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The chiefs filed out past the to of fear in them Rand wished he could be as sure of himself Moiraine had too s he did not know she had tied to hione, Moiraine as cool and elegant as ever A small, pretty woman, with or without those Aes Sedai features he could never put an age to, she had abandoned the da cloth for her te suspended on her forehead froolden chain in her dark hair It would not havecould die She usually seeht than she actually had, and her eyes were all confidence and coh still short of his shoulder, and young, not ageless Egwene, who dark eyes, she could almost have passed as an Aiel woman, and not only for her tanned face and hands She wore a full Aiel skirt of broool and a loose white blouse of a plant fiber called algode Algode was softer than even the finestwoven wool; it would do very well for trade, if he ever convinced the Aiel A gray shawl hung around Egwene’s shoulders, and a folded gray scarf made a wide band to hold back the dark hair that fell below her shoulders Unlike most Aiel women, she wore only one bracelet, ivory carved into a circle of flaold and ivory beads And one wene had been studying with some of the Aiel Wise Ones -- exactly what, Rand did not know, though he wene and the Aiel women were closemouthed -- but she had studied in the White Tower, too She was one of the Accepted, on the way to beco herself off, here and in Tear at least, as full Aes Sedai already Sometimes he teased her about that; she did not take his japes very well, though
"The wagons will be ready to leave for Tar Valon soon," Moiraine said Her voice was uard," Rand said, "or Kadere may not take the to look out and think, about Kadere "You’ve not needed ive you per seemed to strike him across the shoulders, for all the world like a thick hickory stick; only the slight feel of goose bumps on his skin, not likely in this heat, told hi back to face them, he reached out to saidin, filled himself with the One Power The Power felt like life itself swelling inside him, as if he were ten times, a hundred times as alive; the Dark One’s taint filled hi in his mouth It was a torrent that threatened to sweep hiht every moment He was almost used to it now, and at the same time he would never be used to it He wanted to hold on to the sweetness of saidin forever, and he wanted to voe tried to scour him to the bone and burn his bones to ash
The taint would drive him mad eventually, if the Power did not kill him first; it was a race between the two Madness had been the fate of every an, since that day when Lews Therin Telaon, and his Hundred Companions had sealed up the Dark One’s prison at Shayol Ghul The last backblast fro had tainted the male half of the True Source, and men who could channel, madmen who could channel, had torn the world apart
He filled himself with the Power And he could not tell which woman had done it They both looked at him as if butter would not melt in their htly a the feht that instant, and he would never know
Of course, a stick across the shoulders was not Moiraine’s way; she found other , more subtle, usually more painful in the end Yet even sure that it ht slid along the outside of the Void; he floated within, in eer, distant I will do nothing without proof I will not be goaded, this tirown up with; she had become part of the Tower since Moiraine sent her there Moiraine again Always Moiraine Sometimes he wished he were rid of Moiraine Only sometimes?
He concentrated on her "What do you want of me?" His voice sounded flat and cold to his own ears The Power stor saidar, the female half of the Source, was an embrace; for a man, always, it was a ithout ain, little sister I usually find out what youafter it is done"
The Aes Sedai frowned at hi addressed so, not by any on Reborn He had no idea himself where "little sister" had come from; sometimes of late words seemed to pop into his head A touch of hts he lay awake till the s about that Inside the Void, it seeave the harper a cool glance
Jasin Natael, as he called hiainst one of the less walls, softly playing the harp perched on his knee, its upper arilded to reseons, the Aiel called the He was a darkhaired man, ould have been accounted taller than most elsewhere than the Aiel Waste, in his middle years His coat and breeches were dark blue silk suitable for a royal court, elaborately e buttoned up or laced despite the heat The fine clothes were at odds with his gleeman’s cloak spread out beside him A perfectly sound cloak, but covered completely with hundreds of patches in nearly as htest breeze, it signified a country entertainer, a juggler and tue to village Certainly not a man to wear silk The man had his conceits He appeared completely immersed in his music
"You can say what you wish in front of Natael," Rand said "He is glee the h, she would press it, and he would send Natael away, though he did not like the m