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"You're telling me," he said, "that even if we somehow overcome the vord, it won't be over Soainst us We htmare only to drown in chaos"

"Yes"

"That's a lot to have in front ofGaius," Alera said "Only a ainst the tide"

She didn't make a whisper of sound, but Tavi lifted his eyes to find Alera kneeling, facing him, her face level with his She reached out and touched his cheek with her frayed fingertips "I have always found the particularIt has fought the tides for more than a thousand years It has often failed to attain victory But it has never conceded the struggle"

"Has it ever faced so like this?" he asked quietly

"When the first Alerans came here, perhaps," Alera said, her eyes distant "My memories of it are very distant It would be centuries before I knew your people But they were few So very few Eleven thousand lives, perhaps"

"About the saion and its followers," Tavi said

She sion froestured toward the entrance to the tent "The Canim, the Marat, the Icemen All lost travelers" She shook her head sadly "The others, too Those that your people exterminated, over the centuries So much lost to fear and necessity"

"When they ca?" Tavi asked

"Not for years"

"Then how did they do it?" he asked "How did they survive?"

"With savagery Skill Discipline They came from a place where they were unrivaled masters of war and death Their ene like them Your forebears could not return whence they had coave them survival So they became victors - no s you would scarcely believe They coenerations of your people in that tie mind, death incarnate - and when they ran short of foes, they practiced their skills upon one another"

Tavi frowned "Are you saying that I and my people must do the sa a choice I have no opinion I only share facts"

Tavi nodded slowly and gestured with one hand "Please continue"

Alera frowned pensively "It was not until the original Pri out brutal war in the naan to coreater To lay the foundations of the Realm as you know it today" She put a hand on his shoulder "Laws Justice Art The pursuit of knowledge It all cale source"

"The ability to kill," Tavi whispered

"Strength is the first virtue," Alera said "That is not a pleasant fact Its dis tastefulness does not alter the truth that without strength to protect theless"