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Rand rode with gri conversation with Verin He had this thing to do -- this duty, Ingtar would have called it -- and then he could be free of Aes Sedai once and for all Perrin seeht ahead at nothing as they rode When they finally stopped for the night at the edge of a forest, with full dark al Trollocs would not enter a stedding; would wolves? Loial replied shortly that it was only creatures of the Shadow that were reluctant to enter stedding And Aes Sedai, of course, since they could not touch the True Source inside a stedding, or channel the One Power The Ogier hi Tsofu Mat was the only one who seeer, almost desperately so His skin looked as if he had not seen the sun in a year, and his cheeks had begun to go hollow, though he said he felt ready to run a footrace Verin put her hands on hiain before they , but it made no difference in how he looked Even Hurin frohen he looked at Mat

The sun stood high on the second day when Verin suddenly sat up straight in her saddle and looked around Beside her, Ingtar gave a start

Rand could not see anything different about the forest now surrounding theroas not too thick; they had found an easy way under the canopy of oak and hickory, blackgum and beech, pierced here and there by a tall pine or leatherleaf, or the white slash of a paperbark But as he followed theh he had leaped into a Waterwood pond in winter It flashed through hi of refreshment And there was a dull and distant sense of loss, too, though he could not iave a jerk or made some exclamation Hurin’s" Then he shook his head as if he could not think of anything else to say There was a look of recognition in Perrin’s yellow eyes

Loial took a deep, slow breath and let it out "It feelsgoodto be back in a stedding,"

Frowning, Rand looked around He had expected a stedding to be somehow different, but except for that one chill, the forest was the sah all day There was the sudden sense of being rested, of course Then an Ogier stepped out from behind an oak

She was shorter than Loial -- which meant she stood head and shoulders taller than Rand -- but with the sa eyes, the sa as Loial’s, though, and her features seemed delicate beside his, the tufts on her ears finer She wore a long green dress and a green cloak embroidered with flowers, and carried a bunch of silverbell blosso the

Loial scrambled down from his tall horse and bowed hastily Rand and the others did the same, if not so quickly as Loial; even Verin inclined her head Loial gave their na

For a irl -- Rand was sure she was no older than Loial -- studied the Tsofu" Her voice was a lighter version of Loial’s, too; the softer ruhter of Alar Be welcome We have had so few human visitors since the stonemasons left Cairhien, and now soPeople, though, of course, they left when the Oh, I talk too much I will take you to the Elders Only " She searched ae, and settled finally on Verin "Aes Sedai, you have so many men with you, and ariveto have veryat once"

"Of course, Erith," Verin said "Ingtar, will you see to it?"

Ingtar gave orders to Uno, and so it was that he and Hurin were the only Shienarans to follow Erith deeper into the stedding

Leading his horse like the others, Rand looked up as Loial calances at Erith up ahead with Verin and Ingtar Hurin walked h Rand was not sure at what exactly Loial bent to speak quietly "Is she not beautiful, Rand? And her voice sings"

Mat snickered, but when Loial looked at hily, he said, "Very pretty, Loial A little tall for my taste, you understand, but very pretty, I’m sure"

Loial frowned uncertainly, but nodded "Yes, she is" His expression lightened "It does feel good to be back in a stedding Not that the Longing was taking ?" Perrin said "I do not understand, Loial"

"We Ogier are bound to the stedding, Perrin It is said that before the Breaking of the World, we could go where ished for as long as ished, like you huier were scattered like every other people, and they could not find any of the stedding again Everything was ed Mountains, rivers, even the seas"

"Everybody knows about the Breaking," Mat said i?"

"It was during the Exile, while andered lost, that the Longing first ca once ain Many died of it" Loial shook his head sadly "More died than lived When we finally began to find the stedding again, one at a time, in the years of the Covenant of the Ten Nations, it seeed us, put seeds in us Now, if an Ogier is Outside too long, the Longing coins to weaken, and he dies if he does not return"

"Do you need to stay here awhile?" Rand asked anxiously "There’s no need to kill yourself to go with us"

"I will knohen it co enough to cause har the Sea Folk without ever seeing a stedding, and she caier wo a tar up and down and seemed to dismiss him, which made him blink Her eyes swept across Loial, flicked over Hurin and the Eain; Loial see to hide behind his horse "Besides," he said, peering cautiously across his saddle after her, "it is a dull life in the stedding co with