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Egwene sniffed loudly and shifted her shawl on her shoulders "Your head is swelled up like an overripe melon, Rand al’Thor" She said it flatly, as a stateer bubbled outside the Void Not at what she had said; she had been in the habit of trying to take hi even when they were children, usually whether he deserved it or not But of late it see to put him off balance so the Aes Sedai could push hier, before they learned what he was, he and Egwene had thought they would ainst hihly than he intended "Tell me what you want, Moiraine Tell me here and now, or let it wait until I can find tiht lie Most of his ti the sith Lan, or the spears with Rhuarc, or learning to fight with hands and feet fro to be done here today, he would do it Natael could hear anything Al as Rand knehere he was at all tiwene both frowned, but the real Aes Sedai at least seelanced at Natael, her-- the man still seeray silk fro it, she laid what it had contained on the table, a disc the size of a man’s hand; half dead black, half purest white, the two colorsin a sinuous line to form two joined teardrops That had been the sy, but this disc was more Only seven like it had ever been made, the seals on the Dark One’s prison Or rather, each was a focus for one of those seals Drawing her belt knife, its hilt wrapped in silver wire, Moiraine scraped delicately at the edge of the disc And a tiny flake of solid black fell away

Even encased in the Void, Rand gasped The emptiness itself quivered, and for an instant the Power threatened to overwhelm him "Is this a copy? A fake?"

"I found this in the square below," Moiraine said "It is real, though The one I brought withshe wanted pea soup for the wene, on the other hand, clutched her shawl around her as if cold

Rand felt the stirrings of fright hi across the surface of the Void It was an effort to let go of saidin, but he forced himself If he lost concentration, the Power could destroy him where he stood, and he wanted all his attention on the matter at hand Even so, even with the taint, it was a loss

That flake lying on the table was impossible Those discs weremade of cuendillar could be broken, not even by the One Power Whatever force was used against it onlyof heartstone had been lost in the Breaking of the World, but whatever had been ends still existed, even thehad sunk it to the bottom of the ocean or buried it beneath a mountain Of course, three of the seven discs were broken already, but it had taken a good deal more than a knife

Coh, he did not kno those three really had been broken If no force short of the Creator could break heartstone, then that should be that

"How?" he asked, surprised that his voice was still as steady as when the Void had surrounded him

"I do not know," Moiraine replied, just as calm outwardly "But you do see the problem? A fall from the table could break this If the others, wherever they may be, are like this, four men with hammers could break open that hole in the Dark One’s prison again Who can even say how effective one is, in this condition?"

Rand saw I’m not ready yet He was not sure he ever would be ready, but he surely was not yet Egwene looked as though she were staring into her own open grave

Rewrapping the disc, Moiraine replaced it in her pouch "Perhaps I will think of a possibility before I carry this to Tar Valon If we knohy, perhaps soe of the Dark One reaching out fro free completely; fires and darkness covered the world in his ht, blackness solid as stone squeezing the air With that filling his head, what Moiraine had just said took a ht she meant to stick to him like moss to a rock Isn’t this what you want?

"Eventually," Moiraine replied quietly "Eventually I will have to leave you, after all What will be, ht she shivered, but it was so quick it could have been his iination, and the next instant she was all composure and selfcontrol once more "You must be ready" The reminder of his doubts came unpleasantly "We should discuss your plans You cannot sit hereto co their power Gathering the Aiel will do no good if you find that everything beyond the Spine of the World is in their hands"

Chuckling, Rand leaned back against the table So this was just another ploy; if he was anxious about her leaving, perhaps he would be uided She could not lie, of course, not right out One of the vaunted Three Oaths took care of that: to speak no word that was not true He had learned that it left a barnwidth of wriggle room She would leave him alone eventually After he was dead, no doubt

"You want to discussa shortstemmed pipe and a leather tabac pouch from his coat pocket, he thumbed the bowl full and briefly touched saidin to channel a fla slowly, he waited, ignoring Egwene’s glower

The Aes Sedai’s face never changed, but her large, dark eyes seeuided by me?" Her voice was as cool as her features, yet the words still seeone, you have left death, destruction and war behind you"

"Not in Tear," he said, too quickly And too defensively He must not let her put him off balance Determinedly, he took spaced, deliberate puffs at his pipe

"No," she agreed, "not in Tear For once you had a nation behind you, a people, and what did you do with it? Bringing justice to Tear was cory, is laudable Another time I would praise you for it" She herself was Cairhienin "But it does not help you toward the day you face Tarle else, even her own land But should he no