The Grey Tower

Avyra + Tempest the Gyrfalcon

The cold winter was very dreary. The sky was gray, the ground powdered white. The wind cut through you. Tempest puffed up her white feathers, sitting comfortably on Avyra's fist. She had managed to find a nice bench to sit on, even if it was uncomfortably cold from the snow. Tempest didn't mind, though. She seemed to enjoy being out. Avyra reached out a finger to the bird's chest, and the falcon puffed up even more, rotating her body backwards to avoid Avyra's finger, sharp, hooked beak designed to tear off heads clicking dangerously. Avyra rolled her eyes, letting the bird me, dropping her hand. Tempest relaxed, resettling her feet on Avyra's thick glove. The Accepted was having trouble with her studies. So much was going on. But her birds helped. Kyella, Tempest, and Theta were all wonderful hunting companions; she knew she'd be sad to see them all go come summer. So she enjoyed it while she could. She had just taken Tempest out on her hunt, so a reward was needed for the white falcon flecked in black spots. "Tempest." The bird looked at her. She took out a small mouse from her pocket, one Tempest had just killed. Perking up, the falcon watched her with suddenly brighter dark eyes and a more interested demeanor. She hid the mouse beside her. Tempest followed her hand with her eyes, peering around to try to see the prize better. She clicked her beak and looked at Avyra expectingly, then back to her hand. Avyra laughed and gave the falcon her food, which she ate up quickly, never taking her eyes from her surroundings.

Zuin was walking through the Tower grounds when he saw the girl sitting on the bench with the falcon perching on her hand which was protected by a glove. The girl was small and dressed in what looked like an Accepted's banded white dress. That caught him off guard. He had see falconers at his fathers estates and even once or twice since he had arrived at the Tower but he had never even thought to see an Accepted dirtying her hands by working, and with birds no less. It was very unlike an Accepted, so much so that he stopped to stare at the girl as she sat feeding the word.

He himself had never trusted birds, they always seemed to be looking at you with those little beady eyes and then there were the talons those things had. They could rip a mans arm up quite badly if they decided to attack. He had seen it happen once or twice back home. The bird had always been caught and killed afterwards but people had lost the use of their arms before the birds had been caught. That was the problem with flying creatures, they were hard to catch. But I have the Power he reminded himself. He could simply blast the bird apart with Fire and catch it with Air. It wouldn't even be difficult for him. He smiled lightly at the thought of something not being difficult for him, up until this point the only thing he had been good for was reaching but now he also had channelling and that could be far more useful.

Tempest finished her meal, then fluffed up her feathers, ruffling them before smoothing them out again. She looked at Avyra, then made a quick series of high pitched sounds. "I don't have anymore." She clicked her beak, then rubbed it on her now slightly bloodied feathers, cleaning them off as she preened. She still seemed to want more food. But something else caught her attention. She looked over behind Avyra suddenly, dark eyes fixed on someone. She began to make the sound again, slightly puffed up once more. Avyra looked as well, and smiled at the boy behind her. He was a Soldier, and new, from the look on his face. Everyone was familiar with Avyra's birds. "What can I do for you, Soldier?" Maybe he was lost.

Sorry, my lack of knowledge of birds showing, lets assume Zuin's father had some very bad falconers or that the magical falcons of the Wot world are for some unknown reason different from our falcons.

Zuin watched as the bird finished its meal and began to clean itself. Suddenly its head came up and looked around briefly before staring straight at him. He flinched slightly and resisted the urge to grab the Source. Not just because he could use it as a weapon but also the emotionless that it brought. Yes he had to fight it but it was a fight devoid of emotion of caring. It was just the simple act of the fight that was enough. Passion meant nothing to Saidin.

He laughed quietly to himself inside his head, what could he do to defend himself even if he did hold the source, light a candle a the bird. He knew nothing about wielding the power. The time he had called lightning had be a one off. He couldn't do it again and even if he tried the Accepted would shield him and punish him. He doubted she would look kindly on him if he attacked her bird.

Then she suddenly spoke. He panicked slightly but replied on near instinct "Apologises Accepted. I was just looking at the bird." He marvelled at that. Two weeks ago he would have panicked even the though of talking to an Accepted, now after doing it several times as well as talking to Aes Sedai and Asha'man he was getting practised at replying to their questions.

Zuin sat next to the girl and tried to control his breath, staving off the fear he could feel growing in his gut at behind so close to an Accepted. He was still not accustomed to being near those ranked higher than him and that was when they were facing him over desks or from the other side of a class room. Being next to one was a different. While this one seemed nice enough he had seen enough Accepted who were anything but nice even if they were occasionally.

"My names Zuin Faere. I've been here about four weeks." He replied in answer to the Accepted questions. He wanted to ask her the same questions but he had learned quickly for watching others that questioning the middle and upper ranks about personal matters was a quick way to get sent to Master of Soldiers or the Mistress of Novices. So instead he sat and watched the bird again. He still didn't truth the thing but could at least trust the Accepted on the fact that it didn't mind people. Despite the fact he didn't sit to close to the girl or her bird, there was no point in throwing caution to the winds when you didn't need to was there.

Zuin watched the bird cautiously as it cleaned it's feathers and focused on him. He didn't like its beady little eyes and the way that the seemed to cut through him when they looked at him. They reminded him of an Aes Sedai's eyes when they were curious about something. Those unnerving eyes and emotionless faces never failed to get at him.

The Accepted suddenly spoke snapping him out of his thoughts. By her judgement most Accepted would be sorry excuses then. Just about every Accepted he had meet had tried to pull rank on him. He couldn't really do anything about it but hope to slip past them undetected so as to avoid them giving him tasks or work. Even in his few weeks here he had already learned that so long as you looked busy then people tended to assume that you were and so wouldn't stop you to give you work. It was a strategy that had worked well thus far.

He nodded in acknowledgment of the Accepted introduction before plucking up his courage and asking "What's it like being here, for years on end I mean?" It seemed a safe enough question and was all he was willing to risk asking at the moment despite her reassurances.

Well he liked learning things and studying, it was all he had done for his childhood. Never playing, just learning. He probably knew more than most men twice his age. As for the upper ranks not caring, well his father hadn't cared about him. If they treated him like a child then it would be more than his father ever had.

"Well studying and learning suits me fine and if they don't really care then it wouldn't make a difference from what I've had for the past fifteen years." He said, surprised at the bitterness in his voice. It wasn't like him to be bitter. He guessed he just been thinking about his childhood, if it could be called that, too much of late. There was no point in being bitter about it, bitterness wouldn't change anything. All he could do was look to the future.

"Sorry, I'm not usually like this. This weather had put me in a funny mood. Do you mind if I ask one more question?" He said. Then continued quickly before she could say anything and before his own courage failed him. It seemed wrong to be quizzed an Accepted, even after what she had said. "Isn't three years very quick to become Accepted. Don't most people take longer?"

He had neglected to mention the rest of his childhood or his thoughts about it. After all he barely knew this girl and he wasn't about to start dumping all his problems on her. For the most part he hadn't disliked his childhood but of late he had began to feel that it had been wasted. He had spend the whole time reading and learning instead of being a child. It was a sad thought. It was a shame he had released only know that he was beginning the path to adulthood but he couldn't do anything about that right now.