Page 262 of The Gathering Storm (The Wheel of Time 12)

“It’s all right, Wisdom,” Tam said. He looked at Cadsuane. Min had seen her treat others like this, including Rand. He had always grown frustrated, and others she did it to were prone to bellowing.

Tam stared her in the eyes. “I’ve known men who, when challenged, always turn to their fists for answers. I’ve never liked Aes Sedai; I was happy to be rid of them when I returned to my farm. A bully is a bully, whether she uses the strength of her arm or other means.”

Cadsuane snorted, but the words had irked her, for she set Tam down.

“Now,” Nynaeve said, as if she’d been the one to defuse the exchange, “perhaps we can get back to what is important. Tam al’Thor, I’d have expected you of all people to handle this better. Didn’t we warn you that Rand had grown unstable?”

“Unstable?” Tam asked. “Nynaeve, that boy is right near insane. What has happened to him? I understand what battle can do to a man, but. . . .”

“This is irrelevant,” Cadsuane said. “You realize, child, that might have been our last opportunity to save your son?”

“If you’d explained to me how he regarded you,” Tam said, “it might have gone differently. Burn me! This is what I get for listening to Aes Sedai.”

“This is what you get for being wool-headed and ignoring what you are told!” Nynaeve interjected.

“This is what we all get,” Min said, “for assuming we can make him do what we want.”

The room fell still.

And suddenly Min realized that through their bond, she could feel Rand. Distant, to the west. “He’s gone,” she whispered.

“Yes,” Tam said, sighing. “He opened one of those gateways right on the balcony. Left me alive, though I could have sworn—looking in his eyes—that he meant to kill me. I’ve seen that look in the eyes of men before, and one of the two of us always ended up bleeding on the floor.”

“What happened, then?” Nynaeve asked.

“He . . . seemed to be distracted by something, suddenly,” Tam said. “He took that little statue and dashed through the gateway.”

Cadsuane raised an eyebrow. “And did you see, by chance, where that gateway took him?”

West, Min thought. Far to the west.

“I’m not certain,” Tam admitted. “It was dark, though I thought. . . .”

“What?” Nynaeve prodded.

“Ebou Dar,” Min said, surprising them all. “He’s gone to destroy the Seanchan. Just as he told the Maidens he would.”

“I don’t know about that last part,” Tam said. “But it did look like Ebou Dar.”

“Light preserve us,” Corele whispered.

CHAPTER 49

Just Another Man

Rand walked, stump shoved in the pocket of his coat, head down, carrying the access key securely wrapped in white linen and looped to his belt at his side. Nobody paid attention to him. He was just another man walking the streets of Ebou Dar. Nothing special, despite the fact that he was taller than most. He had reddish gold hair, maybe suggesting some Aiel blood. But a lot of strange people had fled to the city recently to seek Seanchan protection. What was one more?

As long as a person wasn’t able to channel, he or she could find stability here. Safety.

That bothered him. They were his enemies. They were conquerors. He felt their lands shouldn’t be peaceful. They should be terrible, full of suffering because of the tyrannical rule. But it wasn’t like that at all.

Not unless you could channel. What the Seanchan did with this group of people was horrifying. Not all was well beneath this happy surface. And yet, it was shocking to realize how well they treated others.

Tinkers camped outside the city in large groups. Their wagons had not moved for weeks, and it seemed they were forming villages. As Rand had moved among them, he’d heard some of them speak of settling down. Others had objected to this, of course. They were the Tinkers, the Traveling People. How would they find the Song if they did not search for it? It was as much a part of them as the Way of the Leaf.

Last night, Rand had listened to them at one of the campfires. They’d welcomed him in, fed him, never asking who he was. He’d kept the dragon on his hand hidden and the access key carefully tucked in his coat pocket, looking at that fire burning down to coals.

He hadn’t ever been to Ebou Dar itself; he’d only visited the hills to the north, where he’d fought the Seanchan while wielding Callandor. That had been a place of failure. Now he had returned to Altara. But for what?