The Grey Tower

It was certainly turning into an interesting morning run. Here he was, lecturing an Accepted. Could they not promote him straight to Asha’man? Skip all the ranks and go straight to the top? He was certainly old enough. Although did this whole thing make him a Blue or a Grey, or even a White? He was, after all, only speaking common sense. Tristram was fairly sure everyone else would say the same in his position. In some respects, he had to wonder how the Accepted had ever made it to, well, Accepted. He’d always been given the impression that Aes Sedai were confident and self-assured, their head stuck up their own arses more often than not, whereas this one gave him the impression of jumping at shadows.

“Afraid I can’t tell you how,” he said with a small grin, shaking his head. “That’s all down to you. But what’s more important: how you feel about yourself, or what people may or may not feel about you? People come and go, but you’re stuck with yourself forever, and I know I’d rather that self be someone I actually liked.”

He wasn’t sure if his words had had any impact or effect. She didn’t exactly sound particularly convinced by what he had said, but then that wasn’t his problem. It was all up to her. Tristram was content with the way he was, and no one was ever going to change that. He didn’t care whether or not people liked him. If they didn’t-? Well, that was their loss. He had better things to be doing than moping about after them.

Time was pushing on, and he glanced towards the Tower, wondering if he should be heading back for breakfast.

His attention flicked back to the Accepted and he just shook his head, still smiling, still cheerful. “You don’t need apologise. For a start, I’d say I did most of the talking. It just that sometimes I like the sound of my own voice a little bit too much. I should be thanking you for listening to me ramble on.”

“The pleasure’s been all mine.” Tristram took the hand and shook it, his attention already on getting back to the Tower and seeing that he was actually fed before he was forced to scrub the floors yet again. It was certainly going to be interesting, his time at the Tower, but he was sure that he would be able to cope with it.

He gave once last glance at the strange little Accepted and her bird, before he broke into a job and headed back to his quarters.