A Memory of Light

pointedly turned the other way. Cadsuane and Moiraine gave one another wide berth in the camp. He thought he caught a hint of a glare in Moiraine’s eyes when she saw that Cadsuane had spotted Rand first.
    Cadsuane came up to him, then walked around him, looking him up and down. She nodded to herself several times.
    “Trying to decide if I’m up to the task?” Rand said to Cadsuane, keeping emotions—in this case, annoyance—from his voice.
    “I never wondered,” Cadsuane said. “Even before I found you were reborn, I never wondered if I would be able to make you into the man you needed to be. Wondering, in that manner at least, is for fools. Are you a fool, Rand al’Thor?”
    “An impossible question,” Min replied. “If he says that he is, then a fool he becomes. If he says that he is not, then he implies he does not seek further wisdom.”
    “Phaw. You’ve been reading too much, child.” Cadsuane seemed fond as she said it. She turned to Rand. “I hope you give her something nice.”
    “What do you mean?” Rand asked.
    “You’ve been giving things to people,” Cadsuane said, “in preparation for death. It’s common for the elderly or for men riding into a battle they don’t think they can win. A sword for your father, a ter’angreal for the Queen of Andor, a crown for Lan Mandragoran, jewelry for the Aiel girl, and for this one.” She nodded at Min.
    Rand stiffened. He’d known what he was doing, on some level, but to hear it explained was disconcerting.
    Min’s expression darkened. Her grip on him tightened.
    “Walk with me,” Cadsuane said. “Just you and me, Lord Dragon.” She glanced at him. “If you will.”
    Min looked to Rand, but he patted her on the shoulder and nodded. “I’ll meet you at the tent.”
    She sighed, but retreated. Cadsuane had already started on the path. Rand had to jog a few steps to catch up. She probably enjoyed seeing that.
    “Moiraine Sedai grows restless with your delays,” Cadsuane said.
    “And what are your thoughts?”
    “I think she has a portion of wisdom to her. However, I do not find your plan to be complete idiocy. You must not delay much longer, however.”
    He purposely did not say when he would give the order to attack Shayol Ghul. He wanted everyone guessing. If nobody around him knew when he would strike, then chances were good the Dark One wouldn’t know either.
    “Regardless,” Cadsuane said, “I am not here to speak about your delays. I feel that Moiraine Sedai has your . . . education in that matter well in hand. Something else worries me far more.”
    “And that is?”
    “That you expect to die. That you are giving so much away. That you do not even seek to live.”
    Rand took a deep breath. Behind, a group of Maidens trailed him. He passed the Windfinders in their small camp, huddled and speaking over the Bowl of Winds. They looked toward him and Cadsuane with placid faces.
    “Leave me go to my fate, Cadsuane,” Rand said. “I have embraced death. I will take it when it comes.”
    “I am pleased at that,” she said, “and do not think—for a moment— that I would not trade your life for the world.”
    “You’ve made that obvious from the start,” Rand said. “So why worry now? This fight will claim me. So it must be.”
    “You must not assume that you will die,” Cadsuane said. “Even if it is nearly inevitable, you must not take it as completely inevitable.”
    “Elayne said much the same thing.”
    “Then she has spoken wisdom at least once in her life. A better average than I had assumed of that one.”
    Rand refused to rise to that comment, and Cadsuane let slip a smile. She was pleased at how he controlled himself now. That was why she tested him. Would the tests never end?
    No, he thought. Not until the final one. The one that matters most.
    Cadsuane stopped in the path, causing him to stop as well. “Do you have a gift for me as well?”
    “I am giving them to those I care about.”
    That actually made her smile more deeply. “Our interactions have not always been smooth, Rand al’Thor.”
    “That would be one way to say it.”
    “However,” she continued, eyeing him, “I will have you know that I am pleased. You have turned out well.”
    “So I have your permission to save the world?”
    “Yes/’ She looked upward, where the dark clouds boiled. They began to split at his presence, as he did not try to mask it or keep them back.
    “Yes,” Cadsuane repeated, “you have my