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"I wonder if custo the Eldar here?" Elayne said idly, eyeing the treelined banks to either side The river was only a few hundred paces wide here, bordered with dried black mud and bare yellow clay "Ghealdan to one side and Aoods fro south Of course, you probably have all the docu where you’ve paid duties And you could explain that you didn’t unload because of the troubles in Sa, really"

The corners of hisdown, he still did not look at either of theood viehen Thom fanned e a pair of knives through his fingers beforein practice," Tho mustache with the other blade "I like to ash in his whitehaired scalp and the fresh blood on his face, added to a bloodstained rent in one shoulder of his coat and tears elsewhere besides, made him look villainous in any company but Uno’s The Shienaran’s toothy ss to his long scar and the new slash down his face, red and raw The glaring crimson eye on his patch almost paled in co breath

The hatches ca over the side, so of spices Neres winced every tihtened -- if such a thing could be said of him -- when Nynaeve directed that bolts of silk and carpets and bales of fine woolens be left below Until he realized that sheIf his face had been sour before, now it could have curdledhe never said a word When wo up buckets of water on ropes to wash their children right there on the deck, he strode to the stern, hands clenched behind his back, and stared at the few floating casks as they fell behind

In a way, it was Neres’ peculiar attitude tooue, and Birgitte’s That was the way Nynaeve saw it; she herself had maintained her usual even disposition, of course Neres disliked women The crew spoke quickly when they had to speak to one of the wolances at the captain until they could hurry back to their duties A felloho see to do for ato soed tords with anyone in skirts Their hasty cos made Neres’ opinions perfectly clear

Woht like alley cats, and they caused trouble Any and all trouble a man had could be laid to women, one way or another Neres expected half of the one another before the first sunset They would all flirt with his crew, and bring on dissension where they did not cause fights Could he have sent all woht have been happy Could he have had them out of his life, he would have been ecstatic

Nynaeve had never encountered the like Oh, she had heardcoin about like water -- they just had no head for money, less than Elayne -- and she had even heard them lay various troubles to women, usually when it was they themselves who had caused all the bother But she could not recall evera man who truly disliked women It was a surprise to learn that Neres had a wife and a horde of children in Ebou Dar, but no surprise that he stayed at hoo He did not even want to talk to a wo So at him sideways, the way she would have at soer than s’redit, or anything else in Luca’s erie

Naturally, there was no way that Elayne or Birgitte could vent their bile where heThoh; they at least made so his ridiculous expectations met -- he surely would have seen it so -- that would have been unbearable He left them no choice but to s their acid and smile

For herself, Nynaeve could have done with a little time with Thoetting the they were supposed to do as they were told The results did not matter; they should wait And for so Neres with darkly s throats But the only place she could be sure of avoiding Neres was in the cabin They were not particularly large h Thom was tall and Uno fairly wide, yet crowded in there, they would have filled the tiny space to where they were loo she wanted to hand out; give a man the chance to loom, and he had the battle half won So she put on a pleasant nored startled frowns froan, and enjoyed the outward good teed to keep s when she learned why the sails were so full, the undulating riverbanks rushing by under the afternoon as fast as a trotting horse Neres had had the sweeps pulled in and stored along the railings; he al the Amadicia bank: on the Ghealdan side lay a broad ribbon of reeds between river and trees, mainly brohere water had receded Samara lay only a few hours upriver

"You channeled," she said to Elayne through her teeth Wiping sweat froe to dash it to the slowly heaving deck The other passengers left a clear space for the two of theitte a few paces across, but she still kept her voice low, and as affable as she could e Her stomach seemed to move a heartbeat behind the ship’s roll; that hardly i" She hoped there was enough red fennel in her scrip

Fro countenance and wide eyes, milk and honey should have fountained frohtened rabbit Pull yourself together Sa useful from that far She would have to be on the ship with us to knoas very quick"

Nynaeve thought her own face er, but out of the corner of her eye she could see Neres, studying his passengers and shaking his head Angry as she was at that moment, she could also see the al weather was like rolling a stone downhill; it tended to keep going the way you started it When it bounced away from the path, as it would sooner or later, you just had to twitch it back Moghedien ht have felt a weave of that size froh to say where it had been done She herself was aenough to do so, it seemed safe to say the Forsaken was not either And she did want to travel as quickly as possible; right then, one day more than necessary in close quarters with the other two held asthe cabin with Neres For thatto look forward to How could a ship move in such a fashion when