A Different Life [Attn: Soldier Jaren Marle]

[Bella]

Andra opened her mouth and took a breath to reply, but stopped short when she realized that she didn't know what to say. She closed her mouth again and then laughed softly. "Truth be told, I'm not sure I really know," she admitted.

Back to the laundry line. Pin, pin. The dress hung suspended over the ground, still dripping a little bit of water onto the floor, but the floor was obviously used to it. She resolved to wring the next one out a little better, but she was starting to lose feeling in her hands... Well, not really, but they were increasingly uncomfortable.

"Something about...causes and justice, I guess," Andra went on as she joined him back at the table. "Although what causes and what type of justice, I don't know. I haven't actually talked to anyone Blue or aspiring to it." She paused. She hadn't really talked a lot with anyone about what Ajah they sought. Jaren was the first. "I guess they land somewhere between Grey and Green?"

[Elan]

Jaren

Jaren shrugged as he went to hang up the dress and pick another one; there were a few still left, a few too many for his liking but at least it was finally looking like the task might be finished some time this year. “Between Grey and Green,” he repeated, his voice thoughtful, as he returned to the table and Andraste. “I suppose that matches what I’ve heard well enough.”

He’d thought wringing the almost-too-warm, soaked dresses was unpleasant, but now that the remaining dresses were a fair bit less warm than what they’d started with, he was fast discovering that it didn’t get any better as the sodden fabric grew cooler.

“Causes and justice sounds…” He trailed off, looking for the right words. “It sounds similar to Red, too, but there must be a difference, mustn’t there?” He could probably ask Asha’man Jaryd about that; he was Red, after all, and might be agreeable to talk about his Ajah. But the speculation was something to talk about right now, to avoid dying of boredom, and Jaren figured that he was a sight less likely to manage to sound like a complete dimwit in the company of someone who didn’t know much more than him.

[Bella]

She appreciated the conversation, as it was the only thing saving her sanity amidst the drudgery. How many Novices were there, and just how many bloody dresses did they need? And this was only the Novices! Fortunately, they weren't tasked with any more than that, but there was all the clothing of the Soldiers, the Dedicated, the Accepted, the Drin, the Ji, and then whatever full ranks chose tower laundry over private.

It was endless!

Andra dragged her thoughts back to the conversation, desperate to not lose that thin thread of hope for her mental faculties... "From what little I've heard, the Red seem more...focused. Like, I've heard comparison with the Green, but the Green and the Blue kind of just look at everything, while the Red have more...a direction."

She paused and her dark brows knit in a slight frown, wondering if she understood it right. "Why is it the most active and interesting Ajahs are the ones hardest to describe?"

[Elan]

Jaren

“Maybe that’s exactly why,” he replied slowly. He was fairly sure he was on to something, but communicating it coherently might be another matter entirely. “I mean, they do so much that it’s difficult to pin down what exactly they do. Except in the broadest strokes, of course. Like the Green fighting the Shadow and the Blue advocating causes.” But maybe Andraste was on to something, too, with the difference between Red and Green and Blue. The impression he’d always got was that the Greens and the Blues were very focused on the big picture.

“Though in the end,” he continued, wiping sticky hair back from his forehead again, “I’d say it all comes down to fighting the Shadow in one form or another. The Brown Ajah does that by conserving knowledge, because ignorance makes you susceptible to the Shadow’s lies. The Grey seek to preserve harmony among the nations so that we may stand united against the Shadow. The Yellow seek to keep us alive to keep fighting. The Indigo research new weaves and tools, for many purposes, yes, but many of those ultimately come down to the battle as well. Hells, even the White Ajah’s focus on patterns and laws of cause and effect is a way to fight the chaos that the Dark One’s followers seek to sow.”

He looked up from the dress he was squeezing and flashed a slightly sheepish grin. “I’m probably overthinking this… But I don’t think I’m wrong.”

[Bella]

Andra flashed a small smile back at him. "I think you're right as well," she agreed, stopping at the table and resting her hands against the edge, taking a moment's break to take in a deep breath of the sodden air. The humidity was going to kill her, and she was sure that her hair was nothing more than a halo of black frizz by this point.

Looking down, she saw that there was maybe...half a dozen dresses left. How bloody many Novices were there?!

"I don't know I really gave so much thought to the Shadow in my life...before coming here," she said, taking up yet one more bloody, flaming, wretched piece of complicated white fabric and carrying it to the basin to be squeeze like one might throttle... She hoped laundry hour would be over soon. This was getting dangerous! "But yes, I do think you're right.

"Every group here in the Tower has its place, and attack the same thing from many an angle. You just have to figure out which angle you are best suited to, and that seems to be the part that many trip over. If the other Novices and their talk is anything to go by."