The Grey Tower

Andrin put the book back where it belonged, a seven-hundred-year-old treatise on the political interactions between Illian and Altara, according to the Grey Ajah Sister who had assigned him the task it was one of the definitive texts on the political interactions between the two nations. However, Andrin through it was a particularly dry read and not overly accurate to the modern political theatre, but he had found that the book made an excellent doorstop if one wanted to keep a door open to let a breeze in.

He had been at the Tower for some weeks now and, certainly surprising to himself, he had slowly started to acclimatise to his new life, he still resented that he could be given chores, such as the duty that he currently performed. He secretly yearned for the life that he had once had, and he had struggled to develop any real friendships among the others of his own rank at the Tower, preferring his own solitude, although there had been one or two stand outs.

He almost smiled fondly, before he caught himself, he shook his head and placed the remaining books back on the shelf, just as he was turning to take the car back to the main section of the library he saw something out of the corner of his eye, a shadowy figure moving quickly down the opposite isle, he blinked and it was gone.

What in the blazing hells is that? he wondered to himself, he strode purposefully to the end of the isle and looked left in the direction the shadowy figure had gone, he wasn’t afraid, afterall he was in a tower full of channelers and their heavily armed dangerous watch dogs, but he was curious, this was not normal behaviour, even in this strange place.

He got to the end of the isle and noticed that the figure had gone into one of the reading rooms, no one was really supposed to be here at this hour, although he supposed that there was no reason for a Asha’man or Aes Sedai to not be here, they had no curfew.

So absorbed in his musings he didn’t hear the voice speak behind him.

"You saw?" asked Darthalien, holding his voice to the softest whisper he could manage as he stepped up behind the other Soldier. His grasp of the local language had improved dramatically over the last few weeks, though he was still more comfortable with the scholarly sorts who could speak in what they called the Old Tongue; his native language was closer to that than anything else here. "The..." he hesitated, because he couldn't think of the local words for shadow or figure and didn't want to fall back on intruder since it might not be accurate. "...person? The hurry-person?"

It was night, at least. He could touch the Dark Power, though he didn't know how to do much with it yet. And even without that, he wasn't completely helpless; he still had the blades in his sleeves and boots. If there was some danger here, he was as ready as he could be.

Andrin nearly jumped out of his skin, startled at the sound of the voice behind him, he hadn’t even heard the other person approach “By the Dome you are quiet” he whispered as he turned to the other man, noting that he wore the same black coat of a Solider.

After he had caught his breath, he took note of what the other man had said “Yes, yes I saw the ‘Hurry Person’ they went that way, and I don’t think that they are alone. No need to wander the Tower at night just to use a reading room for reading.”

He turned fully to face the other man and said “What brings you to the library at this hour? Did you get assigned the chore of restocking the library shelves too?”

He glanced over his shoulder to where he could still see the reading room that the individual had entered and noted that there was the faint flicker of candlelight coming from under the door. Turning back to his companion he gave a short bow and introduced himself “Andrin Delmoleros, pleasure to meet you, whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?”

What? Oh, how I call myself... "Darthalien," he replied, and then -- unsure of exactly what to say next, he explained: "I read books. Child books. I learn to speak from child books." He looked past the other soldier and towards the reading room. "We look?"

By the Light this one has a strange way of talking, almost like he grew up speaking a different tongue, Andrin thought to himself before nodding at the other man’s suggestion.

“Yes, we’ll look, I don’t trust people that skulk around attending secret meetings in the dead of night, never bodes well for all concerned” he glanced down the aisle and indicated the mostly closed door with the faintest flicker of candlelight showing underneath.

“Would you rather listen to what they are saying or see what they are doing? I’ll take the one you don’t pick.” He couldn’t help the small grin that flickered across his features, he may not know a great deal about being a Soldier of the Tower, but his previous life taught him several useful skills, one of which was ferreting out secrets.

Listen or see... "I listen," Darthalien decided. His looks were too distinctive; if anyone noticed him, he'd be easy to identify. Better to stay out of sight. He considered the simple black coats that were given to Soldiers here, and decided that they were well-suited to this sort of work. He looked at the other man, who seemed confident enough.