The Grey Tower

"Wait for me!" Avander leapt out from the cart, landing as nimbly as any man who had been bound hand and foot for however long their journey had taken could be. That is to say, he staggered a step, still rubbing at the raw spots on his wrists, and smiled sheepishly at the group of channelers before ...

"Ah, nothing important. Just an excuse to talk, you know what I mean?" Avander smiled his best friendly smile. Shy people were sometimes offput by him, but he always tried his best. His hair was bound tightly at the nape of his neck -- he hated getting stuff in his hair -- but so late in the day it ...

Drin and then Ji. He had never heard of this, and nor (he guessed) had his parents. But it made sense that some training was required.

"I see," he said, putting a hand to his chin as they walked. His legs were long and on his own he might have strode away more quickly, but Natlya Gaidin was not ...

"Do you think these pots will ever be clean enough for her taste?" Avander asked, leaning over to speak quietly once he was certain the Mistress was out of earshot -- better yet, once she was out of the room altogether (he certainly did not want to be heard by the Mistress for saying such things ...

His own broad smile was inevitable. How exciting! Gaidin. That must surely be a term for a warder, then, and that meant that this woman in front of him was a warder. A Gaidin! Perhaps she would be one of his teachers? A woman so small as she must surely be a fierce fighter to be a warder, clever and ...

The grey light of dawn was just beginning to illuminate the city of Hama Valon. It had grown up around the Grey Tower, and the Grey Tower had surged after the fall of the White as a place where men and women could channel. Perhaps that was an overly romantic view of what had happened. But it did ...