Rand has been running for two chapters because he’s scared of being “gentled” by a town full of women. They make it sound like gentling (removing a man’s access to the One Power) as akin to neutering, and not in a humane way. We’re talking balls sliced off right at the crotch. He approaches two guards at a gate who confirm that no one is to enter or leave the keep as long as the Aes Sedai are hanging around.

Rand wanders and ends up in a storeroom where Mat and Perrin are gambling with dice with a bunch of locals. Loial the Big Goat Man is there watching, and in one last desperate attempt to leave, Rand asks Loial if he knows any secret Ogier ways out of town. Loial, uselessly, does not.

Rand tries to tell Mat and Perrin that he needs to leave before the Aes Sedai get ahold of him, but they don’t understand why. So Rand pivots and changes the subject instead, because he doesn’t want to tell his good buddies and pals that he’s probably gonna be the Dragon Reborn or some similar shit. When the subject steers toward Mat and Perrin wanting to join him in trying to leave the keep, Rand starts getting mean to them on purpose to emotionally shove them away. He wants to take this journey on his own and spare his friends the harm and death of…leaving Fal Dara. Not sure exactly.

Rand feels bad for being a butthead and bumps into Egwene during another wandering session. She had already spoken to Mat, Perrin, and Loial, and she knows what Rand is up to. He attempts to be mean to her too, but Egwene ain’t having it. She tackles him to the ground and sits on him, and not in a sexy way. They threaten each other with the One Power. After some more fighting, Egwene eventually concedes that maybe Rand should run off before he gets tickled to death by the Aes Sedai. Perhaps the dungeons would be a good place to hide! That’s where she’s been having occasional chats with Padan Fain, the peddler-turned-traitor Darkfriend who sent Trollocs to Two Rivers through the Ways. Remember all that? I barely do!

They visit the dungeons and Fain acts weirder and more possessed than usual. He’s like “the battle will never end” and Mordeth this and Ba’alzamon that. So Egwene is like “fuck this” and they decide to hide among the Aes Sedai instead. Sounds like a great idea: hide among those you’re trying to avoid. Stupid kids.