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Avendesora
Long ago, in the Age of Legends, chora trees lined the streets of nearly every city in the world. It was said that a city without chora trees would seem as bleak as a wilderness. The trees imparted a great calm on any who sat beneath their spreading branches. But the chora trees, like so many other things, were lost during the Breaking of the World. Only one, called Avendesora, survived the Breaking. The location of Avendesora became a thing of mystery, known to no one. There was a story of Ghoetam sitting beneath the Tree of Life for forty years to gain wisdom. Supposedly birds supplied him with food. Unexpectedly, though, the Aiel came to the Cairhienin bearing gifts. For one, they allowed the Cairhienin to cross the Aiel Waste to trade for silk with the people of Shara. Even more surprising was the sapling of Avendesora they gave to the Cairhienin, called Avendoraldera. No one could imagine where the Aiel had acquired a cutting of Avendesora. Of course, it was the cutting down of Avendoraldera which led to the Aiel War. Now, though, the location of Avendesora is no longer a mystery. Rand al’Thor uncovered the hidden valley of Rhuidean, dispersing the permanent fog which had for generations covered the sacred city of the Aiel. Water now flows from the countless fountains of Rhuidean, and in the central square of the city lies the great tree Avendesora. Rhuidean is being rebuilt, with the Tree of Life at the center of the first city to be constructed in the Aiel Waste.
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