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Nortah paused next to a heavily built young man who, unlike the others, paid them no attention at all He sat surrounded by piles of rushes, his handsstems with unconscious skill A nuly identical

“This is Weaver,” Nortah told Vaelin “You have him to thank for your unbroken ribs”

“You are a healer, sir?” Vaelin asked the young ue snising Vaelin for the first time “All broken up inside,” he said in a rapid tumble of words Vaelin alans Needed fixing Long ti”

“You fixed ain and returned to his task, his fingers resu their expert ithout further pause He didn’t look up as Nortah drew Vaelin away

“He’s slow ofhis baskets all day, rarely speaks The only ti”

“How can he have learned the healing arts?”

Nortah paused and rolled up the shirt sleeve on his left ar the forearm, faded and barely noticeable “When I cut ht me with a lance I stitched it best I could but I’rene had set in, the flesh around the cut was black and stinking When I foundthese people Weaver put down his rushes, came over and put his hands onWhen he took his hands away the wound looked like this”

Vaelin looked back at Weaver sitting surrounded by his rushes and baskets and felt the blood-songaround at the wary faces of the others the ’s new tone beca softly “So do you, brother How else could you find rinned at the shock on Vaelin’s face “You hid it so well, all these years None of us had any idea But you couldn’t hide it from her She told me what you did for her, for which I thank you most humbly After all, we’d never have ”

They found Sella enca fro pot of steas suspended She wasn’t alone, Spit snorting happily as she ran a hand over his flanks His snorts turned to a familiar whinny of irritation as Vaelin approached, as if he resented the intrusion

Sella’s eh he noted she wore gloves and avoided contact with his skin Her hands moved with the clean fluency he remembered You’re taller, she said

“And you” He nodded at Spit, now nuzzling a gorse bush with studied indifference to his ht”

Not hate, her hands said Anger His rew up Endless grass, boundless skies Hungers to return

She paused to press a kiss to Nortah’s lips as he pulled her close with easy fa a ave an abrupt whinny of alar into view and would have fled if Sella hadn’t calaze to the war-cat, halting her inas Sella’s gaze remained locked on the cat After the briefest pause Snowdance blinked, shaking her head in confusion, then bounded off in another direction, quickly disappearing into the ruins

Wants to play with your horse, Sella said She’ll stay away fro the stew pot from its tripod

“Will you eat with us, brother?” Nortah asked

Vaelin realised he was fiercely hungry “Gladly”

The steas goat rew in abundance amidst the ruins Vaelin wolfed down a boith his custoy in Sella’s direction She just smiled and shook her head

“How’s Dentos?” Nortah asked

“Bruised, you nearly broke his cheekbone”