Unless the Oath she took on the Oath Rod was 'I will not go back to the Tower' you really don't have any reason to believe this. The loophole was that Beonin no longer saw Egwene as Amyrlin, therefore her Oath to the Amyrlin no longer held. Elaida's Fourth Oath had the exact same stipulation, so it had the exact same loophole.



Quotes or it didn't happen.

'Swearing fealty' is also exactly what the Aes Sedai sworn to Rand at Dumaï's Wells have done, you'll notice. See how often they do 'something they believe they should not be required to do'.



I applaud Egwene to a similar degree that I applaud Elaida for getting herself elected Amyrlin Seat. Less, actually. Elaida stretched the limits of legality, Egwene completely disregarded them. I don't see anything especially impressive about Egwene in that scene - Siuan discovered what they were up too and informed Egwene, then she simply blackmailed them into obeying whatever she wanted. The only impressive thing, if you insist on calling it that, is that she stooped to using Compulsion, which no other Aes Sedai would have considered until Elaida herself.

I guess you applaud Egwene because she made it work, whereas Elaida failed? But that is not the criticism that Egwene levels against Elaida. She says the act itself is unacceptable, not the fact that she got caught.