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To the far left of the green, running below thestreaer reeds and scrub oak that had yet to send out spring buds A small ay, to be certain, but a fine source of fresh water for the arhted the in the other direction So it hadn’t been the needles after all, but the banners that had been in the wrong Min let out a soft sigh, and he could feel her relief, though she still worried about him That emotion was perpetual, lately He felt it from all of them, each of the four bundles of emotions tucked away in the back of his mind Three for the women he had allowed to place theainst his will One of the with Rhuarc to meet with Rand at the ret their decision to bond hiret his decision to let them--or, at least, his decision to allow the three he loved But the truth was that he needed Min, needed her strength and her love He would use her as he used so ret He just wished he could banish guilt as easily

Hyena! a voice said distantly in Rand’s head My loveLews Therin Telamon, Kinslayer, was relatively quiet this day Rand tried not to think too hard about the things See had said on the day when Rand had lost his hand She was one of the Forsaken; she would say anything if she thought it would bring her target pain

She tortured an entire city to prove herself, Lews Therin whispered She has killed a thousand men a thousand different ways to see how their screams would differ from one another But she rarely lies Rarely

Rand pushed the voice away

"Rand," Min said, softer than before

He turned to look at her She was lithe and slight of build, and he often felt that he towered over her She kept her hair in short ringlets, the color dark--but not as dark as her deep, worried eyes As always, she had chosen to wear a coat and trousers Today, they were of a deep green, much like the needles on the pines outside Yet, as if to contradict her tailored choice, she had had the outfit ure Silver embroidery in the shape of bonabell flowers ran around the cuffs, and lace peeked out from the sleeves beneath She smelled faintly of lavender, perhaps from the soap she’d taken to most recently

Why wear trousers only to tri to understand wo them would not help him reach Shayol Ghul Besides, he didn’t need to understand women in order to use theritted his teeth No, he thought No, there are lines I will not cross There are things even I will not do

"You’re thinking about her again," Min said, al as a bond that worked only one way He would have given much for one of those

"Rand, she’s one of the Forsaken," Min continued "She would have killed all of us without a second thought"

"She wasn’t intending to killout theagain "Me she would have held"

Min cringed Pain, worry She was thinking of the twisted ht, hidden, when she’d cohter of the Nine Moons The Forsaken’s disguise had been disrupted by Cadsuane’s ter’angreal, allowing Rand to recognize Senize her

The exchange had ended with Rand losing a hand but gaining one of the Forsaken as his prisoner The last time he’d been in a similar situation, it hadn’t ended well He still didn’t knohere Asone or why the weasel of a man had fled in the first place, but Rand did suspect that he had betrayed much about Rand’s plans and activities

Should have killed him Should have killed them all

Rand nodded, then froze Had that been Lews Therin’s thought or his own? hews Therin, Rand thought Are you there?

He thought he heard laughter Or perhaps it was sobbing

Burn you! Rand thought Talk toI need to knohat you kno did you seal the Dark One’s prison? What rong, and why did it leave the prison flawed? Speak to hter Sometimes it was hard to tell with Lews Therin Rand continued to think of the dead ardless of what Seone and it could touch his o insane

The descent into terain, spoken for the others to hear His secret was finally out But Min had seen a viewing of Rand and another ether Didn’t that mean that he and Lews Therin were two separate people, two individuals forced into one body?

It e had said In fact, it roup of six soldiers inspect the horselines that ran along the right side of the green, between the last line of tents and the line of trees They checked the hooves one at a time

Rand couldn’t think about his madness He also couldn’t think about what Cadsuane was doing with See That left only his plans The north and the east must be as one The west and the south must be as one The two must be as one That was the answer he’d received froe creatures beyond the red stone doorway It was all he had to go on

North and east He had to force the lands into peace, whether they wanted it or not He had a tenuous balance in the east, with Illian, Mayene, Cairhien and Tear all under his control in one way or another The Seanchan ruled in the south, with Altara, Aht soon be theirs, if they were pressing in that direction That left Andor and Elayne