The Grey Tower

How Does A Garden Grow It was the hour after low on a Spring day. The sun was down, not completely behind the horizon but still its light greatly diminished from noon. Taesh was laying in the garden, his hands behind his head. His boots laid a little ways away from him, his pant legs rolled up to above his knees. Flowing lazily through the Garden was an evening breeze, carrying the last warmth from the day along with the floral and herbal scents of the Garden. Taesh laid off the path that others walked, so as to stay out of the way of anyone walking, and to remain undisturbed. He needed a moment, just a moment to himself, to be a part from everything that the Tower was and demanded of him. He needed just the time of respite and then he could return, prepared and able to do what was required, what was needed, but he had to have a moment.

Today had been a trying day for the young Soldier and he needed a moment to relax. If he were on the Star Song he would lay out on the deck of the ship and let the sound and motion of the sea slowly ebb away his frustration. Since he was landlocked here in the Grey Tower, he found refuge in this Garden. It was often strange, at least to Taesh, that someone born to a life on the seas would find the green and growing things of the land so fascinating but he did. After a day like today with new lessons, concepts and techniques continuing to increase in complexity and difficulty leaving the young Seafolk channeler feeling somewhat defeated and despondent, he needed a chance to be at peace. The Garden gave him the chance. The feel of the soil, the grasses on his skin was both exhilarating and calming. The breeze playing over his body seemed to carry each care away with every touch. This place, more than any other in the Tower was sanctuary. Every sensation was a soothing one, the song of the waterfall lulling Taesh's turbulent mind into a more stable state, distant to the worries and disappointments of the day.

The breeze picked up in strength for just the briefest of moments, causing grass and budding flowers to brush enticingly across the Atha'an Miere's skin. This moment crept slowly into the detached place that Taesh's mind was. At first the sensation was distant, barely noticeable, but it began to fill the void that Taesh had taken refuge in. Instead of focusing on being apart, his mind began to focus on the grass. He saw it in the void and felt it with his entire being. In the void the colors of the grass were vibrant, every nuance of green that could be was visible. How the flora bent in the wind yet kept it's shape was visible. Even within, where the plants stored water and used it to grow. Where the parts that collected the light and turned it into energy for growth. His mind, in the flora filled void, even sank into the roots of the garden and felt the stability the unseen components of plant life provided, and almost saw them collecting nutrients from the ground.

It was as if Taesh was seeing every part of the plants at once, even the parts that had yet to grow or show. He could tell, every seed was a blueprint for what a plant would be, and it only waited for the right conditions and available energy to make itself so. The energy came from each of the Powers, some more than others. Water was there, and Earth of course. But there was even something that Air provided and the light from Fire was well. Even Spirit played a part, as it did with all life. Taesh could see it in the Void, and could see how the Powers inter-played to provide the seed what it needed to grow, to fulfill the plan within it.

As more and more of the sensation of the verdant growth of the Void filled even more of the secrets of plant-life was unlocked in Taesh's mind. He saw the innermost workings of the plant, and understood how a land could be covered in green long before any other species could make the attempt. The ability to procreate completely resided in just one plant, what an almost perfect design.

In the Void of the Garden in Taesh's mind there were sparks, small and verdant to his inner eye. Shadows, green shadows, overlaid them, and he realized the sparks were seeds, and the shadows were the potential of the seeds. He saw, within this space in his mind that the Garden had intruded upon, that it wasn't the seasons that dictated growth, it was the availability of resource, and now he knew that resource. He opened himself up to saidin and the alluring tempest that it was. To Taesh the half of the One Power that he had access too was like a living storm, the winds of which would either speed him on his way or dash his ship on the shore. He plucked at a weave of Water, he could see what the seed needed and couldn't stop himself from providing, he was running solely on instinct. The weave flowed into the seed, looking like a stream feeding a pond, and he saw the seed respond. His mind knew though that Water was not enough, and so he added Earth, then Air to his weave and continued to feed it into the seed. The stream became a river, a river that birth tributaries that spread to other verdant stars that were seeds in the Void. More and more the seeds responded, the shadows of potential becoming real, but still more was needed. Lastly Taesh spun Fire and Spirit into the weave. They were the Powers he was weakest in, but he knew somehow that there was little of each needed. He only needed the thinnest thread of Fire to create the energy that light provided the plants, and the same for Spirit. With all five Powers in the weave, Water and Earth dominating, the sparkling seeds in his mind became chaotic with growth. A seasons worth of maturing happened in seconds as the seeds had what they needed to fulfill their potential.

Taesh felt that what he saw in the Void was in fact happening in reality, but he could not stop. Feeding the Powers to the plants like this seemed right, it seemed like it was something he was rediscovering, not stumbling into for the first time. He continued to feed the Powers to the rapidly growing plants, but changed the way he did it. Now he fed more Water than anything, giving each plant more versatility. He focused on one particular plant, a creeping vine and found that with Water he was able to bend the plant in ways it would not normally grow, but it was flimsy. So he added more Earth, which strengthened the weave and plant. Air, Fire and Spirit now were only needed to continue to give a source of energy. As the vine grew Taesh noticed buds, where leaves should have been, but they were much smaller than those on a normally grown vine.

The Atha'an Miere Soldier tried to grab even more of the Power but found he was reaching his limits. Even his mind's eye vision of the Void was faltering as the fatigue of what he had done was beginning to take it's toll. What he thought had been mere seconds was actually half an hours worth of work and his body was beginning to feel it. For someone so new to channeling and the rigors of wrestling saidin this feat of plantweaving was straining and tiring. Taesh released the weave of the Powers and slowly released the Void in his mind. Blinking he thought that perhaps he had been here for much longer than he thought or felt. There were shadows over him, it was a lot darker than he though it should be. Blinking some more his eyes focused and he lifted his back and realized the shadows were not from the lack of sun, it was from exceptionally high grass.

"Bloody..." Taesh forced out in awe as he fully sat up, feeling grass twined about his half bare legs and feet, grass that not too long ago was neat and kept. Light help me... he thought. He reached up to stroke a piece of the long grass, and at the merest touch between the blade and his finger the dull grass broke, the bottom already browning. He looked around him and saw the same happening to much of the explosive growth, that thankfully had not affected the entire Garden. The grass was dying, the vine shriveling, looking more and more like the dried corpse of some sort of weird snake. Yet Taesh could not focus too long on what was happening to the growth that he had brought about, as across the way, at the entrance of the Garden he saw Asha'man headed in his director, Aes Sedai with them, with Accepted and Dedicated right behind.

"Bloody..." Taesh said again.

Fists pounded at her door. "Mirin Sedai! Mirin Sedai!"

Mirin hissed through her teeth in annoyance and stood from her desk. With a flow of Air, she slammed open the door. A servant violently punched the air where the door had been only moments before, and Mirin was glad that she had not opened the door herself.

"What's going wrong now?" she asked, exasperated.

"Look out the window, Mirin Sedai!"

Mirin strode to one of the tall windows along her back wall that overlooked the gardens. There, to her horror, she saw that the carefully tended gardens had been invaded by an explosion of growth. The grass stood taller than the height of a man, and the vines twined around trees, thicker than her arm and writhing like serpents. And even worse, the plants were dying, unable to sustain their rapid growth. Although the amount of Power used must have been immense, she could not feel it, which meant that this was the work of a man. A young man, inexperienced in the art of the Power. Her hand flew to her mouth and she whirled around.

"Where's Soti?" she demanded.

"I looked for him but I can't find him, Mirin Sedai," said the servant.

Mirin cursed. Damn the Master of Soldiers! Soti liked to go missing at the most inopportune times. Her skirts swirled around her ankles as she rushed down to the gardens. There was a small crowd gathering there, and Mirin pushed her way to the center. A Yellow Asha'man was standing there, holding a dark-skinned boy by the scruff of his neck.

"Raldran," said Mirin. "Please let the boy go."

Raldran turned to look at her and frowned. "Where's Soti?" he asked.

"How kind of you to ask. You should go find him yourself," she replied, coldly. Raldran's lips thinned. There was very little liking between Mirin and the Yellow Ajah ever since she choose the Blue. But he released the boy and walked away. As he brushed by Mirin, he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"One day you will pay for your arrogance, Mirin Sedai."

And one day you will pay for your presumption, she thought. But this was not the time to argue, and she turned her attention to the young man who had been the cause of all this trouble. To her surprise, she recognized him. Taesh Durlaen was a young Soldier and one of the Atha'an Miere. He had taken her class in Persuasion. In fact, she recalled, he had passed her final exam with flying colors. But before she spoke to him, she addressed the watching crowd, which had grown even larger since she arrived.

"There's nothing to see here," she said. "If you think that I will humiliate this young Soldier before you, then you are sorely mistaken. Leave and go on with your day. I know you are all busy men and women. Go!"

A few muttered to themselves and began wandering away. To encourage the rest to leave as well, Mirin embraced the Power and created a ward of silence around herself and Taesh.

"I wove a ward. They cannot hear us now," she said to the young Soldier. "Well, Taesh. Channeling without supervision is forbidden, as you should well know. And look at what you've done! So? What do you have to say for yourself, Soldier?"

Everything happened so quickly. Or perhaps because he felt so drained Taesh just thought it happened quickly. The crowd had over taken him in a flash, and he found himself being held by an Asha'man and had questions and accusations rapidly thrown at him. Before he could even answer one question three more where thrown at him, and somehow his words were being misinterpreted. He wanted to punch the man who was holding him, just to allow him to stand on his own, but he though against that. The Atha'an Miere was sure he was in enough trouble as it was.

"I didn't know..." Taesh began before a silence fell over the crowd. An Aes Sedai had made her way to the center of the crowd and Taesh's heart almost burst when he saw Mirin Sedai. She had taught the class in Persuasion, and she seemed nice enough. He was going to call out to her after she had the Asha'man release him, but Taesh saw her face and then remembered her reaction to a student who tried to enter the class late. His shoulder's sagged as she dispersed the crowd and he looked at her, a look of fear and confusion plan on his face.

"Well, Taesh. Channeling without supervision is forbidden, as you should well know. And look at what you've done! So? What do you have to say for yourself, Soldier?" she said after using saidar to keep everyone from listening.

"I didn't know" the Ath'an Miere began again. I didn't know what I was doing Mirin Sedai" he sighed. "I mean I knew but I didn't understand. It's hard to explain. I was just lying in the grass, trying to relax and I felt, something. I felt the grass, I was the grass, and the flowers and the vines. It was like, I knew how they came to be, from seed to green and growing." As Taesh remembered what had happened the look of fear slowly dissipated, but confusion still colored his face and tone. "I knew what the seeds in the ground and all the plants that were already growing needed to continue their growth. It's not the seasons, but it's energy from the five Powers. And so I gave it, I didn't mean for this to happen, it just felt...right." he finished.

Looking around him Taesh could understand Mirin Sedai's and everyone's anger, the beautiful garden was marred by the rapid and wild growth he had caused. Yet still a part of him wanted to reach out and touch the Garden just like he had before, weaving together the Powers to provide what the verdant life needed.

Mirin crossed her arms and regarded the young man in silence. He shifted uneasily under her gaze, and Mirin almost smiled. She didn't consider herself intimidating, especially considering her lack of height, but she rather liked it that others did.

"It has been long since a Plantweaver has come to the Tower," she finally said. "The last one we've had of some note is Betrys Sedai of the Yellow Ajah. Unfortunately, she cannot teach you as saidar is woven quite differently from saidin. But there are others who have studied the art."

Then she sighed. "These things happen. An unfortunate accident," she said. Then she held up a finger and her voice hardened. "But that is not an excuse for what you did. Light, child, you don't know how lucky you are! You could have burned yourself out. Or killed yourself! Letting the Power take hold of you like that puts not only yourself, but also others in danger.

"Taesh, you must learn control. That is why you are here. You will not channel without supervision again, do you understand me? Now, we need to discuss your punishment. I think some extra chore time weeding the gardens will do. Not using the Power, mind you! With your hands. I will speak with Soti Asha'man."

Her grey eyes glittered as she looked the young man up and down. Oh, she was not finished yet. But her expression softened.

"I would also like you to write an essay on any topic regarding Plantweaving," she said. "Developing a Talent takes practice, yes, but knowledge is also necessary to guide your learning. I recommend asking one of the Brown members in the library to help you find books on botany. Bring it to me in two weeks. Any questions?"

"It has been long since a Plantweaver has come to the Tower"

Taesh perked a little. Plantweaver he repeated to himself, having never heard of the Talent before. The more time he spent in the Tower the more he learned that there was more to learn about the world, and about the Power, than he could ever hope to learn. Still, he never though that he would possess any Talent, nothing other than Cloud Dancing, which seemed likely only because of his heritage. An Atha'an Miere with a talent for plants? Like a fish flying over the sea Taesh thought to himself, though he had seen flying once before.

"These things happen. An unfortunate accident," she said. Then she held up a finger and her voice hardened. "But that is not an excuse for what you did. Light, child, you don't know how lucky you are! Letting the Power take hold of you like that puts not just yourself, but others in danger.

Taesh was completely cowed by Mirin Sedai's words. One of the first lessons he had received in the Tower was all about the dangers of burning out. A first the burning out did not seem as such an issue to Taesh, he didn't really understand what it meant. After touching and wielding saidin though, becoming burnt out became the stuff of nightmares. He could not imagine living without the Power, and he realized, following instinct without any knowledge was a very dangerous thing. When the Aes Sedai decided to have him weed the garden, her groaned slightly. Between chores and lessons his day was already busy and demanding. It could be worse he told himself. Besides potentially burning himself out, he could have done something to harm someone else. He was quite sure had that happened, the consequences would have been very dire indeed.

"I would also like you to write an essay on any topic regarding Plantweaving,"

"Yes Mirin Sedai" he said nodding in acceptance of both his guilt and the punishment. When the Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah asked him if he had any questions, he could only think of one, and had to force himself to ask it.

"How long will I be weeding? he asked sheepishly, a slight grin starting to creep across his face, and the faintest spark of mirth flickering in his eyes. Now that he knew he wasn't meant for the dungeons or worse, he felt some relief, and even excitement.

Mirin smiled humorlessly. Her eyes flitted behind him to the tangled green-yellow-brown mess.

"As long as it takes to clean that up," she said. "My estimate is two, maybe three weeks, at the very least. Well, that seems to be all. Go, child. Don't you have class or homework or chores to keep you busy? I will let the Master of Soldiers know that we spoke."

She released the ward of silence, pushed past the few who had remained behind to observe, and returned to her office. Light, where was Soti? She sat down at her desk and began to write the necessary letters.