A transition chapter, to be sure. Rand discovers that the wound his father endured was BARELY a scratch. Superficial across Tam’s chest barely the length of Rand’s hand. The kid has seen his pops get ten times more wounded and then run 100 miles without puffing. However, Tam is a wimp and he has a really bad fever, so who can really argue with how hurt the guy is? Still gonna have to take him to Emond’s Field. Still gonna have to make him someone else’s problem!

With a makeshift litter, Rand starts dragging his dad’s ass across town in the middle of the night, praying to whatever god exists in Wheel of Time Land that they don’t run into any more Trollocs. And they don’t; not across the duration of this rather short chapter. It’s uneventful, except for the fevered yelling about his long-dead wife and the (supposedly) mythical “Avendesora” — the Tree of Life. Rand wants to tell him to pipe down, but it doesn’t work. And then some Trollocs show up marching through. The black-cloaked rider also appears, but it’s almost like he’s watching the two from afar mockingly.

Nothing else happens. Rand continues making his way to Emond’s Field. I continue making my way through the bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. Yeah, baby.