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Thorinned at her proudly as she came back and took her bonnet from Nynaeve Juilin looked as if he had been soaked in hot water and wrung out

"That was good," Luca said, rubbing his chin judiciously "Not as good as Sedrin, ood I especially like the way you make it seehtened to death That will go over very well" Juilin gave thefor knives in it Luca actually swirled that red cape as he turned to Nynaeve; he looked very satisfied indeed "And you, , perhaps? Sing swords?"

"I dole out thethe scrip "Unless you want to offer ave him a smile that wiped his clean away and backed hi had roused people froathered around while Luca introduced the troupe’s new perfor what she did startling; she needed to have a talk with him

The horse handlers, as Luca called thetalent, were a scruffy, surly lot in general, perhaps because they were paid less There were not very ons In fact, it turned out that everyone helped with the work, including driving the wagons; there was not erie, even one like this The others were a est man Nynaeve had ever seen Not tall, but wide; his leather vest showed arms the size of tree trunks He was married to Clarine, the plus; she looked undersized beside him Latelle, who performed with the bears, was a sternfaced, darkeyed wos of a sneer permanently on her lips Aludra, the slender woht even have been one She did not wear her dark hair in Taraboner braids, not surprising given the feelings in Amadicia, but she had the proper accents, and who could say what had happened to the Guild of Illuminators? Their chapter house in Tanchico had certainly closed its doors The acrobats, on the other hand, claih they were all short, coreeneyed Taeric -- his high cheekbones and hooked nose proclai Saldaean blood -- to Barit, as darker than Juilin and had Sea Folk tattoos on his hands, though he wore no earrings or noserings

All but Latelle greeted the newcomers warmly; more performers meant glers, Ban and Kin -- they really were brothers, it turned out -- engaged Thom in talk of their trade, once they found out that he did not work the sa, competition another Yet it was the palehaired woman who cared for the boarhorses who attracted Nynaeve’s ies and barely spoke -- Luca claimed she had come from Shara with the animals -- but her soft, slurred o to points

It took a little tion in place Thom and Juilin seemed more than pleased to have the horse handlers’ help with the teaiven to Nynaeve and Elayne Petra and Clarine asked them to have tea once they were settled The Chavanas wanted the tomen to have supper with them, and Kin and Ban did, too, all of which made Latelle’s sneer becoracefully, Elayne perhaps a bitat Galad like a frogeyed girl was too fresh for her to be more than minimally polite to any man Luca had his own invitation, for Elayne alone, spoken where Nynaeve could not hear It earned him a slapped face, and Thom ostentatiously flashed knives that see to hi her things away in the wagon -- throwing the to herself furiously -- Nynaeve went off to where the boarhorses were hobbled The huge gray ani that hole in the stone wall of The King’s Lancer, she was not too sure about the leather cords connecting theiroad

"What are they really called?" Diffidently, Nynaeve patted thenose, or snout, or whatever it was Those tusks were as big around as her leg and a good three paces long, and only a little larger than the female’s at that The snout snuffled at her skirt and she stepped back hastily

"S’redit," the palehaired woht a na accent was unmistakable

"Are therefor an instant, then resu "Seanchan? Where is that? The s’redit are from Shara, as I am I have never heard of --"

"Perhaps you’ve seen Shara, Cerandin, but I doubt it You are Seanchan Unless I uess, you were part of the invasion on Toman Head, left behind after Fal up beside her "We heard Seanchan accents in Falme, Cerandin We will not hurt you"

That wasto promise; her memories of the Seanchan were not fond ones And yet A Seanchan helped you when you needed it They are not all evil Only ed a little It was as if a tension so old that she was no longer aware of it had gone "Very few people I havethe truth of The Return, or Falme I have heard a hundred tales, each more fanciful than the last, but never the truth As well for me I was left behind, and ather I do not knohat happened to the rest The bull is Mer, the cow Sanit, and the calf Nerin She is not Sanit’s"

"Is that what you did?" Elayne asked "Train s’redit?"

"Or were you a sul’dam?" Nynaeve added before the other woman could speak

Cerandin shook her head "I was tested, as all girls are, but I could do nothing with the a’dalad to be chosen to ith s’redit They are reat deal, to know of sul’dam and damane I have encountered no one before who knows of them" She showed no fear Or perhaps it had been used up since finding herself abandoned in a strange land Then a