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‘We are skilled in such things, Queen of Drea his eyes ‘As are all the Tiste Anouise of a royal bodyguard… human, in the manner you have achieved’

‘Mistress,’ L’oric said, ‘oand worn deep There is bitter pathos in the prospect of retracing them Yet, for those of us who re but just that An endless retracing of paths, yet each step we take is forward, for the path has proved itself to be a circle Yet-and here is the true pathos-the knowledge never slows our steps’

‘ "Wide-eyed stupid", the Malazans say’

‘Soh,’ she replied She reached a long-fingered hand down to the water

L’oric watched it vanish beneath the surface, but it was the scene around them that seemed to waken, a faint turbulence, the hint of ripples ‘Queen of Dreams, Kurald Thyrllan has lost its protector’

‘Yes Tellann and Thyr were ever close, and now e statement… that he would have to think on later ‘I cannot do it alone-’

‘No, you cannot Your own path is about to becoht, L’oric And so you have come to me, in the hopes that I will find a suitable… protector’

‘Yes’

‘Your desperation urges you to trust… where no trust has been earned-’

‘You were my father’s friend!’

‘Friend? L’oric, ere too powerful to know friendship Our endeavours far too fierce Our ith chaos itself, and, at times, with each other We battled to shape all that would follow And some of us lost that battle Do not misapprehend, I held no deep enmity for your father Rather, he was as unfathomable as the rest of us-a be we shared’

‘You will not help?’

‘I did not say that’

He waited