Welcome back to my re-read, recap, and reaction to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. This post will only have spoilers through the current chapter.
You can find my previous chapter recaps HERE.
Chapter 47: The Price of a Ship
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Nynaeve al'Meara
Nynaeve is getting ready for a new day after a night of bad dreams where everything went wrong. Egwene kept appearing in her dreams and Nynaeve doesn't understand because Egwene didn't fit in with the subject of the dreams. The hot days, close confines, and the tension of waiting for a ship has Elayne and Nynaeve at odds again. Between barbs they compare notes on their dreams and find out they were getting the same messages from Egwene. Rand won a battle at Cairhien. Since their encounter with Moghedien in Tel'aran'rhiod, they have not been going to the World of Dreams, except as scheduled to meet Egwene.
Birgitte enters the wagon and reports that Thom and Juilin are back from town. Since they were not asked to go into town, Elayne and Nynaeve leave the wagon to have a talk with them. They report rioting in town and fear worse may be coming. As they are deciding whether to flee the area, Uno arrives with word of a ship docked in town. Uno explains that Masema's people found the ship, then Whitecloaks seized the docks and the ship. That is what started the rioting. Nynaeve realizes that when she set both groups to helping her, the result was not what she wanted.
Galad arrives then, also to let them know there is a ship at the docks. They pack up, say their goodbyes and head in to town with the Shienarans and Galad as protection. Luca decides it is time for the menagerie to leave the area, before the riots arrive. Luca pulls Nynaeve aside and asks her to stay with the menagerie, to stay with him, rather than leave.
Point of view: Elayne Trakand
Elayne is still upset that Nynaeve requested a ship from two groups, with the resulting conflict going on around them. Elayne goes to talk to the Seanchan refugee, Cerandin, to ask her to leave the menagerie and accompany her instead. Cerandin will not leave the s'redit though. She tells Cerandin that she is the Daughter-heir of Andor, expecting the Seanchan obedience to nobles will change her mind, but Cerandin doesn't believe her. As they return to the wagons, Birgitte also expresses her disbelief, even though Elayne insists it is the truth. Finally, Elayne screams loudly in frustration, then strides off to the wagon.
REACTION:
Jordan did a great job concealing this somewhat obvious (in hindsight) Whitecloacks vs. Dragonsworn problem. What happens if you ask two groups who aren't on the same team to do the same thing for you? They fight each other. We now know Galad is ridiculously good with a sword. That will be relevant later in the story for reasons that we do not yet know. It also makes Mat's win against him at the White Tower all the more impressive. Mat did that on the basis of his Two Rivers acquired skill (and while recovering from a major illness.)
I can appreciate Galad's grim practicality regarding starting the riot/war and also why it freaks everyone else out. He wasn't wrong, though.
"The Children would have had to fight this Prophet soon or late."
There's a part of me that believes that in a different turning of the Wheel, Nynaeve would have ended up married to Valan Luca. He has been slowly but surely wearing her down throughout this book. She was hugging his arm during Elayne's tight rope walk. She's begrudgingly accepted the revealing dresses, but is complaining about the colors now. She let him seize her arm and pull her away. There's a very "old married couple" vibe forming here. Under different circumstances, I think his proposal might not have gotten an immediate "yes" but it could have resonated differently within her. It's too bad that the Nynaeve/Lan love story is so good because I want to see this one play out, too. Are there people out there who ship the Nynaeve/Luca relationship?
I am so excited to end the Nynaeve/Elayne bickering dynamic this book has forced me to slog through. Even here, we get one last snide remark from Elayne about Nynaeve making a "disgusting" noise, while talking with a twig in her mouth (brushing her teeth.) Nynaeve fires back that Elayne is sitting in an indecent way. It's just insufferable. Jordan needs to give Elayne some more big moments of doing something awesome. We're five books in and I find it really hard to like her. The bickering might be funnier and more tolerable if I liked both of them. Nynaeve and Birgite bicker, but since I like both of them, it's a lot more enjoyable to read it.
Even after we switch to Elayne's POV, I just couldn't bring myself to like her. She just assumes she's going to get Rand's bond... like she owns him. She also treats the Seanchan woman here like she owns her, too. Cerandin physically putting her in her place was enjoyable - as was Birgitte letting it happen. Like I said before, Nynaeve's character growth gets balanced out by Nynaeve doing awesome things. Elayne doesn't have that. Unfortunately, it looks very much like Nynaeve is going to get the big awesome moment at the end of this book. Elayne hasn't had one of those yet.
The scene was all worth it though because Jordan lets the reader know that Birgitte does not believe Elayne is the Daughter-Heir of Andor. How has that never once come up? Well, they've had to be careful with how they talk so it does make some sense. The "oh, she is telling the truth" this sets up for later will be great. Of course, then Elayne immediately screams at the sky because she's in need of a lot of character growth. Birgitte offering to find her a wet nurse after though?
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