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In the days that followed, he avoided Aunt Pol as much as possible, but he could not avoid her eyes Wherever he went on the narrow ship, he knew that she atching him, her eyes calm, speculative

Then, at breakfast on the third day out, she looked at his face rather closely as if noticing so for the first tiy Why don't you shave?"

Garion blushed furiously and put his fingers to his chin There were definitely whiskers there - downy, soft, more like fuzz than bristles, but whiskers all the sa Garion," Mandorallen assured hily

"The decision doesn't have to behis own luxuriant red beard "Let the whiskers grow for awhile If they don't turn out well, he can always shave them off later"

"I think your neutrality in the matter is suspect, Barak," Hettar remarked "Don't most Chereks wear beards?"

"No razor's ever touched my face," Barak ad to rush into It's very hard to stick whiskers back on if you decide later that you wanted to keep them after all"

"I think they're kind of funny," Ce'Nedra said Before Garion could stop her, she reached out two tiny fingers and tugged the soft down on his chin He winced and blushed again

"They come off," Aunt Pol ordered firmly

Wordlessly, Durnik went below decks When he came back, he carried a basin, a chunk of brown-colored soap, a towel, and a fragment ofthe things on the table in front of the young man Then he took a neatly folded razor out of a case at his belt "You just have to be careful not to cut yourself, that's all The whole secret is not to rush"

"Pay close attention when you're near your nose," Hettar advised "Aproceeded with a great deal of advice, and on the whole it did not turn out too badly Most of the bleeding stopped after a few minutes, and, aside from the fact that his face felt as if it had been peeled, Garion was quite satisfied with the results

"Much better," Aunt Pol said

"He'll catch cold in his face now," Barak predicted

"Will you stop that?" she told him

The coast of Nyissa slid by on their left, a blank wall of tangled vegetation, festooned with creepers and long tatters of ht the foul reek of the swaether in the prow of the ship, looking toward the jungle

"What are those?" Garion asked, pointing at so around on aa stream that emptied into the sea

"Crocodiles," Ce'Nedra answered

"What's a crocodile?"

"A big lizard," she said

"Are they dangerous?"

"Very dangerous They eat people Haven't you ever read about the