| abstract | - Ingtar leads an escort of Shienaran lances under the Gray Owl banner for Moiraine and the group headed to the Eye of the World. He halts the lances at the Blightborder that was once Malkier and appears unhappy at his previous orders to go no further, saddened by the prospect of missing the Battle at Tarwin's Gap, angry that the Emond's Field folk get to travel the Blight with Lan. Rand thinks back to the soldiers heading toward the Blight, the non-combatants reluctantly heading south in case the worst happens as Ingtar leaves them. The group travels north at the Warder's pace. They notice that the weather is warmer, and wrong at the same time. The party finds the heat stifling, and hard to breath in; all except Perrin and Lan. Rand reaches out to touch a sickly looking tree and earns a rebuke from the Warder. They travel further into the Blight, the corruption growing worse with each step. Lan announces that they will not reach the mountains by nightfall, prompting the Aes Sedai to suggest that the area once known as Malkier would provide an adequate camp site, a good omen. They camp near a lake, where Moiraine uses the One Power to bend light around their location and set wards around them. Rand has trouble sleeping and eavesdrops on a personal conversation between Nynaeve and Lan in which they both profess feelings for the other, but Lan refuses to accept her love. Rand closes his eyes after seeing his Wisdom cry.
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