What's the deal with that word, anyway? "Gleeman"? Why not just call it a bard and leave it at that like normal people would do? "Gleeman" brings images of horrific maniacal jesters to mind, worse creatures than Darkfriends could ever hope to be. The old man who just burst out of the inn is far from those images, which is comforting but not quite fitting. I can't relate this guy to standing on his head and singing like a loon.
The door slams behind him and the first thing he does is swivel around to glare at it, and that's just so goofy that I wonder if maybe calling him a gleeman might be suitable after all. It's kind of sad, really. This is probably going to be our wise old mentor, and here he is leering at innocent doors. At least he's not condescending like Nynaeve.
Egwene gets excited about him being the gleeman, and he spins around again like a top. Apparently he has more than one mustache. Is that even possible? He "glares imperiously" and I'm taking back what I said about condescension. What is it with people and being haughty? Everyone's been haughty except for Our Hero and Tam. And Ewin too I guess. Is there like a hierarchy based on how high you can stick your nose into the air?
A great deal is made about how he has blue eyes instead of dark ones, like how Rand has gray eyes. This probably means he's his real dad and that Tam's been pretending all along, even though I don't think the laws of genetics would allow it to happen in real life.
When the gleeman speaks he has a great resonating voice that doesn't match up with the word "gleeman" either. You'd expect someone called a gleeman to have a shrill sort of voice, wouldn't you? He complains about how the village isn't worshipping at his feet, apparently assuming that he's far superior to these mere mortals. Maybe it's because they're not familiar with gleemen, genius. Does Jordan think having characters whine for half a page will bring them an endearing quality? The dumb kids don't seem to care about his arrogance and even apologize on the village's behalf. Ridiculous. The gleeman rants about how Nynaeve isn't mature enough to be the Wisdom, which does redeem him a bit.
When Rand explains to him about the worry brought by Padan Fain's news, the gleeman brushes it off as "old news" even in other backwater places. He asks Egwene out of nowhere to be his assistant for his performance, which probably isn't that suspicious in Emond's Field, and introduces himself as Thom Merrilin. Why not just Tom? Is the name poisonous without that crucial H or something?
He bows extravagantly and Mat applauds. I have no idea what that's even supposed to mean, so we'll just move on. They talk about how far the boys have traveled, and it's obvious that Thom's making fun of them for not having experience. He eventually apologizes, though for what isn't clear. Egwene seemed insulted by something, so maybe it was for that, even though she was addressing Mat at the time. Conversations in this book only pretend to be linear.
A small crowd gathers, and he decides to show off and give them "a small sample". He does this by somersaulting around, juggling half a dozen balls, and rattling off the names of old stories - basically things any nimble fifth grader could do. Egwene shows a bit of depth by showing interest in adventure stories, and Rand dimly thinks she's saying that to get under his skin. How would he come to that conclusion? Not everything is about him, he should realize.
Thom keeps at his talk of Ages for a bit longer before being distracted by Moiraine. He addresses her politely but hesitantly, meaning she's probably one of those witches. She says she's a collector of stories and takes off, and the villagers don't seem to care much about this because they tell Thom to eat fire and play music for them. Then he takes off muttering about a strong brandy, and Cenn sardonically asks if he's supposed to be a gleeman or a king. Cenn remains the best character. Nynaeve argues with Bran about Moiraine and Lan, and insults the Village Council's intelligence before trouncing away. Nynaeve remains the worst character.
After some nonsense about "proving Nynaeve right" (?), the Council disperses. This reminds me of the theater, where the actors conveniently come and go depending on what the plot demands. Except that there isn't much plot and all the dialogue is about how much everyone else sucks. Rand and his tagalongs gossip with Tam about the rumors of false Dragons and such, it's not anything we haven't seen before. Tam says that the day after tomorrow the Council will set up watches to keep a lookout for strange happenings, which pretty much guarantees that something interesting will happen before that time. I can hardly wait. The boys want to go patrolling, and I'll bet they'll be eating their words. Or maybe not. They seem like they'd be way excited to go on tedious adventures.
Tam leaves for the stable and Rand gossips with his friends a bit more before following him. At the stables he catches sight of a trio of horses that are just perfect for being Moiraine's, Lan's, and Thom's. Isn't that convenient. They start heading home, Tam says that a couple other boys have seen the Black Rider, and they gossip some more about who the Rider might be. Why is there so much gossiping? It's getting in the way of the actual story!
The chapter ends with a doozy of a foreshadowing: "there was nothing the black-cloaked horsemen could do that the people of Emond's Field could not handle together." We'll see about that when it starts raining hellfire from the skies, buddy.
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