The Grey Tower

She was still getting used to the sensation of having that item upon her person, it was a weight that was welcome as it reminded her of the hardships she had needed to endure in order to acquire it. Betrys was proud of that achievement, even if she couldn't quite put into words just how much it meant to her personally. Aside from what it represented to the world at large it was also the sole piece of jewelery she had ever owned in her whole life.

Betrys wasn't used to being touched anymore. It didn't happen very often since she'd come to the Tower, there had been the occasional hug with herself and Mirin and...very little else had happened. Accidental physical encounters had been rarer still and Betrys wasn't used to having her personal space intruded upon by other people. Not that it wasn't desired but even so, she wasn't immediately confident about what to do or say in reaction to that soft touch - it was a protest though and she was willing to accede to that unspoken request "I-I..." she stumbled slightly no longer as confident as she had been beforehand.

It had been longer than she cared to immediately recall since a man had touched her, the village was literally the last time it had happened and that belonged to a far different world than the world which she enjoyed at present. The end result was that her cheeks colored rather prettily with the flush from her embarrassment "I'm nae a Healer - but I help all the same" the words finally delivered she glanced down and swallowed, attempting to renew her own normal self-control.

"Healing can be done without the One Power...I'm nae practised tae offer that" she shuffled slightly and lifted her face up to his "If yer wanting to build character I suppose you'll nae want to hear about the benefits of hot baths and willowbark for aches and pains?" she challenged lightly, her mind starting to wander down a path that made her consider what exactly she might be able to accomplish with some of her own Weaves being applied to certain plants in order to enhance their qualities as an aid to healing - she might need to research that a little more at another occasion "...I'll show you the way though, if you tell me more about your home?" she questioned. Deciding to not take offense but rather to continue being her kind self, even if the physical touch had definitely made her heartbeat race faster than she had expected to be the case.

Ravak Darrow A grin reappeared on the Shienaran’s serious face. He thought he had gone too far by stopping her physically, instead of just asking her not to do anything. Instead, he had made the Accepted’s youthful face bloom a reddish tint. She couldn’t be bewitched by a simple touch, could she? Women were a mystery. He anticipated outrage, and he received blushes instead.

He too may have blushed a little, if he shared her delicate constitution. Unease at guessing falsely that she could Heal, or would Heal him, left him feeling uneducated. All he knew of the Power, from one who actually possessed it, was rainbows of music. He had to guard his tongue and his thoughts better.

“A hot bath wouldn’t go amiss,” he admitted. He half-expected another blossoming of colour from Betrys, if her imagination was running away with her. “You wish to know about Fal Dara? Well, there’s not much to tell.”

“It’s one of the larger cities in Shienar,” he began. “A wall runs around it, with several gates leading in various directions. The Malkier Gate in the north faces the Blight. A stone keep dominates the center of Fal Dara, where Lord Agelmar commands and leads us. You can see his banner, three red foxes running, from the battlements, alongside the Black Hawk of Fal Dara proper.” He smiled at the memories of home. He remembered being young, asking his mother about the hawk and the foxes. He thought, when he was very young, that an actual hawk and three large foxes helped to guard the city. Her sister had disabused him of that notion.

“The people there look nothing like me,” he admitted. “Shienaran men are normally bald, aside from a topknot. Beards are scarce too.” He spoke the next in a hushed tone. “Personally, I can understand the thing about beards, but I would never suit a topknot.” He patted his full head of red hair merrily. “My father and I stick out like sore thumbs at home with our hair.”

Thoughts of his father caused him to touch his ring. He slid it off his short finger, and played with it in his left hand. “Mm, I had been trying to avoid thinking of family. Do you have family, back at home? My disappearance no doubt caused considerable upset.” His lips pursed. He didn’t wish to say any more, principally to prevent himself from getting unsettled, but that had probably started new thoughts in the Accepted’s head. I made the right choice coming to the Grey Tower. Duty. That word one again floated in his mind has he turned his attention back on Betrys.

Betrys was pleased that he was smiling again, it was a nice smile and reassured her that things were alright between the two of them. Which was never a bad thing. As for reflecting on the touch, no, she wouldn't do that. Betrys wasn't about to allow the way her heart fluttered or her cheeks colored from the reaction to that physical contact to decide anything about how she got to know this man. It was an exciting chance to hear about the far-off places that she could only imagine seeing with her own eyes.

"Well you willnae find a shortage of haeing one if you've a mind tae too" she replied and shrugged, after dealing with the sick and injured the thought of a naked man wasn't something that was going to shock her anytime soon. Well...probably not "Foxes and Hawks? Do they mean something...special?" Betrys probably sounded like the worst kind of uneducated peasant but then again until she had come here that was perfectly true "They dinnae that must hae been interesting, tae be apart and all" she remarked and smiled absently, it all sounded so very different from anything that she has come across in her lifetime. Which admittedly was a rather short amount of experience for anyone person to achieve "Did ya try the topknot ever?" she added, deciding to continue to enjoy her curiosity about the whole matter of his original homeland and the ways and customs that it enjoyed.

Betrys noticed the reaction of his hand to his ring and paused and licked her lips absently "I did. I still do, they wanted me tae go though. Once the Sedai told them what I was...they all wanted me to go" that had hurt and she still missed them in spite of all of that "Disappearance?" the question slipped out without her meaning to ask.

Ravak Darrow "The Black Hawk comes from the Black Hawk on the banner of Shienar, as a whole. As for the foxes..." He shrugged by way of response. He had no idea why Agelmar or House Jagad, he didn't even know to if it was one or the other, used the three foxes as a sigil. "Other Lords have other signs. The Grey Owl. The White Hart." He shrugged again. It wasn't much of an answer, but it was the best he had.

"And Light, no, I never tried a topknot." He chuckled at the thought. "My mother was insistent that I should be a proper Shienaran, regardless of my looks. But my dad would never allow it. 'If you get shorn like a sheep,' he would say, 'I'll be the next to get clipped.' It was self preservation, but I was happy to play my role." He chuckled again, but this time it was tinged with remorse.

"...they all wanted me to go." Betrys didn't say those words with the pride he would have expected. Being chosen to join the Aes Sedai was an occasion for celebrating, even if the woman of honour was whisked away before the event. That didn't resonate with the tone of voice Betrys had used. I shall not pry. If she wants to tell me, that's one thing. He had information of his own to keep hidden. She wasn't going to dredge up someone's else's secrets.

His face betrayed him when she asked "Disappearance?" He closed his eyes briefly, glowering. As if she read my mind, and did the opposite. He smoothed his features and tried to limit any sound of exasperation. Time to be honest, and judged for it.

"Every man in Shienar trains to join the army, to fulfil their duty. We protect the rest of the world from the Blight, and protect ourselves from becoming another Malkier. Like everyone else I trained, and worked hard at becoming a soldier, but I wasn't taking to it. You could say I was slow, or I wasn't meant to be a soldier." He shrugged. "My father wasn't a soldier neither, but then he also wasn't Shienaran." Another shrug.

"We have a saying. Duty is heavier than a mountain, death lighter than a feather. I could have knuckled down, pushed myself through the training, and come out like some poorly forged axe," that metaphor again, "and I would have likely just died to some Trolloc's blade. Some people pride themselves on the fact that death is their fate, but they would go down fighting, taking each Trolloc that came close with them. Me? I would have just died, and likely endangered others whilst doing so."

He wiped his right hand over his face, his left clenched the gold ring in a fist. His features were twisted by the anguish he felt. "Death is lighter than a feather. That would be been the easy and selfish path, if not a short one. Instead, I ran away." He tried to smile, to give reassurance that his fleeing wasn't that serious. He didn't know if that reassurance was for himself or Betrys, but the smile never came at any rate. "In the earliest hour after dawn, I slipped out without a word and left everything. The only thing I knew is that I needed to get another sort of training, so that I could fulfil my duty to my homeland, to my family. To myself."

Like the last time he had told this tale, he felt completely crestfallen. His eyes stared at his feet, his face was awash with raw emotion. He shook with a quiet rage, all focused internally. Instead of training, he was wandering about in a garden, speaking instead of swinging a sword or taking a class on battlefield tactics. The shame was the overriding emotion, however. His feet had taken root; those muscles that didn't quaver had tensed up completely. Betrys, the gardens, the Tower; everything that wasn't shame vanished from his mind. The Light curse the day my father ever laid eyes on my mother.

She'd never had the chance to experience the lives that nobles enjoyed, while she understood the concept of heraldry and how it worked for them it was a concept very similar to her understanding the way the Wheel turned. It happened but the way and how it happened was beyond her, so hearing his describe the hawk and foxes at least helped her in making some kind of sense of it. Not much.

Betrys was always going to be a brewers daughter, no matter how much time she spent here. Firstly, because she didn't want to forget it but also because she wasn't ashamed either "I wonder why some animals are considered better than others. Never seen a blue children or orange rabbit..." she murmured, her thoughts running away with her tongue before she had considered it. Hopefully, he wouldn't think completely abandoned of her common sense, although Betrys suspected she rather deserved that assumption from time to time "So you were caught in the middle of them?" it was a question that tact might have suggested should have been avoided but she figured he could ignore it if it was really going to bother him that much.

"What...well that is very honorable of them. Perhaps ya needed more time to learn it?" he couldn't be that old after all. Surely there should be some allowances made, after all there were no time limits when it came to learning the One Power, everyone learned at their own pace "...I would never suggest or offer tae thing death is better. Aye, you'll come round again but it is the now where you make a difference right or wrong" she insisted. Who knew what life she had led on another turn of the Wheel, Betrys doubted she'd ever know and that made her comfortable and happy, sometimes it was better not to know. Good or bad it would be a legacy to either live up too or down and Betrys much preferred on concentrating on this present life rather than worrying about the others.

Betrys didn't smile. This conversation was dipping into something colder and darker, he might need understanding but he also needed an ear which wasn't out to judge him "I dinnae ken your pain. But you're nae alone in haeing it...and I can assure you in time you'll hae to face it again. Eventually we all do but next time you'll be better prepared" she replied softly.

"I wouldn't say I was caught in the middle of them," he replied. "Both of my parents are good people, and they got a child each. I'm akin to my father, and my sister is very much my mother's daughter."

Betrys had an odd way of speaking that wasn't just her accent. It was refreshingly different, both the accent and the way some of her thoughts seemed to spill out. However, he felt she didn't quite grasp what he meant when he spoke of duty. She was a southlander, so maybe that was understandable. Just as the Great Game was ingrained in each Cairheinian, duty was ingrained in the bones of each Shienaran. No doubt there's something inherently Andoran that I wouldn't comprehend either.

He wanted to draw the conversation back to something they both knew, but he wasn't going to ignore her questions. "I will learn what I need to learn here. What I need to know to face the Shadow and not die." It sounded grim, and it was a little. "But I suspect that won't be for many a year. And I'll be Gaidin by then. I know I have a duty to this place too, if it to teach me what I need to know."

I'll be Gaidin. He had only partially resolved that in his heart, but thinking it seemed to make that fact real. And if I'm to be Gaidin... "My apologies if I'm being too forward, but I was curious. It seems like the rules concerning Drin'far'ji were written to keep us away from channellers, so how does one such as yourself choose a Warder?"

Betrys wasn't about to argue the difference in what she perceived from what he had been telling her so far about what had gone on in his past. It sounded very like it had been a problem, or at least something that had placed a burden of responsibility onto very young shoulders. Which she definitely didn't think was very fair for anyone to put that onto their children but Betrys also didn't think it was her place to say something about it right now or indeed ever at all.

After all they barely knew one another and it would require more than a passing acquaintance to make her feel like speaking up in such a fashion about what was after all a highly personal part of his life.

Judging someone about their childhood seemed like a seriously bad idea "Is yer sister also learning tae fight?" she asked, Betrys wasn't sure if they would restrict what sounded very dangerous to the men alone "...they must hae loved one another a great deal if they hae such difference" Betrys mused thoughtfully, her parents could end up having huge fights which could echo all around the family home but she (along with her siblings) had been secure in knowing that they loved one another even at the height of their passions and the arguments.

She nodded at his comment about learning. Betrys knew that much was true, it was certainly the case when it came to her own experiences in the Tower "One...like me? I dinnae give much thought about it - or I hadnae; I suppose it depends" she shrugged "I'll be honest wiv ya - I mean...I've nae even thought about which Ajah is the one I want tae follow; though I lean towards the Yellow. Once I am an Aes Sedai sister it might be more...clear tae me?" Betrys supposed, as she narrowed her eyes and considered his question.

"Why? Is that a thought yer haeing?" she asked.

"Women tend not to fight in the Borderlands. Well, not against the Shadow at any rate." That was a softer thing to say than the truth, but with seeing men and women fight with equal fervour in the yards, Rav didn't want to come off as... As what? Shienaran? That's just how things are done.. "My sister's probably at home making some young man's life a misery. Or a delight. That'd depend on how he's treating her." He nodded to himself in satisfaction. One thing he never had to worry about was defending his sister. "She'll brook no nonsense from bull-headed men."

"My parents may be different, but they're good for one another. My father's Andoran, thus the difference in looks. My mother's the Shienaran." He grinned. "It says something about Shienarans that she dragged him north, and not the other way around."

Her response to the question about Warders was not what he had expected. Even if he had been trying to deny it from himself, he was aware that becoming a Warder meant being tied to an Aes Sedai for life. He started this journey, and knew to some degree it's outcome. Strange that Betrys hadn't decided on her Ajah, let alone thought about a Warder.

"Yes," he replied simply, "it's something I have to think about. My present may be busied with classes and chores and other sorts of learning, but that will cease in time. My future as a Warder, that will be permanent. Assuming I get any say on the matter myself, I'd like to have some idea of who I should be with for the rest of my life." His tone was a little guarded, recalling how the last time he had said it was in too forward a tone. There was no inferred or hidden meaning behind these words. "But I suppose you have a choice, whether to have a Warder or not."

As her own knowledge and understanding of the world beyond the limits of her village and the brief encounters since coming to the Tower; she wasn't sure how uncommon it could really be not to involved the women of your people in the art of warfare.

Betrys had no experience with that sort of world or arrangement. It seemed that it hadn't prevented his sister from having her own strong will from coming forwards "They pick other fights then?" she questioned, almost tempted to tease him slightly given the description which he had provided in respect of this sister. It was clear he missed her, though Betrys wouldn't allow herself to ask - they barely knew one another and she had to remember and respect that being the case "Well I hae my own fondness for the Andor folk, yer understand?" she remarked and smiled briefly in his direction "Though my grandmother hailed from another place, brought her words and a skill wiv herbs along that be about it mostly...none of my kin did much in the way of traveling afore my leaving" Betrys explained.

"I'd hae hoped yer would be one tae notice a Sister asking yer tae be their Warder...do yer think about which sort yer like to hae bonded?" she asked, he'd brought it up after all.

Not that Betrys was distracting from how it made her feel. Honest. Well probably. The idea of a Warder of her own made her nervous, but she'd have to chose one eventually, at the moment she wanted to think more about the Ajah who would claim her when she became a full Aes Sedai sister....a time that would come sooner than she expected.

Do I think about who I'll end up bonded too? Rav scratched his head. He didn't really know who he was any more. A fresh faced Borderlander in the south, following duty yet headed in the wrong direction. Or maybe that actually spoke volumes about his personality. A pretty woman'd be nice. That was a foolish thought, a childish thought. His eyes glared inward. He knew precious little of Aes Sedai in truth. He knew there were Ajahs, but he didn't really understand what that was. And he knew the Three Oaths, but that was true of all Aes Sedai. That didn't really say much to a specific Aes Sedai's character.

He sniffed, catching the clean smell of wild flowers. "No, I can't say I do." He offered a meek shrug. It was an unsatisfactory answer, but he didn't have one better. "But I'm new here, so I've got some time to work out what I'd like." His lips curled in a boyish grin. He was thinking about pretty women again.

In the distance, Rav caught the sound of a bell, then another, repeated from a few different locations. He bit back a curse, and saw Betrys shift in recognition. He should be on the other side of the Tower grounds right now, walking into a classroom. He was going to be late, but that was still better than not turning up at all.

"My apologies," he said with a hasty bow, "Another time perhaps, Accepted." He bobbed a second bow, then moved off at a frantic run towards the Warders' Yards.