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| [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_lft.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=LoC,Ch39'}] 
| %%(display:block; text-align:center;) [{Image src='Chapter Icons/harp_bw.gif' align='center' link='Wiki.jsp?page=Gleeman Chapter Icon'}] ''[LoC|Lord of Chaos]: Unexpected Laughter'' %% 
| [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_rgt.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=LoC,Ch41' align='right'}]
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! __Mat__ POV

After he leaves the [Little Tower|Salidar], [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] finds [Thom|Thom Merrilin] and gives him the letter.[1] [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] does not know whom it is from. Trying to dissuade [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] from meddling, [Thom|Thom Merrilin] tells him the story of [Laritha|laritha]. When he was young, good-looking and rich, [Thom|Thom Merrilin] knew [Laritha|laritha]. Her husband beat her, but when [Thom|Thom Merrilin] tried to "rescue" her they both turned on him and he barely escaped with his life. He tells [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] that he, [Juilin|Juilin Sandar], [Nynaeve|Nynaeve alMeara] and [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] are going to [Ebou Dar]. [Nalesean|Nalesean Aldiaya] told [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] that [Ebou Dar] is a rough place. [Thom|Thom Merrilin] thinks [Egwene|Egwene alVere] will make a good [Amyrlin|Aes Sedai]. He suggests that [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] come with them to [Ebou Dar] to help him keep the girls safe. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] recalls that [Basel Gill]  told him something about [Thom|Thom Merrilin].[2] [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] asks who sent him the letter, but [Thom|Thom Merrilin] does not say.[3] He walks away. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] gets up and sees [Nynaeve|Nynaeve alMeara], but she runs from him. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] rejoins his men at the stable and checks on [Pips]. [Mar|mar] and [Ladwin|ladwin] are chagrined at having been caught so easily by the [Warder]. One of [Mat|Matrim Cauthon]'s bannermen, [Verdin|verdin], is nervous, but [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] tells him everything is going according to plan. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] sends [Vanin|Chel Vanin] back to tell [Talmanes|Talmanes Delovinde] to wait.
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! __Elayne__ POV

After meeting with [Mat|Matrim Cauthon], [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] goes to find [Aviendha]. [Akarrin] tells her that [Aviendha] will be in [novice|novices] white by nightfall. She goes out to the street and [Birgitte|Birgitte Trahelion] and [Areina|Areina Nermasiv] run up. [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] thinks [Areina|Areina Nermasiv] is an impossible wretch. [Birgitte|Birgitte Trahelion] tells her that [Vandene|Vandene Namelle] and [Adeleas|Adeleas Namelle] are going with them. [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] wonders if they have their own mission.[4] [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] figures that the [Sitters] think that she and [Nynaeve|Nynaeve alMeara] need chaperones. [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] asks again for permission to tell [Egwene|Egwene alVere] about [Birgitte|Birgitte Trahelion]. She again refuses, explaining that if people know she is a hero they will expect too much of her. When she was [Maerion|Birgitte Trahelion] and [Joana|Birgitte Trahelion] she was just a normal person. She already feels like a [feather-dancer|Birgitte Trahelion] in a [Tovan|Tova] conclave.[5] 

[Areina|Areina Nermasiv] walks up and begins hassling [Birgitte|Birgitte Trahelion] about archery lessons. They leave and [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] goes to see [Aviendha]. Five [Aes Sedai] including [Shana|shana] are talking to her. [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] takes [Aviendha] away with her. The [Aes Sedai] acquiesce because of her strength. She is glad that [Myrelle|Myrelle Berengari] was not among the group. [Myrelle|Myrelle Berengari] is head of the [Green Ajah] in [Salidar] despite being [Aes Sedai] less than fifteen years and Ajah head would have taken precedence over strength. 

In [Elayne|Elayne Trakand]'s room, [Aviendha] tells [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] that [Egwene|Egwene alVere] asked her to look after [Rand|Rand alThor]. She slept with [Rand|Rand alThor] and so now has great %%ot [toh|Aiel]%% toward [Elayne|Elayne Trakand]. She gives [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] a knife and a stick and asks her to use either. [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] realizes that [Aviendha] is [Min|Min Farshaw]'s third woman. [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] refuses to hit her even though she is furious. From [Min|Min Farshaw]'s [viewing|viewings] the three of them will share him. [Aviendha] says they will have to become first-sisters if they are to be sister-wives. At first, [Aviendha] wants to go after [Min|Min Farshaw], but [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] convinces her that the three of them will have to share him. [Min|Min Farshaw] should be arriving in [Caemlyn] about now. [Elayne|Elayne Trakand] is relieved that the third is not [Berelain|Berelain sur Paendrag]. After talking some more they wind up laughing together.
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! Notes (Possible Spoilers)

[#1] The description of the letter is being corrected to match that in [TFoH,Ch52], the impression of her great serpent ring in blue sealing wax. We do not learn the content of the letter until [KoD,Ch10].
\\[#2] That [Thom|Thom Merrilin] was Court Bard in [Caemlyn] and a dangerous person. ([TEotW,Ch35]) This was the time period where [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] lost much of his memory.
\\[#3] [Moiraine|Moiraine Damodred], of course.
\\[#4] To check for [White Tower] runaways with the [Kin]. ([ACoS,Ch30])
\\[#5] The [Tovans|Tova] were extremely conservative.
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