Brynnah wandered down one of the many hallways in the White Tower, glad for the chance to take a break from classes and chores. Ever since she had arrived at this place, it seemed she had never gotten a moment to herself. Perhaps that was what was natural for a novice, but still! If the Aes Sedai ever wanted their numbers to increase further, they would have to stop trying so hard to kill off all their novices!

Turning around a corner, she found herself facing a large doorway, and saw that this led to the library. Curious, she decided to step inside. She'd heard that the Tower library was one of the largest in the world! Whether that was true or not, she decided to take a look inside. Books and learning didn't quite fascinate her enough to consider the Brown Ajah as an option, but it might be nice to look around a little, even find an interesting book to read. And who knew, there might even be other novices in there. She hadn't had much of an oppurtunity to meet anyone yet, and was eager to meet some of the others. Maybe she'd even find a friend here in this place....the Tower could seem quite overwhelming at times but hopefully after she got to know some people it wouldn't seem quite so bad.

Stepping inside, she began wandering up and down the aisles scanning the various titles as she went, hoping something would catch her eye

Zaide stepped out of the classroom, glad to be done. He liked learning, that was certain, and the topic of the class was not that bad either. But the Dedicated teaching it was certainly one of the most frustrating, annoying people Zaide had ever met. The man had only been raised to Dedicated a few weeks ago, and the power had clearly gone to his head. Oh, he did not abuse it, he did not order the soldiers around much more than any other Dedicated did, but his attitude was far more haughty, as were his actions. Zaide had not liked the man as a soldier, and he certainly did not like him now. But, the class was done, completely finished, and Zaide would never have to attend it again. If all worked out as he hoped, he would not have to have any classes that this man taught. Zaide had some free time before he had to report to his chores, there was a bit of free time in his schedule now, but made larger by the fact that this lesson had ended earlier than anticipated. He wondered a moment about where he should spend his time, he could, of course, catch a very quick nap in the next half hour or so, but he discarded that idea. Zaide had been in the Tower enough years that he was used to the schedule of the soldiers, it was still a tiring schedule, but where at first it had been exhausting, almost unbearable, now Zaide could function fairly well on a short night's sleep. If he had to. His immediate idea was to go to the gardens, and just sit for a little while. There were always so many people there, though, and Zaide was not in the mood for a crowd- not that he ever was, of course. It took him a few minutes to think of anything else that he could do, and finally, it came to him. The library. He smiled slightly, over the past few months, Zaide had developed a liking for the library, and the knowledge it held. Recently, reading had become much more a pleasure and less a chore. Yes, he would go to the library.

Zaide, decision made, turned his steps to reflect that. It was not much of a change, at least not yet, he had to go the same general direction no matter where he went- he could not visit much of the White Tower, after all. He walked the finally-familiar corridors of the Black Tower, and made his way to the nearest door that he knew would take him into the grounds. Zaide had been a soldier long enough that he knew short routes to many places, at least, places the soldiers were allowed to go. He did not hate this place anymore. Though he did not want to admit it, maybe this place was becoming home. At least, it was more home than that farm in Andor had ever been, which was not saying much. He still did not love it here, but he had decided that he would be able to stand becoming Dedicated, and eventually Asha'man. Partially, he knew, his decision was influenced by Eithne. A sister of the Brown Ajah, and at one time, the leader of the Shadow in the Tower. She had, apparently, stepped down from that, and now the Master of Soldiers was in charge. Eithne had been one of the few people that Zaide did not mind. Then again, he only met her a few times, but from the way she presented herself, he thought that she was not so bad. Zaide knew that it did not have anything to do with the fact that she, too, was sworn to the Great Lord, for others that Zaide knew among their numbers were just as annoying as those loyal to the Light. More than that, though, Eithne had tied him to the Towers. She had administered his Oaths, and after those were taken, Zaide could not imagine leaving the Tower. He knew that the Dedicated were said to be sealed to the Towers, but for Zaide, he knew that the Oaths he had taken soon after coming to this place sealed him far more strongly than whatever test the Dedicated had, even if that had not been its original intent.

He shook off those thoughts, they were not nearly as frightening or intimidating as they had been years ago, but right now, he prefered to focus on the library. He made his way quickly through the grounds, trying to look busy. Asha'man and Dedicated- and Aes Sedai, Accepted, Gaidin and Youngling, for that matter -were far less likely to send a busy soldier on an errand than an idle one. So he walked quickly, and kept his head down slightly. Of course, the latter was a characteristic of many soldiers, busy or not. He made his way directly to the library where, again, he thought he would be safe from errands, those in higher ranks generally did not interrupt studies. Zaide realized then that he was coming toward the library from the wrong way. Well, that could not be helped, he would simply have to go around. There was only one door the soldiers and novices could use, called the Novice Door. Zaide had once questioned the name to an Asha'man al'Dieb Cha, and had been told two things. The first, and apparently more important, was not to question. The second, though, was an answer: this door had carried that name long before the Asha'man became a part of the Tower, and the name had never been changed. Well, that made sense to Zaide, and besides, it was much easier to say "Novice Door" than "Soldier and Novice Door." And that door was almost all the way around the library, not a small building, by any means. But he walked quickly, and was not interrupted for an errand, thankfully. He reached the small Novice Door, and stepped inside.

Zaide wasted no time in finding his way through the shelves. He was not entirely certain what he wanted to read, but had no doubt that he would find something. He had not been searching long when he rounded one of the shelves and nearly ran into someone. Blood and ashes, why wasn't I watching? He looked up, and saw a plain, white dress. A novice. The woman did not seem to have noticed, she was clearly looking for something, thankfully. She appeared to be several years older than Zaide, maybe a bit younger than he had been when he came to the Tower. Then she was probably new. No, not necessarily, he reminded himself, women started channeling earlier, she might have been in the Tower for a few years, but neither did she look too old to be new, either. Some people, he knew, could tell a new person to the Towers simply by looking at them, Zaide had not spent enough time around people to have that ability, it was not one he cared to ever posess, either. Zaide did not much care for people, and yet he thought he should say something to the tiny woman he had nearly run over- for he was quite sure he could -even if she did not seem to have noticed it. "Hello," he said quietly. Zaide was no good at starting conversations, especially with strangers. Oh, he had tried a few times, but it seemed that they never lasted more than a few oh-so-awkward moments. And yet, every now and then, he decided to try once more.

"Travels of Jain Farstrider," "Into the Waste: Customs of the Aiel," "Voyages With the Seafolk," Brynnah read some of the book titles to herself. The Seafolk...now there was a people she had yet to learn very much about, although the few tidbits she had heard sounded curious. Perhaps that book on the Seafolk was worth a read. The book in question was located on the bottom shelf, towards the far end, so she made her way over.

Just as she was about to bend down and pick up the book, someone rounded the corner, and stopped just short of walking into her. A bit startled by the abrupt appearance, she stepped back and looked up to see who the newcomer was. It always is up for me... she thought ruefully, very much aware of her small stature. Just once, she wished she could meet someone shorter than herself, so that she wasn't always having to crane her head upwards.

It was a man. A very tall man, standing over a head taller than she herself, although she realized that was relative. But aside from his being a tall man, Brynnah really couldn't place him anywhere. Maybe he was one of the recruits who trained to become Gaidin. Or maybe he was one of the channellers in the Black Tower. He bore no sword or dragon pin, so he couldn't be a Dedicated or Asha'men, but perhaps he was one of the soldiers. She just didn't know enough faces around the Towers to be sure.

"Hello," she heard him say quietly. Brynnah smiled in return, attempting to be friendly. "Hello." She wondered for a moment what to say next. She had always suffered from being painfully shy around others, and was only recently making an attempt to break out of her shell. But she still felt awkward and didn't really know what to say to people. "Umm...I'm Brynnah. Who might you be?" she inquired curiously, a bit embarassed that she didn't have a clue as to who he was. Then, she inwardly winced at how direct that sounded. Light, she probably sounded like a fool.

Zaide was more than thankful when the novice smiled, apparently she was not angry at him for nearly running over her. Zaide was not a small man, but she was a very small woman, if he were in her place, he thought that he would have been rather angry. The woman introduced herself as Brynnah. A pretty name, he thought, he had never heard of it. She asked him, in return, who he was. Clearly she was better at conversation than him, not that that was difficult. "I'm Zaide," he said simply, "I'm sorry I nearly ran into you." Certainly she deserved an apology after all, Zaide would have wanted one. Zaide glanced at the shelves, just to see what section he had found himself in. Cultures. Not an unknown section to him, he had found a book on Shara here a few weeks ago. Now, though, he was in a section that appeared to be dedicated more toward the Seafolk. Not a culture that Zaide had ever learned about, nor did he really wish to. Shara was interesting, yes, but not interesting enough for him to start studying cultures more than a bit here and there. He turned to the shelf on his other side, and read a few titles "The Days of the Dragon Reborn" sat next to "Egwene al'Vere's Changes to the Tower." Along the row, there were several more books pertaining to the times just before and after the Dragon Reborn left to fight Tarmon Gaidon. That was something that Zaide thought would interest him, history, he wondered just how far back the Tower's library went.

Zaide blinked again, and realized that he must look incredibly rude, paying more attention to the bookshelves than the woman he had nearly flattened. "So," he said, looking around for something to say, "what are you looking for?" He knew it was a stupid thing to say, but he could not think of anything else. It was not that he was shy, not really, it was simply that he had very little practice in actually talking to people any more than was necessary. Recently he had been trying to fix that, but so far he had not gotten very far. He waited for her to answer, wondering whether she was in this section of the library on purpose, or if she was lost. The latter was not uncommon, it was a huge library, certainly large enough to get lost in, if one did not know his way around. If she was new, odds were, she did not know her way around just yet. Zaide was no expert on the library, he had not been overly interested in it for very long, but maybe if she was lost he could help her. If nothing else, Zaide knew where the librarian's desk was, and he or she- whoever was on duty today -would certainly be able to help. Likely a Brown or Dieb Cha, there was a chance that whoever they asked would mean interrupting a daydream. That was more likely for the Browns, though, Asha'man were still trained as weapons on some level, and Zaide did not think that he had ever seen one not completely alert of his surroundings.

Brynnah nearly laughed when the man, Zaide, he said his name was, apologized for almost running into her. If she had a silver mark for every time someone had neglected to notice her in time, she would have been a much wealthier woman! She didn't know if it was her short size, thin frame, or perhaps it was her overall plainness in general that caused her to blend in with her surroundings. At this rate, she was getting used to it. "Please, don't worry about it," she said lightly. "I'm still in one piece, so there's no damage done!"

She watched him as he turned to look at one of the nearby shelves. It seemed to mostly contain historical books. No interest to Brynnah really. It was the present that she was mainly interested in, the people and places of today. You couldn't solve yesterday's problems, but it was possible to solve today's. She wondered if the man was merely browsing the section because he happened to be standing there, or was he maybe a scholar of sorts? Just then he turned back around. "So," he said, after a slight pause, "what are you looking for?"

"Nothing in particular." Brynnah replied, noticing the fact that he had continued the conversation beyond what mere politeness required, and a bit glad that she had someone to talk to. "I just came in to look around, and noticing the Cultures section, thought I might read about one I am less familier with." She paused a moment. "And what about yourself. Are you searching for something in particular? I noticed you were scanning the History titles...are you by chance a scholar or something?" she inquired, with a smile, and a nod towards the shelves.

Brynnah quickly answered that she was not really looking for anything, and asked Zaide about what he was looking at. He could not keep from chuckling when she asked whether he was a scholar or something of that sort. "I'm sorry," he said, "it's just that I don't often get asked that...never before, actually. I'm just a soldier, don't really have time to be a scholar." If the girl had thought that, then she must be new, if she did not recognize the soldier uniform. No pins on his collar meant that he held no sway here, at least, not outside of the soldiers. Not really within the soldiers, either, for that matter. He had never thought of being a scholar before, he had finally come to expect that he would one day be Asha'man, though he was still not certain of which Shen. Asha'man were not often scholars, as far as he knew, except maybe the Dieb Cha, and not even them necessarily. "I've never really read anything on history, but I think maybe I will, it seems interesting. I don't know much about cultures either, I read a book on Shara once, but that's all." He did not bother to go into detail on the book, it had been interesting, but he did not want to bore this woman with what little information was known about the strange land beyond the Waste. Perhaps Brynnah already knew something about it, anyway, she had spoken as if she had some knowledge in the area of cultures already. Zaide had to admire the ability to study the cultures, Shara had been quite interesting, but not enough that he had much desire to read another book of that sort, at least, not right now.

Zaide tried to think of something else to say or do, but nothing was quick in coming to his mind. He had done fairly well thus far, he thought, but it was about time for his luck to run out. He thought about just taking a book and politely excusing himself from Brynnah's company, likely she had not come here to meet a soldier, anyway. But the fact that he had nearly run this woman over kept him from it. He would not have cared if it were a man, but he thought it would be unfair of him to leave after he had nearly knocked the tiny woman down kept him where he was. Zaide knew it was not the best of reasons to stay here, but then again, he had nothing else to do right now. If he left, then he might well get sent on an errand. The latter, to Zaide, seemed a much better reason to find something else to say to this woman. Finally, he decided on a question that was asked fairly often among initiates, but Zaide wondered about it this time. "How long have you been in the Tower?" he asked. He expected that she would say only a few days- maybe a little over a week. Any more and he would be surprised that she had asked him whether he was a scholar. It was possible, though, that she had been here longer and simply been too busy with novice duties to learn exactly how the Black Tower was set up, and so he asked. He did not want to assume, after all, and embarass himself by it.

Brynnah couldn't keep her cheeks from flushing hotly when Zaide started chuckling. Apparently she had made some sort of mistake...again..she thought ruefully. It seemed her life had been nothing but mistakes since coming here. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to be back in her room- preferably alone, although that might be difficult seeing as how she shared it with three other girls. [I]Now stop it! she mentally told herself. You've always run away. If you never confront your fears, you'll never get past them. And what kind of Aes Sedai is afraid to talk to people? [/I]she lectured herself sternly, leaving out the obvious point that she was far from Aes Sedai yet- that was beside the point, as she aspired to become one some day.

Her thought process was interrupted when she realized that the man was speaking to her again. "I'm sorry," he said, "it's just that I don't often get asked that...never before, actually. I'm just a soldier, don't really have time to be a scholar." So, a soldier then. He was one of those in the Black Tower that could channel. From the little she had learned about the Black Tower, she thought she remembered that the Soldiers were to the Black Tower what the novices were to the White. All she really remembered was the basic three rankings, and that the Dedicated and Asha'men wore special pins. It was hard enough just learning what was expected of her in the White Tower, without trying to learn about the specifics of the Black.

"I've never really read anything on history, but I think maybe I will, it seems interesting." Zaide continued. "I don't know much about cultures either, I read a book on Shara once, but that's all." Brynnah nodded slightly. She had always found learning about the various peoples and cultures of the world fascinating, and Shara was one of the first cultures that she had read about. Although, however interesting, she was not nearly as obsessive as some of the Aes Sedai she had seen-the Brown, she thought it was. Now there were some learned people! She had to wonder though--did all that knowledge really serve much purpose? So much of it seemed trivial information. Perhaps that was why she enjoyed learning about the cultures-- maybe if you knew enough about the people, you could understand the way they thought, and help solve problems and difficulties that would arise...

She realized that her thoughts were headed down a rambling rabbit trail, and she hastily brought them back to the here and now. After a quiet moment, she heard aide ask, "How long have you been in the Tower?" A common question, she had heard it asked a lot. "Not long." she replied. "Just under a week. So I'm still trying to figure everything out," Brynnah added, making herself smile, in an attempt to cover her embarrassment. "What about you?" she then asked, turning the question right back on him. She wondered again why he hadn't grown bored with the conversation and gone off, like so many others. But as long as he was still there, she was going to attempt to be friendly, forcing her shyness down in the hopes it would one day leave.