re: alanna's parallels with egwene
alanna's reputed temper stems largely from her time as a novice who, while notably talented as a channeler, was objectively not the best in her "class" by a long shot. something she really grappled with the reality of, as someone who was accustomed to being effortless good, if not, great at everything. ego and perfectionism [and jealousy] were some of her largest hurdles and it wasn't really until she'd become an accepted that she had begun to understand and embrace the messiness that is inherent to the learning process; something she tries to instill in her own students.
so when she sees these same things in egwene—her ego, her stiff avoidance of what was too "easy"—I think she's very intentional with her comparison to nynaeve, goading out that jealousy, and in her critiques of her approach to channeling, of which she gently offers redirection.
the latter [bedroom] scene is played for laughs, but it's honestly some of the most telling and practical insight she could give on channeling and, tangentially, identity and ego.
alanna as she is by the events of the show is the product of decades of self exploration. her confidence and, arguably, the strength of her friendship with moiraine is the result of choosing to prioritize her personal pleasure over whatever preconceptions she might have carried with her into the tower as this high-strung and competitive sixteen-year-old girl.
context for non-wheel of time mutuals: at the beginning of this episode, egwene accidentally walks in on alanna with ihvon and maksim in bed, which is what alanna assumes egwene is referring to when she asks "about this morning" and mistakenly gives her advice on navigating threesomes, which happens to translate really well across subjects. egwene hurriedly clarifies, and alanna gives her more specific advice regarding the weave they'd been practicing in class, guessing that egwene was reaching for hundreds of individual particles of earth/dirt and water, and making too much work for herself, instead of pulling the earth as a whole.
