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"I don't I don't understand" Olivine cocked her head, and again he caught the glint of glass

"Why they want them? Because they're not supposed to have them, I suppose Or because they feel that they provide special access to the goddess Quadrifons' naarden" He paused, looking beyond the branches that concealed them "I used to live in the Calde's Palace too, Olivine It had just been reopened, and this eeds and a few trees; but Viron itself was thronged with people When you and Quadrifons opened the door for me, those leaves and weeds were all that I expected to see It never occurred to arden would be tended as it was in the days of Calde Tussah when so "

She had risen, and he rose too "Ithe possession of her ihly valued there Quadrifonsof the same kind in mind when he restricted the use of his name Or he may have hoped to link himself to the Outsider, whose true na branches and crossed a bright, soft lawn Seeing them, a white-haired "

There seen of addition over the old man's head "Blessed be you in the Most Sacred Na children, in that of the patron of doors and crossroads, and in that of the Obscure Outsider, e pray will bless this, our Holy City of Viron"

"Coot to get solooular his blessing had been, although he had kept his voice low and spoken as rapidly as he could

A door (wooden, this tih bound with iron) opened on a scullery, the scullery on the kitchen he vaguely re carrots froze as they entered, her mouth a perfect circle of surprise The door of a cupboard rattled and banged; then Olivine was drawing him up a dark stair, her li, they passed a landing

The next had a sasp for breath "This floor"

"No No, Patera I was born down there I was born down there, but my room's under the roof"

"I know, my child I saw you there"

She shifted the small loaf to her other hand, and reached out to stroke his tunic "You're You're dirty"

"I've been traveling rough, I'ht I slept on the floor It was a very dirty floor, too Besides you were sitting on the ground, remember? And I knelt on it I don't believe I even dusted my knees when I stood up But, Olivine, I'd like to ask a personal question May I?" She was rubbing a double thickness of his soiled tunic between her forefinger and thumb, and he had seen clearly that they were metal

"Wouldn't you like Wouldn't you like clean clothes?"

"Very much I'd like a bath, too; but I'lanced up, her face inscrutable behind its swaddling sackcloth "I know a I know a place"

"Where I ood of you It's wonderful of you, in fact; but before we leave this floor, there is soo, if I possibly can I can find it for myself, I believe, and I'll rejoin you here afterward, or anywhere you choose"

"Here Here, Patera" She opened a door; and he saw a corridor lined with ht he had, but the pattern in its carpet was like a blow

"Yes, there My-Nettle and I stayed here once It was only for a few days, though it seemed forever then" He spoke to himself more than to her, but found it impossible to stop "It was always cold, and we took blankets froht to say There was a little fireplace, and the first one to get back at night would raid the woodbox in the kitchen" He paused to look at the hand that held the bread Olivine had gotten there "And make a fire There was an old brass pan you filled with coals to warm the bed, and we'd strip and bathe and huddle naked under the blankets trying to keep war into the reht vanish They had not used this stair, he decided, but another larger one nearer the front, reaching the kitchen froround floor "We onderfully happy here, as happy as ere capable of being-which was very happy indeed in those days-and happier than ere ever to be on Blue, though ere very happy there, too, sometimes"

Olivine pointed to a door

"No, it was down that way, I'm sure"

"Where you can Where you can wash? I'll find clean I'll find clean clothes"

"I can't let you steal for "

"From an old storeroom From an old storeroom, Patera Nobody Nobody cares" She stepped back into the stairwell again, and shut the door

Shrugging, he opened the one she had indicated A small bedroo ago The bed, a chest of drawers, and a bedside table so sht almost have been a toy No washstand, which presu to a closet led to a lavatory The thought of a bath, even a sponge bath with cold water, was irresistible; reesture, he threw open the door

Chapter 11 MY TRIAL

Now that I have leisure to write again, I aht before last, having waited half a day for a wind, and have been coasting ever since, bedeviled by light airs I spent yesterday-orthat I have written since I began to write back in Gaon I have covered a lot of paper and wasted hundreds of hours, all withoutmy search for Patera Silk in the Whorl-the central reason for reat failure of my life

Nor have I described es, which I proain the last time I wrote and which I intend to do in a moment Perhaps I shall never pen an account ofmy father there, and the rest of it Perhaps it is better so

Hoof and Hide were afraid they would be arrested I assured the to fear And so it proved, although Wijzer and Wapen, both localthe sailors and boat owners, accomplished much more At the end (which is to say after I had been reen's in chains) Beroep and Strik joined theht us hters between theht were insufficient, and they had to buy more by ones and twos out of their own pockets Once the rebellion was under ere joined by many more who had only knives and clubs; but I auns, every one of them

In the matter of women we followed General Mint's exa aht, however, and those acquitted themselves very well There were plans for theh to require it These woanized entirely by Vadsig; all she accoe hich she did it are beyond praise