Rand has disappeared! The whole camp is up and awake and fretting over the desertion of their precious Dragon Reborn. Masema wonders what they have done that the Dragon Reborn has forsaken them! Perrin is like “oh god, this is not the way any of these people should think” and reigns them in, saying that whatever Rand chose to do was not their fault. Dad just left for cigarettes and never came home. It happens all the time.

Perrin, angry, storms off to Moiraine’s hut for a confrontation. Moiraine insists that she did nothing to cause Rand to leave, but Perrin doesn’t believe her. He’s being pretty disrespectful to her about it too, making everyone around him very uncomfortable. Min hands Perrin a note that Rand left before he ran away saying that he must do what he must do. And that means running away. From Ba’alzamon specifically. Bye.

Perrin accuses Moiraine of using Rand. Moiraine merely replies that Rand is who he is. Perrin, still very upset, demands more info. Moiraine knows that Rand is a danger to himself and others, that he needs to know more about channeling the One Power before he murders the world, and that, wherever he’s going, it’s extremely dangerous to go alone.

When Perrin mentions dreams, Moiraine asks what dreams everyone’s been having. Dreams are important, as you recall. Moiraine keeps a dream journal and keeps tabs on everyone’s bedtime brain excursions. Everyone in the camp seems to be dreaming about the same thing: the sword called Callandor (the Sword That Is Not a Sword, ha) in the Heart of the Stone in the city of Tear. Loial knows a prophecy that the fall of the stone is a sign of the Dragon Reborn. There are too many fucking prophecies. Perrin gets grumpy again.

So why not follow Rand? Because Moiraine isn’t sure yet that Rand is headed for Tear in the first place. But then once Lan comes back with news that every motherfucker is dreaming of the same thing, Moiraine is like “oh, ok, we should head for Tear”. The Shienarans will go to Jehannah. Min will go to Tar Valon. No arguments.

Perrin and Min have a conversation about her hots for Rand. Then Min tells Perrin to run if he sees the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen in his life, and Perrin asks “why the fuck would I run away from a beautiful woman?”

That’s the gist. We’re finally gonna start walking around in different directions again! I like it when books do that thing.