It is indeed the very rare and unusual Ogier
who will decide to leave their Stedding homes.
In the years that followed the Breaking, during the Long Exile,
we Ogier wandered lost in search of our Steddings.
It was then that Ogier began to succumb to the Longing...
to the point of death.
Even after finding our Steddings once again,
we Ogier continue to be bound to our homes.
There is no lovelier place than an Ogier Grove.
With its great trees,
some stand towering since the Age of Legends.
No Shadowspawn will enter.
There is no way to channel the One Power.
In the Stedding, there is rest.
While humankind has long prized Ogier masonry,
from Illian, Tear to the great Tar Valon,
it is not the true thing.
For us, it has always been the forest.
You cannot bring stone to life.
When we sing to the forest,
it is much as if the earth itself sings to us.
As a young Ogier,
I had few prized possessions,
of which, beyond my books, I have not many.
And whilst there is nothing better than to be at home in the Steddings,
surrounded by the comforts, which offer wisdom and peace,
with our beloved groves in sight...
true adventure calls.
Adventure that cannot be found in a book.
Adventure that may, in fact, risk the Longing.