It’s just Rand, Mat, and a long dusty road. Can anyone say “buddy road trip?” Along the way, they trade labor and performance art for food and lodging.
Rand and Mat walk east toward Caemlyn, avoiding strangers whenever possible. They don’t have much money left, so Rand once again brings up the idea of selling the ruby dagger, and Mat flips out. Sell his precious? Outrageous! Maybe we should start with something less drastic, like cutting off an arm.
With money tight, the boys often trade farm labor for food and lodging. Rand hates wasting daylight working when they could be covering ground. Plus a lot of the homesteaders are distrustful of strangers, and they often find themselves chased away like vermin. But at one friendly farm — Master Grinwell’s — they actually get invited inside for a meal with his family. Mat juggles for them and Rand plays Thom’s flute. Master Grinwell is absolutely taken by the entertainment, and suggests that men would pay good money to see them perform. He starts getting ideas about Rand and Mat staying for another day, but Mistress Grinwell has noticed her teenage daughter Else eyeing Rand like he’s the last sausage at breakfast and decides this flute-playing thing has gone far enough.
From then on, they spend their nights in relative comfort by performing at inns in exchange for room and board. Since they don’t need daylight to perform, it also maximizes their travel time. All in all, the journey is smooth. But then they reach Four Kings.