Trading Chains for White ATTN: Jagen

[Arie]

 

The dress she wore was simple. Colored lightly in blue with simple green and rose embroidery. The skirts, blouse and vest were simple as would a student in a well paid school. At least, Aubriana only would guess that her father send ahead coin to pay for her education with the White Tower. Or it was free. This, Aubriana did not guess. Finances was something her father kept completely to himself. 

 

She was given a note with a name and a classroom number for her to attend. The time early. She had her lesson plans but somehow they seemed... light. As if it was expected to change, or that they were not to take her attendance here as ... seriously. She didn't know. Valeri Sedai seemed less then interested in training a noble who wasn't one of her own charges. Even then the way she spoke to the Novice one could only guess that she thought them stupid and of slow mind. Admitting to herself only a little that not all were of quick mind and it was possible a commoner would struggle within the tower. She was taught by many talented tutors. Perhaps they felt she met the basics of education as a Noble and therefore they would need to gauge her knowledge before layering on more.

 

As Aubriana was taught, she arrived before the time she was required, the room empty. She took a seat set her empty journal, quill and inkwell on the desk and waited for what.. as best she read from the messy scrawl, a Jarel Sedai to arrive.

 

 

Tag: @Jagen Sedai

Edited February 16, 2018 by Arie

[Jagen Sedai]

Jagen closed the door gently after the servant handed her a small note from the Mistress of Novices, turning back to her small table. The food was mostly gone, her breakfast almost done, and she sat there again to finish her tea as she opened the small scroll. It was a note requesting Jagen, as one of the teachers here in the Tower, to meet with a freshly arrived young girl for testing. Her channeling ability was unknown, thus she needed the most basic test.

She took some time finishing the tea and did not bother with a reply; Valeri knew Jagen would oblige, as she had offered her services while she remained in the Tower.  Some Aes Sedai avoided teaching at near all costs, but Jagen liked having a direct hand in molding the future generations.

 

She spent some time reading missives until the prescribed time came close, then headed for her wardrobe and chose out a white Taraboner gown accented with red; not as clingy and revealing as those worn by Domani, but they were form-fitting dresses compared to other countries' garments. After doing up the buttons, using her mirror and the One Power for assistance, she grabbed her shawl and looped it over her arms so it rested in the crook of her elbows; the red fringe was so long it dangled around her knees.

 

Jagen made her way down the wings of the Tower where the classrooms were and swept into the prescribed room. Her deep blue eyes settled immediately on the small, blonde girl in the room. A noble, or at least a well-to-do family girl by her dress. The expression on her ageless face did not change as she stopped, pointedly looked her over, and addressed her.

 

"I am Jagen Sedai.," she said as she casually adjusted her shawl and took a seat behind the desk, her beaded red braids clicking. She pointedly waited, not speaking further, to gauge the girl's manner... and see if she could feel anything, initially, at all from her before the test began.

[Arie]

 

The door opened and Aubriana was quick to stand and drop into a perfect curtsy that would make her mother proud. It was a quick glance that she was able to see the veil and braids of red (and white) of the older Aes Sedai, but what caught her the most was the vibrancy of the red in her dress, shawl and slippers. She wouldn't look up to meet the face of the Aes Sedai until she was told as much. 

 

Thinking about it, it was a striking difference between meeting Valeri Sedai - a petition as a noble - to meeting this Aes Sedai. Jagen Sedai. A deep curtsy of a student to a teacher was different then a Noble to an Aes Sedai. She tried not to shake her head for over thinking it. 

 

"I am Aubriana Daivon, Aes Sedai." She held her curtsy a moment longer before rising. Tempting herself enough to look her in the eyes and trying not to shiver. There was something about the Red that struck fear and caution in her heart. So she held her tongue.

[Jagen Sedai]

Jagen embraced the Source and wove Air. She used simple threads to move a chair in front of the desk where Aubriana was standing. The Sister sat down, arranging her white and red skirts, then gestured, a small wave of her hand. “Take a seat,” she finally told the girl, studying her. 

 

She took a moment to weave more threads of Air, pulling the curtains at the windows to close them, making the room fairly dark. Only hints of sunlight came through. 

 

“There are questions I could ask you—your knowledge of the Power, of the White Tower and Aes Sedai.” A brief pause. “But no; this, it will be a waste of time. Instead it is better you clear you head of what you think you know of the One Power. Right now, it is time to clear your head of everything. For this test, you must be calm, yes? Utter focus. Focus on me. Focus on what you feel.” She wove a ball of light. It was suspended between them. “Saidar. The female half of the Source. Very few are born with the ability to sense it. Yet this is the very thing we shall seek out today. If you have the ability, I will feel it. It could take time. Patience. Just concentrate on the ball of light. Act as if nothing else is here; nothing else matters other than this light.” Her voice was firm, yet guideful. It also left no room for questions. 

Edited February 17, 2018 by Jagen Sedai

[Arie]

 

She listened. She followed directions. And she sat int he chair that floated with whatever known power the Aes Sedai possessed. The One Power. Aubriana readied her quill ready to take notes on her lesson with the Aes Sedai, but then.. the words she spoke was weird. 

 

Flowers. Power. The Source of the One Power, Saidar. It was silly, and Aubriana wasn't entirely sure that she made it clear to the White Tower that she wasn't here to become one of them. The One Power was not something she had. It wasn't in her family at all, so why should she have it too?

 

"I... Forgive me, Jagen Sedai. You are asking me to do something that is impossible. I can not channel. No one in my family can."

[Jagen Sedai]

Jagen's expression did not change at the girl's words, but she gave a small sniff. "You cannot tell a bear it is impossible to climb a tree when the bear does that very thing every day." She made the ball of light, previously white, change color to yellow. Then it slowly changed again, to red. "I have encountered girls who have said it is impossible, but I have shown them some of them wrong, yes?" The light changed to green. "Now, those girls wear novice white. Or the Accepted's dress. Some, are Aes Sedai now." The ball shifted to gray, briefly, then brown.

 

Her voice became more firm. "It is not you who determines the test or when it is done. Me, I will make it clear when the test is finished. Until then you do as instructed, yes?" The ball of light became blue. "Concentrate," she ordered firmly. Then she restated her previous words, "Only the light matters. You will concentrate on what it is, what makes it so."

 

While she worked, she herself concentrated on the girl. Jagen compared it privately to a field of grass... when she spotted the bud of a flower, she would stop. But until the sensation rose in the girl, the test had to continue. It would take longer than a minute--nobles seemed to have no patience, and neither did youth--but Jagen would continue the test until she was sure. The Red did not like any potential channeler to slip through her fingers.

[Arie]

 

Her eye's flickered back and forth from the ball of light shifting colors before her and the Jagen Sedai's face. It was pretty, and both impressive but a game of intimidation. Much like how Valeri Sedai refrained sharing information, it would seem Jagen Sedai preferred to show her power to intimidate. Aubriana disliked greatly how much it was working. She pursed her lips a little and nodded her head not trusting herself to speak. 

 

Taking a deep breath, Aubriana felt foolish. This was ... Aes Sedai were ... 'hmmph,' she sighed under her breath in attempt to listen to Jagen Sedai's voice. 

 

Her voice seemed both calming and condescending. Obviously this Aes Sedai has spoken these words over and over again to others, and when Aubriana shifted, or moved or felt unsettled the Aes Sedai simply paused silently and started again. Trying not to feel to resentful for this waste of perfectly good time, Aubriana stubbornly told herself to just get it over with so that they would stop looking at her funny. 

 

Eventually the visual of the meadow pierced through her mind like a memory. The vibrant green grass fields beyond her family home bowed and straightened with the warm breeze beneath the andorian sun. The rose bud was a delicate pink. Soft and like the paint her mother used on her lips. Like soft, loving kisses. Aubriana held out a hand to the soft pink rose as it shifted and glowed in the sunlight. And just at that warmth grew within her Aubriana snapped back. Her eye's closed Aubriana scowled at the memory and shook her head. She was out of patience for this game. 

 

"This is ridiculous. I am not here to become Aes Sedai." her eyes unintentionally avoiding Jagen Sedai as if a part of her knew. That she had some suspicion that that memory wasn't quite a memory. "I do not want to become one."

[Jagen Sedai]

Jagen waited some time after Aubriana's comments before she let the ball of light disappear. The Aes Sedai did not bother to verbally acknowledge what the young girl said. She let go of the Source and straightened her back. "So. You wish to learn from Aes Sedai, but not become one. No ambitions at all, then, Lady Aubriana?" She raised an eyebrow, and did not wait for an answer. "It is too bad for you, yes? The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills." She adjusted her shawl, though it didn't need it.

 

"The White Tower, child, is a symbol of the Light itself. It is influence. Power. Would you not want, if you could, to be part of something so grand? To be more than what you are today? Well, whatever you say now, you will certainly have plenty of time to think on it in the coming years." She stood up. "The Mistress of Novices, I must take you back to her. Come. The test is over."

 

She turned away, not waiting for the girl to stand nor did she give her room for her own questions. But Jagen smiled just a little until they reached the small office of Valeri Sedai. She knocked politely, and opened the door. The Red's smile grew.

 

"Valeri Sedai, we have a new novice on our hands."

[Guest]

"And who could this be?" Valeri raised her head from the thick book laying on her desk.

 

The Mistress of the Novice already knew the name of the new novice. She had been the one who had sent the note to Jagen. A part of her had wished for the test to fail. Things would have been neater that way. The girl had spend her first days in the White Tower way too comfortably for a future initiate. She had almost been treated as a guest.

 

Not moving from her chair, she waited for the girl to appear. Her mind was already reviewing all the possible paths  this one could take and hoped she would not be too much trouble. 

[Arie]

 

She had a relatively good handle on what she was and was not capable of. Aubriana, for all the things she felt got thrown her way, was able to keep a low handle on her temper. A Lady did not yell. A Lady did not scream. A Lady did not throw things or speak unkindly simply because she was upset. And with every infuriating intone of the ... Aes Sedai (words no lady would use even in thought), Aubriana felt her anger threaten everything she was taught about control. As the Aes Sedai turned to leave, and then walk out, she noticed just how clenched her hands were at her side. Releasing them was both painful and a reminder that even she did not have the control to keep her temper from showing physically. 

 

A deep breath reminding herself, 'I must be better. I will not let them change me. Not like this.' Not that she was entirely sure what 'this' was, or what change any of it will do to her. 

 

Mother.... She could channel. This news alone would break her fathers heart. Her sister would then have to take on the mantle. Or her brother. Otherwise their nobility status would be challenged and lost. So much weighed on her now, and the idea of being able to channel... 

 

Novices were put out all the time. Not everyone could be Aes Sedai. Those at court said as much. Maybe... Maybe this wouldn't be forever, too.

 

She followed the Red, knowing her thoughts were flying faster then her feet that did inevitably drag a few steps behind Jagen Sedai. Straight to the Mistress of Novices quarters where all she wanted to do was slap the smug face off the Red. Though doing so now would only cause her more issues. The warmth of before budding below the surface, Aubriana refused to give into it; thought it tempted her so very much.

 

Instead she stood in the doorway to Valeri Sedai's office and waited to be summoned within. Already the look on the Aes Sedai was enough to wager a guess that she already knew. Wagers and bets aside, Aubriana had been thoroughly played. In that moment she truly hated them both.

[Jagen Sedai]

Jagen frowned at the girl as no words came out of her mouth to answer Valeri's question. Perhaps the young noble thought she wasn't being addressed, but no, the Red knew better. The girl was angry, and no matter how well she tried to hide it, it was plain as day.

 

"This girl, she is Aubriana Daivon," she told Valeri. "The girl, I believe you met her not a day or two past--helped to work out her schedule of learning. Well, she will now be learning a lot more than she could have hoped for." Jagen eyed her dress--blue and green; she would almost be happy to see that silk burn after the girl was put in white. "A new novice, she should be honored," she said, directing her comment now at Aubriana. "Not all girls can channel, and you, it seems, might be here for some time, if I had to wager." She let a small smile touch her lips, and her gaze was not kind.

 

She gave a nod to Valeri. She would stay, if the Mistress of Novices wanted her to, but it was unlikely; even though Jagen was a teacher for the novices and Accepted, it would probably fall to an Accepted, if not Valeri Sedai herself, to show her to the novice quarters and go over the basic rules, after Valeri got her out of that too-blue dress.

[Arie]

Ooc: mostly waiting on @Chaelca for this one. <3