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Well, Rand was far away, and her own problems -- hers and Elayne’s -- were no nearer solution The River Eldar lay less than a e built between tall listened without a speck of rust Remnants of an earlier tione up to it at ht after they arrived, but there had not been a boat in the river worthy of the na the reedlined banks, sos that skittered over the water propelled by kneeling e that looked to beon both sides, some of it dried hard and cracked, yet that was no wonder with the heat holding on so unseasonably -- but nothing that could carry them swiftly away downriver as she wanted Not that she knehere it was to take them, yet

Rack her brains as she would, she could not remember the name of the tohere the Blue sisters were supposed to be She swiped savagely at a scatterhead, and it burst in little white feathers that floated to the ground They probably were not there anymore in any case, if they ever had been But it was the only clue they had to a safe place short of Tear If she could only re on the entire journey north was that Elayne had stopped flirting with Tho the show At least, it would have been good if Elayne had not apparently decided to pretend nothing had ever happened Yesterday Nynaeve had congratulated the girl on co to her senses, and Elayne had coolly replied, Are you trying to find out if I will stand in your ith Thom, Nynaeve? He’s rather old for you, and I did think you had planted your affections elsewhere, but you are old enough to make your own decisions I am fond of Thom, as I think he is of me I look on him like a second father If you want to flirt with him, you have my permission But I really did think you were , and Samara, the town on the other side, in Ghealdan, was no fit place to be Luca had spenta place to set up his show, he was only concerned that a nueries had beaten him there, and he was not the only one to have rown particularly insistent about her letting Thom throw knives at her She was lucky he did not want it done high walking with Elayne Thein the world was that his show should be bigger and better than any other For herself, the worriso was that the Prophet was in Sa out into tents, huts and shanties around it, a city that overwhelh stone wall, and s were stone as well, many as much as three stories, and there were more roofs of slate or tile than thatch

This side of the Eldar was no better They had passed three Whitecloak enca place, hundreds of white tents in neat rows, and there had to be more they had not seen Whitecloaks on this side of the river, the Prophet andto happen on the other, and she had no idea where to go and no way to get there except in a luon that moved no faster than she could walk She wished she had never let Elayne talk her into abandoning the coach Not seeing a weed close enough to snap without stepping aside, she broke the dogfennel in half, then again, until the pieces were no longer than her hand, and tossed theround She wished she could do the sa here And al’Lan Mandragoran, for not being here Not that she needed him, of course But his presence would have been a co over s the blackh the bars on a stick The female lions were already hunkered down over theirs corowl if soe Nynaeve stopped near Aludra’s wagon; the Illu ooden on,Three of the Chavanas s her to join theh she had given hio down Maybe if she hit the rest of them as hard, they would listen to Luca -- and more importantly, to her! -- and realize that she did not want their smiles Too bad Master Valan Luca could not follow his own instructions Latelle turned froht sh, Nynaeve stared at Cerandin, as filing the blunt toenails of one of the huge gray s’redit hat looked like a tool suitable for metal

"That one," Aludra said, "she uses the hands and the feet with relare ather hands "I am not your enemy Here You must try these new firesticks"

Nynaeve took the wooden box froerly It was a cube she could have held easily with one hand, but she used both "I thought you called them strikers"

"Maybe yes, maybe no Firesticks, it says what they are much better than strikers, yes? I have smoothed the little holes that hold the sticks so they can no longer ignite on the wood A good idea, no? And the heads, they are a new formulation You will try them and tell me what you think?"

"Yes, of course Thank you"

Nynaeve hurried on before the wo as if it ht explode, which she was not certain it would not Aludra had everyone trying out her strikers, or firesticks, or whatever she would decide to call theht a fire or a laray heads rubbed against each other or anything else rough For herself, she would stick with flint and steel, or a coal kept properly banked in a box of sand Much safer

Juilin caught her before she could set foot on the steps of the wagon she shared with Elayne, his gaze going straight to her swollen eye She glared at him so hard that he stepped back and snatched that ridiculous conical cap from his head "I’ve been over the river," he said "There are a hundred or so Whitecloaks in Sa watched as hard thenized one The young felloas sitting across froht