Season 2 Episode 1: A Taste of Solitude

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A Taste of Solitude
Season	2
Episode	1
Director	Thomas Napper
Previous Episode	The Eye of the World
Next Episode	Strangers and Friends

Author: Ilverin Matriam

Synopsis

Moiraine and Lan are becoming distant. Egwene and Nynaeve are learning how to become Aes Sedai in the White Tower. Perrin and Loial are hunting for Padan Fain. They all wonder what happened to Mat, while they believe Rand to be dead.

Cast

Main Characters	Supporting Characters	Minor Characters
Rosamund Pike - Moiraine Damodred	Hammed Animashaun - Loial	Taylor Napier - Maksim
Daniel Henney - al'Lan Mandragoran	Priyanka Bose - Alanna Mosvani	Emanuel Imani - Ihvon
Zoë Robins - Nynaeve al'Meara	Kate Fleetwood - Liandrin Guirale	Nila Aalia - Adeleas
Madeleine Madden - Egwene al'Vere	Meera Syal - Verin Mathwin	Jennifer Cheon Garcia - Leane Sharif
Josha Stradowski - Rand al'Thor	Guy Roberts - Uno Nomesta	Gary Beadle - Elyas Machera
Marcus Rutherford - Perrin Aybara	Gregg Chilingirian - Lord Ingtar	Julian Lewis Jones - Bayle Domon
Dónal Finn - Mat Cauthon	Rima Te Wiata - Sheriam Bayanar	Fares Fares - Ishamael

Summary

In an undisclosed location, a little girl is playing outside a big building, when a set of Trollocs suddenly appear from the woods. The girl runs inside and hides under a table. A man is talking, he seems to be searching for Rand al'Thor.

There are people from different cultures around the table, there is a person with an Aes Sedai ring, there is a woman of an unknown culture, with very long nails, there is a man from Shienar, and a Tuatha'an woman.

The man who is speaking recovers the girl from under the table, tells her that he, like the Trollocs, is also considered a monster, but that it is very difficult to tell if someone is doing right or wrong, good or evil, however they look.

Padan Fain is also at the meeting, he uncovers his face.

Somewhere in Arafel, Moiraine is drawing water from a well by hand and carries it to a house. She uses the water for her bathtub. It becomes obvious she cannot channel it warm.

In the same property, Lan is training with a sword, when he sees a person riding in, looking for Moiraine. Lan brings the man to her, in a study with loads of books, scrolls, and papers, who turns out to be an Illianer sailor, Bayle Domon.

In the White Tower, Egwene, now as a novice, walks around the Tower to clean and gather leftover food and drinks, which she later brings into the kitchens. In the kitchens, Nynaeve asks Egwene if the Amyrlin is back, and complains that they have not done anything since signing the book of novices, but clean. Egwene is satisfied with her current position and takes it as an opportunity to learn and build character.

Alanna Sedai walks in to the kitchens and starts giving the girls a lesson is using the One Power. The only one who does not follow the lesson is Nynaeve, she does not manage to even embrace the True Source. Alanna berates Nynaeve for not channeling even once since she has come to the Tower. Nynaeve takes the easy way out of the lesson and still does not channel.

In the gardens, several sisters have gathered to discuss the Two Rivers girls. Alanna tells them that Nynaeve is still blocked and Liandrin proposes that she teaches the blocked novice. Sheriam claims that another novice had died in Liandrin's care previously. There are less novices in the Tower and they are less powerful than ever before. Liandrin retorts that the world is changing, a new false Dragon has proclaimed himself, possibly more powerful than Logain, and Nynaeve is their most potent weapon against the Dark. In the end, Sheriam agrees that Liandrin can at least talk to Nynaeve, but Alanna thinks this a mistake.

Perrin and Loial have joined a troop of Shienaran soldiers, led by Lord Ingtar, on a hunt for the Horn of Valere. Lord Ingtar has hired a tracker, called "sniffer," to help them find Padan Fain. The tracker, Elyas, leads them to a field where a caravan of Traveling people has been slaughtered. Next to the caravan they find a dead Shienaran soldier, who they assume is one of the men who let Padan Fain into Fal Dara. Lord Ingtar says that they will bury the slaughtered, including the Shienaran soldier. Perrin does not agree with Ingtar's decision to bury the darkfriend. He shares with Ingtar how nice Padan Fain looked all those years visiting the Two Rivers, before bringing the Trollocs onto them.

Back in Verin's villa, Moiraine haggles with Bayle Domon. He is offering her a piece of cuendillar, a material made of the One Power that is unbreakable. The sailor tells her that he found it in Cairhien, along with a poem written in blood, which she buys from him for one gold mark. Domon mentions there are people following him, men with hoods over their faces, and Moiraine warns him that he is in danger and that he should sail far away.

Lan is sharing his feelings for Moiraine to Tomas, Verin's Warder, who assures Lan that he can take care of protecting Moiraine if Lan leaves. Lan does not want to leave. He instead tries to speak to Moiraine but is met with silence. He gets angry at her for keeping secrets from him and then leaves. Moiraine goes to saddle her horse and tries to leave but is intercepted by a Fade. She manages to murder the first Fade, but one more appears and wounds Moiraine. Lan saves her, but another Fade is waiting. Because the Fades can hide in the shadows, Lan has a hard time fighting them. To the rescue come the Brown Sisters and the other Warder and kill the remaining Fade.

In the White Tower, Nynaeve is practicing sword fighting with Alanna's Warders – Maksim and Ihvon. She says that she will probably not become Aes Sedai. The Warders make her think really hard on what is her reasoning for being in the Tower and why did she even go there in the first place. Nynaeve later goes into the kitchens, where Liandrin finds her practicing trying to channel. Liandrin attacks her with a weave of Air and tries to make Nynaeve angry. In desperation and anger, Nynaeve hurls the same weave back towards Liandrin, who is satisfied that Nynaeve has the potential to copy the weaves by only seeing them once, and easily cuts Nynaeve off from the Source.

Egwene has been to Alanna's room to ask her for advice on how to split her attention and control two weaves at the same time. Later in her room, Nynaeve brings a letter from Perrin. It is Bel Tine again and it has been a year since they left the Two Rivers. He writes that he misses them.

In a secret room somewhere inside the Tower, Liandrin reads the same letter to Mat, who looks very sad. He claims to not have touched the dagger from Shadar Logoth in six months, he believes he is no danger to anyone.

Nynaeve, Egwene, and Perrin light a lantern for the dead, and Rand is shown to also do the same in an unknown location.

Production

• Directed by: Thomas Napper
• Written for Television by: Amanda Kate Shuman
• Aired on: September 1, 2023
• Runtime: One hour and six minutes

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