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"She’ll be called Spider, for the way she spins herself through the air"
The sun just then drops below the wall Light turns to shadow all across the courtyard like evil tidings A shiver of cold runs up my arms
Spider is an ill-omened name because it is a powerful naic that gives the icians who serve the king More dreadful yet, wickedly poisonous torave robbers and iuide us
Spiders uard tomb and desert but they are not our friends
The other adversaries look down at the ground or up at the darkening sky, anywhere except at me They are troubled and embarrassed too
I aa about, one that involves lords and palaces as far beyond my common reach as the stars in the sky
I incline e
Lord Thynos departs, Inarsis walking beside hione the conversation jolts back to life as everyone les, relaxed and easy
"Jes! You want to sit with us?" Gira waves me over to her table "This is Shorty, and Mis," she adds, introducing the other to feels ether with the three of the Merry, Bett, and Anaws like a pain in my belly, and I desperately wish they were here, but the cheerful way Gira, Shorty, and Mis include rief easier to bear
Talon stays off by herself The praise the adversaries throay is sparse, like a passing shower of rain, but I can tell they are glad to haveas they drink cups of passionflower juice and graze through bowls of nuts I could learn to love this
After bathing I pick ear, a long, sleeveless linen sheath gown for everyday wear, undergarments, sandals, and a worn but serviceable set of formal clothes pressed and folded An oil lamp A bed with a linen sheet and a pillow All the necessities for groo Exhausted, I stretch out on the bed
Hoiftly fortune changes!
Everything I took for granted has dissolved into mist and shadow That which I never dared hope for has come true Is there an oracle at the heart of the world hispers a fortune into unhearing ears and we never know until it is too late? Or does fortune fall at rando wind shakes it free?
Tonight Father will lie doith his new bride and his new rank He has made a fresh bed for his ambition that doesn’t include us