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After everyone was seated and the excited and dramatic constant stream of questions had finally died down, Tam explained the situation.

"Alright everyone here's the deal: Abell and I traveled to Tar Valon and asked everyone as many questions as we could about the boys, but we were met with nothing but glared and closed doors. Either no one had seen them, or they didn't want to tell us about what they did see. After a while of this, we decided that all we were doing was wasting time, so we came back. We-" Tam was interrupted by an annoyed shout.

"That's the important news that everyone needed to be here for? Doesn't seem very important to me! That's the same thing that we've known since they left." Cenn Buie explained.

"If you would have let me finished, Cenn. We were putting our horses up in the stable and we got to talking about how we just wished we knew what happened to our boys. There was a loud noise and a bright light flashed. We couldn't see anything, but when the light died down, everything looked the same. It looked like everything was the same, but then we noticed a black package in the corner of the room. We went over and opened it and this is what we found." Tam explained, laying all 14 books out on the table.

"The books appear to be part of a series called The Wheel of Time. The cover says that it will tell the events after the night that the Two Rivers was attacked. Then we found a note inside of it. Here's what it says, 'These books will tell the story of your sons' journey after the attack on the Two Rivers. The first three books have already happened, and the other books tell the story of the future, that is, unless you fight to change it. Read these books at your own risk, for you will find out many things that you probably would rather not know. Pay close attention to what they say, for you will need this valuable information in the near future. Gather the following people and read the books, if you dare:' and then it lists the people that are now in the room." Tam explained.

"How do we know the books are real? How do we know what we read is the truth?" Bran asked Tam, not unkindly. He, after all, also wanted to know what happened to his child.

"Well I've already read the first few pages, and they happened while Rand and I were bringing the brandy and cider into town for Bel Tine. They tell everything that happened exactly how it happened. Even our conversations are exactly how they happened that day. I think they are accurate, and I truly think that we should read them." Tam told Bran.

"Well, if you say that it seems accurate, I trust you, Tam, then I agree: I think we should read them. I need to know what happened to Egwene, and the rest of them, as well. Does anyone have any objections to reading them?" Bran asked the room.

Everyone shook their head, eager to finally learn the fate of the five Edmond's Fielders.

"Okay then, I guess we'll just get started then, who wants to read first?" Bran asked the villagers around him.

Daise Congar, always one to get straight to business, steps forward to read first.

She sits down, opens the book, clears her throat, and in a loud and booming voice, she begins to read.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Chapter 1: An Empty Road

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

It was like listening to a gleeman: the story being told, the extravagant way that the story itself was worded, so that they flow throughout the air without hesitation, was something that the Two River folk had heard maybe 3 times in their entire life, and that was when a gleeman was in town. Most of the people in the room leaned forward with an almost childlike eagerness to hear the story being told.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Born below the ever cloudcapped peaks that gave the mountains their name, the wind blew east, out across the Sand Hills, once the shore of a great ocean, before the Breaking of the World. Down it flailed into the Two Rivers, into the tangled forest called the Westwood, and beat at two men walking with a cart and horse down the rockstrewn track called the Quarry Road. For all that spring should have come a good month since, the wind carried an icy chill as if it would rather bear snow.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Almost everyone in the room shivered simultaneously in an almost comical manner, each still cold despite the roaring fire in the room because of the never ending winter.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Gusts plastered Rand al'Thor's cloak to his back, whipped the earthcolored wool around his legs, then streamed it out behind him. He wished his coat were heavier, or that he had worn an extra shirt. Half the time when he tried to tug the cloak back around him it caught on the quiver swinging at his hip. Trying to hold the cloak onehanded did not do much good anyway; he had his bow in the other, an arrow nocked and ready to draw.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The men in the room nodded in appreciation, as each carries a weapon on him since the Trolloc attack.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"As a particularly strong blast tugged the cloak out of his hand, he glanced at his father over the back of the shaggy brown mare. He felt a little foolish about wanting to reassure himself that Tam was still there, but it was that kind of day.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"It's almost like he knew." Bran said disbelievingly

No one knew what to say to that, so Daise continued reading.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Without thinking he touched the nock of the arrow; it was ready to draw to his cheek in one smooth movement, the way Tam had taught him. Winter had been bad enough on the farms, worse than even the oldest folk remembered, but it must have been harsher still in the mountains, if the number of wolves driven down into the Two Rivers was any guide. Wolves raided the sheep pens and chewed their way into barns to get the cattle and horses. Bears had been after the sheep, too, where a bear had not been seen in years.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The men in the room shook their heads, as they are still having to guard their sheep, horses, and cattle.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

It was no longer safe to be out after dark. Men were the prey as often as sheep, and the sun did not always have to be down.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Most of the people in the room were sitting with downturned heads, each mourning the losses that they suffered throughout that harsh winter.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Tam was taking steady strides on the other side of Bela, using his spear as a walking staff, ignoring the wind that made his brown cloak flap like a banner. Now and again he touched the mare's flank lightly, to remind her to keep moving. With his thick chest and broad face, he was a pillar of reality in that morning, like a stone in the middle of a drifting dream. His sunroughened cheeks might be lined and his hair have only a sprinkling of black among the gray, but there was a solidness to him, as though a flood could wash around him without uprooting his feet. He stumped down the road now impassively. Wolves and bears were all very well, his manner said, things that any man who kept sheep must be aware of, but they had best not try to stop Tam al'Thor getting to Emond's Field.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Tam gave a proud grin, glad to see that his son still looked up to and respected him.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

With a guilty start Rand returned to watching his side of the road, Tam's matter of factness reminding him of his task. He was a head taller than his father, taller than anyone else in the district, and had little of Tam in him physically, except perhaps for a breadth of shoulder. Gray eyes and the reddish tinge to his hair came from his mother, so Tam said. She had been an outlander, and Rand remembered little of her aside from a smiling face, though he did put flowers on her grave every year, at Bel Tine, in the spring, and at Sunday, in the summer.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Tam's head was down, and Daise paused in her reading, allowing a moment of silence for loved one's lost.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

He shifted his bow irritably to rub at his arms, and told himself to stop letting fancies take him. There was nothing in the woods on his side of the road, and Tam would have spoken if there had been anything on the other. He glanced over his shoulder ... and blinked. Not more than twenty spans back down the road a cloaked figure on horseback followed them, horse and rider alike: black, dull and ungleaming.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The members in the room leaned forward in their chairs, listening to each word about the horsemen with rapt attention, eager to get to the bottom of what happened that night.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

It was more habit than anything else that kept him walking backward alongside the cart even while he looked.

The rider's cloak covered him to his boot tops, the cowl tugged well forward so no part of him showed. Vaguely Rand thought there was something odd about the horseman, but it was the shadowed opening of the hood that fascinated him. He could see only the vaguest outlines of a face, but he had the feeling he was looking right into the rider's eyes. And he could not look away. Queasiness settled in his stomach. There was only shadow to see in the hood, but he felt hatred as sharply as if he could see a snarling face, hatred for everything that lived. Hatred for him most of all, for him above all things.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"Why didn't he say anything while he saw him instead of after?" Bran asked.

"I don't know, shock, maybe. He was probably just scared." Tam told him.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Abruptly a stone caught his heel and he stumbled, breaking his eyes away from the dark horseman. His bow dropped to the road, and only an outthrust hand grabbing Bela's harness saved him from falling flat on his back. With a startled snort the mare stopped, twisting her head to see what had caught her.

Tam frowned over Bela's back at him. "Are you all right, lad?"

"A rider," Rand said breathlessly, pulling himself upright. "A stranger, following us. "

"Where?" The older man lifted his broadbladed spear and peered back warily.

"There, down the ..." Rand's words trailed off as he turned to point. The road behind was empty.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"What? How can a horse and rider just disappear in that amount of time?" Mistress al'Vere exclaimed.

"Yeah, especially without you hearing them move!" Bran agreed with his wife.

"I don't know, that's why I was a little disbelieving at first." Tam told them.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Tam shook his grizzled head. "If you say so, lad. Come on, then. A horse leaves hoof prints, even on this ground." He started toward the rear of the cart, his cloak whipping in the wind. "If we find them, we'll know for a fact he was there. If not ... well, these are days to make a man think he's seeing things."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone in the room nodded their head, as Tam's knowledge always seemed to calm anyone down in a bad or unusual situation.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Abruptly Rand realized what had been odd about the horseman, aside from his being there at all. The wind that beat at Tam and him had not so much as shifted a fold of that black cloak.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"What? How can the wind not hit a man's coat? The boy must have gone crazy!" Wit Congar exclaimed throughout the room.

"You know as well as I do that my boy's not crazy, Wit, now settle down. I don't know how that could happen either, but if Rand saw it, then I believe it. How about we just keep on reading, and maybe we'll get some kind of explanation." Tam told him, logic quenching any doubt in the room.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

He had explored into the Sand Hills — which many in the Two Rivers said was bad luck — and once he had even gone to the very foot of the Mountains of Mist, him and his closest friends, Mat Cauthon and Perrin Aybara.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"What?!" Mat's, Perrin's, and Rand's parents all yelled almost simultaneously. None of them had told them that!

Daise, angry at being interrupted constantly, shushed everyone in the room, and continued to read.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"No, father, there's no need." When Tam stopped in surprise, Rand covered his flush by tugging at the hood of his cloak. "You're probably right. No point looking for what isn't there, not when we can use the time getting on to the village and out of this wind."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"Did he think that you wouldn't find anything? Why didn't he want you to go look?" Abell asked curiously.

"Well, think about it: He saw a man unlike any he ever saw, and his cloak didn't move in the wind. It sounds crazy to everyone that hears it, including himself. He probably just thought that he was seeing things." Tam explained.

This seemed to quench everyone's questions, so Daise continued reading.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Abruptly he gave a broad grin. "And I expect you're eager to see Egwene."

Rand managed a weak smile. Of all things he might want to think about right then, the Mayor's daughter was far down the list.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"Now why would he go and say a thing like that?" Bran exclaimed, sounding offended.

"If you'd just let me finish reading, we might just find out!" Daise exclaimed, tired of being interrupted.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

He did not need any more confusion. For the past year she had been making him increasingly jittery whenever they were together. Worse, she did not even seem to be aware of it. No, he certainly did not want to add Egwene to his thoughts.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The men in the room shared grins, as they had all been there at one point or another.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

He was hoping his father had not noticed he was afraid when Tam said, "Remember the flame, lad, and the void."

It was an odd thing Tam had taught him. Concentrate on a single flame and feed all your passions into it — fear, hate, anger— until your mind became empty. Become one with the void, Tam said, and you could do anything.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Tam ignored the odd looks being sent his way because he felt that no explanation would be needed: 'It seemed the books were going to share everything, so everyone will find out soon enough.' he thought.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Nobody else in Emond's Field talked that way. But Tam won the archery competition at Bel Tine every year with his flame and his void. Rand thought he might have a chance at placing this year himself, if he could manage to hold onto the void.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"To think, the boy didn't even get the chance to try." Haral Luhhan said softly, no doubt thinking about Perrin's missed opportunities as well.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

He wanted to believe that Tam was right, that the rider had just been his imagination, but he could remember that feeling of hatred too well. There had been someone. And that someone had meant him harm. He did not stop looking back until the highpeaked, thatched roofs of Emond's Field surrounded him.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"If only the craziness stopped there." Con Aybara said.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Small children and dogs dodged around the cart in whooping swarms once it passed the first row of houses. Bela plodded on patiently, ignoring the yelling youngsters who tumbled under her nose, playing tag and rolling hoops. In the last months there had been little of play or laughter from the children; even when the weather had slackened enough to let children out, fear of wolves kept them in.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Almost instinctively, Natti Cauthon hugged her two daughters to her sides. Joslyn Aybara did the same with her two daughters and baby boy: They had a lot more to worry about now than wolves, it was now the threat of Trollocs that threatened them.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

In every yard rugs hung from stretched lines, and children who had not been quick enough to run free in the streets instead vented their frustration on the carpets with wicker beaters.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Adora and Deselle Aybara sent teasing looks at their little brother, Paet, who wasn't able to escape his mother's attention that day and spent the whole day helping her clean. Paet himself sat slumped in a chair with a pout prominent on his face and his arms crossed, thinking of all the times that his mother had drug him into cleaning instead of playing.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Tam would not have stopped for Wit Congar if the man had not come out into the street so they had to halt or let Bela run over him. The Congars—and the Coplins; the two families were so intermarried no one really knew where one family let off and the other began — were known from Watch Hill to Deven Ride, and maybe as far as Taren Ferry, as complainers and troublemakers.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"Troublemakers! When have we ever been known to make trouble?" Wit exclaimed.

"Now, Wit, think about what you just said." Bran said jokingly.

Wit opened his mouth to argue some more, then seemed to remember some instances of his so called "troublemaking" and didn't say anything more.

Giving her husband a condescending pat on the shoulder, Daise continued reading.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"What are we going to do about Nynaeve, al'Thor?" Congar demanded. "We can't have a Wisdom like that for Emond's Field."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"You shouldn't meddle with the business of the Women's Circle, Wit." Mistress al'Vere told him, the other members of the Women's Circle nodding along with her.

Wit just stared at his feet and glared like there was no tomorrow.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Tam sighed heavily. "It's not our place, Wit. The Wisdom is women's business. "

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The women in the room nodded their head approvingly at Tam, while Wit sent a betrayed look towards him.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Nynaeve al'Meara is just too young to be Wisdom, al'Thor. If the Women's Circle won't do something, then the Village Council has to."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The women in the room shook their heads disappointedly at Wit, who refused to look up from the ground.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"What business of yours is the Wisdom, Wit Congar?" roared a woman's voice.

Wit flinched as his wife marched out of the house. Daise Congar was twice as wide as Wit, a hardfaced woman without an ounce of fat on her. She glared at him with her fists on her hips. "You try meddling in Women's Circle business, and see how you like eating your own cooking. Which you won't do in my kitchen. And washing your own clothes and making your own bed. Which won't be under my roof."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The women in the room smiled appreciatively at Daise, while the men in the room grinned at each other: it was never fun to have your wife speak to you like that, but when you see it happen to another man, you can't help but grin.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

That was why they had not accepted any of the invitations to stop for a bite to eat or something hot to drink. When they saw Tam, the goodwives of Emond's Field went on point like hounds spotting a rabbit. There was not a one of them who did not know just the perfect wife for a widower with a good farm, even if it was in the Westwood.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The women all sent glares at Tam, angry at his attempts to stop them from finding him the perfect wife.

Tam just looked away and pretended not to notice.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Rand stepped along just as quickly as Tam, perhaps even more so. He was sometimes cornered when Tam was not around, with no way to escape outside of rudeness. Herded onto a stool by the kitchen fire, he would be fed pastries or honeycakes or meatpies. And always the goodwife's eyes weighed and measured him as neatly as any merchant's scales and tapes while she told him that what he was eating was not nearly so good as her widowed sister's cooking, or her next-to-eldest cousin's.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The men in the room shared grins once again: that was the women of the Two Rivers for you.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Tam was certainly not getting any younger, she would say. It was good that he had loved his wife so — it boded well for the next woman in his life — but he had mourned long enough. Tam needed a good woman. It was a simple fact, she would say, or something very close, that a man just could not do without a woman to take care of him and keep him out of trouble. Worst of all were those who paused thoughtfully at about that point, then asked with elaborate casualness exactly how old he was now.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Even the women were grinning now, remembering how uncomfortable Rand always got during these types of questionings. His face would go blood red, he would stutter, and escape the room as quickly as possible.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Like most Two Rivers folk, Rand had a strong stubborn streak. Outsiders sometimes said it was the prime trait of people in the Two Rivers, that they could give mules lessons and teach stones. The goodwives were fine and kindly women for the most part, but he hated being pushed into anything, and they made him feel as if he were being prodded with sticks.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

All of the men nodded at this, to the dismay of their wives, who either elbowed them in the sides or gave them a mock hurt look.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Toward the west end of the Green, the Winespring itself gushed out of a low stone outcrop in a flow that never failed, a flow strong enough to knock a man down and sweet enough to justify its name a dozen times over.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Bran al'Vere seemed to swell with pride more and more with each word, happy to see that the reputation of his inn has withheld for all of these years.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Tam clucked at Bela as if to make her speed her pace, though she ignored it,

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Tam shook his head at the behavior of his stubborn horse, who he missed dearly.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

As the last creak of the axle faded, Bran al'Vere appeared from the inn, seeming as always to step too lightly for a man of his girth, nearly double that of anyone else in the village. A smile split his round face, which was topped by a sparse fringe of gray hair. The innkeeper was in his shirtsleeves despite the chill, with a spotless white apron wrapped around him. A silver medallion in the form of a set of balance scales hung on his chest.

The medallion, along with the fullsize set of scales used to weigh the coins of the merchants who came down from Baerlon for wool or tabac, was the symbol of the Mayor's office. Bran only wore it for dealing with the merchants and for festivals, feastdays, and weddings. He had it on a day early now, but that night was Winternight, the night before Bel Tine, when everyone would visit back and forth almost the whole night long, exchanging small gifts, having a bite to eat and a touch to drink at every house. After the winter, Rand thought, he probably considers Winternight excuse enough not to wait until tomorrow.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Bran wore a shameless grin.

***  EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"An ill omen," a scratchy voice announced, "no storks nesting on the rooftops at Bel Tine." Cenn Buie, as gnarled and dark as an old root, marched up to Tam and Bran and leaned on his walking staff, near as tall as he was and just as gnarled. He tried to fix both men at once with a beady eye. "There's worse to come, you mark my words."

"Have you become a soothsayer, then, interpreting omens?" Tam asked dryly. "Or do you listen to the wind, like a Wisdom? There's certainly enough of it. Some originating not far from here."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"I was right too, wasn't I?" Cenn exclaimed, triumphant. Then he seemed to realize that, although he was right, he'd have rather been wrong in this case.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Mock if you will," Cenn muttered, "but if it doesn't warm enough for crops to sprout soon, more than one root cellar will come up empty before there's a harvest. By next winter there may be nothing left alive in the Two Rivers but wolves and ravens. If it is next winter at all. Maybe it will still be this winter."

"Now what is that supposed to mean?" Bran said sharply.

Cenn gave them a sour look. "I've not much good to say about Nynaeve al'Meara. You know that. For one thing, she's too young to — No matter. The Women's Circle seems to object to the Village Council even talking about their business, though they interfere in ours whenever they want to, which is most of the time, or so it seems to — "

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Glares were thrown at Cenn, who just looked them in the eyes, unafraid to meet their glares.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Cenn," Tam broke in, "is there a point to this?"

"This is the point, al'Thor. Ask the Wisdom when the winter will end, and she walks away. Maybe she doesn't want to tell us what she hears on the wind. Maybe what she hears is that the winter won't end. Maybe it's just going to go on being winter until the Wheel turns and the Age ends. There's your point."

"Maybe sheep will fly," Tam retorted, and Bran threw up his hands. "The Light protect me from fools. You sitting on the Village Council, Cenn, and now you're spreading that Coplin talk. Well, you listen to me. We have enough problems without ..."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"Apologies, Cenn, for it seems you were right." Bran told him, Tam nodding his agreement.

Cenn simply nodded his forgiveness, and Daise continued reading.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

A quick tug at Rand's sleeve and a voice pitched low, for his ear alone, distracted him from the older men's talk. "Come on, Rand, while they're arguing. Before they put you to work."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Almost simultaneously everyone in the room said, "Mat."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Rand glanced down, and had to grin. Mat Cauthon crouched beside the cart so Tam and Bran and Cenn could not see him, his wiry body contorted like a stork trying to bend itself double.

Mat's brown eyes twinkled with mischief, as usual. "Dav and I caught a big old badger, all grouchy at being pulled out of his den. We're going to let it loose on the Green and watch the girls run. "

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

All the women in the room shook their head disappointedly at Mat's behavior, as they each had done what must have been thousands of other times, usually while scolding Matrim.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Rand's smile broadened; it did not sound as much like fun to him as it would have a year or two back, but Mat never seemed to grow up. He took a quick look at his father — the men had their heads together still, all three talking at once — then lowered his own voice. "I promised to unload the cider. I can meet you later, though. "

Mat rolled his eyes skyward. "Toting barrels! Burn me, I'd rather play stones with my baby sister. Well, I know of better things than a badger. We have strangers in the Two Rivers. Last evening — "

For an instant Rand stopped breathing. "A man on horseback?" he asked intently. "A man in a black cloak, on a black horse? And his cloak doesn't move in the wind?"

Mat swallowed his grin, and his voice dropped to an even hoarser whisper. "You saw him, too? I thought I was the only one. Don't laugh, Rand, but he scared me."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The room sat in silence at that. Never, ever, had any of them heard Mat admit that he was scared. His constant emotion was happiness with a touch of mischief, but never fear.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"I'm not laughing. He scared me, too. I could swear he hated me, that he wanted to kill me." Rand shivered. Until that day he had never thought of anyone wanting to kill him, really wanting to kill him. That sort of thing just did not happen in the Two Rivers. A fistfight, maybe, or a wrestling match, but not killing.

"I don't know about hating, Rand, but he was scary enough anyway. All he did was sit on his horse looking at me, just outside the village, but I've never been so frightened in my life. Well, I looked away, just for a moment — it wasn't easy, mind you — then when I looked back he'd vanished. Blood and ashes! Three days, it's been, and I can hardly stop thinking about him. I keep looking over my shoulder." Mat attempted a laugh that came out as a croak. "Funny how being scared takes you. You think strange things. I actually thought — just for a minute, mind — it might be the Dark One. " He tried another laugh, but no sound at all came out this time.

Rand took a deep breath. As much to remind himself as for any other reason, he said by rote, "The Dark One and all of the Forsaken are bound in Shayol Ghul, beyond the Great Blight, bound by the Creator at the moment of Creation, bound until the end of time. The hand of the Creator shelters the world, and the Light shines on us all." He drew another breath and went on. "Besides, if he was free, what would the Shepherd of the Night be doing in the Two Rivers watching farm boys?"

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

The people in the room nodded their approval: it seems that Rand was developing his father's ability to calm everyone down in a bad situation through logic.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"I don't know. But I do know that rider was ... evil. Don't laugh. I'll take oath on it.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Again, everyone in the room looked shocked, particularly Mat's family. His sisters looked at each other in pure shock, stunned to see their big brother act this way. His parents were clutching the rest of their family, remembering their last few days with their son, and how they didn't even realize how scared and worried he truly was.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Maybe it was the Dragon."

"You're just full of cheerful thoughts, aren't you?" Rand muttered. "You sound worse than Cenn. "

"My mother always said the Forsaken would come for me if I didn't mend my ways. If I ever saw anybody who looked like Ishamael, or Aginor, it was him. "

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Mat's mother lowered her head in an almost ashamed way. Her daughter, Bodewhin, noticed however and said, "Don't feel guilty, Mom, everyone's mother's told them those stories. Don't blame yourself."

Natti Cauthon looked down at her daughter with a proud smile and teary eyes and nodded her thanks.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Everybody's mother scared them with the Forsaken," Rand said dryly, "but most grow out of it. Why not the Shadowman, while you're about it?"

Mat glared at him. "I haven't been so scared since ... No, I've never been that scared, and I don't mind admitting it."

"Me, either. My father thinks I was jumping at shadows under the trees."

Mat nodded glumly and leaned back against the cart wheel. "So does my da.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Both men in question lowered their heads, thinking of how they may have been able to change the events of that night, if only they had believed their sons.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Well, I didn't like the way he looked at me. And neither did you, not if how you jumped at me is any guide. We ought to tell someone."

"We already have, Mat, both of us, and we weren't believed. Can you imagine trying to convince Master al'Vere about this fellow, without him seeing him? He'd send us off to Nynaeve to see if we were sick."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Again, the three men in the room lowered their heads, angry at themselves for not listening to the boys sooner.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"There are two of us, now. Nobody could believe we both imagined it."

Rand rubbed the top of his head briskly, wondering what to say. Mat was something of a byword around the village. Few people had escaped his pranks. Now his name came up whenever a washline dropped the laundry in the dirt or a loose saddle girth deposited a farmer in the road. Mat did not even have to be anywhere around. His support might be worse than none.

After a moment Rand said, "Your father would believe you put me up to it, and mine ... " He looked over the cart to where Tam and Bran and Cenn had been talking, and found himself staring his father in the eyes. The Mayor was still lecturing Cenn, who took it now in sullen silence.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"I should have listened to him." Abell said angrily. "If I had listened, maybe… maybe we could have changed things that night."

"Now, Abell, I feel much the same about Rand telling me, but us being angry at ourselves now won't help anything. The only way for us to make it up to them now is to listen closely to what these books tell us, and then try to help them." Tam explained to Abell, trying to calm him down.

Abell nodded gratefully to Tam for what seemed like the hundredth time today. One thing was for certain though: you could always rely on Tam to calm you down.

Daise, seeing that the situation had been resolved, continued reading.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"No doubt he did," Tam said. "And no doubt, since you are a lad who does his chores right off, you've finished the task already. Well, the quicker you lads get the cider into Master al'Vere's cellar, the quicker you can see the gleeman. "

"Gleeman!" Mat exclaimed, stopping dead in his footsteps, at the same instant that Rand asked, "When will he get here?"

Rand could remember only two gleemen coming into the Two Rivers in his whole life, and for one of those he had been young enough to sit on Tam's shoulders to watch. To have one there actually during Bel Tine, with his harp and his flute and his stories and all ... Emond's Field would still be talking about this Festival ten years off, even if there were not any fireworks.

"Foolishness," Cenn grumbled, but fell silent at a look from Bran that had all the weight of the Mayor's office in it.

Tam leaned against the side of the cart, using the brandy cask as a prop for his arm. "Yes, a gleeman, and already here. According to Master al'Vere, he's in a room in the inn right now. "

"Arrived in the dead of night, he did." The innkeeper shook his head in disapproval. "Pounded on the front door till he woke the whole family. If not for Festival, I'd have told him to stable his own horse and sleep in the stall with it, gleeman or not. Imagine coming in the dark like that."

Rand stared wonderingly. No one traveled beyond the village by night, not these days, certainly not alone. The thatcher grumbled under his breath again, too low this time for Rand to understand more than a word or two. "Madman" and "unnatural."

"He doesn't wear a black cloak, does he?" Mat asked suddenly.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"The signs were all right in front of us, and we just ignored them all. They were practically screaming that something was wrong and we just laughed them off!" Bran exclaimed.

"There's no use in feeling guilty, Bran, it won't help them." Tam told him.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Sometimes I think Nynaeve is right about ... Well, that's not important now. You young fellows think for a minute. Everyone's excited about the fireworks, true, and that's only at a rumor. Think how they'll be if the peddler doesn't get here in time, after all their anticipating. And with the weather the way it is, who knows when he will come. They'd be fifty times as excited about a gleeman."

"And feel fifty times as bad if he hadn't come," Rand said slowly. "Even Bel Tine might not do much for people's spirits after that."

"You have a head on your shoulders when you choose to use it," Bran said. "He'll follow you on the Village Council one day, Tam. Mark my words. He couldn't do much worse right now than someone I could name."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

A sad look passed through the room once again: everyone was thinking about the opportunities that these good boys lost, all because of one night.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"None of this is unloading the cart," Tam said briskly, handing the first cask of brandy to the Mayor. "I want a warm fire, my pipe, and a mug of your good ale." He hoisted the second brandy cask onto his shoulder. "I'm sure Rand will thank you for your help, Matrim. Remember, the sooner the cider is in the cellar... "

As Tam and Bran disappeared into the inn, Rand looked at his friend. "You don't have to help. Dav won't keep that badger long."

"Oh, why not?" Mat said resignedly.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Shocked looks passed throughout the room: none of them had ever known Matrim Cauthon to volunteer to do anything that had to do with work.

"It's beginning to seem that there are some things about Matrim that we don't know. For instance, he seems to behave differently around his friends." Tam told the room.

"Aye, I'm eager to learn new things about each of the boys." Bran told him.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Like your da said, the quicker it's in the cellar ..." Picking up one of the casks of cider in both arms, he hurried toward the inn in a half trot. "Maybe Egwene is around. Watching you stare at her like a poleaxed ox will be as good as a badger any day."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

Grins from both the men and the women were showing throughout the room.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

Rand paused in the act of putting his bow and quiver in the back of the cart. He really had managed to put Egwene out of his mind. That was unusual in itself. But she would likely be around the inn somewhere. There was not much chance he could avoid her. Of course, it had been weeks since he saw her last.

"Well?" Mat called from the front of the inn. "I didn't say I would do it by myself. You aren't on the Village Council yet."

With a start, Rand took up a cask and followed. Perhaps she would not be there after all. Oddly, that possibility did not make him feel any better.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

"That's the end of Chapter 1, who wants to read next?" Daise asked.

"I will." Con Aybara volunteered, eager to learn more about his son's time after that fateful night.

Con accepted the book, found the desired page, cleared his throat, and said,

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Chapter 2: Strangers."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 1, AN EMPTY ROAD, ROBERT JORDAN: END

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

Chapter 2: Strangers

When Rand and Mat carried the first barrels through the common room, Master al'Vere was already filling a pair of mugs with his best brown ale, his own make, from one of the casks cracked against one wall. Scratch, the inn's yellow cat, crouched atop it with his eyes closed and his tail wrapped around his feet.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS, ROBERT JORDAN: END

As if his name had been called, Scratch sauntered into the room and curled up atop Bran's feet. Bran smiled and scratched the cat's head, happy to have a small reminder of Egwene, as she adored Scratch.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

Master Luhhan, though, made it more than a glance. The blacksmith's arms were as big as most men's legs, roped with heavy muscle, and he still wore his long leather apron as if he had hurried to the meeting straight from the forge. His frown took them both in, then he straightened around in his chair deliberately, turning his attention back to an overstudious tamping of his pipe with a thick thumb.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone in the room throws curious looks at Master Luhhan, but he just gestured for Con to continue reading.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"It's old Luhhan," Mat said, peering past Rand's shoulder into the common room. "I think he suspects I was the one who — " He cut off abruptly as Mistress al'Vere bustled out of the kitchen, the aroma of freshbaked bread wafting ahead of her.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

By now, nearly everyone in the room was shaking their heads as it was becoming abundantly clear that Master Luhhan was a victim of one of Mat's pranks.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

She was one of the few married women in the area who never tried to play matchmaker with Tam. Toward Rand her motherliness extended to warm smiles and a quick snack whenever he came by the inn, but she did as much for every young man in the area. If she occasionally looked at him as if she wanted to do more, at least she took it no further than looks, for that he was deeply grateful.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

The women in the room grinned at each other once again, remembering all of the times that they had tried to set Rand up with a nice young woman only to have him blush and stammer out excuses and then make a hasty retreat.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Honeycakes," Mat said, smacking his lips.

"After," Rand told him firmly, "or we'll never get done."

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

The women and men nodded their approval at Rand's behavior: always working to get the task at hand done, then thinking about pleasure, or in this case food.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Now," Rand said, as they set their casks in the racks, "what did you do that you have to avoid Master Luhhan?"

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone in the room except for Master and Mistress Luhhan leaned forward in anticipation: some of Mat's pranks were actually quite clever, and while they had to put up a mask of disapproval, they all secretly enjoyed seeing what Mat thought up. That is, unless they were the victim of the pranks.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

Mat shrugged. "Nothing, really. I told Adan al'Caar and some of his snotnosed friends—Ewin Finngar and Dag Coplin — that some farmers had seen ghost hounds, breathing fire and running through the woods. They ate it up like clotted cream."

"And Master Luhhan is mad at you for that?" Rand said doubtfully.

"Not exactly." Mat paused, then shook his head. "You see, I covered two of his dogs with flour, so they were all white. Then I let them loose near Dag's house. How was I to know they'd run straight home? It really isn't my fault. If Mistress Luhhan hadn't left the door open they couldn't have gotten inside. It isn't like I intended to get flour all over her house." He gave a bark of laughter. "I hear she chased old Luhhan and the dogs, all three, out of the house with a broom."

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone in the room had to hide their grins behind their hands. It didn't help though, because Master Luhhan still glared at all of them with an almost petulant pout that only made the situation that much more hilarious.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

Rand winced and laughed at the same time. "If I were you, I'd worry more about Alsbet Luhhan than about the blacksmith. She's almost as strong, and her temper is a lot worse.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone hesitantly looked towards Alsbet to see her reaction, only to see her grinning like it was a compliment.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

Despite his own admonition about waiting until later Rand found himself making the last two trips between cart and cellar while trying to juggle a cask and a piping honeycake.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

The women in the room grinned: typical behavior of men, as they are always hungry.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"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?"

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

"All the signs were there, if we had just been paying attention." Con said, angry with himself for not realizing something was wrong sooner.

No one knew how to comfort him, because each of them was feeling something similar.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"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 highborn lady," he finished with a sigh.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone in the room shared shocked looks: they had never seen or heard Mat make such solid observations. Usually, around them anyway, he only took what was seen at first glance and went with that.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

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.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

The group nodded their heads in agreement: it was too much of a coincidence.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"She asked the Wisdom for directions this morning," Ewin said, "and called her 'child."'

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone in the room winced, as bringing up Nynaeve's age is a sure way to get on her bad side.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

When Cenn Buie called her a child last year, she thumped him on the head with her stick,

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Cenn rubbed the top of his head as if the knot was still there.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"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.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Sad looks were thrown around the room. Everyone was so excited for Bel Tine, only to have it destroyed by creatures of the Dark.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

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.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone looked towards Con with looks that clearly said, "Huh?" like Con knew anymore than they did.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

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.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

"Any of you ever heard of a bird doing something like that?" Bran asked.

Everyone shook their heads, astonishment clear on their faces.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

With a shrill cry the raven launched itself into the air so violently that two black feathers drifted down from the roof's edge.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

"What could have possibly made it fly away just from the sound of that woman's voice?" Joslin Aybara asked curiously.

"Well, the stories say that ravens are watchers for the dark one, so maybe this one was and since she was an Aes Sedai, a member of the light, the raven reacted badly to it." Con answered his wife.

"Maybe." She agreed.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

She held herself with a grace and air of command that made him feel awkward and stumblefooted.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone in the room nodded. When they met her, even withouth knowing that she was an Aes Sedai, they had all felt somehow… beneath her. Not necessarily in a bad way, but she was just so confident and she held herself so surely.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

He had never seen a grown woman with her hair unbraided;

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

The women in the room shook their heads in bewilderment, this woman was so strange.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Good morning, Mistress ... ah ... Lady Moiraine," Rand said. His face grew hot at his tongue's fumbling.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

The men started to grin, as they always did when one of the boys stammered and blushed around women. Then, some of them started to remember that they had done the same thing around this woman, so they quickly stifled their grins.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

Ewin leaped forward before either of the others could speak. "My name is Ewin Finngar, my lady. I told them your name; that's how they know. I heard Lan say it, but I wasn't eavesdropping. No one like you has ever come to Emond's Field, before. There's a gleeman in the village for Bel Tine, too. And tonight is Winternight. Will you come to my house? My mother has apple cakes."

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Some of the men blushed as they remembered the times they had acted much the same way in front of this woman, eager to please her, realizing now how ridiculous they probably seemed.

* ** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"I'm Matrim Cauthon, La ... ah ... Moiraine," Mat said. He made a stiff, jerking bow, then went red in the face as he straightened.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone in the room, even the women, grinned this time. It wasn't often that they got to see Matrim Cauthon embarrassed, especially in front of a woman.

** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

Moiraine looked from him to Mat and back again. Rand thought her smile, a bare curve of the corners of her mouth, was now the sort Egwene wore when she had a secret.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

"Aye, the kind of smile all women wear when they have a secret." Con says with a chuckle, stopping abruptly when he notices the warning looks the women are throwing him.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Here," she said, and Rand was surprised when she pressed a coin into his palm, closing his hand tightly around it with both of hers.

"There's no need," he began, but she waved aside his protest as she gave Ewin a coin as well, then pressed Mat's hand around one the same way she had Rand's.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

"She's hiding something," Bodewhin said.

Everyone looked towards her, surprised. After all, she hadn't said the first thing the whole time they had been reading.

"What do you mean? Alsbet asked his daughter.

"She closed Rand and Mat's hands around the coins and not Ewin's." She explained.

After a moment everyone nodded, she was right.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"You cannot be expected to work for nothing. Consider this a token, and keep it with you, so you will remember that you have agreed to come to me when I ask it. There is a bond between us now."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

"The way she said that, I think there's a hidden meaning." Tam said.

"What do you mean. Mistress al' Vere asked.

"Well, she's talked plain enough this whole time, and now she's started to talk in riddles. The stories say that Aes Sedai can't lie, so if they want to lie but they can't, they talk in riddles that way you only hear what they want you to. You just watch, that'll mean something." Tam told them, motioning for Con to continue reading.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Why have you come to Emond's Field?"

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

The men in the room facepalmed: you never question a woman's motives, NEVER.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Later we will talk," she said. None of them said a word. "Later."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

"That was rude! She didn't ask to talk later! She told them! Momma says to always be nice to people and that wasn't very nice." Perrin's little brother, Paet, exclaimed.

"She's Aes Sedai, lad, she's used to people obeying her without question.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

As she left, a tall man Rand had not noticed before moved away from the front of the inn and followed her, one hand resting on the long hilt of a sword. His clothes were a dark grayish green that would have faded into leaf or shadow, and his cloak swirled through shades of gray and green and brown as it shifted in the wind. It almost seemed to disappear at times, that cloak, fading into whatever lay beyond it. His hair was long, and gray at the temples, held back from his face by a narrow leather headband. That face was made from stony planes and angles, weathered but unlined despite the gray in his hair. When he moved, Rand could think of nothing but a wolf.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Everyone was leaned forward in their chairs, eager to learn more about this dangerous but intriguing man.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"That was Lan," Ewin said throatily, as if he, too, had been holding his breath. it had been that kind of look. "I'll bet he's a Warder."

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

"The boy was right all along, and we all just laughed him off." Wit said.

Everyone looked down, once again slightly ashamed of themselves for not listening to the boys.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"I don't know," Mat said firmly, "and I don't care. I won't spend it, either. Even when the peddler comes." With that he thrust his coin into his coat pocket.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

Surprised looks were thrown around the room.

"That was oddly responsible of the boy." Bran spoke what they were all thinking.

"Yeah, not at all like the Mat I know." Bodewhin said.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

"Do you think I should keep mine, too?" Anguished indecision painted Ewin's face.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

"Awwww." The women in the room said collectively. They always found it adorable when one of the younger boys tried to act like the older ones, even if they didn't like what they were doing.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: START

The peddler had come at last. Strangers and a gleeman, fireworks and a peddler. It was going to be the best Bel Tine ever.

*** EYE OF THE WORLD, CHAPTER 2, STRANGERS ROBERT JORDAN: END

A solemn silence followed this statement.

Con broke it, however, saying, "That's the end of the chapter, who wants to read next?"

"I will!" Bodewhin said excitedly, ready to know what happened to her brother.

She cleared her throat and in a quiet, but confident voice, she said, "Chapter 3: The Peddler."