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Her ht Her mother had also insisted that Faile learn to run the estates, and all the while Faile had drea her life far away froht bless you, Mother, Faile thought What would she, or Perrin, have done without that training? Without her s, Faile would have been useless Administration of the entire cah the woed this all on her own Nor should she have been expected to

Faile reached the quartermaster’s station, a s pits The breeze brought an a, peppered sauces spiced with garlic, the wet, sticky scent of potato peelings being carried to the s out of Malden

The quartermaster, Bavin Rockshaas a pale-faced Cairhienin with blond speckled through his graying brown hair, like the fur on a s and chest, yet had an almost perfectly round paunch He had apparently worked at quarter as far back as the Aiel War, and was an expert--asupply operations as a

That, of course,bribes When he saw Faile, he sh to be for his duty," that bow said

"Lady Faile!" he exclai ers, I assuh she knew there would be nothing suspicious in them He was far too careful

Still, she h the records One of the ht her a stool, another a table upon which to place the ledgers, and yet another a cup of tea She was impressed at how neatly the columns added up Her mother had explained that often, a quarteres or other ledgers, separating different types of supplies into different books, all toon A leader as befuddled by the notations would assu his job

There was none of that here Whatever tricks of nu to obscure his thievery, they were nothing short ofcreative in how he doled out his foodstuffs That was inevitable Most quartere of his supplies, and that was that

"How odd it is," Faile said as she leafed through the ledger "The strange twists of fate"

"My Lady?" Bavin asked

"H Only that Torven Rikshan’s caood hour ahead of the other camps I’m certain that’s just by chance"

Bavin hesitated "Undoubtedly, ers Torven Rikshan was a Cairhienin lord, and had been placed in charge of one of the twenty cae nuht this to Faile’s attention; she wasn’t certain what Torven had given to receive supplies for ht feel that Perrin was favoring one over another

"Yes," Faile said, laughing lightly "Merely coincidence These things happen in a cae Why, just the other day Varkel Tius was co to me that he had put in a requisition for canvas to repair torn tents, but hasn’t had his canvas for nearly a week now Yet I know for a fact that Soffi Moraton ripped her tent during the strea"

Bavin was silent

Faile ood quartermaster was too valuable to toss into prison, particularly when the next man was likely to be half as capable and equally corrupt Faile’s duty was not to expose or eh that he kept hi about these irregularities, Bavin," she said, closing the ledger "I loathe to burden you with silly matters, but the problems must not reach ed"

Actually, Perrin was about as likely to hurt a man like Bavin as Faile was to flap her arms and fly away But the camp didn’t see it that way They heard reports of Perrin’s fury in battle, along with her occasional arguments with him--provoked by Faile so that they could have a proper discussion--and assu as they also thought of him as honorable and kind Protective of his people, yet filled with rage at those who crossed hiers to one of the ers and jerkin She s She noted with displeasure that the bunch of wild scallions beside the pathway had spoiled in the moments since she’d seen them last, their stalksin the sun for weeks These spoilings had begun only recently inside of camp, but by reports, it happened far more frequently out in the countryside

It was hard to tell the hour with the sky so full of clouds, but it see horizon that her time to meet with Perrin had come Faile smiled Her mother had warned her ould happen to her, had told her as expected of her, and Faile had worried that she would feel trapped by life

But what Deira hadn’tit would be Perrin ht with him

Perrin stood with one foot up on the stu north The hilltop let him look out over the plains toward the cliffs of Garen’s Wall rising like the knuckles of a slu out for wolves There were some in the distance, alatherings ofat its boundaries This hillside was far enough away to be secluded, but not so distant as to be solitary He wasn’t certain why Faile had asked him to meet her here at dusk, but she’d smelled excited, so he hadn’t pried W