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With a griled to her feet, still dizzy froons "Did you measure the stones?" she asked Laoina "Where e find the tribe of Brightness-Hears-Me?"

Laoina had only to point to the oasis below theo, quick quick"

With Alain’s support and the broad back of the dog called Rage to lean on, she ed to pick her way down the hill and across the sand and pebble-strewn flat, baked hard by the merciless sun The journey see before them The lion woman had vanished Maybe she had only been an hallucination

The sered forward into the shade of tall trees whose fronds waved in the breeze It was , they sipped water as they gathered their strength The sounds of an unseen hu on oats

"Look!" said Alain

A short figure swathed head to toe in voluminous robes approached them cautiously, both hands extended with palesture of peace Painted swirls and patterns of a deep blue color marked its palms Adica quickly opened her own hands to show that they, too, ca a narrow path that led between gardens of dense bushes and trees laden with clureen fruit Purple-and-white flowers as broad as hands drooped toward the ground Rushes lined the banks of a canal so narrow they could step across it, the rushes sliding and scraping along their thighs Sweat streas prickled from the heat

They crossed a second canal, wide enough that Adica was grateful to wade across, glad to get her feet wet Finally, they caarden where lay a pool of water about as far across as she could throw a stone, lined with rocks and cut by canals radiating out like six spokes of a wheel Rage and Sorroaded into the water to drink Beyond this spring, sreenery, thickly scented herbs, young shoots of einkorn, and trees laden with fruit, reddish like apples but rather more swollen and round Vines were staked out on huardens lay tents,these tents one greater than the others: high and broad, the tent cloth so white that she had to shade her eyes from its brilliance All around them, the people of the tribe of Essit went about their work Most of the robes Only their eyes and hands could be seen A few, adorned with copper bracelets, worked out in the sun clothed in shifts and a loose head covering; these people had brands burned into their cheeks

The children ran about naked, shrieking and giggling, pausing only to stare and whisper at the strangers, keeping their distance Beyond the encaoats and donkeys uide led them to the holy tent Soft pilloaited the travelers beneath the pleasant shade afforded by a striped awning While they reclined at their ease, two youths brought theolden cups and a basketful of moist brown nutlike fruits Only their hands were visible, soft and young, patterned with henna A young person played a four-stringed harp With brown eyes, thick lashes, and a delicately formed face, the youth could have beenof brass pierced the youth’s nose; bracelets adorned the wrists, and a brand marred her--or his--cheek

Under cover of the rippling melody, Alain leaned forward "A woman watches us from inside"

"Where? I see no one at the entrance" Adica bit into the nut-brown fruit It eet, not nutlike at all Delicious

"She watches us," repeated Alain Rage and Sorrow padded back fro as they flopped down in a shady patch and set their heads on their forelegs, content to rest "Why did you need to measure the stone to find this tribe? Surely the looic is always in the sahtness-Hears-Me does not live in houses, as we do They have more than one loom in their land When they move, the Hallowed One ic weaves into that looed so that a line drawn between them points to the water hole where the tribe shelters"

When they were refreshed, a robed personthem across the threshold of the tent But when Alain rose to accompany them, Adica shook her head

"No htness-Hears-Me It is the law of their tribe"