The Grey Tower

Tread carefully...or just tell all.

That annoying little voice in the back of his mind popped up again as he walked over to the chairs in front of the fireplace that she had motioned to. He waited until she sat down before sitting as well, wondering what he was about to get himself into. Could he do this dance now, with her, after what they had just seen? Did he want to?

"There is no one answer to that, I'm afraid," he said cautiously. "There are many things that can break a person's mind." He suppressed a shudder as he rubbed the back of his neck, wondering if there was anything to drink in the room and then admonishing himself for the thought. "I wonder..."

Bryn paused, debating with himself what he was about to say. But, he'd already started. He inhaled and sighed heavily. "It could be like a sanatorium..." he said. "Perhaps this was a place where many different people with different mental states were brought, to keep them in one place together and away from others?"

Tia Sedai

You knew you were walking into that one.

Brynmor sighed again, this time heavily and wearily. Dropping his head, he rubbed the back of his neck as he thought. This wasn't something he liked to admit to, or even think about, and yet how long could he sidestep it? Maybe forever had they not seen what they had just seen, but there was no going back.

Pushing himself suddenly to his feet, he paced a few times in front of the fire before stopping and staring into the flames. His deep voice resonated back over his shoulder to her. "Because...my mother was placed in one. She died there. Some years ago."

Tia Sedai

"It would have been hard on anyone," he said, uncomfortable with too much pity being placed on him. Realizing that he might have sounded a little gruff, or ungrateful, he rested his hand on hers where it sat on his shoulder. "My mother..." he trailed off for a moment, trying to decide how much he wanted to say.

He sighed heavily, turning to face Tia with a sad smile. "No one knows what happened to her. She just started to change, little by little. Strange little things...until one day..."

Brynmor had no idea why he was telling her all of this. He'd done very well in not telling anyone any of this for many years and yet, here he was, just spilling words from his mouth that he'd never be able to take back. Breaking down walls that would never be able to be built again...and he couldn't stop.

"I wasn't living at home anymore by then, though hadn't come to the Tower. I came home for a visit and found her crawling around her room, pressing her body against the wall. There was discoloration and fading along a line close to the floor, so I knew that she'd been doing it for a while. She'd fired her servants and was all alone in the house."

He rubbed his face, leaving his hand over his mouth as his blue eyes looked off into nothingness beyond Tia's shoulder.

Tia Sedai

"It was quite a few years ago," he said with a rueful smile, not wanting to commit to his age. "That doesn't mean it's not still painful, though. My mother didn't really have anyone else but me, not anyone who really loved her or wanted to help her. It was just me...and I didn't know what else to do."

He looked down and shook his head, sighing heavily again.

On an impulse, he reached out and took her hand. The one that had just been on his shoulder. Bryn held it gently, fingers in fingers, and looked down at the two together. He hand seemed...small within his, pale but not weak. "What we saw in that village looked like an outdoor version of where my mother was. But you are right that there would be guardians.

"But the insane can be violent, and attacking those guardians was not unheard of. In fact, it was sometimes common."

Tia Sedai

Bryn returned the light squeeze, and enjoyed the feeling of her touch. It did indeed provide him some comfort, though there was much to combat as he dredged these thoughts and feelings up. "No, I doubt they would all be that lucid," he agreed, "but we didn't get very far into the town. There were many paths and houses we didn't look into.

"There's any number of places the guards could have been," he said, forcing his head up to meet her eyes, "that wouldn't have required the sanity to hide them."

Swallowing hard, he shook his head slightly. "I made sure to place my mother at a place with a good reputation, but there have been some places...many not officially sanctioned by the city, just places that crazy family was dumped, and they are often understaffed and not trained to handle people like that. If this town was like that, it could easily have been taken under.

"These places are rarely free. Maybe someone was charging people to take these folks off their hands, but not willing to put out the money for proper care..." His brows knit. "It could be something else, but I don't know." He squeezed her hand again without thinking.

Tia Sedai