Mat goes gambling in Tar Valon and discovers that he has supernaturally good luck. After filling two purses, his lucky streak continues as he escapes from a gang of thieves.
Mat wastes no time in preparing his escape from Tar Valon. He still has a supernaturally ravenous appetite, but luckily the White Tower is treating him to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Mat abuses the hospitality, filling a bag with food for his travels. Anaiya Sedai visits to check on his health, and he assures her he has no intention of trying to leave the city. But even as the door closes behind her and he’s wiping the smile off his face, Mat gathers his belongings together and heads into the city. Remember when I said 1980s Matthew Broderick would be the perfect casting choice for Mat? This is why. Skipping school, escaping from Tar Valon — same difference.
The common room of a randomly selected inn is Mat’s first stop. Just to add a few coins to his purse, he tells himself. But then the luck comes, and it’s less of a gentle nudge and more of a cosmic two-by-four in the face. Roll after roll of the dice, it all goes his way. If something like this happened to you, would you stop playing? Neither would I! Mat has to move on to other common rooms to keep suspicions low, but after a while he has a shit-ton of money.
Mat snaps out of his gambling bender and heads for the docks to find a ship out of Tar Valon. He figures the streak of luck is either from the Shadar Logoth dagger or from the Healing he got from the Aes Sedai — and he can’t decide which would be worse. En route, some footpads start following him, and Mat manages to elude them. He climbs up to the rooftops and continues making his way to the docks. One of the more enterprising footpads pursues and gets the drop on him. After a brief struggle, Mat gambles one more time — with his own life — and catapults himself and his assailant over a railing. Mat survives without a scratch, the impact cushioned by the footpad’s body, whose dagger lodged itself in his own heart during the fall.
Shaken by the encounter, Mat heads to the nearest inn — The Woman of Tanchico.