Right before Perrin gets in to see Rand, Zarine goes a bit…weird again and suddenly says she’s going to bed. Just seeing the room clears things up that Rand wasn’t behind this, and Moiraine arrives to Heal him. Her best guess is that some evil energy is leaking from the Dark One’s prison as the seals weaken. We also learn that the Tairens are gathering their courage up to move against Rand, with the Aiel as their only real deterrent now. Well, we have to get him on the road and to the next plot somehow.
After the action-packed last chapter, this one is about cleaning things up as well as doing a bit of setup for the situation in Tear. It’s also really nice to see the same Aiel characters from before, increasing my hope that they’ll have a more major role and can get more distinctive characterizations.
