Chapter 31

Late at night in The Woman of Tanchico, Mat enters to find Thom Merrilin performing “Mara and the Three Foolish Kings.” Thom is unsteady, wearing his patch-covered cloak, and oddly sorrowful. Mat orders wine for two and waits as Thom finishes to growing applause.

Thom joins Mat, clearly drunk and brooding. Two serving women, Saal and Mada, fuss over him. Between bites of roast chicken, Mat probes why Thom is in Tar Valon despite his hatred of Aes Sedai. Thom, slipping from self-pity to sharpness, hints he killed a man in Cairhien and that harm often rebounds on others. He calls Tar Valon the worst place for him, citing danger from Elaida and old Red Ajah grudges.

Mat challenges Thom’s self-pity and proposes they leave together for Caemlyn. Thom, roused by the prospect and the danger it implies, agrees. He fetches his gear—harp and flute cases, blanketroll, and a staff—while Saal and Mada, seemingly sisters, trail after him worriedly.

As they depart, Saal presses a silver Tar Valon mark into Mat’s hand, thanking him for lifting Thom’s spirits. Outside, Mat freezes: the assassin’s corpse from earlier is gone, though the street’s light should have revealed it. Uneasy, he decides it means trouble still stalks them.

Thom downplays the threat, insisting Tar Valon has no footpads thanks to the Tower’s punishments. Mat refuses to be soothed, orders that they board the very first ship leaving—sinking or not—and sets a hard pace toward the docks, urgency sharpened by the vanished body.