Grey

Book 1: Grey (followed by Yellow, Blue, Red, Black? Colours of Sun Cycle)

'''Name: Eelion (which means brother), at the end his name is revealed to be Trystin'''

'''Profession: former soldier/slave, becomes a story teller/bard to make money, paid naturalist'''

'''Plot: must find HER (Ali or Arosha? Hard to tell during the story and the reread)'''

Trystun wakes up in exile, a POW camp from the last war, he and everyone else is being held for ransom but his hasn't been paid. Banten, appearing under no name at all, greets his as Eelion, explaining they went to school with each other many years ago. Trystin looks at the fresh scars of his left hand and asks why. Banten gives a vague response and explains why he has forgotten everything, who he might be: an old soldier from the war, a veteran in the fighting, hence his scars. Banten explains that these camps are erected after every war. Trystin discovers later the camps are dissolved after all the POWs are sold back to their kingdom.

Trystin feels uncomfortable with this story, never settles with him, and he works the labour a few days, mostly alone, sometimes with Banten. His wrist pains him. He seems Ephyra and suddenly says with great force to Banten,  "I have to find Her. I have to find Her." Banten's eyes flicker and he asks what Trystin has lost. Heartbroken and lost, Trystin can't explain. He monologues in depth in his time alone.

Trystin assumes his name is Eelion from Banten and doesn't realize until much later it's a title. No one else ever gives him a name. They becomes fast, if sometwhat vague friends

In the night Banten suddenly appears and says he has to get him out, and that there's a way, and so not understanding completely and not wanting to leaving Banten, Trystin does in fact escape. Banten explains he's a case of wrong place, wrong time. Later we realize he's been there for war crimes, but Banten gets him out under a weak point in the fence and never looks back. He runs, frantic and hunted, with the little that Banten could get for him. When he one day goes back to the camp, he finds no record of his name, or Banten's and wonders if this too was a dream.

Immediately with the little money he has, he goes to a terrifying skull teller and is not alarmed. She is one of the very best, though he finds this out by accident, he tries to bribe his way to see her, but in recognizing his hface, she welcomes him. She is a woman covered in rubies, engraved and hanging skulls in her collection, all elegant and pale. She tells him he is without his other half, that he ails of a broken heart. She cannot see specifics - only an oracle could. She says he is young but his lacking an amphidera may be the cause. She thinks he has never had one, he wonders if he has lost her. Neither know. He is sent away with a few token but feeling very much alone, confused, and quite poor.

He dreams of Ephyra but has no other concrete visions in his mind

He continues heading north with Banten's directions, longing for her to the point of hallucinations, of poetry, of asking people in the street at times. The need for food is strong however, so he works small jobs on the road as he goes. Work two days, move on, work one day, move on. At night or even in day he wanders the world and rediscovers the Jayan and Ixaj but nothing clicks.

On one of his working stints, he meets an old friend on the road, FTD, a jayan who also greets him as Eelion, one was once thought dead or his secret death was protected. They owe each other old favours, and this old childhood friend who's never heard of anyone but Banten's description agrees, reluctantly to help him in his ambiguous search for 'her'. He assumes it's an amphidera they're looking for, so they search the ixaj relentlessly. The Jayan employ shim in his trade: though more often than not, the two end up as dark story tellers and bards of a kind. They tell tales that are later fulfilled throughout the cycle. FTD remarks that it seems silly Trystin has no job, as he is the more education. They tell stories and earn their keep this way. FTD remarks that Eelion has good stories that he has heard as a child, which are really just Trystin's stories.

Eventually after several very failed attempts, FTD says it was a long shot and points Trystin to the North of the world, saying it always held a special love to Trystin (which is because he found Arosha there) and he travels there on his own. Trystin then takes up a job as a naturalist, as was his training, and takes the contract north, searching Her out, as the war has ended and peaceful times have returned and people have moeny to spend. This lets him travels among the world, looking.

Trystin takes a rather confused spiritual journey after one of the prophets, though it doesn't fulfill any of the void in his life. The prophet recommends he see the oracle that lives remotely nearby but the child and his guardian speak nothing but riddles. He is nearly three years old. This is a huge frustration to Trystin who screamed he doesn't even know who he's looking for.

In one of the remote towns that rarely gets news and is delighted of his bringing of old tales, he meets the Princess they honour. They recognize each other but when they give their names, neither are familiar. He asks about her of the locals and people say she comes and goes, she is peace maker and judge. They share stories of younger life and chalk it up to childhood which overlaps enough. She doesn't recall his true name but doesn't think it's Eelion. Although he wants to stay and speak to her, for he thinks she may know where to find his amphidera, and is indeed wise, she urges him to see the oracle in the deep forest of the north.

Together she takes him, with some reluctance, into the forest. When he finds the oracle, a woman a few years older than himself he reckons, she prophecies over him regarding his travels, his role, his finding his name. She seems to know who he is but won't tell him. Instead she tells him exactly what direction to head.

Haunted by her words, driven to end his question of 'where is She?', he thanks Palisade and ventures on alone to this little river she spoke of. And he is reunited with Arosha. Their reunion is of epix proportions. Arosha recalls nothing of him, but together they are like the same person aprted, and it feels like such a rejoining of soul, instantly everything sinks in for him.

After this traumatic reunion, they make plans to find out who he is, who they both are, and look into the camps that held him. Palisade may have knowledge of him. He carries emblems, scars, a few trinkets, that might explain who he is (which are later left by Banten for this purpose). Arosha calls him Trystin and no one is sure where she got that name. They press on together.