[{Table style='width:100%'

|  [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_lft.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=TEotW,Ch1'}] 
| %%(display:block; text-align:center;) [{Image src='Chapter Icons/ravens_bw.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=Category Ravens Icon' align='center'}] ''Strangers''

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|   [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_rgt.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=TEotW,Ch3' align='right'}]

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! __Rand__ POV

[Rand|Rand alThor] and [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] are carrying the cider barrels inside the [Winespring Inn]. The inn's cat is [Scratch]. We meet the Village Council, [Tam|Tam alThor], [Bran|Bran alVere], [Cenn Buie], [Rowan Hurn], [Samel Crawe], [Haral Luhhan] and [Jon Thane],[1] as well as [Marin al'Vere]. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] played a trick on three village boys, [Adan al'Caar], [Ewin Finngar] and [Dag Coplin|Dag Coplin 2]. [Alsbet Luhhan] is still furious that [Mat|Matrim Cauthon]'s "ghost hounds" got flour all over her house. [Ewin Finngar] comes in and tells them about the strangers in the town. We find out that they are [Moiraine|Moiraine Damodred] and [Lan|al'Lan Mandragoran].[2] It has been five years since a real stranger came to [Emond's Field|Emonds Field], a fugitive from some sort of trouble in [Baerlon]. [Moiraine|Moiraine Damodred] and [Nynaeve|Nynaeve alMeara] get off to a rough start with [Moiraine|Moiraine Damodred] calling her "child." [Rand|Rand alThor], [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] and [Ewin Finngar] step outside the [Winespring Inn]. The inn's stablemen, [Hu Barran|Hu Barran] and [Tad|Tad Barran], have seen to [Bela] and the wagon. The boys see a raven watching them from the roof. They throw stones at it and it just moves aside instead of flying. [Moiraine|Moiraine Damodred] comes up behind them and the raven flies away. We get a physical description of [Moiraine|Moiraine Damodred]. She gives [Rand|Rand alThor] and [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] special coins, [Tar Valon] marks.[3] She says she is there to collect stories. [Rand|Rand alThor] recalls hearing that the inn is a thousand years old. She starts walking to the Wagon Bridge. [Lan|al'Lan Mandragoran] leaves the front of the [Winespring Inn] and follows her. [Rand|Rand alThor] and [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] hear shouting; they look across the Wagon Bridge and see that a peddler has arrived.[4]
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More [Category Rand POV] 
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! Notes (Possible Spoilers)

[#1] There are eight on the Village Council. The eighth is not identified.\\
[#2] The timing of their arrival certainly is coincidental. The story chronicling the events leading to [Moiraine|Moiraine Damodred]'s and [Lan|al'Lan Mandragoran]'s arriving just in the nick of time will be the subject of the [third prequel novella|novella3], though it is not certain if it will ever be written.\\
[#3] She uses these coins later to track where the boys are. ([TEotW,Ch21]) The weave she placed on the coins is a [Finder|Weaves] that gives her a sense of distance and direction much like the [Warder] bond. ([KoD,Ch16])\\
[#4] The peddler is [Padan Fain]. He has been keeping track of the boys.\\
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! Artwork

* [The Warder|http://members.shaw.ca/jbeveridge/teotw05.htm]
([James Beveridge|http://members.shaw.ca/jbeveridge/wot01.htm])

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