Egwene leaned forward, studying him. There didn’t seem to be madness in his eyes. She knew those eyes. She knew Rand.

Light, she thought. I’m wrong. I can’t think of him only as the Dragon Reborn. I’m here for a reason. He’s here for a reason. To me, he must be Rand. Because Rand can be trusted, while the Dragon Reborn must be feared.

“Which are you?” she whispered unconsciously.

He heard. “I am both, Egwene. I remember him. Lews Therin. I can see his entire life, every desperate moment. I see it like a dream, but a clear dream. My own dream. It’s part of me.”

The words were those of a madman, but they were spoken evenly. She looked at him, and remembered the youth that he had been. The earnest young man. Not solemn like Perrin, but not wild like Mat. Solid, straightforward. The type of man you could trust with anything.

Even the fate of the world.

“In one month’s time,” Rand said, “I’m going to travel to Shayol Ghul and break the last remaining seals on the Dark One’s prison. I want your help.”

Break the seals? She saw the image from her dream, Rand hacking at the ropes that bound the crystalline globe. “Rand, no,” she said.

“I’m going to need you, all of you,” he continued. “I hope to the Light that this time, you will give me your support. I want you to meet with me on the day before I go to Shayol Ghul. And then…well, then we will discuss my terms.”

“Your terms?” Egwene demanded.

“You will see,” he said, turning as if to leave.

“Rand al’Thor!” she said, rising. “You will not turn your back on the Amyrlin Seat!”

He froze, then turned back toward her.

“You can’t break the seals,” Egwene said. “That would risk letting the Dark One free.”

“A risk we must take. Clear away the rubble. The Bore must be opened fully again before it can be sealed.”

“We must talk about this,” she said. “Plan.”

“That is why I came to you. To let you plan.”

He seemed amused. Light! She sat back down, angry. That bullheadedness of his was just like that of his father. “There are things we must speak of, Rand. Not just this, but other things—the sisters your men have bonded not the least among them.”

“We can speak of that when we next meet.”

She frowned at him.

“And so here we come to it,” Rand said. He bowed to her—a shallow bow, almost more a tip of the head. “Egwene al’Vere, Watcher of the Seals, Flame of Tar Valon, may I have your permission to withdraw?”

He asked it so politely. She couldn’t tell if he was mocking her or not. She met his eyes. Don’t make me do anything I would regret, his expression seemed to say.

Could she really confine him here? After what she’d said to Elaida about him needing to be free?

“I will not let you break the seals,” she said. “That is madness.”