All in all it added up to be one of the worst days of Mat's life. " That vile
woman!" he thought, " I curse the day I ever laid eyes on that, that
creature". The need of stealth had caused their small party escaping Ebou
Dar to be cramped together for the past few weeks. They had made great haste
in the first days fearing to be caught by a roving sentry, or worse a
deathwatch guard. With Mat's unbelievable luck, so he thought, the menagerie
was not so much as stopped or questioned and reached the border without
mishap with them safely secreted in some of its army of traveling wagons.
Having successfully made it out of Altara, they all collectively took a
breath. The panic of flight now settled down, letting everyone's frayed
nerves show with a vengeance. It had all started to go downhill when Juilin
had punched Valan Luca right in his face nearly breaking his nose. Mat would
have to be more careful where his eyes roamed lest he be dealt the same fate,
he had hardly ever seen a man get so worked up about a little harmless
looking. Julian seems to have been transformed into an honest man by his
Seanchan lady, Thera. And as for Luca, well he was a married man even if he
liked to pretend differently. Oh that bloody Luca, Mat could hardly stand to
be in the same room with him, always sneering at him in that derogatory way
and incessantly showing off his flaming cape! After the Juilin incident he
threatened to throw the whole lot of them out of the menagerie to fend for
themselves. Mat having decided that they were still to far in Seanchan
territory, and far to small a party with way too many secrets to do without
their most reliable method of escape opted for a little diplomacy, however
painful. It was a good thing that Valan was the kind of man who liked the
look of gold. In the end it had taken quite a lot of finesse, not to mention
a great lot of wine, to bring him to his senses. After that night Mat had
kept his distance from the man, abstaining even from joining any of the
other's around the fire at night to hear the old man Noal's intriguing
stories. As if that man alone weren't enough to put him at his wits end,
Aludra was keeping her secrets held closer to her than Mat kept his foxhead
medallion for all his efforts. And worse yet she had stopped to take Mat's
advances seriously. What was the bleeding use of a bellmaker? He couldn't
make his brain except the logic of the question. He knew he wasn't looking at
it from the right angle. But he had just not been in the right frame of mind
for that type of thinking since leaving Ebou Dar, since leaving Tylin tied up
under her bed. Oh what he wouldn't give for a little peace of mind. But Mat
couldn't even find solitude in his wagon, he was always being waylaid by
Olver and forced to play pointless games of Snakes and Foxes. The boy was
relentless in his obsession to win fairly. Now that he wasn't the center of
attention for women three times his age, he came to plague Mat in the
evenings. He had plenty of mischief to make in the day. Someone was
suspected of having meddled with the tiger's cage causing them to break out
and send their tamers into a hysterical fit. Mat couldn't help but laugh
though, even if the boy was going to turn out to be a troublemaker, he
reminded him to much of himself at that age. Olver had actually asked Valan
to be allowed into the stunt horseback-riding act. He was the right size and
weight, and was becoming quite the talented rider. Mat was sure that with a
little training he could have put on a first rate show, even if Mat did
loathe the thought of Olver working for that man. Fortunately, Valan outright
rejected him claiming he was to ugly for his audience to be made to look at.
Olver took it in stride, but Valan had been in a fury to catch the "villain"
who had had ruined his best red cape, turning it a vulgar pink.

None of this was why Mat was having the worst day of his life even though
days traveling with the menagerie were far from bliss. No the reason for that
had a name, and that name was Tuon. She could give Elayne lessons in
arrogance! He had wanted to just keep her tied up and stuffed in a chest with
a nice sturdy lock on it. The further away from him the better. The Daughter
of the Nine Moons, Light! But Egeanin would not hear of it, the blasted
women fainted at the very notion. And Mat knew that it was unethical to lock
someone up in such a fashion. Instead they had kept her under constant guard
with rotating shifts. Her and her strange servant, Selucia who were kept on
opposite sides of the camp.. They had procured a stage wig to cover her
baldness, and cut her fingernails short while removing the lacquer. At first
they had bound and gagged her least she tried to run away or signal help if
they ran into any troops. But she had not put up a fight, she was as docile
as a mouse, all except for her mouth. They stowed their prisoners in a wagon
secluded from the rest. Luca didn't ask questions about bound and gagged
prisoners or Seanchan nobles as long as the gold flowed. Truth be told Mat didn't think
Luca would care even if he knew who it has they held prisoner, he didn't seem to care about
anything at all for that matter, except making a profit and aggravating Mat. When they had
reached what seemed to all in Mat's party to be a moderately safe zone, when
they were one third of the way to Lugard where Mat planned to break with the meanagerie
, they had un-gagged her. And to think Mat had almost pitied her, but that was before
she spoke. She never said words of scorn to any of her other captors, she was
positively sweet to them, as if she was saving up all her bitterness to hurl
at Mat. Mat refused to gag her again or to forego his allotted time to guard
her. He was not going to be intimidated by her , no matter what she said. She
was not afraid at all, she was brave, he would give her that. But her
constant insults and oaths of what would be done to him when he was caught
got to him in spite of his willing them not to. It was during these times
that Mat truly loathed being alive. His mind focused on all the negative
things that had transpired and could yet transpire. Thoughts of the gholam
possibly on their trail, thoughts of battles he had fought and lost in lives
long since past, thoughts of fox faced monsters laughing at him in pure jest
before they devoured his heart. Through his dark stream of thought he always
heard her voice, coated with venom. " Tylin's Toy", " Less than property!"
Somtimes some of the children would come to giggle at him until he threw
sticks at them to make them retreat. The worst though was when she called him
husband with the most sarcastic voice she could muster. " Oh dear husband,
surely you wish to kiss your sweet bride, oh how she pines for your tender
caress" He was a light blinded fool for ever uttering those bleeding words.
He wished beyond all else that he could just take them back. Oh what a mess
he had made of it. And he was actually going to have to marry this woman! No
there had to be a way out, he couldn't even conceive of ever loving something
that was so full of hate for him. The sky around seemed as grim as death
momentarily stealing the breath from his lungs.

Now on this particular morning Tuon had gone to far. "The Creator as my
witness she went to far, and I was justified!" She had looked up at him and
in a calm voice said " You are less than a man, Mat Cauthon. You let your
women treat you like covale, like property, for everyone to see even though
you are a free man. And after this you refuse to be bought and become an
esteemed so'jhin. I would rather die the lonely death of a spinster than ever
become a wife to such a man. You have no shame and you have no sei'taer, you
have no honor" Mat had overreacted. But he wouldn't be talked to like that.
Not when she didn't know, couldn't possibly know! He had backhanded her
across the right cheek sending her and her chair to the ground. He was so
surprised by his outburst of rage, that it angered him more. He stormed out,
he couldn't take it anymore. He stormed out only to have Valan Luca plant his
body right in his path. The man had obviously had to much to drink. Mat had heard
gossip around the menagerie that things had all started to go down hill for Luca after his
marriage, one that at that time he thought was necessary for him to keep his indulgent
lifestyle. He could have never guessed that giving shelter to an animal trainer could have led
him to reap such fortune from the Seanchan, nor that he was going to become a wealthy man
indeed without the benefit of a good marriage. luca looked up with glazed eyes at Mat. Who at this
time was using all his energy just to stay composed. " Yes, I think you are the villian! Come Balrin I've caught the
culprit at last" Luca wobbled a little on his feet but managed to stay rooted
in Mat's way. " Get out of my way fool, I have no time for your stupidity I
need to find Thom and I need to find him right away" . " You eluded me, but
now I've got witnesses. Several people heard you say you that you were glad
my cape was ruined so I couldn't show off like a gleeman knave anymore! I
knew from the moment I saw you Cauthon, that you were nothing but a scoundrel
who bribed a few fools to follow in his wake. Probably don't even know what
an honest days work feels like. I built this menagerie up from nothing by the
force of my own will. I'd like to see your kind ever try such a feat. And now
when I've become a successful man I have villains like you try to take my aceivements from me,
laugh at me and destroy my property. I won't have it!"
Luca made an attempt to strike him but Mat easily dodged him and let him
throw himself into a fall. He was seething. He had to keep control of
himself. He had to find Thom.