A Walk in the Garden (Attn: Craig)

Welcome to the Gardens: one of the most tranquil areas of the Tower Grounds.
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Welcome to the Gardens: one of the most tranquil areas of the Tower Grounds. Birds sing in the trees which line the wide paths between beautiful flower beds and serene lakes. There are benches to sit and listen to the waterfall, and there is neatly trimmed grass to lie on and rest. Novices and Soldiers as well as Warders in Training can be seen, sweeping the stone paths as Accepted and Dedicated study from books and relax under leafy trees.
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Gale
"The Eye of the World"
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Joined: July 4th, 2016, 1:36 am

A Walk in the Garden (Attn: Craig)

Post by Gale » April 20th, 2017, 5:02 pm

Daliner walked through the gardens. He had always liked gardens. They were a peaceful place. He had always thought that once you had experienced the chaos and confusion of battle you learned to appreciate the rare moments of tranquillity and calm you got much more. When he had been back in Illian he had often spent time in the gardens although then he had been guarding someone, usually the King. When you were on duty you didn’t have time to enjoy the garden, you were too busy looking for potential threads.

That was one thing which he liked about coming here. While the rules might be strict and the days hard, albeit in a different way from his military days there was time to spend in the garden. Not much time what with chores and studying but it was still more than he had ever gotten back in Illian. At least here he could look at bushes without wondering if there was an assassin hiding in them. It was a nice change although not a habit he had been able to shake as of yet. He still instinctively checked hiding places for assassins and kept his eye on everyone that passed by, even here in the Tower. It was stupid he knew but not something he could help. The Tower was one of the safest places in the world. It was not a place you were likely to find trouble.

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Craig
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Joined: November 20th, 2015, 10:29 am
PC: Ravak t'Sha'hal Darrow
SC: Elia Darrow
TC: Zarayne
QC: Farah Kattan
Location: Scotland

Re: A Walk in the Garden (Attn: Craig)

Post by Craig » April 20th, 2017, 5:35 pm

[font=Macondo name=Macondo] Zarayne [/font]
The gardens to the west of the Grey Tower were full of surprises. The waterfall that fell from its most westerly point was no natural formation. The Sinuous Lake at the heart of the gardens never overflowed despite the constant flow of water that rushed into. There were multiple clearings, some well hidden and others sat aside the various pathways that meandered around the grounds.

Zarayne stood in one of those walk-side clearings, before a life-size statue of a young man and woman. She looked over the detailing with her bright eyes. Both figures were solemn, their gazes downcast, and each held a sphere in their hand. She didn't know what that symbolised: hope, youth, the Power? Her eyes trailed down the twin forms towards the nearby placard. The novice read the words out to herself.

"In memory of the destruction that shook the Tower grounds on the nineteenth day of Adar. We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity."

The words were familiar, but then she'd been here before a number of times. Beneath the paragraph were the list of names. There were fifty-one in total. And a fifty-second lies elsewhere. The statue made the novice sad, although not simply for the meaningless loss of life. This tragedy had befallen the Tower prior to her arrival, but the fallout from it had deeply touched those she cared about. Bowing her head with her eyes shut, she made a wordless prayer to the Creator.

After a long moment, Zarayne opened her eyes and returned to the pathway without a look back. She tried to restore her buoyant mood by looking at the miracles of nature that surrounded her. Flowers of all shades and colours surrounded her. It was a far cry from the barren village where she had been raised, where the only flowers that existed were grown inside or were hardened against the extreme temperatures. The latter were never pretty and always green. Zarayne didn't even know that outdoor flowers could come in other colours before she arrived.

She skipped along the path at a fair rate, using the lanky legs her Aiel ancestry had provided her. Her skirts flared out on each subtle descent, briefly revealing the white slippers each novice and Accepted were forced to wear.

Swiftly moving along, Zarayne came to an intersection just as another person was coming around the corner. She wildly flailed her arms as she attempted to slid to a halt. She placed all of her weight on her heels in an vain effort to stop. For a moment it seemed like it was going to work before her legs vanished from underneath her.

Crashing to the ground, she heard something tear, although her immediate attention was drawn to the back of her head. Reaching around with one hand, she delicately probed the back of her skull. Nothing broken, no blood. Confident that she wasn't going to the Infirmary today, she then looked up towards the black-clad man she'd almost and only narrowly avoided to run into. Her vision still swam from the impact against the ground.

"Sorry," she said from her prone position. "Are you alright?"
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Craig's Tracker ❖ Librarian
Elan wrote:Of course, the problems with observing a chain of command arise when the one in command decides to do something unspeakably idiotic, like taking off on his own for no discernible reason in the middle of enemy territory.

Gale
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Posts: 40
Joined: July 4th, 2016, 1:36 am

Re: A Walk in the Garden (Attn: Craig)

Post by Gale » April 20th, 2017, 8:41 pm

As Daliner rounded the corner a figure clad in white just about ran in to him. He quickly to a step back his hand dropping instinctively to a sword which was no longer on his hip. He almost cursed but stop himself just, swearing wouldn’t fix his reactions. He couldn’t blame himself for those reactions, years of training and experience had honed them into him and he doubted that even if he lived as long as most Asha'man did he would ever truly shake them.

He looked at the white clad women lying on the ground. A Novice by her white dress. She look Aiel although not quite the same as some of the others which he had seen since arriving at the Tower. He raised an eyebrow at her question. “Am I okay? I would say I'm better than you considering that I'm still standing while you are sitting in the middle of a path.” He said dryly. He reached down and offered her a hand to help her stand. It was only fair seeing as he had knocked her over, even if it hadn't been entirely his fault.

She was one of the few Novices he had seen in his relatively short time here. There were a few in some of his classes but most classes were just other Soldiers. As of yet he hadn’t spoken to any of them and had only had the briefest of conversations with the other men, a side effect of being one of the oldest learning ranks currently in the Tower. He just wanted to advance as quickly as possible so that he might be able to spend time among people of a more similar age to his own rather than a bunch of reckless young men.

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Craig
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Posts: 2613
Joined: November 20th, 2015, 10:29 am
PC: Ravak t'Sha'hal Darrow
SC: Elia Darrow
TC: Zarayne
QC: Farah Kattan
Location: Scotland

Re: A Walk in the Garden (Attn: Craig)

Post by Craig » April 28th, 2017, 4:04 pm

Zarayne
Zarayne took the proffered hand and was partially hoisted to her feet. Although her head had escaped unscathed, she felt a tenderness in her left thigh as she rose back to standing. She hobbled a touch as she regained her balance without putting undue pressure on her injury.

"Thank you, and sorry again." She managed to hold back on giving a deferential nod of contrition, which was a slight boon to her spirits. Zarayne accepted, but did not appreciate, having to kowtow to half of the people in the Tower on a hourly basis.

Her mood restored somewhat back into a semblance of normality, Zarayne took in whom it was that she'd almost bodily assaulted.

Blue eyes met green. For a wonder, she didn't have to look down at the soldier. He was no Aiel, but he was at a fair height for a wetlander. Another curiosity was that he wasn't young. There were older faces in the Tower, but they were mainly claimed by wetlander servants. It seems like the agelessness that almost all channellers adopted had yet to take hold for him. She also considered the other possibility: that he was no channeller, but merely attempting to be one. There was less evidence to point in that direction than the other, but it remained a valid point of interest.

Well, normal introductions had not been made, but the effort could be given. "My name is Zarayne. I'm sorry for almost running into you."
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Craig's Tracker ❖ Librarian
Elan wrote:Of course, the problems with observing a chain of command arise when the one in command decides to do something unspeakably idiotic, like taking off on his own for no discernible reason in the middle of enemy territory.

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