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‘My ht smile
L’oric looked away ‘No,’ he conceded in a whisper
‘She knows, then And has judged as I have-Bidithal is close to exposing the plotters They need him, after all, either to join the conspiracy, or stand aside This is a truth that has not changed And the night is drawing nearer, the night of betrayal And so, Mother needs him to play out his role’
‘I aan, then shut up
But she had understood, and her terrible smile broadened ‘Then the Whirlwind Goddess has stolen the love fro time, after all In any case, she was not my mother in truth-that was a title she assumed because it amused her to do so-’
‘Not true, Felisin Sha’ik saw your plight-’
‘I was the first one to see her, when she returned, reborn A chance occurrence, that I should be out gathering hen’bara on that day Before that day, Sha’ik had never noticeda thousand orphans, after all But then she was… reborn’
‘Returned to the living as well, perhaps-’
Felisin laughed ‘Oh, L’oric, you ever strive, don’t you? I knew then, as you must know by now-Sha’ik Reborn is not the same woman as Sha’ik Elder’
‘That hardly matters, lass The Whirlwind Goddess chose her-’
‘Because Sha’ik Elder died, or was killed You did not see the truth as I did, in the faces of Leoman and Toblakai I saw their uncertainty-they did not know if their ruse would succeed And that it did, more or less, was as much to me as to any of them The Whirlwind Goddess chose her out of necessity, L’oric’
‘As I said, Felisin, it does not matter’
‘Not to you, perhaps No, you don’t understand I saw Sha’ik Elder up close, once Her glance swept past lance saw no-one, and at that h I was, I knew the truth of her Of her, and of her goddess’