All the Ogier ladies are staring at Loial because he’s an enormous piece o’ man. Loial doesn’t want to stick around, but he doesn’t want to meet the Elders either, so he pulls out one of his nerd books and buries his nose in it.

The meeting of the Elders! There are seven Elders total, just like deadly sins and/or dwarfs. The group has requested use of their nearby Waygate, but Alar (the eldest of the eldest of the eldest Elders) warns that the Ways are full of black goop that can steal their very souls, like an episode of Jerry Springer, if they’re not careful. Ingtar is like “I WOULD EAT A BRICK OF SHIT TO RETRIEVE THE HORN, MA’AM.” Alar is like “ok, you asked for it” and presents an Ogier named Trayal who traveled the ways and became a drooling baby. Verin inspects the drooling baby with her saidar and discovers nothing within him. No soul, no intelligence, no consciousness, no nothing. Eek, etc. Alar asks if they still want to give it a shot; she can’t stop them. They want to give it a shot. Alar doesn’t wanna let them, but must honor their wishes nonetheless.

But what of Loial? Isn’t he LOYAL to the steddings? (lol.) Rand and Co. demand that they need him, especially since he knows the ways pretty well. Like a human GPS system! I mean, Ogier GPS system. Alar is ok with this as long as they bring him back to the stedding before curfew. Loial is like “brrrt!” but Rand agrees.

Loial received a flower from Erith, so they’re going to get married by Book 11 and have a 400-page wedding. They all arrive at the Waygate, and they discover that it’s just as bloated with the black smoke as before. Rand suspects that the Black Wind must be following him, as if Padan Fain was able to tame it and instruct it accordingly. Verin reiterates that this is danged impossible, but it’s curious nonetheless.

Hurin remembers that Portal Stones are able to allow people to travel long distances in a short amount of time. Alar is like “oh yeah” and leads them to one of them Portal Stones.

They’re going to end up in another world! Probably Earth, New York City circa 9/10/01. Won’t that be fun for them?