vatheon | And the last of the Ta'veren arrives;

Really Perrin? Starting with that? Mat sighs and pointedly doesn't look at Rand. He smiles though. "Moiraine's alive and well. I lost my eye to bring her back."

Now to wait to see what Rand's reaction to that is... "Oh, and Moiraine and Thom want to get married."

Mat, if you wanted the best reaction you could get, you should have waited until he was drinking some of that incoming wine or something.

Fortunately Rand doesn't have anything in his hand or mouth, otherwise his blank staring might have come with a choked cough or fumble to catch something dropped.

"Moiraine is aliv- Moiraine and Thom - " Let him think a bit on that and focus on something more - well, other than he doesn't have to keep her name atop the list. Definitely relieved. "They fell into that doorway - does this mean there's another unaccounted for?"

Why, Mat, did you want to start with that marriage of yours? Probably best to wait for the wine on that; since Perrin doesn't know either, you might even get two spit-takes.

Rand's reaction, lack of choking or no, still makes Perrin smile. Hearing footsteps outside the hall well before the knock comes, he quietly gets up to answer the door and obtain their wine. He'll let Mat handle Rand's question, he knows more about both the incident and the rescue anyway.

Maybe later. When he thinks they're drunk enough to forget about it. Or at least not tease him about it. Light! Was it that hard to believe? Moiraine had been shocked too.

Mat smiles a little too. All three of them were surprised about Moiraine and Thom! The answer dampens his smile a bit, but it's still there. "Maybe. Moiraine said the Snakes and Foxes told her that they killed Lanfear by draining her too fast." And now they have wine! They'll definitely need it soon, if they don't already.

"... Then it's possible. The grave doesn't stop Him, when they are involved." Ah, wine.

Rand isn't sure what will happen if he drinks that, but he'll look for cups for the three of them anyway. Oh, there's cups. Don't mind him using saidin to carry two - he only has one hand, after all, and holding two against his chest and one in his hand is awkward for passing things about. That or stacking them.

"Graendal and Semirhage are out of the Pattern, at least."

Perrin closes the door again and returns to the table with the wine, only glancing at Rand. Admittedly watching him use saidin for even simple tasks can still be somewhat disconcerting, but he's long past showing it. He'll just take the cups with a nod and pour the wine.

Out of the Pattern? Is that different from death? ...he remembers Hopper, and supposes it is.

"We'll deal with the rest of them." How, he isn't certain. The Last Battle is coming, and Rand will have someone far stronger to confront than the Forsaken.

Mat, on the other hand, eyes Rand warily when he uses saidin to carry the cups. He might have seen Rand do it all the time in those flaming visions, but he doesn't like it much.

He supposes this means that those Forsaken are out of His touch, since they are not in the Pattern anymore.

Mat nods. "They can't and won't hide forever." They'll deal with them coming out into the open when it happens. He'll be taking one of those cups of wine now. Much better. Someone else gets to share next.

"I'm not too sure there are very many left; Be'lal died by Moiraine's hand, Asmodean some time ago, Sammael met the Mashardar, and Graendal, Semirhage, and Rahvin have met Balefire." He doesn't know it was Aran'gar who met Balefire, not Graendal, but the count is still roughly the same.

Should he go next? "I'm not quite sure what all you know; Perrin may, if the Asha'men I sent with shared, know that Nynaeve and I cleansed saidin. I made a lot of mistakes, but ended up on Dragonmount after fleeing one." He's not quite sure he really wants to continue from there with what happened there just yet. A sip of wine - its nice how everything tastes good these days.

"Bandar Ebon is rebuilding; Maradon has been evacuated, although the Shadowspawn did not actually gain the city, it was in near ruins before I arrived. Rodel Ituralde held it for as long as he could. Egwene is Amyrlin, Nynaeve has made the weave to cure the madness caused by the Taint, and King Alsalam is alive." Another sip.

"I think that's most of what I've been up to..."

Perrin sips his wine as he listens. He's heard about the cleansing of the taint from his Asha'men, and he knew Egwene had become Aes Sedai, but most of the rest of it is news to him. And perhaps more good news than he had anticipated.

What really makes him look hard at Rand, though, is the mention of Dragonmount. That night in the wolf dream... Is that when Rand changed from the hard, dangerous man he'd been, into this? He still couldn't pass for sane, but he seems far more at peace with himself. Finally, Perrin nods slowly.

"You've been busy, Rand."

Mat blinks and lowers his own cup of wine. "Is that why there was a break in the clouds over Dragonmount a while back? Because you were there?" The news about saidin didn't really matter to him, and Verin had already told him.

The Band didn't have any channelers with them apart from Moiraine now, since the Aes Sedai had left them for the White Tower before he'd met up with Perrin. Moiraine wasn't exactly 'with the Band' though. It was still good news.

Mat laughs a little. "We've all been busy."

"It seems to be a thing that happens wherever I .. was. The clouds were His doing, and I am in opposition." ... That sounds a little more ominous than it should. Had he not been in opposition before? oops.

At least no more Asha'men will get more insane. And no further other men who begin to touch saidin would go insane.

"Definitely seems like it."

"I think you two have more to show for it."

Perrin sighs. There are things he would rather not get into, but they are supposed to be catching up. It wouldn't be fair to his friends to expect them to do all the talking. At least he's supposedly caught Mat up already, even if he doesn't recall.

"Rand, I should probably tell you Masema is dead. The man was out of his mind." It seems a little odd to point that out to a man who's also insane, if in a very different way. "Most of his followers were killed when we fought the Shaido. The rest, after." The less he says about Malden, the better.

"We've been travelling through Ghealdan since. Something was preventing the Asha'man from making gateways, and we ran into the Whitecloaks... I think someone was trying to trap us into a battle. They must be frustrated that we parted peacefully, and the ter'angreal preventing gateways is destroyed."

Mat shrugs. "I just have the Dragons, Moiraine, and my eye to show for it." He takes a sip of his wine and looks down before up again. "And some dead friends. Finally killed that bloody gholam though."

Don't mind him pulling on his scarf a little. It's not hot or anything, it's just that his scar itches and talking about the gholam still makes him a bit uncomfortable.

And that's what Perrin's told him three times now. Mat just nods upon hearing it again, sipping his wine. Perrin's left things out, but that's to be expected really.

"Masema..." Rand is trying really hard to remember more than the man's name for a moment. "Ah. The Prophet. If he was mad, I don't really think too many of his followers would have been much better. A pity they were lost, but better that they were lost against the Shaido than breaking apart when we needed them." Absently taking a sip of wine while thinking. Preventing gateways, why does that sound so familiar..

"... That ter'angreal, who ever had it may be doing things at the Black Tower. Or whoever gave it to who had it when you got rid of it, Perrin. I have been unable to Travel there, and it sounds as if I may have sent Naeff into more trouble." But Mat, your news is also very distracting. Dragons? There is a brief glance to his forearm, but that couldn't be right.

"I think word would have spread past the Aiel Waste if you had found dragons, so I'm assuming nothing like that of my banner. And is a gholam like a Grey Man?" Don't worry, Rand's left things out too.

"The Black Tower?" Perrin frowns. Grady had asked him about going, but there hadn't been time yet to let him. Maybe it wouldn't have worked anyway. Perrin hadn't seen another of those domes in the wolf dream, but he hadn't been looking for one at the Black Tower. "There must be a second one, Rand."

Mat says 'Dragons' so casually that Perrin almost misses it. He, too, glances at Rand's arm, before looking to Mat for the explanation. Probably it's just a name for something else, a group maybe, but he is curious. And that gholam... even if it does make Mat uncomfortable, it might be a danger they need to know about.

"What are they planning making it so people can't Travel in and out of the Black Tower?" Mat frowns as well. It'd be bad news if that barrier held Asha'men back from fighting at the Last Battle. They'd have to run or ride out of the barrier before being able to Travel...

"Well, we didn't find dragons, not like your arms. Aludra made them. They launch huge lumps of metal about a mile, and Elayne had made the prototypes by the time I left for the Tower of Ghenjei. I saw them tested, and they work like we planned." He nods.

And...he looks away again and takes a larger gulp of his wine. "The gholam is an assassin who can fit through a hole not much bigger than my palm, if not smaller. They feed on human blood, and the Power doesn't touch them. My medallion is the only thing that I know of that can hurt them. I tossed the one that killed Tylin and Lopin off a Skimming platform." He's pretty sure that would answer Rand's question. They aren't exactly the same. Light, he wishes he had been able to do that sooner. Maybe then Lopin and Tylin wouldn't have died.

"... It could explain why Lews wanted me to kill Taim on sight." Just so casually said as he leans back on his chair and sips the wine. He probably won't get a refill. Rand is so helpful at clearing doubts of his sanity, isn't he.

".. I think I know what you're talking about. Only talking about why I know what you're talking about will likely make you more uncomfortable." But he's still really calm, just kinda thinking hard about things.

"Ah. One of Elan's creations then.."

He can't do anything here, but when they return home and he has access to the wolf dream again, Perrin will have to look for that ter'angreal. He's certain someone is setting another trap, be it Slayer or another of the Shadow.

Perrin is quiet at Mat's description, sipping his wine. They're all facing such dangers back home... This place has been so peaceful in comparison. He's been told time doesn't pass back home, and Mat's account of their meeting seems to prove it. Still, he feels like he's been pulled out of a battle, left people behind.

"Rand..." He glancess at Mat before continuing bluntly, "It's already uncomfortable." Lews Therin? And the other things he's only half-mentioned--Perrin isn't sure if having them out in the open would make him any more comfortable, but some of them might be good to know.

....Rand was calm about hearing from Lews. The only Lews Mat could remember hearing about was Lews Therin Telamon, the Dragon, the Kinslayer.

Rand, that in itself makes Mat more uncomfortable. Mat nods. "It's flaming uncomfortable already." His curiosity makes him want to know though... "You heard Lews Therin?" He's going to take another drink of that wine now.

And who made the gholam?

A bit of an amused smile. He seems to make everyone some sort of uncomfortable now.

"Since we went to the Aiel Wastes." Rand settles in his chair, studying that cup of wine. "I heard the voice of another man, occasionally, that bemoaned his existence and ..." He rubs at his head with his stump. "I know what Ilyena Sunhair - Ilyena Therin Moerelle - looks like. I would recognize things, the uses of some ter'angreal. I mostly ignored him, because who would pay attention to a raving voice in their head?"

A half smile to Perrin. "Lews told me how to get out of the Shield that Eliada's Aes Sedai had held me under, at Dumai's Wells. And it worked, for all it was the advice of a madman." And he stilled some of the Aes Sedai Sheilding him.

"... I think I started actively talking to him around the time we met Taim. It is.. a little distracting, to hear someone screaming to kill the man before you, and so I told him to shut up. He did.. for a time. He began to seize saidin shortly after that. He knew these weaves - If you have seen Blossoms of Fire, Deathgates, Arrows of Fire, that was because he seized saidin from me, after cleansing saidin. The other Asha'man saw and replicated them. I talked him out of making a second Dragonmount there by intending to die at Tarmon Gai'don."

"I didn't know if it was the Taint, then, but now... Now it is because I am the Dragon Reborn. That is what I realized on Dragonmount. I have been rewoven, the onset of madness and his voice was because I began channeling as much as I had in roughly the same time. Yes, he died mad, but he lived for four hundred years - only a hundred of that was after Mierin - Lanfear - lead the group that created the Bore, under the Dark One's touch." He studies them both. Perhaps that really odd wisdom to his eyes makes sense now. "I am him, he has always been me, but still I am myself. It is the same thread, perhaps, as Semhirage had said, and something rare that will end up killing me, provided that Tarmon Gai'don doesn't." Should he study the floor? He basically just admitted to his two best friends that he was, in a way, as crazy as the world most probably thinks he is. "I know that another prophesy, one from a borderlander's Aes Sedai cousin, said that if I had not come to this conclusion, gained the memories of The Dragon, then they should have killed me there, for I would not have been the Dragon Reborn that the Light needed to win, and it would have been better that I did not make it to Tarmon Gai'don."

... He'll focus on what little is left of his wine for now.

Whoops meant to say Ishar. Wrong page open.

Perrin wordlessly nudges the bottle of wine over to Mat as Rand starts speaking. Mat seems to be going through his cup faster than Perrin and at this rate he'll probably need the refill.

Meanwhile he regards Rand with a thoughtful frown. It's true, most of what he's describing sounds like madness; hearing the voice of a dead man in your head, what else could that be? But the way in which Rand is talking about it... seems remarkably calm and collected. Sane, even.

Rand is the Dragon Reborn, the reincarnation of Lews Therin Telamon. Is it so far-fetched to consider that some part of that long-dead man survives now, in Rand? He can't believe, really, that the man was actually carrying on conversations with Rand--that is certainly madness. But Rand seems to know things that no living man ought to, so there must be more to it than madness. And certainly something did happen to him there on Dragonmount.

It's something Perrin is going to need some time to think over. For now, he shakes his head. "It does sound crazy. But, maybe not as much as I'd thought."

He looks down at his own cup, also nearing empty. Something else Rand said was more concerning. "What do you mean that it could kill you?"

Mat likes his wine, and he'll be refilling his cup now. He knows his limit, but this doesn't taste exactly like the wine back in the Westlands. He'll slow down anyway.

You know, he thought Rand was crazy before. But he didn't think he was hearing a voice. Then again, if voices mean you're crazy, what do dice mean? Mat's sure he isn't insane, so maybe Rand isn't either. It certainly is starting to seem like he is sane now. Maybe not that he's completely sane, but at least not insane.

"Blood and ashes." Mat moves the wine closer to Perrin. He has more wine, and he has a feeling Perrin'll need more too. Giving Rand more doesn't exactly sound like a good idea. "You don't sound as crazy as I thought you were either, Rand."

He watches Rand with his eye, waiting for the answer to Perrin's question.

"... I'll take that as a compliment. Egwene asked if I wanted to go get Delved and healed, and probably would have mentioned soothing drinks on the way." Yes, Rand approves of not giving him more wine. He sets his mug aside, and settle like he'd clasp his hands together... only its fingers over the stump.

"Semhirage said something to the extent that hearing the voice of a past life was a sign of a madness that was incredibly rare, nigh incurable, and would likely result in me repeating the Dragon's actions, at his end." He doesn't particularly care, because ... well. "She used to be an extremely talented Healer, - Restorer, what the title was, everything but death out of her reach - so I was somewhat inclined to think she could be right, even if she terrified Lews. I don't think she's right."

Perrin takes the wine back from Mat to refill his own cup. He would offer it to Rand, but he doesn't seem interested. Perrin's eyes rest on that stump a moment as he sets the bottle back down.

"There's no reason for one of the Forsaken to tell you the truth about it anyway," he says. Even if she were telling him what she thought of as truth, he agreed with Rand; it didn't make her right.

Semirhage is also the one who destroyed Rand's hand...Did she always do things like that? Mat nods. "She could just have been lying to you anyway." And yeah, even if she told him what she thought was the truth, it might not have been true.

"So you're not insane anymore, Moiraine's back, and Perrin's gotten rid of a ter'angreal that prevents Gateways." That's all the really important things, right? That and the deaths of more Forsaken. 'Deaths' isn't the best way to say that though.

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