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"Can’t tell you things I don’t knownorthward He felt a strange tugging, as if someone had hooked a fisherman’s line about his insides and was softly--but insistently--pulling on it Rand, is that you, burn you? Colors swirled "Soon, Aludra," he found hi "Ti so in his voice "Well," she said "If that be the case, then oes to war, the forges will soon be needed for arrowheads and horseshoes Better to put theons Let me assure you, each one we finish will be worth a thousand swords in battle"

Mat sighed, stood up and tipped his hat to her "All right, then," he said "Fair enough Assu Rand doesn’t bloody burn est this, I’ll see what I can do"

"You would be wise to show Mistress Aludra respect," Leilwin said, eyeing Mat, speaking with that slow Seanchan drawl "Rather than being so flippant toward her"

"That was sincere!" Mat said "That last part was, at least Burnsincere?"

She eyed hi to decide if that very pronouncement were some kind of mockery Mat rolled his eyes Women!

"Mistress Aludra is brilliant," Leilwin said sternly "You don’t understand the gift she is giving you in these plans Why, if the Empire had these weapons"

"Well, see that you don’t give them to it, Leilwin," Mat said "I don’t want to wake up oneand find that you’ve run off with these plans in an atte your title!"

She looked insulted that he’d suggest such a thing, though it see to do Seanchan had an odd sense of honor--Tuon hadn’t tried once to flee froh she’d had ample opportunity

Of course, Tuon had suspected fro that she’dBurn hiain He wouldn’t!

"My ship is being driven by different winds now, Master Cauthon," Leilwin said si at Bayle

"But you wouldn’t help us fight the Seanchan," Mat protested "It seeht now, lad," Bayle interjected in a soft voice "Aye, deep water, filled with lionfish Itso loudly"

Mat closed his ht then," he said Shouldn’t the two of the hih Seanchan prince or so? He should have known that wouldn’t help him with Leilwin or the bearded sailor

Anyway, he had been sincere Aludra’s words h they sounded at first They would need to dedicate a lot of foundries to the work The weeks it was going to take hi now Those weeks spent on the road should be spent building dragons! A wiseht," he said again He looked back at Aludra "Though--for completely different reasons--I’d like to take these plans with me and keep them safe"

"Completely different reasons?" Leilwin asked in a flat tone, as if searching for another insult

"Yes," Mat said "Those reasons being that I don’t want the way and blows herself halfway to Tarwin’s Gap!"

Aludra chuckled at that, though Leilwin looked offended again It was hard not to offend a Seanchan Thee how opposite they could be in many ways, yet the same in so many others

"Youas you keep theold That is one object in this careatest attention froather up the pages, ignoring the veiled insult Hadn’t they just ot Do you know anything about crossbows, Aludra?"

"Crossbows?" she asked

"Yes," Mat said, stacking the papers "I figure there should be a way to make them load faster You know, like those new cranks, onlyMaybe a crank you could tithout having to lower the weapon first"

"This is hardly my area of expertise, Mat," Aludra said

"I know But you’re ss like this, and maybe"

"You will have to find so to pick up another half-finished nightflower "I a his head "That--"

"Mat!" a voice called "Mat, you’ve got to come with me!" Mat turned as Olver ran into Aludra’s ca hand, but of course Olver just ran right beneath it

Mat straightened up "What?" he asked

"So his features And those features were a sight Ears that were too big for his head, nose that was squashed down, liness was endearing He’d have no such luck when he grew older Maybe thehim weapons With a face like that, he’d better kno to defend hi Aludra’s plans into his belt "Someone’s come? Who? Why do you need me?"

"Talmanes sent me to fetch you," Olver said "He thinks she’s soes with your picture on theot a ’distinctive face,’ whatever that means That"

Olver continued, but Mat had stopped listening He nodded to Alu-dra and the others, then trotted out of her caed along behind as Mat hurried to the front of the cay woray in her hair, which was pulled back in a bun She was surrounded by a group of soldiers, Tal directly in front of her, like two stone pillars barring entrance to a harbor

The wo Warder stood beside her horse Though he had graying hair, the stocky er that all Warders had He studied the Band’s soldiers with unyielding eyes, arms folded

The Aes Sedai smiled at Mat as he trotted up "Ah, very nice," she said prirown prompt since we last parted, Matrihtly frolanced at Talmanes who held up a sheet of paper, one of those imprinted with Mat’s face "You’ve discovered that so pictures of hed "You could say that"