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"How do you knohen a woman wants to kill you?" Rand mused

"When she knows your na Rand tilted his head thoughtfully, then nodded Nodded! She hoped he was not still hearing voices

Rand gestured as if brushing away the wo, with her about She did not want to kill hio at hiive much protection

"Weiramon is a fool who makes too ree I could use hion Reborn in any case What else?" Min handed hioblet, and he smiled at her despite the wine that slopped over his wrist Maybe he thought it was an accident

"Little else and too an, then jerked back in his chair to avoid spilling wine as Min shoved the second silver goblet at him She had not liked her brief stint as a tavernraciously, but he eyed her askance as he took the goblet She walked calmly back to fetch her oine Calh Lord Darlin are in Lady Arilyn’s palace here in the City," the Cairhienin lord went on, "under the protection of Cadsuane Sedai Perhaps protection is not the correct word I have been refused entry to see them, but I hear that they have atteht back like sacks In a sack, one story clai met Cadsuane, I can almost believe it"

"Cadsuane," Rand murmured, and Min felt a chill He did not sound afraid, precisely, yet he did sound more than uneasy "What do you think I should do about Caraline and Darlin, Min?"

Settling into a chair tay fro included Ruefully, she stared down at the wine soaking through her best cream silk blouse, and her breeches, too "Caraline will support Elayne for the Sun Throne," she said glumly For ine, it seemed very cold, and she doubted the stain would ever co, but I believe her" She did not glance toward Dobraine, though he nodded sagely Everyone knew about her viewings, now The only result had been a streaht sulky, too, when she said she could not tell them Most would not have been pleased with the little she had seen; nothing dire, but not at all the bright wonders that fortunetellers at the fair forecast "As for Darlin, aside fro hi hi I saw the crown on his head, a thing with a sword on the front of it, but I don’t knohat country it belongs to And, oh, yes He’ll die in bed, and she will survive hi at his lips with a plain linen handkerchief Most of those who knew did not believe Quite satisfied with herself, Min drank the little that re, jerking her handkerchief froive herself the dregs!

Rand sioblet "So they will live to trouble me," he murmured A very soft sound, for words like stone He was hard as a blade, her sheepherder "And what do I do about -- "

Abruptly he twisted in his chair, toward the doors One was opening He had very sharp ears Min had heard nothing

Neither of the two Aes Sedai who entered was Cadsuane, and Min felt her shoulders loosen as she tucked her handkerchief away While Rafela shut the door, Merana curtsied deeply to Rand, though the Gray sister’s hazel eyes took in Min and Dobraine and filed the her deep blue skirts wide, too Neither rose until Rand gestured They glided to hi cool serenity as they did their dresses Except that the pluh to reesture before, from other sisters who had sworn fealty to Rand It could not be easy for them Only the White Tower coer and they cas and queens as equals, perhaps slightly as their betters, yet the Wise Ones called them apprentices and expected them to obey twice as fast as Rand did

None of that showed on Merana’s son," she said respectfully "We only just learned that you had returned, and we thought you er to learn how lanced at Dobraine, but he rose i to speak in private

"Dobraine can stay," Rand said curtly Had he hesitated? He did not stand His eyes like blue ice, he was being the Dragon Reborn for all he orth Min had told him these women were his in truth, that all five who had accompanied him to the Sea Folk ship were his, utterly loyal to their oath and therefore obedient to his will, yet he see any Aes Sedai difficult She understood, but he was going to have to learn how

"As you wish," Merana replied, inclining her head briefly "Rafela and I have reached a bargain with the Sea Folk The Bargain, they call it" The difference was clear to the ear Hands lying still on grayslashed green skirts, she drew a deep breath She needed it "Harine din Togara Two Winds, Wave for Nesta din Reas Two Moons, Mistress of the Ships to the Atha’an Miere, and thus binding all the Atha’an Miere, has proon Reborn needs, to sail when and where he needs therow a touch pontifical when there were no Wise Ones around; the Wise Ones did not allow it "In return, Rafela and I, speaking for you, proe any laws of the Atha’an Miere, as he has done aive reements exactly as made The word they used was ‘shorebound,’ but what they mean is what you have done in Tear and Cairhien" A question appeared in her eyes, and was gone Perhaps she ondering whether he had done the saed nothing in her native Andor

"I suppose I can live with that," hepluive the Atha’an Miere land, a square one able water that you control now or come to control" She sounded less pompous than her companion, but only just Nor did she sound entirely pleased hat she was saying She was Tairen, after all, and few ports held a tighter control on their trade than Tear "Within that area, the laws of the Atha’an Miere are to hold sway above any others This agreement must also be made by the rulers of those ports so that " It was her turn to falter, and her dark ch