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His wife had taken to patting his shoulder at...
Posted on 2010-May-6 at 09:21 - Link
His wife had taken to patting his shoulder at sporadic, unexpected moments, as if gentling a restive creatureThis spring the news from the wider world was unpredictable and of seemingly enormous consequenceBarbadian troops were beginning to clog the roads as they moved up to northern Ferraut, on the border of SenzioFrom the newly declared Kingdom of the Western Palm had come no clear response as yet to this provocationOr none that had reached AstibarRovigo hadn't heard a word from Alessan since well before the Ember Days, but he had been told a long time ago that this spring might mark the beginning of something new
And something was in the air, a sense of quickening and of change that fit itself to the mood of burgeoning spring and then went beyond it, into danger and the potential for violenceHe seemed to hear it and see it everywhere, in the tramp of armies on the march, in the lowered voices of men in taverns, looking up too quickly whenever anyone came through the door
One morning when he woke, Rovigo had an image that lingered in his mind, of the great floods of solidly packed river ice he had glimpsed many years ago far to the south on a long voyage down the coast of QuileiaAnd in his mind-picture, as he lay in bed, suspended between asleep and fully awake, he had seemed to see that ice breaking up and the river cartier watches waters beginning to run again, carrying the floes crashing and grinding down to the sea
Over khav that same morning, standing in the kitchen, he had announced that he was going into town to see about equipping the Maid for her first run of the season down to Tregea, with goods, perhaps wine, perhaps Edinio's wine, to trade for a ship's hold's worth of early spring wool and Tregean goat's cheese
It was an impulsive decision, but not an inappropriate oneHe usually made a run south in the spring, if a little later in the season, mostly for trade, partly to learn what he could for AlessanHe had been doing it for years, for both reasons, ever since he'd met Alessan and Baerd, spending a long night in a southern tavern with them, and coming away with the knowledge of a shared passion of the soul and a cause that might be a lifetime in the unfolding
So this spring voyage was a part of his yearly routineWhat was not, what was truly impulsive, was his offer, between one sip of early morning khav and the next, to take Alais with him
His eldest, his pride, his clever oneHe thought her beautiful beyond wordsNo one had asked for her handAnd though he knew she was truly pleased for Selvena and not grieving at all for herself, this knowledge didn't stop him from feeling a difficult sorrow whenever he looked at her amid the already gucci knockoffs building excitement of Selvena's wedding preparations
So he asked her, a little too casually, if she wanted to come with him, and Alix glanced up quickly from her labors in the kitchen with a sharp, worried look in her dark eyes, and Alais said, even more quickly, with a fervor rare for her: "Oh, Triad, yes! I would love to come!"
It happened to be her dream
One of her oldest dreams, never requested, never even spoken aloudAlais could feel how high her tell-tale color had suddenly becomeShe watched her father and mother exchange a glanceThere were times when she envied them that communion of their eyesNo words were spoken, they didn't seem to need words much of the timeThen Alais saw her mother nod, and she turned in time to catch her father's slow smile in response to that, and she knew she was going to sea in the Maid for the first time in her life
She had wanted to do so for so long she couldn't even think back to a time when the desire hadn't been thereShe remembered being a small girl, light enough to be lifted up by her father while her mother carried Selvena, going down to the harbor in Astibar to see the new ship that was the key to their small fortune in the world
And she had loved it so muchThe three masts, they had seemed so tall to her then, aspiring toward the sky, the dark-haired figurehead of a maiden at the cheap replica rolex and cartier watches prow, the bright-blue coat of fresh paint along the railings, the creak of the ropes and the timberAnd the harbor itself: the smell of pitch and pine and fish and ale and cheese, wool and spice and leatherThe rumble of carts laden with goods going away to some far part of the known world, or coming in from distant places with names that were a kind of magic to her
A sailor in red and green walked by with a monkey on his shoulder and her father called a familiar greeting to himHer father seemed to be at home here, he knew these men, the wild, exotic places from which they came and wentShe heard shouts and sudden raucous laughter and voices raised in profane dispute over the weight of this or the cost of thatThen someone cried out that there were dolphins in the bay; that was when her father had lifted her up on his shoulders so she might see them
Selvena had begun to cry at all the fierce commotion, Alais remembered, and they had gone back to their cart shortly after and ridden away, past the watchful, looming presence of the Barbadians, big, fair-haired men on their big horses, guarding the harbor of AstibarShe had been too young to understand what they were about, but her father's abrupt silence and expressionless face, riding by them, had told her somethingLater, she learned a great deal more, growing up into the occupied prada handbag reality of her world
Her love of the ships and the harbor had never gone awayWhenever she could she would go with Rovigo down to the waterIt was easier in winter, when they all moved to the town house in Astibar, but even in spring and summer and early fall she would find excuses, reasons and ways to accompany him into town and down to where the Maid was berthedShe gloried in the scene, and at night she dreamt her dreams of oceans opening before her and salt spray off the wavesWomen did not go to seaAnd dutiful, intelligent daughters never troubled their fathers by even asking to be allowed such a thingBut it seemed that, sometimes, on some mornings completely unforeseen, Eanna could look down from among her lights in the sky, and smile, and something miraculous might be freely offered that would never have been sought
It seemed she was a good sailor, adjusting easily to the swing and roll of the ship on the waves as the coastline of Astibar scrolled by on their rightThey sailed north along the bay and then threaded their way through the islands of the Archipelago and into the wideness of the open sea, Rovigo and his five seamen handling the ship with an ease that seemed to her both relaxed and preciseAlais was exhilarated, watching everything in this unknown world with an intensity that made them laugh and tease her for chloe handbag i
Then one spring, a long time after that, a woman...
Posted on 2010-May-1 at 06:51 - Link
Then one spring, a long time after that, a woman dived into the sea after the ring when the Grand Duke of that time cast it inSome said later she had been crazed with love or religious possession, others that she was only cunning and ambitious
In either case, she surfaced from the waters of the harbor with the ring bright in her hand
And as the crowd that had gathered to watch the Grand Duke wed the sea shouted and babbled in wild confusion and wonder the High Priest of Morian in Chiara suddenly cried aloud, in words that would run down through all the years, never to be lost: "Look and see! See how the oceans accept the Grand Duke as husband to them! How they offer back the sea-ring as a bride piece to a lover!"
And the High Priest moved to the very end of the pier beside the Duke and knelt to help the woman rise from the sea and so he set in motion everything that followedSaronte the Grand Duke was but new to his power and as yet unwedLetizia, who had come into the city from a farm in the distrada and had done this unprecedented thing, was yellow-haired and comely and very youngAnd their palms were joined together then and there over the water by Mellidar, that High Priest of Morian, and Saronte placed the sea-ring on Letizia's finger
They were wed at MidsummerThere was war that autumn against Asoli and Astibar, and tiffany and co necklace young Saronte di Chiara triumphed magnificently in a naval battle in the Gulf of Corte, south of the IslandA victory whose anniversary Chiara still rememberedAnd from that time onward, the newly shaped ritual of the Ring Dive was enshrined for use in time of Chiara's need
Thirty years later, near the end of Saronte's long reign, in one of the recurring squabbles for precedence among the Triad's clergy, a newly anointed High Priest of Eanna revealed that Letizia had been near kin to Mellidar, the priest of Morian who had drawn her from the water and bound her to the DukeEanna's priest invited the people of the Island to draw their own conclusions about the schemes of Morian's clergy and their endless striving for preeminence and power
A number of events, none of them pleasant, had unfolded among the Triad's servants in the months following that revelation, but none of these disturbances had come near to touching the bright new sanctity of the ritual itselfThe ceremony had taken hold on the imagination of the peopleIt seemed to speak to something deep within them, whether of sacrifice or homage, of love or danger, or, in the end, of some dark, true binding to the waters of the sea
So the Ring Dive of the Grand Dukes remained, long after all those feuding clergy of the Triad had been lowered to their rest, their names only tiffany jewellery half-remembered, and only because of their part in the story of the Dive
What had finally brought an end to the ceremony, in much more recent times, was the death of Onestra, wife to Grand Duke Cazal, two hundred and fifty years ago
It was not, by any means, the first such death: the women who volunteered to dive for the Grand Dukes always had it made absolutely clear to them that their lives were worth infinitely less than the ring they sought to reclaim from the seaTo come back without the ring left one an exile from the Island for life, known and mocked throughout the whole peninsulaThe ceremony was repeated with another woman, another ring, until one of the thrown rings was found and claimed
By contrast, the woman who carried a sea-ring back to the pier was acclaimed as the luck of Chiara and her fortune was made for lifeWealth and honor, an arranged marriage into nobilityMore than one had borne a child to her Grand DukeTwo had followed Letizia to the consort's throneGirls from families of little prospect were not chary about risking their lives for such a glittering, hallucinatory future
Onestra di Chiara had been different, and because of her and after her everything had changed
Beautiful as a legend and as proud, Grand Duke Cazal's young bride had insisted on doing the Ring Dive herself, scorning to allocate such a miu miu charm bag glittering ceremony to some ill-bred creature from the distrada on the eve of a dangerous warShe had been, all the chroniclers of the day agreed, the most beautiful vision any of them had ever seen as she walked down to the sea in the dark-green of ritual
When she floated, lifeless, to the surface of the water some distance from the shore, in full sight of the watching throng, Duke Cazal had screamed like a girl and fainted dead away
After which there had been rioting and a terrified pandemonium unmatched before or since on the IslandIn one isolated temple of Adaon on the north shore, all the priestesses had killed themselves when one of their number brought back the newsIt was the wrath of the god that was coming, so the portents were read, and Chiara almost strangled on its fear
Duke Cazal, foolhardy and broken, was slain in battle that summer against the joined armies of Corte and Ferraut, after which Chiara endured two generations of eclipse, rising to power again only after the bitter, destructive war fought between the erstwhile allies who had beaten itSuch a process, of course, was hardly noteworthyIt had been the way of things in the Palm as far back as the records went
But no woman had done the Ring Dive since Onestra died
All the symbols had changed with her, the stakes had risen too highIf another woman were to vintage rolex watch die in the Dive, with that legacy of chaos and defeat
It was far too dangerous, successive Grand Dukes declared, the one after the other, and they found ways to keep the Island safe in its sea-girt power without the sanction of that most potent ceremony
When the Ygrathen fleet had been sighted nineteen years ago the last Grand Duke of Chiara had killed himself on the steps of Eanna's temple, and so there had been no one to cast a ring into the sea that year, even had there been a woman willing to dive for it, in search of Morian's intercession and the god's
It was eerily silent in the saishan when she and Scelto left her roomsNormally at this hour the corridors would be loud with the stir and bustle of the castrates, fragrant and colorful with the scented presence of women moving languorously to the baths or to their morning mealThe hallways were empty and still save for their own footstepsDianora suppressed a shiver, so strange did the deserted, echoing saishan seem
They passed the doorway to the baths and then the entrance to the dining roomsBoth were empty and silentThey turned a corner toward the stairway that led down and out of the women's wing, and there Dianora saw that one person at least had remained, and was waiting for them
"Let me look at you," Vencel said, the usual words"I must approve you before you go sale gucci handbags do
She didn't ask how, or how he knewHis sorcery was...
Posted on 2010-Apr-30 at 07:10 - Link
She didn't ask how, or how he knewHis sorcery was still the thing she did not ever want to face
Shortly after that came bad tidings thoughThe Barbadians were beginning to move north toward and through Ferraut, all three armies apparently heading for the border of SenzioHe had not expected that, she sawIt was too unlike careful Alberico to move with such decisiveness
"Something has happened thereSomething is pushing him," Brandin said"And I wish I knew what it was
He was weak and vulnerable now, that was the problemHe needed time and they all knew itWith the Ygrathen army mostly gone Brandin needed a chance to shape a new structure of order in the western provincesTo turn the first giddy euphoria of his announcement cartier watches into the bonds and allegiances that would truly forge a kingdomThat would let him summon an army to fight in his name, among a conquered people lately so hard-oppressed
He needed time, desperately, and Alberico wasn't giving it to him
"You could send us," d'Eymon the Chancellor said one morning, as the dimensions of the crisis began to take shape"Send the Ygrathens we have left and position the ships off the coast of SenzioSee if that will hold Alberico for a time
The Chancellor had stayed with themThere was never any real doubt that he wouldFor all his trauma, he had looked ill and old for days after Brandin's announcement, Dianora knew that d'Eymon's deepest loyalty, his love, though he would have shied awkwardly away chanel mens watches from that word, was given to the man he served and not to the nationMoving through those days almost numbed by the divisions in her own heart she envied d'Eymon that simplicity
But Brandin flatly refused to follow his suggestionShe remembered his face as he explained, looking up from a map and strewn sheets of paper covered with numbersThe three of them together around a table in the sitting-room off the King's bedchamber; Rhun a nervous, preoccupied fourth on a couch at the far end of the roomThe King of the Western Palm still had his Fool, though the King of Ygrath was named Girald now
"I cannot make them fight alone," Brandin said quietly"Not to carry the full burden of defending people I have just made them equal swiss cartier pasha seatimer toThis cannot be an Ygrathen warFor one thing, they are not enough, we will loseBut it is more than thatIf we send an army or a fleet it must be made up of all of us here, or this Kingdom will be finished before I start
D'Eymon had risen from the table, agitated, visibly disturbed"Then I must say again what I have said before: this is follyThe thing to do is to go home and deal with what has happened in Ygrath
"Not really, d'EymonI will not flatter myselfGirald has been ruling Ygrath for twenty years
"Girald is a traitor and should have been executed as such with his mother!"
Brandin looked up at him, the grey eyes suddenly chilly
"Must we repeat this discussion? D'Eymon, I am here for a reason and you know that reasonI replica prada cannot go back on that: it would cut against the very core of what I am His expression changed"No man need stay with me, but I am bound myself to this peninsula by love and grief, and by my own nature, and those three things will hold me here
"The Lady Dianora could come with us! With Dorotea dead you would need a Queen in Ygrath and she would be
"D'Eymon! Have done The tone was final, ending the discussion
But the Chancellor was a brave man"My lord," he pushed on, grim-faced, his voice low and intense, "if I cannot speak of this and you will not send our fleet to face Barbadior I know not how to advise youThe provinces will not go to war for you yet, we know thatThey need time to see and to believe that you are one of women's rolex watch t
"Mind you, it was a good priceI bought two vials...
Posted on 2010-Apr-29 at 01:22 - Link
"Mind you, it was a good priceI bought two vials of the stuff
Laughing quietly, Baerd felt a curious sensation, as if his heart were expanding outward toward the man here with himHe remembered Sandre the night they had met, when all the plans of his old age had been undone, when a final, savage end had come for the whole Sandreni familyA night that had not come to an end until the Duke had used his magic to go into Alberico's dungeons and kill his own sonAny woman or boy I desired
Baerd felt humbled by the strength of the old man with himNot once in half a year and more of hard traveling, through the bitter cold and rutted tracks of winter, had Sandre breathed so much as a request for a halt or an easier paceNot once had he balked at a task, shown weariness, been slow to rise in the predawn dampness of the roadNot once given any sign of the rage or the grief that must have choked him whenever word reached them of more bodies death-wheeled in AstibarHe had gucci women's watches given them a gift of all he had, his knowledge of the Palm, the world, and especially of Alberico; a lifetime's worth of subtlety and leadership, offered without arrogance and without reserve, nothing held back
It was men such as this, Baerd thought, who had been the glory and the grief of the Palm in the days before it fellGlory in the grandeur of their power, and grief in their hatreds and their wars that had let the Tyrants come and take the provinces one by one in their solitary pride
And sitting there by the river in darkness Baerd felt again, with certainty, in the deep core of his heart, that what Alessan was doing, what he and Alessan were doing, was rightThat theirs was a goal worth the striving for, this reaching out for wholeness in the Palm, with the Tyrants driven away and the provinces bound together in a sharing of the years that would comeA goal worth all the days and nights of a man's life, whether or not it was ever reached, could ever be made miu miu nappa realA goal that lay beside and was bound together with the other vast and bitter thing, which was Tigana and her name
Certain things were hard for Baerd bar Saevar, almost impossible in fact, and had been since his youth had been torn away from him in the year Tigana fellBut he had lain with a woman on an Ember Night just past, in a place of deepest magic, and had felt in that green darkness as if the stern bindings that wrapped and held his heart were looseningAnd this was a dark place too, a quiet one with the river flowing, and things had begun to take shape in the Palm that he had feared would never happen while he lived
"My lord," he said softly to the old man sitting there with him, "do you know that I have come to love you in the time we have been together?"
"By the Triad!" Sandre said, a little too quickly"And I haven't even given you the potion!"
Baerd smiled, said nothing, able to guess at the bindings the old Duke must have within himselfA moment cheap tiffany's jewelry later though, he heard Sandre murmur, in a very different voice:
"And I you, my friendYou have given me a second life and a reason for living itEven a hope that a future worth knowing might lie ahead of usFor that you have my love until I die
Gravely, he held out a palm and the two of them touched fingers in the darknessThey were sitting thus, motionless, when they heard the sound of an oar splash gently in the waterBoth men rose silently, reaching for their swordsThen they heard an owl hoot from the river
Baerd called softly back, and a moment later a small boat bumped gently against the sloping bank and Catriana, stepping lightly, came ashore
At the sight of her Baerd drew a breath of pure relief; he had been more afraid for her than he could ever have said-There was a man behind her in the boat holding the oars but the moons had not yet risen and Baerd couldn't see who it was
Catriana said, "That was quite a blowShould I be flattered?"
Sandre, behind pasha de cartier him, chuckledBaerd felt as though his heart would overflow with pride in this woman, in the calm, matter-of-factness of her courageMatching her tone with an effort he said only, "You shouldn't have shriekedHalf of Tregea thought you were being ravished
"Yes, well," she said drilyI wasn't sure myself
"What happened to your hair?" Sandre asked suddenly from behind, and Baerd, moving sideways, saw that it had indeed been cropped away, in a ragged line above her shoulders
She shrugged, with exaggerated indifferenceWe decided to cut it off
"Who is we?" Baerd askedSomething within him was grieving for her, for the assumed casualness of her manner"Who is in the boat? I assume a friend, given where we are
"A fair assumption," the man in the boat answered for himself"Though I must say I could have picked a better place for our contraina to have a business meeting
"Rovigo!" Baerd murmured, with astonishment and a swift surge of delight"Well met! It has been too prada bags cheap lon
I'm a craftsman though, and I knew how to look at...
Posted on 2010-Apr-25 at 09:21 - Link
I'm a craftsman though, and I knew how to look at things, even back thenI think I know as much as any man alive about how Orsaria built his towers and his palacesIncluding one in Astibar, SandreWould you like me to tell you where your secret passages are?"
Sandre laughs aloud"Don't boast, you presumptuous masonOn the other hand, it has been almost twenty years since I was in that palace, you may have to remind me of where they are
Grinning, Devin looks over at the DukeIt has taken him a long time to adjust to seeing Sandre without his dark Khardhu guise"You will be going back after the wedding, then?" he asks, feeling a sadness at the thought of another parting ahead
"I think I must, though I will say that I'm tornI feel too old for governing anyone nowAnd it isn't as if I have any yacht master rolex heirs to groom
After a moment's stillness, Sandre takes them smoothly past the darkness of those memories: "To be honest, the thing that interests me most right now is what I've been doing here in TiganaThe mind-linking with Erlein and Sertino and the wizards we've managed to find
"And the Night Walkers?" Devin asks
"Indeed, Baerd's Carlozzini as wellI must say I'm pleased that the four of them are coming with Alienor to the wedding
"Not as pleased as Baerd is, I'm sure," Devin adds slylyBaerd gives him a look, and pretends to be absorbed in scanning the distant line of the road south of them
"Well, hardly as pleased," Sandre agrees"Though I do hope he'll spare his Elena for a small part of the time she's hereIf we are going to change the attitude of this peninsula to magic chanel latest handbag there's no better time to start than now, wouldn't you say?"
"Oh, certainly," Devin says, grinning broadly
"She's not my Elena," Baerd murmurs, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the road
"She isn't?" Sandre asks in mock surprise"Then who's this Baerd person she keeps using me to relay messages to? Would you know the fellow?"
"Never heard of him," Baerd says laconicallyHe keeps a straight face for a moment longer, then gives way to laughter"I'm beginning to remember why I preferred keeping to myselfAnd what about Devin, if you're on that subject? You don't think Alais would be sending him messages if she could?"
"Devin," says the Duke airily, "is a mere child, far too young and innocent to be getting involved with women, especially the likes of that guileful, experienced creature from chanel large black and white tote bag Astibar He attempts to look stern and fails; both of the others know his real opinion of Rovigo's daughter
"There are no inexperienced women in Astibar," Baerd retorts"And besides, he's old enoughHe even has a battle scar on his ribs to show her
"She's seen it already," Devin says, enjoying this enormously"She taped it up after Rinaldo healed me," he adds hastily as both of the others raise their eyebrows He tries and fails to conceive of Alais as guileful and deceptiveThe memory of her on the window-ledge in Senzio keeps coming back to him of late though; the particular smile on her face as he stumbled along the outside landing to his own room
"They are coming, aren't they?" the Duke asks"It occurs to me that I could sail home with Rovigo
"They'll be here," Devin confirms"They had a dior saddle wedding of their own last week, or they'd have arrived by now
"I see you are intimately versed in their timing," Baerd says with a straight face"Just what do you plan to do after the wedding?"
"Actually," Devin says, "I wish I knewThere must be ten different things I've thought about He evidently sounds more serious than he'd meant to, for both of his friends turn their attention fully to him
"Such as?" Sandre asks,
Devin takes a breath and lets it outHe holds up both hands and starts counting on his fingers"Find my father and help him settle here againFind Menico di Ferraut and put together the company we should have had before you people side-tracked meStay with Alessan and Catriana in Tigana and help them with whatever they have to doLearn how to handle a ship at sea; don't ask me replica rolex ladies watch
In some unthinking flash of visceral illumination...
Posted on 2010-Apr-24 at 08:06 - Link
In some unthinking flash of visceral illumination he thought he grasped why Alienor did thisThe nature of her need, which was not what it seemed to beGiven another moment, a still place in the firmament, he could have reached out to put a name to it, a frame for the blurred awareness
She cried out with her climaxHer hands slid along his skin, curving downDesire obliterated thought, any straining towards thoughtWith a racking twist he virtually threw her to one side and swung himself above her, never leaving the warm shelter between her thighsCushions scattered around them, fell on the floorHer eyes were tightly shut, her mouth forming soundless words
Devin began to drive himself into her as if to drive away all the demons and the hurts, all the brutal deadening truths that were the world of the Palm in their dayHis own climax when it came left him balenciaga bag replica shuddering and limp, lost to where he was, only dimly clinging to what he knew to be his name
He heard her whispering it softly, over and overShe moved gently out from under himHe rolled over on his back, eyes closedHe felt her fingers glide along his skinShe was playing with his hands, caressing and guiding them out from his sidesHer lips and fingers danced down his chest and belly, over his satiated sex and further down, exploring along his thighs and legs, and down
By the time he was aware of what she'd done he was bound hand and foot to the four posts of her bed, spreadeagled beneath herHis eyes flew open, startled and alarmedUselessly, he was held in bonds of silk looped and knotted
"That," said Alienor in a husky voice, "was a wonderful beginning to a nightShall I teach you something now?" She reached, naked and magnificent, flushed and scored with his marks balenciaga new yellow bags upon her, and brought something up from the floor beside the bedHis eyes grew wide when he saw what it was she held
"You are binding me against my will," Devin said, a little desperately"This is not my idea of how to come together in love He twisted hard again, at shoulder and hip; the silken bonds held firm
Alienor's answering smile was luminousShe was more beautiful in that moment than he could ever have imagined a woman beingIn the huge dark pools of her eyes something stirred, primal and dangerous and terrifyingly arousingHe felt, improbably soon, a quickening in his sexOne long fingernail stroked lightly, almost meditatively along his gathering tumescence
"It will be," murmured his dark lady, the Lady of Castle BorsoHer lips parted showing the sharp white teeth behindHe registered the taut firmness of her nipples as she opened her legs to straddle him knock off chanel watches againHe saw her caress what she had claimed from the carpet by the bedBeyond her, by the fire, the wolfhound had its handsome head raised, watching them
"It will be," Alienor said againLet me teach you now, and show you, this, and then this, and soon it will be your idea of how to come togetherOh yes, Devin, it will be very soon
She moved upon his body and the candlelight was deflected and then hidden as she came down over himHe struggled but only for a moment for his heart was pounding again and desire was overwhelmingly upon him, just as Alienor was, just as her own complex needs could be seen rising in her again, in the darkness of her eyes before they closed, in her movements above him, and in the ragged, reaching, upward straining of her breath
And before the night was over, before the half of it had passed, with the last candles of winter burning louis vuitton replicas handbags down, she had proven herself right, terribly, over and over againAnd at the end even, she was the one who lay bound and open between the four pillars of the world that was her bed and Devin was no longer quite sure of who he was that he should be doing to her the things he wasThe things that made her whisper and then cry aloud his name as she did, over and againBut he did know that she had changed him and had found a place within him where his need to seek oblivion was equal to her own
The candle on his side of the bed burned out some time laterThere was a small, scented drifting of smokeThe pattern of light and shade in the room changed; neither of them was asleep, they both noticed itThe fire was down to its embers; the dog still lay before it, its magnificent head stretched out on its paws
"You had better go," Alienor said, stroking his near shoulder balenciaga designer absentl
Many people think it's income tax, but for most...
Posted on 2010-Apr-23 at 11:42 - Link
Many people think it's income tax, but for most Americans their highest tax is Social SecurityAs an employee, it appears as if the Social Security tax combined with the Medicare tax rate is roughly 7 percent, but it's really 15 percent since the employer must match the Social Security amountIn essence, it is money the employer cannot pay you On top of that, you still have to pay income tax on the amount deducted from your wages for Social Security tax, income you never receive because it went directly to Social Security through withholding Then, their liabilities go up
This is best demonstrated by going back to the young coupleAs a result of their incomes going up, they decide to go out and buy the house of their dreams Once in their house, they have a new tax, called property new cartier watches taxThen, they buy a new car, new furniture and new appliances to match [heir new houseAil of a sudden, they wake up and their liabilities column is full of mortgage debt and credit-card debt
They're now trapped in the rat race The process repeats itself More money and higher taxes, also called bracket creep, A credit card comes in the mail A loan company calls and says their greatest "asset," their home, has appreciated in valueThe company offers a "bill consolidation" loan, because their credit is so good, and tells them the intelligent thing to do is clear off the high-interest consumer debt by paying off their credit cardAnd besides, interest on their home is a tax deductionThey go for it, and pay off those high-interest credit cardsThey breathe a sigh of reliefTheir credit louis vuitton cards are paid offThey've now folded their consumer debt into their home mortgage Their payments go down because they extend their debt over 30 years It is the smart thing to do
Their neighbor calls to invite them to go shopping-the Memorial Day sale is onA chance to save some moneyThey say to themselves, "I won't buy anything But just in case they find something, they tuck that clean credit card inside their wallet
I run into this young couple all the timeTheir names change, but their financial dilemma is the sameThey come to one of my talks to hear what I have to sayThey ask me, "Can you tell us how to make more money?" Their spending habits have caused them to seek more income
They don't even know that the trouble is really how they choose to spend the money they do have, and tiffany co earrings that is the real cause of their financial struggleIt is caused by financial illiteracy and not understanding the difference between an asset and a liability
More money seldom solves someone's money problems Intelligence solves problems, There is a saying a friend of mine says over and over to people in debt
"If you find you have dug yourself into a hole
As a child, my dad often told us that the Japanese were aware of three powers; "The power of the sword, the jewel and the mirror
The sword symbolizes the power of weaponsAmerica has spent trillions of dollars on weapons and, because of this, is the supreme military presence in the world
The jewel symbolizes the power of moneyThere is some degree of truth to the saying, "Remember the golden ruleHe who has the gold makes the hermes bags rules
The mirror symbolizes the power of self-knowledgeThis self-knowledge, according to Japanese legend, was the most treasured of the three
The poor and middle class all loo often allow the power of money to control themBy simply getting up and working harder, failing to ask themselves if what they do makes sense, they shoot themselves in the foot as they leave for work every morningBy not fully understanding nioney, the vast majority of people allow the awesome power of money to control themThe power of money is used against them
If they used the power of the mirror, they would have asked themselves, "Does this make sense?" All too often, instead of trusting their inner wisdom, that genius inside of them, most people go along with the crowdThey do things because everybody else does prada handbag i
For an unmeasured, enervated space of time they...
Posted on 2010-Apr-21 at 10:28 - Link
For an unmeasured, enervated space of time they remained like that, their clothing damp where it had been crushed against skinTo Devin the voices from the two rooms outside seemed to come from infinitely far awayFrom other worlds entirelyHe really didn't want to move at all
At length however, Catriana carefully lowered her legs to the ground to bear her own weightHe traced her cheekbones with a finger in the blackness
Behind him the lords and merchants of Astibar were still shuffling past the body of the Duke so many had hated and some few had lovedTo Devin's left the younger generation of the Sandreni ate and drank, toasting an end to exileDevin, wrapped close with Catriana, still sheathed within her warmth, could not have hoped to find words to say what he was feeling
Suddenly she seized one of his tracing fingers and bit it, hardHe winced, because it hurtShe didn't say anything though
After the Sandreni left, Catriana found the latch and they slipped out into the room againQuickly they reorganized their clothesPausing only long enough to seize a chicken-wing apiece, they hastily retraced their path back through the rooms leading to the stairwayThey met three pasha de cartier 32 mm steel liveried servants coming the other way and Devin, feeling exceptionally alert and alive now, claimed Catriana's fingers and winked at the servants as they passed
She withdrew her hand a moment later"What's wrong?"
She shrugged"I'd as soon it wasn't proclaimed throughout the Sandreni Palace and beyond," she murmured, looking straight ahead
Devin lifted his eyebrows"What would you rather they thought about us being upstairs? I just gave them the obvious, boring explanationThey won't even bother to talk about itThis sort of thing happens all the time
"Not to me," said Catriana quietly
"I didn't mean it that way!" Devin protested, taken abackBut unfortunately they were going down the stairs by then, and so it was with a quite unexpected sense of estrangement that he paused to let her re-enter the room before him
More than a little confused, he took his place behind Menico as they prepared to go back out into the courtyard
He had only a minor supporting role in the first two hymns and so he found his thoughts wandering back over the scene just played out upstairsBack, and then back again, with the memory that seemed to be his birthright focusing like a beam of sunlight chanel mens watches j12 upon one detail then another, illuminating and revealing what he had missed the first time around
And so it was that by the time it was his own turn to step forward to end and crown the mourning rites, seeing the three clergy leaning forward expectantly, noting how Tomasso struck a pose of rapt attentiveness, Devin was able to give the "Lament for Adaon" an undivided soul, for he was confused no longer, but quite decided in what he was going to do
He began softly in the middle range with the two syrenyae, building and shaping the ancient story of the godThen, when the pipes of Alessan came in, Devin let his voice leap upward in response to them, as though in flight from mountain glen to crag to chasm brink
He sang the dying of the god with a voice made pure in the caldron of his own heart and he pitched the notes to rise above that courtyard and beyond it, out among the streets and squares of high-walled Astibar
High walls he intended to pass beyond that night, beyond, and then following a trail he would find, into a wood where lay a hunting lodgeA lodge where pall-bearers were to carry the body of the Duke, and where a number of men, six, the clear voice of his chanel classic bag memory reminded him, were to gather in a meeting that Catriana d'Astibar had just done the very best she could short of murder to prevent him learning aboutHe strove to turn the acrid taste of that knowledge into grief for Adaon, to let it guide and infuse the pain of the "Lament
Better for both of us, he remembered her saying, and he could recapture in his mind the regret and the unexpected softness in her voiceBut a certain kind of pride at Devin's age is perhaps stronger than at any other age of mortal man, and he had already decided, before even he began to sing, here in this crowded courtyard among the great of Astibar, that he was going to be the judge of what was better, not she
So Devin sang the rending of the god at the hands of the women, and he gave that dying on the Tregean mountain slope all he had to give it, making his voice an arrow arching outwards to seek the heart of everyone who heard
He let Adaon fall from the high cliff, he heard the sound of the pipes recede and fall and he let his grieving voice spiral downward with the god into Casadel as the song came to its end
And so too, that morning, did a part of Devin's lifeFor when a portal of Morian's chanel denim purse replica has been crossed there is, as everyone knows, never a turning back
Chapter 4
ESCORTING HIS FATHER'S BIER OUT THE EASTERN GATE IN THE hour before sunset, Tomasso bar Sandre settled his horse to an easy walk and allowed his mind to drift for the first time in forty-eight intensely stressful hoursNormally it would have been clogged at this hour with people returning to the distrada before curfew locked the city gatesNormally sundown cleared the streets of Astibar of all save the patrolling Barbadian mercenaries and those reckless enough to defy them in search of women or wine or other diversions of the dark
This was not a normal time, howeverTonight and for the next two nights there would be no curfew in AstibarWith the grapes gathered and the distrada's harvest a triumphant one, the Festival of Vines would see singing and dancing and things wilder than those in the streets for all three nightsFor these three nights in the year Astibar tried to pretend it was sensuous, decadent SenzioNo Duke in the old days, and not even dour Alberico now, had been foolish enough to rouse the people unnecessarily by denying them this ancient release from the sober round of the balenciaga designer year
D'Eymon had risen from the table, agitated,...
Posted on 2010-Apr-20 at 09:15 - Link
D'Eymon had risen from the table, agitated, visibly disturbed"Then I must say again what I have said before: this is follyThe thing to do is to go home and deal with what has happened in Ygrath
"Not really, d'EymonI will not flatter myselfGirald has been ruling Ygrath for twenty years
"Girald is a traitor and should have been executed as such with his mother!"
Brandin looked up at him, the grey eyes suddenly chilly
"Must we repeat this discussion? D'Eymon, I am here for a reason and you know that reasonI cannot go back on that: it would cut against the very core of what I am His expression changed"No man need stay with me, but I am bound myself to this peninsula by love and grief, and by my own nature, and those three things will hold me here
"The Lady Dianora could come sale gucci handbags with us! With Dorotea dead you would need a Queen in Ygrath and she would be
"D'Eymon! Have done The tone was final, ending the discussion
But the Chancellor was a brave man"My lord," he pushed on, grim-faced, his voice low and intense, "if I cannot speak of this and you will not send our fleet to face Barbadior I know not how to advise youThe provinces will not go to war for you yet, we know thatThey need time to see and to believe that you are one of them
"And I have no time," Brandin replied with what had seemed an unnatural calm after the sharp tension of the exchange"So I have to do it immediatelyAdvise me on that, ChancellorHow do I show them? Right nowHow do I make them believe I am truly bound to the Palm?"
So there it was, and Dianora knew that the moment had come to white chanel bag her at last
I cannot go back on that; it would cut against the very core of what I amShe had never really nursed any fantasies of his ever freely releasing and unbinding his spellShe knew Brandin too wellHe was not a man who went back or reversed himselfThe core of what he wasIn love and hate and in the defining shape of his prideThere was an odd rushing sound in her ears, and if she closed her eyes she was certain she would see a path stretching away, straight and clear as a line of moonlight on the sea, very bright before herEverything was leading her there, leading all of themHe was vulnerable, and exposed, and he would never turn back
There was an image of Tigana flowering in her heart as she roseEven here, even now, an image of her homeIn the depths of the riselka's pool tiffany and co necklace there had been a great many people gathered under banners of all the provinces as she walked down to the sea
She placed her hands carefully on the back of her chair and looked down at him where he satThere was grey in his beard, more, it seemed, each time she noticed it, but his eyes were as they had always been, and there was no fear, no doubt in them as they looked back at herShe drew a deep breath and spoke words that seemed to have been given to her long ago, words that seemed to have simply waited for this moment to arrive
"I will do it for you," she said"I will make them believe in youI will do the Ring Dive of the Grand Dukes of Chiara as it used to be done on the eve of warYou will marry the seas of the peninsula, and I will bind you to the Palm and to good fortune in the cheap replica rolex and cartier watches eyes of all the people when I bring you back the sea-ring from the sea
She kept her gaze steady on his own, dark and clear and calm, as she spoke at last, after so many years, the words that set her on the final pathThat set him, set them all, the living and the dead, the named and the lost, on that pathAs, loving him with a sundered heart, she lied
She finished her khav and rose from bedScelto had drawn the curtains back and she could see sunrise just beginning to lighten the dark seaThe sky was clear overhead and the banners in the harbor could just be seen, moving lazily in the dawn breezeThere was already a huge crowd gathered, hours before the ceremony was to startA great many people had spent the night in the harbor square, to be sure of a place near the pier to see her gucci bag replica d
Tired of grief and blood and pain, of these...
Posted on 2010-Apr-16 at 05:58 - Link
Tired of grief and blood and pain, of these bitter cycles of revengeHe knew what was going to happen to this man the moment he spoke
They ought to know, she had said, before she walked away to the sea, and it was true, of course it was trueScelto looked up at the grey-eyed man"An Ygrathen bound to the King many years agoNo one very important, my lord
The Prince of Tigana nodded his head, his expressive mouth quirking with an inward-directed ironyNo one very importantWhy should I have thought it would be otherwise?"
"Alessan," said the younger man from the front of the hill, "I think it is overI think the Barbadians are all dead
The Prince lifted his head and so did SceltoMen of the Palm and of Ygrath would be standing beside each other down in that mulberry bayswater bag valley
"Are you going to kill us all now?" Scelto asked him
The Prince of Tigana shook his head"I told you, I have had enough of bloodThere is a great deal to be done, but I am going to try to do it without any more killing now
He went to the southern rim of the hill and lifted his hand in some signal to the men on his own ridgeThe woman went over and stood beside him, and he put an arm around her shouldersA moment later they heard the notes of a horn ring out over the valley and the hills, clear and high and beautiful, sounding an end to battle
Scelto, still on his knees, wiped at his eyes with a grimy handHe looked over and saw that the third man, the one who had tried to ask him something, was still gazing out to seaThere was a pain there he could not rolex air king understandThere had been pain everywhere today thoughHe had had it in his grasp, even now, to speak truth and unleash so much more
His eyes swung slowly down again, away from the hard blue sky and the blue-green sea, past the man at the western edge of the hill, past d'Eymon of Ygrath slumped across the King's chair with his own blade in his breast, and his gaze came to rest on the two dead men beside each other on the ground, so near that they could have touched had they been alive
He could keep their secretHe could live with it
EPILOGUE
THREE MEN ON HORSES IN THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS LOOKING over a valley to the eastThere are pine and cedar woods beyond, hills on either sideThe Sperion River sparkles in the distance, flowing down out of the mountains, not dior saddle far from where it will begin its long curve west to find the seaThe air is bright and cool, with a feel of autumn in the breezeThe colors of the leaves will be changing soon and the year-round snow on the highest peaks of the mountains will begin moving down, closing the pass
In the tranquil green of the valley below them, Devin sees the dome of Eanna's temple flash in the morning sunlightBeyond the Sanctuary he can just make out the winding trail they had ridden down in the spring, coming here from the east across the borderIt seems a lifetime agoHe turns in the saddle and looks north over the rolling, gradually subsiding hills
"Will we be able to see it from here, later?"
Baerd glances over and then follows his gaze"What, Avalle and the Towers? Easily, knockoff chanel jewelry on any clear dayMeet me here in a year's time and you'll see my green-and-white Prince's Tower, I promise you
"Where are you getting the marble?" Sandre asks
"Same place as Orsaria did for the original towerThe quarry is still available, believe it or not, about two days' ride west of us near the coast
"And you'll have it carried here?"
"By sea to Tigana, then on river barges up the SperionThe same way they did it back then Baerd has shaved his beard againHe looks years younger, Devin finds himself thinking
"How do you know so much about it?" Sandre asks with lazy mockery"I thought all you knew was archery and how not to fall on your face when you were out alone in the dark"I was always going to be a builderI have my father's love of stone if not his tiffany silver gi
Tired of grief and blood and pain, of these...
Posted on 2010-Apr-16 at 09:14 - Link
Tired of grief and blood and pain, of these bitter cycles of revengeHe knew what was going to happen to this man the moment he spoke
They ought to know, she had said, before she walked away to the sea, and it was true, of course it was trueScelto looked up at the grey-eyed man"An Ygrathen bound to the King many years agoNo one very important, my lord
The Prince of Tigana nodded his head, his expressive mouth quirking with an inward-directed ironyNo one very importantWhy should I have thought it would be otherwise?"
"Alessan," said the younger man from the front of the hill, "I think it is overI think the Barbadians are all dead
The Prince lifted his head and so did SceltoMen of the Palm and of Ygrath would be standing beside each other down in that mulberry bayswater bag valley
"Are you going to kill us all now?" Scelto asked him
The Prince of Tigana shook his head"I told you, I have had enough of bloodThere is a great deal to be done, but I am going to try to do it without any more killing now
He went to the southern rim of the hill and lifted his hand in some signal to the men on his own ridgeThe woman went over and stood beside him, and he put an arm around her shouldersA moment later they heard the notes of a horn ring out over the valley and the hills, clear and high and beautiful, sounding an end to battle
Scelto, still on his knees, wiped at his eyes with a grimy handHe looked over and saw that the third man, the one who had tried to ask him something, was still gazing out to seaThere was a pain there he could not rolex air king understandThere had been pain everywhere today thoughHe had had it in his grasp, even now, to speak truth and unleash so much more
His eyes swung slowly down again, away from the hard blue sky and the blue-green sea, past the man at the western edge of the hill, past d'Eymon of Ygrath slumped across the King's chair with his own blade in his breast, and his gaze came to rest on the two dead men beside each other on the ground, so near that they could have touched had they been alive
He could keep their secretHe could live with it
EPILOGUE
THREE MEN ON HORSES IN THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS LOOKING over a valley to the eastThere are pine and cedar woods beyond, hills on either sideThe Sperion River sparkles in the distance, flowing down out of the mountains, not dior saddle far from where it will begin its long curve west to find the seaThe air is bright and cool, with a feel of autumn in the breezeThe colors of the leaves will be changing soon and the year-round snow on the highest peaks of the mountains will begin moving down, closing the pass
In the tranquil green of the valley below them, Devin sees the dome of Eanna's temple flash in the morning sunlightBeyond the Sanctuary he can just make out the winding trail they had ridden down in the spring, coming here from the east across the borderIt seems a lifetime agoHe turns in the saddle and looks north over the rolling, gradually subsiding hills
"Will we be able to see it from here, later?"
Baerd glances over and then follows his gaze"What, Avalle and the Towers? Easily, knockoff chanel jewelry on any clear dayMeet me here in a year's time and you'll see my green-and-white Prince's Tower, I promise you
"Where are you getting the marble?" Sandre asks
"Same place as Orsaria did for the original towerThe quarry is still available, believe it or not, about two days' ride west of us near the coast
"And you'll have it carried here?"
"By sea to Tigana, then on river barges up the SperionThe same way they did it back then Baerd has shaved his beard againHe looks years younger, Devin finds himself thinking
"How do you know so much about it?" Sandre asks with lazy mockery"I thought all you knew was archery and how not to fall on your face when you were out alone in the dark"I was always going to be a builderI have my father's love of stone if not his tiffany silver gi
Yet, I learned a lot that made my stock and real...
Posted on 2010-Apr-14 at 09:45 - Link
Yet, I learned a lot that made my stock and real estate investing more meaningful and lucrativeMost junior colleges and community colleges have classes on financial planning and buying of traditional investmentsThey are great places to start
So I always search for a faster formulaThat is why, on a fairly regular basis, I make more in a day than many people will make in their lifetimeIn today's fast-changing world, it's not so much what you know anymore that counts, because often what you know is old It is how fast you learnThat skill is priceless It's priceless in finding faster formulas-recipes, if you will, for making doughWorking hard for money is an old formula born in the day of cave menPAY YOURSELF FIRST: The power of self-disciplineIf you cannot get control of yourself, do not try to get richYou might first want to join the Marine Corps or some religious order so you can get control of yourselfIt makes no sense to invest, make money and blow itIt is the lack of self-discipline that causes most lottery winners to go black chanel bag with white logo on the side broke soon after winning millions It is the lack of self-discipline that causes people who get a raise to immediately go out and buy a new car or take a cruise
It is difficult to say which of the ten steps is the most important But of all the steps, this step is probably the most difficult to master if it is not already a part of your makeupI would venture to say that it is the lack of personal self-discipline that is the No1 delineating factor between the rich, the poor and the middle class
Simply put, people who have low self-esteem and low tolerance for financial pressure can never, and I mean never, be richAs I have said, a lesson learned from my rich dad was that "the world will push you around The world pushes people around not because other people are bullies, but because the individual lacks internal control and disciplinePeople who lack internal fortitude often become victims of those who have self-discipline
In the entrepreneur classes I teach, I constantly remind people to not focus on their product, service or rolex watch knock off widget, but to focus on developing management skillsThe three most important management skills necessary to start your own business are:
1Management of cash flowManagement of personal time
I would say, the skills to manage these three apply to anything, not just entrepreneursThe three matter in the way you live your life as an individual, or as part of a family, a business, a charitable organization, a city or a nation
Each of these skills is enhanced by the mastery of self disciplineI do not take the saying "pay yourself first" lightly
The Richest Man in Babylon, by George Classen, is where the statement "pay yourself first" comes fromMillions of copies have been sold But while millions of people freely repeat that powerful statement, few follow the adviceAs I said, financial literacy allows one to read numbers, and numbers tell the story By looking at a person's income statement and balance sheet, I can readily see if people who spout the words "pay yourself first" actually practice what they preach
A picture is worth a low price prada bags thousand words So let's again compare the financial statements of people who pay themselves first against someone who doesn't
People who pay themselves first
------------------------
Job--------------->|Income |----
^ |------------------------- |
| | Expense | |
\ ------------------------ |
\ --------------------------------------<
----\-----|------------------------
| Assets | Liabilities |
| | |
|_________|____________|
Someone who pays everyone else first- Often there is nothing left
------------------------
Job--------------->|Income |
|-------------------------
| Expense | ----> Nothing left!
------------------------
-----------------------------------
| Assets | Liabilities |
| | |
|_________|____________|
Study the diagrams and notice if you chanel bag gold chain can pick up some distinctions Again, it has to do with understanding cash flow, which tells the storyMost people look at the numbers and miss the storyIf you can truly begin to understand the power of cash flow, you will soon realize what is wrong with the picture on the next page, or why 90 percent of most people work hard all their lives and need government support like Social Security when they are no longer able to work
Do you see it? The diagram above reflects the actions of an individual who chooses to pay himself firstEach month, they allocate money to their asset column before they pay their monthly expensesAlthough millions of people have read Classen's book and understand the words "pay yourself first," in reality they pay themselves last
Now I can hear the howls from those of you who sincerely believe in paying your bills firstAnd I can hear all the "responsible" people who pay their bills on timeI am not saying be irresponsible and not pay your billsAll I am saying is do what the book says, which is "pay yourself chloe bags paddington fir
Dianora used to go to that same upstairs window...
Posted on 2010-Apr-13 at 10:24 - Link
Dianora used to go to that same upstairs window at the front of the house when they left by way of the square, as if by watching whatever happened, sharing it, she could somehow spread the pain among three, not two, and so ease it for themThe soldiers almost always accosted them just as they reached the squareShe was watching on the day the game changed to something worse
It was afternoon that timeA half-day of work only, because of a Triad holiday, part of the aftermath to the springtime Ember DaysThe Ygrathens, like the Barbadians to the east, had been scrupulous not to tamper with the Triad and their clergyAfter their lunch the two boys went out to do an afternoon's gucci canvas bag work
The soldiers surrounded them in the middle of the squareThey never seemed to tire of their sportBut that afternoon, just as the leader began his familiar litany of being lost a group of four merchants came trudging up the hill from the harbor and one of the soldiers had an inspiration born of sheerest maliceThe merchants did, very abruptlyOne obeyed Ygrathen commands in Lower Corte, wherever one might be from
"Come here," the soldier addedHis fellows made way for the merchants to stand in front of the boysA premonition of something evil touched Dianora in that moment like a cold finger on her spine
The four traders reported that they were from AsoliIt was obvious from cartier man watch their clothing
"Good," the soldier said"I know how grasping you lot areThese brats are going to name their city and their province to youIf you can tell me what they say, on my honor and in the name of Brandin, King of Ygrath, I'll give the first man who says the name back to me twenty gold ygrasEven from where she sat, high up and screened behind her window, Dianora could see the Asoli traders reactThat was before she closed her eyesShe knew what was coming and how it was going to hurtShe wanted her father alive in that moment with a longing so acute she almost weptHer brother was down there though, among soldiers who hated themShe forced back her tears and opened her hermes kelly bag eyes
"You," said the soldier to the apprentice, they always started with him, "your province had another name onceTell them what it was
She saw the boy, Naddo was his name, go white with fear or anger, or bothThe four merchants, oblivious to that irrelevance, leaned forward, straining with anticipationDianora saw Naddo look at her brother for guidance, or perhaps for dispensation
The soldier saw the glance"None of that!" he snappedThen he drew his sword"For your life, say the name Naddo, very clearly, said, "Tigana
And of course not one of the merchants could say back the word he spokeNot for twenty golden ygras or twenty times so manyDianora could read the bafflement, the dior saddle handbag balked greed in their eyes, and the fear that confronting sorcery always brought
The soldiers laughed and jostled each otherOne of them had a shrill cackle like a roosterThey turned to her brother
"No," he said flatly before they could even command him"You have had your sportThey cannot hear the nameWe all know it, what is left to prove?"
He was fifteen, and much too thin, and his dark-brown hair was too long over his eyesIt had been over a month since she'd cut it for him; she'd been meaning to do so all weekOne of her hands was squeezing the window-ledge so tightly that all the blood had rushed away; it was white as iceShe would have cut it off to change what was miu miu nappa happeni
It was genuinely disconcerting how easily Brandin...
Posted on 2010-Apr-11 at 09:03 - Link
It was genuinely disconcerting how easily Brandin could sound the depths of thingsIf she allowed herself to dwell on that she could become frightened again
"What do you think?" he asked by way of reply
"I? Think?" She lifted her plucked eyebrows in exaggerated arches"How should a mere object of the King's occasional pleasure venture to have an opinion on such matters?"
"Now that," said Brandin nodding briskly, "is an intelligent observationI shall have to consult Solores, instead
"If you get an intelligent observation out of her," Dianora said tartly, "I shall hurl myself from the saishan balcony into the sea
"All the way across the harbor square? A long leap," said Brandin mildly
"So," she replied, "is an intelligent observation for Solores
And at that he laughed aloudThe court was listeningEveryone would draw their own conclusions, but they would all be the same conclusion in the endScelto, she reflected, was likely to receive discreet contributions from sources other than Neso of Ygrath before the day was out
"I saw something interesting on the rolex oyster mountain this morning," Brandin said, his amusement subsiding"Something quite unusual
This, she realized, was why he'd wanted to speak to her aloneHe'd been up on Sangarios that morning; she was one of the few who knew about itBrandin kept this venture quiet, in case he should failShe'd been prepared to tease him about it
At the beginning of spring, just as the winds began to change, before the last snows melted in Certando and Tregea and the southern reaches of what had been Tigana, came the three Ember Days that marked the turning of the year
No fires not already burning were lit anywhere in the PalmThe devout fasted for at least the first of the three daysThe bells of the Triad temples were silentMen stayed within their doors at night, especially after darkfall on the first day which was the Day of the Dead
There were Ember Days in autumn as well, halfway through the year, when the time of mourning came for Adaon slain on his mountain in Tregea, when the sun began to fade as Eanna mourned and Morian folded in upon herself in her Halls undergroundBut the spring chanel latest handbag days inspired a colder dread, especially in the countryside, because so much depended upon what would follow themWinter's passing, the season of sowing, and the hope of grain, of life, in the summer's fullness to come
In Chiara there was an added ritual, different from anything elsewhere in the Palm
On the Island the tale was told that Adaon and Eanna had first come together in love for three full days and nights on the summit of SangariosThat in the surging climax of her desire on the third night Eanna of the Lights had created the stars of heaven and strewn them like shining lace through the darkAnd the tale was told that nine months later, which is three times three, the Triad was completed when Morian was born in the depths of winter in a cave on that same mountain
And with Morian had come both life and death into the world, and with life and death came mortal man to walk under the newly named stars, the two moons of the night's warding, and the sun of day
And for this reason had Chiara always asserted its preeminence among the nine provinces of the Palm, canvas gucci bags and for this reason as well did the Island name Morian as guardian of its destiny
Morian of Portals, who had sway over all thresholdsFor everyone knew that all islands were worlds unto themselves, that to come to an island was to come to another worldA truth known under the stars and moons, if not always remembered by the light of day
Every three years then, at the beginning of each Year of Morian, on the first of the springtime Ember Days, the young men of Chiara would vie with each other in a dawn race up to the summit of Sangarios, there to pluck a blood-dark sprig of sonrai, the intoxicating berries of the mountain, under the watchful eye of the priests of Morian who had kept vigil on the peak all night long among the waking spirits of the deadThe first man down the mountain was anointed Lord of Sangarios until the next such run in three years' time
In the old days, the very old days, the Lord of Sangarios would have been hunted down and slain on his mountain by the women six months later on the first of the Ember Days of fallNow the young champion was fake louis vuitton handbags likely to find himself in fierce demand as a lover by women seeking the blessing of his seedA different sort of hunt, Dianora had said to Brandin onceHe didn't find the ritual amusingIn fact, six years ago the King of Ygrath had elected to run the course himself, the morning before the actual raceHe had done it again three years pastNo small achievement, really, for a man of his years, considering how hard and how long the runners trained for thisDianora didn't know what to find more whimsical: the fact that Brandin would do this thing, in such secrecy, or the ebullient masculine pride he'd felt both times he'd made it up to the summit of Sangarios and down again
In the Audience Chamber Dianora asked the question she was clearly expected to ask: "What did you see, then?"
She did not know, for mortals seldom do know when they approach a threshold of the goddess, that the question would mark the turning of her days
"Something unusual," Brandin repeated"I had of course outstripped the guards running with me
"Of course," she murmured, giving him a sidelong knock off chanel watches glance
And more, in fact, than she even knewFor the...
Posted on 2010-Apr-10 at 10:54 - Link
And more, in fact, than she even knewFor the wizards had reached the Night Walkers in Certando by nowThey were linked, and they were all bending the power of their minds to Alberico's defense
From the plain below there came a roar, even above the steady noise of battleCheering and wild shouts from the BarbadiansDianora could see their white-clad messengers sprinting forward from the rear where Alberico wasShe saw that the men of the Western Palm had been stopped in their advanceThey were still outnumbered; terribly soIf Brandin could not help them now then all was done, all buy chanel bag overShe looked south toward that hill where the wizards were, where Rhamanus had been cut downShe wanted to curse them all, but she could not
They were men of the PalmThey were her own peopleBut her own people were dying in the valley as well, under the heavy blades of the EmpireThe sun was a brand overheadThe sky a blank, pitiless dome
She looked at d'EymonNeither of them spokeThey heard quick footsteps on the slopeScelto stumbled up, fighting for breath
"My lord," he gasped, dropping to his knees beside Brandin's chair, "we are hard-pressed in the center and on the rightto ask if you knock off chanel watches want us to fall back
I hate that man, he had said to her last night, before falling asleep in utter weariness/ hate everything he stands for
There was a silence on the hillIt seemed to Dianora as if she could hear her own heartbeat with some curious faculty of the ear, discerning it even above the sounds from belowThe noises in the valley seemed, oddly, to have receded nowTo be growing fainter every second
"No," he said quietlyThere is nowhere to retreat, and not before the Barbadian He was gazing bleakly out over Scelto's kneeling form, as if he would penetrate the distance with tiffany and co earrings uk his eyes to strike at Alberico's heart
But there was something else in him now: something new, beyond rage, beyond the grimness of resolution and the everlasting prideDianora sensed it, but she could not understandThen he turned to her and she saw in the depths of that grey gaze a bottomless well of pain opening up such as she had never seen in himNever seen in anyone, in all her daysPity and grief and love, he had said last nightSomething was happening; her heart was racing wildlyShe felt her hands beginning to shake
"My love," Brandin saidShe saw death in his eyes, an abscess of louis vuitton loss that seemed to be leaving him almost blind, stripping his soul"Oh, my love," he said again"What have they done? See what they will make me doOh, see what they make me do!"
"Brandin!" she cried, terrified, not understanding at allBeginning again to weep, franticallyGrasping only the open sore of hurt he had becomeShe reached out toward him, but he was blind, and already turning away, east, toward the rim of the hill and the valley below
"All right," said Rinaldo the Healer, and lifted his hands awayDevin opened his eyes and looked downHis wound had closed; the bleeding had dolce
His smile broadened"Are there any?"
"Goats,...
Posted on 2010-Apr-9 at 02:43 - Link
His smile broadened"Are there any?"
"Goats, yes," she said with a straight faceHairy creatures with such specific appetites are not an incentive to chastityAre you sending out a party to search for this creature?" A question so important she held her breath awaiting his reply
"I think not," Brandin said"I suspect such things are only seen when they want to be
Which, she knew for a fact, was absolutely true
"I haven't told anyone but you," he added unexpectedly
There was no dissembling in the expression she felt come over her face at thatBut over and above everything else there was something new inside her with these tidingsShe badly needed to be alone to thinkShe wouldn't get that chance for a long time yet today; best to push his story as far back as she could, with all the other things she was always dior gym bags pushing to the edges of her mind
"Thank you, my lord," she murmured, aware that they had been talking privately for some timeAware, as ever, of how that would be construed
"In the meantime," Brandin suddenly said, in a quite different tone, "you still have not yet asked me how I did on the runSolores, I have to tell you, made it her first question
Which carried them back to familiar ground
"Very well," she said, feigning indifferenceHalfway? Three-quarters?"
A glint of royal indignation nickered in the grey eyes"You are presumptuous sometimes," he said"I indulge you too muchI went, if you please, all the way to the summit and came down again this morning with a cluster of sonrai berriesI will be extremely interested to see if any of tomorrow's runners are up and down as quickly
"Well," she said quickly, tiffany and co necklace unwisely, "they won't have sorcery to help them
"Dianora, have done!"
And that tone she recognized and knew she'd gone too farAs always at such moments she had a dizzying sense of a pit gaping at her feet
She knew what Brandin needed from her; she knew the reason he granted her license to be outrageous and impertinentShe had long understood why the wit and edge she brought to their exchanges were important to himShe was his counterbalance to Solores's soft, unquestioning, undemanding shelterThe two of them, in turn, balancing d'Eymon's ascetic exercise of politics and government
And all three of them in orbit around the star that Brandin wasThe voluntarily exiled sun, removed from the heavens it knew, from the lands and seas and people, bound to this alien peninsula by loss and grief and revenge decreedShe cheap prada handbags knew the King very wellHer life depended on thatShe did not often stray across the line that was always there, invisible but inviolateWhen she did it was likely to be over something as apparently trivial as thisIt was such a paradox for her how he could shrug off or laugh at or even invite her caustic commentary on court and colony, and yet bridle like a boy with affronted pride if she teased about his ability to run up and down a mountain in a morning
At such times he had only to say her name in a certain way and endless chasms opened before her in the delicately inlaid floor of the Audience Chamber
She was a captive here, more slave than courtesan, at the court of a TyrantShe was also an impostor, living an ongoing lie while her country slowly died away from the memories of menAnd she had sworn to kill tiffany jewelry canada this man, whose glance across a room was as wildfire on her skin or amber wine in her mortal blood
Chasms, everywhere she turned
And now this morning he had seen a riselkaHe, and very possibly a second man as wellFighting back her fear she forced herself to shrug casually, to arch her eyebrows above a face schooled to bland unconcern
"This amuses me," she said, reaching for self-possession, knowing precisely what his need in her was, even now"You profess to be pleased, even touched, by Solores's doubtlessly agitated query about your mountain runThe first thing she asked, you sayHow she must have wondered whether or not you succeeded! And yet when I, knowing as surely as I know my own name that you were up on the summit this morning, treat it lightly, as something small, never in doubt why then the King grows swiss cartier pasha seatimer ang
And you know that that will always be my concern,...
Posted on 2010-Apr-8 at 10:40 - Link
And you know that that will always be my concern, ChancellorThere are not many such Ygrathens, I'm afraid
He was silent a momentThen: "There are more than you think But before she could manage to interpret either his words or the surprising voice in which they were spoken, he added, "I seriously thought of having you poisoned last nightEither that, or suggesting you be freed and made a citizen of Ygrath
"What extremes, my dear!" She could feel herself growing cold though"Didn't you teach us all that balance is everything?"
"I did," he said soberly, not rising to her bait"Have you any idea what you've done to the equilibrium at this court?"
"What," she said with real asperity, "would you have preferred black quilted chanel purse me to do yesterday?"
"That is not at all the point There was a rare spot of color in his cheeksWhen he resumed, though, it was in his usual tones"I was thinking of Rhamanus for Asoli myselfIt shall be as you suggestIn the meantime, I very nearly forgot to mention that the King has sent for youI intercepted the message before it reached the saishanHe will be waiting in the library
She shot to her feet, as agitated as he must have known she would be"How long ago?" she asked quicklyWhy? You don't seem to mind being lateThere are anemones in the garden, you could tell him that
"I could tell him some other things as well, d'Eymon Anger almost choked herShe fought for controlAnd so, I suppose, could SoloresWe prada fairy bag colored seldom do, do we? The balance, as you have just pointed out, is everythingThat is why I should still be very careful, Dianora, despite what happened yesterday
She tried to think of a response, a last word, but failedHer mind was whirlingHe had spoken of killing her, of freeing her, had agreed with her choice for Asoli, and then threatened her againAll in a span of minutes! And all the while the King had been waiting for her, and d'Eymon had known
She turned, abruptly and dismally conscious of her nondescript robe and the fact that she had no time to go back up to the saishan and changeShe could feel herself flushing with anger and anxiety
Scelto had evidently overheard the Chancellor's last remarksHis eyes chanel white bucket handbag above the broken nose were vividly concerned and apologetic, though with d'Eymon intercepting the message there was nothing he could have done
She stopped by the palace doors and looked backThe Chancellor stood alone in the garden leaning upon his stick, a tall, gray, thin figure against the bare treesThe sky above him had turned overcast againOf course it has, Dianora thought spitefully
Then she remembered the pool and her mood changedWhat did these court maneuvers matter, in the end? D'Eymon was only doing what he had to do, and so now, would sheShe had seen her pathShe found herself able to smile, letting that inner quiet descend upon her again, though with a stone of sorrow at its center stillShe sank low chloe paddington handbag chocolate in a very formal curtseyD'Eymon, taken aback, sketched an awkward bow
Dianora turned and went through the doors that Scelto was holding for herShe went back down the corridor and up the stairs, along a north-south hallway and past two heavy doorsShe stopped in front of the third pair of doorsOut of reflex and habit more than anything else she checked her reflection in the bronze shield that hung on the wallShe adjusted her robe and pushed both hands through her hopelessly wind-blown hair
Then she knocked on the library doors and entered, holding hard to her calm and the vision of the pool, a round stone of knowledge and sorrow in her heart that she hoped would anchor it in her breast and keep it from flying chanel messenger bags a
They careened around a corner side by side and...
Posted on 2010-Apr-7 at 10:50 - Link
They careened around a corner side by side and came to the garden wall and there they stopped, looking upward past the branches of a huge, spreading sejoia treeThey could hear Rovigo come up behind them, and someone else further backThey did not turn to seeThey were both looking at the same thing
There was a figure silhouetted against torchlight in one of the highest windowsWearing a long dark gown
Devin dropped to his knees in the moonlit laneHe thought about climbing the wall, about screaming her name aloudThe sweet scent of tainflowers surrounded himHe looked at Alessan's face, and then quickly away from what he saw there
How did she like to louis vuitton multicolor speedy play?
Mostly, she didn't, and especially not like thisShe had not been the playing kindShe had liked swimming, and walks along the beach in the mornings, mostly aloneOther walks inland into the woods, picking mushrooms or mahgoti leaves for teaShe had liked music always, and the more since meeting AlessanAnd yes, some six or seven years ago she had begun to have her own intermittent dreams of finding love and passion somewhere in the worldNot often though, and the man seldom had a face in those dreams
There was a man's face with her now though, and this was not a dreamEntrances and endingsA candle shaping fire before it went out
She was lying on his bed, naked to his cheap prada handbags sight and touch save for the jewelry shining at wrist and throat and ears and in her hairLight blazed from all corners of the roomIt seemed that Anghiar liked to watch his women respond to what he didCome on top of me, he'd murmured in her earLater, she had repliedHe had laughed, a husky sound deep in his throat, and had moved to be above her, naked as well, save for his ruffled white shirt which hung open showing the delicate blond hairs on his chest
He was a skillful lover, a deeply experienced oneIt was what let her kill him, in the end
He lowered his head to her breasts before entering herHe took one nipple in his mouth, surprisingly gently, and began to run chanel messenger bags his tongue in circles over it
Catriana closed her eyes for a momentShe made a sound, one she thought was rightShe stretched her hands catlike above her head, moving her body sinuously under the pressure of his mouth and handsShe touched the black comb in her hairHis hands were on her thighs, moving upward and between, his mouth was still at her breastShe slid the comb free, pressed the catch so the blade sprang openAnd then, moving without haste, as if she had all the time in the world, as if this single moment were the gathered sum of all the moments of her life, she brought her weapon down and plunged it into his throat
Which meant that his life was tiffany and co necklace over
You could buy anything you wanted in Senzio's weapon marketIncluding a woman's ornament with a hidden bladeAnd poison on the bladeAn ornament for the hair, in black, with shining jewels, one of which released the spring that freed the bladeAn exquisite, deadly thing
Grafted in Ygrath, of courseFor that was central to her plan tonight
Anghiar's head snapped back in shockHis mouth twisted in an involuntary snarl as his eyes bulged wide in staring agonyThere was blood pumping from his throat, soaking into the sheets and the pillows, covering her
He screamed, a terrible soundHe rolled off her, off the bed, onto the carpeted floor, clutching desperately at his miu miu clutch throa
"We can discuss what comes after, but I have...
Posted on 2010-Apr-6 at 06:44 - Link
"We can discuss what comes after, but I have something to do there, and an idea for some trade with Senzio we might want to consider
"Ferraut?" said Rovigo, ignoring the latter remarksA smile slowly widened across his face"Ferraut! That is splendidAbsolutely splendid! You can save us some money alreadyI'll give you a cart and all of you can take Ingonida her new bed!"
On the way upstairs Alais couldn't remember when she had last been so happyNot that she was prone to moodiness like Selvena, but life at home tended to be very quiet, especially when her father was away
And now so many things seemed to be happening at once
Rovigo was home after a longer trip than usual down the coastAlix and Alais were never at ease when he ventured south of the mountains into Quileia, no matter how many times he reassured them of his cautionAnd on top of that, this trip had come unsettlingly late in the season of autumn windsBut he was home now, and palm to palm with his return had come the Festival of VinesIt was her second one, and Alais 925 tiffany's necklace had loved every moment of the day and night, absorbing with her wide, alert eyes all she saw
In the crowded square in front of the Sandreni Palace that morning she had stood extremely still, listening to a clear voice soar from the inner courtyard out among the unnatural silence of the people gatheredA voice that lamented Adaon's death among the cedars of Tregea so bitterly, so sweetly, that Alais had been afraid she would cryShe had closed her eyes
It had been a source of astonished pride for her when Rovigo had casually mentioned to her and her mother having had a drink the day before with one of the singers who were doing the Duke's mourning ritesHe had even invited the young man, he said, to come meet his four ungainly offspringThe teasing bothered Alais not at allShe would have felt that something was wrong by now had Rovigo spoken
about them in any other wayNeither she nor her sisters nursed any anxieties about their father's affectionThey had only to look at his eyes
On the road home late at night, already badly fendi big bags unsettled by the thundering clatter of the Barbadian soldiers they had made way for at the city walls, she had been truly frightened when a voice called out to them from the darkness near their gate
Then, when her father had replied, and she came gradually to understand who this was, Alais had thought her heart would stop from sheer excitementShe could feel the tell-tale color rising in her cheeks
When it became clear that the musicians were coming inside, it had taken a supreme act of self-control for her to regain the mien and composure proper to her parents' oldest, most trusted child
In the house it became easier because the instant the two male guests stepped through the doorway Selvena had gone into her predictable mating frenzyA course of behavior so embarrassingly transparent to her older sister that it drove Alais straight back into her own habitual, detached watchfulnessSelvena had been crying herself to sleep for much of the year because it looked more and more as if she would still be unmarried when her eighteenth mens brushed steel and gold cartier watch naming day came in the spring
Devin, the singer, was smaller and younger-looking than she'd expectedBut he was neat and lithe, with an easy smile and quick, intelligent eyes under sandy-brown hair that curled halfway over his earsShe'd expected him to be arrogant or pretentious, despite what her father had said, but she saw nothing of that at all
The other man, Alessan, looked about fifteen years older, perhaps moreHis black, tangled hair was prematurely greying, silvering actually, at the templesHe had a lean, expressive face with very clear grey eyes and a wide mouthHe intimidated her a little, even though he was joking easily with her father right from the start, in exactly the manner she knew Rovigo most enjoyed
Perhaps that was it, Alais thought: few people she'd met could keep up with her father, in jesting or in anything elseAnd this man with the sharp, quizzical features appeared to be doing so effortlesslyShe wondered, aware that the thought was more than a little arrogant on her own part, how a Tregean musician could coco chanel hobo bag manage thatOn the other hand, she reflected, she didn't know very much about musicians at all
Which made her even more curious about the womanAlais thought Catriana was terribly beautifulWith her commanding height and the startlingly blue eyes under the blaze of her hair, like a second fire in the room, she made Alais feel small and pale and blandIn a curious way that combined with Selvena's outrageous flirtation to relax rather than unsettle her: this sort of activity, competition, exercise, was simply not something with which she was going to get involvedWatching closely, she saw Catriana register Selvena's soft flouncing at Devin's feet and she intercepted the sardonic glance the red-haired singer directed at her fellow musician
Alais decided to go into the kitchenHer mother and Menka might need helpAlix gave her a quick, thoughtful glance when she came in, but did not comment
They quickly put a meal togetherBack in the front room Alais helped at the sideboard and then listened and watched from her favorite chair next to the chanel classic flap bag replica f
Next morning the Quileians had ridden on, not...
Posted on 2010-Apr-5 at 10:39 - Link
Next morning the Quileians had ridden on, not hurrying, down the road to the northTwo hours after their departure the gates of the fort had opened again and six men had ridden out in extreme hasteOne of them, it was Sandre who noted it, was Siferval himself, captain of the Third Company
"It is done," Baerd had said, a kind of awe in his voice"I cannot believe it, but I think we have done it!"
A little more than a week later the first troops had begun to move, and they knew he was rightIt wasn't until some days after that, in an artisans' village in northern Certando, trading for carvings and finished cloth, that they learned, belatedly, what Brandin of Ygrath had done in ChiaraThe Kingdom of the Western Palm
"Are you a gambling man?" Sandre had said to Baerd"The dice are rolling now, and no one will hold or control them until they j12 chanel watch stop Baerd had said nothing in reply, but something stunned, near to shock in his expression, made Catriana go over and take his hand in hersWhich was not really like her at all
But everything had changed, or was changingBaerd was not the same since the Ember Days and their stay at Castle BorsoSomething had happened to him there, too, but this part he didn't explainAles-san was gone, and Devin, and though she hated to admit it, she missed him almost as much as the PrinceEven their role here in the east had completely altered now
They had waited in the highlands for the emissaries, in case something should go wrongBut now Baerd kept them moving at speed from town to town and he was stopping to speak to men and to some women Catriana had never even heard about, telling them to be ready, that there might be a summer rising
And with some of handbags louis vuitton them, not many, only a select few, his message was very specific: SenzioHead north to Senzio before MidsummerHave a weapon with you if you can
And it was these last words that brought home to Catriana most sharply, most potently, the fact that the time for action had truly comeNo more oblique disruptions or hovering on the edge of eventsEvents had a center now, which was or would soon be in Senzio, and they were going thereWhat was to happen she didn't yet knowIf Baerd did, he wasn't telling
What he did tell her, and Sandre too, were the names of peopleNames he had held in memory, some for a dozen yearsPeople who were with them in this, who could be trustedWho needed to be told, here in the provinces ruled by Barbadior, that the movement of Alberico's troops was their own signal to be ready at lastTo watch the unfolding of events and be gucci knockoff handbags prepared to respond
They would sit together at night, the three of them, around a campfire under stars or in a secluded corner of an inn in some hamlet or village, and Baerd would recite for them the names they needed to know
It was only on the third night, falling asleep afterward, that Catriana belatedly realized that the reason they needed to be told this was if Baerd were to die, with Alessan away in the west
"Ricaso bar Dellano," Baerd would say"A cooper in Marsilian, the first village south of Fort CioroneHe was born in AvalleCould not go to war because of a lame footHe will not be able to come north, but knows the others near by and will spread the word and lead our people in that district if the need for a rising comes
"Ricaso bar Dellano," she would repeat
"Porrena bren CullionIn Delonghi, just inside the Tregean border on the cartier mens watch roadster main road from FerrautShe's a little older than you, CatrianaHer father died at the DeisaShe knows who to speak to
"Porrena," Sandre would murmur, concentrating, his bony, gnarled hands clasped together And Catriana marveled at how many names there seemed to be, how many lives Baerd and Alessan had touched in their travels through a dozen years since returning from Quileia, readying themselves and these unknown others for a time, a season, a moment in the future, which was nowWhich they had lived to seeAnd her heart was filled with hope as she whispered the names over and over to herself like talismans of power
They rode through the next weeks, through the flowering of spring, at an almost reckless pace, barely simulating their role as merchantsMaking bad, hasty transactions where they stopped, unwilling to linger to bargain for better imitation chanel handbag one
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