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		<title>The first blog : The first blog</title>
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			<title>The first blog : The first blog</title>
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			<link>http://rjjcw.sosblog.com/The-first-blog-b1.htm</link>
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		<title>Unfortunately, one evening in summer he was...</title>
		<category>The first blog</category>
		<pubDate>2010-08-10T18:40:58Z</pubDate>
		<description>&lt;br /&gt;Unfortunately, one evening in summer he was overheard by a Barbadian mercenary standing outside the open windowThey didn&#039;t take away his licenseThere was a very high level of tension across the whole of the Palm by thenThey arrested Ettocio and executed him on a wheel outside his own tavern, with his severed hands stuffed in his mouth&lt;br /&gt;A great many men had heard the argument by then, thoughA great many had nodded, hearing it&lt;br /&gt;Devin joined the other four about a mile south of the crossroads inn on the dusty road leading to CertandoThey were waiting for himCatriana was alone in the first cart but Devin climbed up beside Baerd in the second&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Bubbling like a pot of khav,&quot; he said cheerfully in response to a quizzical eyebrow, Alessan rode up on one sideHe&#039;d buckled on his sword, Devin sawBaerd&#039;s bow was on the cart, just behind the seat and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/category_20_Miu-Miu_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;miu miu clutch&lt;/a&gt;  within very quick reachDevin had had occasion, several times in six months, to see just how quick Baerd&#039;s reach could beAlessan smiled over at him, riding bareheaded in the bright afternoon&lt;br /&gt;&quot;I take it you stirred the pot a little after we left?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Devin grinned&quot;Didn&#039;t need much stirringThe two of you have that routine down like professional players by now&lt;br /&gt;&quot;So do you,&quot; said the Duke, cantering up on the other side of the cart&quot;I particularly admired your spluttering anger this timeI thought you were about to throw something at me&lt;br /&gt;Devin smiled up at himSandre&#039;s teeth flashed white through the improbable black of his skin&lt;br /&gt;Don&#039;t expect to recognize us, Baerd had said when they&#039;d parted in the Sandreni woods half a year agoSo Devin had been preparedSomewhat, but not enough&lt;br /&gt;Baerd&#039;s own transformation had been disconcerting but relatively mild: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/product_351_Chanel-White-Quilted-Leather-Purse.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;white chanel purse&lt;/a&gt;  he&#039;d grown a short beard and removed the padding from the shoulders of his doubletHe wasn&#039;t as big a man as Devin had first thoughtHe&#039;d also somehow changed his hair from bright yellow to what he said was his natural dark brownHis eyes were brown now as well, not the bright blue of before&lt;br /&gt;What he had done to Sandre d&#039;Astibar was something else entirelyEven Alessan, who&#039;d evidently had years to get used to this sort of thing, gave a low whistle when he first saw the DukeSandre had become, amazingly, an aging black fighting man from Khardhun across the northern seaOne of a type that Devin knew had been common on the roads of the Palm twenty or thirty years ago in the days when merchants went nowhere except in company with each other, and Khardhu warriors with their wickedly curved blades were much in demand as insurance against &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/category_10_Mulberry_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;mulberry bayswater bag&lt;/a&gt;  outlaws&lt;br /&gt;Somehow, and this was the uncanny thing, with his own beard shaven and his white hair tinted a dark grey, Sandre&#039;s gaunt, black face and deep-set, fierce eyes were exactly those of a Khardhu mercenaryWhich, Baerd had explained, had been almost the first thing he&#039;d noticed about the Duke when he&#039;d seen him in daylightIt was what had suggested the rather comprehensive disguise&lt;br /&gt;&quot;But how?&quot; Devin remembered gasping&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Lotions and potions,&quot; Alessan had laughed&lt;br /&gt;It turned out, as Baerd explained later, that he and the Prince had spent a number of years in Quileia after Tigana&#039;s fallDisguises of this sort, colorings for skin and hair, even tints for eyes, were a perfected, important art south of the mountainsThey assumed a central role in the Mysteries of the Mother Goddess, and in the less secret rites of the formal theater, and they had played &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/categorys_49_Louis-Cartier_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;louis cartier&lt;/a&gt;  pivotal, complex parts in the tumultuous religion-torn history of Quileia&lt;br /&gt;Baerd did not say what he and Alessan had been doing there, or how he had come to learn this secret craft or possess the implements of it&lt;br /&gt;Catriana didn&#039;t know either, which made Devin feel somewhat betterThey&#039;d asked Alessan one afternoon, and had received, for the first time, an answer that was to become routine through the fall and winter&lt;br /&gt;In the spring, Alessan told themIn the spring a great deal would be made clearer, one way or anotherThey were moving towards something of importance, but they would have to wait until thenHe was not going to discuss it nowBefore the Ember Days of spring they would leave their current Astibar, Tregea, Ferraut loop and head south across the wide grainlands of CertandoAnd at that point, Ales-san had said, a great many things might &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/categorys_11_Necklace-Pendants_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;tiffany and co necklace&lt;/a&gt;  chang</description>
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		<title>He followed Mattio's leadElena and Donar went...</title>
		<category>The first blog</category>
		<pubDate>2010-08-07T22:00:01Z</pubDate>
		<description>He followed Mattio&#039;s leadElena and Donar went with themOther men and women were in that field of corn already and Baerd saw that they were reaching down to pluck a stalk to be their weapon in the nightIt was uncanny, incredible, but he was beginning to take a part of the measure of this place, to understand the magic that was at work here, and a corner of his mind, which worked outside and around the stern logic of day, grasped that the tall yellow grain that was so endangered was the only weapon possible tonightThey would fight for the fields with grain in their hands&lt;br /&gt;He stepped in among the others in that cornfield, careful of where he walked, and he bent down and grasped a stalk for himselfIt came free easily, even willingly to his hand in that green nightHe walked out on to fallow ground again and hefted it in his hand and swung it cautiously, and he saw that already the stalk had stiffened like metal forgedIt sliced through the air with a keen whistling soundHe tested it with a finger and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muluxury.com/category_1_Balenciaga_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;le dix balenciaga&lt;/a&gt;  drew bloodThe stalk had grown as sharp as any blade he&#039;d ever held, and as true to his hand, and it was many-edged like the fabled blades of Quileia, centuries ago&lt;br /&gt;He looked away to the westThe Ygrathens were descending the nearest of the hillsHe could see the glint of their weapons under the moonThis is not a dream, he told himself&lt;br /&gt;Donar was beside him, grim and unwaveringMattio stood beyond, a passionate defiance in his faceMen and women were gathering behind them and all around, and all of them held corn swords in their hands, and all of them looked the same: stern and resolute and unafraid&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Shall we go?&quot; Donar said then, turning to look out upon them all&quot;Shall we go and fight them for the fields and for our people? Will you come with me now to the Ember war?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;For the fields!&quot; the Night Walkers cried, and raised their living swords aloft to the sky&lt;br /&gt;What Baerd di Tigana bar Saevar cried he cried only in his heart and not aloud, but he went forward with all of them, a stalk of corn like a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.culuxury.com/category_27_Chanel-Watches_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel white ceramic watch&lt;/a&gt;  long blade in his hand, to do battle under the pale green moon of that enchanted place&lt;br /&gt;When the Others fell, scaly and grey, blind and crawling with maggots, there was never any bloodElena understood why that was so, Donar had told her years ago: blood meant life, and their foes tonight were the enemies, the opposite, of any kind of lifeWhen they fell to the corn swords nothing flowed from them, nothing seeped away into the earth&lt;br /&gt;There were so many of themThere always were, swirling in a grey mass like slugs, pouring down out of the hills and swarming into the stream where Donar and Mattio and Baerd had come to make their stand&lt;br /&gt;Elena prepared herself to fight, amid the loud, whirling, green-tinted chaos of the nightShe was frightened, but she knew she could deal with thatShe remembered how deathly afraid she&#039;d been in her first Ember war, wondering how she, she who could scarcely have even lifted a sword in the daytime world, could possibly battle such hideous creatures as the nightmare ones she &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ualuxury.com/category_27_Chanel-Watches_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;white chanel watch&lt;/a&gt;  saw&lt;br /&gt;But Donar and Verzar had assuaged her fears: here in this green night of magic it was the soul and the spirit that mattered, here it was courage and desire that shaped and drove the bodies in which they found themselvesElena felt so much stronger on the Ember Nights, so much more lithe and quickThat had frightened her, too, the first time and even afterward: under this green moon she was someone who could killIt was a realization she had to deal with, an adjustment to be madeThey all did, to one degree or anotherNone of them were exactly what they were under the sun or the two moons of homeDonar&#039;s body on this night of war reached backwards, further every year, toward a lost image of what he once had been&lt;br /&gt;Just as Baerd&#039;s very clearly, reached back as well, more than one might have guessed or expectedNot fourteen, or he would not have been allowedShe didn&#039;t understand that, but she had no time to puzzle such things outThe Others were in the stream, and now they were trying to clamber out, clad &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snluxury.com/categorys_46_Pasha_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;cartier pasha watch&lt;/a&gt;  in the hideous shapes her mind gave them&lt;br /&gt;She dodged a scything axe-blow from a creature dripping with water as it scrambled up the bank towards her, and as she did she gritted her teeth and slashed downward with an instinctive deadliness she would have never known was hersShe felt her blade, her living sword, crunch hard through scaly armor and bury itself in the maggot-infested body of her foe&lt;br /&gt;She pulled the weapon free with an effort, hating what she had done, but hating the Others more, infinitely moreShe turned, barely in time to block another ascending blow and withdraw a step before two new, gapejawed assailants on her rightShe lifted her blade in a desperate attempt to ward&lt;br /&gt;Then suddenly only one of the Others was standing there&lt;br /&gt;She lowered her sword and looked at BaerdAt her stranger on the road, her promise given by the nightHe smiled grimly at her, tight-lipped, standing over the bodies of the Others he had just killedHe smiled, and he had saved her life, but he said nothing to her at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ualuxury.com/categorys_89_Coco-Chanel-Jumbo-Flap-Bag_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel jumbo flap&lt;/a&gt;  a</description>
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		<title>She forced herself to remain where she wasNot to...</title>
		<category>The first blog</category>
		<pubDate>2010-08-05T18:45:32Z</pubDate>
		<description>&lt;br /&gt;She forced herself to remain where she wasNot to run down to themTo let them do this alone, as was their rightAnd at length she saw her brother rise with the slow, meditated movements of a very old manShe saw him speak to Naddo and then carefully help him to his feetAnd then, as she had known would happen, she saw him, begrimed and bleeding and hobbling very badly, lead Naddo east without a backwards looks, towards the site where they were assigned to work that dayOnly when the two of them turned the corner at the far end of the square and so were gone from sight did she leave her windowOnly then did she loosen her white-clawed hold on the wood of the window-ledgeAnd only then, invisible to everyone with her curtains drawn, did she &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/category_4_Dolce-Gabbana_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;dolce and gabbana bags&lt;/a&gt;  allow her tears to fall: in love, and for his hurts, and terrible pride&lt;br /&gt;When they came home that night she and the servant-woman heated water and drew baths for them and afterwards they dealt with the wounds and the black and purpling bruises as best they could&lt;br /&gt;Later, over dinner, Naddo told them he was leavingThat same night, he saidIt was too much, he said, awkwardly twisting in his seat, speaking to Dianora, for her brother had turned his face away at Naddo&#039;s first announcement&lt;br /&gt;There was no life to be made here, Naddo said with passionate urgency through a torn and swollen mouthNot with the viciousness of the soldiers and the even more vicious taxesIf a young man, a young man such as himself, was to have any hope of doing something &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ooluxury.com/scategory_2_Chanel.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel classic handbags&lt;/a&gt;  with his life, Naddo said, he had to get awayDesperately his eyes besought her understandingHe kept glancing nervously over to where her brother had now fully turned his back on both of them&lt;br /&gt;Where will you go, Dianora had asked him&lt;br /&gt;Asoli, he&#039;d told herIt was a hard, wet land, unbearably hot and humid in summer, everyone knew thatBut there was room there for new bloodThe Asolini made people welcome, he&#039;d heard, more so than in the Barbadian lands to the eastHe would never ever go to Corte or ChiaraPeople from Tigana did not go there, he saidHer brother made a small sound at that but did not turn; Naddo glanced over at him again and swallowed, his Adam&#039;s apple bobbing in his throat&lt;br /&gt;Three other young men had made plans, he said to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/scategory_2_Chanel.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;classic chanel handbag&lt;/a&gt;  DianoraPlans to slip out from the city tonight and make their way northHe&#039;d known about it for some time, he saidHe hadn&#039;t known what to doWhat had happened this morning had made up his mind for him&lt;br /&gt;Eanna light your path, Dianora had said, meaning itHe had been a good apprentice and then a brave and loyal friendPeople were leaving all the timeThe province of Lower Corte was a bad place in a very bad timeNaddo&#039;s left eye was completely swollen shutHe might easily have been killed that afternoon&lt;br /&gt;Later, when he&#039;d packed his few belongings and was ready to leave, she gave him some silver from her father&#039;s hidden storeShe kissed him in farewellHe&#039;d begun weeping thenHe commended himself to her mother and opened the front doorOn the threshold he&#039;d &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.culuxury.com/category_27_Chanel-Watches_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel white ceramic watch&lt;/a&gt;  turned back again, still crying&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Goodbye,&quot; he&#039;d said, in anguish, to the figure staring stonily into the fire on the front-room hearthSeeing the look on Naddo&#039;s face Dianora silently willed her brother to turn aroundDeliberately he knelt and laid another log on the fire&lt;br /&gt;Naddo stared at him a moment longer, then he turned to look at Dianora, failed to achieve a tremulous, tearful smile, and slipped out into the dark and away&lt;br /&gt;Much later, when the fire had been allowed to die, her brother went out as wellDianora sat and watched the embers slowly fade, then she looked in on her mother and went to bedWhen she lay down it seemed to her that a weight was pressing upon her body, far heavier than the quilted comforter&lt;br /&gt;She was awake when he came &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ooluxury.com/scategory_8_Hermes.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;hermes vintage&lt;/a&gt;  i</description>
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		<title>An assassination attempt from YgrathWith Chiaran...</title>
		<category>The first blog</category>
		<pubDate>2010-08-04T21:43:20Z</pubDate>
		<description>An assassination attempt from YgrathWith Chiaran participation&lt;br /&gt;And it had very nearly succeeded&lt;br /&gt;Scelto hustled Dianora down the corridor to her rooms and with a bristling protectiveness slammed the door on the nervous, fluttering crowd that clung and hovered in the hallway like so many silk-clad mothsMurmuring continuously he undressed and washed her, and then wrapped her carefully into her warmest robeShe was shivering uncontrollably, unable to speakHe lit the fire and made her sit before itIn docile submission she drank the mahgoti tea he prepared as a sedativeTwo cups of it, one after the otherEventually the trembling stoppedShe still found it difficult to speakHe made her stay in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/categorys_90_Coco-Chanel-Cambon-Bag_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel classic bag&lt;/a&gt;  chair before the fireShe didn&#039;t want to leave it anyway&lt;br /&gt;Her brain felt battered, numbShe seemed to be utterly incapable of marshaling any understanding, of shaping an adequate response to what had just happened&lt;br /&gt;One thought only kept driving the others away, pounding in her head like the hammer of a herald&#039;s staff on the floorA thought so impossible, so disabling, that she tried, with all she could, through the&lt;br /&gt;blinding pulse of an onrushing headache, to block it outThe hammering crashed through, again and again: she had saved his life&lt;br /&gt;Tigana had been a single pulsebeat away from coming back into the worldThe pulsebeat of Brandin that the crossbow would have ended&lt;br /&gt;Home was a dream she&#039;d &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naluxury.com/categorys_27_Seamaster-300600M_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;omega planet ocean watches&lt;/a&gt;  had yesterdayA place where children used to playAmong towers near the mountains, by a river, on curving sweeps of white or golden sand beside a palace at the edge of the seaHome was a longing, a desperate dream, a name in her dreamsAnd this afternoon she had done the one thing she could possibly have done to bar that name from the world, to lock it into a dreamUntil all the dreams, too, died&lt;br /&gt;How was she to deal with that? How possibly cope with what it meant? She had come here to kill Brandin of Ygrath, to end his life that lost Tigana might live again&lt;br /&gt;The shivering started once moreFussing and murmuring, Scelto built up the fire and brought yet another blanket for her knees and feetWhen he &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ualuxury.com/scategory_7_Gucci.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;gucci horsebit hobo&lt;/a&gt;  saw the tears on her face he made a queer helpless sound of distressSomeone knocked loudly on her door sometime later and she heard Scelto driving them away with language she had never known him to use before&lt;br /&gt;Gradually, very slowly, she began to pull herself togetherFrom the color of the light that gently drifted down through the high windows she knew that the afternoon would be waning towards duskShe rubbed her cheeks and eyes with the backs of her handsShe had to be ready when twilight came; twilight was when Brandin sent to the saishan&lt;br /&gt;She rose from her chair, pleased to find that her legs were steadierScelto rushed up, protesting, but when he saw her face he quickly checked &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irluxury.com/category_27_Chanel-Watches_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel watches&lt;/a&gt;  himselfWithout another word he led her through the inner doors and down that hallway to the bathsHis ferocious glare silenced the attendants thereShe had a sense that he would have struck them if they had spoken; she had never heard of him doing a single violent actNot since he had killed a man and lost his own manhood&lt;br /&gt;She let them bathe her, let the scented oils soften her skinThere had been blood on it that afternoonThe waters swirled around her and then awayThe attendants washed her hairAfter, Scelto painted the nails of her fingers and toesA soft shade, dusty roseFar from the color of blood, far from anger or griefLater she would paint her lips the same shadeShe doubted they would make love, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snluxury.com/categorys_14_Damier-Geant_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;louis vuitton travel bags&lt;/a&gt;  thoug</description>
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		<title>Then, as proudly, as defiantly as before, she...</title>
		<category>The first blog</category>
		<pubDate>2010-08-02T18:45:07Z</pubDate>
		<description>Then, as proudly, as defiantly as before, she said, &quot;I can love the Queen so much&lt;br /&gt;Brandin closed his eyes&quot;How so?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;In all the ways that you forsook when you chose exile here and love of the dead over the heart and the bed of your wife&lt;br /&gt;In any normal, any halfway normal time there would have been a reaction to this from the courtThere would have had to beDianora heard nothing though, only the sound of a great many people breathing carefully as Brandin opened his eyes again to look down upon the singerThere was an unveiled triumph in the Ygrathen woman&#039;s face&lt;br /&gt;&quot;She was invited here,&quot; he repeated almost wistfully&quot;I could have compelled her but I chose not to do &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naluxury.com/scategory_25_Gucci-Watches.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;gold gucci watches&lt;/a&gt;  soShe had made her feelings clear and I left the choice to herI thought it was the kinder, fairer actionIt would appear that my sin lies in not having ordered her to take ship for this peninsula&lt;br /&gt;So many different griefs and shapes of pain seemed to be warring for preeminence within DianoraBehind the King she could see d&#039;Eymon; his face was a sickly greyHe met her eyes for only an instant then quickly looked awayLater she might think of ways to use this sudden ascendancy over him but right now she felt only pity for the manHe would offer to resign tonight, she knewOffer, probably, to kill himself after the old fashionBrandin would refuse, but after this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ualuxury.com/categorys_27_Seamaster-300600M_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;omega seamaster gold&lt;/a&gt;  nothing would be quite the same&lt;br /&gt;For a great many reasons&lt;br /&gt;Brandin said, &quot;I think you have told me what I had need to know&lt;br /&gt;&quot;The Chiaran acted alone,&quot; Isolla volunteered unexpectedlyShe gestured at Camena, in the bone-cracking grip of the soldiers behind her&quot;He joined us when he visited Ygrath two years agoOur purposes appeared to march together this far&quot;This far,&quot; he echoed quietly&quot;I thought that might be the caseThank you for confirming it,&quot; he added gravely&quot;You promised me an easy death,&quot; Isolla said, holding herself very straight&lt;br /&gt;&quot;I did,&quot; Brandin said&quot;I did promise you that Dianora stopped breathingThe King looked at Isolla without expression for what seemed an &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naluxury.com/category_4_Dolce-Gabbana_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;dolce gabbana handbags&lt;/a&gt;  unbearably long time&lt;br /&gt;&quot;You can have no idea,&quot; he said at last, in a voice little above a whisper, &quot;how happy I was that you had come to make music for me again&lt;br /&gt;Then he moved his right hand, in exactly the same casual gesture he would use to dismiss a servant or a petitioner&lt;br /&gt;Isolla&#039;s head exploded like an overripe fruit smashed with a hammerDark blood burst from her neck as her body collapsed like a sackDianora was standing too near; the blood of the slain woman spattered thickly on her gown and faceShe stumbled backwardsA hideous illusion of reptilian creatures was coiling and twisting in the place where Isolla&#039;s head had been mashed to a formless, oozing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ttluxury.com/categorys_105_Chanel-Earrings_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel logo earrings&lt;/a&gt;  pulp&lt;br /&gt;There was screaming everywhere and a frenzied pandemonium as the court backed awayOne figure suddenly ran forwardStumbling, almost falling in its haste, the figure jerked out a swordThen awkwardly, with great clumsy two-handed slashes, Rhun the Fool began hacking at the dead body of the singer&lt;br /&gt;His face was weirdly distorted with rage and revulsionFoam and mucus ran from his mouth and noseWith one savage butcher&#039;s blow he severed an arm from the woman&#039;s torsoSomething dark and green and blind appeared to undulate from the stump of Isolla&#039;s shoulder, leaving a trail of glistening black slimeBehind Dianora someone gagged with horror&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Stevan!&quot; she heard Rhun cry &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ualuxury.com/search_0_0_0_fairy_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;prada fairy bag&lt;/a&gt;  broken</description>
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		<title>It was genuinely disconcerting how easily Brandin...</title>
		<category>The first blog</category>
		<pubDate>2010-08-01T22:23:54Z</pubDate>
		<description>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&lt;br /&gt;&quot;What do you think?&quot; he asked by way of reply&lt;br /&gt;&quot;I? Think?&quot; She lifted her plucked eyebrows in exaggerated arches&quot;How should a mere object of the King&#039;s occasional pleasure venture to have an opinion on such matters?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Now that,&quot; said Brandin nodding briskly, &quot;is an intelligent observationI shall have to consult Solores, instead&lt;br /&gt;&quot;If you get an intelligent observation out of her,&quot; Dianora said tartly, &quot;I shall hurl myself from the saishan balcony into the sea&lt;br /&gt;&quot;All the way across the harbor square? A long leap,&quot; said Brandin mildly&lt;br /&gt;&quot;So,&quot; she replied, &quot;is an intelligent observation for Solores&lt;br /&gt;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&lt;br /&gt;&quot;I saw something interesting on the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.culuxury.com/categorys_94_Chanel-Purse_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel black wallet&lt;/a&gt;  mountain this morning,&quot; Brandin said, his amusement subsiding&quot;Something quite unusual&lt;br /&gt;This, she realized, was why he&#039;d wanted to speak to her aloneHe&#039;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&#039;d been prepared to tease him about it&lt;br /&gt;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&lt;br /&gt;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&lt;br /&gt;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 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.irluxury.com/categorys_92_Coco-Chanel-Shoulder-Bag_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel bags to buy&lt;/a&gt;  days inspired a colder dread, especially in the countryside, because so much depended upon what would follow themWinter&#039;s passing, the season of sowing, and the hope of grain, of life, in the summer&#039;s fullness to come&lt;br /&gt;In Chiara there was an added ritual, different from anything elsewhere in the Palm&lt;br /&gt;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&lt;br /&gt;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&#039;s warding, and the sun of day&lt;br /&gt;And for this reason had Chiara always asserted its preeminence among the nine provinces of the Palm, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ttluxury.com/categorys_32_Deville_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;omega de ville men&#039;s watches&lt;/a&gt;  and for this reason as well did the Island name Morian as guardian of its destiny&lt;br /&gt;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&lt;br /&gt;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&#039; time&lt;br /&gt;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 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ooluxury.com/scategory_9_Louis-Vuitton.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;louis vuitton mahina&lt;/a&gt;  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&#039;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&#039;t know what to find more whimsical: the fact that Brandin would do this thing, in such secrecy, or the ebullient masculine pride he&#039;d felt both times he&#039;d made it up to the summit of Sangarios and down again&lt;br /&gt;In the Audience Chamber Dianora asked the question she was clearly expected to ask: &quot;What did you see, then?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;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&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Something unusual,&quot; Brandin repeated&quot;I had of course outstripped the guards running with me&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Of course,&quot; she murmured, giving him a sidelong &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muluxury.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel top&lt;/a&gt;  glance</description>
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		<title>"She is dying and she is
Alessan's eyes were so...</title>
		<category>The first blog</category>
		<pubDate>2010-07-31T22:14:10Z</pubDate>
		<description>&quot;She is dying and she is&lt;br /&gt;Alessan&#039;s eyes were so strange&lt;br /&gt;&quot;She is dying and she is my mother,&quot; he whisperedThat is why I want you thereThere seems to be some news, as wellWe had better hear it&lt;br /&gt;He turned and walked towards the bedroom doorDanoleon was standing just before itAlessan stopped before the High Priest and they looked at each otherThe Prince whispered something Devin could not hear; he leaned forward and kissed the old man on the cheek&lt;br /&gt;Then he went past himAt the door he paused for a moment and drew a long steadying breathHe lifted a hand as if to run it through his hair but stopped himselfA queer smile crossed his face as if chasing a memory&lt;br /&gt;&quot;A bad habit, that,&quot; he murmured, to no one in particularThen he opened the door and went in and they followed him&lt;br /&gt;The High Priest&#039;s bedchamber was almost as large as the sitting room in the front, but its furnishings were starkly simpleTwo armchairs, a pair of rustic, worn carpets, a wash-stand, a writing &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naluxury.com/scategory_26_Chanel-Jewelry.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel jewelry&lt;/a&gt;  desk, a trunk for storage, a small privy set apart in the southeastern cornerThere was a fireplace in the northern wall, twin to the one in the front room, sharing the same chimneyThis side was lit, despite the mildness of the day, and so the room was wanner though both windows were open, curtains drawn back to admit some slanting light from under the eaves of the porticoes to the west&lt;br /&gt;The bed on the back wall under the silver star of Eanna was large, for Danoleon was a big man, but it too was simple and unadornedNo canopy, plain pinewood posts in the four corners, and a pine headboard&lt;br /&gt;Devin, nervously following Alessan and the High Priest through the door, had expected to see a dying woman thereHe looked, more than a little embarrassed, towards the door of the privyAnd almost jumped with shock when a voice spoke from the shadows by the fire, where the light from the windows did not fall&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Who are these strangers?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Alessan himself had turned unerringly &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/categorys_99_Gucci-Tote_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;large gucci bag&lt;/a&gt;  toward the fire the moment he entered the room, guided by what sense, Devin never knew, and so he appeared controlled and unsurprised when that cold voice spokeOr when a woman moved forward from the shadows to stand by one of the armchairs, and then sit down upon it, her back very straight, her head held high looking at him&lt;br /&gt;Pasithea di Tigana bren Serazi, wife to Valentin the PrinceShe must have been a woman of unsurpassed beauty in her youth, for that beauty still showed, even here, even now, at the threshold of the last portal of MorianShe was tall and very thin, though part of that, clearly, was due to the illness wasting her from withinIt showed in her face, which was pale almost to translucence, the cheekbones thrust into too sharp reliefHer robe had a high, stiff collar which covered her throat; the robe itself was crimson, accentuating her unnatural, other-worldly pallor, it was as if, Devin thought, she had already crossed to Morian and was looking &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.snluxury.com/category_27_Chanel-Watches_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;chanel j12&lt;/a&gt;  back at them from a farther shore&lt;br /&gt;But there were golden rings, very much of this world, on her long fingers, and one dazzling blue gem gleamed from a necklace that hung down over her robeHer hair was gathered and bound up in a black net, a style long out of fashion in the PalmDevin knew with absolute certainty that current fashion would mean nothing, less than nothing, to this womanHer eyes looked at him just then with swift, unsettling appraisal, before moving on to Erlein, and then resting, finally, upon her son&lt;br /&gt;The son she had not seen since he was fourteen years old&lt;br /&gt;Her eyes were grey like Alessan&#039;s, but they were harder than his, glittering and cold, hiding their depths, as if some semi-precious stone had been caught and set just below the surfaceThey glinted, fierce and challenging, in the light of the room, and just before she spoke again, not even waiting for an answer to her first question, Devin realized that what they were seeing in those eyes &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/scategory_29_Rolex-Watches.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;women rolex watches&lt;/a&gt;  was rage&lt;br /&gt;It was in the arrogant face, in the high carriage and the fingers that held hard to the arms of her chairAn inner fire of anger that had passed, long ago, beyond the realm of words or any other form of expressionShe was dying, and in hiding, while the man who had killed her husband ruled her landIt was there, it was all there, for anyone who knew but half the tale&lt;br /&gt;Devin swallowed and fought an urge to draw back toward the door, out of rangeA moment later he realized that he needn&#039;t bother; as far as the woman in the chair was concerned he was a cipher, a nothingHe wasn&#039;t even thereHer question had not been meant to be answered; she didn&#039;t really care who they wereShe had someone else to deal with&lt;br /&gt;For a long time, a sequence of moments that seemed to hang forever in the silence, she looked Alessan up and down without speaking, her white, imperious features quite unreadableAt last, slowly shaking her head, she said: &quot;Your father was such a handsome &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muluxury.com/search_0_0_0_fairy_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;fairy bag prada&lt;/a&gt;  m</description>
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		<title>"Bring him," he said thickly to his soldiers"Bind...</title>
		<category>The first blog</category>
		<pubDate>2010-07-30T22:05:43Z</pubDate>
		<description>&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Bring him,&quot; he said thickly to his soldiers&quot;Bind him and bring himThere are things we can do with this one before we allow him to dieThings appropriate to what he was&lt;br /&gt;His vision was still not working properly, but he saw one of his mercenaries smileTomasso bar Sandre closed his eyesThere was blood on his face and clothingThere would be more before they were done&lt;br /&gt;Alberico put up his hood and limped from the roomBehind him the soldiers lifted up the body of the dead captain and supported the man whose face had been broken by Nievole&lt;br /&gt;They had to help the Tyrant mount his horse, which he found humiliating, but he began to feel better during the torchlit ride back to AstibarHe was utterly devoid of magic thoughEven through the dulled sensations of his altered, reassembled body he could feel the void where his &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.enluxury.com/category_4_Dolce-Gabbana_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;dolce and gabbana knock off&lt;/a&gt;  power should beIt would be at least two weeks, probably more, before it all came backWhat he had done in the flashing of that instant in the lodge had drained more from him than any act of magic ever had in his life&lt;br /&gt;He was alive though, and he had just shattered the three most dangerous families left in the Eastern PalmEven more, he had the middle Sandreni son here now as evidence, public proof of the conspiracy for the days to comeThe pervert who was said to relish painAlberico allowed himself a tiny smile within the recesses of his hood&lt;br /&gt;It was all going to be done by law, and openly, as had been his practice almost from the day he&#039;d taken power hereNo unrest born of arbitrary exercise of might would be permitted to rear its dangerous headThey might hate him, of course they would hate him, but not one &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ualuxury.com/scategory_21_Tiffany-Jewelry.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;tiffany cross&lt;/a&gt;  citizen of his four provinces would be able to doubt the justice or deny the legitimacy of his response to this Sandreni plot&lt;br /&gt;Or miss the point of how comprehensive that response was about to be&lt;br /&gt;With the prudent caution that was the truest wellspring of his character, Alberico of Barbadior began thinking through his actions of the next hours and daysThe high gods of the Empire knew this far peninsula was a place of constant danger and needed stern governing, but the gods, who were not blind, could see that he knew how to give it what was needfulAnd it was growing more and more possible that the Emperor&#039;s advisers back home, who were no more sightless than the gods, would see the same things&lt;br /&gt;And the Emperor was old&lt;br /&gt;Alberico withdrew his thoughts from these familiar, too seductive channelsHe made himself focus on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.naluxury.com/scategory_21_Tiffany-Jewelry.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;knock off tiffany jewelry&lt;/a&gt;  detail again; detail was everything in matters such as thisThe neat steps of his planning clicked into place like beads on a djarra string as he rodeDrily, precisely, he assembled the orders he would giveThe only commands that caused him an inward flicker of emotion were the ones concerning Tomasso bar SandreThese, at least, did not have to be made public and they would not beOnly the confession and its revealing details needed to be known outside his palace wallsWhatever took place in certain rooms underground could be extremely private indeedHe surprised himself a little with the anticipation he felt&lt;br /&gt;At one point he remembered that he&#039;d wanted the hunting lodge torched when they leftSmoothly he adjusted his thinking on thatLet the lesser Sandreni and their servants find the dead when they came at dawnLet them &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ooluxury.com/category_5_Dior_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;lady dior&lt;/a&gt;  wonder and fearThe doubt would only last a little while&lt;br /&gt;Then he would cause everything to be made extremely clear&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Chapter 5&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;?OH, MORIAN,&quot; ALESSAN WHISPERED, WISTFUL REGRET INFUSING his voice&quot;I could have sent him to your judgment even nowA child could have put an arrow in his eye from here&lt;br /&gt;Not this child, Devin thought ruefully, gauging the distance and the light from where they were hidden among the trees north of the ribbon of road the Barbadians had just ridden alongHe looked with even more respect than before at Alessan and the crossbow he&#039;d picked up from a cache they&#039;d looped past on the way here&lt;br /&gt;&quot;She will claim him when she is ready,&quot; Baerd said prosaically&quot;And you are the one who has spent his life saying that it will be to no good if either one of them dies too soon&quot;Did I shoot?&quot; he asked &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ualuxury.com/category_1_Balenciaga_1.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;balenciaga giant bag&lt;/a&gt;  pointe</description>
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		<title>Hello, my friends</title>
		<category>The first blog</category>
		<pubDate>2009-12-21T09:02:12Z</pubDate>
		<description>Welcome to my first blog</description>
		<guid>http://rjjcw.sosblog.com/The-first-blog-b1/Hello-my-friends-b1-p2.htm</guid>
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		<title>Welcome</title>
		<category>The first blog</category>
		<pubDate>2009-11-26T08:57:51Z</pubDate>
		<description>Congratulations, your blog is created !&lt;br /&gt;To access the different options of your Blog, click on « Connection » : Connect yourself with the username : Admin and your password (the one you chose at the blog creation).&lt;br /&gt;Once you&#039;re connected, a toolbar will be placed automatically at the top of the page, managing you to access the administration panel.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(This text is an example of an article, you can delete it as soon as you wish)</description>
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