06/28/2000

Trainee Living Area, White Tower, Tar Valon

Three stories worth of polished wooden hallways greet you, along with many
doors. Behind these doors are sets of four bunk beds, shared by trainees.
There is a wash-up area on the first floor, down the hall, a communal area
of wooden tubs that must be hand-pumped to be used.

Boys ranging from their early teens to their mid-twenties stroll down this
hall, talking or running as the situation demands. There is quite a bit of
noise as talk and rough housing are common events here.


Heading in with a full arm of laundry, Espi walks in and starts setting in
neat stacks the clothing that was sent over to be washed. One blanket. One
towel. She wipes her forehead a bit, moving to the next and the next. And
she works quickly.

Redd comes out of his room after searching it for someone. He isn't there,
so he heads on out. He spots Espi and smiles a little. "I can't find him
still."

Espiria glances up from her work, "Oh? Hmm...He must be out somewhere." She
sighs, softly shaking her head in worry. "Try..not to worry too much Redd.
He'll turn up." She goes to the next stack, placing another neat pile for
the next person to take.

The sound of grumbling comes from further down the hall. The sound of
grumbling and scrubbing. And there's a bunch of poofy red hair with streaks
of white visable. ... Um... It looks like Neelkan broke a rule and gets to
scrub the halls today. Any surprise here?

Redd looks back to Neelkan. "Tell him I am looking for him if you see him.
Please?" He then walks back to Neelkan and watches him work for a moment.

Grumbling, Neelkan glances up and lifts his hands from scrubbing to run one
through his hair, which makes his hair kind of wet and soapy. "Ye'h ye'h.
.... Who?" No one has told him what's going on. No surprise there. Then he
spots Espi and flashes a small smirk before going back to scrubbing again.
Grrrrrrr. Damn rules!

Espiria blinks and smiles just a bit as she notes Neel scrubbing the floor.
Oh..poor thing. She glances down the way a bit, arm still full of the
things left to deliver. "Hello, Neel. Hmm...doing chores, I'm guessing? Or
have you..umm..made an impression already upon the Gaidin?"

Neelkan looks back up and nods, "Ye'h. An impression. I'm gonna make a
bigger one once 'ey actually let m' start trainin'! All 'ey got m' doin' is
chores 'n laps and... GRRRRRRRR." One unhappy little ex-bandit here...

Redd smiles at Neelkan's words, then he gets down next to Neelkan. "Let me
help."

Espiria covers her lips and chuckles softly before she calls out to him
from where she is, "Perhaps...if you made alittle less of an impression
you'd be training already?" She smiles, tipping her head to one side as she
motions toward the floor. "I must say..It's going to shine like never
before if they keep having you do that, Neel." She winks playfully, shaking
her head as she begins setting out the things again.

Lifting his head up again, Neelkan looks first at Redd, then at Espi, and
oddly enough he actually passes the scrubbing brush to the younger boy and
stands up, stretching his legs and back and then sticking his tongue out at
Espi. "Ye'h ye'h. It's gonna shine. 'n how're ya doin'? Haven't seen ya
lately."

Espiria giggles softly, lifting her shoulder to shrug. "Well enough." She
takes a deep breath, standing back up herself from sorting out the piles to
deliver. "I'm surviving at least. I..still have another week of very hard
work, but Wyntere Sedai said that it will be much less once I make it thru
that week." She smiles sadly for a moment, glancing over to Neel before she
asks. "How...have you been, Neel? You..doing alright? I mean....besides the
scrubbing?"

Redd takes the scrubbing brush willingly and sets off to scrubbing as hard
as he can, as fast as he can. He doesn't even seem surprised that he handed
it over so easily.

"Oh, me? I've been fine. Waitin' f'r somethin' 'xcitin' t' happen though.
Bored outta m' wits doin' chores 'n running errands 'n pickin' up
packages!" Neelkan shakes his head again and grins down at Redd, then heads
towards where Espi is while the boy does a little work for him. Hehehehe.
Ahem. "I'm glad yer doin' a'right." And he's not even going to mention how
he hasn't been sleeping well at all, because that's sort of a given with
Neel.

Espiria smiles and nods, glancing back over to Redd for a moment with a
small grin. She glances at Neel once more, "I..can't stay for long, but we
don't have eyes or ears listening for the time being. We can talk as I
work..if you want to that is." She wants to hear what Neel wanted to say to
her before, but couldn't because of where they were at the time. She
reaches back to the pile, taking one piece at a time, brushing it off and
dragging out her leaving for as long as possible.

Redd pauses to look up at Neelkan, then taps his foot. "Move please, so I
can continue?"

Glancing down, Neelkan glares for a second, them moves -- closer to Espi
again. "Talk..? uh.. well.." he glances towards Redd again... then
continues, "Nawh. It wasn't important. Don't worry 'bout it!" He smirks and
reaches up to rub at his hair again, getting it even more wet. But he
doesn't seem to mind. He likes water in -small- doses. Long as it's small.
"So ya'll be off 'is.. super chore list in 'nother week?"

Espiria chuckles and shrugs, "Alright. But...I was hoping to talk to you a
bit more about it. Ah well...maybe the next time we get to see each other
then?" She glances over to Redd, smiling softly as she steps out of the way
also. "He sure is a hard worker, hmm?"

Redd continues working vigorously. The more he does, the less Neelkan has
to do.

Leaning a little closer to Espi, Neelkan lowers his voice to whisper level
and says, "I just don't wanna worry Redd is all..." Kid worries enough
about her as it is. He doesn't need to know Neel had a bad -bad- dream
about her. Then he grins and nods, "Ye'h he does." Just hope a Gaidin
doesn't catch him doing Neel's work...

Varcel enters the TLA, nearly tearing the door of its hinges. Literally.
Looking sheepish, he very carefully closes it, before entering the building
proper.

Redd looks up to see Varcel. He looks to Neelkan apologetically. "I'll be
back." He says, leaving the brush on the ground and moving toward Varcel.
"Hello..." He calls before getting to him.

Espiria sighs softly, crossing her arms over her chest for a bit with the
laundry still gripped in her fingers, "Neel...I know that all too well. I
worry for him too." She grins, reaching over to stack more on the places
meant for clean things. She blinks, glancing over to see Varcel and her
face lights up.

Hrmpt. Oh, Neelkan sees her face light up at the sight of Varcel, and Redd
runs ober to him as well. For a moment his eyes narrow, then he shrugs and
waves a hand absently, "Ye'h ye'h." Then he heads back to where the kid was
scrubbing and kneels down again to get back to his work.

Varcel's eyes quickly lock on Espiria, and he tosses her a quick, if
subdued grin. And then Redd comes up, surprising him. Varcel jumps back
quickly, almost as if Redd were a snake, before composing himself. Shaking
his head, "Uhm, hello. Redd, was it?"

Redd stops in front of Varcel, the first thing he asks is, obviously, "How
are you feeling?"

Espiria glances over to Varcel as well, biting her lip as she too wonders.
It's not like she's tried to find out all day and noone has had an answer
for her. Nah...course not. She's just been worrying like crazy how he is
and if he's really alright from what happened.

Scrub, Scrub, Scrub. Grrr. Grrr. Grrr. This is all Neelkan is doing. He's
glaring at the floor as he scrubs away at it. Why's he so mad all of a
sudden...

Varcel hmms? at Redd, almost absently. "Uhm, I'm alright. Yourself?"

Redd nods, "I am sorry... but Mother told me you have to see her 'at your
earliest convenience.'" He says, reluctantly. There, the message is
delivered.

Espiria bites her lip a bit more, then turns back to her work. There is
always another time to speak to Varcel. And of course, Mother comes first.
She sighs softly, placing the final batch of things down before she offers
a soft sigh to Varcel. "Hmm..Well, if Mother calls for you..You probably
shouldn't keep her waiting..." She seems a bit sad to see him go, but if
Mother helps him, so much the better.

There's the sound of more scrubbing. If Neel doesn't start to scrub a
different spot that part of the floor is going to be perminantly danaged...

Varcel blinks, a bit surprised. Nodding absently to Espiria, of all people,
he turns and leaves, opening and closing the door with extreme care.

Espiria glances after Varcel, sighing softly before she glances to the both
of you. She smiles gently, shaking her head. "Ah...Life at the Tower. It
never ceases to be interesting...or frightening." She bites her lower lip,
straightening the piles again before she shakes her head. "Much as I would
love to remain here and chat a bit more, I can only drag out sorting
laundry for so long before I am missed." She sighs softly, looking sadly
that she has to leave the both of you, but knowing she has to.

Redd nods then heads back to Neelkan. "I am sorry, I can help again." He
says, kneeling down next to him.

Eh? Neelkan looks up. Oh. Varcel's gone. And Espiria's leaving too. He
shakes his head a little and says in a grumble, "Nawh, I can do the rest
m'self. Don't worry 'bout it." Then he waves a scrub brush holding hand
towards the girl and says, "Well I wish some of the interest would start t'
rub off on m'. Most 'at's happened t' m' is spendin' time in the Infirmary
it seems."

Redd blinks. Infirmary. "I don't want back there myself..." Not after that
day he left... nope... that Novice wasn't too friendly... no wait, that
isn't correct... she was /too/ friendly.

Espiria winces just a bit, flashes of yesterday coming to her mind sharply
as she turns away. "Be...careful what you wish for, Neel. You may not like
what you get." She seems nervous about something, but she's /trying/ to
hide it anyway. She manages a smile to the both of you, but her eyes
seem...haunted. "Light guard the both of you. I will see you soon.
And..hang in there, it'll get better." She smiles softly as she speaks,
trying to put a good front on for the both of you.

"I'll take whate'er I get, Espi. I ain't 'fraid of nothin'." Except
himself. And Water. and Milk. But the likelyhood of that being a problem
is... small. Neelkan shrugs and nods, "Light keep ya too, Espi." Then he
grins at Redd and says, "Most women're like 'at. Get used t' it."

Redd frowns. "Said she'd make me dance if we were in her home in Eharon..."

Flinching, Neelkan nods, "Ye'h.. she prolly would've.." Eharon. Eharon
women. Grrr. He starts to scrub a little more heavily at the thought.

Redd moves to sit back out of Neelkan's way. "Why did she pick me?"

"I dunno. Maybe she thought ya were cute're somethin'." Neelkan says with a
shrug. "'r might'a been cause yer young 'n stuff."

Redd blinks. No! Could it be? "Sunan opened the curtains when I was
changing... could she have..." out of nowhere he turns bright red. "She saw
me..." He almost whispers.

This causes Neelkan to snicker slightly, "Oh, if Sunan would've done 'at t'
me I would've pounded him good." But then he glances up and says, "'ey,
don't worry 'bout it."