Part 3
…And as they did pass the time among the most useless of peoples in all the works of the Creator, yea, even more useless than Ogier or White sisters, verily, it was in that place and among that people that the Egwene-beast did feel at home.

For in those days, everyone did prove more skilled and wiser than the Beast. And the Beast was without power, and could wreak no great evil. And so the Beast did think “If I am not able to do mine own will, better I join with these fools who are of no use. For in this way, I can avoid helping the Light, even by accident.”

And the Beast was wise, for in the days to come, the cunning of the Creator and the Heroes would cause the Beast to often help the Light and goodness by accident. When the fullness of days would come around, and the Dark One lost to the world and the Beast forever, the Beast would look back on the days when it had been merely useless, and not deceived into helping the Dragon. And the Egwene-beast would weep bitter tears that it had not stayed where the Dragon could not use it for good.
- The Cannolaethon Cycle, vol. 1

Seriously, when Egwene, Aram & the rest of the Tinkers are all in the same place, I just can’t help but think they’re one mouthy maidservant or Amayar babysitter away from being able to form a Voltron of useless characters.

Egwene sniffed. “probably because the Taren Ferry folk are as great thieves as the Tinkers…shouldn’t we go on? We don’t want Bela stolen…everybody knows Tinkers will steal anything.
A.This should pretty much dispel the myth of Egwene being naturally inquisitive or interested in foreign people or cultures. She’s as insular and provincial as anyone (maybe the most of any of the Two Rivers folk), she simply affects a complete immersion in whatever group she visits in order to get the most out of whatever she can gain from her sojourn. Perrin, the biggest homebody of the gang, is fascinated to meet new people and learn more about them, but Egwene (though perhaps she is merely being her typically contrarian self) turns into a stereotype-spewing xenophobe.

”I think it is interesting,” Egwene said, glaring at Perrin, “to meet someone who doesn’t believe his muscles can solve every problem.”
Activate interlock…
B.Five minutes ago, Egwene is more afraid to enter a Tinker camp than a Klansman to walk unarmed through Haarlem, and now she’s taking their side against Perrin! Not only that, almost immediately following those lines, she allows Aram to take her off to eat somewhere else, not only abandoning her companions (“friends” is just so inappropriate a description of anyone whose life is blighted by her acquaintance), but committing a colossal act of rudeness to her hosts, Raen & Ila, who plainly wish their neglectful grandson to stay and visit. She is just absolutely unjustified in her acts by any standard other than her own indulgence in a whim inspired by a casual attraction to Aram or a desire to spite her previous companions (maybe for having the audacity to rightfully ignore her paranoia about the Tinkers? ).
Egwene’s ErrorWe will see later in the books that Mat will mouth off to Aes Sedai, when he would prefer to avoid their notice, rather than let them speak ill of Nynaeve, the Two Rivers compatriot with whom he gets along the least. Yet, Egwene, as early as the first book, and her first encounter with an outsider, openly and expressly takes the side of the outsider against the Two Rivers man. Where Mat privately agreed that the Aes Sedai had a point regarding Nynaeve’s character flaws, Egwene has absolutely no basis for making the quoted statement, particularly in regard to Perrin. None of the Two Rivers people (aside from maybe Nynaeve, first seen being shadowed and slavishly mimicked by one Egwene al’Vere) fit the counter-example Egwene throws up about Aram. She has NEVER met someone who believes “his muscles can solve every problem”! Of course, if you substitute “power” for “muscles,” we have a pretty consistent description of Egwene throughout the series. They do say that murderers are the most fearful of their own lives, and thieves the most careful of their own purses….

It was hard to get a word with Egwene. Either she was talking with Ila, their heads together in a way that said no men were welcome, or she was dancing with Aram…
Dyno-therms connected…
C. You know how all the Two Rivers people have a close knit bond with one another and back each other up and are there for each other? Unless of course, they have grown beyond such petty concerns. From the looks of things it took her about five minutes to grow all the way beyond giving a damn about Perrin, alone among a strange people, toward whom Egwene herself had been far more mistrustful.
Egwene’s Error: Even when there’s no bigger picture or conflict of values or priorities, she’s a crappy friend. That’s all there is to it. This is simply rotten behavior, removing any notion that her initial rudeness to her hosts by running off with Aram when they wanted him to stay for a meal, was a one-time aberration.

“Whatever is going to happen will happen whether we leave today or next week. That’s what I believe now. Enjoy yourself, Perrin. It might be the last chance we have.”…Aram held out his hand to her, and she darted to him, already laughing again.
Infracells up…
D. Come on, Perrin! What’s wrong with you? There is no power to gain and no course of action apparent for self-advancement, so why not just kick back and not care? La la la!
Egwene’s Error: She is telling a guy who is being hunted by Ba’alzamon himself to stop worrying and chill out. This blasé attitude toward other people’s danger will resurface when she remonstrates with Nynaeve and Elayne for saving the world at the cost of some potential political embarrassment for her. They’ve got no business messing with her rise to power just as Perrin has no business killing her buzz, over trivial little things like Shadowspawn hunting him. That’s TOTALLY his problem! Why does he keep bothering HER about it? She has some critical dancing to get in!

Egwene still wore the string of blue beads Aram had given her, and a little sprig of something with tiny, bright red leaves in her hair, another gift from (Aram)…he wished she did not finger the beads so fondly.
Megathrusters are go!
E.Boyfriend? What boyfriend? In what crazy, repressive, puritanical universe does maneuvering to entrap a neighborhood boy in a socially-presumed betrothal mean you aren’t allowed to date another guy as soon as you are separated from your intended?
Egwene’s Error: Nothing actually, if not for the fact that when she meets a woman who asks after Rand’s well-being, she immediately curses him out in her thoughts. It’s not like he danced with any other girl, or even willingly engaged any other girl in conversation, but she immediately starts comparing him to Shadowspawn, in spite of her own much more egregious behavior with other men.

Furthermore, a case could be made that given the subsequent friendship between Perrin and Aram, when she is no longer a factor, the dissolution of that friendship, and her own contribution to the rocky start of their acquaintance, Egwene is to blame for Aram’s downfall and fate. Maybe if she had not been flirting with Aram and letting herself be used as a bone of contention in his eyes, or at least included Perrin more in their activities, he and Perrin could have made a better start on their eventual friendship and provided a more solid foundation for a healthier relationship than the dysfunctional and unbalanced hero-worship scenario that was eventually turned against Perrin by Maseema.