New Spring - A Wheel of Time Prequel Story
New Spring
A Wheel of Time Prequel Story
By Robert Jordan
Published in January 2004
Moraine and Lan
New Spring is a prequel to The Wheel of Time series that takes place about twenty years before the main story starts with The Eye of the World. New Spring was initially printed as a short story in the short story collection, Legends by Robert Silverberg in 1999. Due to the popularity of the story and that later as it was hard to find Legends in print, Robert Jordan expounded on the story and added more content to the story to make it a short novel that was published in 2004.
Lan and Moraine destined to save the world.
New Spring was set to be the first novel in a trilogy of prequel stories, with the second story being about how Tam al’Thor served in the Illianer army and how he ended up finding the newly born Rand on the slopes of Dragonmount. The third story would’ve revealed some of the adventures Moraine and Lan and how they ended up finding the Two Rivers and Rand right before the Dark One’s forces did on that fateful Winter Night of Bel Tine. But due to Robert Jordan’s sickness and untimely death, these last two stories were never finished. Hopefully, at some point these stories can be written and released someday for the fans who crave more Wheel of Time stories.
New Spring can be split into two different distinct parts which are the events of the story before Moraine Damodred and Suian Sanche pass the tests and become Aes Sedai, and the story after they pass the tests and are granted the shawl and become full Aes Sedai. There are also chapters in the story about the Malkier King, Lan Mandragoran, that are mostly towards the end when Moraine and Lan meet and become acquainted. So while the story focuses mainly on Moraine and Suian, we get to know Lan more as well.
Support The Credible Nerds by buying this book on Amazon! Get started on your read of this epic series - The Wheel of Time!
PART ONE:
New Spring starts in the snow covered battleground of the Aiel War with Lan Mandragoran who leads an army of men preparing to defend themselves against the invading Aiel army. Lan is accompanied by his loyal friend and armsman, Bakuma Marenellin. It is at the end of the Aiel War during the Battle of the Shining Walls where Lan’s army is worried about the Aiel invading Tar Valon and the White Tower. As the Aiel have conquered Cairhein and killed its ruler, King Laman, they are preparing for the Aiel attack on Tar Valon as they are headed that way. Lan and his army prepare to engage the Aiel when they show up, but the Aiel stop and shout in the Old Tongue, “Aan’allein!”, which means One Man Alone. This moment of respect for Lan, as the last King of Malkieri, is puzzling for him but regardless the Aiel avoid his army and end up going back to their homeland, the Aiel Waste. At this point the War is over and eventually the armies disband and Lan and Bukama head south towards Andor and Tear.
The story then shifts focus to Moraine and Suian who are of the rank of Accepted in the White Tower, which is to say they are on the second of three advancements for Aes Sedai. The first being Novice, which is when a girl first comes to the White Tower to learn and train to become an Aes Sedai. Once they are ready to move on and can pass the test, then they are moved up to Accepted. As Accepted they train and learn more for years until they are deemed ready to take the test to become full Aes Sedai.
Moraine and Suian have been selected to attend to the Amrylin Seat, the leader of the Aes Sedai, on certain days and at the start of their story it is one of those days. As they are attending to the Amrylin Seat, Tamra Ospenya, and her Keeper (main assistant), Gitara Moroso, it is just the four of them in the room. It is in this room that a key moment occurs that sets the whole story, as well as the overall 15 books series, in motion. Gitara Moroso has a Talent that very few Aes Sedai have, the Talent of Foretelling which is the ability to see things in the future and to prophesy of upcoming events. Gitara has one at this time:
“He is born again!” Gitara cried. “I feel him! The Dragon takes his first breath on the slope of Dragonmount! He is coming! He is coming! Light help us! Light help the world! He lies in the snow and cries like the thunder! He burns like the sun!”
With this proclamation Gitara Moroso took her last breath and died right there despite attempts to revive her. This Prophecy of the Dragon being reborn was a surprise for the three remaining women and they interpret it as something that was happening right then. Tamra orders that Moraine and Suian keep this quiet and to not tell anyone what they heard. As a result, no one outside of Tamra knows that Moraine and Suian heard this announcement and that they know about the Dragon being reborn.
Tamra later announces that Gitara Moroso died but doesn’t reveal the Foretelling to anyone. Tamra comes up with a plan to offer a monetary reward to all of the women who gave birth to a child during the War as a way to track names of all those who were born during this Foretelling. There are lots of women in war camps near Tar Valon who could be the one that gave birth to the Dragon. Since it was Foretold that the Dragon was born on the slopes of Dragonmount, and as Dragonmount is able to be seen from Tar Valon, it is suspected that one of the women in the war camps gave birth to this child. In gathering a list of names of all recent child births, Tamra is hoping to identify this newborn child.
Moraine and Suian are part of this effort to get a list of names of these newborns along with a lot of other Accepted. As the days go on, they are able to compile a list of names of potential newborns not only from their own experience but from the other lists as well. The Amrylin Seat also sends messages to other Aes Sedai about wanting to talk to them about something, and Moraine surmises that these other Aes Sedai are being told about the Foretelling to be Searchers for Tamra. Those that are contacted are Kerene Nagashi of the Green Ajah, Aisha Raveneos of the Gray Ajah, Meilyn Arganya of the White Ajah, Valera Gorovni of the Brown Ajah, and Ludice Daneen of the Yellow Ajah. Nobody from the Red Ajah was asked to be a Searcher, for reasons that the Red Ajah has a mission to search out those that can channel and gentle (cut them off from the One Power) them.
Moraine and Suian are exceptional students and have progressed through the ranks of Novice and Accepted quicker than most and it is noted that they are only second to one Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan who recently passed the tests and became an Aes Sedai before Moraine and Suian. While they were friendly before, ever since being raised to the shawl, and choosing the Red Ajah, Elaida has been frosty to them. Moraine and Suian have been practicing for their test and one of the big things for the test is that the candidate has to memorize 100 weaves of saidar in a specific order. A common tactic used by Accepted to prepare is to have one distract the other while they are performing the weaves. Elaida happens to stop by while they are practicing and decides to “help” them prepare. Since Elaida is now an Aes Sedai, they have to do what she says. Elaida takes the distractions too far and inflicts pain and harm to Moraine and Suian during this practice time. Eventually Elaida is found out and reprimanded by the Mistress of Novices, Merean Redhill; which is a rarity among full Aes Sedai and a little humiliating for Elaida. As a result, Elaida thinks that Moraine and Suian told on her, which they didn’t - it was someone else, and from this point on Elaida is resentful and hateful towards these two.
Moraine and Suian are raised to the shawl and choose the Blue Ajah.
Shortly after this and nineteen days after Gitara’s Foretelling, Moraine and Suian are called to take their test to become Aes Sedai on the same day, with Moraine going first followed by Suian. Both of them pass their test to become full Aes Sedai and they both take the Three Oaths and swear on the Oath Rod almost at the same time, and both decide to join the Blue Ajah. They are welcomed in to the Blue Ajah with open arms and begin to build relationships with the other Blue Sisters. They are told of some of the secrets of the Aes Sedai and what some of the customs and unspoken rules are that only Aes Sedai know about when they are raised to the shawl. Over the next couple of days, Suian is appropriated by Cetalia Delarme to work on different puzzles and to find patterns in pages of written down information. Cetalia is the head of the Blue Ajah’s eyes and ears network, or their spy network. Suian is being trained to be a part of that organization and doesn’t have time to help Moraine with the tracking of names for the Dragon baby.
Moraine starts to realize that the Aes Sedai are plotting to put her on the Sun Throne of Cairhein to replace her uncle, King Laman, who was recently killed in the Aiel War. This is something that she does not want and realizes that if this happens she will be a pawn of the White Tower in a political game that will last the rest of her long life. Plus it will prevent her from searching out the Dragon Reborn which is a higher priority for her and the world. Cairhein politics is ruthless and there a lot of people there who don’t want another Damodred on the throne. Some have sent assassins after her to “persuade” her from claiming the throne, which she has no intention of doing.
Moraine leaves Tar Valon
It is soon announced that the Amrylin Seat, Tamra Ospenya, has died in her sleep. Moraine and Suian find this to be highly suspicious. Sierin Vayu of the Gray Ajah is chosen as the new Amrylin Seat and she chooses two Aes Sedai from the Red Ajah to be her Keeper of the Chronicles and Mistress of Novices. This new regime would not be supportive of searching out the Dragon Reborn to train him or prepare him to save the world. They would want to find him and gentle him or perhaps use him for their own agendas. Moraine goes to Sierin Vayu and requests that she be released from the project of dispersing the bounty to the mothers whose child was born recently. Moraine has the lists of names written in a book on her person at all times and can refer to this information as needed. At this point the project has shifted from gathering the names to releasing the money to the mothers. Sierin Vayu allows this to happen but tells Moraine to not leave Tar Valon as they will have need of her soon.
Moraine immediately packs her things, says goodbye to Suian and the Sitter of the Blue Ajah and then heads to Northharbour to leave on the first boat out of Tar Valon before she is fully caught up in the plot to put her on the Sun Throne.
This ends the first part of New Spring where we get great insight into the day to day workings of the White Tower and the Aes Sedai. We see more later on in the series when other characters enter the White Tower to become Aes Sedai, but their journey to Aes Sedai is completely different than the norm. So outside of New Spring we don’t get to see the standard practices of the process of progressing through the ranks from Novice to Accepted to Aes Sedai. We also get to learn more about one of the saga’s main characters with Moraine and who she was before we meet her in The Eye of the World.
PART TWO:
Months later, Lan Mandragoran and Bakuma Marenellin have returned to the Borderlands and enter the city of Canluum in the nation of Kandor. Lan is welcomed as a hero as his story is legendary in the Borderlands. They go to an inn to eat and rest and meet up with an old friend, Ryne. They talk and Lan finds out that his “first”, Lady Edeyn Arrel, has raised the banner of the Golden Crane of Malkier in Lan’s name and has gathered hundreds of men who are ready to attack the Dark One’s army in The Blight. Lan is unsettled by this as he feels that he is being manipulated by a former lover into becoming something that he isn’t ready for, the King of Malkier.
Later, as they prepare to leave town Lan and Bakuma are attacked by a group of six men. Lan takes them on himself and while he is able to dispatch the men, he suffers grievous injuries himself. They decide to go to Chachin to meet with Lady Arrel and confront her about her plan.
Buy the New Spring graphic novel from Amazon and support The Credible Nerds!
At this same time Moraine has arrived in Canluum searching for the child who was prophesied to become The Dragon Reborn. Moraine has been going through her list of names and searching out likely candidates. So far, none of the names on the list have panned out and so Moraine keeps on searching for the chosen one. Moraine has been staying at an inn called the Gates of Heaven. There are other Aes Sedai at this inn, but as they’ve been away from the White Tower for awhile they don’t know that Moraine has passed the tests and is a full Aes Sedai and Moraine hasn’t told them that she passed the tests and is out on her own mission.
While coming back to the inn from following up on a lead, Moraine is met by three Aes Sedai who have just arrived at this inn. Cadsuane Melaidhrin and two other Aes Sedai, one of them being the former Mistresses of Novices Merean whom Moraine is well acquainted with, cross paths with Moraine and they question her as to why she is there in the Borderlands as an Accpepted. Cadsuane is the most powerful Aes Sedai in the world at this time and one of the unwritten rules of the Aes Sedai is that those who stand highest in the Power are ones to be obeyed. Cadsuane tries to bully Moraine into giving up whatever she is doing and to join with them as they will be going to another city, Chachin. While Moraine is going there as well, her plan is to leave sooner.
As she is contemplating what to do, she sees Suian and they go somewhere private to talk. Suian fills Moraine in on the latest from the White Tower and why she has made the trip to the Borderlands to talk with her. Suian tells her that all of the five Searchers that the previous Amrylin Seat sent out to find the child have all been killed. Moraine is skeptical that this is a nefarious act, until Suian tells her that when one of the searchers, Meilyn Sedai, returned to the White Tower she wanted to talk with Meilyn to hear how her search went. Suian ended up hiding under her bed in an effort to talk with her in private when she returned to her room without anyone knowing. Suian fell asleep under the bed while waiting and when morning came and Meilyn never returned to her room. When Suian awoke and left the room, her bed hadn’t been slept in. Later that morning during breakfast, the Keeper announced to everyone that Meilyn had died in her sleep last night! Suian says that no one came into the room last night except for her. After examination, Meilyn died without a mark on her or any poisons, but due to the lie (which Aes Sedai aren’t able to lie), Suian believes she was killed by the Black Ajah. The Black Ajah are a secret order of Aes Sedai that are Darkfriends and are Servants of the Dark One and are able to tell full on lies due to their Oaths to the Dark One. With all of the Searchers and the former Amrylin Seat, (Tamra, who also allegedly died in her sleep), dead; her and Moraine are the only ones who know about the Foretelling of Gitara Moroso and the search for the infant Dragon Reborn. However, they suspect that it is high likelihood that these Aes Sedai Searchers were tortured before being murdered by the Black Ajah to get information about this Foretelling. Suian and Moraine are the only ones who have the complete list of names of potential candidates for the Dragon Reborn. Plus the only person who knew that they were involved in the search on some level was Tamra and she must not have revealed their involvement to the Black Ajah or else they would’ve been killed before being raised Aes Sedai. They plan to leave Canluum and head to Chachin and meet up to continue their search of a candidate there. Suian leaves right then, while Moraine stays the night to appease Cadsuane and make her think she is following her requests to give her at least another day of cushion before Cadsuan realizes Moraine is gone.
Early the next morning, Lan, Ryne, and Bukama are at the gate when Moraine leaves as well. They continue on the road to Chachin and the Malkeiri think that Moraine is following them. They set a trap for her and Bukama and Ryne keep riding ahead, while Lan leaves the road and sets up camp. Moraine is curious and follows Lan and tries to surprise him, but Lan is waiting for her and throws her into a nearby pond. Lan pulls her out and while she is drying off, the others show up. They agree to go to Chachin together and Moraine pays them for their help. Lan makes a negative comment about Aes Sedai which angers Moraine and she uses the One Power to draw water from the pond and soak Lan. They camp for the night and head to the next town, Manala, in the morning.
Upon arriving in Manala, they get food at an inn and while the Borderlanders are eating Moraine slips out and follows up on another name on her list, but the woman and child live in a village further on.
Afterwards, the group heads back on the road. It takes a few more days of riding in which they encounter brigands who outnumber them, but Moraine uses the Power to scare them off. Upon arrival to the next village, which is the one that Moraine was searching for, she finds the candidate but upon further discussion with the mother realizes that this child is not the one she is looking for. Moraine will need to continue on to Chachin for the next candidate.
As they hit the road again, later on in the day they are attacked again but this time by a single assassin. Lan is shot with an arrow through the shoulder and Moraine locates the bowman and uses the Power to wrap him in flows of air. However, Bukama and Ryne, had both loosed arrows that hit the bowman since he couldn’t move. The Borderlanders recognize the assassin, Caniedrin, and question him. Caniedrin says that he was instructed to kill the woman first, but they didn’t tell him she was an Aes Sedai, so he went after Lan first as he knew Lan was dangerous. Caniedrin then dies and they find gold coins with the rising sun of Cairhein on one side hinting that he was hired by someone from Cairhein. Bukama pulls the arrow out of Lan and after some convincing, Moraine uses the Power to heal Lan.
They arrive at Chachin and Moraine and the Borderlanders go their separate ways. Moraine goes to find her friend Suian and the others go to the Aesdaishar Palace to meet with Lady Edeyn Arrel.
Lan Mandragoran and his armsman, Bukama.
Lan, Ryne, and Bukama get settled in and immediately Edeyn sends a sealed letter to Lan saying, “Come to me, sweetling. Come to me now.”. Lan declines and eventually meets her in a public setting with Prince Brys, his family and others. Edeyn is there and makes a public declaration pledging fealty to “al’Lan Mandragoran, Lord of the Seven Towers, Lord of the Lakes, the True Blade of Malkier.”. This is cheered on by all of those in attendance who cry “The Golden Crane!”, and “Kandor rides with Makier!”, which was Edeyn’s plan all along. To create an army loyal to her and then to swear her loyalty to Lan, thus forcing him to lead an army to fight the Dark One. Which is exactly what Lan does not want to do right now.
Lan goes back to his rooms and finds Edeyn there waiting for him. They talk about their history and how Edeyn is his carneira, or his first lover, which is a big deal in Malkier culture. She has brought his daori, which is a long cord of his hair that was cut when they made love for the first time. Edeyn has a claim on him and has the right to choose his bride. They talk about this and while Lan thinks that she will choose herself, Edeyn has another in mind. Edeyn tells him about her daughter, Iselle, who has yet to chose her carneira. Lan then realizes that Edeyn is talking about him taking her daughter who is just now becoming an adult. Lan is shocked and realizes that he has to do something or else he will become even more trapped in Edeyn’s schemes to control him.
Moraine begins her searche for Suian in the seedier part of town but after hours of searching different inns, Moraine hasn’t found her. Suian eventually finds her and takes her back to the inn, The Evening Star, where Suian is staying. Suian informs Moraine that she found where the Lady Ines is staying, but has been unable to talk with her as she is staying at the Aesdaishar Palace. They decide that the only way to get in to the Palace is for Moraine to reveal herself and pose as the Lady Moraine Damodred visiting from Cairhein with Suian as her servant, Suki. They withdraw money from the local bank, commission dresses to be made, and hire muscle to be their guards and after a couple of days are able to show up to the Palace under this guise. While Moraine talks with the Prince and his family, Suian will track down Lady Ines and try to get the information they need to determine if her child is the Dragon Reborn.
They enter the Palace and get settled in their rooms and Moraine is granted an audience with Prince Brys and his family. Moraine meets with them and during the conversation it is revealed that the King of Malkier is also visiting and that his name is Lan Mandragoran. Moraine is shocked and plays it off as feeling unwell after all of the travel and tells the Prince that she will be staying in her rooms for a couple of days to recover. Moraine doesn’t want to meet up with Lan in the Palace and have her cover blown and her plans go awry. Moraine leaves to go back to her rooms, but along the way back runs into Merean Sedai who also has just arrived and was on his way to meet the Prince. Things have just gone from bad to worse for Moraine. Mereane is alone, having parted ways with the other Aes Sedai, Larelle, who went her own way, “South, I believe”. Which surprised Moraine as Larelle was wanting to come to Chachin just as much as Moraine did. Cadsuane was not there, to Moraine’s relief, but she starts to think that maybe Larelle is Black Ajah and that she lied to Moraine back in Canluum in wanting to come to Chachin. She realizes in this moment that Black Ajah can lie as they are no longer bound by the Three Oaths. Merean taunts her that Cadsuane is angry with her and will spank her bottom next time she sees Moraine. Mereane tells her to go back to her rooms and to stay there until she can come talk with her. After Mereane leaves, Moraine realizes that it might not be Larelle or Cadsuane who is Black Ajah and she instead goes to meet with Lan in his rooms.
Moraine forces her way into Lan’s rooms and confronts him. She reminds Lan of an ancient pledge from Malkier that they would assist the Aes Sedai when in need. Lan counters with wanting to know a question that he has had for years that no Aes Sedai has answered. That question is when his nation of Malkier was attack by armies of Trollocs and Myrdraal and overrun and his people killed, why did the Aes Sedai not answer Malkier request for aid? Moraine knows the answer and also knows that it is not something the White Tower wants to be known. The answer is that they did respond to Malkier’s call for aid, but they arrived too late. They failed the Malkieri and they don’t want it to be publicly known that the White Tower failed them as it looks bad and perhaps other nations could use this against the Aes Sedai to get what they need. Lan accepts this answer, but doesn’t like it, and offers his aid to Moraine.
Moraine tells him that there is another Aes Sedai in the Palace, Merean, and that she needs to know where Merean goes and who she talks to. She suggests using Bukama or Ryne to watch her. Moraine tells him to use Bukama and to not tell him why. Lan doesn’t like this but agrees to do this for her.
Moraine goes back to her rooms and finds Iselle there waiting for her with Suian. She tells Moraine that she wants to go to the White Tower and that her mother wants her to marry Lan, and while she wouldn’t mind being Lan’s carneira, but her mother already has that honor. Iselle wants to be of the Green Ajah and marry one of her Warders. She tells Moraine that she was tested when she was twelve and can touch the Source. Her mother doesn’t want her to go the White Tower, but instead to be Queen of Malkier. She wants Moraine to take her with when she leaves. Moraine is dismissive of Iselle and tells her that if she wants to go to the Tower then to go to Tar Valon, she doesn’t need Moraine to escort her there. Suian then escorts her out.
Moraine asks Suian if she was able to meet with Lady Ines and she hadn’t yet. Moraine tells her of her meeting with Merean and that Suian needs to talk with Lady Ines now. Suian leaves to try to find out more info. Later that day, Suian returns with information about Lady Ines and her child. She was able to find out that the child was born outside of the required timeframe and that he is not the one they are looking for.
A couple of days later, Lan is walking the halls of the Palace when he sees two women meet. Lan hides in the shadows and observes Merean and Iselle talking. Apparently Iselle has gone to Merean to try and get to the White Tower as Moraine wasn’t helpful. Iselle leaves and after a moment, Merean follows her. Lan wonders what is going on and where they are going, so he follows them. He comes upon a long flight of stairs and just as he starts to descend he is tripped and falls all of the way down. Servants come to help him up, and Lan realizes that something had jerked his ankles at the top causing him fall. He realizes that an Aes Sedai had just tried to kill him using the One Power! Also at that moment, a place guard comes running and tells Lan that Bukama has been stabbed. They run to where Bukama is and they are too late, Bukama is dead. Lan runs to Moraine’s rooms for answers.
Moraine hears the doors to her rooms crash open and Lan comes walking in with a look of death in his eyes. He tells Moraine that Bukama is dead, stabbed in the heart and that just before that someone tried to kill him with the One Power. He first thought it was Merean but that he had seen her following Iselle and that she didn’t see him and that leaves her as the suspect.
At this point Moraine knows that Merean is Black Ajah, as Moraine didn’t try to kill Lan and didn’t kill Bukama. She tells him this that Merean is dangerous and to keep Iselle away from her. Lan tells Moraine that Iselle is safe as she saw her going somewhere with Prince Brys and his son, Diryk. This triggers questions for Moraine and she thinks about this new information. After a minute, Moraine figures it out. She takes Lan to go find the Prince and his son. They run to find him and they come upon him and the others on a balcony high above the city roofs. Merean is there using saidar to hold Prince Brys and his son Diryk, as well as Iselle with bonds of air. They don’t see Lan and Moraine come upon them.
Moraine tries to shield Merean from the Source, but she isn’t strong enough yet. Merean then tells Ryne to now kill Lan, which reveals that Ryne had killed Bukama. Lan and Ryne draw swords and begin dueling. Moraine tries to slice the weaves holding Prince Brys and Diryk, but Merean blocks it and Moraine is unable to stop her from moving Diryk out into open space and then releasing the bonds of air holding him. Diryk falls to his death as his father and Moraine are helpless and can only watch in horror. Merean then is able to shield Moraine from the One Power. Merean then does the same for Prince Brys and lets him fall to his death.
As Merean begins to move Iselle over the edge to drop her, Moraine acts and uses her dagger to stab Merean in the back. This causes Merean to stop using the Power and Iselle is dropped close to the edge but her momentum is carrying her over the edge. Moraine leaps to catch her and is able to grab Iselle. Moraine tries to use the Power to save Iselle but she is still dizzy from being shielded and is unable to focus to grasp the Source. Moraine’s hands are covered in Merean’s blood and slippery, and she is unable to hold on to Iselle and she falls to her death too.
Lan is there to grab her and keep from falling over too. Lan has defeated Ryne but is wounded. Lan says that while Ryne was the better swordsman than he, “He never understood. You surrender after you’re dead.” After a minute, Moraine is recovered enough to heal Lan of his injuries. She then uses the Power to burn Merean’s body as there is no evidence that Merean is Black Ajah and so that people won’t know of a Black sister using the Power to kill.
The next morning the Palace is in mourning. Moraine had gone to Merean’s room to search for clues but hadn’t found anything and so she destroyed all of her belongings. In her rooms, she finds Suian who says that Merean hadn’t been near their candidate and that she wouldn’t harm them, if she was of the Black Ajah. Moraine fills Suian in on what happened with Merean and how she was the one responsible for the deaths. She tells Suian that she wanted the child, Diryk, dead the most of the three as she killed him first. Suian is able to puzzle it out that the Black Ajah knows that the Dragon is Reborn, but that they don’t know when he was born. Tamra was able to keep that part of it a secret. The Black Ajah’s approach is that they are looking for men or boys who maybe can channel. Diryk had shown some of the signs that maybe he could channel and so the Black Ajah targeted him. Since the ability to touch the Source usually doesn’t manifest until around puberty or later, then the Black Ajah are way off on their calculations of how old the candidate needs to be as Diryk was too young. Only Moraine and Suian know all of the details as everyone else has been murdered by the Black Ajah and it appears the Black Sisters are missing some of the details to be able to pinpoint candidates with accuracy. Moraine and Suian realize that they have more time than they thought to find the Dragon Reborn.
Moraine tells Suian to go back to the White Tower and to use her position with Cetalia to see the reports from the Blue Ajah’s spy network to find more clues. Suian agrees to do so even though she’ll be in trouble for leaving Cetalia with out notice. Suian then remarks that she saw Lan leaving the Palace about an hour ago. Moraine starts to gather her things and when asked where she was going, she tells Suian that she has unfinished business with Lan to take care of.
Moraine bonds her new Warder, Lan.
Moraine is able to find out which direction Lan went and then catches up to him as he is had stopped to rest and burn his daori and his memories. He tells Moraine that the Golden Crane will fly no more. Moraine is blunt and tells him that she wants him to be her Warder and he responds that the has no desire to become in Aes Sedai business. Moraine then goes out on a limb and tells him everything. She tells him of the Black Ajah and that Merean was a Black sister. She tells him about the Foretelling, the deaths of Tamra and her Searchers, of the Dragon Reborn and her quest to find him before the Dark One and his agents do. Lan thinks about it for a long time and then swears his fealty towards her. Moraine then responds with, “There is a little more.” And then uses the Power to bond him. At this moment they realize that they can feel what the other is feeling and that they both have sorrow for those whom they’ve lost. They head off to the next destination and the next name on Moraine’s list of potential candidates for the Dragon Reborn.