Alone with Egwene and Nynaeve, Siuan informs both of them that news of Liandrin is not common knowledge. It’s not going to stay that way forever, so Siuan has a task for both of them. See, she doesn’t really know who she can trust anymore? Verin? Moiraine? Rudy Huxtable? You see, any one of her Aes Sedai Sisters could be Black Ajah. And she wants to quash and squish and squash the Black Ajah in its tracks! Nynaeve thinks that Moiraine is not to be trusted, but Siuan calls her an ignorant little girl and tells her to shut the fuck up. Nynaeve then tugs on her braid about 14 times while biting her tongue.

Siuan can trust the two of them because Liandrin tried to get rid of them. Therefore, here’s the task: Hunt down the Black Ajah. Sounds easy peasy, right? But Nynaeve and Egwene are merely Accepted — Egwene barely even that — and she means for them to hunt down thirteen full-fledged Aes Sedai? Is she nuts? Nuts like a fox! Here’s how nuts Siuan is: if she had it her way, she’d make Nynaeve full Aes Sedai right now! But she can only channel when she’s angry. She needs to learn how to do it under extreme pressure with full calmness, and until then it’s no shawl for you.

So yes, hunt the Black Ajah. And you must do it while going through your Accepted training. And you must do it with absolutely no one else knowing or catching onto it. Doesn’t that sound great? Wouldn’t you rather just kill yourselves right here, right now, right in front of Siuan?

When asked why Elayne isn’t involved in this, Siuan says that Morgase’s newfound distaste for the Aes Sedai following Elayne’s adventure have made things a little more difficult. Egwene and Nynaeve accept Siuan’s mission. Verin will provide portfolios and LinkedIn profiles of all missing thirteen Black Ajah Aes Sedai, as well as spec sheets and manuals for the missing ter’angreal. After Nynaeve continues to argue that, as Accepted, they don’t have authority over anything, Siuan opens her explode-y box and removes two folded pieces of paper that say the following. This is right from the book, now:

“What the bearer does is done at my order and by my authority. Obey, and keep silent, at my command.”

And it’s signed and sealed and notorized by Siuan herself. Nynaeve realizes that she can do anything with this piece of paper! She can make Lan jump into a volcano if she wanted to. Siuan agrees, but hisses to not even fucking think about taking advantage of it.

Siuan’s done with them now. Beat it.