The Grey Tower

He didn't even bother to try to suppress the smile and the soft laughter that bubbled up at her words about the foals. Indeed it was a family trait apparently but also it was more than that. He wasn't laughing at her at all but at the Tower in general. It was ever the paradox to him. So many cold and distant channelers with a few diamonds glittering between the throng - though a sapphire would be more apt in Sadira's case. How long had it stood and how little had it effected the world on the grand stage. What could it have achieved had it been filled with those such as Sadira and others?

"A warm heart to match the smile," he told her as they stepped, twirling her in time to the music, "I am glad. Don't tell them I said this but most of the Aes Sedai and Asha'man are more stone than Gaidin"

He had once said that the only way the Tower could change the world, truly change it for the better, was to integrate and relate with it. He stood by that and it filled him with a sense of hope that there were souls like hers there to at least try on some level whilst staying more themselves than a statue.

"I have never seen such play but simple things are what the world is made of really," he mused aloud, "a good ale and company by a fire, the simple silence without discomfort that friendship brings, the shine of the dawn light upon the dew of the grass"

"Nonsense to some, perhaps, but I think the people we are supposed to look after, to protect, have little else to hold to but the little things. Would that there were more"

He knew too well how it felt to have nothing else but the small things and he had lived far from the hardest of lives. Perhaps, he reasoned, with his coin and whatever else he made he could change that. At least in some places. But the music was fading for the dance, he had lost count of the number that they had danced through whilst talking. It slowed, stopped and he bowed as was custom.

"I would say I was acceptably average for the occasion. You were far better, of course. Would you care to retire to the fringes once more to pass the time or have I taken you too long from the revelries already?"

"I would never wish to be finished with such pleasant company. Let's find somewhere less busy, perhaps a balcony" he offered his arm to her, an old vestige of tutoring long ago.

Strange how mannerisms were the first to be forgotten. Perhaps it was because your manner only mattered in the moment, he reasoned. Yet he would not have it said he made a terrible impression upon someone as special as she. She had a manner about her that intrigued him, made him smile, and she was certainly one of the better ones. It was simple enough to navigate their way out of the throng though towards the edge he had to catch one inebriated guest with his free hand before they stumbled to the ground face first.

"Something tells me there will be more than several stories of the events of this day within the week. Perhaps I will gather them together into a book. I bet they will be quite amusing and legends should be created for fun sometimes" he said as they broke into some free space.

"I don't know much about horses but I do like to watch people. They are funny creatures. Where to, Lady Jolstraer?" he asked her now they had the luxury of breathing space.

Now that they were once more towards the fringes he could see the telltale signs of a day well enjoyed. More were sitting than before and more than a handful were leaning against stone walls having chosen their company or forgetting everyone else in their canoodling. Human nature continued to amuse him. Given another few hours he felt sure there would probably even be some who had fallen asleep at tables too.