The Shadow Rising

"You are injured." Setting her cup on the floor, Ala

"It was the Trollocs, Aes Sedai," Bain said. "When we came out of the Ways in the mountains." Chiad touched her arm, and she stopped.

"I locked the Waygate, " Loial added quickly. "No one will use it until it is opened from this side. "

"I thought that must be how they were coming," Verin murmured, half to herself. "Moiraine did say they were using the Ways. Sooner or later that is going to present us with a real problem. "

Perrin wondered what she thought that was.

"The Ways," Ala

"I am not a hero," he told her stolidly. "The Ways were the fastest way to get here. That's all."

The Green sister went on as if he had not spoken. "I will never understand why the Amyrlin Seat let you three go your way. Elaida has been having fits over you three, and she is not the only one, just the most vehement. With the seals weakening and the Last Battle coming, the last thing we need is three ta'veren ru

"I don't need to be pretty," he muttered – just well enough to do what he had to – and Faile laughed aloud.

"Who told you that?" Faile said. Surprisingly, she shared a smile with Ala

Perrin frowned, wondering if they were making fun of him, but before he could say anything, the Healing hit him, like being turned to ice. All he could do was gasp. The few moments before Ala

When he had his breath again, the Green sister had Bain's flame-haired head between her hands, Verin was seeing to Gaul, and Chiad was testing her left arm, swinging it back and forth with a satisfied expression.

Faile took Ala

"Oh, just something Domani women do. It was just an idle comment."

Despite her smile, or maybe because of it, he scowled suspiciously. She was making fun of him, only he did not understand how, exactly.

Ihvon slipped into the room, whispered in Ala

Perrin sprang to his feet as Tam al'Thor and Abell Cauthon appeared in the doorway, bows in hand, with the rumpled clothes and gray-flecked two-day beards of men who had been sleeping rough. They had been hunting; four rabbits hung at Tam's belt, three at Abell's. It was obvious they were expecting the Aes Sedai, and visitors, too, but they stared in amazement at Loial, more than half again as tall as either of them, with his tufted ears and broad snout of a nose. A flicker of recognition crossed Tam's bluff, lined face at sight of the Aiel.

Tam's gaze only rested thoughtfully on them for a moment, though, before coming to rest on Perrin with a start almost as big as for Loial. He was a sturdy, deep-chested man despite hair that was nearly all gray, the sort it would take an earthquake to knock off his feet and more than that to fluster. "Perrin, lad!" he exclaimed. "Is Rand with you?"

"What about Mat?" Abell added eagerly. He had the look of an older, graying Mat, but with more serious eyes. A man not thickened much by age, with an agile step.

"They are well," Perrin told them. "In Tear." He caught Verin's glance from the corner of his eye; she knew very well what Tear meant for Rand. Ala

"That sounds like my Mat," Abell chuckled.

"Maybe it's as well they didn't come," Tam said more slowly, "what with the Trollocs. And the Whitecloaks.... " He shrugged. "You know the Trollocs returned?" Perrin nodded. "Was that Aes Sedai right? Moiraine. Were they after you three lads, that Winternight? Did you ever find out why?"

The Brown sister gave Perrin a warning look. Ala

"I have noticed," Tam said dryly.

Both Aes Sedai were definitely listening, and making no secret of it now. Ala

"Can we talk outside?" Perrin asked the two men. "I want a breath of air." He wanted to talk without Aes Sedai eavesdropping and watching, but he could hardly say so.

Tam and Abell were agreeable, and perhaps as eager to escape Verin and Ala

"We meant to keep two for ourselves," Abell said, "but it seems you have more mouths to feed."

"There is no need for this." The Green sister sounded as though she had said as much often before.

"We like to pay for what we get " Tam told her, sounding the same. "The Aes Sedai were kind enough to do a little Healing for us," he added to Perrin, "and we want to stock up credit in case we need it again."

Perrin nodded. He could understand not wanting to take a gift from Aes Sedai. "An Aes Sedai's gift always has a hook in it," the old saying went. Well, he knew the truth of that. But it did not really matter whether you took the gift or paid for it; Aes Sedai managed to set the hook anyway. Verin was watching him with a tiny smile, as if she knew what he was thinking.

As the three men started out, carrying their bows, Faile rose to follow. Perrin shook his head at her, and amazingly she sat back down. He wondered if she was ill.

After pausing so Tam and Abell could admire Stepper and Swallow, they strolled off a way under the trees. The sun slanted westward, lengthening shadows. The older men made a few jokes about his beard, but they never mentioned his eyes. Strangely, the omission did not bother him. He had more important worries than whether somebody thought his eyes peculiar.

Responding to Abell's query as to whether "that thing" was any good for straining soup, he rubbed his beard and said mildly, "Faile likes it."

"Oh-ho," Tam chuckled. "That's the girl, is it? A spirited look to her, lad. She'll have you lying awake nights trying to tell up from down."

"Only one way to handle that sort," Abell said, nodding. "Let her think she's ru

That seemed to Perrin a great deal like what Mistress al'Vere had told Faile about handling men. He wondered if Abell and Marin had ever compared notes. Not likely. Perhaps it was worth trying with Faile. Only, she seemed to have her own way in any case.