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Renn sat amongst the dusty shelves of the library of Aydindril, hiding from his tutor. The library was one of the few places he could go anymore where his mind wouldn't be flooded with loud, angry thoughts.

He didn't mention the trouble he was having with his gift to anyone. He didn't want them to put a Rada Han on him again. It wasn't his fault so many people were mad about the Mord'Sith and D'Hara, and other confusing things that he couldn't quite grasp. Angry thoughts were impossible to ignore. They seemed to echo, and snarl, get tangled with one another until they were just a great big ball of red and black sound giving Renn a headache.

So Renn stayed away from people, in the back of the library, where no one but wizards and mice ever went. If he was far enough away, he didn't have to listen to why everyone thought some people should die and others should live, why some were better than others.

Why Richard was a bad man now.

Bored, Renn started drawing a picture in the thick dust that coated the edge of the shelf in front of him, and then sneezed. When he wiped his nose on his sleeve, he left a grey streak of grime on his cheek.

And now Dennee was mad at Kahlan. She tried not to think it when Renn was near her, but he knew. Kahlan didn't want to be a Confessor anymore. She told Dennee to be Mother Confessor. Dennee was mad. Dennee felt betrayed. Dennee thought maybe Darken Rahl had done something to Richard and Kahlan, to make them serve him.

Renn didn't know if that was right or not. He'd heard Darken Rahl's thoughts before. They were many and confusing. Listening to Darken Rahl had been almost as bad as all the angry people. His thoughts were just as tangled, and just as loud, undercut by whispers Renn couldn't quite make out.

But he did know one thing. Kahlan had asked Dennee to send Renn to the People's Palace to help find the people who wanted to hurt his friends. Renn knew how to do that. He was good at it. He'd done it a lot of times in other countries, for different rulers. But this was the first time he wanted to go. The first time he wanted to help.

If Dennee wouldn't send him, Renn would go to D'Hara by himself. It could be fun, like an adventure, like when he got to travel with Richard and Kahlan. And he'd get to see Jennsen again.

He wondered if Haden had ever admitted Jennsen made her think of birdsong.

-l-

Aliandra swatted at the vines that dared to block her path, looking like a woman possessed with her pale skin and red eyes. Her white hair shown in the light that filtered through the trees. Behind her walked what remained of the Mord'Sith who followed her, after Richard Rahl had hunted them and taken the girls they chose to train.

Aliandra and the women following her would be the last true Mord'Sith, if Jennsen Rahl and Queen Cara had anything to say about it.

Finally she lost her temper, tearing the vines from her path and flinging them to the forest floor. Angrily, she stomped between two trees, not bothering to be quiet. She was Mord'Sith – chosen, deadly, and proud. She did not bother to hide her presence in the woods because she had nothing to fear.

Until she rounded a bend, to meet a pack of enormous wolves.

She had her Agiel out in an instant, her companions following suit. Fenrisulfr. That was what these beasts were called. They were supposed to be dead.

The largest, standing slightly in front of the others bared its teeth and growled.

Aliandra mimicked the action, refusing to submit, to back down. If she was to be one of the last true Mord'Sith, then she would die honorably in battle as a Mord'Sith should, without flinching. Without compromise.

"You can't hope to best them, albino. My children were made to devour the likes of you."

Jerking in surprise, Aliandra whipped her head in the direction the voice had come from, looking for the speaker. A woman with long dark hair, dressed in the blue robes of a priestess emerged from amongst the wolves, as if by magic.

Her eyes were as red as Aliandra's own.

"Who are you?"

"I am the one they call Mother," the woman answered, coming to rest her hand against the muzzle of one of the enormous wolves. "But you will call me Freya Kate."

"What do you want?" Aliandra demanded, signaling her Mord'Sith to fan out, to put them in the best possible position to survive the fight she was certain was imminent.

"Your help."

Aliandra didn't have to ask what kind of 'help' the woman had in mind. "What do we get in return?"

The wolf woman smiled, then laughed, a cunning, reptilian intelligence oozing from her in waves. "Your lives."

Aliandra thought for a long moment, and then she sheathed her Agiel.

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