#birgitte

We have the Dragon's Fang symbol because Rand has been marked as the Dragon in a variety of ways.

And there was something drawing her on, as surely as if she had a string tied to her.

Poor Min is already being strangled by the red strings of fate.

She did not blame Bayle Domon for not waiting longer, not after what she had seen; she thought it a wonder he had remained so long.

Makes me wonder why we looked in to see him still waiting resolutely when we could have looked in to see him finally decide to give up.

Silver glittered as the figure raised a bow; a streak of silver lanced to the boxy ship, a gleaming line connecting bow and ship. With a roar she could hear even at that distance, fire engulfed the foretower anew, and sailors rushed about the deck.

Birgitte is a badass. I really don't have anything else to say about it. She's just that cool.

She pried his hand open, and winced when the hilt stuck to his palm. She tossed it aside with a grimace. The heron on the hilt had branded itself into his hand.

It's funny that the prophecy mentions the Dragons and the Herons as twice markings but not the double unhealing wounds on his side. It can't be that Fain sidestepped fate there - otherwise Rand would not have been able to cleanse saidin on schedule - so one wonders what the deal is. Just the lack of a cool animal?

What shook her was the feel of his flesh. It had a touch of ice in it; he made the air seem warm.

Medically speaking that's pretty terrible.

With a put-upon sigh, she wriggled under the covers beside him.

This really is how you treat hypothermia, though technically speaking you're supposed to remove as much clothing as possible first to encourage thermal exchange. It's basically the only time you can remove an unconscious person's clothing and get into bed with them without being a bad person so I'm disappointed that Min's not taking full advantage of the situation.

Light, why did the Pattern have to catch me up with you? Why couldn’t I have something safe and simple, like being shipwrecked with no food and a dozen hungry Aielmen?

That's pretty racist, Min. And you probably would have been as safe as a starving person could be; I expect the Aiel would find it bad form to cannibalize someone.

“I—I felt him pulling at me. Needing me. Elayne felt it, too. I thought it must be something to do with—with what he is, but Nynaeve didn’t feel anything.”

Odd that Egwene is being tangled up in the red string of fate too. Funnier still that the Wheel doesn't point the healer at Rand, though perhaps she wouldn't have been able to stay angry at the sight of him.

Egwene looked at her for what seemed a long time. Not at Rand, not at all, only at her.

Egwene is clearly struggling between the understandable urge to scream "He'll go mad and kill you!" at Min to punish her petty comments and the desire to not think about Rand that way. Also she's fucking exhausted and just spent some time a slave, so Min's really not being cool here.

Light, I don’t even know if I am the one you’ll choose. I don’t know if I want you to choose me. Or will you try to dandle all three of us on your knee?

Not gonna lie but with how this particular polycule plays out I honestly wouldn't have minded if Rand had just tried to be a player with each gal in turn (maybe circling back to Elayne towards the end). Just for Min's sake, since she's the one who doesn't really fit in the rest at all and would probably prefer to be a FWB followed by being out the door.

Ishamael thinks he controls events, but I do.

Bold claim from somebody who...

*checks notes*

...fucked around with Rand on one occasion and had virtually no influence over him. Lanfear is incredibly high on her own supply.

“Lews Therin was and is mine, girl. Tend him well for me until I come for him.” And she was gone.

Least realistic part of this. Lanfear would have insta-gibbed Min for the sin of touching her man.

The legion was dead, Lord Captain Geofram Bornhald was dead, and there was only one explanation for that; Darkfriends had betrayed them, Darkfriends like that Perrin of the Two Rivers.

It's incredible how close to right Byar is while still being utterly wrong on all counts. Anyway, this is another odd aside in that we pretty much already knew that he was going to go tell the Whitecloaks that Perrin was responsible. Ah well.