The Hunt for the Horn

By Linda


My theory explains how Verin delicately guided Egwene to contact the person in the Tower who Verin trusted with the knowledge of the location of the Horn of Valere.

Verin hid the Horn cleverly even to get it to the Tower:

“The Horn of Valere?” she [Siuan] gasped. “You brought that all the way here, across hundreds of leagues, with the Hunters looking everywhere for it? Light, woman, it was to be left with Rand al’Thor.”
“I know, Mother,” Verin said calmly, “but the Hunters all expect to find the Horn in some great adventure, not in a sack with four women escorting a sick youth.

- The Dragon Reborn, The Amyrlin Seat

so when Siuan told Verin to hide it away without telling anyone:

“For the moment,” the Amyrlin said finally, “we will find some place to hide this where no one but we two know.”

- The Dragon Reborn, The Amyrlin Seat

Verin was the right person to do so. She had already boldy disguised the Horn as an insignificant parcel. Unlike Siuan, Verin knew how extensive and pervasive the Black Ajah was and how, therefore, for the Horn to remain secret and safe, it had to be away from rooms frequented by Aes Sedai. Siuan never tells us what Verin said she did with the Horn.

Merana tells us that Verin’s manipulatory skills are pretty good:

Verin had hardly touched her own plans really, except for guiding Demira into suggesting today's unfortunate confrontation. It had been done quite skillfully; Merana did not believe anyone but a Gray would have noticed.

- Lord of Chaos, The Mirror of Mists

From a Grey, that’s quite a complement. Verin is the past master of nudging people into doing what she wants (or thinks they should do) with deceptively casual prattle. Even in the hour of her death. Or should that be especially in the hour of her death?

As she took poison, Verin twice told Egwene to speak to Laras:

"My, but this is good tea," Verin said. "When you next see Laras, please thank her on my behalf for providing it. She promised that she had some that hadn't spoiled, but I didn't trust her. Can't trust much these days, can you?"
"What, is Laras a Darkfriend?" Egwene asked.
"Heavens, no," Verin said. "She's many things, but not a Darkfriend. You'd sooner find a Whitecloak marrying an Aes Sedai than find Laras swearing to the Great Lord. Extraordinary woman.

- The Gathering Storm, A Visit from Verin Sedai

"It takes a very special tea to make asping rot go down sweetly," Verin said, taking another sip. "As I said, please thank Laras for me."

- The Gathering Storm, A Visit from Verin Sedai

At such a time she would hardly talk about trivialities, so there had to be good reason for this.

Verin quite subtly but firmly suggested to Egwene to visit Laras as a seemingly innocuous 'last request'. She also implanted the idea that Egwene should see to this personally – because “you can’t trust much these days” and assured her that Laras was no Darkfriend and moreover was trustworthy. She then went on to say "When you next see Laras, please thank her on my behalf..." And a short while later again: "As I said, please thank Laras for me."

Verin said when Egwene next sees Laras even though Verin would have deduced that Egwene was soon to be Amyrlin judging by the political currents in the Tower and would therefore have much to attend to. She compliments Egwene on how well she has done politically so she was certainly aware of how close Egwene was. Yet Egwene is to visit Laras...

The last time Egwene was with Laras, Laras was prepared to arrange Egwene’s escape from Elaida’s efforts to break her:

"No time for jabbering!" Laras said, as if she weren't the one doing all of the talking. She was obviously nervous, the way she kept glancing about and tapping her foot. But she'd obviously also done this sort of thing before. Why was the simple cook in the White Tower so skilled at sneaking, so handy with a plan to get Egwene out of the fortified and besieged city? And why did she have a bolt-hole in the kitchens in the first place? Light! How had she created it?

- The Gathering Storm, In the White Tower

Laras did help Min rescue Siuan and Leane, all the while regaling Min with tales of her ‘lively’ youth and how she was near to being hanged.

Considering Verin's ringing endorsement of Laras, and her urging of Egwene to visit her, I think that Laras was the one to whom Verin handed her parcel containing the Horn way back in The Dragon Reborn. I don’t think Laras necessarily knows what’s in the parcel. It’s possible the parcel was warded by Verin.

The Horn could well be in the kitchens under Laras' watchful eye. It's not a place an Aes Sedai would hang out, so the Horn would be safe there, but it is a place where almost anyone can enter or leave with a parcel and no one would think anything of it. In the real world, such kitchens in the 16th-18th centuries had cupboards and cellars under lock and key to which only the Butler or Head Cook had access. Laras even revealed to Egwene a hidey hole as we saw in the quote above. So there is no lack of secure places in the kitchen for a package to be hidden.

I also think Laras was the recipient of one of Verin’s letters of instructions she was giving out in The Gathering Storm, a letter telling her to hand the parcel to Egwene when Egwene drops by.

So when Egwene remembers Verin’s request and goes to visit Laras she’ll find out just what an extraordinary woman Laras is. Not a Hero of the Horn, but its guardian.