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He looked at it again It was not even wrinkled She hten it, steam it, after they arrived He held the tunic to hi its softness, and al her, soof it He would have been happy to wear it even if it wasn’t so beautiful

But it was beautiful The clothes he had chosen to wear for his Matrimonial, for all their decoration, now seemed drab by comparison Jondalar wore clothes well, and he knew it He had always secretly prided hi It was a small vanity that he had learned at his ant than Marthona He wondered if she had seen the tunic So subtlety, with the erht touch, and she would have given him some look, some hint

He looked up as Joharran came into the tent “There you are, Jondalar I see for you You are needed for soarment “What do you have there?” he asked

“Ayla made me a Matriive me this” He held it up in front of himself

“Jondalar! That is exceptional!” his brother said “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen white leather so well made You always have liked to dress well, but in that, you are really going to stand out There is going to be more than one woman ish she were in Ayla’s place But there isbrother included—if it weren’t for Proleva, of course”

“I am lucky You don’t even kno lucky, Joharran”

“Well, I want to say, I wish both of you much happiness I haven’t really had the opportunity to tell you before I used to worry about you sometimes Especially after that … problem you had, when you were sent away When you came back, you always had women, but I wondered if you would ever find a woman that you would be happy with You would have mated eventually, I’m sure, but I didn’t know if you would ever find the land of happiness you can have with a good ht kind of woman for you,” Joharran said Jondalar was moved

“I know I’ jokes about how sorry you’ll be now that you’ve tied yourself to the responsibilities of a hearth,” Joharran continued, “but I will tell you truthfully, Proleva has s a special war another?”

“No, I didn’t Ayla is expecting, too Our e, they will be like hearth cousins,” Jondalar said with a big grin

“I feel certain that Proleva’s son is the result ofwill be, but even if they aren’t, the children of his hearth can give a , it’s hard to describe Looking at Jaradal fills me with such pride and joy”

The two ed “All this confessing of deep feelings frohtly shorterThen his expression became more serious “I’ll tell you truthfully, Joharran I have often envied your happiness, even before I left, before there were any children I knew then Proleva would be a good woman for you She makes your hearth a warm and welcome place And just in the short time since I’ve returned, I have come to enjoy that little one of hers And Jaradal looks like you”

“You’d better go, Jondalar I was told to hurry you along”

Jondalar folded the white tunic, wrapped it loosely in its soft leather covering, and laid it carefully on his bedroll, then he left with his brother, but he looked back over his shoulder at the package, eager to try the white tunic on, the tunic he would hen he and Ayla were mated

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I didn’t knoould be so restricted today, or I would have eht, and Wolf needs to be able to coets upset if he can’t check on me”