The Grey Tower

The cut on Terric’s cheek and the one across his ribs had finally stopped bleeding. He hadn’t made big deal about the injuries, especially in the face of the Mistress of Novices’ horrible gut wound. The fact that she was even still alive was incredible. Hopefully the knowledge about how to heal would make it’s way back to the Threefold Land. Maybe Rhaile or Jhanic could take the knowledge back there one day.

Terric’s eyes swept the dark streets as they walked. The battle seemed to have moved elsewhere, but stragglers could always present a problem. The Novices looked exhausted and Ravak Gaidin’s hands were full. If anything did attack them, it would be up to him, Gaval Hanania, and Artur Baeyn to keep the group alive. He didn’t like the odds if they faced a large group. They kept to the back streets in hopes of avoiding larger troop movements. It worked for the most part, but occasionally they would have to freeze and quietly duck into a building when they heard boots on a neighboring street. Once the group finally reached the Tower grounds, Ravak Gaidin split off to take Mirin to the infirmary. Waving goodbye to Gaval Hanania, Terric turned to follow, the least he could do would be getting the cuts cleaned and properly bandaged. Getting an infection from what amounted to a couple of scratches would be a hilariously disappointing way of waking from the dream.

As the party broke up, Terric turned to seek out Avrya. She beat him to it, throwing her arms around his torso and barring her face against his chest. She didn’t even seem bothered by his bloody uniform as she clung onto him for dear life. "Light, I was so worried, Terric! I thought you'd get hurt, the way you were fighting,” she said with her face pressed against him.

Caught off guard, Terric didn’t know what to do. Standing in the middle of a courtyard hugging? He knew it was a Wetlander thing, and he could feel her trembling. It was ok to ignore decorum for a friend. Carefully he switched his spears to his left hand and wrapped his arms around her gently, right hand cupping the back of her head. “I was so worried about you. Why did you go running off?” His voice was soft, but the emotions were clear. Fear battled anger and frustration, but exhaustion was winning. “I’m always too late to save the people he loved. I can’t let that happen to you.” He didn’t have the energy to lecture her tonight, but he needed to. She had run off alone putting herself in unnecessary danger, and endangering everybody else when they went out looking for her. He’d say that at some point, but right now, he just wanted to hold on to her because she was still alive.

She was crying. He didn’t blame her, after his first battle, he’d been a wreck. Nobody should have to be alone after something like that. She’d killed a man for the first time earlier. She needed a friend right now. He held her close as she cried. “You didn’t make everything worse. You saved an Aes Sedai,” he kept his voice pitched low and comforting. “Just next time, take somebody with you next time you have to go running off, ok? You don’t need to prove yourself.” He wouldn’t tell her to stay away from the fighting. Even if she’d listen, it wasn’t his place to. She deserved the choice to risk her life as much as anybody else. She just didn’t have to childishly run off.

Terric reached up and brushed away her tears with his thumb, “Are you ok, Avyra? I’ve been exactly where you are, if you need to talk to somebody, don’t be afraid to.”

Truth be told, Terric thought she’d handled herself well tonight. If she hadn’t burned that first enemy soldier, he would have probably killed or wounded both of them. The girl crying against his chest didn’t want to hear any of that. He couldn’t bring himself to somehow never let her use the Power to defend herself again. The Oaths already limited what an Aes Sedai could do, he wouldn’t see her even more handicapped because of a promise in the heat of the moment. Instead he just held her in silence, stroking her hair as she cried herself out.

Surprisingly, holding on to Avyra made him feel better as well. He had nearly lost her today, but he hadn’t. She was right here in his arms, warm and alive. He wanted to promise her that he’d never let anything happen to her, but only a fool would make a promise he couldn’t keep. Besides, he’d never met a woman outside as story book who’d actually wanted to be treated like that.

Terric was unsure how much time had passed, but he needed to have his injuries seen too, and they both needed sleep. He gave her one last squeeze and regretfully extricated himself. “Unless you know how to clean and sew wounds, I need to go to the infirmary,” he said with a soft smile.

“I don’t see any harm in that. We’ve already broken curfew and left the Tower grounds,” Terric said, some of his humor returning. He set off leading the way, and tried not to outpace her. A part of him idly thought that she might want to walk there arm in arm, but that wouldn’t happen. As if that wasn’t improper as it was, on a night like this in particular, he wanted his spear hand free.

Over the years Terric had learned to cope with rapidly fading adrenaline so that he wouldn’t begin to shake or do other things that could put his life in further danger. Returning pain, however, was unavoidable. The two wounds weren’t bad, but they did burn. The cut on his ribs ached every time he move, and his face hurt when he talked. He’d endure it though, he didn’t want Avyra to just walk along in silence, lost in her own thoughts. Instead he fished around for any topic, any topic. He settled on one and asked, “I’ve never heard you play your flute. Would you play for me one day?”

Terric stifled a yawn. “Busy? Yes, not even the last few weeks, this day has been,” he searched for a proper adjective before settling on, “long. I started this morning looking for a rug for my sister. I was going to find a merchant traveling to the Threefold Land and pay him to carry it. That all went up in smoke when the shop was apparently vandalized. After that, the entire city went up in smoke.” He let out a small laugh, it wasn’t the funniest of wordplay, but sometimes anything was better than nothing. Terric had learned to use levity as a tool long ago. It was always harder for people to dance the spears when they were laughing.

Pushing down a second yawn, he playfully elbowed her, “So what were you up to before we were so rudely invaded?”