But her attention was back on Thom, her voice gentle again. “Thom, you need some rest. They’ll keep you telling stories all night and all day, if you let them.”

Another woman appeared on Thom’s other side, lifting her apron off over her head. She was older than the first, but no less pretty. The two might have been sisters. “A beautiful story, I’ve always thought, Thom, and you tell it beautifully. Come, I’ve slipped a warming pan into your bed, and you can tell me all about the court in Caemlyn.”

Thom peered into the mug as if surprised to find it empty, then blew out his long mustaches and looked from one woman to the other. “Pretty Mada. Pretty Saal. Did I ever tell you that two pretty women have loved me in my life? That is more than most men can claim.”

“You’ve told us all about it, Thom,” the older woman said sadly. The younger glared at Mat as if this were all his fault.

“Two,” Thom murmured. “Morgase had a temper, but I thought I could ignore that, so it ended with her wanting to kill me. Dena, I killed. As good as. Not much difference. Two chances I’ve had, more than most, and I threw them both away.”

“I will take care of him,” Mat said. Mada and Saal were both glaring at him, now. He gave them his best smile, but it did not work. His stomach muttered loudly. “Don’t I smell chicken roasting? Bring me three or four.” The two women blinked and exchanged startled looks when he added, “Do you want something to eat, too, Thom?”

“I could do with more of this fine Andoran wine.” The gleeman raised his cup hopefully.

“No more wine for you tonight, Thom.” The older woman would have taken his cup if he had let her.

Almost on top of the first woman, the younger said, in a mixture of firmness and pleading, “You’ll have some chicken, Thom. It is very good.”

Neither would leave until the gleeman agreed to eat something, and when they did go, they gave Mat such a combination of stares and sniffs that he could only shake his head. Burn me, you would think I was encouraging him to drink more! Women! But pretty eyes on the pair of them.

“Rand said you were alive,” he told Thom when Mada and Saal were out of hearing. “Moiraine always said she thought you were. But I heard you were in Cairhien, and meaning to go on to Tear.”

“Rand is still well, then?” Thom’s eyes sharpened to almost the keenness Mat remembered. “I am not sure I expected that. Moiraine is still with him, is she? A fine-looking woman. A fine woman, if she were not Aes Sedai. Meddle with that sort, and you get more than your fingers burned.”