“And your wound?”

“Doesn’t hurt so much.” Actually, it throbbed. Really, really badly. “No need for you to waste strength on it.”

“Still afraid of the One Power, I see.”

He bristled. “Afraid?”

“I should think you have good reason for that wariness.” She looked away from him. “But take care. The most displeasing of events in our lives are sometimes for our good.”

Yes, she was still Moiraine. Quick with a moral and advice. But perhaps she had a right—after what she had been through—to lecture on suffering. Light! She had known what she would have to go through, and yet she had still pulled Lanfear into that ter’angreal? Maybe Mat was not the hero here, and maybe Noal was not either.

“So what now?” Thom said, settling back on a stump. The warmth of the fire did feel good.

“I must find Rand,” Moiraine said. “He will need my help. I trust he has done well in my absence?”

“I don’t know about that,” Mat said. “He’s half mad and the whole bloody world is at one another’s throats.” Colors swirled. Rand eating a meal with Min. Mat dispelled the image.

She raised an eyebrow.

“But,” Mat acknowledged, “he’s got most everybody pointed toward the Last Battle. And Verin says he managed to clean the taint from saidin.”

“Blessed Light,” Moiraine whispered. “How?”

“I don’t know.”

“This changes everything,” she said, smile deepening. “He has fixed what he once set wrong. ‘By the Dragon came our pain, and by the Dragon was the wound repaired.’”

“Mat keeps saying we should be having a festival or something to celebrate,” Thom noted. “Though maybe he only wants a good excuse to get drunk.”

“I’d say that’s a certainty,” Mat added. “Anyway, Rand’s been busy. Elayne says he’s got some kind of meeting arranged with the monarchs under him coming up soon.”

“Elayne is Queen, then?”

“Sure is. Everyone thought her mother was killed by Rahvin, but she had run away,” Mat said.

“Yes, you told me Rahvin had killed Morgase.”

“I did? When?”

“A lifetime ago, Matrim,” she replied, smiling.

“Oh. Well, Rand finished him off. So that’s good.”

“And the other Forsaken?” Moiraine asked.

“Don’t know,” Mat said.

“Mat’s been too busy to keep track,” Thom added. “He’s been spending his time marrying the Empress of the Seanchan.”

Moiraine blinked in surprise. “You did what?”

“It was an accident,” Mat said lamely, hunching down.

“You accidentally married the Seanchan Empress?”

“They’ve got some odd customs,” Mat said, pulling his hat down. “Strange folk.” He forced out a chuckle.

“Ta’veren,” Moiraine said.

Somehow, he had known she would say that. Light. Well, it was good to have her back. Mat was surprised at how strongly he felt that. Who would have thought it? Affection for an Aes Sedai, from him?

“Well,” she said, “I can see there are many tales I need to be told. But for now, we will need to seek out Rand.”

He had also known that she would try to take charge. “You find him, Moiraine, but I’ve got things to do in Caemlyn. Don’t mean to argue and all, but that’s the fact of it. You should come there, too. Elayne’s more likely than anyone else to be able to help you with Rand.”