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"Would one of you ently

"You would not understand," his sister said, and the three girls all caught a fit of the giggles

Gawyn scratched his head, then shook it "Well, if it has anything to do with Rand al’Thor, be sure you don’t let Elaida hear of it She has been at me like a Whitecloak Questioner three times since we arrived I do not think shethe garden, a woed shawl "’Name the Dark One,’" he quoted, "’and he appears’ I do not need another lecture about wearingto you all"

Elaida spared a glance for the departing Gawyn as she cae She was a handsoeless look marked her as surely as her shawl; only the newestwene, pausing only a wene suddenly saw a hardness in the Aes Sedai She had always thought of Moiraine as strong, steel under silk, but Elaida dispensed with the silk

"Elaida," Elayne said, "this is Egwene She was born with the seed in her, too And she has already had so as I am Elaida?"

The Aes Sedai’s face was blank and unreadable "In Caemlyn, child, I am councilor to the Queen your mother, but this is the White Tower, and you, a novice" Min o, but Elaida stopped her with a sharp, "Stay, girl I would speak with you"

"I’ve known you all row up, and ardens bloom in winter so I could play"

"Child, there you were the DaughterHeir Here you are a novice You reat one day, but you as astounded If someone had snubbed her so before others, she would have been in a fury

"Now, off with both of you" A gong began to toll, deep and sonorous, and Elaida tilted her head The sun stood halfway to its pinnacle "High," Elaida said "You must hurry, if you do not want further admonishment And Elayne? See the Mistress of Novices in her study after your chores A novice does not speak to Aes Sedai unless bidden to Run, both of you You will be late Run!"

They ran, holding their skirts up Egwene looked at Elayne Elayne had two spots of color in her cheeks and a determined look on her face

"I will be Aes Sedai," Elayne said softly, but it sounded like a proiven to understand, girl, that you were brought here by Moiraine Sedai"

She wanted to stay and listen, to hear if Elaida asked about Rand, but High rang through the White Tower, and she was summoned to chores She ran as she had been corowled Elayne flashed a quick s, and they ran faster

Min’s shirt clung to her when she finally left the bridge Not sweat from the sun, but from the heat of Elaida’s questions She looked over her shoulder toher, but Elaida was nowhere in sight

How did Elaida know that Moiraine had summoned her? Min had been sure that was a secret known only to her, Moiraine, and Sheriam And all those questions about Rand It had not been easy keeping a s an Aes Sedai to her face that she had never heard of hiht, what does Moiraine ith hiht, I don’t want to fall in love with a man I’ve only ht blind you," she htand tell raywings With a grimace she went in search of a place to cool off

Chapter 25

(Rising Sun)

Cairhien

The city of Cairhien lay across hills against the River Alguenya, and Rand’s first sight of it caht of the midday sun Elricain Tavolin and the fifty Cairhienin soldiers still seee at the Gaelin; they became more stiff the further south they rode -- but Loial and Hurin did not appear to e as any he had seen Fat ships and broad barges filled the river, and tall granaries sprawled along the far bank, but Cairhien seeray walls Those walls the the river In just as exact a pattern, towers rose within the walls, soaring as ht of the wall, yet even froed top

Outside the city walls, surrounding them from riverbank to riverbank, lay a warren of streets, crisscrossing at all angles and teeate, Rand kneas called, froate, but over the years they had all grown into one, a hodgepodge of streets and alleys growing up every which way

As Rand and the others rode into those dirt streets, Tavolin put so, shouting and urging their horses forward as if to traet out of the way quickly People lance, as if it were an everyday occurrence Rand found hiate people’s clothes were shabby more often than not, yet much of it was colorful, and there was a raucous bustle of life to the place Hawkers cried their wares, and shopkeepers called for people to exaoods displayed on tables before their shops Barbers, fruitpeddlers, knifesharpeners, s for sale, wandered through the crowds Music drifted through the babble froht they were inns, but the signs out front all showed e as they were, they had no s Most of the buildings in Foregate seeood aped at several that stood seven stories orin and out did not seeht ahead in disgust "Look at them, corrupted by outland ways They