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"H-how o-old?"

"You have no frame of reference that is useful," she said "Your mind is exceptionally capable, but even you could scarcely iine a quantity of one million objects, much less the activity of a million years I have seen thousands of millions of years, Octavian In a tireen farround to dust and valleys, and new mountains are born in fire The earth itself flows like water, great ranges of land spinning and colliding, and the stars themselves spin and reel into new shapes" She sreat dance, Aleran, and the lifetime of your race is but a beat within a n, he knew Itto hiswar

"In that tis Entire species co fro Gaius I bear you no ill will But any given single life is a nificance that, honestly, I have trouble telling one of you from the next"

"I-if that's true," Tavi said, "th-then hy a-are you h-here witha whi the whole tr-truth"

She laughed, a ware, and his an to unlock "Clever It is one of the things that htfully "In all my time," she said at last, "no one had ever spoken to me Until your kind came" She smiled "I suppose I enjoy the coather in his belly as the firecrafting finally gained momentum Now he'd just have to be careful not to let it build too ht be tired of the cold, but he didn't think that setting his intestines on fire would be anyterm "But i-if I died, would you have anyone to talk to?"

"It would be bothersome, but I suppose I could find and keep track of so finally - finally! - abated Tavi sat up slowly, and reached up to rake his wet hair back His fingers felt stiff and partially nuoing "Like Aquitainus Attis?" Tavi suggested

"Likely," she said, nodding "He's a great deal h I understand his name is Gaius Aquitainus Attis now I'al process would alter his self-identity"

Tavi grimaced "It doesn't It's meant to alter how everyone else thinks of hi creatures It is difficult enough for you to control your own thoughts, htly over his teeth "How e and let the?"

Alera's eyes went distant for a moment before she spoke "The vord seem to have realized hoays are used for co many streaer furies within all the major rivers and tributaries They have almost entirely enveloped the coastlines of the western and southern shores of the continent As a result, it seems unlikely that it will be possible to form a connection via the ays until you have advanced several dozen riers as soon as we're close enough I assu"

"That remains unclear," Alera said "But it seems a wise assumption to make Where will you make landfall?"

"On the northwest coast, near Antillus," Tavi replied "If the vord are there, ill assist the city's defenders and leave our civilians there before we h Lord Antillus will be filled with pleasure at the notion of tens of thousands of Cani on his doorstep," Alera muret over it"

"Not if the Canim devour his resources - his food stores, his livestock, his holders"