The Wheel of Time stops for no one. In “Strangers and Friends,” Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) finds a solution to her relationship with Lan (Daniel Henney). Rand (Josha Stradowski) settles into his new life. Perrin (Marcus Rutherford) faces mortal danger. Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) gives the Aes Sedai a chance. Mat (Dónal Finn) and Egwene (Madeleine Madden) make new friends.
RAND
Rand is living in Cairhien and works at a hospital for the mentally unstable. Most of the patients are men. He also has a ‘close’ relationship with the innkeeper Selene (Natasha O’Keeffe). He dreams about killing his friends and it scares him. Rand likes working with the patients and is very kind to them. He notices that one of the orderlies, Yann (Darragh O’Toole) isn’t so kind and plays with the patients for a laugh. He also gloats because his patients come from richer families and are allowed to go outside. Later that night, Rand watches Yann and follows him when he goes home. He attacks Yann and accidentally channels the One Power, which makes him severely hurt the orderly.
Rand retreats to his room and Selene is waiting for him. He tries to turn her away but she is persistent. After they make love, he tries to push her away, saying he doesn’t want to hurt her. She says she can’t be hurt and asks who he thinks of when they are together. He admits that he thinks about someone he wants to forget.
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MOIRAINE
Moiraine and Lan prepare for a journey to the White Tower. She is still very secretive. They spend the evening with their host and Verin (Meera Syal) confronts Moiraine about the Fade attack. She figures out that Moiraine found the Dragon. Moiraine gets nervous, thinking Verin will tell the other Aes Sedai. Verin says she is loyal to the Dragon and doesn’t agree with the sisters’ plans for him. She believes they need the Dragon to heal the world. Moiraine isn’t so sure, but Verin says they have no choice but to trust each other. Verin also volunteers to get books for Moiraine for her quest.
They join the others around a bonfire and another sister, Adeleas (Nila Aalia) asks Moiraine and Lan how they met. They met on the road and they were suspicious of each other. When Lan meditated, Moiraine felt rage within him. She attempted to take his sword, so Lan tossed her in a pond. Adeleas assumes that’s when Moiraine knew Lan was the one. A good warder can protect an Aes Sedai from a Trolloc but the right one can protect her from herself.
PERRIN
Perrin and the Sheinaran soldiers follow Elyas (Gary Beadle) as he tracks Padan Fain (Johann Myers). They find an abandoned house and Perrin has a vision of what happened there. He thinks Elyas is doing something to him and tells Elyas to leave him alone.There are signs that Paden Fain and his group were attacked. They find a dead Fade nailed to a wooden gate. Ingtar (Gregg Chilingirian) decides to leave and head to the nearest village. When they get there, Elyas decides to sleep outside. As Perrin walks into the inn, Elyas reminds him that the Sheinarans are not his pack.
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NYNAEVE
Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood) works really hard to convince Nynaeve to join the Red Ajah. She takes the novice to the Yellows healing chambers to observe their skills. And steal medicine. She basically tells Nynaeve that the world won’t need Yellows with the Reds there to protect everyone. Liandrin also tells Nynaeve that she’s taking over her training, but Nynaeve knows she’s not allowed to. The Red Sister figured out a way to get around that. She tells Nynaeve to tell the Sisters that she’s ready for the Arches, the trial that novices go through to become Accepted. Liandrin is allowed to train the Accepted. Later, Nynaeve searches for Liandrin and follows her through the busy town. She’s alone and is being sneaky.
Alanna (Priyanka Bose) meets with Sheriam (Rima Te Wiata) to talk about Liandrin’s interesting in training Nynaeve. She also suggests that the powerful novices and emergence of false Dragons is a sign. Alanna believes that they were sent to fight in the Last Battle. Sheriam doesn’t see any issue with Liandrin’s request, but she does have an issue when she sees Alanna’s bags packed. Alanna plans to leave to help Moiraine.
EGWENE
Egwene meets her new neighbor Elayne (Ceara Coveney). Elayne is the Daughter Heir of Andor and has been a novice for months but because she’s a royal has lived secluded from the other novices. Egwene gives Elanye a tour of the Tower, but Elayne already knows where everything is. They run into Sheriam, who is annoyed with Elayne’s maids. Sheriam asks Egwene where Nynaeve is. Egwene hasn’t seen her all day. The Mistress of Novices ask her to send Nynaeve to her study when she returns.
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MAT
Mat gets sweet cakes from Liandrin and continues digging through the wall. He breaks through and finds someone on the other side of the wall. The other person is Min Farshaw (Kae Alexander). The last time we saw her, she was running from Fal Dara. She helps Mat dig through the wall, making a big enough hole for her to crawl through.
Min has a bottle of wine that they share and she reveals how she got there. After leaving Fal Dara, Min’s boat changed course to avoid a storm, landing in Tar Valon. A Red Sister recognized her and now she’s in the cell. She says the Aes Sedai locked her up because she can see the future. Mat thinks that’s lame and says he doesn’t want to know his future. Min finds it interesting that he doesn’t want to know. They hear voices coming so Min goes back to her cell. Before she crawls through, she looks back at Mat and sees a vision of him killing Rand.
SECRETS
Nynaeve discovers Liandrin visits an elderly man and gives him the medicine she stole. The novice reveals herself, upsetting Liandrin. She tells her that the medicine she stole won’t help the man. Liandrin gets angry and slaps Nynaeve, screaming at her to leave. After the novice lives, Liandrin apologizes to the man, calling him her sweet boy.
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Egwene goes to Elayne’s room for a drink and complains, mainly about Nynaeve. According to Egwene, Nynaeve says she came to the tower to protect her friend, but she’s not there when Egwene needs her the most. Egwene says she feels like the harder she tries, the further she falls behind. The less Nynaeve tries, the more she gets ahead. Elyane says Egwene is jealous, whether she knows it or not. Nynaeve is outside of Elayne’s door, listening.
Nynaeve goes back to her room and Liandrin knocks on her door. The Red Sister tells the novice to follow her. They meet Sheriam and a Blue sister Leane Sharif (Jennifer Cheon Garcia) under the Tower. Leane asks if Nynaeve is ready and if she has faced her fears. Liandrin says she is ready and has not yet faced her fears. They open the doors and motion for Nynaeve to enter. Inside of the room are three arches.
BROKEN BONDS
Moiraine finally talks to Lan, telling him that it’s time for them to go their separate ways. Lan protests, but Moiraine’s guilt is eating at her. She tells him about what happened at Fal Dara. She says they broke the seal that imprisoned Ishamael (Fares Fares) the Forsaken. The Forsaken are 3000 years old and the strongest channelers that have ever lived. Moiraine is scared and warns Lan about the power the Forsaken wield. Then she admits that Rand is alive. She didn’t lie about him; Lan just assumed he was dead. Moraine said she did what she had to. She has to protect the Dragon. Her loyalty is to him and him alone.
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Lan tries to uphold his oath to protect her, but she says without their bond, he cannot fulfill that oath. He still wants to be her warder, but she says he failed her when the Fade attacked her. Alanna and her warders show up to take Lan back to the White Tower. Moiraine says she will have Alanna take Lan’s bond by force if he doesn’t go with her. Lan is hurt but he lets her leave.
DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS
Perrin wakes up to Seanchan soldiers dragging him out of his room. He is able to fight them off with some help from Ingtar. The Sheinarans try to fight off the Seanchan soldiers, but are attacked by Dark Aes Sedai. The next morning, Perrin is placed with the rest of the Sheinarans and village residents. Seanchan soldiers carry a large pyramid structure with three people riding on top. Ishamael is one of them, standing next to Lady Suroth (Karima McAdams). She asks if they are ready. Ishamael looks at Perrin and says they have to be.
Back at Cairheien, Rand goes to work the next day and is reassigned to Yann’s patients. He goes outside to mee the first one. It’s Logain Ablar (Álvaro Morte). Rand introduces himself and say they have a lot in common.
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