Remember when Lanfear and Moiraine fell through the twisted door? They have been stuck in *finn-land, right? WRONG! Before they actully fell through the door, Lanfear created a gateway and she and Moiraine fell through it. No one saw because Lanfear hid the weaves. Moiraine knew this would happen and didn't want Lan to be unable to marry the love of his life, so arranged to transfer his bond right as she went through the gateway. Nice of her, eh? Almost drive the man to his death just so he can marry a termagent.

Back to Lanfear and Moiraine though. Where did they go? Good question.

Lanfear has killed the rightful Daughter of the Nine Moons and uses the OP to disguise herself as the Dot. The gateway leads to her palace in Seanchan, where she grabs an a'dam and leashes Moraine. Poor Moraine fights for her freedom, but every time she fights, Lanfear makes it feel as if she is being stabbed in the foot. Not only does Lanfear turn Moriane into a damane, a fate worse than death, she shaves her head and forces her to wear bandages over her eyes so she can't see anything.

Meanwhile, our friends Mat and Thom have been captured by the Seanchan army. By a twist of ta'verne fate, they end up across the sea in Seanchan in the palace of the Empress. (Though RJ has previously said that action won't happen in Seanchan, he has apparently changed his mind because much of the action will take place there in this book.) Mat is nervous because he knows that the dot is probably someone in the palace, but he is prepared to get married if it will help save the world. Eventually he is introduced to the dot and Lanfear recognizes him. She decides to use him as a pawn to get back at her ex-lover Lews aka Rand, so she marries him. At this point he is totally awed by her beauty and personality *she is a great actress* so has no objection to the marriage.

Mat and Thom both have a big problem with the concept of damane, and are very vocal about it. They are not punished just by virtue of Mat's luck. The people of Seanchan are convinced that Mat is Artur Hawkwing reborn so they let him have his strange notions, even though they are not willing to change the system. Before the wedding, Mat is approached by a group of sul'dam who have discovered that they can channel just as well as the damane. They are working on an underground political movement to get rid of all the a'dams so that they won't be forced to become damane. Obvisouly this must be kept an incredibly close secret, but they trust Mat and Thom because of their vehement protest against the a'dam. Mat agrees to try and help the group, called the Rose, convince the dot to get rid of the a'dam as soon as she inherits the throne.

As soon as Mat and Lanfear are married he begins to ask her in public to release all of the damane. She tries to use the OP against him, to shut him up, but of course it doesn't work. Mat feels his medallion go cold, but thinks it is one of the Rose trying to kill his wife for her reluctance to release the damane, so he is still clueless as to his wife's true identity. Of course, when Lanfear realizes Mat can't be controlled by the OP she becomes terrified and goes into hiding from Mat--very confusing for the poor lad after they have had a nice honeymoon. He goes to drown his troubles in a vat of coke, but lo and behold, he runs into Loial at the bar.

Loial is not really Loial, but his Ogier doppelganger. Mat is drunk on caffiene at the time and doesn't know what is going on, so starts to talk to this new Ogier. The Ogier has been waiting for Mat becuase the Death Watch Ogier have realized that Lanfear has taken over the role of dot and they want Mat's help to throw her out of office. Mat doesn't believe any of it since he is totally enamoured with is new wife, but the seeds of suspicion have been planted.

Meanwhile, Thom is finding himself strangely attracted to Lanfear's personal damane, even though she is bald and has bandages over her eyes, which really cover most of her face. His obsession with her goes on for weeks, but just like a typical wot man, he can't figure out why she seems so familiar. She, being bound by the a'dam, can't say anything to him or she feels a stabbing in the foot.

After Mat leaves the bar and goes home to his evil wife, he begins to wonder if they actully could have been telling the truth. He questions his wife and spies on her, but her behavior is impeccable. He is so desperatly in love with her that he can't see the truth staring him in the face. The Ogier are getting antsy to get rid of this interloper and storm the palace. Mat blows the horn, calling back the hero's of the horn *Ingtar included*, who soundly defeat Lanfear and reveal her to Mat. The blowing of the horn is ill-timed and events build up, leading to TG. This is very bad since Rand is not even IN Seanchan, but our sources don't know where he is.

While the war is raging, Thom manages to rip the bandages off Moraine's face and sees her for who she is. He manages to get her a'dam off, and she begins to help in the fighting, along with all the members of the Rose and the Ogier Death Guard. It is a weak group so we don't know if they win. We do know that Thom and Moraine manage to live happily ever after, Lanfear is stilled, and Mat keeps their marraige together because he thinks she has a good heart underneath it all.