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She had to repeat the question before Aviendha gave a start and stared up at her "All right? Of course I am"

"Let me speak to the Wise Ones, Aviendha I’m sure I can convince them that they cannot just make you" She could not make herself say it, not out here where anyone in the crowd ht hear

"Does that still worry you?" Aviendha shifted her gray shawl and gave a se to s drawn to a lodestone

"You do not have to be afraid of him"

"I am not afraid of any reen fire "I want no trouble between us, Egwene, but you should not say such things"

Egwene sighed Friend or not, Aviendha was quite capable of trying to box her ears when offended enough In any case, she was not sure she would have admitted it, either Aviendha’s drea Naked but for that ivory bracelet, and that seehed a hundred pounds, Aviendha had been running as hard as she could across a cracked clay flat And behind her, Rand cae Jeade’en, slowly but inexorably catching up

But you could not siwene’s face reddened slightly Especially not when you would have to tell her how you knew She would boxabout in people’s dreaht to spy on a friend’s drea, exactly, but still

The crowd around Rand was beginning to break up He swung into his saddle easily, imitated promptly by Natael One of the traders, a broadfaced, flaeh "Car’a’carn, do you mean to leave the Threefold Land forever? You have spoken as if you will never return"

The others stopped at that and turned back Silence spread on an expanding ripple ofwhat had been asked

For aaround at the faces turned to him At last he said, "I hope to return, but who can say ill happen? The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills" He hesitated, with every eye on hi to re a hand in his coat pocket

Abruptly a fountain near the Roof burst to life, water gushing fro on their tails Beyond that, a statue of a youngup a spreading fan, and then two stone wo sprays of water from their hands In stunned stillness the Aiel watched as all the fountains of Rhuidean flowed oncesince" Rand’s wene could hear him quite clearly The splash of hundreds of fountains was the only other sound Natael shrugged as if he had expected no less

It was at Rand that Egwene stared, not the fountains A man who could channel Rand He’s still Rand, despite everything But each ti that he could all over again Growing up, she had been taught that only the Dark One was more to be feared than a ht to be afraid of him

But when she looked down at Aviendha, open wonder shone on her face; so hted the Aiel woarden full of flowers

"It is ti the dapple ard "Anyone who isn’t ready will have to catch up" Natael followed close behind on the mule Why did Rand let such a bootlicker stay near hi orders, and the bustle increased tenfold Maidens and Water Seekers darted ahead, and uard of honor, incidentally enclosing Natael Aviendha strode beside Jeade’en, right at Rand’s stirrup, easilythe stallion stride for stride even in her bulky skirts

Falling in beside Mat, behind Rand and his escort, Egwene frowned Her friend wore that look of griain, as if she had to put her arwene did not give up on a proble herself in her saddle, Moiraine patted Aldieb’s arched neck with a gloved hand, but she did not ions up the street, driving the lead wagon hion down to carry cargo as she had the other like it; the h of her, of Aes Sedai, to have done it The doorfraon behind Kadere, canvas tied over it tightly so no one could fall through by accident again A long line of Aiel -- Seia Doon, Black Eyes -- strode along on either side of the wagon train

Kadere bowed to her froaze swept on down to the line of wagons, all the way to the great square surrounding the forest of sliht She would have taken everything in the plaza if she could, rather than the sons Sos, each e and joined at thearound that one, to warn all fro without the Wise Ones’ permission Not that anyone was likely to, of course Only the clan chiefs and the Wise Ones entered that square with any sense of ease; only the Wise Ones touched anything, and they with so proper reticence

For countless years the second test faced by an Aiel woman anted to be a Wise One had been to enter the array of glittering glass colu exactly what the men saw More women survived it than her, Amys that those too weak to survive ed out before reaching that point -- but it was not a certainty Those who did survive were not ns; for a woh

The first test, the first ing, before any training even, was to step through one of those three rings Which one did not matter, or perhaps the choice was a h her life again and again, her future spread out before her, all of the possible futures based on every decision she ht make for the rest of her life Death was possible in those, too; some women could not face the future any more than others could face the past All possible futures were too ether and faded away for the s that would happen in her life, that ht happen Usually even that was hidden until the h Moiraine had