Before he had been there five minutes he knew who it was the Aes Sedai and Accepted were watching. One of the blocky Warder's pupils was a tall, lithe young man who moved like a cat. And almost as pretty as a girl, Mat thought wryly. Every woman was staring at the tall fellow with sparkling eyes, even the Aes Sedai.
The tall man handled his practice sword almost as deftly as the Warders, now and then earning an approving gravelly comment from his teacher. It was not that his opponent, a youth more Mat's age, with redgold hair, was unskilled. Far from it, as much as Mat could see, though he had never claimed to know anything about swords. The goldenhaired man met every lightning attack, turning it away before the bound strips could strike him, and even launched an occasional attack of his own. But the handsome fellow countered those attacks and flowed back into his own in the space of a heartbeat.
Mat shifted the pebbles to one hand, but kept them spinning in the air. He did not think he would care to face either of them. Certainly not with a sword.
“Break!” The Warder's voice sounded like rocks emptying out of a bucket. Chests heaving, the two men let their practice swords fall to their sides. Sweat matted their hair. “You can rest till I finish my pipe. But rest fast; I am almost in the dottle.”
Now that they had stopped dancing about, Mat got a good look at the youth with the redgold hair and let the pebbles drop. Burn me, I'll bet my whole purse that's Elayne's brother. And the other one's Galad, or I'll eat my boots. On the journey from Toman Head it had seemed half of Elayne's conversation had been of Gawyn's virtues and Galad's vices. Oh, Gawyn had some vices according to Elayne, but they were small; to Mat they sounded like the sort of things no one but a sister would consider vices at all. As for Galad, once Elayne was pinned down, he sounded like what every mother said she wanted her son to be. Mat did not think he wanted to spend much time in Galad's company. Egwene blushed whenever Galad was mentioned, though she seemed to think no one noticed.
A ripple seemed to pass through the watching women when Gawyn and Galad stopped, and they appeared on the point of stepping forward almost as one. But Gawyn caught sight of Mat, said something quietly to Galad, and the two of them walked by the women. The Aes Sedai and Accepted turned to follow with their eyes. Mat scrambled to his feet as the pair approached.
“You are Mat Cauthon, are you not?” Gawyn said with a grin. “I was sure I recognized you from Egwene's description. And Elayne's. I understand you were sick. Are you better now?”
“I'm fine,” Mat said. He wondered if he was supposed to call Gawyn “my Lord” or something of the sort. He had refused to call Elayne “my Lady” — not that she had demanded it, actually — and he decided he would not do her brother better.
“Did you come to the practice yard to learn the sword?” Galad asked.
Mat shook his head. “I was only out walking. I don't know much about swords. I think I'll put my trust in a good bow, or a good quarterstaff. I know how to use those.”
“If you spend much time around Nynaeve,” Galad said, “you'll need bow, quarterstaff, and sword to protect yourself. And I don't know whether that would be enough.”
Gawyn looked at him wonderingly. “Galad, you just very nearly made a joke.”
“I do have a sense of humor, Gawyn,” Galad said with a frown. “You only think I do not because I do not care to mock people.”
With a shake of his head, Gawyn turned back to Mat. “You should learn something of the sword. Everyone can do with that sort of knowledge these days. Your friend — Rand al'Thor — carried a most unusual sword. What do you hear of him?”
“I haven't seen Rand in a long time,” Mat said quickly. Just for a moment, when he had mentioned Rand, Gawyn's look had gained intensity. Light, does he know about Rand? He couldn't. If he did, he'd be denouncing me for a Darkfriend just for being Rand's friend. But he knows something. “Swords aren't the beall and endall, you know. I could do fairly