One thing I neglected to mention in the previous chapter’s write-up was that Rand’s dream contained the Dark One snapping a rat to death by its back. I failed to mention this because it didn’t seem important to me, but it became apparent that this was THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT event of the dream with respect to this chapter. It gets mentioned a lot.

We come to find out that Rand, Mat, and Perrin all had the same dream. Probably in an identical fashion. They certainly all witnessed a rat getting bent backwards until its back broke. During breakfast, the cook mentions that all the dead rats in the inn that morning were found with snapped backs. Rand just about loses his lunch about this.

Perrin is a pussy and doesn’t want to leave his bed, so Rand ventures out into the great big city of Baerlon all by his lonesome. While he revels in city-related jubilations, such as seeing a mailbox or eating a funnel cake, the young androgynous creature who was speaking to Moiraine yesterday approaches him on the street. It’s a young woman barely older than Rand. Her name is Min and she delights in making Rand uncomfortable by describing her ability to stare at anyone and see their future in a very abstruse manner. She describes stuff like dancing white graves and juggling fire and lightning coming out of Rand’s ass. She is able to see visions of each and every single one of them, and Rand is so unnerved that he gets a very visible boner right there on the street. Min can also see that Rand and Egwene love each other, but they can and will never be together in the way either wants. She ends her little clairvoyant session by letting Rand know that she and he will cross paths again, although it’s impossible to tell why or when or where or how or huh. Rand runs away at this point whining and sniveling.

Rand bumps into Mat in the street, literally, and they both decide to try to confide in Thom “The Gleeman” Taylor (*chainsaw* aurgh aurgh aurgh). Once they start mentioning names of former false dragons, Thom grabs these kids and drags them down an empty alley to either molest them or tell them to zip the lip. He advises against telling Moiraine about these dreams, but if they must then they need to prepare to face possible consequences such as angry, disappointed looks or no more fresh baked cookies. Possibly even a time-out.

For some reason we don’t know yet, Nynaeve the Wisdom from Emond’s Field is in the Stag and Lion. Is she snapping rats in half? Not likely, but she’s there for a reason and Rand, Mat, and Perrin decide to avoid prolonging the inevitable. Tails between their legs, they enter the inn.

This Wisdom sounds pretty hot. People seem to be more afraid of her than Moiraine. I would’ve guessed that Nynaeve is the other Aes Sedai that Moiraine accidentally mentioned in passing, but the implication was that Wisdoms cannot also be Aes Sedai. OR MAYBE THAT’S A TRICK TO THROW ME OFF THE TRAIL! Not gonna work, Robert Jordan, you sly dead dog you.