The Dragon Reborn

How it opens

Winter still holds the high passes of the Mountains of Mist, where Perrin Aybara waits with a handful of Shienaran soldiers at a spot Moiraine sent him to. She has kept them all in the mountains the whole winter, and Perrin is tired of waiting. For months women have come alone to these spots with news for Moiraine, and this time it is a Tinker named Leya, unarmed. Back at camp Rand al'Thor, the friend Perrin grew up with, is struggling with saidin as it pulls at him harder than he can hold, and Perrin is no longer sure they can still be friends.

Who you meet early

• Perrin AybaraPerrin Aybara was a blacksmith's apprentice before he left the Two Rivers, and he carries a great half-moon axe. Moiraine sends him out with the Shienaran soldiers to meet the women she knows will come.
• Uno NomestaUno is a one-eyed Shienaran soldier with a red eye painted on his patch, who can hardly say a sentence without a curse. He serves Rand now and calls him Lord Dragon.
• Masema DagarMasema is a scarred Shienaran soldier in the mountain camp who sees ill in everything, Tinkers included. When Rand appears, his eyes shine with utter devotion.
• Min FarshawMin is wintering in the mountain camp, caught up, as she puts it, with Aes Sedai and Two Rivers folk. She sometimes sees images and auras around people, and sometimes knows what they mean.
• LoialLoial is an Ogier, ninety years old and not yet old enough by Ogier standards to leave his stedding without the Elders' permission. He ran away anyway, saying he only wanted to see the groves the Ogier planted, and he travels with Moiraine.
• Rand al'ThorRand al'Thor, who grew up with Perrin, has raised the Dragon banner and lets himself be called the Dragon. Those who declared for him on Almoth Plain are fighting and dying while he sits out the winter in the mountains.