The Grey Tower

During one of the absolutely rare free times offered to the Drin, Cole found himself back out among the training grounds. He felt normal here, in control of what was happening to him.

It wasn't that he didn't understand things were happening to him outside of his control, he was just desperate to ignore it. There was a part of him that thought he might be able to go home one day and take up his station. He knew it was a childish dream, but he held to it anyway.

It was why he was sitting on one of the benches alone. Too much camaraderie with his fellow Drin felt like a betrayal of his sister, even though he knew she had chosen another.

It was why he sat on the bench with a paired copy of a book that had been bought by their father. It was a Treatise on the Old Tongue. He and his sister had once thought to make a secret language out of it, something they could use if everything went to shit.

Now, when it felt like everything was going to shit, he didn't have his sister to talk to. Or anyone really. People had noticed his eyes changing color and had backed off from their attempts at friendship. It was why he was sitting on a bench in the Training Yards, eating what he could away from scrutiny. He wasn't sure what he could do but at least he wasn't a channeler so he could walk away.

The informal "eyes and ears" of the training yards could be rather hit-or-miss, as Haeden had known for many a long year. Sometimes, the clutch of students was observant and eager to please. Sometimes, they were observant but also recalcitrant and looking for a way to rebel quietly, which often turned to answers of "I don't know."

Then at still other times, like this current one, the group was eager to please but equally unobservant. That was something which would be forced out of them the hard way if they remained here, but for now, they were all...young.

Haeden Ives Gaidin was not truly "old" by any stretch, but he was far away from young now. Also, having grown up since birth here in the Tower, it gave him a feeling of age beyond the trainees that not all Gaidin had. It also offered him other perspectives that they didn't have, so it all balanced out in the end.

For the moment, he was looking for a new Drin who had been assigned as his latest mentee, and the young man had proven a little tricky to find--sitting somewhat off the beaten path. Haeden was good at what he set his mind to, however, and he did find him...

"Cole Lopez?" he asked, his green eyes keen and his voice deep, everything about his bearing and tone declaring him 'stoic'.