Chapter Seventeen:
A few nights before, there had been a surprise in the camp when someone appeared who should not have appeared at all.
"Hello Elayne, how are the kids?" Birgitte said as she wandered into her tent. Suddenly there was a lot of hugging and crying and smiling, and not just from Elayne. Aviendha was also there, smiling away, as she always did when she saw her sister Elayne so happy. Mat was also there, clapping Birgitte on the back as if she were one of his Redarms.
"How did you free yourself from the Wheel?" asked Aviendha.
"I made a request to the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn. Although they deliberated for what seemed like a long time, they granted me my request. Although their judgement can be harsh," at this point, Mat fingered his black scarf, but she continued, "they can also, on rare occasions be sentimentalists. They let me pass into this realm, one last time." With that she smiled, a rare and almost beautiful thing, and she hugged Elayne firmly again.
The next night, Mat and Birgitte were on the furthest side of the camp, away from most of the camp, and they were, as usual, drinking.
"Do you remember when Karim Masail fought in the Trolloc Wars?" Mat asked over a jug of wine.
"I do indeed." Birgitte replied. "He had a nice pair of legs. Especially in those tight breeches he always wore, they made my heart race every time I saw him."
"Was this before you met Gaidal in this life?" Mat asked with a grin.
"Yes it was, Mat, and you know it was. I recall you were there with me most of the time in that life."
Mat remembered the memories he had of that life. "We had grown up in a small village together. We were childhood friends. We trained in the army of Jaramide, which is where you fell in love with one of the Captains of the Guards there, as I recall he was a ginger haired, large-eared person." Birgitte roared with laughter, agreeing that what Mat had said was true.
"Mat, how long have we known each other?" Birgitte actually looked serious, which was quite different from the raucous discussions they had had before."
"In this life, no more than three years, I suppose. Throughout the turning of the Wheel, I would probably say, two, two and a half thousand years. You are bonded to the Horn, Birgitte, when I seem to be bonded to the Wheel itself; to be spun out when general of renown are needed. Why?"
"Sometimes, I feel as if I remember you from before then. You once told me you could not remember anything before what I think is Eharon in the 500 's. But I am sure I remember you before then. I think…yes, that's it!"
Mat stared at her intently. "Where is it that you remember me from?"
"The Age of Legends." Birgitte said, staring over her refilled goblet of wine. "I remember you clearly now. You were a great General. I remember that you won many battles against your enemy. You were known as one of the greatest Generals of the Age."
"I always was a great General, always against the Dark One and his allies, as I seem to be at this very moment." He tipped his jug, in honour to fighting the Dark One always.
"But you weren't fighting against the Dark One. You were fighting for the Dark One." Birgitte said, as she quaffed her jug of wine in one gulp.