Chapter 39 - Flight from the White Tower

Summary

Egwene al’Vere, Nynaeve al’Meara, Elayne traci’goran al’Maer al’Vaeren, and Min Farshaw, disguised in fine clothing to blend in with petitioners, slip through the White Tower and its stables to reach a Waygate in the Ogier grove, where Liandrin Sedai guides them into the Ways to pursue Rand al’Thor. After a dark and exhausting journey through the labyrinthine Ways, marked by Liandrin’s stern leadership and the group’s apprehension regarding the Black Wind, they arrive at another Waygate on Toman Head, ready to continue their mission despite the risks of channeling in the tainted environment.

Characters

• Egwene — Egwene travels disguised with her companions, feeling the weight of their mission and the contrast between her current fine dress and her novice habits. She leads her horse Bela into the Waygate first, enduring the disorienting passage through the darkness of the Ways and later riding through the labyrinth with growing anxiety about the Black Wind and her feelings for Rand.
• Nynaeve (Wisdom) — Nynaeve leads the group with purposeful confidence, using her authority and a threat to ensure the stableman saddles their horses. Elayne tosses a coin to the stableman as a gesture of thanks. Nynaeve navigates the Waygate with caution, providing lanterns and dark humor to maintain morale, and expresses her distrust of both Liandrin and Moiraine while monitoring the progress of their escape.
• Elayne (Daughter-Heir) — Elayne disguises herself in a blue dress slashed with cream and rides with the group, asserting her right to join the mission and warning Liandrin of the dangers they face as heirs and friends. She observes the terrifying architecture of the Ways and the oppressive darkness, later discussing the potential marriage prospects of Rand with Egwene.
• Min — Min disguises herself in a boy's cloak and breeches, carrying saddlebags and food while posing as a servant. She enters the Waygate with hesitation but determination, questions the Pattern's cruelty regarding Rand's fate, and rides through the Ways with the group, watching them with a frown.
• Liandrin (Aes Sedai) — Liandrin ambushes the group in the Ogier grove, forcing them to accompany her into the Waygate despite her earlier orders to keep their mission secret. She leads them through the dark, cold Ways with ruthless efficiency, consulting a parchment to find the path, and forbids the others from channeling, revealing her disdain for Moiraine's knowledge.
• Bela — Bela, Egwene's shaggy mare, stands in a stall in the South Stable and whickers softly to Egwene. She is saddled and ridden by Egwene into the White Tower streets, through Tarlomen's Gate, and into the Waygate, where she stumbles in the pitch-blackness of the Ways before settling.
• Takima (Brown Ajah) — Takima, an Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah with aged-ivory skin, walks through a corridor listening to a woman in farm clothes. Egwene recognizes her as a teacher who could easily identify her pupils from a distance, prompting the group to quickly turn down a side hall to avoid detection.
• Irella (Accepted) — Irella, an Accepted with a lanky frame and a permanent frown, hurries past Egwene and her companions hauling a novice by the ear. She does not notice the escaping women, seeing only their fine clothes, which allows them to slip past unnoticed.
• Else (novice) — Else, a red-faced novice, is hauled by the ear by the Accepted Irella as they pass Egwene and her group. Like Irella, she is indifferent to the escaping women, allowing them to continue toward the stables without raising an alarm.