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"What does that matter?"

"They’re not like us They can’t understand us They’re dangerous"

I leaned against the tub’s edge and began to plait my wet hair "Have you ever talked to one of them?"

"Of course not!" She sounded horrified by the idea

I started to say ods as people--she barely sawI could say would , however "Does your Nypri feel the way you do about godlings? Is that why he dragged ht her breath "Your friends are godlings?" At once her voice hardened "Then, yes, that’s why And the Nypri won’t be letting them out anyti to say After a hed "I didn’t mean to upset you Please, are you finished? We have a lot to do"

"I don’t think I want to do anything you have in mind," I said as coldly as I could

She touchedthat would keep ot out of the tub and driedfrom more than the cold air

When I was dry and wrapped in a thick robe, she led arth skirt that swirled nicely about eneric and loose, not a coh Shoes too--soft slippers meant for indoor wear A subtle reo outside

"That’s better," said Jont when I was done, sounding pleased "You look like one of us now"

I touched the hee We don’t hite White is the color of false purity, ht" There was a singsong intonation to the way Jont said this thatpoem I’d ever heard, in White Hall or elsewhere

On the heels of this, a heavy bell sounded somewhere in the House Its resonant tone was beautiful; I closed my eyes in inadvertent pleasure

"The dinner hour," Jont said "I got you ready just in ti"

Trepidation filled me "I don’t suppose I could pass? I’ain "I’h what felt like an endless hts (Jont greeted most of them but did not pause to introducethat the organization was er than I’d initially assumed I noted a dozen people just in the corridor beyondto them, I counted my paces as alked so that I could find ed to escape the room We moved from a corridor that sh it had open s along its length, letting in the late-evening air Doo flights of stairs (twenty-four steps), around a corner (right), and across an open space (straight ahead, thirty-degree angle froer enclosed space

Here there were many people all around us, but most of the voices see food for soled with the scents of lanterns and people and the o hall

"Jont" An older wo And there was a scent, like hiras blossoht ’s house We stopped "I’ll escort her from here Eru Shoth? Will you come with me?"

"Lady Serymn!" Jont sounded flustered and alaro ofyou," the wo rooht," I said, grateful Jont had not done this, and I’d stubbed , certainly, not a haters A noblewo combinations of consonants they so favored; the Amn had no nobility, except--But, no, that was impossible