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"Toman Head," Verin said "This is the Stone I visited You should not have tried to bring us directly here I don’t knoent wrong -- I don’t suppose I ever will -- but from the trees, I would say it is well into late autuained any time by it We’ve lost ti here"

"But I didn’t -- "

"You s I cannot teach you, it’s true, but perhaps I can at least keep you fro Even if you do not kill yourself, if the Dragon Reborn burns hi candle, ill face the Dark One then?" She did not wait for hitar instead

The Shienaran gave a start when she touched his arht," he said hoarsely "I will find the Horn of Valere and pull down Shayol Ghul’s power I will!"

"Of course you will," she said soothingly She took his face in her hands, and he drew a sudden breath, abruptly recovering from whatever had held him Except that memory still lay in his eyes "There," she said "That will do for you I will see how I can help the rest We rown s briefly by each, Rand went to his friends When he tried to straighten Mat, Mat jerked and stared at hirabbed Rand’s coat with both hands "Rand, I’d never tell anyone about -- about you I wouldn’t betray you You have to believe that!" He looked worse than ever, but Rand thought it was ht

"I do," Rand said He wondered what lives Mat had lived, and what he had done He must have told someone, or he wouldn’t be so anxious about it He could not hold it against him Those had been other Mats, not this one Besides, after some of the alternatives he had seen for himself"I believe you Perrin?"

The curlyhaired youth dropped his hands froh Redin His yellow eyes hid his thoughts "We don’t have many choices really, do we, Rand? Whatever happens, whatever we do, so breath "Where are we? Is this one of those worlds you and Hurin were talking about?"

"It’s Toman Head," Rand told him "In our world Or so Verin says And it is autumn"

Mat looked worried "How could --? No, I don’t want to kno it happened But how are we going to find Fain and the dagger now? He could be anywhere by this tiht Fain had had tio Tiht, he didn’t get tired of waiting If he’s hurt Egwene, or anybody in Eht burn er towns on Toh for all to hear Everyone was on their feet again, except for Rand and his two friends; she came and put her hands on Mat as she spoke "Not that there are h to call towns If we are to find any trace of the Darkfriends, to the west is the place to begin And I think we should not waste the daylight sitting here"

When Mat blinked and stood up -- he still looked ill, but he moved spryly -- she put her hands on Perrin Rand backed ahen she reached for him

"Don’t be foolish," she told him

"I don’t want your help," he said quietly "Or any Aes Sedai help"

Her lips twitched "As you wish"

Theythe Portal Stone behind No one protested, Rand least of all Light, let me not be too late

Chapter 38

(Flaed on her bed in her white dress, Egwene ht weave patterns above her hands She was not supposed to do this without at least one the Accepted to supervise, but Nynaeve, glaring and striding up and down in front of the siven to the Accepted, and her white dress had the colored rings encircling the hem, even if she was not allowed to try to teach anyone yet And Egwene had found over these last thirteen weeks that she could not resist She kne easy it was to touch saidar now She could always feel it there, waiting for her, like the s her And once she did touch it, she could rarely stop fro to She failed almost as often as she succeeded, but that was only another spur to keep on

It often frightened her How htened her, and how drab and dreary she felt when she was not channeling, compared to when she was She wanted to drink it all in, despite the cautions about burning herself out, and that wanting frightened her most of all Sometiht could not ht by an Aes Sedai or by any of the Accepted beside Nynaeve

It was safe enough here, though, in her own roo her, but she knew Min well enough now to know Min would never report her She thought she was lucky to haveto Tar Valon

It was a little, less room, as all novices’ rooms were Three short paces took Nynaeve from wall to whiteplastered wall; Nynaeve’s own roo the other Accepted, she cawene’s room when she needed someone to talk to, even as nohen she did not talk at all The tiny fire on the narrow hearth handily kept the first chill of approaching autuas sure it would not serve so inter cas, and her belongings hung neatly on a row of pegs on the wall or sat on the short shelf above the table Novices were usually kept too busy to spend time in their rooms, but today was a freeday, only the third since she and Nynaeve had co calf’s eyes at Galad today while he orking with the Warders," Min said, rocking the stool on two legs

The swene’s hands "She can look at whoever she wants," Egwene said casually "I can’t iine why I w