The Grey Tower

Maryn could feel his measure of Abby rise when she paused in their conversation, and took the time to move some other books around. Looking at the titles briefly, he could see that she was correct in her sorting and he marveled at her familiarity with the Library. He was a little envious, though he had never lacked for comforts, here scholarly pursuits actually seemed to be valued.

"I have ridden a little," Abby answered, taking a quick break now that the books were in order. "I can't say I've ever ridden for sport, though," she admitted with a small smile. "Maybe we could find time to go riding during a free day."

Right, free days, I keep forgetting that time to myself will be much harder to find here, Maryn thought to himself with a shake of his head. “Well if we manage a good free day, or festival even then maybe we could do that. Sport riding isn’t a great deal different, it’s mostly the speed and demands on the horse involved,” Maryn chatted as he grabbed a scroll someone had carelessly jammed into the shelf rather than reroll it.


"I wish I could at least visit my mother on a free and tell her how I am doing..." Her eyes fluttered when she realized that she had said that aloud, and Maryn looked away to allow her a moment to compose herself. “But I know I cannot see her until I am at least Accepted," she finished as she gathered some discarded scratch paper.

“Why is that Abby? I don’t mean to pry, I know that I will not be allowed to travel back to Cairhein until I wear the Dedicated pin, but I had always assumed that was to keep us from running away, or causing damage away from our teachers. Is it the custom that even Tower born must stay apart?” Maryn asked, his curious nature keeping the truly prying nature of his question out of mind.

Abby smiled to herself, thinking of spending time with a new friend for free days and feast days. Even though she knew Maryn had been assigned to another task, she was happy that he had bumped into her. If she had a friend to face the coming days of being a novice, she knew they would be a little easier. Perhaps he needed a friend as much as she did as well. When he explained how little differences there were in traveling with a horse and riding one for sport, she nodded. "That does make sense. When you travel, the horse will likely be expected to walk at a more long-term distance. Hm. Now I have a new respect for soldiers and horses who can ride during battle," she concluded with a small giggle. She wasn't a fighter herself, but she enjoyed reading about them.

The novice flipped through a book she had picked up, to straighten pages when Maryn asked why she couldn't see her mother, if she were already in the Tower. "My mother and Miahala Sedai explained that it's to ingrain your loyalties to the Grey Tower. When we're done with our training, at the very least, we will be sealed to it, so I understand. We can always write letters without sending them, like we do when she is away on a mission." She said this last bit for herself as much as for Maryn. She had heard journals can help with difficult emotions. Writing unsent letters should help as well. "Sometimes, very rarely, I write letters to my parents who died when I was younger as well." She was not as sad as she had been right after their deaths. She did not feel detached from herself either. Their deaths were tragic, but she knew now that they would be proud of her.

"Do you have anyone you think of from home?"

The pair continued their duties, Maryn taking the time to try and learn the layout as he found other subjects that interested him. Currently he was flipping through a book on the Aiel, and made a note to grab the volume when he was free. “Exactly, they probably have to build chairs like saddles in Saldaea, it sounds like they never leave their horses. And imagine the tailors bills for pants,” chuckled Maryn as he joined in Abby’s giggle.

"My mother and Miahala Sedai explained that it's to ingrain your loyalties to the Grey Tower. When we're done with our training, at the very least, we will be sealed to it, so I understand. We can always write letters without sending them, like we do when she is away on a mission,” Abby said in an aside that Maryn wasn’t certain had been meant for him. Still it did raise an idea he hadn’t considered before, it would be hard to ensure family loyalties did not erode the Tower from within, so it made sense that even Tower born would be raised to view Ajah and shawl as much family as anything else.

"Do you have anyone you think of from home?" Abby asked, as she toyed with the pages of the book, obviously lost in thought after her mention of the parents who had died.

“I do, I have an older sister, though she is married and busy with her husband’s estate. Still it will be good to hear of how her and the baby fare. My father will write I think, it’s hard when you are Cairhein. Everything and every note is weighed and measured, so I have to be careful not to get tangled up in family affairs. In a way I have staked my future here, so the plots of cousins and relatives bore me. I will have to make sure to let my father know when he can see me though,” Maryn replied as he tried to recall when they were allowed lodgers and visitors.

“Lucky for me though I only just arrived. I’m sure the homesickness will come, but for now I almost feel like I’ve gone to the lake house. Just with more books and chores,” chuckled Maryn with a grin when he realized he would have to be careful not to sound like another spoiled noble.

“I am looking forward to the freedom of being able to go to the city, attend music and even just trade. My father often took me to the market, and the goods from around the Westlands always fascinated me. So there’s that to look forward to as well,” he said as he suddenly realized that the Grey Tower must have legions of men and women who supplied it with food and other needful items.

Abby let out a quiet giggle at Maryn's quip about tailor's bills for pants. She knew it wasn't true of Saldaean people, but the exaggeration produced a humorous image in her mind. She had always tried not to make jokes about people's origins. She remembered feeling almost bewildered when she learned the reputation of Domani women. Her mother was Domani, and Abby had inherited her figure and her thick, black hair, but she remembered her as very quiet and bookish, with eyes only for her father.

As Abby listened to Maryn's story about his sister, she wondered what it would have been like to have siblings. When she lived with her parents, she was the only child, allowed to read and have long conversations with her mother, able to look up to her father and his ambitions. Not only did he have a sibling to think about, but it seemed like they all played Daes Dae'mar as well. Abby knew she herself would not last very long with plots like that, though she knew that would likely be ingrained in her as she went through her training. She did not play mind games well.

The novice smiled when he compared being a soldier to being at his lake house, then blinked when he spoke of going out to the city. "My father was a merchant in Tarabon. I spent more time with my mother, reading books and learning histories, but he did like to show me the docks and the goods he traded in. It's nothing like Hama Valon, though," she said with a smile that crinkled her nose. "There are so many people from all over, selling parts of their culture." Yes...she was glad that she had ended up in this place.

Glancing at her carts, she realized that they had nearly put all the books away by now. "Ah...it looks like we're almost done. What was the chore you were assigned earlier?" she asked quietly. "If we have time, we can finish that one too."

Maryn ducked behind a shelf stacked full of leather bound books, worried that Abby’s giggles would draw the ire of one of the Aes Sedai seated nearby. Luckily though the women seemed more interested in their studies, than in chastising two learning ranks who were having a lark while accomplishing their duties.

Maryn surprised himself by sharing as much as he did about the family estate at Cairhein, and decided that the Novice beside him had an air about her. She was a good listener, and actively engaged him in conversation rather than simply polite interest over dinner.

“My father was a merchant in Tarabon. I spent more time with my mother, reading books and learning histories, but he did like to show me the docks and the goods he traded in. It's nothing like Hama Valon, though," she said with a smile that crinkled her nose. "There are so many people from all over, selling parts of their culture."

“Well that would be both fascinating and terrifying. Large presses of people are a bit of a stumbling block for me,” Maryn said as he tried to imagine the press of ships, bodies and carts that must accompany such a busy harbour as Tarabon. He had been about to ask her about her father’s trade, when he realized she had mention her parents passing. Flushing slightly, and glad he caught himself, Maryn watched as she glanced at her carts.

He looked down and with a start realized that they had nearly put all the books away by now. "Ah...it looks like we're almost done. What was the chore you were assigned earlier?" she asked quietly. "If we have time, we can finish that one too."

Maryn shrugged and gestured at the now vacant desk at the entrance, “It was my first ever chore, and when I arrived the Brown sister merely pointed at the books. So I’m pretty sure I had no task as it were. I am sure my next chore chime I will have something more definite to do, but I’m glad to have made yours easier. Should we head to class? Would be nice to not have to sprint half way across the grounds for a change,” Maryn said with a smile.

Abby placed the last few books in their proper places, then turned back to Maryn. "I don't like crowds either," she admitted, "but, it's easier with my mother there with me. When I am able to go into the city again, I think I'll normally take someone with me." She was too new to the novice whites to know who exactly. It seemed like her luck in making friends was changing, though.

Her gaze followed his gesture, and she saw the stack of books he had mentioned. She wondered which Brown had given him that "task." It was likely Innari Sedai. The dark-haired Brown usually liked administering tests and grading papers, rather than lectures. She straightened the books again, then peeked around the shelf, looking for Jinela Sedai. The Brown caught her movements, then quickly glanced at her and the empty carts. She blinked once, then nodded, giving her approval. "I think it best to head to class as well. I have a mathematics lesson next..." She smoothed her skirts as she walked out of the Library with Maryn, on to the next part of their day.