Hello, and welcome back to Reading The Wheel of Time! I’ve been to another country (Scotland!) for two weeks but it feels like a lot longer, so please excuse me while I scrape my brain back into work mode.
Not much happens in chapters three and four of Crossroads of Twilight, but we do get to know Tuon a little bit better through the character of banner-general Karede and her childhood interaction with him. We also get some more clues about what that fortune told her about her future husband, and we finally find out exactly where we are on the timeline.
And now, the recap.
Mat’s distress over having the dice rolling in his head is so strong that everyone notices his expression, and Olver asks Mat what’s wrong. Mat reassures him and sends the boy to help with the packing. Egeanin takes the opportunity to confront Mat over who is giving the orders in their group. He reminds her that he isn’t her hired man, no matter what she thinks; to get rid of her, he announces that he is going to visit Tuon. Egeanin is so desperate to ignore the fact that the kidnapping happened that she drops the subject, going off with Bayle to pack. Before he leaves, however, Bayle warns Mat that Tuon is probably tougher than Mat thinks, and points out that she has been extraordinarily calm about her situation.
Inside the wagon he obtained for Tuon and Selucia, Mat finds Setalle keeping guard over them while working on an embroidery hoop. Tuon immediately takes Mat to task over the story he has put about concerning her and Selucia’s identity. She even throws a cup at him, and refers to him as “toy,” despite his continued protests that his name is Mat.
The story Mat has told everyone (except for Luca and his wife, who know the truth) is that the two women he is keeping confined in the wagon are servants who were about to be dismissed for theft and who threatened to expose “Leilwin” and her escape with her lover. He reminds Tuon that she doesn’t actually have to be a servant, and that it’s too late to change the story now, anyway. He also promises her that he will send her back as soon as he can figure out how. She replies that it seems she will see what his promises are worth, and then asks where his ring is. Mat replies that he doesn’t always wear it.
“Not when everybody in the Tarasin Palace knew he wore it. The thing would have stood out, with his rough layabout’s garb, in any case. It was not even his signet, anyway, just a carver’s try-piece. Strange, how his hand felt noticeably lighter without it. Too light. Strange that she remarked on it, too. But then, why not? Light, those dice had him shying at shadows and jumping at sighs. Or maybe it was just her, a discomforting thought.
Mat notes with some confusion the way Selucia seems half-ready to attack him, and that even Setalle seems to be guarding Tuon from him, rather than the other way around. His best winning smile doesn’t seem to have any effect on them.
He asks Tuon’s age, and she is angered at the implication that she looks very young. Then she asks him if he remembers Hawkwing’s face; Mat suddenly experiences a memory of a man named Culain confronting Hawkwing as he dies after a battle, as well as a scattering of other memories. Mat lies, careful not to speak in the Old Tongue accidentally.
“Light, Hawkwing died a thousand years ago! What kind of question is that?”
Her mouth opened slowly, and for a moment he was sure she meant to answer question with question. “A foolish one, Toy,” she replied finally, instead. “I can’t say why it popped into my head.”
Mat relaxes, assuming that his ta’veren nature put the unusual question in her mind. Tuon tells him that, as long as he keeps his promises, she promises not to betray him or try to escape, or cause any other problems for him. Setalle and Selucia are both shocked, and Mat is torn, some part of him believing her, another other part feeling like she knows more than he does. They shake on the agreement, and the dice stop in Mat’s head.
He’s so rattled that a knock on the door has him jumping to protect the women, but it is only Thom, returning from his trip into the city to report that no one seems to have announced Tuon’s disappearance or to be searching for her. Mat is trying to decide what the dice are trying to tell him when Thom gives him another piece of news: Tylin was found dead, still bound where Mat left her, with her head torn off. The Seanchan have decided that the Aes Sedai are to blame for her death, since Tylin swore the oaths of loyalty.
Mat sinks to the floor in shock, and worries aloud that the Seanchan will blame the Windfinders, not the Aes Sedai, for Tylin’s murder.
The marath’damane had reason to murder Tylin,” Selucia said suddenly. “They must fear her example for others. What reason had the damane you speak of? None. The hand of justice requires motive and proof, even for damane and da’covale.” She sounded as though she were reading the words off a page. And she was looking at Tuon from the corner of her eye.
Mat bemoans the fact that he left Tylin tied up and helpless to be murdered by the gholam that was looking for him. Thom explains to Tuon what a gholam is, and then reminds Mat that a hundred guards couldn’t have stopped it.
Blaeric arrives, insisting that Mat come talk to Joline, and Mat reluctantly leaves the wagon, wracked with guilt over Tuon and worry that the windfinders will be blamed for her death.
Inside the wagon shared by the six women, the three Aes Sedai are seated on one bed while the sul’dam are on the other. He can see the way the two sides watch each other, feel the tension in the space.
Joline tells Mat that he needs to stop the show from moving, and that they must abandon the idea of going to Lugard for the time being and cross the river into Illian instead. It’s a terrible suggestion, but Mat doesn’t get a chance to say so before Teslyn starts arguing with Joline. They all know that the Seanchan have soldiers all along the Illian border, and possibly beyond.
Rena, Seta, and Bethamin offer to get the Aes Sedai in line for Mat, but he declines, demanding that Joline tell him what she’s afraid of. The Aes Sedai reluctantly explain that someone is channeling an inconceivable amount of power, far away in the north. Given how much—more than they could feel if every Aes Sedai were channeling at once—it can only be the Forsaken.
Mat decides that if it’s that far away, they are sticking with their plan. The Aes Sedai try to argue with him, but although Mat hadn’t directly thought about Rand and Perrin, the colors he always sees when he does think about them are swirling in his head now, and he even has the vague impression of a man and a woman sitting on the ground facing each other. Somehow, he knows it’s not the Forsaken out there, and he wonders what Rand was doing the moment the dice stopped.
Furyk Karede sits in his room in the Wandering Woman with his servant, Ajimbura. Karede has recently been raised to banner-general after having some small success fighting against the Asha’man. However, the Deathwatch Guard’s first duty is not to war, but to the safeguarding of the Imperial family. And now the High Lady Tuon has disappeared.
Of course, the Imperial family was given to even more complicated intrigues than the rest of the Blood, and the High Lady Tuon frequently played a very deep game indeed, with a sharp and deadly skill. Only a few were aware that she had vanished twice before, and had been reported dead, to the very arrangement of her funeral rites, all by her own contriving. Whatever the reasons for her disappearance, though, he had to find and protect her. So far he had no clue how.
A man walks into the room without even knocking, and displays the plaque of a Seeker for Truth. The Seeker tells Ajimbura to wait outside, but Ajimbura doesn’t move until Karede orders him.
The Seeker asks about some of the orders on Karede’s desk and about his sons, but Karede rebuffs him and asks the Seeker’s name. It’s not the sort of thing one does with a Seeker, but after a moment the man gives it anyway—Almurat Mor.
Mor tells Karede about rumors of a girl with a Seandar accent extorting money from merchants in Ebou Dar, and although none of the local people know what the title Daughter of the Nine Moons means, the description of the girl is very accurate. The rumor has reached the Tarasin Palace, where people are attempting to behave as though nothing has happened, but Suroth is angry and taking it out on her underlings, and the nobility seem to be trying to grow eyes on the back of their heads.
Karede demands that Mor speak plainly, but Mor shifts topics, bringing up Karede’s service record and the fact that he once saved Tuon’s life when she was young. Tuon gifted him a doll, and Karede kept it for ten years, until it was destroyed in a fire. Mor also knows that Karede requested to be assigned to Tuon’s bodyguard, also an unusual move.
Karede keeps his expression and tone neutral, citing his loyal duty to the Crystal Throne. Mor tells him about others who disappeared the same night that Tuon did; two damane were taken from the kennels, Tylin’s pet, a few soldiers, and a clever, mysterious older man called Thom Merrilin who Mor believes must have been working for the Aes Sedai. He thinks Tylin was killed because she learned of a secret plot by the White Tower to kidnap Tuon. He explains about Egeanin, and the possible ties between Suroth and the Aes Sedai, and suddenly all the Seeker’s wariness makes sense to Karede.
So. Suroth plotted with Aes Sedai and had corrupted at least some of the Seekers above Mor, and the White Tower had placed men under one of their best to carry out certain actions. It was all believable.
Karede agrees to think on everything, and Mor departs.
Karede begins to set his own plans in motion. The next day, he leaves the city and rides out past the farmlands to rendezvous with the party he has put together: a hundred of the Deathwatch guard and twenty Ogier Gardeners, six pairs of sul’dam and damane, and all the supplies needed for such a group on their journey. One of the damane, Mylen, who Karede recognizes as being a former Aes Sedai, is particularly distraught after learning that Tuon is in danger.
The First Gardener, Hartha, remarks that they are trying to catch the wind with a net. Karede replies, grimly, that they must start spreading that net without delay.
I’m not sure I followed the first half of what Mor told Karede. There’s a rumor of someone matching Tuon’s description extorting money from merchants down at the docks? What does Mor think that means, and why would it have anything to do with her possible kidnapping?
Karede knows that she has orchestrated her own disappearance on previous occasions as part of some political stratagem, so perhaps Mor knows this too. He may be suggesting that as one possibility surrounding her disappearance, and the kidnapping as a second? They certainly don’t seem to fit together as part of a single puzzle, and since we know what really happened to Tuon, the reasons for and origins of this rumor about her raise some interesting questions.
It’s ironic to realize that Tuon orchestrated this kidnapping, too. It doesn’t appear to be something she necessarily knew or suspected would happen, but when she realized what was going down and who was involved, she pretty much volunteered to be kidnapped. She practically put the idea into Mat’s head, really, and as Domon points out, she seems less flustered by the situation than her kidnappers are. She has political motivations for this, too, after all: Not only can she get to know her future husband better, she can also potentially learn more about the Aes Sedai and about the people of the land she has come to reconquer.
But looking at it from Mor and Karede’s point of view, I don’t quite see what clue lies in the suggestion that she was secretly getting money from merchants for something. It seems unlikely that it was someone else; Tuon’s accent and physical stature aren’t exactly common, though there’s always the possibility of the Forsaken being up to something, I suppose. I don’t know what Tuon would have been doing, but if it’s just about getting together money so she could sneak off on her own, I feel like there are easier ways for Tuon to discreetly get her hands on some petty cash, even if she is currently under the veil.
What does Anath look like again? Could it have been her, maybe, that the rumors started about? I feel like she’s not small enough to be mistaken for Tuon, given the emphasis the narrative puts on Tuon’s doll-like appearance. But she’s definitely a baddie, and of course there’s the chance the rumor isn’t true at all, but was started by… someone. For some currently unknown reason.
(Not me looking askance at Jordan constantly describing so many of the main female characters as child-like or something similar.)
Mor is chasing multiple leads, of course, and although he thinks he has at least some of the picture figured out, he didn’t have enough information to make a move on any of his targets. He’s aware he doesn’t know everything, that he’s still making a deduction and has no proof. It’s just that he presents that deduction in a very confusing way and acts like he’s giving Karede one clear storyline that spells all of this out for him.
I really enjoy the dramatic irony that we get as we follow Mor’s investigation. His assumptions are just far enough from the truth to be amusing for the reader, but are still very intelligent deductions given what he can reasonably be expected to know. The White Tower may be in disarray, but the reputation the Aes Sedai have cultivated is powerful enough that the Senchan believe them capable of such feats of infiltration and sabotage—which indeed, they probably once were, at least in ordinary circumstances. I don’t think even a united White Tower would have been prepared for the Seanchan, but perhaps the Seanchan are assuming that Luthair and his followers weren’t quite so forgotten by the White Tower as they were by the general populace. It would be a fair assumption, given the power of the White Tower during Hawkwing’s time and how much longer channelers live than ordinary people.
Mor is still thinking like a Seanchan and assuming that everyone he investigates is also thinking like a Seanchan. He misses a trick with Egeanin because her thought process is changing; despite the fact that the Aes Sedai are channelers, it never seems to occur to him to suspect that anyone might free the Windfinders and Aes Sedai damane not from political motivation but solely because they don’t believe channelers should be chained. Of course, the Windfinders were also released to be a diversion, technically, so again, he’s not far off, and perhaps from where he’s sitting motivations don’t really matter. If Suroth is in league with the Aes Sedai, all he needs to find is enough physical proof in order to be able to arrest and question her. He needs facts; spiritual and emotional truth can come later.
But, if he had the ability to theorize on what might motivate a Seanchan noblewoman to work with Aes Sedai, or what might motivate her to be connected to Aes Sedai in some other way, he might get somewhere useful.
He certainly has Thom figured out, though. With Mat painted as Tylin’s toy, his part in things is overlooked, or at least he is put down to being a pawn in a greater game. But other than assuming Thom is working directly for the Aes Sedai, Mor has a pretty good idea of exactly what kind of person Thom is. Mat is very lucky Thom wasn’t spotted by Mor when he was back in Ebou Dar doing his scouting. I don’t think the timing is quite right, but I could almost believe that the stopping of the dice had something to do with Thom getting back to the camp safely.
It is very interesting how little aid the dice actually give Mat in his adventures. Half the time he doesn’t even know what their tumblings portend, even after they’ve stopped. And when they are actively rolling in his head they don’t give him a warning specific enough to be very helpful, most of the time. Even the reader can’t always be sure what they mean, though there have been a few times we’ve had enough information to deduce that when Mat didn’t.
I’m assuming that only the first time the dice stopped in Tuon’s presence was actually about Mat and Tuon, while the second time was about the fighting in Ebou Dar starting at the right moment to aid in their escape; perhaps they would have been found out if the guards had had time to be thorough. And the third time? Well, like Mat suspects, it probably has something to do with Rand and Nynaeve cleansing saidin. However, it’s also possible that the fact that he and Tuon made this pact meant a certain outcome for them and their future; if Mat hadn’t agreed to her terms, she might have decided to try to escape, or to foil him in some other way, which could have had a number of consequences, in a number of different directions.
It’s so interesting that the swirling vision Mat, Rand, and Perrin get whenever one thinks about either of the others actually gave Mat information in that moment. I assumed the colors were more about the Pattern trying to force them back together; Rand has expressed his need to have them near more than once, and these ocular migraines seem rather insistent. But I didn’t guess they’d be so useful, and I think having even a vague idea of what the others are doing might actually be really helpful in the future. You could sure use a power like that in the middle of, say, a global battle of the Light versus the Shadow.
(And speaking of what the others are doing, the next chapter is Perrin! How long have we been waiting for that? More than a whole book? Yes, that is correct. How you go an entire novel without giving us any Perrin is beyond me, but my long wait is nearly at its end.)
The thing I really appreciated about chapter five is the story about Tuon giving Karede the doll. It’s a really important piece of information, because most of the moments of kindness we have seen from Tuon have been towards damane, which of course taints them; the kindness of a slave owner to their slave does not qualify as kindness. And although we know Tuon is very loved by her people, much of that love is not about the individual she is but because she is the daughter of the Empress, someone who is worshipped for her bloodline and the place she holds in Seanchan society. Karede, however, has a clear admiration, even love, for Tuon, that exists outside of his duty to the Crystal Throne. The narration even makes the point that he might have too much personal loyalty.
The Guards were not supposed to form attachments to those they were sent to guard. The Deathwatch Guard served only the Crystal Throne, served whoever succeeded to the throne, with a whole heart and a whole faith.
Karede’s feelings towards Tuon are based on her recognition of him as a person, I think, though I don’t believe he himself would see it in that way. He also was very moved and impressed by her dedication to her own duty, even as a young girl faced with the prospect of her own death. I am sure that, whatever Seanchan culture says, not that many of the High Blood feel the same way about their duty as Karede feels about his, and it makes sense that he was moved by the connection.
We the readers may also be moved by this revelation of Tuon’s character. She is going to be Mat’s wife, after all, and the Seanchan haven’t done much to earn either Mat’s respect or mine. The damane thing is a problem, of course, as is much of Seanchan hierarchical culture and also their belief that they are somehow owed this continent where other people have lived, just because they remember a dead king a little more clearly and fondly than the people whose actual ancestors were living on this land when Hawkwing died.
The little question and answer game between Mat and Tuon was kind of cute, though. Part of the fortune that Tuon was told must have referenced that bit about remembering Hawkwing’s face. The thing about the ring is important too; she’s brought that up before. Mat asking her age was kind of weird, given how creepy it would be if he met his prophesied wife while she was still underage and was just… relieved he had to wait around at least a few years.
Mat fussing over Olver and thinking that no one else takes care of the boy properly but him is very cute, and having that reminder of his paternal side in the same chapter as his conversation with Tuon felt really pointed. We are reminded of his kindness and goodness too, just as the doll story tells us of hers.
Of course, then we have to be reminded about “Mylen” right after the doll story, which put a bit of a bitter taste on the whole thing. Sheraine’s obsessive dedication to Tuon is as disturbing as when she was wasting away, refusing to eat because of her imprisonment. Tuon may have saved the woman from death, but she also broke her, stripped her of that last piece of free will. If you squint and turn your head sideways you might say what Tuon did was a kindness, given that Sheraine was already enslaved, but from another viewpoint, it was actually anything but. The loyalty Karede feels and the loyalty “Mylen” feels are polar opposites of each other. His came from being seen as a person, almost as an equal, even though he is her property. The other comes from being reduced to property, less than a person, and made to believe that it is a good thing.
Tuon is capable training damane, which means she is capable of becoming a channeler. I’m very interested to see when this fact will become known to her, and to Mat. How will Mat feel about having a wife who, while not actually Aes Sedai, is a wielder of saidar? How will the future Empress of the Seanchan, a woman whose empire is built on the backs of damane and their power, feel about finding out that she herself is marath’damane?
I’m fascinated by the question, but it might be some time until I find out.
What I am about to find out, however, is what the heck happened to Perrin! It’s chapters five and six next week, and I’m already side-eyeing the ominous title of “Forging a Hammer.” See you then!
