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"And that’s not what I am?" Gawyn asked testily

"Peace, son," Bryne said "This wasn’t meant to be an insult Just an observation I know you were never as single-minded as your brother I suppose I should have seen this in you"

Gawyn turned toward the aging general What was themost soldiers never face, Gawyn Oh, they may consider it, but they don’t let it torher up"

"What question?" Gawyn asked, perplexed

"Choosing a side," Bryne said "And, once you’ve picked one, deciding if you ht decision The foot soldiers don’t have to make this choice, but those of us who leadyes, I can see it in you That skill of yours with the sword is no sift Where do you use it?"

"For Elayne," Gawyn said quickly

"As you do now?" Bryne asked with aon’t go?" Bryne asked "I know that look in your eyes, lad I also know sowene al’Vere She won’t leave this battlefield until a victor has been chosen"

"I’ll take her away," Gawyn said "Back to Andor"

"And will you force her to go?" Bryne asked "As you forced your way into my camp? Will you become a bully and a footpad, remarkable only because of your ability to kill or punish those who disagree with you?"

Gawyn didn’t answer

"Whohtens us, sometimes What is the ability to kill if one has no outlet for it? A wasted talent? The pathway to beco So you look for soive the skill to, someone ill use it wisely The need to make a decision chews at you, even after you’ve er men We old hounds, we’re just happy to have a place by the hearth If sos up toomenthey wonder"

"Did you question, once?" Gawyn asked

"Yes," Bryne said "More than once I wasn’t Captain-General during the Aiel War, but I was a rank-captain I wondered then,the Aiel war, of all things?" Gawyn said, frowning "They cahter"

"They didn’t come for us," Bryne said "They just wanted the Cairhienin Of course, that wasn’t so easy to see at first, but truth be told, some of us wondered Laman deserved his death Why should we die to stand in the way of it? Maybe more of us should have asked the question"

"Then what’s the answer?" Gawyn asked "Where do you put your trust? Whom do I serve?"

"I don’t know," Bryne said frankly

"Then why ask in the first place?" Gawyn snapped, pulling his horse up short

Bryne reined in his ani back "I don’t know the answer because there isn’t one At least, each person’s answer is their own When I was young, I fought for honor Eventually, I realized that there was little honor to be found in killing, and I found that I had changed Then I fought because I served your an to wonder again What of all those years of service? What of the men I’d killed in her name? What did any of that ain Gawyn hasted Challenge to catch up

"You wonder why I’m here, instead of in Andor?" Bryne asked "It’s because I can’t let go It’s because the world is changing, and I need to be part of it It’s because once everything in Andor was taken froht me this opportunity"

"And you chose it just because it was there?"

"No," Bryne said "I picked it because I’m a fool" He ht That which has been broken must be made whole, and I’ve seen what a terrible leader can do to a kingdom Elaida can’t be allowed to pull this world doith her"

Gawyn started

"Yes," Bryne said "I’ve actually coht, Gawyn, they’re right What I’ht"

"Who?"

Bryne shook his head, wene? Gaondered

"My motives aren’t important to you, son," Bryne said "You’re not one of my soldiers But you need to , you’ll need to have a side and you’ll need to knohy you’ve chosen it That’s all I’ll say on the ait In the distance, Gawyn could pick out another guard post He hung back as Bryne and his soldiers approached it

Pick a side What if Egouldn’t go with hi You could sed to shoulder its way through the clouds You could sense it, distantly, in the north, crackling like unseen energy on that dark horizon

War, battles, conflicts, changes Gawyn felt as if he didn’t knohat the different sides were Let alone which one to pick for himself

CHAPTER 31

A Promise to Lews Therin

Cadsuane kept her cloak on, hood up, despite the nore" the heat She dared not lower the hood or remove the cloak AlThor’s words had been specific; if he saw her face, she would be executed She wouldn’t risk her life to prevent a few hours of discoht al’Thor was safely back in his newly appropriated mansion The boy often appeared where he wasn’t expected or wanted

She wasn’t about to let him exile her, of course The more power a man held, the more likely he was to be an idiot with it Give aits milk to feed his family Give a man ten cows, and he was likely to think himself rich--then let all ten starve for lack of attention

She clos like boxes stacked atop one another She wasn’t particularly pleased to be in Bandar Eban again She had nothing against the Domani; she just preferred cities that weren’t so crowded And with the problems in the countryside, the place was ees continued to trickle in despite the ru al’Thor’s arrival in the city She passed a cluster of them in the alley to her left, a family, faces darkened by dirt

Al’Thor proer to return to their fariven food The countryside was still too chaotic, and the food here too new The refugees couldn’t be certain the grain wouldn’t just spoil, as soit

Cadsuane shook her head, continuing down the boardwalk, those wretched clogs clattering against the wood The city was fa, sturdy ays, which allowed foot traffic to avoid the mud of the streets Cobbles would have fixed that, but the Do different froestibly spicy food with dreadful eating utensils A capital filled with frivolous banners, set on a huge port Scandalous dresses on the wo, thin mustaches on the s

Hundreds of those banners flapped in the wind as Cadsuane passed, and she gritted her teeth against the temptation to pull off her hood and feel the wind on her face Light-cursed ocean air Normally, Bandar Eban was chilly and rainy Rarely had she felt it this warm The humidity was dreadful either way Rational people stayed inland!

She h the mud at intersections That was the irredeemable flaw of boardwalks, in her opinion The locals knehich streets to cut across and which ones were deep in mud, but Cadsuane had to just tramp across wherever she could That’s why she’d hunted out these clogs, built after the Tairen style, to go over her shoes It had been surprisingly hard to find athem; the Domani obviously had little interest in them, and most people she passed either went barefoot in the mud or knehere to cross and keep