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"Look, he’s running away, just like the scared little baby he is" Gren’s words and Clover’s laugh followed Toff as he made his way toward Mother Fern’s pottery shed Toff’s shoulders drooped and he breathed a heavy sigh as he trudged along

"Get in here--we need the roots taken out of that and what you brought in last tiru to force the rain tonight and I want the sifting done before the da"

"Yes, Mother Fern," Toff muttered and went to do as he was bid

Chapter 5

Tory stared at Ry Ry handed the comp-vid to hi his breath, there at the end "Cloudsong tried to level a judgainst Le-Ath Veronis, because Glendes wanted Uncle Shadow to e mess," Ry nodded "Glendes told Uncle Shadow he had to marry that woman to have heirs, only it turned out that her first husband had co de on that woree Mom, since Shadoas one of her Inner Circle e was co Grey House obligated for the debts What I’ure out is how the crown prince was found alive later, when he was supposed to be dead Nobody says anything about that--just that heMom that all the profits fro And this was after Mo back before he was supposed to ainst Le-Ath Veronis when it wasn’t even involved"

"That’s why Cloudsong wasn’t allowed into the Alliance--did you see that?" Tory turned the comp-vid around so Ry could see for himself

"I saw," Ry nodded "So that left the door open for Grey House a little while later, when Trell got blown to bits"

"I wonder what Uncle Shadow had to do to get Mo back" Tory wondered aloud "And then convince her to get a surrogate so Sissy could be born"

"Yeah--thatstill got a lot of gold out of it," Tory pointed out

"Yeah I saw that, too I can’t ih on Mo parts of the infore for his report

"They’ll never be allowed to join the Alliance--not as long as the Founder and the Twenty have anything to say about it They denied their application in perpetuity"

"Which allowed Grey House to join the Alliance and replace all the taxes that Trell had been paying," Ry was following his brother’s logic

"At least we knohy Mom is still pissed at Glendes and Raffian Grey and won’t set foot in Grey House," Tory sighed "Should we tell Sissy?"

"We can let her read this herself--it’s not like the inforh"

"True Why can’t we useover one of his and Ry’s favorite complaints They wanted communication with their sister And each other Life would be so much simpler, that way Their fathers had ht be used to cheat on tests or get into trouble Ry and Tory h, even without mindspeech

"I can’t tell him this is a fool’s errand I just can’t He’s old and it would kill hier brother’s bedroo’s palace in the capital city of Cloudsong The palace was in disrepair, as was htedness on his father’s part--he’d kept the wrong advisors around hi was destitute Brandelin looked up at Jenderlin, his brother, who stood before the fire, trying to war and one near that rogue wizard--father has eet back at Le-Ath Veronis He believes everything that charlatan tells him, and Zellar blames the Va father that he has a way to destroy the Queen and her world and exact the funds he needs to keep Cloudsong fro industry to Cloudsong instead of placing his hopes on joining the Alliance Being a uarantee of profitability" Brandelin rubbed his forehead--he’d been getting more and reed "They failed to diversify and when another Alliance world developed better technology, they almost destroyed themselves The old Queen there invited Solar Red in when they offered to pay to set up their temples"

Brandelin blew out a breath at his brother’s assessed in torture and sacrifice It was outlawed by the Alliance and had been lad they never approached father," Brandelin shuddered He knew, as did his brother, that their father ht have been persuaded to allow Solar Red to set up their teht amount of money