We meet Thom Merrilin, who briefly performs on the village green before Moiraine’s appearance casts ice water upon the whole affair. Now that Tam believes that Rand and other young men in the village really did see a stranger on horseback, they head back to keep the farm safe for the night.
If I may indulge in an aside, Thom Merrilin is a fun character. As I read this chapter, I could not help but double down on my casting opinion of him — Patrick Stewart circa 1990 would have been a perfect way to portray him. Also, I recognized something in him that must have influenced me as a teenager: this guy, being a skilled performer and magician, is able to effortlessly make objects appear and disappear. In this chapter, it is his pipe, but I am certain that in subsequent chapters it will be daggers. When I was in high school, I always used a mechanical pencil as my writing implement. I got tired of misplacing it all the time, so I got myself a roll of elastic and sewed it into a loop that fit comfortably around my left upper arm, a bit above where the sleeve of my t-shirt would hang. This is where I carried my pencil at all times during the school day. When I needed to write something, I would simply reach my right hand up into my left sleeve and pull it out. When I was done writing, I would easily slip it back under my sleeve. The retaining arm on the pencil would snap over/off the elastic in such a satisfying way. I thought it worked rather well, and in case it wasn’t apparent by now, I wasn’t the sort of teenager who gave two shits about how strange my peers may have thought I looked. In restrospect, I credit the character of Thom Merrilin with sparking that idea.
As we begin the chapter, poor Thom can’t believe how he has been treated in Two Rivers. Misinformed, harshly greeted, impetuously prodded, and finally chased out of the inn by an angry Nynaeve. A gleeman, he says, should be treated with higher regard when he has taken the trouble to travel to a backwater locale like this. But as people begin to gather around him, his crowd pleasing nature can’t resist putting on a bit of a show for the onlookers.
Until, that is, Moiraine shows up. Upon noticing her, Thom abruptly stops his show. Despite greeting her courteously, it is clear that he is not happy to see her. Before Thom can continue his show, the Village Council emerges from the inn, and Thom is happy to finally partake of the common room.
Tam surprises Rand by saying that they need to return to the farm. Rand is puzzled because they had originally planned to stay the night in town. But on the way back, Tam explains that several other young men in the villages saw the man on horseback too, and if a stranger it lurking about, their farm must not go undefended.
Mustache tugging/knuckling: Thom x 2