Chapter 35 (Caemlyn)

For all that I was trying to get a post done, I still missed things I'd wanted to point out from Chapter 34. I did mention I loved Bunt's chatter, but in particular I loved the bits about the tree chopped down and the black veiled Aiel coming over the dragonwall. Oh, and a question - only semi rhetorical - in this chapter his skin is prickling (rather like it does when channeling is happening), I assumed it was because of the Fade, but has this happened before and does it happen again?
Lastly I also loved the quote from Thom while Rand is dreaming The Queen is wed to the land...but the Dragon, the Dragon is one with the land, and the land is one with the Dragon. Okay, with that out of the way we can enter Caemlyn. 

We made it, Mat. 

So now they're in Caemlyn, but what's next? We haven't seen the rest of the gang in chapters, so as the reader, we're fairly certain they're not all just waiting for Mat and Rand. As they enter the city the reader sees many things we'd expect to see, the country boys being awed by the city around them, city people talking advantage of the tourists (as evidenced by their dusty clothes and I'm guessing gawking as well) - They'll all be trying to cheat us, Rand as well as being paranoid, Mat was acutely accurate with that statement. 

After a bit of misdirection and redirection and purchasing the red covering for his sword instead of the white (as we all know a nice accident as the red was cheaper), the boys end up at the Queen's Blessing with Basil Gill, who says it best about Thom's apparent demise earlier in the book I'll believe he's dead when I see his corpse. When I read that line, this read, I realized I never once truly thought Thom was dead even in my first read. Now, I'm not sure if that's the cues from the book itself or just from my experience as an avid reader - unless you see the body, you always doubt, and even then it's not always 100%. Somehow Thom's non-death (not yet confirmed) cemented for me feelings that the boys would be safe - at least for awhile.

Also - Thom a court bard? I'm struggling to remember if there was ever a time I didn't just know/accept/take for granted he was always more than what he presented. I'm sure Jordan's writing had a great deal to do with that, but so too did fantasy tropes. Then - is anyone ever just who they seem to be in fantasy? Well, I suppose the answer is yes.

When Basil struggled to ask around if the boys were in that sort of trouble with the Aes Sedai, I laughed aloud. Apparently no one can talk straight about that type of thing. To me what came across was the awkwardness, not the danger.

We'll end here with the first(?) mention of Gareth Bryne - Captain General of the Queen's Guard. Oh, what things Jordan has in store for you, sir.