Mat is sent on a mission

Matrim Cauthon, also known to his friends as Mat, strolled through the halls of Salidar attempting to find Egwene and get out of there. Being around all these Aes Sedai really made him nervous. He had never really trusted Aes Sedai and even less so now after spending time with one like Moiraine. Mat had been sent to Salidar by Rand, one of his best friends from back when they were boys in the Two Rivers, it seemed so long ago. So much had happened since then, Rand had been whisked away by Moiraine and her warder Lan after Trollocs (half man, half beast creatures) had attacked their little village. Rand, Egwene and Perrin had come along for the ride though Rand didn’t really have a choice. Another person from their village had followed close behind them as they slipped away in the night without anyone being the wiser, the village Wisdom Nynaeve had followed along worried for the young one’s safety. Ever since being whisked away, Mat and the others had been to grow up from children to grown adults as they faced the real world. A world of magic and . The Aes Sedai were woman ‘channelers’ which is what they called using magic, and they were the only official users of the one true power (being the source that the magic is pulled from). Aes Sedai were both held in awe and in fear, due to what some of the more powerful could do.

When they had left home behind, both Egwene and Nynaeve were hellbent against becoming Aes Sedai, even with the pushing and convincing of Moiraine, the Aes Sedia that had whisked them away. In the end though as he walked down the seemingly never ending hall, both had become accepted, which is one step from becoming official Aes Sedai. “Blood and bloody ashes!” Mat swore. “Being around all this magic is making me uncomfortable.”

Egwene and Nynaeve weren’t the only ones to change, Rand had changed the most. Mat tried to stay as far away from Rand as possible. Rand it seemed was the answer to a prophesy Moiraine had been searching for the answer to. He was the Dragon Reborn, a man who could channel, and there is only one fate for a man who could channel, and that was madness and eventual slow, agonizing . A man who could channel would be hunted down by the Tower and rid of all magic potential in his body in an experience called gentling, that would render the man emotionally scarred and unable to channel ever again. Mat intended to be far away when Rand finally cracked, friend or no friend, being in close proximity to a mad man who could channel wasn’t on his list of things to do before he died. Perrin was mostly the same as he always was, large yet quiet, though the yellow eyes he seemingly came upon overnight had the effect of unnerving Mat, as if a wolf was staring at him. Mat had changed as well, gone were the days where he worked on the farm with his dad and his sisters, he had been stabbed by a cursed blade in a cursed city, and had been saved by Aes Sedai in their city known as the ‘White Tower of Tar Valon’, the one time he was happy to be around Aes Sedai. Mat had entered a magical stone doorway in which you were able to ask a number of questions and creatures that lived in that world were able to give you answers, on the condition that you don’t enter a doorway more than once. That was all well and good, but the answers that he received were less than helpful, and the next opportunity he had to find another magical doorway he entered it. The creatures knew almost immediately he had cheated the rules and gave him his answers in the shape of a spear, a necklace, and the military knowledge of the best generals in history in his head, oh and he was also strung up from a tree and left to hang. If it weren’t for Rand who found him hanging, Mat would’ve been dead by now. The spear was a handy weapon, just the right size for Mat, and importantly deadly. The necklace was of great importance for Mat, it had the effect of cancelling out any magic channeled in his direction, it made him feel a little more at ease around Aes Sedai, but not by much. The knowledge and voices in his head made him a brilliant commander, something Rand had seen and taken advantage of. Mat had been involved in planning battles, and giving advice on military matters when asked. He had been put in charge of his own party of men who were called the Band of The Red Hand. Because of the knowledge in his head that predated the Common Tongue, he was now fluent in Old Tongue and sometimes unknowingly said things in the old language, only realizing when other looked at him strangely.

Now Rand was fully using his title of Dragon Reborn to wage war and to recruit the savage desert warriors known as the Aiel who it turns out, he was related to. Rand had sent Mat and Aviendha, a female Aiel who- was his girlfriend? Mat didn’t know and didn’t care; he just wanted to be rid of her. Aiel were peculiar in the fact that they had been isolated from society living out in the desert for so long, that having a proper conversation with them was more frustrating than sharpening a sword. Their lack of humor, not to mention their consistent seriousness just turned Mat off. He looked over to his side and glanced at Aviendha not dressed in her usual brown clothes like she usually was, she was now wearing riding clothes from the long ride up with Mat’s small army. She was something to look at least, even though her personality would was as sharp as the spear she knew how to wield expertly. Her red hair pooled around her shoulders and her shoufa hung around her neck. Mat had been around the Aiel long enough to know that a veiled Aiel was , an Aiel always veiled themselves when getting ready to kill, and their veils were never far from their faces when not on. Aviendha was being trained to channel as well, but not by the Aes Sedai, but by the Wise Ones who were part of the leadership group of the Aiel. She had been a spear sister, Far Dareis Mai of her sept before realizing that she could channel, at which point giving up the spear and becoming an apprentice to become a Wise One.

There had been a split in the White Tower recently, and the old Amyrlin Seat (leader of the Aes Sedai) had been overthrown and replaced. Those loyal to the new Amyrlin Seat stayed in the Tower, while those opposed left in the cover of night, and fled to this secret location. Mat felt even more uneasy, being in a camp of Aes Sedai was one thing but a rebel camp? Aviendha must have heard him mumbling as she shifted a disapproving glance at him and sniffed into the air. Mat wondered if all women learned that gesture in their cradles.