Disclaimer: I do not own the Wheel of Time or any of its content. It remains the property of Robert Jordan.

Chapter One - A Long Corridor

Mat peered down the corridor, frowning. He had no idea where they were, or why for that matter. Rand had muttered something about a meeting and kidnappings. Light, but that didn't sound half dubious to Mat. Why was Rand planning on kidnapping someone? An important someone, truth be told. It had to be; why else would Rand demand everyone wear their best clothes? Mat glanced down at his own attire: a dark blue silk coat, with only a little lace. As much as Mat hated to admit, Tylin had gotten him addicted the stuff. He didn't own a coat that didn't hold at least a little lace. Blood and ashes! He really was turning into a noble.

Shaking his head in disgust, he studied the Dragon Reborn in all his glory, black of the finest silk, so much red embroidery up the lapels and arms it was hard to distinguish the black beneath. He wore the Laurel Crown of Illian and his sword in a black scabbard adorned with a red and gold dragon. Mat had caught a glimpse of the sword earlier when Rand had taken it out to inspect it casually. Justice. The legendary sword of Artur Hawkwing. It made him shiver. He vaguely remembered Artur Hawkwing himself hefting it in Falme, all that time ago, but the more vivid memory of the sword impaling his chest on more than one occasion began to unravel in his head until he refused to let it in. Light, how many men had entered the bloody Tower of Ghenjei during Hawkwing's rein? Mat shook his head in wonder. Obviously, the men had been fools, entering in free will.

Straightening his hat, and trying to glare at the leather, just noticeable on his edge of vision, covering his left eye, Mat growled an oath under his breath. Damn snakey-people! They had tricked him in the first place - sending him off to Rhuidean! Light, if it weren't for them, he wouldn't have a flaming scar around his neck and he wouldn't be married! Although, more likely he would just be dead. Mat frowned at the thought. It still didn't give them the right to take my bloody eye, burn them!

He tried to shake off thoughts of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn, but catching small flashes of blue to the right of him brought his attention to the small woman striding purposefully down the corridor, kesiera bobbing on her forehead. Moiraine; the woman he had gone through all that trouble for. An Aes Sedai. "I'll rescue an Aes Sedai, and she'll reward me," He had been near his twelfth naming day then, at the annual sheep sheering. He had been a fool. Mat had rescued an Aes Sedai; Mat had been rewarded with a gap where his left eye should be. Not quite what he had been hoping for when he had said that roughly ten years ago, he was sure.

Mat sighed and went back to watching Rand with his good eye. Burn the man for this! Mat wanted no part in kidnapping a noble. He had done that once before and it had landed him in with the lionfish. Married. To a Seanchan noble - no, royalty. Tuon was the daughter of the Empress herself. And he - Mat 'I'm no bloody lord' Cauthon - was now royalty too, with the wondrous title of Prince of the Ravens, whatever that meant. Mat pondered for a few seconds. Actually, what did that mean? Mat wanted nothing more to do with ravens, or princes, or Seanchan. He wanted a tavern, a good game of dice, a pitcher of wine, and a pretty lass on his knee. Although, he could have none of that any longer; not now that he was married. Mat knew enough from watching his ma and da that a married man could have no fun. It left him in a morose mood.

Thinking of marriage made his eye wander over to Perrin, Faile at his side - as per usual, he thought, when are those two ever apart? - both strolling and smiling. Mat was still annoyed that Rand had not told him about the marriage. He had known, when he had told him about Bode becoming an Aes Sedai. Light, Mat didn't want to think about that. It made him sick to think that if the Seanchan had managed to take all the Aes Sedai from the Tower in the attack, they may have been able to round up every bloody 'marath'damane' in the world - including Bode. His sister, leashed and treated like a dog, answering to a different name - probably something silly like Lissy - and begging him not to take the stupid collar off. Blood and bloody ashes, but there was something wrong with that.

His eye drifted back to Perrin and Faile. They seemed happy enough being married, but then Perrin had always known so much more about women than Mat in some ways, and women found his slow, gentle thoughts endearing. Plus, it had to help that he was married to such a demure, loving wife; unusual for a Saldaean, but it was probably Perrin's luck with women. Mat had no luck when it came to women. He himself had not only been Tylin's pretty - Tylin, a woman older than his mother! Light have mercy on her soul - but Melindhra, she had tried to kill him. Betse, she had been pretty but she couldn't half talk. The Maidens in the Stone had almost taken his head off with that crackbrained game of theirs. Aludra…well, Mat had liked Aludra - quite a lot in fact - but she had given up on him after Tuon appeared on the scene. And that wasn't even mentioning the women who he had not tried to attract: Elayne, Nynaeve, Egwene, Aviendha, Teslyn, Joline, Bethamin…Light, the list could go on forever! Tuon topped the list, however. Even when she wasn't there she found a way to fill his brain. Blasted woman!

The sound of a stifled snicker forced Mat to turn to his companion, second in command, and friend, Talmanes. The Cairhienin man walked straight-backed as if straining for every inch of height he could gain. The front of his head, shaved and powdered, was beginning to glisten a little with sweat, but the cool demeanour of Lord Talmanes of House Delovinde could not be diminished so easily. The small smile playing on his lips, almost discretely, diminished it for Mat, however. He raised an eyebrow.

"And what is it that you find so funny, my dear Talmanes, that you can barely contain your laughter?" he demanded in hushed tones. He didn't want to draw Rand's attention to him. Mat knew it was foolish, but he almost preferred the Rand near the brink of insanity to the Rand who professed he wasn't mad, but sure acted it sometimes always smiling to himself when nobody else knew why. There was an eerie calmness to him that just put Mat on edge. But Rand didn't seem to notice that there was no longer silence in the hallways. Mat nearly sighed in relief.

Talmanes rolled his eyes slightly and shook his head in denial. The smile never left his lips, however. "Oh, nothing Mat. Nothing at all." Mat scowled. He wasn't exactly sure when Talmanes had begun to show a sense of humour, but he did not appreciate the fact that it only showed when he was making fun of him.

"Well," Mat continued, "good. I, for one, don't personally see the reason to laugh right now. You know this is going to end up like another Ebou Dar escape or something." He sighed and tugged slightly at the scarf around his neck; the heat made it feel incredibly tight. Talmanes was still smiling. The boneheaded fool! He scowled.

Talmanes made the same gesture as before, with an added shrug, but said nothing more. Mat considered it a shrug of defeat on Talmanes' part - although he knew it wasn't really - and smiled smugly to himself, starting to swagger. Until he recalled where they were headed. Rand, the Light-forsaken man, was going to get Mat's head put on a bloody chopping board. It made Mat sigh yet again.

Striding alongside Rand was Elayne in all her glory. Chin so high in the air that Mat wondered how she didn't trip over the hem of her dress. She had donned the Rose Crown of Andor, a highly decorative wreath of golden roses. It was probably worth a lot of money. It highly likely made Elayne's head about ten times bigger as well, not that she needed it. Her and Rand were truly equal when it came to arrogance. She was also wearing an elaborate dress of red and gold - What is it with these people, always wearing red? - and a….decidedly low neck showing too much cleavage for decency. Mat had used to think that Queens were meant to be demure, proper. Then he had met Tylin, and that opinion had jumped out the window. But the dress was still very indecent, and it wasn't often that Mat said - or thought - such things.

That Elayne was Queen still confused Mat. Perrin had shocked everyone not that long ago - apparently, anyway. Mat had been in the flaming Tower of Ghenjei, so hadn't been there to experience it - with Morgase returning with his entourage, as one of his servants. The silly man hadn't even known it was Morgase, although he'd been adept enough to realise she had a 'striking resemblance to Elayne'. Mat wished he could have been there to see Perrin's face when that had been revealed! Ogier's oath, he would have. But surely, the fact that the Queen of Andor wasn't dead meant that Elayne was a usurper to the throne or something. Both her and her mother had denied this though, and Morgase claimed that she had abdicated the throne over to Elayne. Mat just didn't understand what Morgase was meant to do now… Mat didn't like to think on it too deeply or his head began to hurt. It was women, he decided. They were just too confusing for any normal man to figure out!

He shrugged and looked to the other side of Rand where Min, in her embroidered coat and tight breeches, was casually strutting. Mat didn't think that was so much intentional, but a natural occurrence from wearing heeled boots; Birgitte walked like that too, hips rolling seductively. Not that Mat had ever noticed that from Birgitte. She was just a friend and nothing more, and they were both happy with that. Min, though…. Min was - well, Min was Rand's. Which made no sense, as Mat was sure Elayne was Rand's too - especially after just recently having his children. But Mat could still, unfortunately, remember that horrible image after the colours had finished swirling, and that definitely confirmed that Min and Rand were…together. Where that left Aviendha he had no clue. He was just glad he didn't have to be Rand in that situation. He shook his head in wonder. Where had it all gone so wrong for Rand? He had always been so lucky with the ladies. In a way, he still was, but he had truly gotten himself stuck in the middle of a worse than bad situation in this case.

Mat began to wonder what Nynaeve would make of the whole thing if she didn't know already. He doubted that she did; she would've thumped Rand around the head until he was left weeping in a corner by himself. Even Rand the Dragon Reborn wouldn't be immune to that.

She was there too, sweeping along, all Aes Sedai like. It hadn't been that long ago when she had been denying she would ever become an Aes Sedai, vouching she would only go to the Tower because of Egwene or some such. Now she was more Aes Sedai than any Aes Sedai Mat had ever met. Except maybe Egwene. Nobody could challenge her that title. Light, Mat could still remember when she used to follow Rand around when they were younger, always interfering in their pranks and acting all innocent whenever accused on it. Rand had always backed her up then, too. Just like he was now. Of course, Egwene knew where they were going as well, along with every other flaming soul apart from him. It was always the way - no one ever bothered to tell Mat.

Nynaeve glanced at him then, but he tried to ignore the pity in her eyes. He had eventually relented and allowed her to try healing his eye. It had not worked, obviously. Even he knew that you couldn't magically make an eye appear out of thin air and back into its socket. But Nynaeve was so stubborn, especially when it came down to healing, that he had just let her try to stop the glaring and sniffing. How women could sniff that much without sucking up so much dust they died from coughing, he didn't know, but somehow they did. He risked a peek at her and, there she was, still staring at him pityingly. Burn the woman, he needed no pity. What he needed was an explanation of where they were headed; some information.

Deciding to take a risk, Mat shuffled over to Nynaeve, past Perrin and Faile - both who looked at him: Faile seemed curious, while Perrin seemed concerned for some reason - and edging as far as possible from the Asha'man who were staring at him suspiciously. A sad smile appeared on Nynaeve's face. He tried to ignore it, but obviously wasn't doing a very good job of it as Nynaeve's hand reached up and rested on his forearm comfortingly. Mat resisted the urge to snarl, instead turning his lip curl into a grin. Nynaeve blinked once before patting his arm and removing her hand. Flaming Aelfinn!

Keeping his smile on his face required effort, but he managed it. He opened his mouth to ask where they were going, but she forestalled him.

"Mat, you do know I'm still sorry for leaving you in Ebou Dar, don't you?" Her voice sounded worried and guilty but her face betrayed no such emotion. Well, she really is Aes Sedai now, isn't she? Light!

He shrugged and looked around uncomfortably. Talmanes had stopped smiling, but his eyes flickered over to Mat and Nynaeve a few times. He was just as keen to find out where they were going as Mat. It seemed they had deigned him too unimportant to know, as well as himself. In fact, he wasn't sure Rand wanted Talmanes there but Mat had insisted on it. Just to be stubborn more than anything else. He had lost an eye for Rand - in a manner of speaking - and if he wanted to bring Talmanes along to their secret meeting then he bloody well would. Perrin was still studying Mat too, his golden eyes shining in the dimness; the sun was setting casting long shadows down the hall. It gave an ominous feeling. He quickly looked away when he saw Mat glance at him and tugged irritably at his beard. Mat rolled his eyes - well…eye - and tried not to sigh. He wasn't sure why Perrin kept doing that but he did, and it was really starting to grate on Mat's nerves.

Jerking at his scarf once again, he attempted to make his voice casual and unconcerned. "Of course I know that, Nynaeve. It was a good thing you got out of there. Remember, the Seanchan?" She gave him a dirty look then. He would have laughed if he hadn't been so on edge about the whole expedition. He watched Rand for a few more seconds; he had half turned his head when Nynaeve began to speak, as she hadn't bothered to lower her voice, but he seemed to have disregarded them as soon as the second word had left her mouth. Perhaps he had just been startled. Perhaps.

"If you had stayed," he continued, "you would have been collared and made damane, Nynaeve. Anyway, I'm fine." He forced his grin wider. "No need to be sorry at all." Well, not really anyway. Both her and Elayne had made his life a bloody misery in Ebou Dar. But then what else was there to expect from the daughter of a Queen and a woman who had always acted as if a bee permanently buzzed around in her skirts?

She sniffed at that, and her hand twitched once as if to pull on her braid. No matter how much she changed, Nynaeve would always tug on that bloody braid of hers trying to pull it out of her scalp. "You're fine." she said, flatly. Her eyes blazed furiously, however, as she moved round to block his way, hands on hips, staring up at him. Mat continued to grin insolently; since he had lost his eye, his smile seemed to disconcert people. Usually, he saw it as a curse but right now he saw it as a blessing. "You're fine?" Her voice held heat now, plain as a summers day. "Of course you're not fine, Matrim Cauthon! Need I remind you that your left eye is now gone? And if you don't consider that bad luck, then you're even more a fool than I could have ever believed!" Everyone had stopped to watch the two; Nynaeve was shouting, her voice reverberating loudly in the narrow space. Even Rand was watching, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. Mat felt a strong desire to smack that smile from his face, but contented himself with a humourless snarl.

Ha. Bad Luck. He could tell Nynaeve all about bad luck. Try being married to a crazy, superstitious, manipulative Seanchan noble! Light, but he hated being married. There was basically no fun in life anymore. Talmanes was smirking again, but trying to hide it this time. Maybe the man could read Mat's mind somehow. It made him want to growl.

"No, you needn't remind me, Nynaeve." he snapped angrily. Blasted woman! Blasted, boneheaded, fool of a woman. Thinking he needed reminding of that? If anything he tried to forget it, not spend every waking minute fretting over something he couldn't fix. He spent his nights doing that. Waking up in a sweat every couple of hours after nightmares of almost human faces but too narrow and elongated, skin reflecting the light like snake's scales, reaching over to his bound figure, knife grasped firmly and easily dodging his frantic bites and snarls, the other hand holding his chin still so he couldn't flail his head. The sound of his beating heart overpowered all other noise except the gut-wrenching squelches from the knife forcing its way into his eye socket, slowly. Unbearable pain gripped him as he screamed until his throat felt like that was being stabbed as well. His vision went totally dark and he began to shake uncontrollably. The metallic taste of blood trickled into his mouth and he gagged, over and over…

Mat shivered and left his reverie. He didn't want to think about that at the moment. The memory and the pain was still too fresh. He caught Moiraine looking at him, guilt plain on her face. He sighed and removed his hat from his head, peering into it sullenly. They were all staring at him now, every face but Rand's full of concern and pity; he was still smiling slightly. Grumbling almost silently, he raked a hand through his hair before replacing the hat on his head. Nynaeve tried to smile reassuringly, but he ignored her and turned to the door in to his right. "Is it this door?" he asked aloud. Rand nodded and Mat walked through, not waiting for anyone.

The room was fairly small and sparsely furnished. The bed was reasonably large, but the mattress looked lumpy and uncomfortable, and the wood was unpolished. A chair sat next to the bed and seemed in no better condition. There was no carpet, leaving the floor a maze of splinters. A medium sized window allowed the fading light to fill the room and give it a musty aroma. There was nothing beside that and a chipped and cracked wash basin shoved into a corner.

Rand entered the room, the rest of the party following on his heels. Now they were all avoiding looking at him or in his general direction, even Talmanes. Mat crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against one of the wooden posts on the bed. It wobbled precariously, but he did not shift his position except to lower his hat so it covered his eye and eye patch. Rand strode into the middle of the room and studied the entire room and his companions. The smile never left his face and never touched his eyes, but it seemed Mat was the only one who found this odd; the others barely noticed. Except Talmanes. He avoided looking at Rand and shivered slightly.

Birgitte made her way over to Mat cautiously. Standing, she folded her arms also and watched Elayne with an expression of worry. Mat supposed it was part of being a warder, but he wasn't really interested right then. Abruptly, she whirled around to watch Mat, the same expression covering her face. She flicked her head irritably and her braid almost collided with Mat's cheek as it swung over her shoulder. The way she gripped it was reminiscent of Nynaeve. Then she poked him. Hard.

"Blood and bloody ashes, you could try smiling instead of looking like a man whose just had a tree shoved down his throat." He stopped rubbing his arm to smile viciously at her. She grinned back just as murderously. "That's better. You look so much prettier when you smile, Mat." Her grin became genuine at that, and she began to slouch slightly. When he didn't return the favour, her face filled with worry once more. "Mat, I know what you went through must have been traumatising, and Nynaeve had no right to shout that at you like that, but I think there's something else troubling you. You know you can talk to me, right?" Mat could see a hint of sadness battling to enter her face. He sighed and relented a little.

"Birgitte, I know I can talk to you, but right now I don't want to talk. What I want to know is where we're going and why nobody's bloody told me yet." He filled his voice with as much desperation and annoyance as he possibly could and almost cheered when she bit her lip worriedly and glanced around quickly. Nobody was watching them, but Mat had the eerie feeling that Perrin could hear every word they were saying. Rand was stood by himself with his eyes closed and head back. Min was watching him, both worry and…was that wonder on her face? Well, Mat had never professed to know what women were thinking, however that just downright confused him. Nynaeve, Elayne and Egwene were conversing over near the window. The medallion on his chest had turned cold he realised, so they must have been shielding the conversation with the power for some reason. The two men in black coats stood at the door, watching everybody warily; Mat didn't know their names. Faile was fussing with Perrin's lapels and Talmanes stood, back straight and regal. To a casual observer he would seem uninterested and unconcerned with what was happening around him, but Mat could just make out the small creases burrowed in his forehead which screamed worry. That much emotion from Talmanes was a near miracle.

Birgitte leaned in as if there was somebody close by anyway, and spoke in a quiet whisper. He frowned but she refused to talk until he leant in too. "Well, I can't tell you why nobody's told you yet, except that bloody man," - She must have meant Rand. Ever since he had gotten Elayne pregnant, she had not held him in high regard. - "said we weren't to tell you who we're going to see." she finished.

Mat muttered a few choice words under his breath which made Birgitte smile faintly. Bloody Rand thinking to keep stuff from Mat again. Why was it only him who wasn't to know where they were going? Light burn the man!

"But who is it?" he urged. Birgitte shook her head and began to walk away, but Mat grabbed her arm gently. Her face became steely. "Please, Birgitte?" Sighing, she moved so close to Mat she had to peer up at him to whisper six words in his ear.

"The Daughter of the Nine Moons."