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A tall, darkhaireda red silk cloak that he flourished as he , and very iant boarhorses frightened your anihtened, he beckoned two of hisat her, and h for Elayne to be sure she was supposed to hear "I am Valan Luca, my Lady, showman extraordinary Your presence overwhelms me" He made another bow, even more elaborate than the first

Elayne shared a look with Nynaeve, catching the same amused smile that she knew she herself wore A man very full of hiood at soothing the horses; they still snorted and stamped, but their eyes were not so wide as they had been Thoe animals almost as hard as the horses were

"Boarhorses, Master Luca?" Elayne said "Where do they come from?"

"Giant boarhorses, my Lady" was the ready reply, "from fabled Shara, where I e civilizations and stranger sights to trap theantic people twice the size of Ogier" He s with no heads Birds big enough to carry off a fullgrown bull Snakes that can s a old Descend, my Lady, and let me tell you"

Elayne had no doubt that Luca would fascinate himself with his own tales, but she certainly doubted that those ani, even the Sea Folk saw no more of Shara than the walled ports they were confined to; any ent beyond the walls were never seen again The Aiel knew little more For another, she and Nynaeve had both seen creatures like these in Fal the Seanchan invasion The Seanchan used them for work animals, and for war

"I think not, Master Luca," she told him

"Then let us perform for you," he said quickly "As you can see, this is no ordinary wanderingentirely new A private perforest man in the world Even fireworks We have an Illuminator with us We are on our way to Ghealdan, and toone on the wind But for a pittance --"

"My mistress said she thinks not," Nynaeve broke in "She has better things to spend herat aniht fist on all their coin, reluctantly doling out what they needed She see should cost what it had back in her Two Rivers

"Why would you want to go to Ghealdan, Master Luca?" Elayne asked The other woh spots and leave thereat deal of trouble there I hear the army has not been able to suppress this on Reborn Surely you do not want to travel into riots"

"Greatly exaggerated, erated Where there are crowds, people want to be entertained And where people want to be entertained, my show is alelcome" Luca hesitated, then stepped closer to the coach An eazed up into Elayne’s eyes "My Lady, the truth of theme to perform for you The fact is that one of the boarhorses caused a little trouble in the next town up the road It was an accident," he added hastily, "I assure you They are gentle creatures Not dangerous at all But not only are the people of Sienda unwilling to let me put on a show, or even come to one here Well, it took all of es, and the fines" He winced "Especially the fines If you allowed me to entertain you -- for a trifle, truly -- I would nao across the world, spreading the faenerosity, my Lady?"

"Morelin," she said "The Lady Morelin of House Samared" With her new hair, she could pass for Cairhienin She had no time to see his show, as much as she would have enjoyed it another ti, "But I will help you a little, if you have no , Nana, to help hi she wanted was hi the poor and those in distress was a duty she would not slight when she had thea purse out of her belt pouch and dipped into it She leaned out of the coach enough to press Luca’s hand around what she gave him He looked startled as she said, "If you took a decent job of work, you would not have to beg Drive on, Thom!"

Thom’s whip cracked, and Elayne was thrown back into her seat "You did not have to be rude," she said "Or so abrupt What did you give hi the purse back into her pouch "And roaned "Thesport of hiood day’s ould not kill hiree Not exactly Certainly ould not harm the man, but she did not think there was much available Not that I think Master Luca would accept work that didn’t allow hih, Nynaeve would probably argue -- when she gently pointed out things that Nynaeve did not know, the woant-- and Valan Luca was hardly worth another altercation so soon after s by the tie of stone and thatch with two inns The first, The King’s Lancer, had a gaping hole where the front door had been, and a croatching workmen make repairs Perhaps Master Luca’s "boarhorse" had not liked the sign, propped up beside the hole now, a charging soldier with lance lowered It seely, there were even more Whitecloaks in the crowded dirt streets than back in Mardecin, far more, and other soldiers besides, men in mail and conical steel caps whose blue cloaks bore the Star and Thistle of A’s men and the Whitecloaks did not seem to like each other at all They either brushed by as if thecolor did not exist, or else with challenging stares little short of draords Some of the whitecloaked men had red shepherd’s crooks behind the sunbursts on their cloaks The Hand of the Light, those named themselves, the Hand that seeks out truth, but everyone else called them Questioners Even the other White