The Grey Tower

Leala and her roommate Rhykana sat in the garden for a free day, relaxing after a long stretch of hard work. Leala's roommate was really the only novice she had grown close with. She knew that she needed to make more friends, but it was much easier to open up with someone that you shared space with. They sat in the sunshine, chatting aimlessly, when a group of young women came up to them, giggling, each with a twinkle in their eye, and a...flower in their hand?

The leader of the group, a young Domani named Daise stepped forward. "Leala, Rhykana. We're going to..." She paused in the middle of her sentence to share a giggle with the others. Leala didn't like where this was going. "We're going to place flowers in drin's weapons while they're out. We tied ribbons to them, and wrote our names on them. We'll even add itching powder to them." She giggled again. "Do you want to join us?" Daise them proffered two flowers, a pair of violets, Leala and Rhykana's names already on them.

Leala straightened up, blinking. They did realize that this plan would easily go horribly awry...didn't they? One of the drin would likely not like the gesture, and report them...and it would be all too easy to find out where to lay the blame. She cleared her throat. "I'd rather not..." she said, trying to be polite.

"Hmph! You two never want to do anything fun!" Daise turned to Rhykana. "Well, you don't always have to go along with what she says." Leala took offense to that. She certainly did not lead her friend around by the nose. "Come on! It'll be fun!"

The sun felt good on her shoulders, and it felt strangely comfortable to be sitting next to her roommate, Leala. Upon first meeting Leala, Rhyka had hardly wanted to be friends, and had kept herself to polite meekness. But life as a novice was hard; every minute of her day was filled with labor. Having someone to talk to was the only balm available to her, and Leala was kind. Rhyka liked her and enjoyed their friendship, although she had told herself that she would avoid friends at the Tower. She hardly wanted to betray another woman as she had with her sister. But she would not survive without companionship.

Rhyka looked up from their conversation, surprised at the approach of Daise and several other novices. She didn’t like Daise; the woman was a fool, and was always bragging about how close she was to testing to become Accepted. But Rhyka always held her tongue; there was the chance that Daise was right, and Rhyka was not in a position to be making enemies with Accepted.

She blinked in surprise at the plan. Light, were these girls fools? The way they were acting, they were girls and not women. Rhyka wholeheartedly agreed with Leala’s response, for she had no desire to land herself a visit to the Mistress of Novices.

“Daise…” Rhyka said slowly, considering. She kept her eyes downcast, and didn’t make eye contact with the other novice. “I don’t like to play pranks. But, perhaps you best not put your names on the flowers? If you do, the drin will know who to report.”

“She does have a point, Daise.” Another novice that Rhyka did not know spoke, and several other girls murmured in agreement “We don’t want to get caught.”

Rhyka looked up at Daise’s laugh. “Aren’t you clever, Rhykana?” The other novice asked, sardonically. Rhyka didn’t like the smile that spread over her face. Doubtless Daise didn’t like to be made a fool in front of her posse. Rhyka frowned down at her skirts, wishing she had not spoken up.

Daise turned and stalked away, and the other novices trailed behind her. “What do you think they’re going to do?” Rhyka asked Leala nervously, watching as the other novices sat down a while away. She could hear their laughter and chatter, and it made her nervous. “I wish I hadn’t said anything.”