Page 1 of 1

Do You Want to Build a Snowman? [open]

Posted: December 31st, 2017, 3:49 pm
by Elan
Delaine Taborwin, Novice
Snow fell gently over the Tower grounds. Delaine watched it gather on the bare branches of trees and on the bench that somebody had cleared of snow earlier in the day. She could feel it catching on her hair and eyelashes, melting to water. Her breath misted in the air and she rubbed her hands together for warmth.

The events of the previous days had shaken the entire Tower, and though the Tower leadership tried hard to make things as normal as possible for the students, it wasn’t entirely possible when the Amyrlin Seat was being tried for murder and the White Tower was destroyed and people were dead. Delaine had known one of the people who had died; Jesi had been her roommate for a brief while, when Delaine had been new to the Tower and before Jesi had been raised to Accepted. They’d never gotten to know each other that well, but it had been impossible not to like Jesi.

Now everything was outwardly peaceful, the learning ranks were told to get back to their studies and chores, but beneath the surface things were simmering and at least for someone born and raised in Cairhien, it was impossible not to notice and feel stressed by it. Perhaps that was why Delaine was defying curfew and out in the gardens past the time Novices should have been in their rooms.

Acting on a childish, silly impulse she scooped up a handful of snow; it was just the right kind for making snowballs, and that’s what she did, patting and adding more snow until the ball was larger than both her fists together. Then she set it on the ground and began to roll it around, collecting another layer of snow as it rolled. When it was big enough, she scooped up some more snow and repeated the process, lifting the second snowball on top of the first one when it was big enough. She was just about to start on the third one when she suddenly heard footsteps on the snow.

There was nowhere to hide, not quickly enough at least, so the tiny Cairhienin just stood there, mittens and the hem of her white dress soaked from the snow, looking in every way like she knew perfectly well that she wasn’t supposed to be there. Because she did.