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Once he had watched Whatley Eldin decorate a cart for Sunday, back hoht colors, and the intricate scrollwork that surrounded them For the borders, What let the point of his brush touch the cart, rew thicker as he pressed harder, then thinner again as he eased up That was how the land looked, as if someone had streaked it with a rehere the burns were, though so done Not so much as a hint of char remained in the air there, not a whiff even when he leaned down to break off a black twig and s had coreen to black, along knifeedge lines

In its oay, the rest of the land lay as dead as the burns, though grass covered the ground and leaves covered the trees Everything had that faded look, like clothes too often washed and too long left in the sun There were no birds or ani in the sky, no bark of a hunting fox, no bird singing Nothing rustled in the grass or lit on a tree branch No bees, or butterflies Several tih often it had dug itself a deep gulley with steep banks the horses had to scramble down and climb on the other side The water ran clear except for the mud the horses’ hooves stirred, but never a , not even a waterspider dancing across the surface, or a hovering lacewing

The water was drinkable, which was just as well, since their waterbottles could not last forever Rand tasted it first, andhappened to hiotten them into this; it was his responsibility The water was cool and wet, but that was the best that could be said for it It tasted flat, as if it had been boiled Loialtheir heads and drinking reluctantly

There was one sign of life; at least, Rand thought itacross the sky like a line draith cloud The lines were too straight to be natural, it seeht make them He did not mention the lines to the others Perhaps they did not see, Hurin intent on the trail as he was and Loial drawn in on hi of the lines, at any rate

When they had ridden half the e horse without a word and strode to a stand of giantsbroo into ht, not a pace above the ground At the top, all split again, into the leafy brush that gave them their na, but soier’s manner, as if he hi at the tree, Loial put his hands on a trunk and began to sing in a deep, soft ru, once, when Loial had sung to a dying tree and brought it back to life, and he had heard of sung wood, objects wrought fro, Loial said; he was one of the feho had the ability, now; that hat ht after and treasured When he had heard Loial sing before, it had been as if the earth itself sang, but now the Ogieralmost diffidently, and the land echoed it in a whisper

It see, music without words, at least none that Rand could make out; if there ords, they faded into the asped and stared

Rand was not sure what it was Loial did, or how; soft as the song was, it caught hi hishands along the trunk, singing, caressing with his voice as well as his fingers The trunk now see it Rand blinked He was sure the piece Loial worked on had had branches at its top just like the others, but now it stopped in a rounded end right above the Ogier’s head Rand opened hisquieted hi, as if he should know it

Abruptly Loial’s voice rose to a climax -- al as a breeze fades

"Burn me," Hurin breathed He looked stunned "BurnlikeBurn me"

In his hands Loial held a staff as tall as he was and as thick as Rand’s foreariantsbroorowth

Rand took a deep breath Always so I didn’t expect, and someti the staff across his saddle in front of hiier wanted a staff at all, since they were riding Then he saw the thick rod, not as big as it was, but in relation to the Ogier, saw the way Loial handled it "A quarterstaff," he said, surprised "I didn’t know Ogier carried weapons, Loial"

"Usually we do not," the Ogier replied alh" He hefted the huge quarterstaff and wrinkled his broad nose with distaste "Elder Ha handle onhasty or rash, Rand This place " He shivered, and his ears twitched

"We’ll find our way back soon," Rand said, trying to sound confident

Loial spoke as if he had not heard "Everything islinked, Rand Whether it lives or not, whether it thinks or not, everything that is, fits together The tree does not think, but it is part of the whole, and the whole has a -- a feeling I can’t explain anyhappy is, but Rand, this land was glad for a weapon to be ht shine on us," Hurin murh we go to the last eht illu the catechism as if it had a charm to protect him

Rand resisted the impulse to look around He definitely did not look up All it would take to break theht at thathere to hurt us," he said fir does"

He wanted to laugh at hi But watching the others -- Loial with his tufted ears drooping, and Hurin trying not to look at anything -- he knew one of them had to seem to be sure, at least, or fear and uncertainty would break them all apart The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills He squeezed that thought out Nothing to do with the Wheel Nothing to with ta’veren, or Aes Sedai, or the Dragon It’s just the