As soon as the ramp at the end of the barge was lowered, he led Stepper up to the dock after Moiraine and Lan. The huge shape of the Stone of Tear lay off to their left, shadowed so that it looked like a mountain despite the great banner at its highest point. He did not want to look at the Stone, but it seemed impossible to look at the city without seeing it. Is he here yet? Light, if he has already tried to get into that, he could be dead already. And then it would all be for nothing.

“What are we meant to find here?” Zarine asked behind him. She had not stopped asking questions; she just did not ask them of the Aes Sedai or the Warder. “Illian showed us Gray Men and the Wild Hunt. What does Tear hold that—that someone wants to keep you from so badly?”

Perrin glanced around; none of the dockmen shuttling cargo about seemed to have heard. He was sure he would have smelled fear if they had. He bit back the sharp remark that hung on the end of his tongue. She had a quicker tongue, and a sharper.

“I wish you did not sound so eager,” Loial rumbled. “You seem to think it will all be as easy as Illian, Faile.”

“Easy?” Zarine muttered. “Easy! Loial, we were nearly killed twice in one night. Illian was enough for a Hunter’s song in itself. What makes you call it easy?”

Perrin grimaced. He wished Loial had not decided to call Zarine by that name she had chosen; it was a constant reminder that Moiraine thought she was Min’s falcon. And it did nothing to stop Perrin wondering if she was the beautiful woman Min had warned him against, too. At least I’ve not run up against the hawk. Or a Tuatha’an with a sword! Now that would be the strangest of all, or I am a wool merchant!

“Stop asking questions, Zarine,” he said as he swung up into Stepper’s saddle. “You will find out why we are here when Moiraine decides to tell you.” He tried not to look at the Stone.

She turned those dark, tilted eyes on him. “I do not think you know why, blacksmith. I think that is why you will not tell me, because you cannot. Admit it, farmboy.”

With a small sigh, he rode off the docks after Moiraine and Lan. Zarine did not dig at Loial in that cutting way when the Ogier refused to answer her questions. He thought she must be trying to browbeat him into using that name. He would not.