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Wheezing laughter shook Min for a , we’ve nothing but tie between here and Tar Valon, and found nothing Not a gli And we are on foot, now Froain took the horses with hiht knohat!"

"Watch nalance at the rough door with the guard on the other side "A flapping tongue can put you in the net instead of the fish"

Min gri tired of Siuan’s Tairen fisherht So far they had outrun aard news -- deadly was a better word than aard -- but so a hundredas Mara, Leane as Aain had taken the name Dalyn, after Siuan convinced him Guaire was a fool’s choice Min still did not think anyone would recognize her own naain did not know their true naive up Weeks of utter failure, and now this, yet anyfor Tear, which was sensible, set off a teer they had searched without finding what Siuan sought, the more temper she had developed Not that she couldn’t crack rocks with it before Min ise enough to keep that particular thought to herself

Leane finally finished with her dress and tugged it on over her head, doubling her arms behind her to do up the buttons Min could not see why she had gone to the trouble; she herself hated needlework of any sort The neckline was a little lower now, showing a bit of Leane’s bosoer way there and perhaps around the hips But as the point, here? No one was going to ask her to dance in this roasting shed

Digging into Min’s saddlebags, Leane pulled out the wooden box of paints, and powders and whatnots that Laras had forced on Min before they set out Min had kept otten around to it There was a sed lid of the box, and in moments Leane was at work on her face with small rabbitfur brushes She had never shown any particular interest in the things before Now she appeared vexed that there was only a blackwood hairbrush and a small ivory comb to use on her hair She eveniron! Her dark hair had grown since they began Siuan’s search, but it still ca a bit, Min asked, "What are you up to, Le--Aue; it was just being cooped up and baked alive, that on top of the co What a choice! "Have you decided to take up flirting?" It was meant for a joke -- Leane was all business and efficiency -- sohten the moment, but the other wo wideeyed into theto her eyelashes "And if I flirt with the right s or anything else At the least, I hter sentences"

Hand halfraised to wipe her face again, Min gasped -- it was like an owl announcing it bird -- but Siuan ht this on?"

Had Siuan directed that gaze at her, Min suspected she would have confessed to things she had forgotten When Siuan concentrated on you like that, you found yourself curtsying and leaping to do as you were told before you realized it Even Logain did, most of the time Except for the curtsy

Leane cal her cheekbones and exalance at Siuan, but whatever she saw, she answered in the same crisp tones she always used "My mother was a merchant, you know, in furs and ti a Saldaean lord’s ned his entire year’s timber harvest to her for half the amount he wanted, and I doubt he realized what had happened until he was nearly back home If then He sent her a moonstone bracelet, later Domani women don’t deserve the whole reputation they have -- stiffnecked prigs going by hearsay built most of it -- but we have earned so withdown at herself, she shook her head, then returned to her h "But I fear I was as tall as I a day All knees and elbows, like a colt that grew too fast And not long after I could walk across a roo twice, I learned --" She drew a deep breath "-- learneda one, too About tio Under the circumstances, I can’t think of a better time or place"

Siuan studied her shrewdly a moment more "That isn’t the reason Not the whole reason Out with it"

Hurling a small brush into the box, Leane blazed up in a fury "The whole reason? I do not know the whole reason I only know I need soone You yourself told e falls short, for ht, but the Light help h either; I can’t make myself be as involved as you Maybe I came too late to it I will stay with you, but it isn’t enough"

Anger faded as she began resealing pots and vials and replacing theh she used more force than was strictly necessary There was theisn’t soh to fill an idlewho I was born to be will suffice I just do not know This isn’t a new idea; I alanted to be like my rown"

Leane’s face becaently "I think perhaps I’ve always felt I wasup a mask until it became second nature There was serious work to be done, , and by the tione even so, I had the mask on too firmly to take off Well, that is done with, now, and the ain a week ago, for practice But I aht hear more promises than you meant to offer, and expect to have them fulfilled" A small smile suddenly appeared on her lips "My mother always said if that happened, you had miscalculated badly; if there was no back way out, you had to either abandon dignity and run, or pay the price and consider it a lesson" The suish cast "My Aunt Resara said you paid the pr