Chapter 25: Cairhien

Rand, Loial, and Hurin arrive at the city of Cairhien under Tavolin's military escort. They pass through the bustling Foregate—a sprawling district of refugees, performers, and giant puppet processions outside the city walls—and enter the somber, grid-like city proper, where the Topless Towers are being rebuilt after their destruction in the Aiel War.

After registering at the gate and taking rooms at the Defender of the Dragonwall inn, Rand finds three noble invitations already waiting and hurls them into the fire, inadvertently making enemies in Daes Dae'mar.

Restless, he ventures back into the Foregate for entertainment and is stunned to discover Thom Merrilin alive and performing in a music hall—limping from his Fade wound at Whitebridge but otherwise well, with his sharp blue eyes and white mustaches unchanged.