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Still, it was the woht her heart They had no more prospects than the men, no more certainties, but most had more burdens None had a husband with her, or even knew if she had a husband alive, yet the responsibilities that weighed theive up when she had children Even the others h They all had at least a scrap of the hope the ed at her

Nicola was about her age and height, a slender darkhaired weaver with big eyes who had been intending to marry Until her Hyran took it into his head that duty called hion Reborn; he would marry her when his duty was seen to Duty had been very iood and conscientious husband and father, so Nicola said Only, whatever was in his head had not done hiood when someone split it with an axe Nicola did not knoho, or why, just that she had to get as far from the Prophet as she could So, where she would not always be in fear of what an, a few years older, had been plu on her loosely now, and her blunt face looked beyond weary Her two sons, six and seven, stared silently at the world with toobig eyes; clinging to each other, they see and everyone else, even their own h she had some odd ideas about both That was no wonder, really; a woht across the river had to keep low, and even from the first she had had to teach herself All she had ever wanted to do was cure sickness, and she claih she had not been able to save her husband The five years since his death had been hard, and the co of the Prophet had certainly not helped her any Mobs searching for Aes Sedai chased her into hiding after she had cured ahim back from the dead That was how little most people knew of Aes Sedai; death was beyond the power to Heal Even Marigan see any e soain in peace

Areina was the youngest of the three, with steady blue eyes in a face bruised purple and yellow, and not fro else did, a short dark coat and voluitte’s They were the sum of her possessions She would not say where she was fro about the road that had led her to Riverserpent About soone to Illian er brother home before he could take the oath as a Hunter for the Horn With thousands in the city, however, she had never found hi out to see the world while not quite believing the Horn of Valere existed, half hoping that sos had been difficult since Areina was not precisely reluctant to talk, but she s She had been chased out of several villages, robbed once, and beaten several ti sanctuary, or, a peaceful village The world was still out there, and Areina round Not that she put it that way, but Nynaeve knehat the woman meant

Nynaeve knew very hy they touched her most, too Each story could have been the reflection of a thread in her own life What she did not quite understand hy she liked Areina best It was her opinion, putting this and that together, that nearly all of Areina’s troubles ca people exactly what she thought It could hardly be coincidence that she was harried out of one village so quickly she had to leave her horse behind after calling the e woht to question why she was on the road alone That hat she adht a few days of herself for exaood And there had to be so she could do for the other two, as well She could understand a desire for safety and peace very well

There was an odd exchange theof the second day, while teues! -- still rough Nynaeve said so in herto sleep shoved against the wall every night Elayne tilted up her chin, but before she could open her hterHeir of Andor?" She hardly looked around to h to hear

"I anified than Nynaeve remembered in some time, but there was a hint of -- could it be satisfaction?

Face co up into the bohere she sat on a coil of rope, staring at the river ahead Elayne frowned after her, then finally went to sit beside her They sat talking softly for some time Nynaeve would not have joined them even had she been asked! Whatever they discussed, Elayne seeruntled, as if she had expected some other result, but after that there was hardly a cross word between theh it was a last flare of tehedien safely behind them, she and Elayne washed the black out of their hair with pokeleaf, and Neres seeing one with redgold curls about her shoulders and the other yellowgold in an intricate braid, and that one with bow and quiver,out of the bloody stories" It was his misfortune that she overheard That was her name, she told him sharply, and if he did not like it, she would pin his ears to either mast he chose Blindfolded He stalked off redfaced and shouting for lines to be tightened that could not have been

At that point Nynaeve would not have cared whether Birgitte actually carried out the threat Pokeleaf ht reddish cast to her own hair, yet it was close enough to its natural color almost to make her cry for joy Unless everyone aboard cah pokeleaf re And sufficient red fennel to keep her sto in satisfaction once her hair was dry and in a proper braid again

Of course, with Elayne channeling good winds and Neres running light or dark, thatchroofed villages and far in the day and lit s in the night, showing no sign of the turmoil farther upriver Broad as the ood time