Ahh, we get to some good stuff! Nynaeve is going to get initiated by Sheriam into Accepted status by going through a series of trials! The concept of ter’angreal is introduced, because why not? I love trying to continuously keep track of all sorts of these vague and abstract concepts that Robert Jordan is totally making up as he goes along. These ter’angereal can be used to conjure some shit up like a holodeck, and that’s exactly what they’ll use this for.
The ter’angreal will make Nynaeve confront her greatest fears, and she is warned that some women don’t come out once they go in. If Nynaeve doesn’t finish the trials, she will get booted out of the White Tower with a big giant boot and she’ll never be allowed back in!
Nynaeve is ready to face the trials. She strips naked for reasons other than making me use my wild imagination, I’m sure, and enters the first test: “The first time is for what was.” She steps through an Arch and immediately forgets what she’s doing and why she’s naked. She wanders through a maze of corridors and comes across a corpse-like man named Aginor, who has come to do some nasty, rapey things to her! So she runs away as Aginor is in hot pursuit! She gets mad and leans into saidar and starts lighting this guy’s ass up real bad. She almost kills him until the arch opens back up and she runs through it. Nynaeve tells Sheriam that she was able to touch saidar while she was through the arch, but Sheriam tells her that remembering such a detail should be impossible. Nonetheless, cut it out. Using saidar while around the ter’angreal can be bad news bears. She may die or worse!
Next test: “The second time is for what is.” See? It’s some Ghosts of Christmas malarkey. She steps through an arch and finds herself in Two Rivers where she learns a horrible, evil, wicked, gruesome, ugly, slightly horny woman named Malena has been voted in as Wisdom of Emond’s Field. A lot of people Nynaeve once knew are now dead, likely at the hands of this dastardly sorceress. Or poison artist, more likely. Nynaeve wants to stay to help the people of Emond’s Field she loves so dearly, but AAHHHHH there’s the arch! GAAAHHHH!! DURRRRRR!! She runs through it. Crying, she asks Sheriam if what she saw was real. Sheriam’s answer is a resounding “Doesn’t matter, your life is with the Aes Sedai now, bitch.”
Last test: “The third time is for what will be.” I guessed what this one was from a mile away. She is the Queen of the Kingdom of Malkier. Her husband, Lan, showers her with love and affection. She has three lovely children. Everything is great. Life couldn’t be better. She spends the better part of this trial pushing Lan away emotionally, over and over again, past the point where she can handle it. Lan is confused and remains so until she finally breaks away and tries to run through the final arch. When he grabs Nynaeve’s arm to stop her, her brain is flooded with memories of their life together. The arch disappears, and she seriously considers living this life. However, in the end she fights hard, channels saidar, the arch reappears, she runs through it, and her trials are over.
Nynaeve is Accepted.
And we can all go home to our Rice-a-Roni dinners.
