The travelling group of sorcerer types, children, and a clown are finally, finally, going to be crossing the city limits out of Two Rivers and into Hicksville. And that’s saying something.

After having successfully bribed the ferry operator into hauling half a dozen of his men oustide in the foggy dead of night to transport a bunch of nerds across the river, Lan and Moiraine return the favor by summoning a terrifying whirlpool on the riverbank that destroys the ferry completely! Lan gives the ferryman a handsome sum for the damages incurred, which means he can’t bitch too much. The ferryman and his crew leave into the woods, and group continues on their way.

The horses are getting tired, so Lan agrees to set up camp. The kids are terrified that the Draghkar or the Darkfriends or Myrddraal or the Dark One or Trollocs or god knows what else — there are so many damn nothings to keep track of — but Lan is confident that they’ll be safe and also put a sock in it. Moiraine takes this opportunity to pull Egwene aside deep into the woods so they can have a little Girls Night Out. This makes Rand suspicious, but he’s a pantswetter so who cares what he actually thinks.

As one would suspect, Moiraine is teaching Egwene about the Ways of the Wheel, as it were! Saidin and saidar the the True Source and the One Power and why things work the way they do and how you can get the cheat codes for them. Moiraine could sense in this child that she has what it takes to be an Aes Sedai, which will really make Rand empty his bowels into his Year 1350 underpants. Egwene is eager, yet cautious. When Moiraine displays a trinket (an angreal, as it were) and helps Egwene channel some power through it, Egwene jumps for joy and glee! It takes months for women in Tar Valon to do even a fraction of what Egwene accomplished with no training!

“Rand! I’m going to be an Aes Sedai!”

Consider the pants thoroughly pooped.