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The gai’shain departed on soft slippered feet, barelya sound None of the clan chiefs touched their wine, or the food

"Is there any hope that Couladin willrequests for a ers skinned alive But it was a way to start the others talking

Han snorted "The only e have had from him is that he means to flay you when next he sees you Does that sound as if he will talk?"

"Can I break the Shaido away from him?"

"They follow him," Rhuarc said "He is not a chief at all, but they believe he is" Couladin had never entered those glass coluht even still believe as he clai Rand had said was a lie "He says that he is the Car’a’carn, and they believe that as well The Shaido Maidens who came, came for their society, and that because Far Dareis Mai carried your honor None else will"

"We send scouts to watch them," Bruan said, "and the Shaido kill thes of half a dozen feuds -- but so far he shows no signs of attacking us here I have heard that he clai us here would only deepen the desecration"

Erirunted and shifted on his cushion "He h spears here to kill every Shaido twice over and to spare" He popped a piece of white cheese into hisaround it "The Shaido were ever cowards and thieves"

"Honorless dogs," Bael and Jheran said together, then stared at one another as though each thought the other had tricked hi

"Honorless or not," Bruan said quietly, "Couladin’s nu" Caloblet before going on "You all knohat I a of Some of those who run, after the bleakness, do not throay their spears Instead they join with their societies a the Shaido"

"No Tomanelle has ever broken clan," Han barked

Bruan looked past Rhuarc and Erim at the Tomanelle chief and said deliberately, "It has happened in every clan" Without waiting for another challenge to his word, he settled back on his cushion "It cannot be called breaking clan They join their societies Like the Shaido Maidens who have come to their Roof here"There were a few overning Aiel warrior societies were complex, and in some ways their members felt as closely bound to society as to clan For instance, ht each other even if their clans were in blood feud Some men would not marry a woman too closely related to a member of their own society, just as if that made her their own close blood kin The ways of Far Dareis Mai, the Maidens of the Spear, Rand did not even want to think about

"I need to knohat Couladin intends," he told thee in any direction Rand hesitated "Would it violate honor to send people to join their societies a the Shaido?" He did not need to describe what he meant any further To a man, they stiffened where they lay, even Rhuarc, eyes cold enough to banish the heat from the room

"To spy in that manner" -- Erim twisted his mouth around "spy" as if the word tasted foul -- "would be like spying on your own sept No one of honor would do such a thing"

Rand refrained frohtly less prickly honor The Aiel sense of hu, often cruel, but about soe the subject, he asked, "Is there any word froonwall?" He knew the answer; that sort of news spread quickly even aathered around Rhuidean

"None worth the telling," Rhuarc replied "With the troubles a the treekillers, few peddlers come into the Threefold Land" That was the Aiel naround for their courage, an anvil to shape theon banner still flies over the Stone of Tear Tairens have moved north into Cairhien as you ordered, to distribute food a more"

"You should have let the treekillers starve," Bael muttered, and Jheran closed his mouth with a snap Rand suspected he had been about to sayexcept to be killed or sold as anis Aiel did to those who caleeh Aiel avoided the Tinkers as if they carried fever Shara was the name of the lands beyond the Waste; not even the Aiel knew much about the expectantly just inside the tall, arched doorway Sos of colored beads there, red and blue, to replace thedoors One of the wo the look on her face, clearly expecting the for her Only, there was really nothing left to discuss, and he could tell from the men’s eyes that they did not want toof the bleakness, and the Shaido

Sighing, he stood, and the clan chiefs imitated him All except Han were as tall as he or taller Where Rand had grown up, Han would have been considered of average height or better; a Aiel, he was accounted short "You knohatin the rest of the clans, and keep an eye on the Shaido" He paused a moment, then added, "It will end well As well for the Aiel as I can e"

"The prophecy said you would break us," Han said sourly, "and you have one," he recited, "till water is gone, into the Shadoith teeth bared, screahtblinder’s eye on the Last Day" Sightblinder was one of the Aiel na for Rand except to make the proper response Once he had not known it "By htblinder’s heart"

"Until the Last Day," the Aiel finished, "to Shayol Ghul itself" The har