ACoS: A Touch on the Cheek

Mat POV#

Mat is back at the Tarasin Palace on Mol Hara Square where he asks to be taken to Elayne and Nynaeve. The sigil of House Mitsobar is a green anchor and sword crossed. The dice are still rolling. Dice rolling almost always mean danger, and something else he has not figured out yet. He follows a chain of servants of increasing rank - Haesel, Master Jen, Mistress Carin, Matilde, Bren, Madic, Laren and finally runs into Joline of the Green Ajah and Teslyn of the Red Ajah. They know he was in the White Tower and that he is ta'veren. They want him to go back to the White Tower. There are nine Aes Sedai in the palace, Nynaeve, Elayne, Joline, Teslyn, Adeleas, Vandene, Merilille, Sareitha and one more.[1] Adeleas arrives with Sareitha Tomares of the Brown Ajah and Merilille. They argue over Mat.

Laren reappears with a summons to Queen Tylin. Mat remembers Isebele of Dal Calain making the Amyrlin Anghara come to her before the Trolloc Wars. Mat enters Tylin's chambers and says, "Deveniye, dyu ninte concion ca'lyet ye" ("Majesty, by your summons do I come.") She has pale paper on her writing desk. He leaves a note for the girls about Darkfriends and Carridin and seals it with his new ring. Ring engraving - inside a border of large crescents, a running fox seemed to have startled two birds into flight.[2] He tells Tylin about Carridin but she does not react.[3] Tylin starts on Mat, but her son Beslan enters fresh from a duel with Nevin. Nevin's widow is Davindra. Ebou Dar has five more festivals in next week starting with Swovan Night and Mat will attend all of them with Beslan.

More Mat POV

Notes (Possible Spoilers)#

[#1] The ninth is Careane. (ACoS,Ch30)
[#2] More precisely, the ring depicts a fox making ravens fly in a circle of nine crescent moons. The exact implications of this become clear in KoD,Ch36.
[#3] Thom explains that this is because she does not have sufficient power to challenge Carridin. (ACoS,Ch21)


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