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The laundry of Muiras a sles attached to a sloping roof held up by six sturdy posts There were no walls, but the roof was broad enough to provide shelter, for it rained often at the abbey, and it overhung the little spillhere the water drained away towards the wetlands At first Lia thought that no one else was there, but she heard hu and discovered, to her disappointment, that Reome was there

Reome was seventeen and worked as a lavender She was the kind of girl that Lia always distrusted because of the way she gossiped She had a certain cruelty to her – a way she talked to others that showed how little she cared about their feelings One irl for a pretty embroidery, the next she would mock how her hair was braided

Lia had witnessed this behavior first hand on h had rarely been the victim of it except the occasional jeer that she was taller than the other girls her age or that her hair was neither brown nor raven but pale as flax and too crinkled and wild – both attributes Lia could do nothing about The best way to handle a person like Reonore their taunts and their praise – to desire neither Lia arrived at the shelter of the laundry and set the basket down, then shook the droplets of water fro on a post hook to dry while she worked

Reoe near the water, then dunked it again Her hands rinkled and sudsy She twisted the gar out the water as she would a hen’s neck, loosened it, then twisted again She had strong hands Lia had seen her pinch a girl once, leaving a bruise andherself to the other girl

She received no anshich did not surprise her

Lia knelt at the other end, across from Reome, and drew the stained dress from the basket and dunked it into the water Because of the rains, the stone trough was nearly full During the su was used to suht summon its power, or the Alderasps fro, its cold stone eyes flat and lifeless, no glow of light e a few paces fro within the stone She would not wake it – not in front of Reome

Lia pulled a cake of soap froainst the fabric She churned the garainst each other, then knelt down and scrubbed it against the stone She worked quietly, ignoring Reoone already

For some reason, the boys of the abbey did not notice the same cruelty in Reome It bothered Lia that so many would offer to carry a basket for her They would leap over a well hole if they thought it would earn the a leather choker around her neck with a polished river stone dangling fro, as only a wretched could, one of the learners who so with a ge them Then the other kitchen help – not Lia and Sowe, of course – began fashioning them The boys cured leather or searched for stones in the river It was silly how desperate soirls were to have one, or the boys to assist

After a short while, Lia heard Reo the wet clothes and stack theh and tapped on the shingles overhead The air smelled like soap and purpleit Reo to ask you to dance at the Whitsun Fair," she said

Curse her, Lia thought blackly "Hmmm?" She pretended not to care, but her stoainst her hip "Everyone knows The boring one The one who is always reading, yet never irl hello Neesha says that he walks around the cloister, greeting only the girls Never the boys But he greets us too, even the wretcheds His shirt is in your basket Did he ask you to wash it for hi it to be nice?"

Lia wiped her forehead, trying to think quickly Reo her about Duerden, one of the first-year learners He was sht and look he appeared to be about ten, instead of thirteen He was the nicest young htful and friendly, treating everyone the same way, both wretched, teacher, and other learners Lia liked him because he explained to her ords really rave, of course, but he did not e with others