The previous chapter ended with Loial going “oh dear God we’ll all die if travel along the Ways!”, so now Loial spends a good chunk of time explaining exactly why this is. It amounts to the following: the Breaking of the World was happening because all the male Aes Sedai were losing their marbles. The Ogier set up these steddings to contain these insane men so that they couldn’t tap into the True Source. However, since Aes Sedai feel empty and depressed within these steddings, they didn’t want to stay. Even so, as a token of their appreciation, the male Aes Sedai created “the Ways”. Passages between steddings that avoid the broken world altogether! They’re like wormholes, as I understand it. Time and space is bent and folded over, some real far out shit.

These Ways have degraded over time, though, and people started disappearing along the paths like it was the Bermuda Triangle. Loial doesn’t want to disappear either, no sir! Sometimes they did come out, but insane, like that one Stephen King story The Jaunt! Also not an attractive fate! The Ogier closed off the Ways and forbid anyone from using them, so Loial sees no reason to use them either.

Moiraine, as a response, naturally, starts spouting off some of that “the Pattern brought us here” nonsense. The answer she has to literally every question or complaint. Everyone agrees to go with Moiraine and Lan, which forces Loial’s hand. He agrees, grudgingly, to go too.

Rand has another Ba’alzamon dream. It’s uninteresting, but this time Rand grows a pair and starts confronting the demon directly. “What do you want from me?” he asks. Fealty, that’s what! Then there’s some in-dream torture and Rand falls out of bed. A splinter that stabbed his hand in the dream remains. Without a word, Moiraine heals the wound and declares that time is running out.

Do you what’s good? Veggie chips. I recommend Veggie Chips.