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‘It won’t That’s why none of this matters’

‘What makes you so certain, Kettle?’

‘The tower told me’

‘It did? What did it say to you? Try to recall its exact words’

‘It never spoke ords It just showedBut I could see through the gauze I’d woken up I was seeing everything with two sets of eyes It was very strange One set behind the wrappings, the other standing nearby’

‘What else did Azath show you?’

‘Those eyes fro in the street, watching the fa way, because of the drea for the Azath to choose soh ere here for the saether They were Nerek witches, and they’d prepared me The me on the outside, not the me all wrapped up’

‘The you on the outside, Kettle, were you a child?’

‘Oh no I was tall Not as tall as you And I had to wear my hood up, so no-one could see how different I was I’d co, hot sands – the sands that covered the First Empire Whatever that is’

‘What did the Nerek witches call you? Had you a name?’

‘No’

‘A title?’

She shrugged ‘I’d forgotten all this They called me the Nameless One Is this ih I am not sure in ay Much of this real when I was imprisoned You are certain this "Na the Nerek used because they didn’t know your true name?’

‘It was a title They said I’d been prepared from birth That I was a true child of Eres And that I was the answer to the Seventh Closure, because I had the blood of kin "The blood of kin" What did they mean by that?’

‘When I a strain, ‘I will be able to physically touch you, Kettle My fingers upon your brow And then I will have your answer’

‘I guess this Eres was my real mother’

‘Yes’

‘And soon you will knoho my father is’

‘I will know his blood, yes At the very least’

‘I wonder if he’s still alive’