The Grey Tower

Kaira giggled. The bottles in her arm clinked gently against each other. She carefully maneuvered down the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. When she reached the bottom floor, she turned to look at the woman following behind her.

“Nas, this is a terrible idea,” she said.

Her best friend and roommate gave her a beautiful, mischievous smile.

“Yeah, probably,” said Nasrin. “But it will be fun!"

The two novices stole out of the front entrance of the learning rank quarters and crossed the grounds to the lush greenery that formed the Tower gardens. The setting sun splashed the sky with a plethora of colors - vivid reds melted into warm oranges and delicate violets. A few people gave them odd looks in passing, but Kaira walked quickly and with purpose as if on an errand. No one stopped them.

The bustle of the Tower quieted as they went deeper into the gardens. The greenery began to flow over onto the stone paths. Grass peeked in between cracks, and Kaira even spotted an occasional weed. They took a myriad of twists and turns, and then finally found the garden shed. Behind it was a small clearing.

Kaira set down her bottles. She exchanged a glance with Nasrin, and then burst out laughing.

“Light, I could hardly keep a straight face! I can’t believe we made it!”

Nasrin smirked. The tall Domani novice uncorked a bottle of wine and leaned against a nearby tree.

“I told you not to worry,” she said, before taking a swig.

Kaira grinned and selected her own bottle, a light white wine. Now all they had to do was wait and see who would show up. She raised her bottle in Nasrin’s direction.

“Cheers!”

He had killed it himself! With his bare hands! And then skinned it and cooked it and made the most delightful stew with herbs that he had also picked himself! Look at how amazing he was! Not only could he fight, but he was a bloody proficient hunter and cook, too!

…Or that had been the plan right up until the rabbit had taken one look at him, decided that it wasn’t going to comply and keep still, and hopped off into the trees, leaving Johan staring after it and wondering what he was supposed to do. He’d hadn’t even attempted to shoot. He’d probably have only hit himself. He’d never even held a bow before that moment; there hadn’t been much need for bows and arrows in Ebou Dar. In Ebou Dar, it was more likely that you’d get a knife in your back before you even managed to draw the string.

It was why he now found himself at the door of the kitchens, trying his best to look inconspicuous, though that was rather hard given the fact that he was still dressed in his uniform. Drin, as far as he was aware, were not supposed to go anywhere near here. The Mistress of the Kitchens was busy berating some poor underling, and Johan took that moment to slip in and out, grabbing the first thing that he could and stuffing it under his jacket. He didn’t even stop to look, the risk of being caught far too high. He wanted to prove himself to his fellow students, yes, by being seen as daring, brave, and adventurous, but not if it meant risking his own status as a student. Getting something from the kitchens should be impressive enough and show that he’d made enough of an effort, even if it wasn’t the homemade rabbit stew he’d hoped for.

Checking that no one was following him, he made his way to the Tower Gardens, making sure to make as little noise as possible. That bit he found far easier. He’d taken to sneaking out from the dormitories a lot of nights just to get away. They made him feel claustrophobic. He still wasn’t used to staying in one place for long.

He got lost twice before he found the shed and the clearing behind it. He pushed the hair from his face, straightened his back, and tried to look calm and collected as he entered the clearing.

“I hope I’m not too late,” he said, producing the item with a flourish and a quick bow. “I brought,” and he took that moment to look at what he had stolen for the first time. “…Salt.”

There was a gathering of learning ranks, and there was no way Paks was going to miss out. Learning Ranks meant Novices. Novices meant . . .fun. The Drin smirked as she slunk along the dark alley in Hama Valon. Her companion for the night happened to be an apprentice baker, which was no coincidence. Under her arm, she held a box of pastries she hoped the others would enjoy as much as she enjoyed the apprentice.

The challenge was getting back onto the Tower Grounds. Technically, it should be no issue, as Drin are allowed to travel into town. They’re just meant to be back on Tower Grounds before lights out, and certainly before the morning feast.

Paks took her next right, which put her on the main path back to the Tower. She straightened up, and gave a tug on her tunic as she strode on, wearing confidence like a glove. . .or trying to.

The guards at the gate gave her a smirk, “You do know the Master of Training will have words with you one of these days, don’t ye, Paks?”

With her characteristic smirk, Paks gave a nonchalant shrug, “Just so long as it is not today.” The guards laughter faded away as she carried onto the Tower grounds. After a few more turns, she found her way to the Garden, and the the shed. Giggling behind the shed suggested she was in the right place, and as she came around, she saw two Novices, one of whom was vaguely familiar…

Oh Light. . .the Master of Training’s daughter.

Paks wasn’t about to let that one little fact sway her from enjoying herself, though she made sure to keep a bit of distance between her and the one known as Kaira. The other Novice was unfamiliar to her, as was the Soldier. “Greetings one and all. I brought a fine selection of pastries from one of the town’s finest bakers.”

Setting the box of pastries next to the bottles, Paks’ eyes lit up as she grabbed a bottle of mead and uncorked it before taking a long pull. “I’m Paks, by the way,” she added, her smirk well and truly in place.

The first person to arrive was a slight young man who brought out a pound of salt with a gleeman’s flourish. Kaira’s mouth dropped open in surprise, and then she laughed out loud. She darted forward and plucked the jar out of the young Drin's hands.

“Salt!” she exclaimed. “Nas, look at this!”

Nasrin laughed. “You brought salt?”

Kaira opened the jar and sniffed. “We can’t eat this! Where did you get this from?”

The Drin chewed at his lip. “The kitchens,” he mumbled.

“I guess we can find some use for it,” Nasrin said.

Footsteps announced the arrival of the next guest, a tall woman with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. She set down a box of pastries. Kaira grinned and took two of the flaky fruit tarts. She bit into one and moaned with warm appreciation.

A short while later, Kaira noticed that the Drin who had brought the salt was missing. She glanced once around the clearing, and then leaned over to tap on Nasrin’s shoulder.

“Be right back,” she murmured.

It did not take long to find him. He was in the garden shed, leaning against the wall and kicking at the dirt. He glanced over his shoulder when Kaira approached, and then looked back down at the ground.

“Come back,” Kaira said, softly.

“What, and be laughed at again?"

“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was only making fun. Here.”

She pressed a blueberry pastry into his hand.

“I’m Kaira Darrow. What was your name?”

“Johan Albaer.”

A corner of his lip lifted as he examined the pastry.

“Can I pretend that I brought this instead?” he said, lightly.

Kaira smiled and took his hand. “Come, Johan. Let’s go back with the others.”

They went back to the clearing, where Kaira offered Johan a bottle of wine. Then she settled back next to Nasrin and waited for the next person to arrive.

Jaren had his doubts about the gathering in the gardens; what if it turned out that everybody else were in their teens and he would end up being the only actual adult? He didn't much fancy sitting at the fringes of the gathering, failing to blend in and attracting odd looks. Yet on the other hand, he did want to meet some of his peers in the Tower in a more relaxed environment than the classrooms.

Ah well. At the very least he could drop by, have a bit of wine and share the sweets he had managed to procure. That had been a stroke of luck he couldn't have planned himself; a Tower servant who was fond of wine had recognised his name and accepted a deal. Jaren had made it clear that it might be a while before he could fulfill his part of the bargain -- he didn't exactly have easy access to his financial assets while a Soldier -- but the servant might have been a little drunk as it was and had been willing to take his word for the eventual payback for now.

And so it was that Jaren sneaked out into the gardens with a bag of sugary goodness and a childish sense of exhilaration at the little adventure.

He found the gathering without too much trouble. Some young women and an awkward-looking fellow were there already, and at least the latter looked like he must be nearly a decade younger than Jaren; he'd given up on trying to guess channeller ages, and he wasn't quite so good at judging women's in the first place. He halted briefly at the fringes of the group, waving. "Evening, ladies."

Then, at their beckoning, he proceeded to sit and place his offering of sweets with the other snacks. "I heard there would be wine, yes? I'm Jaren."

It only makes sense to socialise with the other apprentices. That phrase had been Zarayne's mantra throughout the day.

She found herself on two different sets of chores for the kitchens today, which just so happened to be fortuitous. There was no game to be had with these walls, and apprentices to the Aes Sedai did not have the right to enter the rest of the city. Instead, she stole away pieces of food from the trays she had to deliver from the kitchens. Whole pieces of fruit were the easiest to hide in belt pouches or up sleeves. A piece of sponge cake (even carefully wrapped in napkins) quickly ended up as an amorphous blob of cream and jam that forced her to change quickly between classes. On her second run during the evening meal, she acquired three small meat pies with hard crusts.

Her haul, overall, was poor by her estimation. Her roommate could have devoured the whole lot in a single sitting, but there were limitations on her rate of acquisition. The fifth was only a vague notion in Zarayne's mind, but she had stol-- not stolen but acquired -- acquired no more than a fifth of the food on each plate. Aside from the sponge cake, the rest of the goods went into a small cloth bag, alongside what she had leftover from lunch and dinner.

Sneaking out from the Novices' Quarters was the trickiest part of her escape. Torches lit the corridors at all hours, and the only doors leading outside was a thoroughfare for Accepted and Dedicated on errands from Vanya and Jhanic. Zarayne knew the Master of Soldiers only by name, but she feared the rebuke of the Aielman far more than her own superior.

Zarayne forced herself to move along the corridor boldly. There was nowhere to hide in the winding passageways of the Great Serpent, so feigning an air of being on an errand, she strode past fellow novices and a few Accepted, and slipped into the fading light. From there, stalking through the Tower grounds into the gardens came as second nature, even if the ground wasn't covered in thick snows.
* * * Zarayne stood out of sight, sack slung over her shoulder, looking at the assembled party from around the side of a tree thick with foliage. Novices, a soldier and a Drin. The gathering was as advertised, and was not some prank or trick. Zarayne had found that certain wetlanders placed a lot of stock in befuddling her for no reason. Stepping silently the rest of the distance from tree to clearing, Zarayne made one of the wetlanders' curtseys as she came into view.

"I am Zarayne," she announced stiffly. Swinging the sack off of her shoulder, she lay it out on the ground and revealed the contents of fruits, breads and pies. Guiltily, she murmured "I brought what I could." Zarayne looked for anyone to challenge the contribution, although she didn't know whether she would shirk from the challenge or not.

Calira poked her head into the Tower kitchens, trying to pretend she was just there on another errand. The novice already knew exactly what she wanted from the kitchen, having noticed several sacks of dinner rolls being put away during her chores this afternoon. Calira thought she remembered the servants putting them in one of the cabinets near the door but in order to get there, she'd have to be very careful. She entered quietly, staying close to the side and far from the sinks where a few servants were finishing the dinner dishes. She opened the cabinets as slowly as possible to look for the sacks, holding her breath each time she opened one, and was lucky enough to find what she wanted only two cabinets in from the door, just as she had remembered. She picked up a sack, careful to close the door as quietly as she had opened it, then scurried out the main door, moving far faster than she had when she'd gone in. Once she was out in the hallway, Calira forced herself to slow down again and pretend she was delivering the sack somewhere. She had no idea what she'd say if anyone stopped her, but somewhat to her surprise, her pretense seemed to work and none of the few people she saw seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary about the novice carrying a sack through the Tower.

Once Calira reached the door, she picked up her pace a bit. She'd spent enough time outside that she knew exactly where the garden shed would be, and if she hadn't known, the nervous giggles she heard as she approached made it quite clear that she'd found the gathering spot. "I brought some rolls!" she said, untying her sack and setting it down beside the rest of the food. For herself, Calira took a pastry which she began eating as she looked at the other members of the group. Several of them wore white dresses exactly like her own, if mostly cleaner, but there were also a few who were not novices. Calira didn't know any of them, but that didn't concern her. There would be plenty of time to get to know the others, and Calira was looking forward to it.

The wine, a red, was dry and kind of spicy. It had been one of Jaren’s offerings. Nasrin would have prefered something a little bit sweeter. Well much sweeter. In fact, she wished she’d opened the mead. That said, red wine was more sophisticated. She could remember her grandmother and her friends talking derisively about women who drank sweet wine. It all got you drunk in the end, as her old crewmates would say. She continued to drink as more and more people began to show up.

They’d attracted a surprisingly large crowd, hopefully they would be able to keep this meeting hidden. If not, running and hiding had their own thrill. Either way, it was time for her to get things kicked off. She crept through the shadows to stand behind Jaren, and the boyishly pretty Paks. After taking a big gulp of wine, she embraced Saidar. Though she could only channel trickles at the moment, the expanding, rushing, ecstasy of the female half of the Source was intoxicating. Most of those present would see an aura around her as she held the Power, running the some of the effect she was going for, but not everybody could so she’d do if their benefit.

Concentrating, she weaved Fire and Air with a hint of Spirit and a small, flickering flame burst to life in the middle of the circle, hovering a few inches off the ground, illuminating her from below. Her lips curled up wickedly at some of the startled faces. “Good evening, boys and girls, and welcome to my fire side,” she said. She crouched, keeping her voice just low enough to be heard by the other’s. “Enjoy your food and your wine, because tonight, we take a trip beyond the grave, beyond sanity,” she paused, letting the flames cast odd shadows across her face, “Tonight, we face our deepest fears.”


As she’d planned, Nasrin let the fire die down some as she began her story. “There’s a legend all sailor’s know.” As she spoke the flame began to brighten, warm and steady this time.

“A tale of a great ship, greater than had ever been seen before in these seas. In times long gone, it would sail from distant lands to trade wonders and riches from far away lands. Some legends even say this ship, Golden Wanderer, carried items of the Power as well. Nobody knew for sure. One day, Golden Wanderer simply vanished.”

With a flourish of her hands, the warm flame vanished, sparking a chorus of gasps. When she brought the flame back this time it flickered violently casting warped shadows across the gathered students. “For centuries, treasure hunters have sailed far and wide to find clues about Golden Wanderer’s fate. Blinded by greed or maybe ambition, men waste their entire lives searching for the vessel and its riches. Any crew who did find the ship would be able to retire in luxury.”

“A bold captain named Karatin, lead his crew deeper into the Sea of Storms than anybody had ever dared to venture. In his quests he uncovered new lands and new peoples beyond what anybody of this land would have imagined. None of it fazed him. Not the the wealth of knowledge, nor the new trading partners he could make. He lusted after one thing and one thing only, the treasures in Golden Wanderer's hold.”

Gesturing dramatically, she continued her story, “Now much Karatin’s crew, they saw his folly and rose up in mutiny. Well they tried anyway,” Nasrin said, teeth flashing in a predatory smile, “The plotters were brutally set upon by their fellows and cast overboard. Nobody, not even men the ate with, worked with, lived with would get in the way of their lust for treasure.”

“After months of sailing these southern islands, their supplies were nearly spent. There was no turning back for them. They sought a rumor, a great ship run aground in a protected cove, it had to be here. They were so close, they could almost taste it. Finally, after over a week of fruitlessly piloting these dangerous waters, they found something. An ancient ship, run aground just like the rumors said.”

“Triumphant, Captain Karatin lead his exhausted crew ashore to investigate. When they climbed down into the hulk’s cargo holds, any lingering doubt was dispelled. Gold and jewels and items of obviously mystical origin were stored in massive piles, untouched by the ages. There were doorways that twisted in impossible shapes, glass rods that always stood on their narrow end, swords that seemed to glow with an inner flame all scattered amongst fat gold coins with strange markings and gemstones that would make a master jeweler weep in awe. The Captain ignored all of these treasures, instead slipping a simple locket around his neck”

“That night as they celebrated their fortune with food they had hunted on the island, the first murder happened. A dispute over spoils had gotten out of hand and a crewman’s skull was bashed in. Karatin never lifted a finger to stop him, the murderer was never punished. Instead, Karatin called it justice and yelled for the festivities to start a new. That night more men were murdered, each time the case was brought before the captain, he simply lifted the locket to his ear and listened before declaring the murder justified. “

“Many of the crew began to mutter amongst themselves. That locket is evil. This place is evil. We should never have come here. The captain needs to be stopped. By midnight, the mutters grew into a mutiny. During that bloody night, a fire broke loose setting the Golden Wanderer ablaze. A single tiny launch rowed away from the blaze. The young deckhand at the oars knew that the ship and all of it’s treasures must burn. If not, this infectious greed would spread engulfing the entire world. He knew he’d done horrible things in the quest for wealth, but he needed to make sure nobody else would come here. Nothing could be brought back from this trip. Nothing.”

“You can trust me, I’m harmless, a voice whispered in his head as he clutched a bloody amulet to his chest. Don’t worry my dear, it’s all over, the voice whispered as he rowed into the night.”

The audience stared at Nasrin in silence as she reached down the front of her dress, pulling out her grandmother’s locket. She lifted it to her ear and tilted her head. “What’s that?” she stage whispered, “Kill the pretty one first?” She winked at Kaira across the flickering flames and gave her a predatory grin.