Sloane stared at the bowl in front of him. It was a meaty stew, quite spicy too, which reminded him of home. But he wasn't hungry.
Sloane was tired and angry and frustrated and slightly disappointed. Most of all frustrated. He had spent... how long? A decade? in Soldier black. It had taken a few months to get into the rhythm of a Soldier's life, but after that, it had been the same routine day in day out. Classes, training, chores, homework. The order changed, but the same elements filled every single day. And Sloane was sick of it.
Sloane knew that the feeling was only temporary; he had felt that way before and always got over it, but it made him irritated. There were few things he enjoyed that succesfully broke the routine, if only for a while, but he hadn't been able to do any of them in a while. Seeing Lalaine was the most effective one, but Lalaine was as busy as he was, so there were few chances for the siblings to meet. Sloane missed her. Of course, Sloane had other friends and Lalaine undoubtedly had her own friends, but Sloane still felt that when push came to shove, Lalaine was all he got. Just knowing that she was somewhere near made Sloane feel slightly better.
He pushed the stew around with his fork and sighed deeply. Sloane was early, because the mess hall was almost empty. He knew that it would fill up as soon as the classes concluded. Sloane had done chores and was let off early, which was quite an unusual event but nevertheless didn't cheer him up. But starving himself wouldn't make him feel better either, so he sighed again and started eating.
((OOC: So sorry this took so long, I've been so busy!))
Zaide made his way to the mess hall, not particularly looking forward to lunch that day, but hungry enough to eat whatever they decided to give him. It was the beginning of summer, and that meant everything was just a little more intense, since no one had to battle the cold and snow to get anywhere. Power training was more often outside, and outdoor chores worked up a sweat more quickly. Training was this afternoon today, but this morning had been taken up with chores, it was early summer, and not only did the flowers know that, but the weeds as well. Weeding was not the most physically demanding of chores, but it did make the back sore, and even a relatively easier chore could become taxing when it spanned hours. But now that was done, and Zaide did not have to worry about any more chores until after his saidin lesson this afternoon. Right now, he was simply ready for lunch, although it would certainly be one of only a few choices served to initiates. He knew that Asha'man were fed much better than the soldiers, he had even heard numerous times that they got to order their food, as if they were at an inn or tavern.
The thought made Zaide sigh, he had been a soldier a long time, nearly twelve years, in fact, and he was beginning to wonder when he would ever be raised. Suddenly Edeleas was not the Master of Soldiers anymore, and the Shadow had lost a huge hold on the Towers. Zaide, low as he was in both Tower and Shadow, did not know the reason for his disappearance, he just knew that he was affected by it. As far as he knew, the new Master of Soldiers was loyal to the Light, and that meant that he would not be taking commands from the Shadow as to when Zaide was raised. It had been nice before, knowing that because someone in the Shadow wanted him as Asha'man that he would get there one day, it had been a gaurantee then. Not that he worried that it would never happen now. He was competent in the Power, if not the strongest by any means, but he was fairly certain he would be able to earn himself a Dragon Pin one day, even without the direct security of having a Dreadlord as Master of Soldiers. He just wished it would happen soon! He had waited long enough, he thought, had in fact seen a very few men raised to Asha'man who had come to the Tower after him. Not long after, to be sure, and those men were not normal by any means, but it still stung a bit.
Zaide pushed those thoughts out of his head as he entered the mess hall, and got in line to receive whatever it was they were serving today. Stew, it turned out, meaty and it smelled spicy. He took a glass of water as well, and a piece of bread, before turning to find a place to sit. The mess hall was beginning to fill as the people who got out of chores and classes first arrived, but Zaide knew there would be far more people in the room before lunch was over. He scanned the room, looking for someone he knew, not really expecting to find anyone though. Despite spending nearly a dozen years in the Tower, he did not really know very many people. Oh, he was aquaintances with most of the soldiers, and a few Dedicated, but Zaide had never really come out of his shell, at least in this way he was still the quiet young man who had arrived at the Tower so long ago, although so much about him had changed in that time. There were plenty of empty tables left, but for once, Zaide did not feel like eating by himself, today he wanted someone to at least sit with, even if they did not want to talk with him. His eyes made another sweep of the room, and lit on a young man in an undecorated black uniform, another soldier. Zaide and this man had been roommates for a while, not too long ago, but quiet as Zaide was, he had never learned much beyond that his name was Sloane, and he had arrived with his sister, who was now a novice.
Well, no reason not to at least try to have company for lunch, he thought, as he started across the room to where Sloane was sitting. He walked over to the seat across from Sloane and pointed toward the chair, his question on his face. When Sloane did not protest, Zaide pulled the chair out and sat down. "Hello, Sloane," he said with a nod, "I hope you've been well." That seemed like a good enough way to strike up conversation, it certainly gave Sloane enough to reply to, he thought. His part done, Zaide took a bite of his stew, not bad at all, soldiers may not eat like Asha'man, but the Tower cooks knew what they were doing either way. Zaide glanced around the room again, it was beginning to fill more rapidly, and soon he knew it would be noisy with the buzz of many conversations at once, just as it had been every day since Zaide arrived. It struck him as funny that, although every person here was changed by the Towers, the Towers themselves changed little, in nearly twelve years the routines were the same, the chores, even the habits people formed. That, he decided, must be what gave the Towers their influence in the world. They were so steady and strong that they made the people who lived in them change, and then the people went out into the world and spread the influence of the Towers. Zaide shook himself mentally, that was an interesting line of thought, but not really one that he wanted to get into now. He just wanted some light conversation and a decent meal, which was certainly within his grasp, as long as Sloane wanted the same.
(OOC: Sorry mine took a while too, and isn't exactly long.)
Sloane hadn't made much progress with his stew when initiates started pouring into the mess halls. He looked around briefly, a flare of hope rising. Maybe Lalaine had her lunch break now too. Sloane knew that the chance was pretty vain, because there were so many reasons for a novice or Soldier to be held up. And after the mess hall was more crowded, Lalaine wouldn't be able to even find Sloane, if he was still eating. Sloane scanned the newcomers for a while, but shook his head as the hope died and resumed eating. The frustration returned, and Sloane caught himself stabbing the food with his fork angrily.
He let out a deep sigh, but stopped when he noticed someone advancing. It was Zaide, who actually wanted to sit with him. Sloane wasn't sure if company was the best thing for him at that moment, but at least it would take his mind off his misery. Hopefully. So he let the man sit opposite to him, and wondered why Zaide wanted to sit there. It wasn't as if there weren't any empty tables left. Sure, they had been roommates, but Zaide had never been the most talkative person and after their first meeting Sloane had been too tired/frustrated/angry/miserable in the evenings when returning to his room to try and start a conversation. So they could hardly be called friends. Not that Sloane had something against Zaide. He had been in the Tower longer than Sloane, so he thought of him practically as a Dedicated. Zaide didn't have the rank yet, but he had so much more experience than Sloane.
"Hello, Sloane," Zaide opened the conversation, and Sloane answered his nod. "I hope you've been well." Sloane gave the expression some thought. Had he been well? He had progressed in classes, if a bit slowly, he had progressed with his channeling, even though he had almost set a fellow Soldier on fire some weeks ago... He supposed he was well in that respect. He had seen Lalaine... once?, he had done more chores than some of the more dutiful Soldiers combined, he had had to do a dozen extra reports and essays because he had been slacking in his homework, he had angered two novices and an Aes Sedai just because of a misunderstanding, and all that had happened during the last month. Now he missed Lalaine, he was frustrated and angry and his stew was getting cold, he had two more classes later that day and he hadn't done his assignments for the teachers. So... he wasn't sure if he could honestly say that he had been well.
Nevertheless, Sloane poked his stew again and simply said, "I suppose I have. Life is never perfect in the Black Tower, though, but things could be worse," he said with a frown and poked the stew again. "How have you been, Zaide?" Sloane finally pushed a forkful of food into his mouth as he waited for the man's answer.