She looked up at him, and…was she crying again? What had he done?

“Mat, I could kiss you,” she declared. “This is exactly what I needed!”

Mat blinked. What?

Birgitte chuckled. “First Norry, now Mat. You’ll have to watch yourself, Elayne. Rand will be jealous.”

Elayne snorted, looking down at the plans. “The bellfounders aren’t going to like this. Most of the craftsmen were looking forward to getting back to daily work, following the siege.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Elayne,” Birgitte said. “I’ve known a craftsman or two in my time. To a person, they complain about royal privilege during war, but as long as the Crown compensates them, they’re secretly happy. Steady work is always appreciated. Besides, something like this will make them curious.”

“We’ll have to keep it secret,” Elayne said.

“So you’ll do it?” Mat asked, surprised. He had not needed his secret bribe to distract her!

“We’ll need proof of one working first, of course,” Elayne said. “But if these devices, these dragons, work half as well as Aludra claims…well, I’d be a fool not to put every man on them we can!”

“That’s right generous of you,” Mat said, scratching his head.

Elayne hesitated. “Generous?”

“Building these for the Band.”

“For the Band…Mat, these will be for Andor!”

“Here now,” Mat said. “These are my plans.”

“And my resources!” Elayne said. She sat up straight, suddenly becoming more poised. “Surely you see that the Crown could offer a more stable and useful control for the deployment of these weapons.”

To the side, Thom was grinning.

“What are you so happy about?” Mat demanded.

“Nothing,” Thom said. “You do your mother proud, Elayne.”

“Thank you, Thom,” she said, favoring him with a smile.

“Whose side are you on?” Mat said.

“Everyone’s,” Thom said.

“That’s not a bloody side,” Mat said, then looked back to Elayne. “I put a lot of effort and thought into getting these plans out of Aludra. I’ve nothing against Andor, but I don’t trust anyone with these weapons who isn’t me.”

“And if the Band were part of Andor?” Elayne asked. She really did sound like a queen all of a sudden.

“The Band is beholden to nobody,” Mat said.

“That is admirable, Mat,” Elayne said, “but it makes you mercenaries. I think that the Band deserves something more, something better. With official backing, you would have access to resources and authority. We could give you a commission in Andor, with your own command structure.”

It was actually tempting. Just a little. But it did not matter. He did not think Elayne would be happy to have him in her realm once she knew of his relationship with the Seanchan. He meant to return to Tuon eventually, somehow. If only to work out what she really felt about him.

He had no intention of giving the Seanchan access to these dragons, but he did not fancy giving them to Andor, either. Unfortunately, he had to admit that there was no way he was going to have Andor build them without giving the weapons to the nation, too.