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After a moment Lan leaned close to murmur dryly, "A woman is no less a woman because she carries a spear Did you evershe really wanted? Give over, or ill stand here all day while you argue and they chant at you" The Warder hesitated, then added, "Besides which, it does wene opened her mouth as the litany fell off once more, but Aviendha put a hand on her ar He knehat she had intended to say, though She had been about to tell him he was a stubborn foolish woolhead or so to feel like one It didto do elsewhere -- the battle was in the hands of the chiefs and fate, now -- and he would be oftoan infantryman could pull Couladin to him, it could draw him to the tower as easily as anywhere else Not that he would haveevery last Maiden to defend the tower

But how to back down and retain a scrap of dignity after blustering left, right and center? "I’ve decided I can do thehot

"As the Car’a’carn commands," Sulin replied without a hint of mockery, just as if it had been his idea fro narrow rooh, and when they began to o with the Fire about or knocked them doith Air, but that was hardly the way to behave with people on his side, let alone women Besides, he was not sure he could have , and maybe not then And anyway, he had decided he was of wene and Aviendha were as silent as Sulin as they walked, for which he was grateful Of course, at least part of their silence had to do with picking their way uphill and down in the dark without breaking their necks Aviendha did raise a ry about skirts But neither ht well co the needle in just when you thought the danger was past

The sky began to lighten into gray, and as the log tower caht above the trees, he broke the quiet himself "I didn’t expect you to be part of this, Aviendha I thought you said Wise Ones take no part in battles" He was sure she had A Wise One could walk through the middle of a battle untouched, or into any hold or stand of a clan that had blood feud with hers, but she took no part in fighting, certainly not with channeling Until he came to the Waste, even most Aiel had not really known that soe abilities, and soht be close to channeling

"I a her shawl "If an Aes Sedai like Egwene can do this, so can I I arranged it this ht of it since you first asked Egwene"

There was enough light now for hi at her, she tripped over nothing, and he had to catch her ar his eyes, she jerked free Maybe he would not have to worry about any needles froh the sparse woods toward the tower

"They didn’t try to stop you? Amys, I mean, or Bair, or Melaine?" He knew they had not If they had, she would not be there

Aviendha shook her head, then frowned thoughtfully "They talked for a long tiht I must Usually they tellat hi change to everything"

"I do that," he said, setting his foot on the bottoht help nificent even to the naked eye, the land spreading out in wooded hills The trees were thick enough to hide the Aieltoward Cairhien -- most would already be in position -- but dawn cast the city itself in golden light A quick scan through one of the looking glasses showed the barren hills along the river placid and seeh The Shaido were there, if concealed for now They would not rean to direct What? Not balefire Whatever he did, it had to unnerve the Shaido as wene and Aviendha had been taking turns looking through the other long tube, with pauses for quiet discussion, but now they were si nods finally, theyand stood with their hands on the roughhewn ti toward Cairhien Goose bu,toward the city Not a breeze; the first real wind he had felt in this country And clouds were beginning to for thicker and blacker as he watched, roiling Only there, over Cairhien and the Shaido Everywhere else as far as he could see, the sky was a clear blue, with only a few high thin white wisps Yet thunder rolled, long and solid Suddenly lightning stabbed down, a jagged silver streak that rent a hilltop below the city Before the crack of the first bolt reached the tower, two more crackled earthward Wild forks danced across the sky, but those single lances of brilliant white struck with the regularity of a heartbeat Abruptly, ground exploded where no lightning had fallen, fountaining fifty feet, then again soain

Rand had no idea which wo what, but they certainly looked set to harrow the Shaido out Ti out, he seized saidin Icy fire scoured the outside of the Void that surrounded as Rand al’Thor Coldly, he ignored the oily filth seeping into hiled wild torrents of the Power that threatened to engulf him

At this distance, there were limits to what he could do In fact, it was about as far as he could do anything, really, without angreal or sa’angreal Very likely that hy the wo bolt at a time, one explosion; if he was at his boundary, theytheirs

A memory slid across the emptiness Not his; Lews Therin’s For once he did not care In an instant he channeled, and a ball of fire enveloped the top of a hill nearly fivemass of pale yellow flalass that the hill was lower now, and black at the crest, seeht be no need for the clans