The Grey Tower

“To tell the truth, I have no clue what this place is,” Alric said looking around in the blackness. Katrie had shown him this place before but hadn't been able to explain much more. The place wasn’t dark, Alric could see just fine. There just wasn't anything to see. There didn’t seem to be anything in this world beyond he and Affie. “We are moving, I can feel it, but It's hard to explain. It's not quite like being in the back of a wagon or on a boat,” his musings cut off abruptly as Affie shifted in his lap, pressing her nose against his cheek. The smell of her skin was extremely noticeable with his saidin enhanced scenes, not that his current mindset could derive much pleasure from it.

The Void really could be a bother. Here he sat with a pretty girl in his lap, but he could barely take the remotest pleasure. His only other option would be to release the Void, which would result in them falling through the blackness until their corpses eventually hit some other poor sod while he skimmed along. Not even remotely worth it.

They sat in silence for a while as questions bounced around his head. Last night had been quite a mess. She seemed ok, but he had to know for sure.

“Last night,” Alric began, feeling as if he was stepping off of one of the high sea side cliffs back home, “We were both extremely drunk.” Taking a breath and feeding a welling bout of nerves to the Flame, he forged on. “I just want to know. Are you ok with everything that happened last night?” It had been bothering him. He thought he knew her answer, she was snuggled into his lap after all, but it was important to him.

Past the tightly coiled springs of Alric’s mussy hair, Affie eyed the strange moving not-moving darkness around them. Didn’t trust it. Didn’t like it. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, scarred fingers touching the back of his black coat. Trusted him, even with the strange space they were in, so the small Drin shifted closer and contented herself with watching the shape of his face instead.

There was no expression there, none at all to be found. For some reason, the flatness of it reminded her of a door, one that had been closed. Hadn’t been like that last night. Hadn’t even been like that earlier... just now. Was it because of the darkness? Why was there a chair and a platform here anyway? How did he use this space if he didn’t really know what it was? Those were good questions. Another one was why Alric had been holding a sword. Affie pulled her head back a little, but before she could ask, he began to speak. Hesitantly almost. Solemn dark eyes blinked at him, his question surprising her.

“Why wouldn’t I be okay with what happened last night?” she countered his question with a question, leaning away just enough so she could look into his eyes. Her brows lifted, lowering again almost immediately afterwards as she frowned. “Was drunk, but still knew what was happening. Would have stopped you if I didn’t want what happened... to happen. Wasn’t that far gone.” Her hands inched towards his ears. “Why are you asking?" A pause. "Not okay with it?”

His voice was still distant, thanks to the Void, but he tried to do his best to reassure her. “Of course I am,” He smiled reassuringly though it failed to reach his eyes. Realizing that he couldn’t do much about his demeanor in the Void, he tried another tactic, complete openness and honesty. Resting his forehead against hers he said, “You probably didn’t realize, but you saved my life last night. I hadn’t worked out the specifics, but ending my life was an extremely appealing option, before you showed up.”

“I’ve done some horrible things in the past,” he stopped himself before he could go into too much detail. Maybe he wasn’t ready for complete honesty. “Things I’m not proud of. Sometimes I have a hard time loving myself because of it. Thank you for coming to find me.” It wasn’t easy to talk about. The Void helped a little.

Something changed, something he couldn’t put his finger on. He knew, however, that they were at their destination. A silver slash split the darkness and rotated into a square opening. He stood up, lifting the small Drin into his arms, stepping out into the snowy clearing. He set her down, and released Saidin. The gateway snapped shut behind him. She nestled against him as an icy wind cut through the trees. Alric smiled down at Affie. A warm smile, not suppressed by the Void. “I’m already a little late for my first day as a Dedicated, you should head on to class too,” he said, before tilting her chin up and kissing her. He pulled away with a pang of regret. “I’ll see you around,” he said before heading off into the trees.