The Grey Tower

The fire was burning in the small room, when Sahara was directed inside. It gave out a warmth that the teenager was grateful for, as morning turned to afternoon. She had her new woolen clothes on, a very pretty muted blue shade, that reminded Sahara of the sky a little while before a storm, back in Arad Doman. She was reluctant to take these fine clothes off, as they were the only ones she had ever had, apart from some too small, worn too thin clothes that she had worn day after day in the streets of the capitol.

However, the Accepted that showed her here said that there would be a few white dresses in her size hanging in her closet, and she would be required to wear nothing but, for quite a while, until she was worthy of the banded dress as an Accepted, herself. Sahara had eyed that dress with the bands on it, wondering how long she, herself, would take to achieve it. If she would EVER achieve it. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills, she sighed to herself, and then looked in her wardrobe, to see the white woolen dresses. They were spotless, the firelight throwing golden glows across the fabric, making it gleam.

Hurrying out of her clothes, she pulled one of the dresses out, and then pulled it over her head, trying it on for size. It was warm, and comfortable, and Sahara looked at herself in the looking glass that had been provided for the two girls that now shared this room. Her hair reflected the firelight, making strands here and there turn golden, in the fiery curling tresses. Smiling at herself, she twisted this way and that, almost falling over in the process. Sahara managed to right herself on her feet, and raised her eyebrows at the close call.

Sahara's things were soon put away. She had next to nothing, and it only took a few moments to settle them into place. Her mother's trinket remained on her neck, where she could touch it for reassurance from time to time. It was easy to tell which side of the room was meant to be hers. There was quite the difference between the two. One side looked lived in, the occupant had definitely settled in and made the room her own, at least, to Sahara's perceptions. Then again, Sahara didn't really know what a room was SUPPOSED to look like, when it was well settled and lived in.

Her eye went to a collection of things on the dresser on the opposite side of the room. Surely....surely it wouldn't hurt to LOOK. Sahara and Zan had been warned off of stealing anything while in the Tower. They had been told that the punishment would be harsh, much harsher than being thrown into prison back in Arad Doman with no hope of escape. Sahara had believed the Aes Sedai who had found her and her brother. The kind Sister of the Indigo Ajah who had taken them to get baths and clean clothes, and as much food as they could stuff into their bellies. Sahara knew that for all her kindness, that the woman was probably not exaggerating the consequences of being caught stealing, or trying to escape the Tower.

Going over to the other girl's side of the room, Sahara hesitated, before lifting her hand slowly, to set down on something glittering there. She hadn't been sure what sort of thing it had been, from across the room, only that she wanted to touch it. She meant no harm, really. She wasn't trying to take it, only wanted to look at it. A noise in the room startled her, and she turned around, eyes wide, looking towards the door. “I...I wasn't going to take it!!” She said, defensively, as if someone would be standing there waiting to condemn her on her first hour in the Tower.

Plodding down the halls of the Novice quarters, Velvaen glanced regretfully down at her wrinkled fingers. Chores were hardly enjoyable, but Light! Days of scrubbing floors and being cooped up in the Tower made her dearly miss summer’s variety. As the snows rose higher, she found herself in the gardens less and less, and despite the alluring glitter of their snowy blanket, she wouldn’t have hesitated to trade in her scrub-brush or shovel for a trowel. Working the soil and shaping the summer earth had almost felt like pottery again. Chores were over for now, at least, and she meant to take a little time for herself before her next task. Reaching up to untie her hair-ribbons, she came to her plain wooden door—a match to all the others in the Novice quarters—and let herself in.

As the door swung inward, and Velvaen stepped inside, she froze, realizing she wasn’t alone. It was a girl, perhaps a few years younger than herself, with fiery red hair and bright blue eyes. She stood at a height with herself, unusual though it was. And in front of Velvaen’s dresser, rifling through her collection! With a cry, she slammed the door and dashed over, nabbing the piece of gneiss from the girl and shooing her away along with her protests. Velvaen gently turned the stone around in her fingers, inspecting it for chips as she glanced up irritatedly at her fellow novice. “If you’ve cracked my gneiss…” Trailing off with a pointed stare, she eyed her rock for a moment more before placing it back among its fellows. “They’re not worth a silver penny, you know. Hardly worth stealing. Or a visit to Velanya Sedai…” she added with a flat look.