He purposely did not say when he would give the order to attack Shayol Ghul. He wanted everyone guessing. If nobody around him knew when he would strike, then chances were good the Dark One wouldn’t know either.
“Regardless,” Cadsuane said, “I am not here to speak about your delays. I feel that Moiraine Sedai has your… education in that matter well in hand. Something else worries me far more.”
“And that is?”
“That you expect to die. That you are giving so much away. That you do not even seek to live.”
Rand took a deep breath. Behind, a group of Maidens trailed him. He passed the Windfinders in their small camp, huddled and speaking over the Bowl of Winds. They looked toward him and Cadsuane with placid faces.
“Let me go to my fate, Cadsuane,” Rand said. “I have embraced death. I will take it when it comes.”
“I am pleased at that,” she said, “and do not think—for a moment—that I would not trade your life for the world.”
“You’ve made that obvious from the start,” Rand said. “So why worry now? This fight will claim me. So it must be.”
“You must not assume that you will die,” Cadsuane said. “Even if it is nearly inevitable, you must not take it as completely inevitable.”
“Elayne said much the same thing.”
“Then she has spoken wisdom at least once in her life. A better average than I had assumed of that one.”
Rand refused to rise to that comment, and Cadsuane let slip a smile. She was pleased at how he controlled himself now. That was why she tested him.
Would the tests never end?
No, he thought. Not until the final one. The one that matters most.
Cadsuane stopped in the path, causing him to stop as well. “Do you have a gift for me as well?”
“I am giving them to those I care about.”
That actually made her smile more deeply. “Our interactions have not always been smooth, Rand al’Thor.”
“That would be one way to say it.”
“However,” she continued, eyeing him, “I will have you know that I am pleased. You have turned out well.”
“So I have your permission to save the world?”
“Yes.” She looked upward, where the dark clouds boiled. They began to split at his presence, as he did not try to mask it or keep them back.
“Yes,” Cadsuane repeated, “you have my permission. So long as you do it soon. That darkness grows.”
As if in concert with her words, the ground rumbled. It did that more and more lately. The camp shook, and men stumbled, wary.
“There will be Forsaken,” Rand said. “Once I enter. Someone will need to face them. I intend to ask Aviendha to lead the resistance against them. She could use your aid.”
Cadsuane nodded. “I will do my part.”
“Bring Alivia,” Rand said. “She is strong, but I worry about putting her with others. She does not understand limits in the way that she should.”
Cadsuane nodded again, and from the look in her eyes, he wondered if she’d already planned to do just that. “And the Black Tower?”
Rand set his jaw
. The Black Tower was a trap. He knew it was a trap. Taim wanted to lure Rand into a place where he couldn’t escape through a gateway.
“I sent Perrin to help.”