Chapter 48: First Claiming

Min pushes through Falme's panicked streets, drawn as if by an invisible thread toward a garden behind one of the tall stone buildings. There she finds Rand sprawled unconscious under an oak — his sword hilt melted to a stub, a cauterized wound burned through his left side, his skin icy cold.

She drags him inside to a servant's room, lights the hearth, and climbs into bed beside him to share her warmth — the only help she can offer until Nynaeve arrives. She reflects aloud that she has no interest in shepherds, but admits quietly that Rand is something more now.

Egwene appears in the doorway, having felt Rand pulling at her — Elayne felt it too. Egwene warns Min that Rand cannot be safe for any of them. Min refuses to yield him. A tense exchange passes between them before Egwene leaves to fetch Nynaeve, back straight and head high.

Then another woman enters — the most beautiful Min has ever seen, pale-skinned with long night-dark hair, dressed entirely in white with silver jewelry. She moves with inhuman grace, smooths Rand's hair as if Min is not there, and traces what looks like the Dragon's Fang on his forehead. When Min demands to know who she is, the woman says she is called Lanfear.

Lanfear declares that Rand — Lews Therin Telamon — is hers, and that she has been guiding his steps all along, not Ishamael. She tells Min to tend him until she comes for him, then simply vanishes. Min clutches Rand, wishing he could protect her.

In the chapter's closing lines, Byar gallops east from Falme with grim purpose. He carries word of the battle and of the death of Lord Captain Bornhald and the entire legion. He blames the catastrophe on Darkfriends — particularly Perrin of the Two Rivers — and rides to find Dain Bornhald, then to deliver his report to Pedron Niall himself.