Chapter 2: Strangers

I probably shouldn't be going over every little sentence that isn't geography or history. What kind of blogger is completely and utterly mad? I know that some would say "the best kind," but since I want these posts to be at least readable I'll try and do some more summing up.

Rand and Mat lug the cider barrels into the inn, where most of the Village Council is lounging around. Haral Luhhan the blacksmith gives Mat a nasty look because he suspects that Mat pulled another childish prank involving smothering his dogs in flour and setting them loose (which he did). Mat gets distracted by Bran's wife, who's carrying honeycakes, and Rand has to get him to focus again. There, I just summarized three pages in three sentences. The subtle not-quite-tension is a bit lost in translation, but it's understood just fine, right? But the siren song of nitpicking is already calling me back ...

Suddenly a "pudgy" younger kid called Ewin Finngar stumbles onto the scene for the express purpose of exclaiming that "[t]here are strangers in the village." At least this guy gets right to the point. Rand and Mat worry aloud that there might be Riders, and Mat "intimidates" him into explaining that the strangers aren't wearing black; one is wearing one of those elven camouflage cloaks, and the other is a lady in the finest blue clothing he's ever seen. Crap, more costume gushing on the horizon.

Mat pretends Ewin's not there as he reveals he's actually seen these two strangers, and praises the look of their horses. The man is apparently a soldier-type person. Mat then says dreamily that it doesn't matter who exactly they are; they're strangers, and isn't it just romantic that they're here in little old Emond's Field?

Ewin puts in that the man's name is Lan, and the woman's is Moiraine — "the Lady Moiraine", he's careful to clarify. He adds that Nynaeve doesn't like her because she called her a child, which is promising, and that Moiraine has also been asking a lot of questions. Rand and Mat don't seem as concerned about the latter as they should be, since they're busy guffawing at the former.

Then they go back upstairs and outside (just summed up half a page right there) and Mat tells Ewin to go away, there is a gleeman and he wasn't listening to Bran's little politics lesson earlier, was he. Rand gets the feeling that he's being watched and sweet jumping jellybeans, there are ravens on the rooftops! The boys feel that the ravens are annoying and toss rocks at one of them, and are somehow surprised when the raven just steps out of the way. Survival instinct isn't something they're familiar with, I see.

Suddenly they hear an ominous woman's voice distastefully being racist against the black birds: she slams the raven as being "[a] vile bird ... to be mistrusted in the best of times." Yeah, it's not like being carrion eaters actually makes the world a cleaner place, Miss Moiraine! The boys gawk at her for a minute, and one interesting thing here is that she appears to be ageless, which undoubtedly means she can use magic. The narration takes a timeout again to go into detail on her fancy clothes, and all I'm wondering is, why is she all dressed up out here in the middle of nowhere? Are they just stopping by for something, or did they sense that the Chosen One™ was here and decided to be as unsubtle as possible?

Ewin does his best to be hospitable and honest with her, and she's just condescendingly amused in return. This sure bodes well for her character. She gives each of the boys a coin to help her out with some small tasks, making another ominous comment about there is a bond between them now, which totally isn't creepy at all. Rand asks the obvious question of why she's come to this little podunk playland, and she claims to be "a collector of old stories" which basically confirms that this is like the Eragon backwater scenario of ancient nobility and kings living here.

Moiraine goes on to spout some nonsense about the Wheel turning and different names in different times, and the boys are understandably dumbstruck. She then goes to leave, and the man named Lan who they didn't notice standing close by follows her. We get some more description of his elven cloak, which at least makes sense because the swirling colors serve a purpose as opposed to just random patterns of embroidery or whatever. They wonder if he's a Warder, whatever that's supposed to be, and then Ewin gets all thrilled because Moiraine gave him a whole silver penny. Rand and Mat are stunned to see that they received far more valuable silver coins, because they obviously deserve more money than that other poor dope.

The two heroes decide not to spend their coins because they're too important, and right on cue the peddler's wagon rolls into town. Where did the peddler come from? No, I mean from a narrative strandpoint, where did he come from? I can't remember if one was mentioned in the last chapter. This is what happens when you take so many pages before allowing something to happen, story. Of note is the fact that the wagon is so big that it takes eight horses to pull it. Is this wagon also a king's carriage or something? Would a peddler even be able to afford all of them and feed himself? It just seems far too large for reason.

Anyway, the chapter ends with the line "[i]t was going to be the best Bel Tine ever" and I nearly threw the book against the wall because I can't tell you how many times I've read and heard this awful cheesy line, with Christmas instead of Bel Tine of course. I also like how the narration jinxes the situation so that it'll inevitably be forced to veer off into death and destruction territory. Will the pace pick up in the next chapter? Who knows! Find out with me within the week.