Welcome back to Reading The Wheel of Time! We’re continuing on in the Prologue of Knife of Dreams this week, covering Galina’s section. It’s just a little portion of the Prologue, but it’s significant in many ways, and holds some tantalizing clues about Perrin’s plans to rescue his wife. Let’s get recapping!
Galina is out riding on Swift, a horse that must have once belonged to a noble woman. She enjoys riding, except for the fact that she can only do it when she is given permission by Therava. She does get time alone to think about what she will do to everyone who wronged her, but she is bitterly aware of how afraid she is of Therava, and how Therava doesn’t even have to order her not to escape. Galina has to return to the Wise Ones in the hope that one day, someone will remove the oath of obedience from her.
She would be able to channel again, when and as she wished. Sevanna sometimes made her channel to perform menial tasks, or just to demonstrate that she could command it, but that occurred so seldom that she hungered for even that chance to embrace saidar. Therava refused to let her so much as touch the Power unless she begged and groveled, but then refused her permission to channel a thread. And she had groveled, abased herself completely, just to be granted that scrap. She realized that she was grinding her teeth, and forced herself to stop.
Galina wonders if the Oath Rod in the Tower would be able to remove the oath of obedience to Sevanna and the Wise ones, but there is no way to know. And since Therava has ordered that Galina can’t pick it up, but not that she can’t touch it, Galina’s only hope is to get someone to hand it to her.
She is about to turn back when an Aielman appears. Despite her protests that Sevanna will be angry, she is taken prisoner and bound hand and foot, with her cowl down over her face. The Aielman and his companion, a man with a Murandian accent, discuss her, and she overhears that Perrin Aybara sent them. She is horrified at the idea that Perrin might attack the Shaido and be killed, thus removing Galina’s leverage with Faile. They also have identified her as Aes Sedai, and she wonders at their cavalier attitude to laying hands on a Sister as she is slung, bound, over her own saddle.
“Let us go to where you can make us one of your holes, Fager Neald.”
“Just the other side of the slope, Gaul. Why, I’ve been here so often, I can make a gateway nearly anywhere at all. Do you Aiel run everywhere?”
Galina dismisses those words as nonsense, more concerned about how many days away Perrin’s camp must be, and how angry Therava will be when Galiana doesn’t return on time. She considers how she might explain, but she was late before through no fault of her own and it made no difference with Therava. She’s so distraught at the realization that she starts to fight her bonds and weeping, but she also starts thinking about what to say to Aybara, and how to salvage the situation.
She’s surprised when it only takes an hour to reach their destination. Once her bonds are removed and her cowl pushed back, she can’t believe there could be a camp so large set up so close to the Shaido without being noticed.
Neald and Gaul escort her to Perrin’s tent, but Galina makes sure to walk in as though entering her own rooms in the Tower. The people inside are discussing arranging a meeting. Galiana recognizes Berelain, a Ghealdanin soldier, and Perrin with his wolf’s eyes.
A comment from Neald suddenly has Galina realizing that the black-coated man is an Asha’man, and it takes all her will not to pull away from him. Perrin remarks over the strangeness of seeing an Aes Sedai in gai’shain white, and that any Aes Sedai would still remain with the Shaido after Dumai’s Wells. He also observes that Galina is afraid, which surprises her, since her image of Aes Sedai serenity is without fault.
Galina gives her name as Alyse, and tells them that she is on Tower business, which is none of theirs. She claims that she allowed herself to be taken because she heard Perrin’s name, and tells him that Faile and Alliandre are under her personal protection, and warns him off attacking the Aiel. She tells them that the best way to protect the women is for all of them to ride away and hope that the Shaido let them go, but although the Ghealdanin seems inclined to obey, Perrin only tells Galina to come look at a map of the city.
Berelain apologizes for Perrin’s rudeness and tells Galina of the other sisters in the camp, asking if Galina would like to meet with them. Galina feigns casualness; she would like to know what Masuri and Seonid are doing there, but not at the risk of being recognized herself. In talking with Berelain, Galina also learns that they are three or four days away from the Shaido camp, and that she was brought to it so quickly by channeling. She asks Berelain to help her convince Perrin not to attack the Shaido, but Berelain replies that Perrin is stubborn. She doesn’t think Galina can change his mind.
Perrin brings her over to look at a map of Malden, and another of the surrounding area. Galina tries again to convince him that the Shaido numbers are too great for him to overcome.
“When my business is finished, I will take them to safety. You have heard me say it, so by the Three Oaths you know it is true. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your connection to Rand al’Thor will protect you if you interfere in what the White Tower is doing. Yes, I know who you are. Did you think your wife wouldn’t tell me? She trusts me, and if you want to keep her safe, you must trust me, too.”
When Perrin still refuses to bend, Galina asks for a week in which to finish her business and to bring his wife and the others out, before Perrin takes matters into his own hands. Perrin replies that she can have a few days, perhaps more, but that he can’t promise how many. He asks if the Wise Ones get drunk the way other Shaido do, but Galina replies that they stick to water. He asks if the Shaido go inside the town itself, and Galina answers that they’ve looted everything inside the walls.
Aybara only nodded. “When you see Faile, tell her that on the day she sees fog on the ridges and hears wolves howl by daylight, she and the others must go to Lady Cairen’s fortress at the north end of the city and hide there. Tell her I love her. Tell her I’m coming for her.”
Wolves? Was the man demented? How could he ensure that wolves would…? Suddenly, with those wolf’s eyes on her, she was not sure she wanted to know.
Galina says that she will pass on the message, privately wondering what Perrin is planning and who he is planning to meet with. Perrin makes a cryptic remark about getting the key piece of a blacksmith’s puzzle into place.
Galina asks to be taken back to the Shaido camp, as close as possible, and Perrin orders Neald to take her. Galina also asks Perrin to hit her, but when he refuses, Berelain offers her services, punching Galina so hard that the Aes Sedai’s vision goes black for a moment. She doesn’t hesitate to ride through the Gateway Neald makes for her, even the fear of saidin can’t match her fear of Therava in that moment. But she emerges too far from the camp to make it back by her sunset curfew, and Therava makes her pay for it.
As she’s being punished, Galina clings to her need to get the rod.
Obtain the rod, kill Faile and her friends, and she would be free.
I appreciate that Jordan reminded us of a few details about Galina before we got to her section. We know that she was the previous Highest, the head of the Red Ajah. We also know that she is a Darkfriend, and that Pevara and the other Black Ajah hunters in the Tower know it. They think she’s dead, of course, but if she ever makes it back to the Tower, that surprise will be waiting for her. Everyone in the White Tower thinks she’s dead, but those Sisters who have ended up with Rand don’t; obviously they know who was captured at Dumai’s Wells, and ostensibly they would also know who was killed as well. They would know she escaped, so of course Sashalle would believe that she returned to the White Tower.
Galina’s plan to retrieve the other oath rod is very interesting, not least because its success relies on the fact that Therava likes to remind Galina of her power over the Aes Sedai. In the opening of her section it is stated that Therava never orders her not to escape, because she knows that Galina will always come back; if she leaves she will never be able to channel again, and only by staying near the rod does she have any hope that the oath might be lifted from her someday. This is just Therava rubbing Galina’s face in her own helplessness, as is the command not to pick up the rod. Galina can still touch the rod because Therava enjoys watching her dream of freedom.
The yearning in her eyes when she gazed at the rod brought Therava’s rare smiles.
Given what we know of how the other oath rod works, I’m confident that Galina will be able to hold the oath rod if Faile hands it to her. We know from the Three Oaths that the exact wording of what is sworn matters, and “holding” is not “picking up.” The enforcement of oaths is also a little bit subjective. We’ve seen Aes Sedai use this wiggle room before, especially when it comes to the way they make people think they’ve said something when they haven’t literally said it. The oath not to lie only prevents direct untruthful statements, not obfuscation or implication. One might argue that deliberately misleading someone is the same as lying, but the rods only enforce the letter of the oath, not the spirit.
Though I do wonder what would happen if the person under oath truly believed that deliberately misleading is lying. Would that person find themselves constrained further than someone who sees the two as being very different? It’s something I’ve wondered before because of the wording of the third oath, which we get from New Spring when Moiraine and Siuan are raised to the shawl:
“Under the Light and by my hope of salvation and rebirth, I vow that I will never use the One Power as a weapon except against Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme of defending my life or that of my Warder or another sister.”
The term “the last extreme” always felt very subjective to me. What constitutes a last extreme? When a killing blow is about to fall? When someone is not yet beaten, but clearly losing a fight? If you’re impossibly outnumbered by foes who are about to attack you, but haven’t quite done so yet? Never mind the fact that it’s always possible to misinterpret a situation, two sisters with different levels of courage, or even different levels of experience, might have vastly different ideas of what this “last extreme” looks like.
Moiraine even notes that the Oaths are “utterly flexible,” though they are also very tight.
All of which is to say that Galina should be able to hold the rod, and even carry it away, as long as Therava doesn’t adjust her orders. Of course, Galina still can’t channel without permission, so she will have to find another sister to activate the rod for her—one she can trust with the truth, which I imagine would be quite difficult. She wouldn’t want any of the Black to know, I don’t think, because all Darkfriends are out for themselves and are going to take any chance to gain advantage and power over their fellows, as long as it doesn’t get them in trouble with their superiors. But who else is there? I don’t know if she has any close friends among the Reds, either, and anyone she shares this secret with is likely to want to use it to their own advantage, even if it is for a normal Aes Sedai Tower politics reason.
Exposing herself to another sister, even a Black sister, probably still won’t be as bad as remaining with Therava and Sevanna, though, so it’s probably not a problem Galina cares much about, especially now when escape is so elusive and freedom still so theoretical. For her, it’s a problem for the future. For me, though, it’s really interesting to contemplate, especially given how different the Tower is now from how it was when Galina left it.
It’s also interesting to watch her interact with Perrin and Berelain, and for much the same reasons. On the one hand, she’s still Black Ajah, which means she can lie directly to Perrin and Berelain’s faces (“She trusts me! I’m definitely not threatening her!”). On the other hand, she has the secret of being bound to obey Therava and not to channel, which she can’t trust them with. I wonder if a sister who wasn’t Black would consider telling them everything; it would still be a very dangerous and vulnerable position to be in, revealing such truths to near strangers, but given how horrible her captivity is, it might be worth it. On the other hand, no Aes Sedai likes to put her fate in the hands of other people, especially those outside the Tower, and she might well believe that her own ability to take care of business is much higher than these strangers she knows very little about.
After all, when Galina advises Perrin not to attack because he’s sure to lose, she isn’t lying. She believes he will die; her only lie is that she wants to help Faile for him, when in truth she needs him to be the leverage she has over Faile. Any trustworthy Aes Sedai in her position might well advise the same and believe that her own ability to help Faile and the others outstrips his. Which is understandable, but I think we all know Perrin is capable of some miracles.
He clearly has some kind of plan. It’s funny to remember how Perrin thinks of himself as “slow” or not as smart as other people, and then to contrast that with his knowledge of blacksmith’s puzzles, which he uses as an analogy when looking at the situations before him. Jordan doesn’t describe in detail what blacksmith puzzles are, but my interpretation of them is either the concept of those puzzle boxes that seem not to open until you slide one piece just so, or those rope and ring puzzles where you’re supposed to separate two more pieces that are looped within each other, and then put them back together. Possibly both would qualify in this instance, and in either case, these puzzles require one’s logic, skill, patience, and the ability to look at a problem from different and creative angles. I think Perrin has all these skills; he just devalues himself and his intelligence because it isn’t lightning fast. In the case of the overwhelming number of Shaido and Wise Ones who can channel, I think he will surprise many people with an unexpected angle that changes the odds, something more than the alliance with the Seanchan and perhaps the use of some damane in facing the Wise Ones.
The clue might lie in his question about whether the Wise Ones drink alcohol. Galina supposes he is hoping enough of them would get drunk at once to improve Perrin’s odds in an attack, but he is definitely too smart to think that would work. So… Why else would he want to know if the Wise Ones are drinking alcohol? The only answer I can come up with is that he wants to lace their drink with something. I don’t know how he would do that, or what he would use…
Well, no. I can think of one thing he could use, if he knows about it. Forkroot would not only stop the Wise Ones from channeling but also put them to sleep—at least the ones who can channel. This would probably help in sowing disorder among the Shaido as well, which could be very useful in leading an attack.
We do know that Faile had to travel some distance to reach Malden’s water source, so it’s possible that all the water in the camp comes from one place. You’d need a lot of forkroot for a water source that large, unless you had someone on the inside to dose individual buckets as they were carried to the Wise Ones tents… I feel like I’m the one looking at a blacksmith’s puzzle now, but I do think I’m headed in the right direction here, even if I’m not quite right.
After all, to get ahead of myself for a moment, we’ll be reminded about forkroot in the next section, because it’s being used on Egwene while she’s a prisoner in the White Tower. I don’t know exactly how widespread the knowledge of forkroot is, but we know everyone in the White Tower knows about it. It was also used on Elayne during the fake assassination attempt Mellar/Hanlon used to gain her favor, so we have to figure a lot of people know about it by now. Maybe Annoura could have mentioned it to Perrin.
It’s clear enough that Perrin hopes to match the Shaido’s numbers using wolves and Seanchan, and to use channeling to further distract and disarm them. If a bunch of Wise Ones are suddenly incapacitated in some way, all this might be enough to give him at least a decent chance to beat the Shaido’s forces. Or perhaps a huge battle might provide enough of distraction to allow a small rescue party to slip in and find Faile and the others. I guess I’ll have to be patient and wait to see.
In the meantime, I thought it was interesting to see Perrin from an outsider’s perspective. I’ve contrasted his journey with Rand’s a lot in my posts, and Galina’s interpretation of him as having a “stone-hard” face certainly reminded me of the way Rand’s friends have regarded his exterior. Galina still saw Perrin’s sadness too, however, which feels important to note.
Next week we’ll be returning to the Tower, and to Egwene, who will be waking up to a very different White Tower than the one she knew as a novice. To everyone around her, she will still be a novice, but we will see how Egwene’s strength and understanding of herself as Amyrlin—as the Amyrlin—will hold up against the attempts of Elaida and her followers to break her down.
Frankly, in a contest of wills, I wouldn’t put my money on Elaida.
