#wot dice icon

[iviarellereads]

The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 49 - A Storm in Tear

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dice icon) In which coincidence twists.

PERSPECTIVE: Egwene. Ailhuin returns with Juilin, a lean man with a swordbreaker almost exactly like Hurin's. He says he'll help them if he can, but he's seen men in black walking across rooftops, and he expects the High Lords may hire him to seek out thieves sooner than later, though nobody's reported a theft yet.(1)

Nyn asks what he charges, and he says a tenth of the value of some goods, or a silver mark per person, and in this case they can have the choice. Elayne distracts him by mentioning that she knows another thief-taker, a very respectful man from Shienar, who carries both sword and swordbreaker. Why doesn't he? He doesn't seem to get her reference,(2) but says there are laws against commoners wearing swords in Tear. Nyn finally counts out thirteen silver coins, probably the lightest of the silver in the purse but still thirteen.

Juilin protests, saying he'd not ask for more than coppers from them, but Nyn says she's buying exactly what she's buying: he will find the thirteen women, find them and no more. He nods, and she describes each one, giving no names because names are so easily faked. Nyn adds that at least a dozen have died at their hands so far, and they are more dangerous than he can possibly know. If they find him following them, he will die, or they will torture him to find them, and Ailhuin will likely die with them. He says he was stabbed by a woman he thought harmless once, and never makes the same mistake now. He will treat them all as if they were Aes Sedai, and Black Ajah at that. Egg almost chokes but he apologizes, and assures her that there are no Aes Sedai in Tear.(3)

He leaves, and Ailhuin assures them he's the best in the business. Nyn feels a storm coming, it will rain again before morning.(4) They go to bed, and Egg tells Nyn and El to wake her after an hour, but she goes into TAR, makes her way to the Heart of the Stone, sees Liandrin, and wakes herself up almost immediately. She tells them that the women know they're here, they're waiting for them, and outside the storm breaks.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat, playing stones with Thom, who's the clear winner. Mat asks if Thom ever loses, and he says yes, Morgase would beat him about half the time. It's said that good stones players are also good at the Game of Houses and at war.

The ship docks at Tear, the captain swearing he'll never carry anything that can talk again, and Mat pays him an exorbitant fee. He makes sure the fireworks are protected as they walk into the rainy night. Thom asks if he's ready to sell them yet, but Mat says he wants to know how they work, and won't it be fun to see him set them all off?

They set off into Tear, Mat grumbling at the mud catching his boots. He plans to get an early start of looking for Comar. Thom says there are hundreds of inns, it'll take weeks, and some of them are so small you'd never know they were there. Mat thinks of home when he thinks of small inns, thinking they should never have left Emond's Field. But, Rand surely had to, and Egwene might have died if she hadn't. Well, maybe Perrin still has a chance to go home, and if he does, Mat hopes he takes it, though, why would he? As the thought finishes, lightning strikes, and illuminates a window with herbs hanging in the window.(5)

They take rooms at an inn, Mat paying in silver since the gold is running low (the men on the ship didn't dice at all) then he and Thom go around to a couple of other inns. It's late into the night when, looking for another to check, Thom says they've just walked past three inns, can they go back and sleep now? Mat almost gives in when he swears he sees Rand up the street,(6) but looks back instead. He didn't notice the last inn, but likes the look of the name and the sign, The Golden Cup, so he goes in.

And not two steps in, he sees Comar, dicing across the room. His current dicing partner leaves and he starts calling who's next, who wants to try his luck? Mat knows something is wrong, not least because Comar is the first man he's seen wearing a sword, so he tries to think it through from all sides before rushing in.

He and Thom approach the innkeeper and ask a few discreet questions about Comar. The innkeeper assumes Comar is a merchant, thumbing his nose at the poor of the Maule, and he keeps throwing the best rolls for any game he plays. Thom shows them a trick of replacing dice by sleight of hand, and says he probably has sets of weighted dice, and is doing the same trick.

Mat tells Thom to stay at the bar, and goes to dice with Comar. He feels the luck shift as he throws his dice, and lands the winning roll. He tells Comar his luck's about used up, calls him by name, and says if he's hurt the girls, it's all gone. Comar's face goes white as he realizes what Mat just said. He lets slip that he hasn't found them, but he isn't the only one searching. Mat tells him to leave Tear, tell Gaebril anything, but leave Tear tonight. Comar takes out his sword, and Mat defeats him handily with his quarterstaff. In fact, Mat does too well, and kills him by accident. The innkeeper tells him he must go, he'll tell the Defenders it was a man he dreamed of, a tall man with red hair and gray eyes. He can show them the weighted dice now, and everyone here lost coin, they'll all attest. Mat lets himself be dragged out of the inn.

On the way back to the inn where their rooms are, Mat says he's figured out the luck: it works best when things have an element of randomness. Not much good for cards, no good at stones, too much pattern. Even finding Comar, it was a random inn. If he's going to find the wondergirls in time, he has to search without a pattern.(7)

They go back and get some sleep, but for three days and three evenings, Mat lets luck decide where he goes, picking inns at random, or sometimes just flipping a coin at an intersection and turning this way or that. Thom develops a terrible cough, so he can no longer play flute or tell stories, but he insists on going out with Mat.

He's even started to have bad dreams, especially of a man in puffy sleeves and cropped white hair, weaving a net, sometimes over the wondergirls, sometimes Moiraine, and sometimes the man held a crystal sword, only sometimes Rand held the sword. In fact, Mat dreams of Rand a great deal.(8)

Mat thinks it must just be the lack of sleep, the lack of eating regular meals, but he can't stop. He means to win his wager.

=====

(1) We don't have very many clues about what might be going on here, certainly nothing definitive, but remember that we're getting awfully close to the end of the book. (2) Frankly, nor do I. Anyone got an insight check here? Pretty sure I rolled a 1 and none of the wikis and databases I have access to, even as a full-spoil, are helping. My best guess is it's a joke about Hurin the Tolkien figure that I also don't get. (3) Oh, buddy. (4) Do you think it's still the rain Nyn's feeling, or the looming climax of the story? (5) They're SO CLOSE! But they're not thinking like people trying to be sneaky. Well, at least we know they're nearby when Thom finally wants something for that cough. (6) Oh right, Mat's been WELL out of the loop. He hasn't any of the Dragon-search stuff on his itinerary, he's just here for the ladies. Well, it seems Rand did arrive ahead of them all. (7) Find the pattern, even if that pattern is randomness. Luck is his superpower. (8) So, both Rand and whoever the local Forsaken is are affecting people's dreams now.

[highfantasy-soul]

So I have THOUGHTS (not bad ones, just 'hmmm interesting') about Mat's story in the finale. Book spoilers be ahead!!

So I've seen a lot of discussion about the holes in Mat's memories and what that means for how the show is changing that aspect of the books up. So in the books, the dagger eats holes in Mat's brain and he can't remember a lot of his life - like, his real, this incarnation life. So when in Rhuidean, he goes through the second stone archway and asks for the holes in his memory to be filled and the delightful Eelfinn oblige.

HOWEVER! This is something I think people talking about the tea from episode 7 are mis-remembering: those memories the Eelfinn give Mat are canonically NOT of Mat's past lives!! The tea seemed much more akin to the flicker-verse in book 2 when they use the portal stone - but even that isn't a direct translation as the portal stone shows you alternative paths in THIS lifetime, not your past lives.

And coming back to the Eelfinn - Mat distinctly remembers being on BOTH sides of a battlefield at one point. So two memories taking place at the same time - ergo, these are not his own past life's memories. It's theorized in later books that maybe these are memories the Eelfinn or Aelfinn have taken from various visitors to their realms over the years that the person traded away for some benefit or another and they just slapped them into Mat's brain - focusing on the ones from great generals over the centuries.

He doesn't remember the entire life, just parts of them - he remembers random dances, battles, and subconsciously knows the Old Tongue now.

I can see him still going through the archways (I really do hope they keep that in the show, maybe just giving him his prophesies for the future from Tear and his ashandarei, hanging scar, and medallion in Rhuidean) and just leave out the memory bit.

It actually works a bit better for me the way the show might have done his battle memories: I read his scene with the Heroes of the Horn as him remembering our Mat from the books as they indicated at the end that he'd done enough to become bound to the horn if he so chose. It's been theorized who book Mat was a reincarnation of, though never confirmed (to my knowledge), one of the most popular theories I think being King Aemon, last king of Manetheren and I think that would totally fit: Mat's past lives are of generals who perhaps struggled against the Dark, but eventually all held to the Light.

Having the blowing of the Horn give you your past lives' memories makes a lot of sense to me. Maybe he only temporarily got them, though since he's tied to the horn and so couldn't be 'called forth' since he was already there, they decided to give him his memories like the rest of them have to aid in battle and then they'll dissipate with the Heroes. We shall see.

But yeah, totally loved Mat's Horn blowing moment though shame on me for not realizing what he was saying in the Old Tongue!!!! I thought it was just a generic battle cry like he does in the early books and not a single brain cell in my skull recognized the words he was saying even thought I say them to myself VERY FREQUENTLY and want them TATTOOED UPON MY BODY!!!! Seriously, I have no idea how I missed registering what he was shouting - though it did seem an odd place to say it as "it's time to toss the dice" isn't really a regular thing to shout in battle, you need a bit more of Mat's story to understand why he'd say that - but if we're going with the reading that show!Mat has just remembered book!Mat's life, it makes sense that he'd pull out his old battle cry. Anyways, done ranting about how frustrating it was that I missed the most iconic of iconic wot sayings the first time around.

show!Mat: I love you. I like this possible iteration of his battle memories. Good soup. I would like more, please.

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 15 - Into the Doorway

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dice icon) In which those are some awfully ominous setups.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat is heading into the belly of the Stone before doubt can stop him.(1) The last door, she'd said. And there it is, the redstone doorframe. It's twisted in an optical illusion way, just as described. He studies the frame and the room for a bit, perhaps delaying the inevitable. Then, he steps through. For a moment that lasts forever, brilliant white light surrounds him, infinitely bright, infinitely thick.

As his foot hits the other side, it stops. He's in a round hall with a ceiling so high he can't see it for the shadows. The room is lit by glowing spheres with no obvious energy source.

A voice startles Mat by saying it's been a long time since any seekers have come for answers. Mat can see that it's a man, and he seems pleased that Mat hasn't brought any lamps or torches, per the old agreement, and asks if he has any iron or musical instruments.

The figure steps into the light, and Mat's not so sure anymore that he's a man, or even human. He's too graceful, too thin, with a narrow, elongated face. His skin reminds Mat vaguely of snake scales, and eyes with vertical slits.(2) He asks again about iron and music, but Mat says no to both. He's about to ask why they'd ask that, but cuts himself off, and demands to be taken to the one who can provide him answers. The snake man smiles slightly and leads the way. One thing Mat notices is that there isn't a straight line in the place: ceilings arch, walls bow outward, the halls curve continuously, the doors are rounded, windows perfect circles. Even the tiles and bronze metalwork are curved and pointed, never straight.

Mat sees various things out the windows, including buildings that seem to reappear despite knowing that he must have turned enough corners to face a totally different direction. He cuts off two more half-spoken questions, frustrated.(3)

Finally, the man brings Mat to the room he's looking for. A man and two women, also strangely snakelike, await him sitting on three thick, coiled pedestals. Together they tell Mat to enter and ask, according to the agreement of old. Mat's skin crawls, but he goes closer, and carefully lays out the situation. The Whitecloaks in his home village, surely hunting his friends and maybe him. His friend parting ways. His family. A ta'veren pulling at him.

His questions, he'd worked out before going down to the doorframe.

 “Should I go home to help my people?” he asked finally. Three sets of slitted eyes lifted from him—reluctantly, it seemed—and studied the air above his head. Finally the woman on the left said, “You must go to Rhuidean.”(4)

A bell tolls,(5) and one of the women whispers that "he is another" and talks about the strain. Mat's trying to process, he knows Rhuidean is somewhere in the Aiel Waste, but no more than that. Anger drives his former questions, about getting away from Aes Sedai and recovering his memory, right out of his head. He asks why he should go to Rhuidean, and complains they're not answering his questions. They're supposed to answer, not give him riddles!

The woman on the right says if he doesn't go to Rhuidean, he'll die. The bell tolls again, louder. The three are clearly getting anxious, and say the strain is too great, the savor of him too strong, it has been so long. The man demands Mat ask his final question.

Mat cusses extensively and asks why he'll die if he doesn't go to Rhuidean? The man cuts off Mat's complaint that it makes no sense, and says he will have sidestepped the thread of fate, left his fate to drift on the winds of time, and he'll be killed by those who don't want that fate fulfilled. Now, Mat must go, quickly.

Mat shakes off the guide's hand from his arm and says he will NOT go, they've led him away from the questions he intended to ask and given senseless answers. What fate are they talking about? He wants one clear answer. The bell tolls a third time, and the room shakes.

As a dozen more guides start tearing him out of the room, Mat yells what fate?

The three were on their feet atop the pedestals, and he could not tell which shrieked which answer. “To marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons!”(6) “To die and live again, and live once more a part of what was!”(7) “To give up half the light of the world to save the world!”(8) Together they howled like steam escaping under pressure. “Go to Rhuidean, son of battles! Go to Rhuidean, trickster! Go, gambler! Go!”(9) Mat’s assailants snatched him into the air by his arms and legs and ran, holding him over their heads. “Unhand me, you white-livered sons of goats!” he shouted, struggling. “Burn your eyes! The Shadow take your souls, loose me! I will have your guts for a saddle girth!” But writhe and curse as he would, those long fingers gripped like iron.

Twice more the bell tolls, and the guides race back to the entry and throw Mat through it. The white light blinds him again, and he lands in the Great Holding. He stands quickly and throws himself back at the doorframe, but he passes right through onto the boxes behind it. He tries again and again, to no better result.

He starts thinking about his answers. Fated to marry! Daughter of the Nine Moons sounds like some noble title. He'd sooner marry a pig than a noblewoman. And dying and living again? It's all nonsense, he can't believe a word of it. Except... the door had taken him somewhere, and they only wanted to answer three questions.

Mat complains aloud that he won't marry any bloody noblewoman, he'll marry when he's too old to have any fun, cutting off his rant when Rand walks through the doorframe. He asks if Mat's just poking around, or if he went in, too. Mat is wary, but Rand doesn't look mad. Mat says he went through, and they're a bunch of bloody liars that remind him of snakes. Rand doesn't think they're liars. He asks if Mat got his answers, when Moiraine steps through into the room with them.

She realizes that they were both in there at the same time, that must be why... One of them would be bad enough, but two ta'veren at once might have torn the connection entirely, they could all have been trapped there. Did Perrin go in too? Mat says Perrin was getting ready to go to bed, last he saw. Mat would wager Moiraine was noble-born the way she's carrying on.

Mo says at least they made it out alive. Now, which of the girls told them? She'll make her wish Moiraine had peeled off her hide like a glove. Rand says he learned from a couple of books, and Mat says he reads sometimes, too. He wouldn't mind a hide-peeling for Egg and Nyn after what they did to take back the Amyrlin's letter, but it was more fun to tweak Mo's nose just now.

Mo asks Rand about his answers, and Rand says they're his alone. It wasn't easy, though, they had to bring in an interpreter, and she talked like an old book. Moiraine says they were talking the Old Tongue, a rather harsh dialect of it, for their dealings with humans. She asks if Mat's interpreter was more easily understood.(10)

Mat's mouth goes dry. The Old Tongue? Is that what it was?(11) He never got an interpreter, they never even let him ask his questions, the bell started shaking the walls down and they hustled him out like he'd tracked manure onto their rugs. He thinks Moiraine doesn't believe him, she already knows he's slipped into the Old Tongue before. He adds that he almost understood a word or two, here or there, but not to know it.

Mat asks what the snakes get out of it, and Moiraine says they feed off sensations, emotions, experiences. They rummage through them, that's what makes your skin crawl. Rand asks if the answers are true, though, and Moiraine confirms. So long as they're in regard to your own future, they are absolutely true. Though, they are often obscure. If Rand needs help interpreting his, Moiraine is happy to oblige. Rand gives her a slow smile and asks if she'll tell him what she asked, and their answers? Moiraine returns a level look at him and moves to leave the room silently. Mat calls out to ask her why you can't visit twice, and she says if she knew everything, she'd have no need to ask questions, then leaves for real.

For a time Mat and Rand looked at each other in silence. “Did you find out what you wanted?” Rand asked finally. “Did you?” A bright flame leaped into existence, balanced above Rand’s palm. Not the smooth glowing sphere of the Aes Sedai, but a rough blaze like a torch. As Rand moved to leave, Mat added another question. “Are you really going to just let the Whitecloaks do whatever they want back home? You know they’re heading for Emond’s Field. If they are not there already. Yellow eyes, the bloody Dragon Reborn. It’s too much, otherwise.” “Perrin will do . . . what he has to do to save Emond’s Field,” Rand replied in a pained voice. “And I must do what I have to, or more than Emond’s Field will fall, and to worse than Whitecloaks.” Mat stood watching the light of that flame fade away down the hall, until he remembered where he was. Then he snatched up his lamp and hurried out. Rhuidean! Light, what am I going to do?

=====

(1) See, now, here's one of those little things that makes me still not like Mat even here where most fans start to warm up to him, even if they had bad first impressions. He promised he wouldn't go unless his life depended on it. How does he figure his life depends on it to fulfill those criteria? Often, yes, he'll say he's no hero then do the heroic thing, but then he turns around and breaks his word when it's convenient for himself. This isn't to blame or accuse Mat fans of anything, but I feel obliged to point it out when I see it. (2) How very Faerie of you. This also shows in their name: Aelfinn which sounds very close to "elfin". (3) At least he knows well enough to not ask those frivolous questions in full. How many protagonists waste their magic questions? (4) We've heard that name before, from the Aiel. So, he has to go to an Aiel holy place, and if he doesn't, the whole pattern might unravel. No pressure. (5) Rand's arrival, no doubt. Imagine the pressure on the veil between the worlds when two ta'veren enter at one time. (6) The Daughter of the Nine Moons. Well, if we've been paying attention, the Seanchan royal court is called the Court of the Nine Moons, where the Empress sits on the Crystal Throne. (We learned this back in book 2. It's normal to forget. I sure did, on my first run!) So, logically, the Daughter of the Nine Moons sounds like Mat may be marrying someone related to the Empress, either her actual daughter, or her heir. We learned a little bit about who the heir apparent is back in book 2 as well, but it's not directly relevant just now. (7) There's an awful lot of Norse mythology around gods dying and coming back to life, seeing as Perrin and Rand are particularly steeped in that folklore as well… (8) What could "half the light of the world" mean? What would Mat have access to that would constitute that? Is there something he already has, or something we've seen that he might acquire somehow? Do you remember any prophecies that might have any relevance to this? (9) Those sure are some descriptors. Trickster and gambler, we've seen used or alluded to. Son of battles, though? That's new. (10) Now, all that's left is to wonder what Rand's and Moiraine's questions were. I love a good mystery, don't you? (11) Uh-oh! He's been quoting in the Old Tongue a bit, especially since he was Healed of the Shadar Logoth corruption, but he doesn't even realize he's doing it. Now we've got some proof that it's not just random quotes that, who knows, maybe at a stretch he heard in passing. No, he's speaking the whole language.

[iviarellereads]

The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 47 - To Race the Shadow

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dice icon) In which someone doesn't know he made a wager yet, but he will.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat. Tallanvor leads Mat out, away from the grounds, and Mat hopes that Gaebril didn't have any reason to think that Mat knows what he knows. Tal asks Mat if he knows anything else of the White Tower, who is Sheriam, why does her study mean anything? Mat can honestly say he doesn't know. Sometimes Tal thinks she's trying to say something… 1) he asks Mat if he's a loyal Andorman, and Mat says absolutely, but does Tal serve Morgase and Gaebril faithfully? Tal sneers that he serves Morgase, to the death, and storms back to the palace. Mat thinks Gaebril probably says the same words…

Mat gets back to the Queen's Blessing and tells Master Gill he's leaving, but keep the coin, he'll stay long enough to eat. Thom says they've only just arrived. Mat asks if Gill can say anything else about Gaebril, he doesn't like Aes Sedai and he hasn't been there long, but anything else?

Gaebril appeared over the winter, put down some riots hard, and Morgase was so pleased with him that she named him as advisor. Mat asks, if he married Morgase, would he be king? No, Andor has always had a queen, just a queen. If Morgase and Elayne both died, Light forbid, then their cousin Dyelin would be next in succession. At least that's clear, not like when Tigraine disappeared.

Mat asks if there's any other reason he doesn't like Gaebril, and he says, well, there's been a lot of unrest but it can't all be his fault, and people have been having bad dreams since he arrived.(2) But why all this fuss and questioning? Mat says he overheard Gaebril telling Comar to kill Elayne and the other wondergirls, and Thom and Basel almost believe him.

Thom suggests that they spread rumour and use the Game of Houses, if Morgase thinks Elayne's in danger, Gaebril will have a mighty fine funeral. Basel even thinks they can use the dreams to do it, all he has to do is say he dreamed the plot to one of the serving women, and she'll have it through half the city in a day.(3)

Mat says he needs to get on the road to Tear, and Thom asks if there's any chance of Mat waiting until tomorrow morning to leave, he could use a night's sleep. Mat is surprised Thom wants to come with, even further, but Thom seems to have stopped seeking to punish himself. Besides, he likes those girls, wouldn't want anything to happen to them. They'll have to go back to Aringill and catch a boat, it's days faster even than riding horses to death.

Mat asks Basel to hold on to Gaebril's pouch of ten gold, and when he asks what it is, Mat says it's stakes. Gaebril doesn't know it yet, but they have a wager, and Mat always wins, as he throws the dice and turns up all sixes.

=====

(1) So, any better guesses yet? (2) We've seen Sammael in Illian, and Rand, giving people nearby their dreams. It seems likely (and safe enough to suggest) that Gaebril is a Forsaken. They're just coming out of the woodwork, now, huh? (3) Do you think it will be that successful? Can Morgase fend off one of the Forsaken?

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 24 - Rhuidean

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dice icon) In which yes, that's another reference that barely gets touched on.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat feels like a cooked sausage, he hardly even has water to sweat anymore. He wonders how the fog here doesn't burn off.(1) He swears he saw Avi, but Rand doesn't believe him, and didn't see her himself.(2)

Mat and Rand ask each other if they'll go back, but both have to go forward. Mat thinks how he's going to have to get through that redstone doorframe again and give those snake folk a talking to. They walk into the fog, which seems Power-fed somehow, eating all sound and sight. On the other side, a city, smaller than Caemlyn or Tear, full of abandoned construction.

Rand says they were told not to bring any water, but the Wise Ones said nothing about what's already here. Rand channels water out of a fountain, for them to drink and soak in to cool off. Mat wonders how mad Rand is already.

Rand leads them to the center of the city, Mat just a little suspicious of all the empty windows and the empty buildings behind them. When they reach the great plaza, they see a huge tree, a hundred feet tall or more, and concentric rings of clear glass columns, nearly as tall as the tree. Each street Mat can see points to the columned rings, but in the spaces between the rings stand statues Mat doesn't know what to make of.

Rand almost stops to touch two figurines, a man and a woman carved holding crystals aloft,(3) but straightens and continues forward. He recognizes the tree as Avendesora, THE tree of life.(4) Mat leans up against the tree and feels content, peaceful. Rand feels it too, and says he can believe the stories of Ghoetam sitting beneath the Tree for forty years to gain wisdom.(5)

Rand says he has to go into the crystal rings alone. Mat decides to flip a coin for it: flame he goes in with Rand, head he stays out. The coin lands on its edge long enough for Mat to ask if Rand has any control over this nonsense, then falls with the head facing.(6) Mat suspects Rand channeled air to knock it over, and tells Rand to get on with it, Mat won't wait all night.

Mat mutters to himself about how if Rand's not out in an hour he's going back, but he stops dead when he sees another redstone doorframe. It looks identical, only he notices lines of triangles, points down, and he's not sure the other frame had those, but he wasn't looking at the details.(7)

He's given Rand an hour. Maybe he can take that hour and give the snake people their what-for. What difference can one more time touching ter'angreal make for him?(8)

He steps through, and finds himself in an entirely different place than before, but the guide who greets him says much the same, that it's been a very long time since they had a guest. He's taller than an Aiel, with skin as white as the finest paper, too-large eyes, reddish-pale hair, and pointed ears. Mat gets the impression of a fox about to leap.

He asks the same questions, about iron, instruments, or devices to make light. Mat confirms he carries none, and wonders if he's speaking the Old Tongue again. He asks to be taken to where he can get questions answered or he'll leave, but the foxy man gets agitated. No, Mat must not go, but he can bring Mat to where he can get what he needs. The man grins at Mat, and Mat decides he's never giving up all his daggers again, not for anything.

Instead of all curves, everything is many-sided shapes here. There's a long journey through corridors. On the way, he thinks the fox man's leather might be human skin, and there's a growing smell that he realizes, as they come to this version of the pedestal room, is an animal's lair.

Many people appear on the eight pedestals here as Mat is turning around to examine the room, and tell him to speak his need. Mat asks who the Daughter of the Nine Moons is, and they don't respond. He gets angry, saying he has no intention of marrying or dying. He walks around with holes in his memory, and if he had his way, he'd want them filled, but answers to his questions might--

Done, one of the men growls.(9) Mat wonders what the hell is done, and says they're as bad as Aes Sedai. He wants a way to be free of Aes Sedai and the Power, and away from them and back at Rhuidean.(10) Another man says done, echoed by a woman. Mat scans the wall, but seeing no door, he asks what is done and starts calling them names.

“Fool,” a woman said in a whispered growl, and others repeated it. Fool. Fool. Fool. “Wise to ask leavetaking, when you set no price, no terms.” “Yet fool not to first agree on price.” “We will set the price.” They spoke so quickly he could not tell which said what. “What was asked will be given.” “The price will be paid.” “Burn you,” he shouted, “what are you talking—” Utter darkness closed around him. There was something around his throat. He could not breathe. Air. He could not. . . .(11)

=====

(1) Bud, you live in a world with actual magic you've witnessed. (2) Do you get the feeling that happens to Mat a lot? (3) Hey remember those statues? The big one in Cairhien and the other one at Tremalking? Remember the broken thing Egg touched in TAR in Tanchico that also looked like one of those? I'm sure these little things, sitting intact and preserved, have absolutely nothing to do with those, right? Jeez, it's enough to make you wonder what else is just kicking around there. (4) Surely THE tree of life couldn't have just been here without anyone knowing for who knows how long, right? (5) Yeah, along with Queen Liz and Anne Landers and all that, we get a reference to the Buddha. (6) Funny how this goes right along with the probability vortex of the Dreamer Wise Ones and their visions. The Pattern works in mysterious ways. (7) It did, points up. Snakes, their tails up. Foxes, their noses down. (8) This is where we throw our heads back and laugh. Ready? (9) And yet he still fails to realize that these are not the same people with the same rules he dealt with before. He wants his memory filled, he doesn't specify how or with what. (10) Free of the Aes Sedai and the Power, and back at Rhuidean. Two requests, fulfilled. How fortunate that he asked for a way home, huh? Though he didn't specify what condition he'd get back in. (11) Hey so about all that "die and live again" stuff the snakes told him… (What, you don't think he'd be permagone already, with prophecy still hanging unfulfilled over him? Who's gonna marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons? Who's gonna trade half the light of the world away? Who, if not Mat Cauthon?)

[iviarellereads]

The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 54 - Into the Stone

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dice icon) In which Chekhov's fireworks pay off.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat, on the rooftops of Tear. He's tied up all the fireworks into a single awkward bundle on his back, and crouches next to a chimney. There's a wire-handled tin box in his hand, getting uncomfortably warm.(1)

The sides of the Stone are like cliffs, and there must be arrowslits but he can't see them from here. He sees some fool climbing the wall nevertheless, and wonders who in the Light that could be.

He shifts a little to see another spot of the wall, and feels steel at his throat. He scuffles, realizing there are multiple people, and most of them have spears and black veils. He assumes they're real thieves. He grins and says he doesn't mean to trouble them, and he won't betray them, he wants no more attention than they do. He turns and realizes that they're Aiel. They put away their weapons and ask what he's doing, they've been watching him for some time. Another voice cuts in from the shadows nearby saying he could ask the same of them. It's Juilin Sandar, the thief-catcher who's been seeing Aiel for a week or more. Mat shakes his head, wondering how many people are on the rooftops tonight.(2)

The Aiel won't answer until someone else does, and Juilin says he did something today he's not sure was right. The main Aiel introduces himself as Rhuarc, the leader of Aviendha's group from earlier this book with the wondergirls. He says they mean no harm to the city, but Juilin will not be allowed to raise the alarm. Juilin asks what they want then, and Rhuarc says simply the Stone.

Rhuarc turns back to Mat and asks again what he means. He says some friends of his are prisoners in there, and he means to get them out. Maybe they can work together to get in, if they mean to get inside, too, and they could do much worse than betting on Mat's luck.

One of the other Aiel, Gaul,(3) says it's time for something, and they melt into the shadows to go accomplish their purpose. When they're alone, Juilin asks Mat if his friends are three women. Mat asks what he knows of them. Juilin says he knows they're inside the Stone, and he knows a gate where a thief-catcher might take a prisoner, to get entrance to the cells where they'll likely be kept.

Mat sees at least a hundred Aiel go over the Stone's outer wall, and figures he might as well add to the confusion, since he worked so hard on his distraction. He walks a platform to get up to the wall, and finds a convenient arrowslit. He wedges his bundle of fireworks into the slit, trying to be sure as much of the noise and smoke will be inside as possible. He opens the tin box, which has a lit coal inside, and uses it to light the fuses which he cut all to the same length, so they should go off together.(4) He darts back along the wall.

The force of the explosion behind him knocks him to the platform, and he's sure he's used up all his luck not falling fifty feet to the ground. He looks back, and the arrowslit seems larger somehow. He thinks about running back to Juilin, but checks the arrowslit instead. It IS bigger, big enough to slip through.(5)

He doesn't make it ten paces inside before Defenders of the Stone appear, though. Then he remembers this is why he set them off in the first place. He takes out the Defenders, and Juilin is beside him, helping him, then wailing that he's attacked Defenders, they'll have his head.

Mat tells Juilin to show him to the cells already, and Juilin shakes off his panic and confusion. Mat promises himself and the girls he'll get them out or die trying.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand, paying no more attention to the alarm gongs than the roar that came before them. His unhealing wound aches, but he pays that no mind, either. He will finish it at last, here. One way or the other.(6)

PERSPECTIVE: Egwene, confused why she was dreaming about Rand again, and why Mat was all mixed into it, yelling that he was coming. She realizes where she is and screams that she will NOT be chained or collared again. Nyn and El are there, though, and she calms soon enough. And she isn't chained up or collared.

They're still shielded from the True Source. Nyn says despite that, they don't seem to care about them at all. El reminds her that Liandrin said they were bait. Egg finds the ter'angreal in her pouch, and El says they weren't even important enough to search, and Nyn asks why is Egg staring at that ring, TAR can't help them unless she can dream a way out. Egg says she might be able to. She could channel in TAR, the shielding might not stop her there. Nyn says she'll take any chance, but she must be careful.

Egg falls asleep, and finds herself unbruised, not thirsty, not aching. She reaches for the Power and embraces it, before letting it go. She moves herself to the Heart of the Stone, finding one of the BA there, the one who'd given Egg the beating that knocked her out. She shields the woman, then weaves air to bind her and hit her in retribution.

She feels a moment of shame, and ties off the weaves only half-aware of what she's doing, so that Joiya will remain shielded and bound here, and hopefully unable to wake up. Then she takes off to find a way down to the cells, to see if she can influence the waking world from the dream one.(7)

PERSPECTIVE: Perrin, who also finds himself in the Stone of Tear. He finds Faile in a room, chained up. As he frees her, she disappears. He cries out that isn't fair, he found her! Hopper says dreams can have many endings. Perrin says that just means they have to hunt again.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat, too busy fighting off Defenders to put a price on any of the expensive-looking items in the room [as is his habit]. He's facing off against a man who names himself High Lord Darlin, who blathers on a bit, until Mat gets sassy, distracting him from his attack long enough to whoop him with the quarterstaff. Mat thinks if he fights one or two more like that one, he might fall over from exhaustion. Nynaeve always did find ways to make him work.

Juilin comes over and says the High Lord doesn't look so mighty, knocked out on the floor. He doesn't look so much more than Juilin himself. Mat is startled by the sight of a man who just trotted across the corridor ahead. That could NOT have been Rand, right?(8) Before he can do anything in reaction, another High Lord emerges. Mat takes him out quickly, and tells Juilin to find the door the High Lords take down to the cells, as one definitely exists, and Juilin knows it's here somewhere.

=====

(1) There are times it's the right call to give the reader more information and let them draw their own conclusions about what's going to happen next. And there are times when the best thing you can do is be uncomfortably vague. The handle grows warm. Why would the handle be warm? To build suspense just a few minutes before we learn why. (2) You might be glad of their presence by the end of the book in [checks notes] 50 pages. (Yeah, there's not a lot of time for denouement in most of RJ's climaxes.) (3) It really is a big ol' reunion even though Mat has no way to know it. (4) Playing with fire(works) should not be attempted at home without checking your local regulations and sober adult supervision. (5) The point was to distract them HERE then go with Juilin to the OTHER entrance, but hey, if ta'veren is leading you here, ta'veren knows how to get you to survive this better than you do. (6) Yeah, about that, buddy… You haven't seen how long this series is, have you? Also, don't worry that Rand seems a touch more, uh, taint-mad than is sustainable for 11 more books. See, RJ thought the series would be over in 3 more. And he kept thinking it would be just three past whichever he was writing, for several more after this. Even in the end he thought he had one book left for his series, and Brandon Sanderson took over after RJ passed, and that one book still had to be split into three more just to wrap up what could be wrapped up. It's a whole thing, and a lot more of the series pacing makes sense when you keep it in mind. (7) At a certain point, anything's worth a shot. (8) Whyever not?

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 13 - Rumors

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dice icon) In which someone finally escapes the ta'veren pull, just not the one that wants to the most.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat is at a tavern much like any other in the Maule, alone, not even dicing, just watching people and drawing on his table with drops of wine. They don't seem to have any idea what happened in the Stone tonight, and they don't want to know. He half wishes he didn't know. He remembers facing a Fade, sure he was about to die, when a dozen Trollocs busted into the hall, took out the Fade, sniffed Mat, and walked away. He can feel the urge to go back to the Stone like a buzz in the back of his head.

He overhears a man at a nearby table talking about Rand as if he's just another false Dragon, and not even a very good one. Then at another table, he picks out a familiar name, and approaches. The speaker is a fork-bearded fellow, and Mat says he over heard the name Two Rivers. Forkbeard says there'll be no tabac out of there this year, the rumor is that Whitecloaks have gone into the Two Rivers, hunting the Dragon, it's said, and perhaps also a man with yellow eyes. Mat gets very angry, and the man offers a cask of Two Rivers tabac as a gift, but Mat throws down a gold coin and tells him to buy his drinks with it until it runs out.

Mat exits the tavern and runs all the way back to Perrin's room, where he finds big P's door splintered, and Perrin stuffing his clothes into his saddlebags. Mat confirms that Perrin heard the same rumours, and asks if he believes them. Believe or not, he needs to get Faile out of Tear, and it's too close to the truth, knowing the Whitecloaks are looking for him and Rand for their prior actions. Mat asks if Rand knows, and Perrin says yes, but he just muttered to himself, and saying he had to do "what they don't expect". So, is Perrin going back to the 2Rs alone? Yes, unless Mat's coming too. Mat thinks a minute, pacing. His family's in Emond's Field, and if he goes home, he fears he might never leave again, but if he doesn't go, if the Whitecloaks harm his family, his friends...  all it takes is rumour for Whitecloaks.

When Mat tries to say he'll go, he half-chokes on the last word. He asks if it's easy for Perrin, if he feels something holding him back. Of course he feels ties, but this reason outweighs them all. Mat still can't say the word "go", and Perrin says maybe they're going on different paths again. Mat says he's had enough of Rand and Aes Sedai, he wants to go where he wants for a change! He's turning for the door when Perrin says he hopes Mat's path is a happy one. Mat expresses the same, and asks Perrin to tell his family he's alright.

Mat leaves and wanders the halls, thinking about his family. He comes to walk past Berelain, and greets her charmingly, but she doesn't say a word to him, only mutters something about "too much like me". Mat decides that's what he gets for talking to nobles, but he knows a cook's helper, Dara, who doesn't think he's dirt.

He stops dead. He'd been thinking of seeing if he could snog Dara, he'd even considered flirting with BERELAIN! And his last words to Perrin, like he'd already decided what to do, but he hadn't! He wouldn't just let himself slide into fate like that. He takes a coin out of his pocket and flips it, and it comes up with the Flame of Tar Valon, a Tar Valon mark. He cusses loudly, "Burn all Aes Sedai! And burn Rand al'Thor for getting me into this!" A servant stops midstride, jumping a little when Mat notices him. Mat tosses the gold mark onto the man's tray and tells him to spend it on women and wine. As he walks away, Mat thinks he might be the biggest fool in the world.

[iviarellereads]

The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 30 - The First Toss

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(Dice icon) In which that goes a touch beyond what we were led to believe earlier.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat spent most of the day in his room, after the wondergirls left him. He sent for tray after tray of bread, cheese, and fruit, and tucked some of it into bags in his wardrobe. At one point, Anaiya comes to check on him, perhaps alerted by the extra food he's been sending for, and says they'll make sure he gets all he needs until he's fully well again.

Mat says he is feeling better, but maybe he'll spend an evening at an inn, he misses people and common-room talk. She says no-one will try to stop him, but don't try to get off the island, or he'll be escorted back.

As she leaves, she notes the quarterstaff and says he doesn't need to protect himself here, he's as safe here as he could be anywhere, and safer than most places.(1) He says he knows, but after she's gone, he wonders if he convinced her of anything at all.

He packs up all his belongings, though there's no hiding what he intends to do when he carries them all, even under a cloak. If you can't hide what you're planning, then do it so hard you look like a fool, and people will underestimate you. He enters the city, and the first inn he enters has three dice games in progress. He only meant to gamble for an hour or so, but he won. He'd always won more than he lost, and sometimes he'd win six or eight tosses in a row, but tonight, every toss wins. He leaves when he realizes he's got thirty silver marks, and the other players are getting a little worn down by his luck.

One follows him outside, arguing for a chance to make back his losses. Mat's only used half the hour he hoped to spend, so they go into another inn, where he wins again, and a fever grips him. From tavern to tavern he goes, never staying long enough to make anyone angry at their losses or his coin pile, but still he wins, every toss, no matter what the game. Even games he's never played before.(2)

He doesn't know how many hours later he finds himself in a tavern full of tabac smoke, staring down at five dice, all showing a crown. The fifth time in a row he's thrown the same roll, which they call "the king". One man growls that Mat has the "Dark One's own luck" and Mat barely realizes what he's doing before he's got the man slammed against the wall, holding him by the collar. He snarls at the man never to say that to him.(3) Abruptly he lets the man go, and backs away. He gets his things and leaves the last coins and the tavern.

Mat thinks about this puzzle from every side. He's always been lucky, but he was never as lucky in Emond's Field as he is now. And it's not just since leaving EF, it's since taking the dagger. But at least he's free of it now, if the Aes Sedai didn't lie. He digs into his coat pockets, finding them full of loose coins of all denominations and nationalities. He has two purses on his belt, both fat, full of gold, and still more stuffed into his belt pouch, crumpling the paper shield and Elayne's letter. He has memories of throwing silver pence to serving girls because they were pretty, and because silver wasn't worth keeping, which shocks him in the present. He wonders if something the Aes Sedai did to him during the healing did this.

Hiding his purses, Mat says it's time to find a ship. He starts walking, then realizes he's being followed. He ducks into side streets and alleys, and eventually into a shadowy corner, where he stays absolutely quiet, and overhears men talking about what must surely have been a plan to rob him or worse. He realizes his luck might be good for more than just dice.

He climbs the building he's standing next to, a one-storey, and then climbs a couple of other buildings, makes his way far away from where the men were looking, and jumps down, rolling with his fall the way he did jumping out of trees as a boy, onto a bridge between buildings and above the street. He only then notices(4) that the bridge has a man on it, holding a dagger at him menacingly. They fight, Mat using his quarterstaff, until they're well entangled, and then Mat says it's time to toss the dice, and flips them both off the bridge. When he can breathe again after the landing, he realizes that not only did his luck land him on top of the other man, the man's dagger is plunged hilt-deep into his own heart.(5)

He realized he was standing over a dead man with a dagger in his chest, just waiting for someone to come along and run shouting for city guards with the Flame of Tar Valon on their chests. The Amyrlin’s paper might get him away from them, but maybe not before she found out. He could still end up back in the White Tower, without that paper, and possibly not even allowed outside the Tower grounds. He knew he should be on his way to the docks right then, and on the first vessel sailing if it was a rotten tub full of old fish, but his knees were shaking hard enough in reaction that he could hardly walk. What he wanted was to sit down for just a minute. Just a minute to steady his knees, and then he was headed for the docks. The taverns were closer, but he started toward the inn. The common room of an inn was a friendly place, where a man could rest a minute and not worry about who might be sneaking up behind him. Enough light came out through the windows for him to make out the sign. A woman with her hair in braids, holding what he thought was an olive branch, and the words “The Woman of Tanchico.”

=====

(1) Considering the Gray Man later this chapter, I'm calling bullshit. (2) Mat's superpower manifests: luck. That's really all this amounts to, in effect. And it's not a known explicit ta'veren power… but it seems rather similar to or perhaps affected by it. We've seen it mentioned (see: chapter 8) that Artur Hawkwing was strongly ta'veren, and sometimes dice rolls would go in his favour more often than not, or even all in his favour for a short time. But Mat plays dice the whole night, except traveling between inns, and wins. every. time. (3) Mat gets real defensive over slights to what he believes his character to be. (4) So the guy was "hardly noticeable", totally ordinary looking. That makes at least three Gray Men in Tar Valon recently. One's a fluke, two's a coincidence, three (if you'll forgive the wordplay) feels like part of a Pattern. (5) This book is notably where Mat starts to become a fan favourite character. While his luck will keep him alive and in coin, it doesn't mean he's not going to face some danger. Ah, but we'll get to what I mean by that, as this is only the first tickle of it. For now, a lot of people think it's real cool and dashing that he gets to be such a badass almost by accident. I'm not saying they're wrong to do so, I'm just saying that if you disagree, you're not alone.

[iviarellereads]

The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 28 - A Way Out

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dice icon) In which the Wondergirls are about to make someone's whole year.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat's just finishing a snack, dressed only in his breeches, when the wondergirls march in and take seats around his room. They compliment how well he looks so quickly, and then Nyn asks if he's tired of being cooped up, yet? Mat quotes an old saying his father had. One pretty woman means fun at a dance, two mean trouble in the house, three mean run for the hills.(1) They're up to something, he can see it. Egg says they should have asked him right out, but Nyn hushes her and says just because they want a favour doesn't mean they can't ask how he's doing, they do care after all.(2)

Mat asks plainly what they want, and El says she'd like him to carry a letter to her mother, she'd be SOOOO grateful. He asks what he'll get out of it, and she asks, is he not a loyal Andorman? Does he not wish to serve the Lion Throne? He snickers, and Egg said she told El that wouldn't work with him.(3)

Nyn suggests they get back to business, and says he's ruder than she remembered. She would think he'd have a little gratitude to them. Well, he's talked about seeing the world, what better than Caemlyn? She produces a sealed parchment from within her cloak and lays it on the table.

Mat barely remembers passing through Caemlyn with Rand, but decides to be kind and tell them that the Amyrlin has commanded that he's not to leave the island. Looks pass between them, and after a short explanation, Nyn says if they can get him out, he'll deliver the letter? If they can get him out of Tar Valon, he'll deliver Elayne to her mother riding on his back all the way.

Nyn calls Egg and El aside for a moment of murmured conversation, then Egg hands him another parchment. He reads it, and it's the Amyrlin's paper shield. He asks where they got it, and Nyn says never mind how, it's real, and that's all that matters. They have no coin, but he says he can gamble for what he needs.(4)

Mat acknowledges that they are, in fact, doing him a favour. He offers them another, unnamed future favour in addition to carrying the letter, to show how grateful he is for them getting him out.(5) The ladies suppress laughter, but when Mat asks what’s so funny, they just say it’s something they’ve observed about men. 

“Journey well and safely, Mat,” Egwene said. “And remember, if a woman does need a hero, she needs him today, not tomorrow.” The laughter bubbled out of her. He stared at the door closing behind them. Women, he decided for at least the hundredth time, were odd. Then his eye fell on Elayne’s letter, and the folded paper lying atop it. The Amyrlin’s blessed, not-to-be-understood, but welcome-as-a-fire-in-winter paper. He danced a little caper in the middle of the flowered carpet. Caemlyn to see, and a queen to meet. Your own words will free me of you, Amyrlin. And get me away from Selene, too. “You’ll never catch me,” he laughed, and meant it for both of them. “You’ll never catch Mat Cauthon.”

=====

(1) I don't always draw attention to the weird sexism of this world, but isn't it funny how that seems an awful lot like things the women have said. It's almost as if RJ was drawing attention to how pointless these sorts of assumption-stereotypes are, and how much less antagonistic we'd be toward each other if we recognized that, rather than two arbitrary and separate boxes, we were all just People. Well… he didn't always do the best job of it, but I really do think he tried, harder than most of his peers. (2) The hell of it is, they do care. They care enough to know Mat well enough to know he's the best pick for this job. (3) None of the Duopotamians will do something just for love of country, if the country in question is framed as Andor. They don't know or care about Andor, only their home. (4) He mentions that Hurin had started refusing to gamble with him, even for coppers. We've had hints that Mat tends to be luckier than most so far, but surely it was never that bad, right? (5) So, they have their messenger, and without too much wheedling, though I'm sure it's a heartbreak to give up one of the paper shield letters, which is the easiest way to refer to them imo. But, look at Mat's choice here. He knows they're doing more for him than he would be by carrying the letter. He knows how important the paper shields are, how valuable they can be, even if they might also be incriminating in some circumstances. Mat's one of the most unreliable narrators, right up there with Rand and Nynaeve for not acknowledging what he's really feeling, why he's really doing what he does.

[iviarellereads]

The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 24 - Scouting and Discoveries

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dice icon) In which several someones get a bit more lesson than they bargained for.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat still doesn't have a plan to leave Tar Valon, but he's working on it. Serving women bring another giant tray of food and he's surprised that he eats it all easily. He thinks they expect him to lay back down, but instead he dresses himself, leaving his spare clothes behind, but taking his dice cups. He can get all the clothes he needs with those.(1)

He leaves the room and eventually finds a way outside, a bit sad he doesn’t run into Egwene or Nynaeve, or even Elayne even though she always has her nose in the air. He asks a guard there if he does bridge guard duty, and what the travel conditions are like on the east and west sides of the river. The guard tells him travel would be great except for the Whitecloaks all the way around, and also if he weren't Matrim Cauthon, the man they're not to let cross. Mat excuses himself suspiciously, and scowls as he walks away.(2)

Mat happens across a young woman in a novice dress, and recognizes Else Grinwell, from a farm on the Caemlyn road. She addresses him very shortly, asking him what he’s doing out. Her manner is nothing like the little he remembers, and demands that he let her pass, she has things to do. She even glances over her shoulder to be sure he doesn't follow her.(3)

Following a noise through some trees, he walks into the practice yard for the Warders and their students. He sees some Aes Sedai and Accepted watching the current pair sparring, and he sits down, picks up three small rocks, and juggles, thinking all along that he wouldn't want to face either of them in combat. When they stop, he drops the pebbles as he recognizes that the younger one must be Gawyn, and the elder Galad. Gawyn catches sight of Mat, recognizing him from Egg and El's descriptions, and asks if he's doing better, after being sick?

Mat says he's fine, wondering that the proper term of address is for the prince. Galad asks if he came to learn the sword, but he says he'd rather put his trust in a bow or a quarterstaff, he knows how to use those. Galad says to spend time around Nynaeve you need bow, quarterstaff, AND sword to protect yourself. Gawyn is shocked that Galad just almost made a joke. Galad just doesn't like to mock people.(4)

Gawyn says Mat could probably use some lessons with a sword, anyone could in such troubled times. Mat says if he had a quarterstaff, and they had swords, he could probably do fairly well against either of them. Gawyn coughs to cover a laugh, and Galad looks skeptical.

Perhaps it was that they both clearly thought he was making a wild boast. Perhaps it was because he had mishandled questioning the guardsman. Perhaps it was because Else, who had such an eye for the boys, wanted nothing to do with him, and all those women were staring at Galad like cats watching a jug of cream.(5) Aes Sedai and Accepted or not, they were still women. All these explanations ran through Mat’s head, but he rejected them angrily, especially the last. He was going to do it because it would be fun. And it might earn some coin. His luck would not even have to be back.

Mat wagers two silver marks from each of them that he can beat them both at once. Gawyn says he's been sick, there's no need to wager, they can spar when he's feeling better. Galad says he wouldn't want Egwene upset at him for hurting her friend. Mat says if they can both thump him once with their swords, he'll give them each a silver mark, and if he thumps them until they quit, they give him two each. Galad says there's no chance Mat could win, but the blocky Warder, Hammar, who had been coaching them asks if he truly believes that.

Hammar gestures them back into the yard, and asks Mat if he's serious about this. Mat says he's just out of his sickbed, and needs the money. His knees almost buckle when he sees the selection of quarterstaffs though, realizing what he's getting into. He mutters that it's time to toss the dice, and Hammar asks if he speaks the Old Tongue. Mat freezes, then chooses to ignore the comment and walk into the yard.(6)

Mat handles them with apparent ease, at one point knocking Gawyn right out with a knock to the head. Some Aes Sedai rush in to drag him out of the way so Mat and Galad can finish the fight, which Mat does fairly quickly. He stops himself, only barely, from reaching in for a killing blow, so focused is he on the fight.(7)

Silence as everyone realizes what's happened. Hammar asks loudly who the greatest blademaster of all time was, and dozens of students shout together "Jearom".(8) Hammar says yes, and during his lifetime, he was only ever defeated once, by a farmer with a quarterstaff. They should all remember what they just watched.

All the Aes Sedai and Accepted rush to check on Galad, and Mat sinks to his knees. Gawyn comes over and gives him the two wagered marks, complimenting his technique. Hammar gives him two marks, saying he'll collect from Galad later. Where is Mat from? Manetheren slips out before he realizes, but he says it's because he's heard too many stories, it's the Two Rivers now. He should... go find something to eat.

He keeps the quarterstaff, and as soon as he's out of sight of the yard, leans on it for strength. The hunger is gnawing at him, and he's freaking out a little at speaking a dead language without learning it.

=====

(1) Well, isn't someone feeling confident in his ability to cheat. (2) Yes, Mat, they are in fact adults, and know how to keep you from leaving if they think it's unsafe or unwise to do so. And, look, I've made no secret of my dislike for Mat, so it should be no surprise that I'm on their side in this one: he's been extraordinarily ill, and even Lanfear said he needed rest and food. If he can eat a meal for five men and still not be sure he's full, he DOES need supervision, at least for a little bit, because he's not going to take care of himself until the issue is driven home for him as it is later this chapter. (3) To be a little bit crude about it, that doesn't sound like the Else who wanted a spitroast feast on the Caemlyn Road to me. Nor like the airhead the girls described last book. And that comment, "What are you doing up and out?" Like she expected him to be still in bed, like she knew that he was supposed to be there. How would she? He described serving women coming to deliver things to him, would he know those from novices? Could she have been assisting in his care while he was unconscious? But then we come back to, what's with her attitude? Has she just learned some discipline at the Tower? (4) You know what, good for you, Galad. Punch up and make your jokes compliments. Nynaeve IS formidable (admiring) and you should say so. (5) When in his own mind and in control of his senses, Mat's a bit of a ladies' man. (Another thing that's never impressed me.) He's jealous of not being the center of their attention, and it's the last straw on his self-restraint. (6) And he's speaking Old Tongue when he thinks he's speaking modern Common, which is totally fine and not worrisome at all. (7) Mat's big mouth gets him into trouble for the first time in this new chapter of his life. But his ass can in fact cash the cheque his mouth wrote, and in spectacular fashion. (8) Varying pronunciations are all valid, obviously, but one of the TV show supplementary short animations pronounced it the same as "Jerome". Lots of flowery-lettered names that could also sound just like ones we're familiar with here.

[iviarellereads]

The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 19 - Awakening

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Dice icon)(1) In which it's time to meet someone for real.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat.

Mat opened his eyes slowly and stared up at the white plaster ceiling, wondering where he was and how he had come there. An intricate fringe of gilded leaves bordered the ceiling, and the mattress under his back felt plumped full of feathers. Somewhere rich, then. Somewhere with money. But his head was empty of the where and the how, and a lot more besides.

He remembers bits and pieces, but they feel more like a story or a dream than reality. People from across the ocean, Ogier, Portal Stones, he knows it must be real enough but it doesn't feel like it.(2) He murmurs an Old Tongue phrase, and is bowled over with a memory of a battle in the Trolloc Wars. He trembles, and thinks how Moiraine taught him a few words in the Old Tongue, but the rest might as well be birdsong. Probably isn't even really the Old Tongue. Just gibberish.(3)

Mat sits up, weak as a newborn lamb. He struggles to his feet, and makes his way slowly to a mirror behind a washstand. He looks gaunt and wasted. He sees a food tray, and removes the cloth covering it all. He expects broth, but there's roast beef, potatoes, onions, cabbage, pickles, cheese, bread... one pitcher is filled with milk, and another with spiced wine. There's enough to serve four men, and he's ravenous, but all he takes is a slice of beef and goes to look out the window. It takes him a minute to realize he must be in Tar Valon, and he thinks about how it means the One Power was used on him. Better than dying, and it's done now, no use worrying about it. He goes back to the table, and while he eats he thinks about his choppy memories, and how he can turn his current situation into an advantage.

He has a fancy of gambling some merchants out of their coin, buying passage on a ship, maybe he could go see Caemlyn or Cairhien again, he remembers almost nothing of them. He wonders if the Aes Sedai would let him have the ruby from the dagger, decides it's probably tainted, but daydreams about it anyway. Thinks about going home with it and buying a farm... though that's a less appealing prospect than ever, now. He had once wanted to own a farm and be known as his father's equal as a horse trader, but now that feels like a small thing to want, with the whole wide world waiting.(4)

He decides he has to see Nyn and Egg, maybe they'll have given up the foolishness of becoming Aes Sedai. A day to see the city, a game with dice to pad out his purse, and then he'd go find a city with no Aes Sedai. He'll go home someday, but he wants to see at least something of the world, and remember it this time.

Then he looks down and realizes he's eaten the whole of the meal that had been laid out.(5) As he licks his fingers, he remembers that he blew the Horn of Valere.

Verin had been bringing the Horn to Tar Valon, but he could not remember if she knew he was the one who had blown it. She had never said anything to make him think so. He was sure of that. He thought he was. So what if she does know? What if they all do? Unless Verin did something with it I don’t know about, they have the Horn. They don’t need me. But who could say what Aes Sedai thought they needed? “If they ask,” he said grimly, “I never even touched it. If they know. . . . If they know, I’ll . . . I’ll handle that when it comes. Burn me, they can’t want anything from me. They can’t!” A soft knock on the door brought him swaying to his feet, ready to run. If there had been any place to run to, and if he could have managed more than three steps. But there was not, and he could not. The door opened.

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(1) A new one. What could it mean? We've been told Mat can be particularly lucky at dice games before, and this IS his first perspective… but what could dice mean for his character and his arc in the series? (2) He's been affected since Shadar Logoth, so any memories since then would have come through the haze of the dagger's influence. And, even things from before then perhaps. (3) He seems to be used to putting himself down and tamping his excitement. He's the trickster of the trio, how many people in his life have told him to cool it when he leapt to exciting but baseless conclusions? He has no way to know these Old Tongue quotes are verified. But what could that weird memory have meant? It did mention dice tossing, gambling, and luck per the chapter icon, after all. And he had a flickering of it before he ever touched the dagger, he yelled that war cry at the Trollocs that the others picked up and repeated, before Moiraine's condition required the stop in Shadar Logoth. (4) It's fine to have ambitions that keep you in the family business. They just don't tend to lead you to the outside world of adventure and greatness. How many of us were told to choose more sensible goals when we wanted to dream big? (5) He's been magically ill for, what, about a year at this stage? And then the Healing, which despite the quantity of power used, still probably used some of his own dwindling resources to fuel whatever the separation required. He's got quite a bit of energy usage to make up for.