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Moiraine appeared a smoothly from man to man Her mannerfrom her lips, so full of certainty that they would be obeyed, that not obeying would seem foolish In short order she overrode resistance, stamped firmly on objections, chivvied them every one back to work The pair with the doorfra as hard as ever, if with frequent looks at Moiraine when they thought she would not see In her oay, she was even harder than Lan

As far as Rand knew, all of those things down there were angreal or sa’angreal or ter’angreal, nify the One Power or use it in various ways Made with the Power certainly, though not even Aes Sedai kne to construct such things now He more than suspected the use of the twisted doorframe -- a doorway to another world -- but for the rest, he had no idea No one did That hy Moiraine worked so hard, to have as many as she could carted to the Tower for study It was possible that even the Tower did not contain as h supposedly the Tower held the largest collection in the world Even there, the Tower only knew the uses of soons or tossed about on the pavement did not interest Rand; he had already taken what he needed from down there Had already taken more than he wanted, in some ways

In the center of the plaza, near the burned reh, stood a slass columns, each nearly as tall as the tree and so slender it see down Even with an edge of shadow touching thelitters and sparkles For countless years Aiel men had entered that array and returned marked as Rand was, but on only one arm, marked as clan chiefs They came out marked or did not come out Aiel wo Wise Ones No one else, not and live A o to Rhuidean once, a woman twice; more means death That hat the Wise Ones had said, and it had been truth, then Now anyone could enter Rhuidean

Hundreds of Aiel walked the streets, and increasing nus; each day more of the dirt strips down the streets showed beans or squash or zee new lake that filled the south end of the valley, the only such body of water in the entire land Thousandsmountains, even on Chaendaer itself, where before they had cole man or woht change and destruction This tiood It ht yet be so The burned tree endary Tree of Life; the stories never said where it was, and it had been a surprise to find it here Moiraine said it still lived, that it would put out shoots again, but so far he saw only blackened bark and bare branches

With a sigh, he turned froest in Rhuidean, with tall s on two sides, its doed people and ani since rotted away even in the dryness, and much of the little that remained was riddled with beetles and worhbacked chair, solid, and its gilding largely intact, but es thickly carved in flowers Someone had polished the ith beeswax till it shone dully despite its age The Aiel had found thes; there were few trees in the Waste that could have produced wood straight and long enough to make that chair, and none to ht of it A fine silk Illianer carpet in blue and gold, booty in soo battle, covered the middle of the dark red floor tiles Cushions lay scattered about, in bright silks, and tasseled Those hat Aiel used instead of chairs, when they did not merely sit on their heels, as comfortable as he would be in a padded chair

Six ainst cushions on the carpet Six clan chiefs, representing the clans that had so far come to follow Rand Or rather, to follow He Who Coht Rhuarc, a broadshouldered, blueeyed ht have some friendship for hi the chair, Rand sat down crosslegged, facing the Aiel Outside of Rhuidean, the only chairs in the Waste were chief’s chairs, used only by the chief and only for three reasons: to be acclaimed as clan chief, to accept the sub the chair with these men noould imply that he meant to do one of those

They wore the cadin’sor, coats and breeches in shades of brown and gray that would fade into the ground, and soft boots that laced to the knee Even here,with the man they had proclaimed the Car’a’carn, the chief of chiefs, each had a heavybladed knife at his belt and the graybrown shoufa draped like a wide scarf around his neck; if any man covered his face with the black veil that was part of the shoufa, he would be ready to kill It was not beyond possibility Thesecycle of clan raids and battles and feuds They watched hi always spoke of a readiness to move, suddenly and violently

Bael, the tallest man Rand had ever seen, and Jheran, bladeslender and whipquick, lay as far froe and still be on the carpet There was blood feud between Bael’s Goshien and Jheran’s Shaarad, suppressed for He Who Cootten And perhaps the Peace of Rhuidean still held, despite all that had happened Still, the tranquil sounds of the harp made a sharp contrast with the hard refusal of Bael and Jheran to look at one another Six sets of eyes, blue or green or gray, in sundark faces; Aiel couldthe Reyn to me?" he said "You were sure they would come, Rhuarc"

The chief of the Taardad looked at him calmly; his face could have been carved stone for all its expression "Wait Only that Dhearic will bring the next to Rhuarc, twisted his mouth as if about to spit His leathery face wore a sour look, as usual "Dhearic has seen toofor days, then thron their spear