Feet clattered on the stairs, and Ewin Finngar half fell into the cellar in his haste, his pudgy face shining with eagerness to impart his news. 'There are strangers in the village.' He caught his breath and gave Mat a wry look. 'I haven't seen any ghost hounds, but I hear somebody floured Master Luhhan's dogs. I hear Mistress Luhhan has ideas who to look for, too.'
The years separating Rand and Mat from Ewin, only fourteen, were usually more than enough for them to give short shrift to anything he had to say. This time they exchanged one startled glance, then both were talking at once.
'In the village?' Rand asked. 'Not in the woods?'
Right on top of him Mat added, 'Was his cloak black? Could you see his face?'
Ewin looked uncertainly from one of them to the other, then spoke quickly when Mat took a threatening step. 'Of course I could see his face. And his cloak is green. Or maybe gray. It changes. It seems to fade into wherever he's standing. Sometimes you don't see him even when you look right at him, not unless he moves. And hers is blue, like the sky, and ten times fancier than any feastday clothes I ever saw. She's ten times prettier than anybody I ever saw, too. She's a high-born lady, like in the stories. She must be.'
'Her?' Rand said. 'Who are you talking about?' He stared at Mat, who had put both hands on top of his head and squeezed his eyes shut.
'They're the ones I meant to tell you about,' Mat muttered, 'before you got me off onto —' He cut off, opening his eyes for a sharp glance at Ewin. 'They arrived last evening,' Mat went on after a moment, 'and took rooms here at the inn. I saw them ride in. Their horses, Rand. I never saw horses so tall, or so sleek. They look like they could run forever. I think he works for her.'
'In service,' Ewin broke in. 'They call it being in service, in the stories.'
Mat continued as if Ewin had not spoken. 'Anyway, he defers to her, does what she says. Only he isn't like a hired man. A soldier, maybe. The way he wears his sword, it's part of him, like his hand or his foot. He makes the merchants' guards look like cur dogs. And her, Rand. I never even imagined anyone like her. She's out of a gleeman's story. She's like… like... ' He paused to give Ewin a sour look. ' ... like a high-born lady,' he finished with a sigh.
'But who are they?' Rand asked. Except for merchants, once a year to buy tabac and wool, and the peddlers, outsiders never came into the Two Rivers, or as good as never. Maybe at Taren Ferry, but not this far south. Most of the merchants and peddlers had been coming for years, too, so they did not really count as strangers. Just outsiders. It was a good five years since the last time a real stranger appeared in Emond's Field, and he had been trying to hide from some sort of trouble up in Baerlon that nobody in the village understood. He had not stayed long.
'What do they want?' Mat exclaimed. 'I don't care what they want. Strangers, Rand, and strangers like you never even dreamed of. Think of it!'
Rand opened his mouth, then closed it without speaking. The black cloaked rider had him as nervous as a cat in a dog run. It just seemed like an awful coincidence, three strangers around the village at the same time. Three if this fellow's cloak that changed colors never changed to black.
'Her name is Moiraine,' Ewin said into the momentary silence. 'I heard him say it. Moiraine, he called her. The Lady Moiraine. His name is Lan. The Wisdom may not like her, but I do. '
'What makes you think Nynaeve dislikes her?' Rand said.
'She asked the Wisdom for directions this morning,' Ewin said, 'and called her 'child.'' Rand and Mat both whistled softly through their teeth, and Ewin tripped over his tongue in his haste to explain. 'The Lady Moiraine didn't know she was the Wisdom. She apologized when she found out. She did. And asked some questions about herbs, and about who is who around Emond's Field, just as respectfully as any woman in the village—more so than some. She's always asking questions, about how old people are, and how long they've lived where they live, and ... oh, I don't know what all. Anyway, Nynaeve answered like she'd bitten a green sweetberry. Then, when the Lady Moiraine walked away, Nynaeve stared after her like, like ... well, it wasn't friendly, I can tell you that.'
'Is that all?' Rand said. 'You know Nynaeve's temper. When Cenn Buie called her a child last year, she thumped him on the head with her stick, and he's on the Village Council, and old enough to be her grandfather, besides. She flares up at anything, and never stays angry past turning around. '
'That's too long for me,' Ewin muttered.
'I don't care who Nynaeve thumps', Mat chortled, 'so long as it isn't me. This is going to be the best Bel Tine ever. A gleeman, a lady – who could ask for more? Who needs fireworks?'
'A gleeman?' Ewin said, his voice rising sharply.
'Come on, Rand,' Mat went on, ignoring the younger boy. 'We're done here. You have to see this fellow.'
He bounded up the stairs, with Ewin scrambling behind him calling, 'Is there really a gleeman, Mat? This isn't like the ghost hounds, is it? Or the frogs?'
Rand paused long enough to turn down the lamp, then hurried after them.
In the common room Rowan Hurn and Samel Crawe had joined the others in front of the fire, so that the entire Village Council was there. Bran al'Vere spoke now, his normally bluff voice pitched so low that only a rumbling murmur traveled beyond the close-gathered chairs. The Mayor emphasized his words by capping a thick forefinger into the palm of his hand, and eyed each man in turn. They all nodded in agreement with whatever he was saying, though Cenn more reluctantly than the rest.
The way the men all but huddled together spoke more plainly than a painted sign. Whatever they were talking about, it was for the Village Council alone, at least for now. They would not appreciate Rand trying to listen in. Reluctantly he pulled himself away. There was still the gleeman. And these strangers.
Outside, Bela and the cart were gone, taken away by Hu or Tad, the stablemen. Mat and Ewin stood glaring at one another a few paces from the front door of the inn, their cloaks whipping in the wind.
“For the last time,' Mat barked, 'I am not playing a trick on you. There is a gleeman. Now go away. Rand, will you tell this woolhead I am telling the truth so he'll leave me alone?'
Pulling his cloak together, Rand stepped forward to support Mat, but words died as the hairs stirred on the back of his neck. He was being watched again. It was far from the feeling the hooded rider had given him, but neither was it pleasant, especially so soon after that encounter.
A quick look about the Green showed him only what he had seen before—children playing, people preparing for Festival, and no one more than glancing in his direction. The Spring Pole stood alone, now, waiting. Bustle and childish shouts
filled the side streets. All was as it should be. Except that he was being watched.
Then something led him to turn around, to raise his eyes. On the edge of the inn's tile roof perched a large raven, swaying a little in the gusting wind from the mountains. Its head was cocked to one side, and one beady, black eye was focused ... on him, he thought. He swallowed, and suddenly anger flickered in him, hot and sharp.
'Filthy carrion eater,' he muttered.
'I am tired of being stared at,' Mat growled, and Rand realized his friend had stepped up beside him and was frowning at the raven, too.
They exchanged a glance, then as one their hands darted for rocks.
The two stones flew true ... and the raven stepped aside; the stones whistled through the space where it had been. Fluffing its wings once, it cocked its head again, fixing them with a dead black eye, unafraid, giving no sign that anything had happened.
Rand stared at the bird in consternation. 'Did you ever see a raven do that?' he asked quietly.
Mat shook his head without looking away from the raven. 'Never. Nor any other bird, either.'
'A vile bird,' came a woman's voice from behind them, melodious despite echoes of distaste, 'to be mistrusted in the best of times.'
With a shrill cry the raven launched itself into the air so violently that two black feathers drifted down from the roof's edge.
Startled, Rand and Mat twisted to follow the bird's swift flight, over the Green and toward the cloud-tipped Mountains of Mist, tall beyond the Westwood, until it dwindled to a speck in the west, then vanished from view.
Rand's gaze fell to the woman who had spoken. She, too, had been watching the flight of the raven, but now she turned back, and her eyes met his. He could only stare. This had to be the Lady Moiraine, and she was
