The Eye of the World/Chapter 48

==Summary==
Ingtar leads an escort of Shienaran lances under the Gray Owl banner for Moiraine and the group headed to the Eye of the World. He halts the lances at the Blightborder that was once Malkier and appears unhappy at his previous orders to go no further, saddened by the prospect of missing the Battle at Tarwin's Gap, angry that the Emond's Field folk get to travel the Blight with Lan. Rand thinks back to the soldiers heading toward the Blight, the non-combatants reluctantly heading south in case the worst happens as Ingtar leaves them.
The group travels north at the Warder's pace. They notice that the weather is warmer, and wrong at the same time. The party finds the heat stifling, and hard to breathe in; all except Perrin and Lan. Rand reaches out to touch a sickly looking tree and earns a rebuke from the Warder. They travel further into the Blight, the corruption growing worse with each step. Mat retches multiple times. Loial is disgusted at the corrupted trees. Lan announces that they will not reach the mountains by nightfall, prompting the Aes Sedai to suggest a nearby area as a camp site. It would be a good omen to camp there.
They camp not too far from a lake. Nynaeve and Mat ask why they do not camp closer to the lake, but then they see a writhing tentacled creature emerge from the surface before eventually going back below, answering their question. This is one of Malkier's Thousand Lakes. Moiraine uses the One Power to bend light around their location and set wards around them. The light bending confuses the boys briefly, as it sometimes causes the women to disappear. Egwene says she will learn to do this in Tar Valon; Nynaeve tentatively suggests she will go there as well, under the pretense of accompanying Egwene. Egwene says Rand will be her Warder when she becomes Aes Sedai, which Rand goes along with even though he remembers that Min told him that he and Egwene would not be for each other.
Rand has trouble sleeping and eavesdrops on a personal conversation between Nynaeve and Lan in which they both profess feelings for the other, but Lan refuses to accept her love. Lan believes he is doomed to die fighting the Shadow. Rand closes his eyes after seeing his Wisdom cry.
==Characters==
*Lan Mandragoran
*Rand al'Thor
*Mat Cauthon
*Perrin Aybara
*Egwene al'Vere
*Nynaeve al'Meara
*Moiraine Damodred
*Ingtar Shinowa
*Loial
===Animals===
*Mandarb
*Aldieb
*Bela
===Referenced===
*Agelmar Jagad
*King Easar
*Dark One
*Green Man
*Min Farshaw
==Places==
*Shienar
*The Blight
*Malkier
===Referenced===
*Tarwin's Gap
*Eye of the World
*Tar Valon
*Fal Dara
*Fal Moran
*Ankor Dail
*Mountains of Dhoom
*Spine of the World
*Mos Shirare
*Fal Sion
*Camron Caan
*Stedding Shangtai
*Two Rivers
*Waterwood
==Groups==
*Aes Sedai
*Warders
*Ogier
==Events==
*The Battle of Tarwin's Gap
*The Fall of Malkier
==Items==
*Gray Owl banner
*Black Hawk banner
*Three Foxes banner
*Ruby-hilted dagger
==Culture==
*Web of the Pattern
==Concepts==
===The One Power===
*Wards
*Folded Light