Room for Growth (Atten Cal)

[Locke]

Alric "Old Man" Aurella

It couldn’t last. Nothing did. Alric had been enjoying having a room to himself. He’d even begun pushing the beds together to sleep. He had to make both in the morning, but there were worse things in the world. It was a sight better than sleeping in an army camp. Word had come down to him earlier that day that he was being given a new roommate. He’d lived in close proximity to others for enough time to know these arrangements can all be very hit or miss. Best case scenario, they would spend as little time together as necessary. He wasn’t looking for new friends among the Soldiers. He had anywhere between five to ten years on most of them and sometimes he felt that age.

Alric busied himself tidying up and removing his belongings from the other side of the room. He didn’t have much, what little he’d not turned over to the quarter masters had been destroyed when the old Novices’ and Soldier’s quarters was destroyed. What few positions he did have were now stored or folded precisely on his side of the room. It was all quite inspection ready. Sometimes he was glad he hadn’t totally forgotten how to be Captain Aurella. Passing a sword propped in one corner, Alric walked over to his desk to pick out something to read. He’d picked out a collection of essays from various writers called “On Flight: Theories on Birds and other Creatures of the Air” and settled down on his bed in his shirtsleeves when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Alric called, turning a page. It had to be another Soldier, maybe even his new roommate. Dedicated didn’t knock.

[Cal]

Zuin pushed open the door and entered the room. There were two beds and two desks along with some places to store belongings apart from that the room was plain and small. Not that he had many possessions. He hadn't been given time to pack and instead been half thrown, half flung through a gateway when he had been sick with the channelling sickness after he had channelled for the first time. When he had regained consciousness he had been in the infirmary here with nothing but the small travelling trunk he had taken from his home when he started his journey. That trunk was held in his hands now as he walked.

As he entered he saw two beds, one with a man sitting on it and other empty. He moved as quickly as he could to the empty bed and put his trunk down. His muscles relaxed after the work they had been put through. The thought made him realised just how weak he was, a fact he hated about himself. Well that was what he got for sitting in a library all day studying.

He forced himself to stop focusing on his own weakness and instead focused on the man sitting across from him. He was older than most of the other Soldiers Zuin had so far seen meaning he was significantly older than Zuin, who at fifteen was by far one, if not the, youngest Soldiers currently in the Tower. Zuin thought he might be about thirty with dark hair and skin. He couldn't place the man's homeland if he had tried.

He forced himself to speak despite the nerves that gripped him. He had never been good with people. "Hello, I'm Zuin. What's your name." He asked hoping his nerves didn't show on his face or in his voice. He doubted that he would get his wish and cursed himself for his weakness quietly inside his head.

[Locke]

Alric Aurella

He didn’t sigh, he wanted to, but that would be rude. It would probably be the last thing the boy needed to hear. Whose idea was it to give him a roommate half his age? He didn’t have to like it, he just had to live with it. It was a lesson he’d learned years ago.

Alric reminded himself to keep an open mind. He had to admit, he was feeling a little sour about the arrangement, but he had not given Zuin a fair shake yet. He climbed out of bed extending his hand for a firm handshake. “Alric Aurella. Don’t worry, kid. I don’t eat new recruits,” he said with a somewhat friendly smile. In the army he’d usually finished that introduction with, I just feed them to the sergeants, but there weren’t any sergeants around, nor was he a captain anymore. The new kid did need somebody to show him the ropes though. Even if the surviving Soldiers and Novices had not agreed to set an example for the next generation, Alric would have felt the same way. He’d done his best to take new recruits under his wing in his military days. He had been a scared recruit himself until Havar took him under his grizzled wing. This, Alirc was fine with. He would rather have a roommate closer to his own age though. It couldn’t be helped. The only direction to move was forward. Sitting back on the edge of his own bed Alric said, “If we’re going to be living together, we should get to know each other a bit, and establish some ground rules. Go on, Zuin, tell me a bit about yourself.”

[Cal]

Zuin shook the mans hand then sat down and thought. Tell the man a bit about himself. He would probably laugh at Zuin for how weak he was but Zuin was accustomed to that. He might as well get this over and done with. "Well I was born in Andor, I have two older brothers. My mother died a year after I was born in childbirth. My father never particularly cared about me. He had my brothers, they would inherit, not me. I was just a failure in his eyes, the weakest of the bunch. I was mainly left to myself for most of my childhood. I discovered a week ago that I could channel when I killed some bandits. That's about all there is to me."

It was a brutally honest description of his lift. Depressingly so. It made him realise just how lonely his childhood had been. He hadn't minded at the time but looking back he could see it. Kill those men had probably been the best thing he ever did. He laughed quietly at the though. It was brutal and depressing at the same time. How low did you have to be to find killing someone to be the best thing toy have ever done.

He didn't feel guilt over it, just regretted that it had came to what it had. Guilt was pointless in this situation. He had no control of the situation, his counter had been instinctive and violent but it hadn't been his fault. He might not like killing the men but he wouldn't lose sleep over it. If he hadn't kill them then someone else would have eventually. It didn't make him like it any more though. He pushed his thoughts away from his past and to the man in front of him.

"So what about you then? I'm guessing you were military?" He asked. He was fairly confident in his guess. Not just because of the way the man held himself but because of what he had said earlier. I don't eat new recruits. It was spoken by somebody accustomed to newbie and combined with the mans bearing he was willing to guess military as his back ground.

[Locke]

Alric

Alric’s eyebrow twitched in surprise. That was detailed, and rather bleak. It was technical answer, but it didn’t tell him much. Maybe it did. Was his own self-image filtered through the lack of his father’s approval? That in of itself was rather alien to him. He’d grown up in a loving and tight knit family, even if he hadn’t done more than write to them for the last decade. Maybe he’d be able to face them again one day.

Laying back on his bed, Alric answered with a confident smile for the ceiling, “You guessed right, I was a military man. Six years fighting for those sods over in Cairhien. It’s just one of the lives I’ve lived. I can tell you from experience, killing a man is strange. Some people go to tears after their first time, others don’t. You’re not weak if you did, nor are you a monster if you didn’t.” He looked over fixing the younger man’s gaze with his own, “I’m telling you this because I don’t know if you’ve had this talk. I just know you need to. It doesn’t always affect people in the same way. You it might hit you in a few days or a few years. I’ve seen men survive a ninety-nine battles to go to tears by their hundredth. None of this is an absolute though. Some men have nightmares, others turn to drink or reckless behavior. If you need to talk to somebody about that, I’ve been there.”

The Solder paused and let out a somewhat forced laugh, “That went somewhere much darker than I’d expected. What do you do for fun, kid?” Looking around the small room, Alric made sure he remembered, they would have to establish some general rules and the like, for both of their sakes.

[Cal]

What Alric had said about killing made sense, everybody was different and everybody would react different. He had reacted with coldness he supposed and logic, he had thought about it and reasoned it through. Justifying his actions and thoughts to himself. For the moment he was fine, later if he killed more people he might not be but that was for then and this was now. He would deal with that if and when the day came.

"Well I tend to read, mainly histories but occasionally more specific texts if there is something I want to learn about." He said. It was all he had really done for his childhood. Reading and studying, it had kept him out of his father's and brothers' way. Something both sides had been happy for.

Usually he had study military history, the history of battles and the strategies used to fight them. It had always fascinated him as they were logical and structured while at the same time being totally chaotic and unpredictable. It was impossible to know how a battle would turn out, all you could do was plan and hope for the best. He did note to himself that he had no intention of ever being part of a battle. He might enjoy learning about them but getting involved in one would almost certainly get him killed. He had no idea how to fight and even with the edge brought to him by the Power he would be cut down in moments.

[Locke]

Alric

“You know what, kid? I think we’ll get along just fine.” Rolling over on his own bed, he reached for one of the books on his desk. Sitting up he proffered it to his new roommate. The thick red leather bound tome was titled “Blood, Gold, and the Rose”, it was a history of a particularly bloody Andoran succession.

“The library here is massive, I doubt you’ve even seen as many books before. Just keep an eye out for flying marshmallows,” he added with a grin. Gesturing towards the book, he said, “That’s an interesting read, but I’ve noticed, these histories get bogged down with clinical discerptions of the numbers dead or the exploits of one lord or other. That’s only the barest minimum, but they don’t talk about the lives of the soldiers. What does it feel like to hold against a charge? What’s camp life like? What about the common folk whose lives are disrupted by war? That’s all history isn’t it?” Years of constant warfare had not managed to kill Alric the excitable apprentice scholar. He was an old soldier now, but that love of learning had never faded.

[Cal]

A scholar, Zuin realized. The man was a scholar despite his years a soldier. The way he had spoken told Zuin he was a scholar. Only a scholar could speak with such enthusiasm about a subject most would consider exceptionally boring. Even he had only a bit of interesting in the backgrounds of war although he did admit he was fascinated by what it would be like in the heart of the battle. What would that feel like he wondered.

That was one sensation he doubted he would ever get to feel and hoped that he never did either. If he learned what it was like to hold against a charge then that meant he was probably in the heat of a battle.

Suddenly something the man had said caught him "What do you mean watch out for flying marshmallows?" Zuin asked. He assumed it was something One Power based but that didn't make the idea less strange.

He reached over and picked the book Alric had proffered up. He had never read it before but he had seen it and wanted to but something had always gotten in his way.

"You don't mind if I borrow this for a while do you?" Zuin asked as he sat back down. He was itching to read it bur he forced himself to put it aside while he was talking to the man.

[Locke]

Alric

“Sure, kid, just get it back to me by the end of the week,” Alric said with a lazy wave, “I’ll check it back out if you’re not done with it.” Books were so easy to come by here. The Tower owned more books than his old patrons the Tayron family and the Mayene Palace Library combined.

“Oh, and the marshmallow thing.” A toothy grin split his face, “There’s an Aes Sedai, Katrie. She’s a Brown sister and not quite what most people would think of when they think ‘Aes Sedai’.” Continuing in a fond tone, Alric said, “She’d be an odd woman, even if she wasn’t Aes Sedai. Unlike most Browns, she’s not really interested in pouring over dusty tombs, she’d rather poke slimy things, pour molten metal or stuff, or build small siege equipment to launch marshmallows at people. I think that’s why we get along so well. There’s only so much you can learn from books, there comes a point when first hand observation becomes a must.” He wasn’t sure if Zuin would be intrigued or intimidated by his madwoman of a mentor, but he hoped the two would get along. This boy seemed to have Brown in his future.

[Cal]

Zuin nodded his thanks and acknowledge meant. He would be able to read a book in a week, even with his other studies and homework. He doubted they could take up that much time and he was a fast reader besides that. The book looked good but he put it aside and returned his attention to Alric as he spoke about the flying marshmallows.

He had to admit that this didn't sound like normal Aes Sedai behaviour from what he knew of it, especially for a Brown. Browns were not known for being experimental. From what he could gather Browns sat in their rooms and studied, they didn't build catapults to throw marshmallows at people, as fun as that might sound. He wanted to meet this women even if it was so he knew who to avoid in future although he didn't think it would be that case from the sounds of her. She sounded a bit wild but she was a Brown so there would be a method to her madness he was sure.

"Why did she want to build siege equipment to launch marshmallows?" Zuin asked curiously. He could think of several reasons but he wasn't sure that with this women any would apply. Who knew what her motives were.