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Pevin had lost his wife and sister to the famine, his brother and a son to the civil war He had no idea which Houses’ men had killed the toward Andor had cost him a second son at the hands of Andoran soldiers and a second brother to bandits, and returning had cost the last son, dead on a Shaido spear, and his daughter as well, carried off while Pevin was left for dead The man rarely spoke, but as near as Rand could make out, his beliefs had been ed down to a bare three The Dragon had been Reborn The Last Battle was co And if he stayed close to Rand al’Thor, he would see his faed before the world was destroyed The world would end, surely, but it did not eance He bowed silently to Rand from his saddle as the mare reached the crest His face was absolutely blank, but he held the banner straight and steady

Cli onto Jeade’en, Rand pulled Aviendha up behind hi her use a stirrup, just to show her that he could, and kicked the dapple intoboth ar only partly under her breath; he caught a few more snippets of her current opinion of Rand al’Thor, and of the Car’a’carn, too She rateful Not only was it pleasant having her pressed against his back, the support elcome With her halfway to the saddle, he had suddenly not been sure whether she was co up or he down He hoped she had not noticed He hoped that was not why she was holding on to hie blackandwhite disc rippled behind Pevin as they zigzagged down the hill and along the shallow valleys As usual, the Aiel gave little attention to the party as it passed, though the bannerescort of several hundred Far Dareis Mai easily keeping pace with Jeade’en and thethe tents covering the slopes, atup at the sound of hooves

It had been startling to hear of nearly twenty thousand prisoners taken fro the Two Rivers, he had never really believed sothem ice the shock In clusters of forty or fifty, they dotted the hillsides like cabbages,naked in the sun, each cluster under the eyes of one gai’shain if that Certainly no one else paid theure approached one of the groups and ordered a man or woman off on an errand Whoever was called out went at a run, unguarded, and Rand saw several returning to slip back into their places For the rest, they sat quietly, al bored, as if they had no reason to be elsewhere, or desire to be, either

Perhaps they would put on white robes just as cal how easily these same people had violated their os and custoun the violation or ordered it, but they had followed and obeyed

Frowning at the prisoners -- twenty thousand, and ai’shain -- it took so the other Aiel Maidens and Aiel on their heads except the shoufa, and never any color that would not fade into rocks and shadows, but now he saw men with a narrow scarlet headband Perhaps one in four or five had a strip of cloth knotted around his temples, with a disc embroidered or painted above the broo joined teardrops, black and white Perhaps ai’shain wore it, too; most had their cowls up, but every last bareheaded one wore it And algai’d’siswai in their cadin’sor saw and did nothing, whether wearing the headband or not Gai’shain were never to wear anything that those who could touch weapons did Never

"I do not know," Aviendha said curtly into his back when he asked what it hter; she really did seehtly than necessary After a moment, she went on, so softly that he had to listen sharp to catch it all "Bair threatened to strike ain, and Sorilea hit me across the shoulders with a stick, but I think they are those who claim we are siswai’a -- he knew a scant feords of the Old Tongue, no more -- when interpretation floated to the surface in his on

"Sometimes," Asmodean chuckled, "it is difficult to see the difference between oneself and one’s enemies They want to own the world, but it see his head, Rand stared at hi uncomfortably, he let his mule fall back beside Pevin and the banner The trouble was that the name did imply -- more than implied -- ownership; that was out of Lews Therin’s memories, too It did not seem possible to own people, but if it was, he did not want to All I want is to use theht wryly

"I see you don’t believe it," he said over his shoulder None of the Maidens had donned the thing

Aviendha hesitated before saying, "I do not knohat to believe" She spoke as quietly as before, yet she sounded angry, and unsure "There are many beliefs, and the Wise Ones are often silent, as if they do not know the truth So you, we expiate the sin of our ancestors in in failing the Aes Sedai"

The catch in her voice startled hiht be as worried as any other Aiel about what he had revealed of their past Ashaht be a better word than worried; shame was an important part of ji’e’toh They were ashamed of what they had been -- followers of the Way of the Leaf -- and at the sae to it

"Too many have heard some version of part of the Prophecy of Rhuidean now," she went on in a more controlled tone, for all the world as if she had heard a word of that prophecy herself before she began training to become a Wise One, "but it has been twisted They know that you will destroy us" Her control faltered for the space of one deep breath "But many believe that you will kill us all in endless dances of the spear, a sacrifice to atone for the sin Others believe that the bleakness itself is a testing, to wear away all but the hard core before the Last Battle I have even heard some say that the Aiel are now your dream, and that when you wake from this life,