Command begins in the trench (Attn Bella)

[Damon]

Olin Trakson Olin strode through the hallways of the Grey Tower, trying to locate the door he was looking for. The Grey Tower was vast, and unlike the dormitory of the Soldiers and the levels he normally used for classes, the upper levels were still unknown to him.

Still, he figured as long as he looked like he was on an errand, and not simply wandering the hallways there were few who would bother him. Why I am even risking some passing Sister or Ashaman deciding I need extra work is beyond me, thought Olin to himself each time one walked by him. But with all the turmoil the last few days had brought to the Grey Tower, no one paid an extra Soldier much mind.

As he clutched his leather journal, he knew why he risked the ire and annoyance of Aes Sedai as he headed into what he had heard was the offices claimed by Miahala Sha'hal. If half the stories he had heard of her were true, she was his best hope at trying to come to terms with what had been a large part of the dreams that kept plaguing his sleep.

Olin finally arrived, assuming the Void to help himself relax and calm nerves suddenly clamouring from the idea of meeting a Green Sister of such renown and prowess. Once he had steadied himself, he knocked on the door and awaited Miahala’s response, praying he hadn’t wandered through the warren of hallways for nothing, knowing he would wait all day if he needed too.

[Bella]

Miahala was in her office, writing out letters at her desk. Ravak was sitting on the sofa that rested against the wall, reading a book. Like all the other furniture she ever had, it was dark wood with dark green fabric. She didn't decorate in any other color. Mia had promised that they wouldn't be there long, as she had limited tasks before her that day.

Even so, she appreciated his company. She hadn't realized how...lonely she could get, but the bond sitting in the back of her mind and his presence in her office were of great value to her.

As she sealed and set aside another missive, there was a knock on the door. Blinking, she looked up and wondered who it was. She wasn't concerned, but curious. She had no appointments scheduled, but there was often visitors--people with questions, people with letters, people with problems, any number of things.

"Enter," she called through the door, not picking up the next letter to write as she folded her hands and waited for who entered...

[Damon]

Olin Olin entered the room, pushing through the wooden door and stopping when he noticed the woman sitting at the desk. She was something of a legend among the learning ranks, and her actual presence was no less striking.

Amongst the dark green decoration and furniture he noticed Ravak, the man simply reading a book but still Olin was struck with a need to polish his manners to a mirror shine.

"Pardons Aes Sedai," said Olin as he sketched a ragged bow. He wasn't sure of the proper address for someone beyond a Sister's status, and he could imagine his roommates sneer of hayseed in his mind.

"I know we did not have an appointment, but I had wanted to discuss something with you. It is difficult to explain, I am just wrapping my head around it myself, but I know I needed to talk to someone in the Green Ajah, and who better than you..." Olin stopped as he clenched his hands and realized he was rambling in his nerves.

As sudden as thought he assumed the ko'di, wrapping himself in the Void to help prevent his nerves from making him seem like a raving Soldier fit only for the infirmary.

"I have been feeling a push, a driving in my sleep and waking moments towards something. I've heard the stories and lessons regarding the attacks the Grey Tower faced before I arrived, and I can't help but feel pushed towards helping it prepare for the next storm that will arise," Olin finished. He hadn't shared as much of the dreams as he could, mostly because he wasn't even sure how to begin to explain that his dreams seemed to be weighted somehow, pregnant with warning and portents of his future.

[Bella]

He wasn't the first young man to come stumbling and stammering into the office of the Captain-General while Miahala bore the mantle, and she couldn't imagine he would the last. Many a young woman too. Some of them left feeling comforted in their choices, and others feeling a little less certain than they had. She wondered which he would be.

Mia smiled ever-so-slightly and looked him over. She shared a momentary glance with her warder before she gestured at one of the chairs in front of her desk.

"I will be glad to try to help," she said smoothly once he had taken a seat. "Obviously, you know who I am. I think a good place to start would be to let me know who you are? After that, please tell me more about this...push you are feeling and that which brings you to my door."

[Damon]

Olin

Olin caught the look in the woman's eyes as she seemed to look him over. Growing up with as many female relatives as Olin had, he was no stranger to the weigh a wise woman could size someone up in little time. Still he was glad when she didn't simply have the Gaidin remove him, but instead gestured to a chair.

Gratefully Olin sat down, the chair and desk between him at the Captain-General giving him a little breathing room for his stumbling nerves. With a steadying breath he considered her question, and where to begin.

"Pardons Aes Sedai, but I forgot my manners. Of course you must be used to you're name being legendary around the Tower. I am Olin Trakson, and I arrived here from Ghealdan a few months ago. Of my home, it is of little import in the scheme of kingdoms or great heroes, but I come from hardy ranchers who have made their lives for generations on the foothills. I am the first to channel that I know of, although I was simply born being able to learn, so there may have been others who did not receive testing."

"I will save you the time of calling for an Accepted to ask my teachers, I will freely admit that I am more agile than strong with the One Power, and I enjoy most of my subjects, but especially history and such. I do not come from a warrior family, and I have not had much in a warriors training. Although I have recently worked with Dax Gaidin," Olin finished as he stretched muscles that had grown more fit and taut over the hours of practice. He had leaned here in the Tower, and it gave him a trim strong build, even if he wasn't one of the hulking towers of muscle he had met around the Warder Yard.

"As for why I sought you out before my time at the Stairs, it's hard to say without sounding ridiculous," finished Olin with a mutter as his nerves caught the better of him. Still with the Captain General here before him, Olin realized that she would have decades of experience on him in many matters, maybe even with similar issues.

"I have dreamed Aes Sedai. But before you think this a simple fancy of a boy who wants to wield a sword or look good with gold knots in his shoulder; know that my dream always comes the same. And with a weight I cannot shake. Each time I see enemies amassing, and each time I see both the Green and Blue Ajahs struggling in their own way. In each instance I see choices I could make, dangers that appear visible only to me. But before I can act the scene is changed and before me rests two pillars and a rope bridge. One the pillars are a weapon and a quill , and the sense of a choice that will cause great pain with whatever branch I choose on the bridge."

"I can't shake the feeling that I must make a choice, and in my dreams I see the Green Ajah and Gaidin throw themselves against an endless tide of dangers, but I do not know enough of battle yet to make sense of the scenes and issues I believe I see," Olin finished with a sigh. It was spoken now, good or ill would follow but he felt relieved to share the burden that had been plaguing him.

[Bella]

The boy is a talker, Mia assessed the obvious to herself, keeping that private obviously, although she knew that Ravak would pick up on it and she thought she caught a hint of amusement at her sake over the matter. Well, she'd rectify that later. For now, she had a young man before her that was obviously trying to make sense of some confusing things.

Dreams... That had certainly caught her attention. She knew much about Dreams, having had so many of them herself over the years. But was the boy actually talking about Dreams, or were they just dreams? That was not a question that could be answered too easily.

"All channelers face many choices as they learn and grow, including the path of their Ajah," she said, her words measured as she tried to weigh everything he had just said. "Some feel that they are called and others simply make a good guess based on what sounds the closest to their interests. I myself never doubted where my path lay."

Which was true. Even as a Novice, she had just known that she was destined for the Green Ajah. She of course hadn't known she'd spent three different tenures as Captain-General, but she knew her colors. Now she liked to say she bled Green, and it was bloody near true.

"Are you here to learn more about the Green, and see if knowing more helps settle the idea of the choice to be made?" she asked, because for all the information he had just given her, he didn't actually say what he thought she could help with. It had been a long time since she'd been a mother of a young or the Mistress of Novices, but the tactics all came back easily.

[Damon]

Olin Olin was relieved when Miahala expressed her own experience with the decision between Ajahs. Olin had been worried that perhaps it was single minded obsession that was driving him to focus all of his worry and effort on two Ajahs. "Any information would be appreciated Miahala Sedai, I know only the broad strokes that anyone wandering the Tower would have learned. And while the other Ajah's goals and duties are admirable, I do know that serving the cause of the Grey Tower through action seems to call to me more," Olin said with a firm conviction in his voice. He knew the hunt for books and logic did not appeal to him, and while he appreciated the Yellow Ajah he had yet to show much aptitude in healing.

As Olin began to relax he felt the answers and concerns he had inside of him drawn out by Miahala's practiced and measured tone. He felt a rapport with the Aes Sedai, and realized that if his dreams truly had pushed him towards the Battle Ajah, there would be few people better to instruct him than the woman before him.

"I am looking for information on the Ajah, but also the forces of the Grey Tower. I know we have the guard and the Gaidin and their trainees are skilled beyond belief, but in my dreams I am constantly plagued with ththe notion that no matter how strong each champion is, we will succumb eventually. I see the warnings of a disciplined foe, bent on our destruction but no true warning of who they are. In my dreams I can see glimmers of my future as a captain or general of men, and while I know the Grey Tower keeps no army of it's own, I wonder if it shouldn't, or if such an army would make us no better than the Seanchan. I have seen myself take up the baton of a commander of men, but no clue beyond the meaning. I know I will command men if I stay true to this path," Olin said as he tried to recall the certainty of what he had seen in his dreams. He would command men if he chose this path, that seemed clear to him, but beyond the burden of a commanders rod, he had little but fear and vague warnings to go by.

"I know it must sound silly, a man still wet behind the ears speaking of command, but I feel as if I have been on a path that is too deep to climb out of, and so I will do what I must to succeed. That is also why I am here, who better to help me than the Captain General. Who better to let me know whether I am deluded or if this is the Wheel sending me a warning to prepare," Olin finished with concern. It was so easy to feel certain when the dreams held him in their warning, or in the light of a candle as he wrote down the meanings he had felt, but he was less certain now that it was voiced.

[Craig]

Ravak Darrow

Had anyone been looking in his direction, they would have seen the Gaidin Captain deep in thought behind the pages of a book. Ravak seemingly always had a book at hand, if he wasn't literally surrounded by the Tower Library or his own personal collection.

But Rav was not reading. He subtly kept a watch on Olin over the top of the book or from the corner of his eye. It wasn't that the Gaidin thought the soldier was about to attack Mia (and it definitely wasn't because he thought Mia would need assistance in that eventuality). He was simply protective of his bondmate, as all Gaidin were.

Feelings invisibly crossed the room from Aes Sedai to Gaidin. Rav was amused by the turn of events. Doubly so because he wasn't in the slightest bit involved in the conversation. It was good to see other people fumbling their words around the legendary Miahala Sha'hal. It hadn't been that long since he had been that bumbling knave. But whilst amused, he also tried to provide Mia with a sense of focus, spawned from the attention he was giving the soldier.

He tried not to react to the words he was hearing. An incoming battle. Enemies on the horizon. That seemed to be the norm, as harrowing a realisation as it was. But it also sounded like a prophecy. Rav was casually aware of Dreams and Foretellings and other ways to see the Pattern before it had been woven. Mentioning anything of the sort got him thinking, and those thoughts tended to run dark.

Another awareness pressed against his own. It took Ravak a few moments to recognise that it was Mia's feelings swelling in his mind. With a smile of contrition, he resumed "reading" his book, leaving thoughts of future battles for later.

[Bella]

It was hard to keep Ravak quiet, even in her head, while she focused on the young man before her. She did, however, because she was fairly good at it and wanted to help him.

"There are some who do more than just dream," she said, deciding to start there. "Some dreams are prophetic, and some people can walk in the world of dreams. I have some experience with the former. What can be seen ahead and how clear it is varies from person to person, and holding too hard to any interpretation can be dangerous.

"Sometimes, our Dreams not always what we think. We can never be sure until it comes to pass. You do seem to have a very clear vision from yours, and it can't hurt to contemplate it and understand it."

She paused thoughtfully. "The Tower is defended by its Gaidin--some of the most elite trained warriors in the world--and its channelers, with the Green being the forefront. We do, of course, take the battle outside the Tower. To come upon the Green Ajah is to find one of the less nuanced Ajahs. We are the battle ajah.

"Where there is a battle against the Shadow to be fought is where we go. Many of us learn different ways to fight, for the Shadow is multi-faceted, but that is our task. We do it to prepare for Tarmon Gai'don, and make sure the world is ready." It may have been considered the promotional speech, but she believed every word of it.

She had built much of her life around it.

[Damon]

"There are some who do more than just dream," she said, deciding to start there. "Some dreams are prophetic, and some people can walk in the world of dreams. I have some experience with the former. What can be seen ahead and how clear it is varies from person to person, and holding too hard to any interpretation can be dangerous,”Miahala said as she shared a brief look with the Gaidin on the couch.

Olin oaused for a moment in thought, he had not considered that he might be clouding the dream with his own interpretations. It seemed so certain and clear to him, the vast threat and the two avenues of fighting to protect the Grey Tower. But if he was honest, many elements of the dream seemed unusual or unclear, such as the strange nature of the enemy soldiers.

Olin stopped when Miahala paused thoughtfully. "The Tower is defended by its Gaidin--some of the most elite trained warriors in the world--and its channelers, with the Green being the forefront. We do, of course, take the battle outside the Tower. To come upon the Green Ajah is to find one of the less nuanced Ajahs. We are the battle ajah. We do it to prepare and be ready for the Last Battle,” she finished, the passion in her voice matching the legendary commitment and prowess he had heard about.

“I do not know a lot about Dreams yet Aes Sedai, but I do know that I am able to enter the World of Dreams. I have just begun to explore there, and have been fortunate enough to meet a sister of the Blue Ajah who has been instructing me. While I have just taken the first steps, I know my dreams are not those of fancy or imagination. Although Miahala Sedia, in light of your words, I am no longer as certain of the danger, but I do know that I feel called. Is there anything a Soldier can do to prepare for the needs of the Green Tower?” asked Olin, his voice firm and full of commitment.