The Grey Tower

Quinn slipped out of the barracks despite the late hour. His efforts to be quiet were somewhat dampened by the fact that he wore his light grey uniform opposed to the darker shades of green and brown that he was used to. He had a feeling that if he was going to be caught out of bed after hours it would not be due to the clothes he wore. Not generally one to break the rules, he simply had to get out into the cool night air. After a week of being here, he missed the quiet calm of the woodlands around his home. He prowled the grounds looking for a decent spot he could lay back and watch the stars. His mind played tricks with him as he moved. Every shadow seemed to be an Aes Sedai or a Gaidin swooping in to ruin his solitude. To his knowledge, he had avoided any attention though he still glanced cautiously around to the yards as well as to any of the windows that still held light.

Quinn found a decent stretch of grass and settled himself. He pulled out his tabac pipe before he realized he had no way to light it. With a huff, he put it away and settled with his hands behind his head. For the millionth time, he wondered what he was doing here. Sure, his parents had tricked him in to coming here. But they were not the ones who agreed to enter training to be a warder. They had only asked the Tower to take him in, but the choice had been his. This type of place was so foreign and exotic he had been swept up into it before he had realized it. Now he was hard pressed to find reasons to stay. At some point, he also had to figure out a weapon to train in. Naturally he had chosen a bow to start with and that lasted almost a full day before he realized how hopelessly bad at it he was. One of the Gaidins cuffed him when he told them he usually tried moving closer to the target to make sure he hit it. It had worked on deer anyway and they tended to be larger than the targets they used for practice here.

It seemed to him the sky held as many stars as the weapons in the Towers armory. Each one a little different and perhaps with different functions. “Maybe I should take up the sword. There are almost as many swords as there are animals in the forest. Not exactly helpful in my choice though.” His words died out to a murmur as he continued to contemplate he choices. Naturally he compared each weapon to what he knew. The more popular, slim and curved blades were mountain cats in his mind. Graceful and deadly. Whereas the larger two handed swords seemed more like bears. More raw power than precise movements. Finally the one handed blades were more versatile, and those to be seemed to be wolves. Each one had their perks and drawbacks. It all came down to the situation at hand as to which would be the better. “Maybe a sword would be no good at all. I can’t see axes as anything but tools, but maybe a Warhammer or a nice mace would do.” He scratched his chin thoughtfully and waited for the stars to reveal some sort of answer.

It wasn't like Lysira to take walks after dark with Seira, since most nights were too dark to comfortable allow the Ji'val to see the signs and thus translate them. Nights with full moons were different, however, and the pair had been on a task that didn't finish until after dark. To unwind from that business, they took a walk and chatted idly in signs illuminated in moonlight.

Their chatter was idle and silent, since Seira hardly had to translate out loud when there was no one else to speak to. It was still strange to Lysira to have a Ji'val of this woman's age, but such was life. Lysira herself was far from young, but that one little...incident certainly kept her from looking it.

The One Power, and all that.

What she did not expect, however, was that there would be anyone else out and about that night. The words drifting from just off to their right proved otherwise. The two women looked at each other, eyes glinting in the blue-ish tint of moonlight. They weren't keen to eavesdrop, but they could hear it all the same, they were so close.

Lysira's curiosity got the better of her and she moved in that direction, Seira following. She found who she guessed to be a young man laying back in the grass. Instinct alone suggested a learning rank. Well, that and what he'd been talking about.

She signed and Seira translated out loud. "Have they relaxed the curfews while I've been away?" The Ji'val automatically put in the mirth suggested by the faint smile she could see on Lysira's face and the glint of her obsidian eyes reflecting the light from above.

Quinn snorted, “I doubt they have ever relaxed a rule since this place was built.” He responded before he even realized he was no longer talking to himself. For starters, the voice had been female and the words had nothing to do with his current conversation. With a grimace, he stood quickly and saluted awkwardly. He stood uneasily, clearly unused to showing difference to strangers even if they deserved it. It was not that he held any disrespect to anyone. It was more that he normally did not have to prove at every turn that he respected those who held a higher rank than himself. Thankfully it did not appear that he had been caught by an Aes Sedai. He might not have survived such an encounter.

He glanced between them, “I’m Quinn Hade.” He said in a rush. Taking a deep breath to settle himself he went on in a more moderate tone. “I hope you’ll forgive my rudeness and the breaking of your curfew. Ever since I arrived, I have felt like a bear in a cage. I simply couldn’t stand to be in my rooms any longer. I simply had to get out for a bit.” Looking at them he felt nothing like a bear. More like a fox who suddenly found himself among wolves. He ran a hand through his hair looking down for a minute. “I have half a mind to leave and return to my forests, but I have never left a hunt before it was done. Quitting just isn’t in my nature even if I can’t stand it here. Light, I can’t even decide what weapon I should train in. You probably heard that though.” He trailed off uncertainly with a rueful grin.

It had become Lysira's experience that you could tell the newest members of the Tower from how they talked--it was either a great deal, or not at all. This young man--for despite her appearance, all the trainees were young to her--clearly fell into the former category, but she listened without interruption.

"My name is Lysira Gaidin," she-via-Seira told him. "This is Ji'val Seira, who is my translator as you can see."

People always seemed to need a moment to process what was before their eyes and ears--to hear her "voice" coming out of the mouth of another, and then figure out how to treat Seira. Did they speak to her, or ignore her? She paused and let the Drin have that moment before she continued on.

"As a Gaidin, I would tell you that you should return to your room," she/Seira said, but then a faint smile curved her mouth. "However, when I first came to the Tower, I had spent years living mostly in the woods myself. It was uncomfortable to be in a confined space like my room and I sneaked out more than once myself. I understand.

"This is a worthy place, however, if you can stick with it. It takes time to know our path. We must try different things before we find that which is right for us."