Mat reunites with Thom, who is still mourning Dena’s death.
Thom Merrilin stands on a table in the inn’s common room, playing his harp and reciting a story. We haven’t seen him since Dena died in The Great Hunt, and it’s clear from his drunken stumbling that he has not been taking it well. Thom makes his way across the common room with difficulty, and Mat immediately regrets ordering a glass of wine for his old friend.
Mat suggests they get something to eat, and says the funniest line of the whole series thus far:
MAT: Don’t I smell chicken roasting? Bring me three or four. Do you want something to eat, too, Thom?
Hah! Mat and his bottomless stomach. Also, is this some sort of reference to Blues Brothers? Because Mat just ordered the Wheel of Time equivalent of “four fried chickens and a Coke.”
It’s well-known that Thom hates Aes Sedai for gentling his nephew, so when Mat asks why Thom is here, the answer is simple: self-punishment. He understandably blames himself for what happened to Dena, and what could be a more fitting penance than surrounding himself with Aes Sedai? He muses that the only place worse would be Caemlyn, and as luck would have it, that is precisely where Mat is headed. Looks like you just got a traveling companion, Mr. Cauthon. Hopefully this time you won’t have to use him as bait!