The Grey Tower

It still felt completely unreal that she had been allowed to train as a Warder. She was slight, pampered by her previous life, and not quite ready to lay her life on the line for any Aes Sedai or Asha'man that strolled by and asked for her time. There was a bonus to being a Trainee and not a channeler; she was allowed to leave any time that she liked. Muireen was slowly learning how to throw a proper punch, and she was getting a little training with daggers as well - it was all well and good, and for the time being, staying put seemed like a much better alternative than returning home and attempting to explain to her family where she'd been for the past month.

Light help me, she thought, running a hand through her cropped hair, What have I done? Her father had said more than once that she did not think things through, and that she would live to regret it if she were not as careful with her choices as she was with her sketchbook, but this was the first time that Muireen had been faced with that threat as a reality. Good news is that I haven't done anything irrevocable, she reminded herself, I can go home whenever I please. It was difficult to admit that she could not be sure when she would want to go home.

For now, she was safe, she was warm, she was being fed properly. She had more bruises than she'd ever had in her life, but that was part of what she had signed up for. She kept trying to pen a letter, but for all her handwriting training, her words failed her; the parchment always was crumpled and tossed into the fire. Her Da was likely tearing up the entire countryside looking for her, and she couldn't find the strength to let him know that she was alive. Incredibly stupid, but alive. She growled beneath her breath, cursed audibly, and threw back her head into her leafy fortress; from her safe perch in a tree, she was free to spend her free hour alone, and could beat herself up just in time to head back to the yards and have her ass handed to her on a silver platter.

She shifted her weight, trying to find a position in the thick branches that didn't feel like an assault on her rear and thighs - crack! Muireen did not even have time to curse before she hit the ground; only a loud and unladylike yelp escaped her before she crashed to earth below her. It had rained recently, and she fell into the mud with a spectacular splat, which was especially unfortunate considering that the mud did not buffer her fall in the least.

"Mother's bloody milk in a flaming dammned cup!" It was not quite a shriek, but it was certainly close.

Muireen had hoped to suffer her shame in isolation; she rose from the mud with a disgusting squelch, and looked at her uniform in disgust - she'd have to find the time to change between now and her next spar. Trainees were allowed to be far dirtier than anyone that was in Tower training, but only to a certain extent. She tried scraping chunks of thick mud away from her legs and back with her fingernails, but it was to no avail: the uniform was thoroughly ruined.

"You know, that tree is dangerous." Muireen jumped, but was quickly able to shift her expression of surprise to a scowl - some prissy girl was smirking at her, as if this was the best thing that she'd seen all week. She's even shorter than I am! She can't be more than ten years old. Her dress marked her as a Novice, all bundled up in a bleached dress that looked more like a sack of potatoes than an actual dress. "I wouldn't recommend climbing it," the girl continued, seemingly unaware of how unwelcome she was, "I fell out of it once; Ravak Gaidin caught me. And I got stuck in it too." She paused for a moment, in what Muireen supposed was a thoughtful way - Muireen took advantage of the moment to come to terms with her own state. Perhaps she could slip away - and if she was lucky, the girl wouldn't spread the tree's joy by letting the Master of Training that she had fallen out as well.

"But I did climb to the top, so I do claim it. That's my tree, sorry sweetheart. I think you climbing it is an act of treason." The girl paused, stared straight at her, and the smirk returned to her features. "Tree-son."

"Trea-?!" Muireen interjected, her brows climbing, unsure how to make sense of the absurdity, but was run right over.

"Anyway, who might you be? I've never seen you around before, and I would have thought I'd know all the tree climbers around here."

Muireen scowled. "You're awfully friendly for someone that just decided that I've trespassed on your tree. Last I checked, the Aes Sedai owned everything here." She tried to scrub the mud off of her hand on the front of her pants, but took a second look at the girl - it wasn't very likely that Princess would want to shake her hand, so there was no point in extending the gesture. "I'm Muireen," she said flatly, preparing herself for the inevitable onslaught of ridicule, "I'm training to be a Warder and you don't want to be my sweetheart. I broke the last one's nose." That was a blatant lie; she wished she had been able to break his nose, but she relied on her temper to make her believable.

"Who are you? Shouldn't you be..." She threw up her hands in exasperation and sighed sharply, "I don't know, setting a Trolloc on fire, or something?" Or doing literally anything but standing there and staring at me?

The girl chuckled, eyes sparkling with mirth, and stepped towards her. "Don't worry, I'm not going to make you my sweetheart, Mud Pants." Her tone was dry, but Muireen noticed the complete lack of ridicule. The Novice didn't jab at her weakness, and so when she extended her hand, Muireen shook it with only a little reluctance; she could not help but feel guilty for the mud. "Avyra Moeryr. I can't exactly set anything on fire yet; I'm not old enough. They don't let novices channel on their own, sadly." Too young? What do all the Novices do if they aren't learning about channeling? Avyra continued before Muireen could articulate her curiosity, "And apparently lighting things on fire is 'uncivilized.'"

Muireen could see that the girl was attempting to amend the situation with humor - that was kind of her. But her jaw was too stiff for laughter. Perhaps after she had some clean clothing and could be certain that she would not face the Master of Training, she could laugh about it..

"And don't worry, I won't tell Ravak Gaidin about this," Avyra said, as if she had read her mind. "He's had enough of small learning ranks climbing through trees, I think." She paused again, and a thoughtful expression flashed across her features. "But in all seriousness, I think your uniform is ruined. Just say you tripped and fell in the mud. Or got into a fight with a bear." Muireen really did laugh then, pressing a muddy hand to her mouth to cover a wide smile.

"A bloody bear? Where would I find a bear to fight? And don't you think a bear would swallow me whole?" She laughed harder then, imagining what it would be like to take on a bear. "I think, if I had really taken on a bear, that I would need to visit the Infirmary and not just the washroom." She tried to wipe her hand clean again, and noticed the mud that clung to Avyra's hand as well. "Here," she prompted, patting her grey-clad thigh, "Might as well wipe your hand here. I know you'll be in more trouble for dirty clothing than I will be." Muireen had spares stacked up in her barrack, and she could just throw this one to the bottom of the pile to be washed in a few weeks. If anyone asked any questions, she could blame it on rain. Surely, it would rain again, and that would make the sparring rings muddy.

"I appreciate you not telling Ravak Gaidin," she said in a softer tone, "I get beat up enough as it is. I'm afraid that it would only take one toe over the line for him to put me out; most people seem to think that I'd make a rubbish Warder, and I'm afraid he might agree with them." She coughed awkwardly, and looked to her companion as a source of a change of subject. "What about you? I didn't know you weren't allowed to channel. Is it like that for all of them? How do they expect you to learn how to be Aes Sedai?"

"Well," the Novice said with a smile, "Maybe it was a small bear. Like, one the size of a cat." Muireen snorted before she could help herself; she was never as graceful as her mother had wished for her to be.

"I don't think that would help my situation," she said dryly. "Doesn't the Master of Training hate cats?"

Muireen was slightly surprised that Avyra didn't accept her offer to wipe her hand on the pants that were already ruined. Either the Mistress of Novices is not as frightening as I have heard, or this girl is completely irreverent. Muireen liked irreverence; anyone who was reverent often had a stick up their butt. Luckily, Avyra did not seem to be suffering of that particular ailment.

"Oh, we can channel, just under supervision. I'd be so much further if I could actually do things on my own, that's for sure. Its bloody annoying." Muireen considered cutting in with a thought, but Avyra was off again as quickly as she had stopped. "But its for our own safety, actually. If you ended up burning yourself out it wouldn't be good." She fell quiet again, but did not speak of burning out with the same levels of fear or severity that Muireen had heard other novices use. It was more of a thoughtful pause, really - and she continued her train as thought as if it had been fluid to begin with. "That's basically what happens when you take too much in. You could still yourself."

"Hmm." It was a noncommittal noise. Muireen did not know very much about the One Power aside from the general lore; men could not teach women and women could not teach men, and if you did not have the spark or the ability, you could not be taught by anyone. In the stories, the One Power accomplished feats that were nearly unspeakable, but it was usually used for good. And darkfriends were always easily recognized, in the stories.

"Avrya," she said with a glowing smile, "I have a proposition. If you can't channel, and I'm not any good at fighting, and I'm just going to get my ass handed to me anyway, we might as well have some fun. What's a person do for fun around here?"

Avyra grinned and mischief glinted in her eyes; it was clear that this girl was a seasoned troublemaker. Muireen wasn't sure if she was pleased or concerned by this turn of events - she'd had something a little more tame in mind, like stealing honeycakes - but she followed her away from the courtyard anyway, back through a cloistered hallway. It was not yet spring outright, and away from the sunshine, the mud caked to her uniform became colder. Muireen bit back a shiver, and paid close attention to the practical wisdom that Avyra was kind enough to share with her.

"So, I've learned," she said over shoulder, walking confidently down the halls that were entirely unfamiliar to Muireen, "That you gotta avoid pranking the higher ranks. If you gotta use an honorific, its off limits." Muireen nearly had her mouth open to ask a question - How do you know that? but Avrya was quickly chatting again, like a finch returned home for the warmer months. "Because I doubt Mirin Sedai wants to see me again and Ravak Gaidin is very, very close to kicking me out of the Warder's Yards for good." He's close to kicking you out?! "Trust me, don't want to get tangled in a mess I've caught when those two are watching. They'll be livid."

Muireen scratched her head, and took a moment to envision the descending wrath of both the Mistress of Novices and the Master of Training. Why the little novice wasn't a pile of ash instead of someone that had been allowed to live, Muireen could not begin to comprehend. "Avrya," she said, her tone a cross between awe and disbelief, "I'll have to take your word on that one."

"Anyway," Avyra continued, seemingly unfazed, "Scaling the trees is only fun if you don't get caught. Or don't fall out. Or get stuck." Muireen laughed, thinking of the fat, broken branch that had been left in her mud-pile.

"It's not my fault the tree broke," she said earnestly, "Honestly, if I'm too small to pick up a "proper" weapon, the tree ought to be able to hold my weight." Admitting her insufficiency stung, but it stung much less in Avrya's company than it would have in the company of a fellow trainee. Channeling did not have height restrictions, but the pair of them would never be able to reach the top shelf of any cabinet without some sort of assistance, and if Avyra had any hopes of being a battlechanneler, she wouldn't be able to hoist a sword either.

"We could go put bugs in the library." Avyra's words felt as though they slapped Muireen across the face; bugs in the Library? It was practically hallowed ground! It was a safe haven, a room full of too much knowledge for to be absorbed for a single lifetime, or even ten lifetimes, and she wanted to put bugs in the books?!

Avyra continued, blissfully unaware of Muireen's shocked expression. "Not in the kitchens, that's gross. Yeah, the library would do. Or even the classrooms." She looked back at Muireen, and grinned. "Scratch the library. We're going to put bugs in the classrooms. If you're game."

"I - I'm - just not the Library," Muireen said emphatically. "But I'd be happy to muck up a classroom any day. Particularly if we can find Edriene Sedai's classroom," she spat the White's name with a little venom. "She counted my solutions to her test as incorrect, because I hadn't reasoned through them the way that she showed us. What's the point of algebra if you can't use creative problem solving? Or of an Ajah devoted to reason if you're not willing to let your students try to reason something out?" Muireen sighed thickly, full of a renewed sense of disgust.

"Do you know where she teaches, Avrya? Or where we're getting the bugs from?"