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Rand’s skin prickled Aes Sedai used theends, when there wereround hilow And he reht he had reached for to escape If that was the male half of True SourceNo, it can’t be But what if it is? Light, I ondering whether to run or not, and all the tiht us here He did not want to think about it "Worlds that ed massively, and uneasily "Neither do I, Rand Most of it sounded like this ’If a woht, does Time’s flow divide? Does the Wheel then weave two Patterns? A thousand, for each of her turnings? As many as the stars? Is one real, the others merely shadows and reflections?’ You see, it was not very clear Mainly questions, most of which seemed to contradict each other And there just wasn’tat the coluo away "There are supposed to be a good many of these Stones, scattered all over the world, or there were, once, but I never heard of anyone finding one I never heard of anyone finding anything like this at all"

"My Lord Rand?" Now on his feet, Hurin seemed calmer, but he clutched his coat at the waist with both hands, his face urgent "My Lord Rand, you’ll get us back, won’t you? Back where we belong? I’ve a wife, h, ive to the rieve to the end of her days You understand, et us back And if I die, if you can’t take her my body, you’ll let her know, so she has that, at least" He was no longer questioning at the end A note of confidence had crept into his voice

Rand opened his ain he was not a lord, then shut it without speaking That was hardly iot him into this He wanted to deny it, but he knehat he was, knew he could channel, even if it always seemed to happen all by itself Loial said Aes Sedai used the Stones, and that meant the One Power What Loial said he knew, you could be sure of -- the Ogier never claimed to know if he did not -- and there was no one else nearby who could wield the Power You got hiet him out You have to try

"I will do my best, Hurin" And because Hurin was Shienaran, he added, "By my House and honor A shepherd’s House and a shepherd’s honor, but I’ll make them do as well as a lord’s"

Hurin loosed his hold on his coat The confidence reached his eyes, too He bowed deeply "Honor to serve, h Rand He thinks you’ll see him home, now, because Shienaran lords always keep their word What are you going to do, Lord Rand? "None of that, Hurin There’ll be no bowing I’ain that he was not a lord All that was holding the sniffer together was his belief in a lord, and he could not take that away, not now Not here "No bowing," he finished aardly

"As you say, Lord Rand" Hurin’s grin was almost as wide as when Rand first met him

Rand cleared his throat "Yes Well, that’s what I say"

They were both watching hi to see what he would do I brought theet the a deep breath, he walked across the white paving stones to the sye he did not know surrounded each symbol, odd letters that flowed in curves and spirals, suddenly turned to jagged hooks and angles, then flowed on At least it was not Trolloc script Reluctantly, he put his hands on the column It looked like any dry, polished stone, but it felt curiously slick, like oiled metal

He closed his eyes and formed the flame The void ca it back, fear of what he was trying As fast as he fed fear into the flame, more came I can’t do it Channel the Power I don’t want to Light, there has to be another way Grihts to stillness He could feel sweat beading on his face Deter flarow And the void was there

The core of hiht -- saidin -- even with his eyes closed, feel the war everything It wavered like a candle fla oil

He reached for it -- he was not sure how he reached, but it was soht, toward saidin -- and caught nothing, as if running his hands through water It felt like a sli atop clean water below, but he could not scoop up any of the water Tiers, not even droplets of the water re his skin crawl

Desperately, he tried to fortar and the lances sleeping by their horses, with Mat and Perrin, and the Stone lying buried except for one end Outside the void he for to the shell of ee with the light, tried to force theether The hollow as it had been, and he and Loial and Hurin there together His head hurt Together, with Mat and Perrin and the Shienarans Burning, in his head Together!

The void shattered into a thousand razor shards, slicing his ered back, wideeyed His hands hurt fro the Stone, and his ar; his sto hi That had never happened before When the void went, it went like a pricked bubble, just gone, in a twinkling Never broken like glass His head felt numb, as if the thousand slashes had happened so quickly the pain had not yet come But every cut had felt as real as if done with a knife He touched his teers

Hurin still stood there watching hi, the sniffer see That hat lords were for They protected the land and the people with their bodies and their lives, and when soht and saw fairness and justice done As long as Rand was doing so, Hurin would have confidence that it would all coht in the end