Scriber was feeling more enthusiastic about visiting the stationer's; there must be some way he could help. He looked around with an interest that had been lacking the last few days. Woodcarvers was a fair-sized city, almost as big as Rangathir -- maybe twenty thousand packs lived within its walls and in the homes immediately around. This day was a bit colder than the last few, but it wasn't raining. A cold, clean wind swept the market street,
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复件 (5) 复件 air max, of spices and fresh-sawn wood. Dark clouds hung low, misting the hills around the harbor. Spring was definitely in the air. Scriber kicked playfully at the slush along the curb. Peregrine led them to a side street. The place was jammed, strangers getting as close as seven or eight yards. The stalls at the stationer's were even worse. The felt dividers weren't that thick, and there seemed to be more interest in literature at Woodcarvers than any place Scriber had ever been. He could hardly hear himself think as he haggled with the stationer. The merchant sat on a raised platform with thick padding; he wasn't much bothered by the racket. Scriber kept his heads close together, concentrating on the prices and the product. From his past life, he was pretty good at this sort of thing. Eventually he got his paper, and at a decent price. "Let's go back on Packweal," he said. That was the long way, through the center of the market. When he was in a good mood, Scriber rather liked crowds; he was a great student of people. Woodcarvers was not as cosmopolitan as some cities by the Long Lakes,
mbt sport shoe, but there were traders from all over. He saw several packs wearing the bonnets of a tropic collective. At one intersection a redjackets from East Home was chatting cozily with a labormaster. When packs came this close, and in these numbers, the world seemed to teeter on the edge of a choir. Each person hung near to himself, trying to keep his own thoughts intact. It was hard to walk without stumbling over your own feet. And sometimes the background thought sounds would surge,
复件 (73) air max, a moment where several packs would somehow synchronize. Your consciousness wavered and for an instant you were one with many, a superpack that might be a god. Jaqueramaphan shivered. That was the essential attraction of the Tropics. The crowds there were mobs, vast group minds as stupid as they were ecstatic. If the stories were true,
复件 (41) air max2, some of the southern cities were nonstop orgies. They had roamed the marketplace almost an hour when it hit him. Scriber shook his heads abruptly. He turned and walked in lockstep off Packweal, and up a side street. Peregrine followed, "Is the crowd too much?" he asked. "I just had an idea," said Scriber. That wasn't unusual in a close crowd,
复件 (45) air max2, but this was a very interesting idea.... He said nothing more for several minutes. The side street climbed steeply, then jinked back and forth across Castle Hill. The upslope side was lined with burghers' homes. On the harbor side, they were looking out over the steep tile roofs of houses on the next switchback down. These were large homes, elegant with rosemaling. Only a few had shops on the street. Scriber slowed down and spread out enough that he wasn't stepping on himself. He saw now that he'd been quite wrong in trying to contribute creative expertise to Johanna. There was simply too much invention in Dataset. But they still needed him, Johanna most of all. The problem was, they didn't know it yet. Finally he said to Peregrine, "Haven't you wondered that the Flenserists haven't attacked the city? You and I embarrassed the Lords of Hidden Island more than ever in their history.