The Grey Tower

It had been late evening when Ci'tanni had reached the Grey Tower, and past bedtime, apparently, when the Mistress of Novices was done with her. Dressed in novice white, she followed an Accepted to her new room, where the short, darkhaired Cairhienin left her with a few words on curfew times and a grunt. Ci'tanni watched the woman walk, no stomp, down the hallway, before entering the room.

The room was different from the room she'd shared with Sloane at the Black Tower, but there were certain similarities too. It was hardly any bigger, and it contained two beds, desks, armoires and mirrors. It was fancier than the more practical rooms in the barracks. And it was white. The walls, the linen, everything was white. Much less practical indeed.

Another similarity to her old room was the obvious signs of a roommate, and current lack of said roommate. Ci'tanni walked over to the empty bed and put down her meager belongings; the travelbag with travel rations, a spare dress, some necessities and writing equipment. She also carried some of that in her belt, which she had transferred from her old clothes to the new, white novice dress. She also had a spare novice dress and stockings which she lay down next to her travelbag. It felt strange to wear a dress again, after months of wearing the black shirt and trousers that made up the Soldier uniforms at the Black Tower. And the color, so bright white, so impractical white. Not that black was that much more practical. Dirt showed quite well on black fabric as well.

Though it was late, she started unpacking the few things she had. The spare dresses, both white and her own old, and the stockings and undergarments went into the armoire by the bed. Writing equipment, both from the bag and from her belt, went onto and into the desk, and the bag itself she stuffed under the bed. All of this she did the Black Tower way: channeling.

In the Black Tower, they believed in learning by doing, and doing it a lot. So if something could be done channeling, you did it channeling. Thus, when Ci'tanni had put the stuff down on the bed, she opened herself up to saidar and wove strands of Air around the dress, floating it over to the armoire, and with another strand of Air she pulled one of the drawers open. With her hands she pulled the spare clothes out of her bag, and with Air she moved those into another drawer. Air came easy to her, and made it easier to multitask, although channeling required most of her attention.

Ci'tanni was settling down a stack of paper on the desk and releasing the weave when she heard sounds outside the door, and shortly after the door opened and another novice came in. She let go of saidar, reluctantly, and turned around to meet her roommate. She took in the look of the other girl, with her fair skin and jet black hair, the novice was about her own height, maybe slightly taller, and about her own age too, by the looks of it.

Ci'tanni smiled, her face and body showing a friendly and warm demeanor. Her hands moved in a greeting, though she doubted the younger girl would notice, or understand.

Ci'tanni quickly unhooked the chalkboard - one of her latest additions, quite usable for short notices - from her belt, and with barely a glance down, she wrote quick with deft fingers.

Hi. I'm Kitty.
Nice to meet you

She flipped the board over, and held it out to the younger girl, still smiling warmly.

Suu Nalemar


The Halls of the Grey Tower were a little more sparse then they had been in years, and for the most part Suu had spent much of her time as an Novice without a roommate. The Olive skin, black haired girl was rather surprised to see a blonde girl enter her room and held up a chalkboard to her with a greeting.

She wasn't sure why she was here, but.. "Uh, Hi. I'm Suu Nalemar. And this is my room. Are you my roommate?" A little late to have one, but then Suu had no idea how long she would be stuck at this rank. Years have gone by and many have been in the Novice White longer than her. But then she had access to interesting classes, the library and some time for herself. She could do without the chores in the kitchens, however.

Kitty's smile faded slightly at the somewhat cold, or at least not overly friendly greeting from the other novice. But then again, what could she expect? She had taken the liberty of settling into an already occupied room, even if it was well within her rights, as this was the room she'd been given. Apparently the other novice, Suu, had been without a roommate so far, and she had also probably been here a couple of years already, given the age most became Novices. So it was no wonder that it was a bit surprising for her to suddenly have a roommate.

Deciding to give her new roommate a little time to get used to the idea, and not jump to conclusions of the other person's personality, Kitty's warm smile returned as she nodded in response to Suu's question. One hand hooked the chalkboard back in her belt, while the other moved in old habit, saying what her mouth couldn't. She doubted the other girl noticed though.

Suu Nalemar

Suu wasn't sure what to think of the girl as she then clicked back her chalk board and went about taking over half the room. At least Suu did not have to worry about being embarrassed with a clean room. More often than not everything was in it's place and although the room was hers for years she never really ventured to the other half. At least, she never has enough need to. Novices had such few things to call their own. A stark contrast to what she grew up with.

Looking to her desk, she saw the book she had forgotten and picked it up. "I need to go to the library. I'll be back before final night call. Please don't touch my things." And with that Suu turned and started to leave the room. She was going to be late.

When the other girl didn't say anything, Kitty went back to getting her meager belongings in place. She had mostly finished before Suu came in, only a few things remained. She stepped over to her desk and put away the last of her writing equipment, apart from those she kept in her belt.

She heard Suu move behind her, and turned to look at her when the girl spoke. The library. Kitty didn't tend to go out of her way to read, but she did enjoy a good book now and then, and she actually enjoyed studying most of the time. If Suu had looked in her direction, she could've made her know she wanted to come along. But her roommate turned and walked out of the room before she got the chance.

Though, this was an opportunity Kitty didn't want to miss. She had just arrived, and however much she might want to simply relax, the sooner she got to know her way around this new Tower, the better. And she was quite certain her roommate knew her way around fairly well.

With a quick glance at the room and her stuff to make sure everything was where they should be, Kitty turned to follow Suu.

Suu Nalemar

The Library wasn't her first stop, but it was Suu's end goal. She had assignments to turn in and so she swung by the corridors that hosted the different classes and dropped off about 2 different assignments before heading out. Next, she needed to head to the Gardens. The gardens were a little out of the way but were still closer then the Library and she didn't want to forget to check their first.

She headed into one of the green rooms that held a small library that specialized in herbs and plant lore. Looking over the books Suu was disappointed that the book she needed wasn't there. "It must be in the Library then." She muttered and then headed out only to find that she had someone following her.

"Ah!!" Surprised, Suu wasn't too pleasant in her tone towards the other girl. "Why are you following me?"

There were three things Kitty learned as she followed her roommate. The first was that Suu paid awfully little attention to what was around her, as the girl didn't notice that she had a tail. The second was that the Library wasn't their only destination, which she suspected after the first classroom and got confirmed after the second. Kitty didn't mind though, as that gave her a wider and longer tour of the Tower than she had hoped for at first.

Which led to the third thing, something she had barely grasped when she came. The Grey Tower was a vast place, with several floors only to the section housing Novices and Soldiers, and that was a whole separate building from the Tower itself. It was much larger than the Black Tower, which was barely more than some farmhouses stewed together compared to this place.

And the Gardens, which was their next stop. Such a beautiful place, giving off a calm, peaceful atmosphere. The trees, large and small, were so different from the tree throning in the courtyard in the Black Tower. The Traitor's Tree. Kitty shuddered at the thought, and of the stories she had heard of that tree's purpose, and the source of its name. Luckily she had never seen it used for that purpose. And she never would now.

To criticise her roommate for being oblivious was slightly hypocritical, she realised as the girl's startled exclamation started herself. She'd been lost in her surroundings, not noticing Suu turning around right in front of her. She somewhat understood the unfriendly tone, and her hand flashed in a quick explanation before she stopped herself. She looked at Suu apologetically, and swiped her hand around to indicate the whole Tower, hoping the girl understood, though doubtfully.

She unhooked her tablet and scribbled quickly.

Taking a tour

She flipped the board around so Suu could read, giving her a short moment to scan the words before she flipped the board back, erased the chalk with the arm of her dress and scribbled down more.

To know my way around. Flip around, back, erase. Sorry to startle you.

This she held out a little longer, smiling apologetically. Then she flipped it around again and wrote one last thing.

Can I follow?

Suu Nalemar

Suu read over the chalk board messages, waiting for her to be done before responding. Annoyed that she was followed, Suu would have appreciated if the girl had said something before she had left the room instead of following her.

But then it struck her that her roommate didn't talk, which meant speaking up would be terribly difficult. Suu debated about trying to locate the girl a bell.

"I suppose. I don't think I have time to give you a tour but if you want to follow me to the Library, I suppose you can." She gave the other girl a look over. "Do you only talk on that thing?" She pointed to the chalkboard. "Why?"

Kitty made a dismissive motion with her hand when Suu said she didn't have time to give a tour. That was not what she had meant, and she would not impose herself on her new roommate like that.

Not only, Kitty signed in response to Suu's first question, exaggerating her hand motions and body language. I can't speak like you do, she shook her head and pointed to her mouth and throat as she signed, so I speak with my hands, she pointed to the hand signing with her other hand.

She looked at Suu for a moment, trying to gauge how much, if any, she might've understood. She doubted the girl had understood exactly what she said, but hopefully she had grasped the general meaning.

Suu Nalemar

Suu could not help looking down on the girl, her own privileged upbringing trying to push its way through, and the lack of a smile was evident on her lips. It was not that she was unpleasant, but around some people she was shy and unsure but over time she had grown familiar enough in the Novice Ranks to understand her status. To other's she was cold and only interested in her studies. Most called her a White in White.

She watched the hand movement reminding herself that this girl was the same as her, a channeler, a novice; nobody. And yet still she judged. "So, basically you wave your hands around and hope someone can understand you." It wasn't meant to be mean or vicious. There was little tone of emotion in her reply. She recognized the movements for what they were; a language. But Suu had no idea what they meant. "I have no idea what you just said, but it's just the guess." She's ask to learn but who was to say she might move out of her room or Kitty. No point putting in effort into something that would likely change. She had made friends with a novice in her first year and now that novice was Accepted and they no longer spoke. Friendships were useless in the White Tower, just as they were in the Merchant Council's in Arad Doman.

"You can follow me, but I can't promise to walk you back when you want to leave. I have a lot of work to do. Okay?"