Plot summary
Twenty years before the beginning of the series Gitara Moroso, the Keeper of the Chronicles, foretells that the Dragon has been reborn. Moiraine, Siuan and the Amyrlin Seat Tamra Ospenya are the only people to witness it. Tamra decides to give a bounty to every woman who gave birth in the camps around Tar Valon during the last week to get a list of babies who could possibly be the Dragon Reborn. Initially, Moiraine and Siuan go with the other Accepted to record names of candidates for the bounty, but the following day are told to spend their time copying some of the less-legible lists, which gives them the opportunity to create their own list of babies who could be the Dragon Reborn.
Tamra orders Moiraine to give a letter to Aes Sedai Kerene Nagashi asking her to meet the Amyrlin. Other Aes Sedai receive similar summons, leading Moiraine and Siuan to believe they are being sent out to search for the Dragon Reborn. The sisters who had been summoned leave Tar Valon, and after, Tamra is found dead.
After Moiraine and Siuan are raised to Aes Sedai, Moiraine leaves Tar Valon to search for the Dragon Reborn herself. She travels to the city of Canluun, where she meets Merean Redhill (Tamra’s Mistress of Novices) and the fabled Aes Sedai Cadsuane. Siuan meets her there and informs her that all the Aes Sedai Tamra sent out of the Tower are dead, leading them to believe the Black Ajah is attempting to thwart their hunt for the Dragon Reborn.
As the Aiel War ends, Lan rides to Canluun with his companion Bukama, where he meets a friend of his called Ryne. Ryne tells them that Lan’s carneira (first lover) Edeyn Arrel, intends to raise Malkier’s banner of the Golden Crane, summoning the nation’s remaining people to ride back to try to reclaim their home. The three decide to ride to Edeyn in Chacin to disuade her.
Moiraine, also riding from Canluun to Chacin, encounters Lan’s group on the road. She initially keeps her distance, following them from behind as she is suspicious of them. She meets the group, and claims the right of a woman alone to be escorted to Chacin to meet one of the mothers on her list. They agree, though Lan is suspicious of her and believes that she has been sent by Edeyn.
The group arrive at Chacin. Moiraine meets with Siuan again, who has located the next mother on their list, Ines, in the Aesdaishar Palace. Lan, Bukama and Ryne immediately go to the Aesdaishar Palace where they meet Brys, Prince-Consort to Queen Ethenielle of Kandor. Moiraine enters the palace and uses her noble lineage to get her and Siuan a room there.
Lan meets Edeyn, who attempts to persuade Lan to become the King of Malkier, though she fails, and tells him that she plans for him to marry her daughter Iselle, in which Lan has little choice as, with no living relatives, his carneira has the right to arrange his marriage.
In the Palace, Moiraine is avoiding encountering Lan. She runs into Merean in the Palace and, suspicious she may be Black Ajah, Moiraine finally talks to Lan and asks him and Bakuma to spy on Merean for her. Iselle asks Moiraine to enroll her at the White Tower but Moiraine dismisses her. Bakuma later tells Siuan that Merean had a meeting with Brys.
Learning that Edeyn intends to marry Lan to Iselle soon, Lan searches for Bukuma so they can flee. As he does so, his feet are pulled from under him with the One Power and he falls down a flight of stairs. A servant then tells Lan that Bakuma has been stabbed, and he finds Bakuma dead in his room. Angry, Lan goes to find Moiraine and tells her what has happened.
Lan blames Bakuma’s death on Aes Sedai schemes. Moiraine, now sure Merean is of the Black Ajah, realises that everyone’s in danger. They rush to find Merean, and reach a large balcony where they find Ryne and Merean, who has trapped Iselle, Brys and Diryk (the Queen’s son) with Air. They discover Iselle brought the other two to Merean believing she would take her to the White Tower afterwards, that Ryne is a Darkfriend, and that he killed Bakuma for spying on Merean. A fight ensues, and Lan kills Ryne and Moiraine kills Merean, but not before Merean kills Brys, Diryk, and Iselle.
Moiraine incinerates Merean’s and Ryne’s corpses, as the White Tower would be disgraced if the Black Ajah were found to be real. Siuan finds that Ines’ son was born in a farmhouse, and so cannot be the Dragon Reborn. They realise that Merean’s target was Diryk as they thought his luck might be because he was the Dragon Reborn. This gives them hope, as they realise the Black Ajah have less information about the Dragon Reborn’s identity than them.
They decide that Siuan will return to White Tower and use the Blue Ajah’s spy network to gather intel regarding the Black Ajah and the Dragon Reborn’s identity while Moiraine continues searching. Moiraine finds Lan and asks him to be her Warder. Lan agrees, and she bonds him.
