The Grey Tower

“Then I’ll teach you. After I handle some business with an Illianner,” he led her through the open back door for the kitchen. Dinner wasn’t for several more hours and the kitchens weren’t crowded. A few novices scrubbed pots as punishment in a corner and a small number of apprentice chefs worked on prep for dinner or cooked food hungry Aes Sedai and Asha’man. The smells mixed together into an indistinct but welcoming haze. “We belong here,” he said to Avyra in a low voice, before confidently striding through the kitchen to talk to one of the chefs. He as a burly man with a blond beard that did not cover his lip.

“What do you be doing here, Terric?” the burly Illianner asked.

“Dedrik Stavanos,” Terric greeted the man, leaning against a prep table. “It smells like you’re making pastries. If you have any to spare, I’ll knead dough for you on my next free period. You know I’m good for it.”

“I do swear you do be trying to steal my recipes, fortune prick me.”

“Steal is a strong word, I’m trying to learn them,” he picked up a bowl with some kind of dark brown paste in it. “It smells like you’re cooking with cinnamon.”

“Aye, what do you be knowing about cinnamon. It do be from far away Shara.”

Terric gave the chef a flat look, “Most of those Sharan spices pass through my homeland first you know. So what are you making with the cinnamon?” He scooped out some of the paste with his finger and tasted it, “Tastes like it’s full of sugar and butter.”

“Hey don’t you be doing that!” Dedrik Stavanos shouted. He let out a sigh before continuing, “You do be right, that is mostly butter, sugar, and cinnamon. It do be for a special sweetbun. Back in Illian the merchants did be bringing us these spices. I decided to make a few batches but these lads made them uneven, fortune stab me,” he said referring to his apprentice chefs. “Some do be too serve but I’ll let you and yer lady friend have some.”

Terric raised an eyebrow at the chef’s “lady friend” comment but was quickly distracted as Dedrik Stavanos pointed him to a tray of piping hot but misshapen pastries. “Avyra, get two of those plates,” he said staring reverently at the desserts. He began to cut out two of the largest buns out as he waited for her to return.

Avyra returned with the plates and he used a knife to the two giant cinnamon buns onto them. Those smell so good," she murmured, eyes shining. "I'm not sure if I've ever had one of these warm. I usually end up getting pushed to the back and getting my meal last, after its gone cold."

“That’s a shame, Dedrik Stavanos is an excellent chef. We need to keep training so you’ll be able to pick up the other Novices and put them in the corner so you can get your food while it’s hot.”

He thanked Dedrik Stavanos and carried the plates outside, motioning her to follow. Terric led the way around to a small porch Tower staff would relax on during their off hours. Terric sat on the porch next to a wooden folding chair and handed Avyra her plate once she sat.

He took a big of the pastry before he started. The pastry was still piping hot and the tastes of cinnamon and sugar exploded across his tongue followed by the comforting taste of soft, warm, buttery bread. He took a few more bites and savored them before talking. “The Ko’di itself is easy to learn, it is exceedingly difficult to master. Try to steady your breath, take all distractions and feed them to the Flame,” his voice seemed to take on a lulling quality “Feel the flame stoked by your breath. You should feed your pain, your exhaustion, your anger, even the taste of that cinnamon bun. Once you are empty and there’s nothing left there is just Void. It will come from within, manifest in your actions and it will also encircle you protecting you from even the sensations in your own body. Now give it a try.” As Terric waited for Avyra to attempt to summon the Void, he took another bite.

“I think this will take a bit of time, let’s finish our pastries before we start in earnest. No point letting them get cold.” Terric took another bite preparing to make good on his words. As he ate, he tried to explain the Void. Aiel trained to act and react from honed instincts, so the Void hadn’t been too much of a stretch for him. He would have to step back and start from the beginning if he wanted to teach Avyra. “The Flame itself is more of a visualization method, at first,” he was thinking of times when the Flame seemed to literally consume arrant thoughts and sensations. You aren’t trying to actively block things out. That right there means you are giving pain, the anger, the worry, or whatever control over you. You are letting the thought burn in the Flame. Once you are truly floating within the Void, you are no longer truly conscious of yourself. At the same time it is a quick path to being truly aware.”

Avyra had eaten about a third of her pastry and didn’t seem inclined to eat more He was finished with his so he put his plate to the side motioning for her to do the same. He shifted position to a kneeling position, sitting back on his heels, back straight hands on his knees. “Let’s begin,” he said dropping his voice into a lulling cadence, “Close your eyes and breathe slowly, in through the nose, out through the mouth. You can hear the sounds of the kitchen. Let those sounds exist, let them wash over you. Let the Flame consume any stray thoughts. You feel the wood under your knees. Feed the discomfort to the Flame. Bread in, and out,” he said demonstration. “Keep doing this, feel the Flame stoked inside your stomach like a shot of oosquai. Breathe in, and out. Now feed your curiosity about oosquai into the Flames.” His lips quirked up as he said it. “Just keep it up, keep breathing, keep stoking the flame, soon there will be nothing left. You are a part of your surroundings. You and your opponent are one.”

Terric smiled to himself, Another flute analogy. I should really ask her to play for me one day. Out loud he said, “Ok now open your eyes and try to hold onto the Void. For the rest of the day, hold on to the Void as long as you can. If it slips, don’t worry, just try again.” He should see some marked improvements in her training. “We should work on physical fitness as well. You’ve gotten a bit stronger but we need to get you some endurance, and some power behind your blows. If you can find an Aes Sedai or somebody who’s willing to give you a permission slip, you might be able to come out and train with the Drin in the mornings. You won’t have much time for grooming and getting dressed, but I can’t think of to many other times we’d have to work on your fitness unless we started taking some of these training hours and devoting them to working out. If you go through with this, you’ll also have to learn to eat all of your food,” he said glancing at the half eaten cinnamon bun.

He was sure she was only still eating to prove him wrong, but he didn’t press it. “If Mirin Sedai,” he pushed down a spike of anger, “won’t let you train with the Drin in the mornings, we’ll have to consider our options.” He steepled his fingers resting his chin on them, furrowing his brow. “We probably don’t have enough time to devote part of our usual time towards strength training,” by this point he was mostly thinking out loud. “If you showed interest in becoming a Green, they’d let you train right? Greens are supposed to train to dance the spears.” He paused again, “I don’t know, maybe it’ll just have to be more “homework”. You could probably try doing pushups and the like along with your other exercises. If not, we can try to work something out. A little bit of fitness never hurt anybody, except when it did.” This brought up memories, some fond some not, of the countless scrapes, bruises, twists, and breaks he had inflicted upon himself during his training. He glanced at the sun. “Looks like we should head on to our next classes soon,” he said shooting the rest of her cinnamon roll a covert look.