as if they couldn't face a simply truth, like children scared of the fact that a gara could kill with a single bite!

- Bruan: You can't talk like that, Jheran! You know how hard it was to face the truth in the crystal columns - men die there, because they can't face it! Can you call a coward someone that runs for it?

- Bael: We've all seen men and Maidens run, and we have to deal with it, not argue about whether it is cowardice, or not. The Wise Ones came up with a name for it - "the Bleakness". They say many of those affected don the white and insist that they'll serve for the rest of their lives, like they were supposed to once.

- Rand: But... that's not what the Aiel did once! They were called Servants, yes, but they didn't serve as gai shain do....

- Rhuarc: But our people still don't know how the truth of that - all they know is a part of it, a story they heard from others, or a story they ripped out of their Wise One or Clan chief. You can't know what we were from words, only from the experience gained in the columns.

- Bael: And there are still others that chose to deny you, Rand al'Thor. I have reports that more and more go to join their ... societies among the Shaido. They claim that, but they follow Couladin.

- Rand: And so we come to it at last. What news of Couladin? And don't evade my question, this time!

The chiefs shift uneasily, then Rhuarc says: Not much news, and nothing new really. He's still killing every emissary we send, so we stopped sending them lately. But he's preparing to move, that much is clear - he's gathered all Shaido that would follow him, and all others that are not Shaido, too.

- Han: A thing unheard-of! A man that has never entered Rhuidean, that was publicly denied the right by Wise Ones, and yet people follow him!

- Bael: He claims he's the real Car a'carn, and all evidence to the contrary be damned. I heard he even claims that we defiled Rhuidean by coming and camping here....

- Rand: I don't want to know what the man claims - whatever that is, anyone that has problems believing in me will easily fall for it. I've seen this countless times in my land, why should it be different here? We need to act rationally, if we are to counter that thread. Do you think there's any chance we could break his followers? Can we send some people to ... join their societies there, and talk to the others? - there's uncomfortable silence.

- Rhuarc: What you propose goes against ji'e'toh, Rand al'Thor. None that follow it would agree to do such thing, even if we agreed to ask them.

- Rand: It seems we have no choice then, but to wait for him to move. What word from beyond the Dragonwall?

- Han: None worth telling. With the troubles among the treekillers less and less peddlers come here, and the news grow stale. Your Tairen followers have moved into Cairhien, and are distributing food among the treekillers. Some are trying to hunt bandits, that's it.

- Jheran: You should've left the Treekillers to starve, or kill each other! They deserve nothing else! - others mutter agreement, and Rand sighs and shakes his head.

- Rand: I told you already - cairhienin are no less humans than you and me, whatever the sins of one of them. You have to let go of this grudge!

The chiefs look at him hard, but none speaks for a time. Tension rises when Moiraine and Egwene show up at the door. Rand relaxes visibly and rises. The others rise with him.

- Rand: you know what to do. Bring the rest of the clans to me, watch the Shaido. All will end well - as well as I could manage.

- Bael: The Prophecy says you will break us, and you made a good beginning. But we will follow you. We will follow our destiny, and hope for the best. - he recites formally: 'Till shade is gone, 'till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sighblinder's eye on the Last Day!

- Rand: By my Honor and the Light, my life will be a dagger for Sighblinder's heart!

- All: Until the Last Day, until Shayol Ghul itself! - the harper plays pacifically. They go out.

Moiraine and Egwene stand side by side, looking very alike, staring at him with Aes Sedai coolness. Rand thinks: Egwene is looking more and more Aes Sedai by the day... I wonder if the Wise Ones' training is causing this, or it's simply her? Can I trust even her anymore? - he says aloud:

- I'm honored with your visit - it seems you finally found enough time from your works to see me, for the first time in a month. - he feels goosebumps, then a switch with the power. Enraged, he seizes saidin, and ....does nothing. There's no way to find out who did it, and asking would make him look petty. So, instead he asks:

- Why have you come? If all you want to do when we meet is bully me, you'll excuse my leaving!

- Egwene: Don't be a mulehead, Rand! and show some proper respect!

- Respect? Like the one you're showing me? Maybe you'll do well to remember that you're not yet Aes Sedai, and not yet a Wise One either. - Egwene flushes, and Rand turns to Moiraine:

- So, why have you come?

- Moiraine: We should speak alone.

- Rand , looking at Natael: You can speak in front of him, I trust him. Besides, he is to write the history of the Dragon Reborn - he will need to witness all I do and talk (he smiles viciously, and Natael flinches).

- Moiraine: Very well, then. The wagons are ready to depart for Tar Valon.

- Good. Send a strong guard - there will be dangers on both sides of the Dragonwall. But you didn't come to tell me this - you never ask me about anything you're doing. You commandeered Kadere's wagons, Kadere's men, along with a number of Aiel, you dumped what was left of his cargo, then loaded all this stuff from the plaza in it. You obviously are NOT asking permission to send the wagons away.... so what is it you want?

Moiraine shows him a small cloth, then takes out of it one of the seals to the Dark One's prison. Rand stares, while she takes a knife and flakes out some of its end - both Rand and Egwene gasp.

- Rand: How.... is this possible? Is this really cuendillar?

- Moiraine: It is, I tested it. But at the same time, you see its state - it's an impossibility, yet we have to consider any number of impossibilities when the Dark One is concerned. I'm sure if I let this one fall to the ground, it will shatter. I'm.... scared to check the state the other one from Tear. Rand , you're running out of time. WE are running out of time. While you stay here in the Waste, the Forsaken are spreading their power in the West!

- So, what do you want me to do about it? Run after Sammael? What if others are waiting with him when I arrive? They were waiting in Tear!

- You could deal with them using Callandor, but you left it as a scarecrow in Tear! The greatest weapon but one in our world, and you left it! Instead of countering the Forsaken's moves, instead of forestalling them, as many have taught you already, you came here, in the Waste, to become chief of barbarians! How is this gonna help you win Tarmon Gai'Don?

- Rand: Those 'Barbarians' have a culture that dates back to the Age of Legends, Moiraine. Their code of conduct, what they call ji'e'toh, puts to shame every set of laws we have in the 'civilized world', every moral code we follow. They spend more than a month in the Stone for, as conquerors, and yet there hasn't been a single murder of anyone non-Aiel, a single theft apart of the tax they call 'The Fifth', and which ended up being far less than one-fifth of all the riches of the Stone. Not a single incident, rape, quarrel... some of the people in the city actually didn't believe there were any Aiel in the Stone until we marched forth that day. Can you tell me a single conquering army that could boast similar conduct? And then there is the fact that a little more than 200 of them conquered the Fortress everyone deemed impervious for 3000 years.

You ask how the Aiel are gonna help me. This is how: 20 years ago, four clans issued forth from the Waste, and had their way with the West, until all the nations united against them. And even then they didn't manage to stop them from reaching their real goal - killing the treekiller, Laman. Four clans, Moiraine! Imagine what will happen when I bring all twelve! I will march from the Spine of the World to the Misty mountains with them, before the world even has time to think of uniting against me!

- You can't be contemplating that! This will lose you the potential support of every single nation West of the Dragonwall! No one has forgotten the Aiel war and the damage it did!

- So, you think that I could win their support in another manner?

- Of course you can! I told you the Amyrlin is on your side - she should have started contacting the rulers already on your behalf, and all the powerful houses in every land....

- You can't be serious Moiraine! You have grown up with the Game of Houses, you know how it goes! Every single head of a House in the West think first of himself, then of his House, then of his own country, and eventually then of the good of the whole world. The cairhienin were seeing a sign into everything I did or didn't do there, even before I became the Dragon Reborn. They will see 10 signs now in anything I do, and interpret each differently. Don't look at me like that, you know it's true. I spend in Tear only a month, and yet those that swore allegiance to me were fighting every single order I issued from the very first to the very last day! I had to stomp out 7 different plots, and I don't even want to think of how many lesser ones I have overlooked, or how many new ones are already boiling now that I'm away. This will be the situation in every other nation I approach, with the nobles and kings scheming how to use me and my coming to their advantage, not caring at all about Tarmon Gai'don! I'll have to stomp out rebellions every couple of months! How can I be sure that the nations I approach will keep their oats when the time comes? And that's not even counting the ones that are simply gonna convince themselves that I'm just another False Dragon that needs putting down! Yes, I've heard the news of Pedron Niall's moves, just as you have - he is already trying to rally nations against me. How many more like him will appear, before the end? How many that don't care about signs, or Prophecies, or Callandor, or the Dark One, and who think that Tarmon Gai'don is only another move in the Great Game????

Moiraine looks abashed. She stays silent for once.

- Rand, more quietly: I need people that follow me not because they are afraid, or they see an advantage in siding with me. I need people that follow me as a prophesized leader about to lead them to fulfilling their destiny. I need someone to fight beside me because he understands the Last Battle is coming, and I'm the world's only hope. The Aiel are the only people I've met so far that can do that. So I mean to bind them to me, and use them however I can. I don't plan on conquering every nation beyond the Spine of the world, Moiraine - any of these that join me willingly will be left at peace until the time comes. But for all the rest, the power of the Aiel will be an ever-present silent reminder of what to expect should they think of opposing me. Let them play their Game of Houses then - I won't care.

- Moiraine: Be very careful, Rand al'Thor. Know that I won't let you turn to the Shadow. - she leaves, and Egwene steps in:

- Rand al'Thor, you pay be the Dragon Reborn, but you're also nothing more than a rude, ill-mannered rude. Can't you see she's only trying to help you? And can't you show at least SOME gratitude for what she has done for you already?

- Rand: So, it was you, that switch! - Egwene shakes her head to negate, then catches herself and suddenly erupts in a harangue:

- You ARE an wool-headed fool, Rand al'Thor, and I should never have told Elayne you're right for her! You aren't right for a weasel! Bring your nose down, or you'll stick it in some doorway! [voice trails off, while Rand is thinking]:

"It's one of her best ones! Yes, she does that when I catch her in doing something wrong - she gets angry with herself, and immediately lashes out at someone else, trying to cover up her own mistake. She's trying so hard at doing whatever it is that she is doing properly. Ilyena would never flash her temper at me like this, because she was angry with herself. She would scold me for a mistake I made....(the thinking voice changes little by little to Lews Terrin's; suddenly Rand realizes what he's thinking and stops shocked)".

- Egwene (suddenly worried): Rand, are you OK? You are working yourself too hard - meeting with the clan chiefs, overseeing the cleanup in the city, training with Lan and Rhuarc... and you rarely cover your head - you're not used to this strong sun!

- Rand; I'm fine (thinking: Oh Light, why was I thinking that? I can't know this ... Ilyena! Am I going mad already?).

- Egwene: Should I go fetch back Moiraine? She can ....

- I said I'm all right! Tell me - how is Elayne?

- She is well. Perhaps I shouldn't be telling you this, but.... she did give me a message for you. She says she loves you, Rand. - The goblet with wine suddenly flies towards his hand; Rand catches it surprised.- Now, you go rest. You need it. - She leaves, and Rand throws the goblet towards Natael:

- I've warned you not to channel in front of any of them! Do you have any idea what will happen if they suspect who you are???

- Natael: They would think it was you. I would never channel if you weren't close by. Don't worry, no one would believe something even I have trouble believing myself. A man that turned to the Shadow three thousand years ago, when the Great Lord was free and at the height of his power... and now he teaches his greatest enemy. It would be worthy of a comedy, if it weren't for the fact that I'm that man. And you know full well that I don't have any choice - any of the other Chosen would kill me on sight, now, except maybe Lanfear. And I don't intend to test her. And if ever the Great Lord catches me....

- The Dark One, Natael! - As you will, the Dark One - well. let's say that I'd wish I was dead even before he truly started.

- And yet, you're not teaching me very well.

- What did you expect? I told you from the start that I'm not a good teacher, especially without a link. Besides, you DO know a lot more than when we first met, especially the basics that were sorely lacking. You can touch the Source at will now, you've no problems controlling the flows, telling them apart. You understand weavings and the Five Powers. I'm sure from now on you'll start figuring things on your own.

- I mean these fabled abilities from the Age of Legends, like Traveling - you haven't taught me any of them.

- Most of them require a good deal of power, and you know very well I can't channel but a trickle. Without that I can't show you the weaves, and I'm not very good at explaining things - I told you already. Look, Lanfear never intended for me to teach you a lot - she wants you to live, to survive the others' attacks, but she intends to be in control this time. She'd never allow you to gain too much power, whatever she claims. And if you believe the opposite, you ARE a fool.

- You said you could teach me better with a link. Why don't we link then?

- (he shakes head) I continue forgetting how much you don't know. Men can't link with each other the way women can - only a woman may initiate such link. I guess you could ask the girl Egwene, or Moiraine, if you trust them enough to tell them who I am...

- Don't like to me, Asmodean! If women can link, we should be able too! Saidin may be different from saidar, but it can do the same!

- No, it's not like that at all! Look, I can't explain it either, I just know it for true. Ask a philosopher, if you want to know more. Some thinks are set in stone: we can't link without them, but they can link without us, at least up to thirteen. Small mercy, that - thirteen of the weakest women will overwhelm you, when linked.

- OK. Tell me again about the Forsaken.

- Natael sighs: I told you everything I know already. Or you think I'm holding back? OK, I'll repeat it again: I don't know much because I kept away from them after I got free from my prison. I know that Sammael is in Illian, but you know that already. Graendal was in Arad Doman when I last saw her, but she may be gone now - I hear it's total chaos there, and she likes a comfortable, luxurious life. Moghedien was somewhere in the West, too - running after exhibits of our Age, no doubt looking for angreal like the others. I also know Rahvin has a real queen for a pet, but who exactly she is, I can only guess. And I told you that they plot against each other all the time - striving to achieve an advantage in the eyes of the Great Lord. That might be all that's keeping us alive - they wouldn't unite any easier than these Tairen Lords you've told me about - not when they don't trust each other. In our time, each one of us went over to the Shadow for a different reason - Mesaana was a scholar, but she was denied a research position in the Collam Daan - the biggest research facility in the world. Demandred and Sammael envied you - they always worked under you, and when the war started they became battle commanders. Again under you - finally they couldn't take it any longer. Demandred went over first, then Sammael. Semiraghe was a talented doctor, but she used some unauthorized methods for research, and some ... incidents happened to her patients. She was dismissed and disgraced, and afterwards she pledged herself to the ... Dark One. Graendal was a famous esthetic, and also a psychologist - she could cure illnesses of the mind that the One Power can't affect. Me.... I was a musician. I wanted to play for ages, not for a single lifetime. We were all promised immortality - it came with our link to the Dark One. Of course, now that this link is severed, I'm just as mortal as you, prone to aging and .... going mad.

- And you still claim there's no way to cleanse saidin?

- Who do you think you are, the Creator???? They tried, don't think they didn't - I found evidence that Aes Sedai tried to clean the Source for years and years, while the world was being torn apart around them. And with all the power and knowledge they had then, they couldn't do it. You think that now you can?

- So, if you have no hope, why do you keep living? Why haven't you sliced your veins with the razor?

Asmodean stays silent for some seconds, then: I once watched a man hanging off a cliff - he had no way up, except a little bush that was barely holding to the cliff itself. There was absolutely no way the bush would sustain his weight, yet he reached for it. That's me, now, and you're the bush.

• 
  Scene 5. Cantorin
  

Bayle Domon and Egeanin are prostrated before the High Lady Suroth, in the large reception hall. She's holding the sad bracelets, thinking hard. Then she addresses the two:

- You have done a great service to the Empress by bringing this device to me, and it is my decision to raise you to the low Blood as a reward. You will be henceforth known as Lady Egeanin Tamarath, and will become a Captain of the Green command. You may rise.