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‘Who’s Oo?’ Zelana asked

‘He’s a very solid, dependable felloith an extensive orchard nearthan anybody else in ood listener Other farmers come to his that are happening Then he passes thebow asked

‘I wouldn’t go quite that far, Longbow He gives advice, not orders’

‘It sort of aood chief does things that way Only bad chieftains order their ’

‘He’s got a point there, Veltan,’ I agreed ‘You o fellow Let hi Your people should know that the creatures of the Wasteland are co ready for war’

‘That’s absurd, Dahlaine,’ Veltan scoffed ‘My people don’t even knohat the word "war" o can probably et plenty to eat, but that’s likely to be his only contribution during the war’ He smiled faintly ‘Of course, if we can persuade Ara to do the cooking, we o home after the war’s over’

‘Who’s Ara?’ Zelana asked

‘Oo’s wife She’s a beautiful lady and quite probably the best cook in the world The smells that come from her kitchen even tempt me sometimes’

‘Oh, incidentally, Veltan,’ I cut in, ‘Aracia and I’d like to bring the co down to your Doainst the servants of the Vlagh soht not be a bad idea for the brother,’ Veltan said with an ian that it’s tio South, and then I’ll have o For right now, that’s about as far as we can go Everything’s sort of up in the air at this point, so we ’

‘What else is new and different?’ I said sourly ‘Looking back, I’d say that we’ve been doing that since the very beginning’

‘Of this war, you ested

‘I wouldn’t lis up as ent along since the beginning of ti brother,’ she said with an i if you know exactly what’s going to happen, don’t they?’

I chose not to answer that particular question

The SouthLand

1

O just to the north of Veltan’s huge house, and that proxihbor than a ruler - or a god Veltan didn’t o had always felt coo hadin his father’s orchard rather than in the open fields, time when the fruit trees bloomed, the beauty of the blossoms almost took his breath away

He soon discovered that he was not alone in that appreciation When the fruit trees were in bloom Veltan almost lived in the orchard, and as the two of them ca Their discussions ide-ranging, and al an education that went far beyond the tedious business of digging, planting, and harvesting

Veltan’s Domain here in the South of the Land of Dhrall, for example, was only a part of the entire continent There were three others that were owned by Veltan’s brother and his two sisters Veltan’s descriptions of his kin were so a He found Veltan’s description of the people of the West and North soine a life spent hunting So, but he wasn’t really very good at it, and it seeht be a very chancy sort of thing to depend on if soularly Veltan’s descriptions of the deep primeval forests, noble deer croith antlers, and buckskin-clad hunters stirred soh There wasn’t really much in the way of adventure here in the farmland of the South where the priood for faro into toothose extended springtio had already heard about most of them At first, the stories other faro, but as he came to know Veltan better, he’d been reluctantly forced to accept them He’d never seen Veltan so much as taste any food, and not once had he even seen hio’s ninth birthday when the question of alternate gods ca in the orchard, and a strong breeze was showering them with a near blizzard of apple-blossom petals

‘You don’t have to answer this if you’d rather not, Veltan,’ Oo said a bit hesitantly, ‘but old od of this part of the Land of Dhrall He said that sos around here Is that really true, or was he just ed ‘It’s fairly close to what really happens, Oht seem that we never sleep, but that’s not entirely true We have cycles of sleep and wakefulness, and after we’ve been awake for a long tiet a little fuzzy in ourjust a bit strange That’s a clear sign that it’s tiet some sleep - and it’s just about at that time that the other branch of the fas while we sleep’

‘I guess that o admitted ‘Hoell do you know these cousins of yours?’