The Grey Tower

Layla walked to the Warder Yards. She felt out of place here. It wasn't a place which she came to. She had no need to. None of her lessons were here and she had no interest in ogling the Drin as they trained as so many of the other Novices did. Despite it she was glad to be here. Finally, after being here for more than a flaming month and a half, they were going to let her use a sword again. It had been some time since she had last held a sword and she yearned to do so again. Sword fighting had been her one true hobby at home. The one thing that she was truly good at. In everything else she was second rate at best.

There was a contentment within her when she used a sword that she could never find anywhere else, even when channelling. It was a kind of happiness at doing something she enjoyed. Oh she loved channelling but that was as much the sweetness of Saidar as the actually act of weaving anything. Practising with the sword was different. There was a freedom in that which she couldn't get from anything else. It was the freedom which came from working both your body and mind together and feeling them connect. Of course when she was actually in the flow of a sparring match she did very little thinking, relying more on her instinct that on anything else.

She entered the Warder Yards and stood over a one side. She could see several Warders moving around and several Drin and Ji as well but as she wasn't sure who exactly she was meant to be looking for she didn't approach anyone, they all looked to be busy anyway. Better to wait her and who ever was going to be evaluating her sword abilities would come and find her. She stood out in her white Novice dress. They would be able to find her.

All she had been told was to report to the Warder Yards to be evaluated on her skill with the sword so that she could undergo further training of an appropriate level later. That suited her just fine and it was only later that she thought to ask who it was that would be evaluation her as she had no way of finding out otherwise. That left her with only her standing about tactic.

It had been a couple of weeks since Natlya had returned from her mission to the Blight with Thea Sedai and been granted both the fancloak and right to be called "Gaidin," but she still wasn't used to it. Some part of her still felt like she was a Ji'val and should be taking as many lessons as she was given, but that wasn't the case now.

She had been asked to evaluate a Novice in sword use. This was the first time she had evaluated anyone. She had done some training, but this was still new...and strange...and a little exciting.

As she walked into the yards, it didn't take long to spot her quarry. A young woman--a rather beautiful one at that, which was something Nat hadn't spent much time noticing until her night out with Paks some while back--stood on the sidelines. The Novice whites stood out, though not as sorely as they might since it wasn't that unusual for a Novice to train in weapons.

Nat approached her. "Novice Layla?" she asked, wanting to be sure before she assumed.