Bed for Sale* (Open to All tower residents)

[Locke]

Terric

Teric scooped the little Chairenin of the ground and began to walk again. When she began asking questions about the Three-fold Land, he welcomed the distraction.

"What else haven't you told me? About your people, I mean. What are your days usually like in the Three Fold Land?"
Pleased to see his humor returning he went with the first answer that came to mind. “Hot—“
He stepped over some thick underbrush. “I know that’s not the answer you were looking for,” he said stifling a laugh, “What do you want to know specifically?”

The Abyss lost much of its hold on his mind, as they left the Gardens. As he stepped out onto the cobbled path with Avyra still in his arms, an unbidden thought came to his mind. One he did his best to stomp down. He stabbed it a few times to be sure. It didn’t die though, it just lingered in the back just below the surface, like a venomous two step. He quite liked carrying this little Chairenin.

[Avyra]

"Hot." She raised an eyebrow, shifting a bit in annoyance in his arms. Actually, she almost slapped him. Hot. Really? He continued along, stepping over some underbrush that she would have had to jump over. “I know that’s not the answer you were looking for.” You know it wasn't! “What do you want to know specifically?” She, well, didn't have a specific question. "Oh, anything. What food do you eat, clothes do you wear? How do you keep from getting so hot? And baths? How do you clean yourselves, if not with water?" She, honestly, was starting not to mind this. Terric was, in his simplist form, a sweetheart, if a bit weird to her. But he didn't mean any harm, as evidenced by his offering to carry her about some more. His arms were gentle; she knew he wouldn't hurt her. In fact, she liked this Aielman, and was glad to have met him. After all, she was learning so much tonight. That's why she was at the Tower, Mirin Sedai had said, to learn. Well, she was learning about the Aiel.

[Locke]

Terric

She wanted to know about how Aiel bathed? He guessed that was question would come up at some point. “We clean ourselves in sweat tents. It’s a shame I haven’t found one at the Tower. You haven’t known true relaxation until you’ve spent time in a sweat tent. I’ll have to find a way to show you one.” A sweat tent would have been much more efficient than his current method of bathing. He never quite felt clean after taking a small bucket of water and a bar of soap and scrubbing himself down. Was that his life now? Strange half measures between Aiel and Wetlander? He hoped not.

He walked along in the direction of the training yards. He wasn’t quite sure what he intended to do there, but it was a nice night, and he was away from that pond and all of its implications. Avyra seemed to have made herself comfortable in his arms. He didn’t mind. He looked up at the stars trying to judge the time. It was almost two hours after Low, soon it would be homework time.

[Avyra]

Avyra did look very comfortable there. She was snuggled up against his chest, shivering slightly from the drop in temperature the sun's lack caused. She almost looked... well... tired. Well, sleepy was a better word for it. She looked almost blissful, and she had started to yawn slightly. “We clean ourselves in sweat tents. It’s a shame I haven’t found one at the Tower. You haven’t known true relaxation until you’ve spent time in a sweat tent. I’ll have to find a way to show you one.” Avyra, well, blinked up at him, alert again. How else did one reply to that? She tried to keep the slight disgust out of her expression. Cleaning in sweat? How did that even make sense? Well, he would probably be disgusted by her ability to spend a good half an hour in the water, letting it soak into her skin. "Does that actually... work?" Her disbelief was obvious. "And isn't it, like, really hot in the desert already? Why would you force yourself to sweat?" It made no sense to her head, but it was impossible to tell if it was sleepiness getting to her or if she really had no clue.

[Locke]

Terric

He felt her shift in his arms. "Does that actually... work?" He could hear the incredulity. This was a night of shocks for both of them. "And isn't it, like, really hot in the desert already? Why would you force yourself to sweat?"

“Well we usually go to the sweat tent at night, when it’s already extremely cold. It opens the pores, very healthy. And, yes, it does ‘actually work’.” His tone was conversational as his eyes scanned the darkness. “If we were to go to a sweat tent, we would sit and talk in a tent filled with steam, and scrape off the grime of the day with Staera. Honestly it’s cleaner than sitting in a tub of water, soaking in your own filth.” He shuddered at the contamination of so much water for one person. “Sweat tents are a social thing as well. I read that Sheinarans do something similar but with bath houses.” At least they shared the water. Some Wetlanders weren’t as crazy as others. “There a king and a peasant are equals in the bath. In the Three-fold Land any man can speak his mind to a chief, they don’t have to be naked to do so.” Terric had to admit, the Sheinaran way was a step in the right direction, which was more than he could say about many Wetlanders.

[Avyra]

"I..." She paused. "I suppose?" It still made... well, not very much sense to her. Sweating to clean yourself? It seemed counterproductive. "What is Staera?" She struggled to pronounce the word properly. "Is it like soap?" All of this was so new to her. It was a world almost completely alien. The desert sounded like an interesting place to live. She was about to speak when another wind suddenly kicked up, and she shivered even more, shifting a bit to try to shield herself from it with her back. But Terric was very warm, and for her, it wasn't so bad to rest against his chest. He didn't seem to mind, in any way. The Aielman was hard to read, she had noticed, but there was something in there he was fighting. She could feel it deep down, too. Something slicing in her gut. Not him too! She couldn't like two men. She just... couldn't. It wasn't right, it wasn't healthy. Light, she wasn't even allowed to like one! Light burn both of them.

[Locke]

Terric

“A Staera,” emphasizing it’s pronunciation, “is a piece of copper we use to scrape away dirt and sweat. Sweat only starts to really stink when it’s allowed to sit and dry. In the sweat tent you are constantly sweating and scraping it away. It’s not able to dry and leave salt and grime and dead skin to start stinking.” He wished he could explain better, but for all the books he had read in his life, he wasn’t a scholar.

The wind picked up and she snuggled in close to his chest. He had to admit, to himself at least that he didn’t mind in the least. It had been nearly a year since he’d left the Three-fold lands and during that time, he had avoided people apart from short trips into town to gather information while dressed as a Wetlander. He hadn’t attempted to make any lasting connections, and he had rebuffed anyone who attempted to do so. It was different here. He was playing to stay at the Tower. While Avyra was already making him feel at home here, he couldn’t help but feel home sick. He still missed his parents and his first-sister whom he hadn’t seen in at least two years. He hoped his spear brothers were getting along fine without them and that Sloan hadn’t done anything too rash. He still didn’t quite understand his feelings for Jilla, or what she felt towards him.

“It’s close to homework time, I don’t think we’ll make it to the Training Yards tonight. Should I carry you back to your quarters?” He set off towards the tower, thoughts racing.

[Avyra]

Hm. It was an interesting concept, one she hadn't considered, but it made sense. The Aiel were a very practical people, which wasn't too much of a shocker to her. They did, after all, live in an inhospitable area. They would have to be resourceful to survive. He seemed to be lost in thought, and she didn't ask him any more questions for the time being. She just enjoyed being with him, in his arms. Yes, after hearing about it she had made her choice; she wanted to go to his home to see it for herself. The fact that she was Cairhienin worried her slightly, but she didn't think anything would go wrong if Terric was by her side, guiding her. “It’s close to homework time, I don’t think we’ll make it to the Training Yards tonight. Should I carry you back to your quarters?” She wore a smile on her delicate features as she replied. "Do you think I'd turn down the offer?" Honestly, she looked like she could have stayed in his arms forever, even fallen asleep in them if it weren't for the chilling wind or their conversation.