Chapter 23: The Testing

Far beneath the White Tower, Sheriam, Mistress of Novices, leads Nynaeve through the ter'angreal testing for Acceptance—three silver arches that force her to confront her deepest fears and that have killed candidates before.

In the first arch ('what was'), she is hunted through a maze by the Forsaken Aginor and defeats him by channeling saidar, which should be impossible inside the ter'angreal. In the second arch ('what is'), she finds Emond's Field terrorized by a brutal new Wisdom and is forced to abandon Marin al'Vere's desperate cry for help. In the third arch ('what will be'), she wakes as queen of a restored Malkier, married to Lan, and must leave behind this vision of a possible future—channeling saidar once more to recreate the arch and escape.

She emerges with thorn scars on her palms, and the Amyrlin Seat formally declares her Accepted of the White Tower.