Page 21 (1/1)

"And run away," Bael added quietly "I have seen the And you, Han, a the Tomanelle We all have I do not think they knohere they are running to, only what they are running froht brown hair, there were no youngaway froht shift of his blue eyes toward the far side of the carpet made it clear he meant it for a description of the Goshien, not just those who had thron their spears

Baelfurther, if that was possible, but thehand on his arh for two blacksmiths, but he had a placid nature that seemed odd for an Aiel "All of us have seen ray eyes looked so, yet Rand knew otherwise; even Rhuarc considered Bruan a deadly fighter and a devious tactician Luckily, not even Rhuarc was stronger for Rand than Bruan But he had come to follow He Who Comes With the Dawn; he did not know Rand al’Thor "As you have, Jheran You kno hard it was to face what they face If you cannot name coward those who died because they could not face it, can you name coward those who run for the same reason?"

"They should never have learned," Hanhis redtasseled blue cushion like an enemy’s throat "It was for those who could enter Rhuidean and live"

He spoke the words to no one in particular, but they had to be for Rand’s ears It was Rand who had revealed to everyone what a lass coluh that the chiefs and Wise Ones could not turn aside when asked the rest If there was an Aiel in the Waste who did not know the truth now, he had not spoken to anyone in a e of battle ees fro of the World Everyone who survived had been refugees then, of course, but the Aiel had never seen themselves as helpless Worse, they had been followers of the Way of the Leaf, refusing to do violence even in defense of their lives Aiel ue, and it had been to peace that they were dedicated Those who called themselves Aiel today were the descendants of those who had broken a pledge of untold generations Only one re up a sword They had always believed it a part of their pride, of their separateness from those who lived outside the Waste

He had heard Aiel say that they had committed some sin to be placed in the desolate Waste Now they knehat it was The men and women who had built Rhuidean and died here -- those called the Jenn Aiel, the clan that was not, on the few occasions they were spoken of -- had been the ones who kept faith with the Aes Sedai of the tie that what you had always believed was a lie

"It had to be told," Rand said They had a right to know A man shouldn’t have to live a lie Their own prophecy said I would break them And I couldn’t have done differently The past was past and done; he should be worrying about the future So born ao between Rhuarc and Han, shook his head His once bright red hair was half white, but his green eyes were as strong as any youngerand hard, said his ar, too "Timolan does not let his feet knohich way he will ju as a chief," Jheran said, "he tried to unite the clans and failed It will not sit ith him that at last one has come to succeed where he failed"

"He will come," Rhuarc said "Timolan never believed hi the Shiande But they ait They must settle matters in their own minds first"

"Theya wetlander," Han barked "I mean no offense, Car’a’carn" There was no obsequiousness in his voice; a chief was not a king, and neither was the chief of chiefs At best he was first a equals

"The Daryne and the Codarra will come eventually, as well, I think," Bruan said calrow to a reason for dancing the spears First a equals at best "They have lost more than any other clans to the bleakness" That hat the Aiel had taken to calling the long period of staring before so Aiel "For thetheir clans together, and both ant to see the Dragons on your arms for themselves, but they will come"

That left only one clan to be discussed, the one none of the chiefs wanted to mention "What news of Couladin and the Shaido?" Rand asked

Silence answered him, broken only by the softly serene sounds of the harp in the background, eachas close as Aiel could to showing discomfort Jheran frowned at his thumbnail, and Bruan toyed with one of the silvery tassels on his green cushion Even Rhuarc studied the carpet

Graceful, whiterobed oblets of wine to set beside eachsmall silver plates with olives, rare in the Waste, and white ewe’smilk cheese, and the pale, wrinkled nuts the Aiel called pecara The Aiel faces looking out of those pale cowls had downcast eyes and an unfamiliar meekness on their features

Whether captured in battle or on a raid, the gai’shain were sworn to serve obediently for one year and a day, touching no weapon, doing no violence, at the end returning to their own clan and sept as if nothing had happened A strange echo of the Way of the Leaf Ji’e’toh, honor and obligation, required it, and breaking ji’e’toh was nearly the worst thing an Aiel could do Perhaps the worst It was possible that so their own clan chief, but neither would acknowledge it by the blink of an eye so long as the period of gai’shain held, not even for a son or daughter

It struck Rand suddenly that this was the real reason that some Aiel took what he had revealed so hard To those, it ai’shain, not only for theenerations -- all, down to the present day -- had broken ji’e’toh by taking up the spear Had thethose lines? Ji’e’toh was very se