Is This a Trick Question? (attn: jozan, Nya)

[Leala]

Ay'Lira took the slip of paper she and her classmates had written the titles of potentially helpful books on, and went to the Artur Hawkwing section of the Tower Library. There were quite a lot to take, but it hadn't been...well, it had been a while since she had worked her arms. Letting out a breath, she started stacking the books in her arms. One by one, they began to pile up, but she wasn't even halfway through with the list. She began to pace her breath, and by the time the books were stacked to her chin, she was almost done with the list. She was breathing a roughly, but at least she could breath with all these books against her chest. Slowly, she reached with her lips and caught the slip of paper, and began to walk back to their table. These books may be too much, but she was at least quick on her feet. She could feel her face heating up as she moved.

 

Suddenly, she felt someone embrace Saidar, and a Brown lifted half the books from her stack, and carried them to the table chiding Ay'Lira about how if one of these books had fallen, she would have been sent to the Mistress of Novices as soon as she had repaired whatever damage she had hypothetically incurred. By the time she sat at the table that she was sharing with Liana, her roommate, and Nyanna, another girl in their history class, her face was red for embarrassment and effort. She let out a breath, and tried to catch her second win.

 

They were compiling research for a paper that their teacher had demanded be done in groups of three. Their topic was Artur Hawkwing. Their teacher had given them a schematic of sorts of how the paper should be written. Ay'Lira knew she shouldn't concentrate on simple details, but one thing on the schematic was niggling in the back of her mind. "Do either of you know what she means by his 'favorite'?" she asked. I thought maybe it continued on the other line, but it only says his 'favorite'," she explained, pointing to the detail she mentioned in the middle of the page. "Was there something I missed in class? I try to take thorough notes, but I don't remember her talking about that."

[jozan]

"Do either of you know what she means by his 'favorite'?" she asked. I thought maybe it continued on the other line, but it only says his 'favorite'," she explained, pointing to the detail she mentioned in the middle of the page. "Was there something I missed in class? I try to take thorough notes, but I don't remember her talking about that." Liana leered at Nyanna but she just shrugged, and so Liana pondered a bit before she said with an uncertain tone in her voice to her roommate “Maybe that line is referring to his most favorite wife or perhaps even closest advisor. But like you I don’t remember if she ever mentioned that in the lesson.” Liana was still a bit confounded about that part as well.

 

Their teacher had given them the most difficult assignment because they had been some of the best in class, which made Liana both happy but also a bit sad, because she wanted to do some other things and not just doing homework all the time, caused by her knowledge of some history stuff.

 

Liana sighted heavily as she opened one of the books piled on the table in front of them, and as she opened it she noticed how different the language was - and some was even written in the old language, and she only knew some basic stuff in the old language thanks to her mother. This book’s title was “Arthur Hawking: The philosophy of an emperor” and it was quite well written but the book was huge, and lot of the stuff wasn’t even close to what she had been told during her mother’s tutelage. But it was interesting to actually get to read about a man who was as famous and as courageous as Arthur Hawking.

 

When she found something interesting or important in the books she had chosen to read in, she scrambled it down in her parchment with ink. She glanced at what her friends were doing, and noticed that Ay’lira was having difficulty with something in the old tongue “Mashiara means if I remember correctly from my studies ‘beloved of heart’ or ‘a love lost’ but in this situation I would say that it means ‘a love lost’ so, maybe ‘my favorite’ has something to do with that.” Liana said with a serene and warm voice as she smiled at her roommate.

Edited May 24, 2012 by jozan

[Leala]

"Could be, could be..." Ay'Lira said, scribbling notes on a bit paper she had taken for notes. It was odd, working with these two. the teacher had given them the assignment because they were good students. Ay'Lira had never really thought of herself as a good student until coming to the Tower. It was actually fun to learn all these things from around the world. She especially loved learning the Old Tongue and histories of other places. She could ever grasp the detailed theories of logic that the Whites gave them. "I thought it might have meant something like that, but you can never tell with the Old Tongue." She liked learning the ancient language because it presented a challenge to her. But she was nowhere near ready for this book. She wrote down the name next to "mashiara" which was "Naiima". She knew that wasn't a word in the Old Tongue, so it was safe to assume it was talking about a woman named Naiima.

 

"Now that I think about it, it could mean his favorite pupil, or his second...someone he showed great interest in," she suggested. With that, she closed the thick tome and reached for one of his many biographies. She wished there was an autobiography. Hawkwing was a fascinating figure in history. He was a bit of a touchy subject, though, since he had tried to take Tar Valon all those years ago. But at the same time, sisters talked about him with pride in their voices. A ta'veren like him couldn't take the White Tower. Surely the Wheel had favored its founding.

 

Then again, if Malkier could fall to the Blight after holding it back for so long, it just went to prove that nothing was permanent. "The question is...his favorite follower or his right hand?" she asked, drawing a line through Naiima's name, moving on to something else.

[jozan]

"The question is...his favorite follower or his right hand?" Liana was reading in another thick tome titled ‘The rise of the emperor’ which was an interesting historical tale even though a couple of parts were removed from the book. “I would have to say right hand, but it could also be something totally different. But I think if we keep reading and searching these tomes, we’ll find it somewhere within the lines.” She said uncertain of what they were really looking for.

 

Nyanna had apparently walked off, ‘cause of having headache or simple boredom. She could understand that, this wasn’t the most fun you could have in the tower. But, it was something they just had to finish for the deadline or their teacher; who was a demanding and strict Aes Sedai of the brown. Gerlin Sedai was a demanding teacher but also fair in that she didn’t punish someone for doing something out of term in her class-room unless it was very respect less.

 

One thing though about their assignment that was interesting to get from Gerlin Sedai, was that the brown Aes Sedai never really liked Arthur Hawking nor the history of him that had survived. Of course most Aes Sedai still remembered that he had tried to take Tar Valon, and that made sense that the Aes Sedai hated him for it. But with Gerlin Sedai there was something else going on, which made her dislike him so much. Maybe it had something to do with the ‘his favorite’ part.

“I’ve found something in this tome” Liana gestured Ay’lira toward a rather thin and quite withered tome simply called ‘Arthur Hawking’ very simple title but inside the book was a prologue that told of his court, and there was a word in the old tongue that caught Liana’s attention “tai’shar which means ‘true blood’ but you probably knew that. Maybe there’s something in here that could tell us his favorite.” She said with a curious tone in her soft voice to Ay’lira.

[Leala]

Ay'Lira watched as Nyanna left. Maybe she had something else in mind for her own topic. Either way, it was easier to work with Liana since they spent so much time together. She hoped Gerlin Sedai didn't punish them for it. Oh, well. It wasn't as if they had never been inside the Mistress of Novices' office before. Soon, Liana pointed to something in a small book she was reading. "Tai'shar" was most definitely a phrase she was familiar with. She had even used it in reference to her roommate's psirit lying beneath her noble exterior a couple of times. Furrowing her brow and squinting, she read the line that Liana had pointed out. She translated in her head as she read. But with all the connotations words in the Old Tongue held, it was difficult to make out an exact translation as she would have liked.

 

"The best I can tell from this is that one of his generals had done a particularly good job in one of his conquests," Ay'Lira said slowly. "Should we write about his favorite general? Gerlin Sedai may have given us a challenge to open our assignment up to many different possibilities. That may even be a trick of hers..." Shaking her head, she steeled herself and became determined again. "I think she wants us to finish this without having to ask her guidance." She looked at the text again. "It says here that his name was Wizenel. I'll go have a look at the catalogue again."

 

With that, she took the strip of paper with the titles listed on it and went to the drawers containing the catalogues. She searched through the catalogues of Artur Hawkwing and found three books about Wizenel. Only three this time. She approached the aisle and the three books. Two of them were in the Old Tongue. "Here," she said, laying the books on the table. She sat down again, flipping one of them open. She scanned the words until she landed on what she needed. "Yes. There. 'Alfin Wizenel was said to be Artur Hawkwing's favorite general.'"

[jozan]

Liana looked at what her friend had found and smiled ”You’re almost correct about the meaning, the phrase before the general part means glory of battle. But no matter because I am quite certain you’ve found what we’re looking for.” Liana said while looking through one of the books Ay’lira had put down on the aisle. “Why not write about his favorite general and one of his other favorites? Just to be sure that we don’t miss anything. You should by now know how Gerlin Sedai is.” Liana laughed at Ay’lira’s face expression. Then she continued to read her book which was about Arthur Hawking’s advisor that was named Erelin Myar; one of Arthur’s most trusted advisors early in his life as an emperor.

 

She glanced at Ay’lira and said “This part in the old tongue seem to mean that Erelin was supposed to be opposed to the taking of Tar valon, while another advisor was for it. That was something I didn’t know about the legendary Arthur that there were opposition to his decision to attack Tar Valon.” She kept reading up on the backstory of the voting and opposition on taking Tar Valon, and it was a quite interesting read actually. You always learn something new while reading books in the tower library Liana thought to herself or so she thought she was doing, but Ay’lira looked at her with an curious expression on her face, that made Liana to blush.

 

She couldn’t look at her friend at the moment because her face was all red, and so she walked away with a thick tome under her right arm. She knew Ay’lira was probably looking at her while she was walking away with a blushing face, showing that even nobles could be embarrassed. Liana opened the book and started reading when her friend suddenly came over and said she had found something very interesting about her friend’s homeland; Saldaea that was known by a different name during Arthur Hawking’s time.

[Leala]

(OOC: A bit too much of controlling my character than I'm used to... >.> But I'll go with it for now.)

 

IC: For some reason, as Liana explained her side of the paper, her face grew redder and redder before she finally left the table. Truth be told, she wasn't staring at her like some curiosity because she thought it odd that she could become embarrassed. She had proven that well enough the first day they both came to the Tower. Ay'Lira wanted to know why under the Light Liana would be embarrassed in front of Ay'Lira. Light, they had been here for half a year!

 

Shaking her head, Ay'Lira reached for another book, this one about the founding of Hawkwing's empire.

 

Before Ay'Lira caught herself, she had hunted down Liana finding more books to read about the advisor she had mentioned. In her hands, she had a book on the War of the Hundred Years. She excited showed Liana a place in the book that mentioned the forming of the Borderlands. "Liana, look, it mentions Saldaea here. One of Hawkwing's governors named it himself, and it doesn't mention the old name, but it had to have been called something else in the Age of Legends or..." Ay'Lira looked up when she saw a Brown sister walk past them with a rather accomplished smile on her face. She...she didn't think Ay'Lira was considering the Brown...? Oh, Light... Ay'Lira's face colored this time. She closed the book, looking at the Brown as she walked away. She cleared her throat and looked back at her friend. "Light, I'm sorry, Liana. I get a bit excited when I read about history..." she explained. Her face turned an even brighter shade of red when she said, "...Especially histories of wars."

 

Looking out a window, she judged that they had been in there for perhaps two hours. "We have maybe an hour left before dinner," she said. "We should have enough now that we can make a good rough draft of our assignment." Light, and the "favorite" part was only one detail they were supposed to write about. "I'll be back at the table when you're finished.

[jozan]

(OOC: Yeah, I’m sorry about that part. I’ve never done that before, so yeah - don’t worry I’ll keep that away from my posting. )

 

IC:

The two friends decided in the end to go with the general, and so Liana closed the book she was reading about the advisor. It was pointless to keep reading as the time was nearing dinner time, and they hadn’t finished their assignment yet. Liana cleaned the table where they were to work on the rough draft that they needed to write before it was dinner time. She started reading through the notes she had been doing in her parchment, and also from Ay’lira’s parchment as well.

 

It would probably take Liana at least half an hour to make a rough draft of what they had found in the books about Arthur Hawking, and his favorite general. Liana had learned to write and read early in her childhood because of her mother’s teaching and tutelage. She was after all a noble lady even if she’s now a novice of the white tower. She had very neat and quite pretty hand writing. But not even close to her mother’s hand writing which looked like artwork in itself.

 

Her friend whom she had now known for half a year was a very good student when it came to the One Power, and as well as history. They were both very good at those subjects, which had made it so much easier to share a room with her, because they seem to be quite alike in some ways. And even though she was a noble and Ay’lira a commoner, it hadn’t mattered nor bother Liana one bit.

 

She had enjoyed Ay’lira’s company a lot more because she was not a noble like Liana was accustomed to interact with.The sun was beginning to set now and they had only a brief moment left before it was time to go to dinner. And they had never been late to the dinner hall before, and Liana didn’t want to start now. So, she finished her writing and while smiling at her friend she gave off a heavy sight. Then they both put back the books and left the library to get something to eat, which they deserved after plenty of hard work.

Edited May 25, 2012 by jozan