The Grey Tower

Kiellan smiled. It was a difficult question to answer. He probably knew Valadin better than anyone else in the Tower, but he wasn't sure if he really knew him. They had spent time together, first as teacher and students and later as friends, and of course there had been that horrible adventure with Daelar, but they hadn't talked much about themselves and where they came from. Not that Kiellan had offered, of course. It still felt like his time in the Tower, almost four years now, was like a dream, completely separate from the time before that. But even though he didn't know much about Val's past, he still thought he knew him as a person.

"Yeah, I guess so. He's a friend, and a great guy. As I said, he's been a good teacher, and he's a nice man." Betrys looked a little sad for a second, which puzzled Kiellan, but the beaming smile that came next was all the more kind. He'd probably just imagined it. "I know he can probably help me better with the actual weaves. I'm curious to see what you did, though."

He didn't have a lot of time to think about it, as the conversation swiftly shifted back to Earth Singing. "The Weaves for the explosions are more complicated, I think. But I'm almost as strong with Fire as I am with Earth, so they aren't that hard for me. It's the growing that's the hardest for me. Saidin is a powerful, but inherently violent force, and I've always found it hard to use it to create. I can't imagine how the Yellow Asha'man do it."

Suddenly, Betrys stopped. Kiellan hadn't expected it, and he almost bumped into the girl as he tried to stop. He looked at where her finger was pointing, but there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. "What is it? It looks normal to me."

Kiellan seized saidin, and opened himself up to the Song of the Earth. There hadn't been much music in his life. The Rahad was a hard place, and there hadn't been a lot of room for fun and games when everyone was too busy keeping themselves and their loved ones alive.

There had been music in the main part of Ebou Dar, of course, whenever he managed to sneak off and get into any kind of tavern. Most of those had thrown him out quickly, however. They didn't appreciate a young, filthy boy in ragged, smelly clothes asking their customers all sorts of questions. There had been a few times where he had been allowed to stay, when he managed to find someone to vouch for him, and those were among the happiest memories of his childhood. The music had become a symbol of those moments in his mind, and the Song the Earth sang to him always reminded him of those happy moments back home.

That same song now lead his senses, and guided him down, into the earth. He could feel the ground, the roots of the plants, the parts of the Gardens that had just been watered. He could tell how long that ground had been laying there, how old the plants were and which ones were about to blossom. And a little bit deeper, he could feel seeds. That was strange. He thought he knew this garden, but those seeds hadn't been there before. They must be what Betrys was talking about. They were small, precious things, but he had no idea what they could do. That excited him. "I see them, I think. It's the seeds, isn't it?" His goosebumps told him Betrys had embraced saidar, which meant he was about to find out.

Kiellan watched as Betrys worked with great precision and concentration. Her face showed nothing but focus, except for the slightest hint of excitement. Kiellan could barely keep his own excitement from his face. The goosebumps on his arms told him Betrys was channeling, or at least embracing saidar, but he couldn't see what she was weaving. He had no idea what she was attempting to do, or what would happen when she succeeded, and that made it all the more exciting to him.

It was interesting that she was weaving water as well. Kiellan had yet to encounter a weave of Earth Singing with saidin that involved water, although that was the case with most weaves. Women were often stronger in water and air, and those elements were used more often with the female half of the One Power. For men, it was the exact opposite. They mostly used Fire and Earth. He had even heard that Novices were taught to put out a fire using water, instead of drawing the heat away with a flow of fire. If he would try to do this with saidin, the water would probably be negligible, or even absent.

Kiellan's face turned from excited to surprised in a matter of seconds as one of the most beautiful flowers he had ever seen rose from the ground. Bright purple surrounded a core that seemed to light up by itself. It was unlike any flower Kiellan had ever seen.

"That's beautiful! Could you... could you make more? I want to pluck one, but I don't want to ruin your masterpiece. Perhaps..." He suddenly had an idea. "Perhaps we can link. Do you know how to do that? I've always heard that the most amazing things can be accomplished by using saidar and saidin together."

Kiellan's face dropped a little. "No, I've never done it. I heard only women can form links, although men can be included as well." The subject had peeked his interest as soon as he heard of it. "I've been told it's the only way for women to experience saidin, or for men to feel saidar. I wonder how that would be, embracing the Power instead of fighting it."

No, he shouldn't get carried away right now. "I just thought, maybe they taught it to Accepted. But perhaps it's an Aes Sedai trick, one of those you only learn when you've attained the shawl." That was a shame. Fares Asha'man had told him stories of the amazing things that could be accomplished if you used both saidin and saidar on the same weave. A single strong Earth Singer was apparently capable of causing earthquakes, and shaping hills. He could only imagine what Betrys and him would be able to do when they where at their full strength.

"But never mind that. If you haven't learned it yet, there's nothing we can do about that. I was wondering, though. What flower is this? I've never seen anything like it, but it looks beautiful." He walked over to another flower, a bright yellow one that smelled like spring. Weaving a flow of Earth into it, the plant grew a little, until it was about as big as Betrys'. He plucked it, and tucked it behind his ear. "We don't have flowers in the Rahad. They're beautiful, though."

"Healing? That's interesting. I know absolutely nothing about that, except that I have no Talent for it whatsoever. Are you thinking about the Yellow?" It seemed the logical choice for someone adept at Healing. A second later, he mentally reprimanded himself. If he didn't watch out, he might just join the White after all. Logic wasn't everything, of course. Light, if he would make his choice logically, he would've been able to make up his mind long ago. Yet here he was, still unsure about what he wanted and where he wanted to do that. But it wasn't going to be the Yellow for him, that much was sure.

He smiled when Betrys mentioned the flower's name. An orchid. What a strange name for such a beautiful flower. He tasted the word on his lips, but it didn't feel right. Perhaps the flower looked very different, before Betrys' tinkering. This pretty thing certainly deserved a different name, however. "Well, if it's a new specimen, I guess that means you can name it. So, what are you going to call your very own creation?"

The next question was more of a surprise, although Kiellan didn't mind. Despite its shortcomings, he loved talking about his hometown. "The Rahad is a part of Ebou Dar. I'm not sure if you've ever been in a real city, outside of Hama Valon, but every city has its bad parts. The part where the poor live, where crime runs rampant while the city government doesn't care enough to really do something about it. The Rahad is like that, only worse. It's a rough place. Still, it shaped me into the man I am today, the bad but certainly the good as well. But it's true, I've never worked with plants before I found out about my Talent. I guess that's why it was such a surprise." He seized saidin, and wove another flow of Earth as he continued, adding a small touch of Water to it. The flower tucked behind his ear had to be kept alive, and one of the books had shown him this weave for exactly that purpose. "How about you? Have you worked with plants or earth before you came here?