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"Hoent your first day?" he asked
"She has a fasther si the sentence structure in minutes She’ll be able to introduce herself to anyone and discuss the weather by the time we reach Everam’s Bounty, and proficient by winter"
Ahue"
Abban shrugged
"What else did you learn?" Ahmann asked
Abban smiled "She likes apples"
"Apples?" Ahmann asked, confused
"A Northern tree fruit," Abban said
Ahmann frowned "You spoke to the woman all day, and all you learned was that she likes apples?"
"Red and hard, fresh picked from the tree She laments that with so many mouths to feed, apples have become scarce" Abban smiled as Ahmann’s face deepened into a scowl He reached into his pocket, holding up a piece of fruit "Apples like this one"
Ahmann’s smile nearly reached his ears
Abban left Ah Leesha’s reaction to his mention of the Par’chin He had not lied, but even in his own heart Abban could not explain the omission The Par’chin was his friend, it was true, but Abban had never let friendship stand in the way of prosperity, and his prosperity was inextricably tied to Ah the North The surest road to that success would be for Ahmann to find and kill the Par’chin quickly The son of Jeph was not an enehtly
But Abban had survived as khaffit by keeping secrets and waiting for the proper opportunity to exploit thereater than this one
Leesha was stirring a cookpot when Jardir came to her circle Like the Painted Man, he walked casually through the unwarded areas of the Krasians’ haphazard camp He wore Leesha’s warded cloak about his shoulders, but it was thrown back, offering hi eyes
Not that he was likely to need protection, unless a wind demon spotted hi the field de the bodies of those stunted offshoots of wood demons into ould be an enorht
"May I join you at your fire?" Jardir asked in Thesan
"Of course, son of Hoshkaht her, she broke a piece from a fresh loaf of bread and held it out to hi low as he accepted the bread
Rojer and the others came to the pot for their ful look from Leesha Only Elona stayed in earshot, which Jardir seemed to think was perfectly proper, even if Leesha resented the spying
"Your food continues to delightthe stew from his second bowl
"It’s a simple stew," Leesha said, but she couldn’t help but smile at the compliment