All Knowledge Is Worth Having [attn: Cal]

[Elan]

Jaren Marle

In a rare moment of calm between the frantic dash between chores and classes, Jaren found himself drawn to the Library. He had always thought he had a fairly decent education, but the sheer amounts of knowledge stored within the tomes that filled the shelves made him realise just how little he knew. He knew that he’d have more time for independent study once he’d be raised to Dedicated, but with no means to tell how close or far that might be… He could admit, if only to himself, that he was perhaps a little impatient.

The section of the Library he’d ended up in held books on the customs of the different countries of the Westlands. Jaren knew quite a bit of that already, having travelled from Tar Valon to Illian and from Mayene to Bandar Eban, but the customs he was familiar with were those of trade and taverns, not so much the court or the upper social classes. He supposed that he should be familiar with those, too, if he was to travel as an Asha’man in the future.

That was probably not the most relevant thing to be studying now, however, and he should be using his limited time for something more useful. The abundance of knowledge available practically within his reach made it difficult to decide, though. He supposed he could just… spin around and point in a random direction and pick a book from whatever shelf he ended up pointing at? That was silly. Even more silly was that he was considering it in all seriousness. Or he could try and ask somebody…

He made his way through the Library at random and he wasn’t actually looking for anyone to ask, but when he nearly walked into a young woman in a white Novice dress upon rounding a corner, well, what else was he supposed to do?

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he said, side-stepping quickly, ready to steady the girl if she looked like she might stagger. “Please, forgive me. I was looking for something to read and didn’t watch where I was going. Are you alright?” He glanced at the book she was holding. “Are you here to study, too?”

[Cal]

Layla stabilised with herself quickly, even if her stance moved slightly towards a fighting stance, he weight spread more evenly and her centre of balanced slightly lowered in reaction to he shock the man appearing behind her had given her. It had been an instinctive move, and one which she almost instantly regretted, there had been no need for such a reaction even if it had been nearly imperceptible. An overreaction, and an aggressive one. She quickly moved back to normal albeit it slowly as to avoid notice. She didn't want the Soldier I notice her over reaction.

She quickly processed what the young man had said. "Suppose I am here to study." She said with resignation in her voice. It wasn't that she minded studying, just hat she found the topics she had to study boring. "And yeah I'm fine. You just gave me a shock, appearing out of no where like that."

She noted that she had prepared to fight with a sword rather with than the power. It was a reaction she would have to change. The power was her most effective tool for dealing with threats. Although what a threat was doing walking around the Grey Tower library was something she didn't consider. Growing up with her mother on the merchant council has meant that she was under constant threat of kidnap, it was something she had mainly ignored for her life but that thought occasionally crossed her mind, usually when she got a fright like now.

[Elan]

Jaren

The girl recovered admirably; she seemed to have a good natural balance. Had she been in the Drin uniform, Jaren would have chalked it up to Warder training, but on a Novice it seemed more extraordinary. She was also quite remarkably pretty, and graceful in a way that Jaren had come to associate with Domani women, but her golden hair was rare among them so he couldn’t be sure.

“Ah, yes, it was entirely my fault and I apologise again,” he said, flashing a quick smile. “I should have paid attention.” He stood aside, so as not to crowd her or block her way if she wanted to walk away, but he didn’t continue on his way just yet. He couldn’t see the title of her book, but it seemed clear from the tone of her voice that she was less than enthusiastic about studying, and maybe she would appreciate the company.

“What are you ‘supposed’ to be here to study, then?” he asked. “I was looking for something to read, but couldn’t decide. It’s funny. Back home I could read almost anything I’d get my hands on, but now that there’s all this knowledge at my disposal and I could pick almost anything I’m interested in, I have no idea where to start.” He chuckled, running a hand through his hair, likely messing up the unruly curls even worse. He’d have to ask somebody if there were any weaves to make hair stay the way you wanted it… “Anyway. The name’s Jaren.”

[Cal]

Layla nodded in agreement. She knew something of the last part. When she had been at home she had been able to use the house library. While she hadn't used it often when she had she had never had any problem finding something to read. Here, even if she knew exactly what topic she was to read she would struggle to find a book on it simply because there were so many of the flaming things.

"I was attempting to study battle weaves." She admitted. They were about the only set of weaves that really interested her. There were some others but none like battle weaves. They were her favourite, which was good considering that she intended to join the Green.

She studied the soldier in front of her. He had dirty blonde hair that was long for a boy and blue grey eyes. He had a small mouth she noted as well. She wasn't sure if he would be called handsome or not. She had never be very good with that sort of thing.

"Anyway, was there anything in particular you were looking kind of books in particular?" She asked. She doubted she would be able to help but trying was better than studying.

[Elan]

Jaren

“Ah, I’m not sure,” Jaren admitted, a little sheepishly. “I’m interested in different cultures, I suppose. I used to be a merchant, before coming here, so I know something about the trade cultures of different nations already, but not so much about the politics of the nobility and such. But I wasn’t looking for books about that in specific, I was just…” He shrugged. “Looking, I suppose. For anything interesting, but, yeah. The problem is that so many things are interesting.”

He shrugged and looked back at the girl, tilting his head slightly to the side. She hadn’t volunteered a name, and he wasn’t going to ask; it was not as though she was under any obligation to introduce herself, or talk to him at all. But she didn’t seem like he was bothering her, so he went on, “Battle weaves sound interesting, too. Do you mean like, blowing things up? Killing Shadowspawn?” That sounded like the most obvious choice, but he supposed there were probably defensive weaves that could be used in battle, too. Asha’man Jaryd had spoken of wards; Jaren wondered if any wards were applicable to battle situations. He’d have to ask him about that.

“Have you been channelling for long?” He hadn’t seen the girl around before, but then again, he didn’t exactly know every Novice in the Tower by sight; she might well have been there longer than him, and battle weaves sounded far more advanced than anything he’d been taught yet.

[Cal]

"Explosions look pretty, plus they make nice sounds. If you change the weaves slightly you make can them different colours. Then there are other battle weaves, more subtle ones used as traps although they are less fun to play with." She finished sadly. "My names Layla by the way. Nice to meet you."

A merchant he had said he was. Well she supposed she could see him as one although she doubted he would have had much chance against her mother. Not that knew much about that sort of thing. She had never had a head for numbers of the like. Swords and pranks were things she was good at.

Books on merchant stuff were just boring. Nothing but numbers and concepts which bore little use in everyday life, unless one happened to be a merchant. Then, she supposed, they would of probably be extremely useful to a person.

"I've been here for about it a month now." She said, then asked "What about you?". It was roughly that long since she had arrived. That month had been both the best and worse month of her life. On one hand she had began to learn to channel. On the other hand he freedom had been restricted so much. That had hurt worse than almost any physical injury could have. Freedom was everything to her, it was her very life and soul but at the same time so was channelling.

[Elan]

Jaren

“Well, nice to meet you too, Layla,” Jaren said with an easy smile. “As for explosions, I could personally do without the sound, but I suppose they can look pretty. I never thought of it that way.” Though clearly he should have; what were fireworks if not small explosions, sent all the way up into the sky to explode? And now what Layla was saying, was that the same effect could be replicated by channelling? It sounded… not useful, precisely, but… fun? Yes, fun. The thought of channelling just for fun was somewhat foreign, everything about channelling was presented in such serious light in his lessons, but then again that might just be because of his teacher.

“I’ve been here for a couple of months myself,” he said in answer to the girl’s question. “Are they truly teaching you battle weaves already? After just a month?” he asked, unable to stifle his curiosity. He didn’t mean to sound disbelieving — that would not have been terribly polite — but he was having trouble accepting it. “Or are you just reading up on the subject independently?” Then he realised that he was probably sounding unnecessarily nosy, and shook his head slightly. “Sorry, this is not an interrogation, I was just surprised. I suppose you’re interested in the Green Ajah, then?”

Jaren looked around and winced at the sight of an Accepted walking by, at a fair approximation of the Aes Sedai glide and shooting a disapproving frown in their direction; the Library probably wasn’t meant for socialising. With a placating gesture in the Accepted’s general direction, Jaren turned back to Layla. “Do you have the books you came here for or do you need anything more? I don’t want to keep you from your studies, but if you have what you came for, I’m about to head to the kitchens to see if I can snag a roll or two before I need to run to my next class, and you’re welcome to join me if you’d like.”

[Cal]

The amount of questions was enough to stun her for a second. And people though she was too chatty. Well this boy might be worse that her.

"Yeah, I'm going for the Green, maybe Blue. As for battle weaves. One of the Aes Sedai gave me a lesson. I think it was only to see if I could actually pay attention in a flaming lesson. I can see pay attention sometimes, it's just most lessons are so bloody boring." She explain in a rush, determined to answer his questions before he began his next round.

Layla saw the Accepted as well and muttered under her breath "Bloody flaming Accepted. Up themselves almost as much as the. Bloody Aes Sedai." They were always so arrogant. The Aes Sedai had at least been fully raised but the Accepted just took over chance to gloat in their new power. They annoyed her the most of everyone in the Tower.

"As for food I'm down with getting some. I've got what I need so I'm happy to tag along. Hopefully the flaming cooks are in a good mood so we can get the food." She added as she started to make her way toward the librarians desk in order to sign the book out. Last thing she needed at the moment was a punishment for not returning a book in time.

[Elan]

Jaren

Jaren followed and waited as Layla got her book checked out, and then they started towards the kitchens. “I’m hoping we don’t have to rely on the cooks’ good mood,” he said once they were out of the librarian’s hearing range. “I think my roommate said he’s working in the kitchens today, and I saved his lazy ass in a class last week so he owes me one.” He chuckled a little. Calling Marten lazy was an exaggeration, of course; the kid had simply dozed off in the history class because he’d been up half the night practising channelling in secret, which was also highly forbidden and Jaren supposed that keeping that secret meant Marten owed him another one. Not that he’d ever stoop to blackmail, it was just a sight better to be owed than to owe favours.

The kitchens were busy at this time of the day, and keeping their heads down two learning ranks could easily pass through unquestioned. Jaren thought of grabbing a tray at random to make a show of being on a kitchen shift, but decided against it; unnecessary theatrics could well come bite you in the ass when you least expected it. Best to keep things simple.

After a quick look, scanning the room, Jaren spotted Marten. “Follow me and try to look like you’re supposed to be here,” he said under his breath, hoping that Layla didn’t take too badly to being told what to do. Well, nobody was forcing her to follow; she could go at any time if it was a problem.

Marten spotted him halfway, and for a moment the younger man looked like he wanted to run to the nearest supervising Accepted or Dedicated, but Jaren fixed him with a stare and the kid stayed put. “Just the Soldier I was looking for,” Jaren said, still speaking in a low voice so as not to draw unwanted attention, when they reached Marten.

“Go sit on a cactus, Marle,” Marten replied, but most of the sourness in his voice was just for a show.

“Maybe later,” Jaren countered breezily. “I’d introduce you to this charming Layla I found in the Library but we’re kind of in a rush here, so fix us with a few rolls or pastries or whatever you’ve got baking today. I’ll consider waking you again if you fall asleep in class later. Okay?”

Marten glared for a moment, then glanced around as if to assess the risk. “Fine,” he grunted. He grabbed two kitchen towels from a pile and tossed them at Jaren. “Pretend to be folding those or something if anyone comes too close.” Then he vanished deeper into the kitchens, towards the great ovens where the delicious smell of baked goods was drifting in.

Jaren flashed a quick grin at Layla and then turned to re-folding the already neatly folded kitchen towels.

Spoiler: show

Feel free to have Marten return or have us get caught or make a narrow exit if you like, or whatever you feel like. Or just react to what's going on and I can pick up from there.

[Cal]

Layla raised an eyebrow when described a charming. It was not usually a word used to describe her. Something to do with threatening to stick a sword in people she supposed. If people weren't so bloody annoying most of the time then she wouldn't threaten to poke them full of holes with a sword.

She followed Jaren through the kitchen trying me to walk like she was meant to be there. It was one of the few things she was good at. She had practised the skill often enough at home was taking food for the kitchens. The cooks had quickly caught on but still.

Layla started helping to fold the sheets. It wasn't a difficult job, not compared to scrubbing out the bloody pots.

Layla saw one of the cooks staring at them suspiciously. She cursed under her breath and looked away. That boy had flaming better hurry up or she would beat him senseless and poke him with a sword if they got caught.

"One of the cooks is watching us." She murmured to Jaren under her breath as she scanned the room for Marten retuning. She could vaguely see him moving around out of the corner of her eye but she didn't dare look up for fear of the cook.