A Return to the Old

[Arie]

Josanda had only arrived back at the White Tower the night before, traveling in from her homeland in Murandy. It had been a difficult trip this time around, having to bury her father in the grave next to her mother's who had died quite a few years ago. She had brought some coin given to her as a stipend from her Father to pay for the land years ago, now cared for by her older brother. It was also a nice visit. Unlike her, her family had aged and grown, nieces and nephews now married and having kids. It was clear that her siblings kids were not a generation that carried the talent for channeling and it was both a disappointment and a relief.

 

The strangest of any visit was how she still looked nearly as young as she had left while her brother's hairlines were receding. It was a sore topic that could only be joked about when they were all quite drunk. And there had been quite a bit of that, a small joy that Josanda treasured why they still were alive. Her siblings were still quite young, but the work they did was not easy on the body, which is why it had stolen their parents while they were still quite young. So she helped ease it, on the White Tower's dollar. Enough that they would be comfortable but not enough to be greedy with. Josanda spent enough time travelling to know the dangers of greed.

 

She took effort to look presentable this morning. Her wild curls softened with oils gifted to her by another Brown one year on her raising anniversary. They remembered these things, a long list of raising dates to their Ajah in a book grown old and tattered, new pages added every year, though less in recent years. It was a kind gesture of thoughtful gifts, and a unique tradition that she appreciated. It helped the Ajah feel more aware of each other despite how they get lost so easily in books. She made a trip down to the Warder's Yard to visit friends and check in on the state of affairs. The Brown Halls were filled with library notes and she knew that eventually she would be joining them, but she needed to hear joy, swords and Tower rumors. Often best collected in the Yard or the Accepted Quarters.

 

It did not take long before she found a familiar face that had helped many times in the yard. This time he was practicing on his own, meaning his trainer was not around or he was not far helping another.

 

"I see you still have yet to grow facial hair."

 

 

(Ooc: Shifting over an old thread and will open up for any others..)

[Arie]

Everett was no longer considered a new trainee, but he was not yet considered ready to be labeled as a Tower Guard. A goal a few years away but the work and routine were both good for him but also enough to keep him from missing his family. His very large family he chose to leave behind to support them by volunteering to become part of the White Tower Guard. Aeodan Damar was off helping another, newer, trainee today but had promised to check in to see his progress. It was an hour of sword forms that Josanda walked up.

 

Not wanting to get in trouble for pausing, he looked down the Yard to locate Aeodan but he seemed to be too far to catch in a quick glance. Finishing up with a sheathing form, he smiled and looked over at Josanda Sedai. "You look quite lovely today, Aes Sedai." The sparkle in his eyes unmistakable. "Was someone finally able to locate a comb for you?"

[Arie]

She gave a bit of a mockery of a sniff but her mood was far to pleasant to consider scorning his commentary. That, and he wasn't wrong. Her hair was frequently a rats nest and very on point for her Ajah.

 

"Thank you, Trainee Everett." Giving a light bow of her head to his compliment, showing a moment of decorum. She was not the most traditional of Aes Sedai, formal and stiff, but she was still very careful with how she presented herself when the need was there. In fact, it was her lack of stiffness that made it much easier for her to wander beyond the Tower and she was willing to hold onto that knowledge for as long as she could before the Agelessness set in. 

 

"How have things fared in the Yard? Any new Talent for the Green's to scout? Or have you spent more time in the Yellow Halls to notice?"

[Arie]

Everett thought on the comb comment for a moment, and came to the conclusion that at the very least he would find a way to prank her with a constant supply of gifted combs for the next year. It felt fitting and the idea was amusing to him. 

 

"A few." He said honestly. "Though I will not presume to know what a Green scouts for. There are fewer observing of late, and fewer still of views of their Warders. Training has been stepped up for the lot of us, and even the Bannermen and Guards are taking on more and more training details then before."

 

He gave a bit of a frown, leaning a little on the fence, forgetting why he shouldn't. "I don't know what you have listened to since you returned, but keep your ears open. They don't tell us Trainee's much, but I am sure you will gather a whisper or two."

[The Purple Ajah]

As a Blue without a Warder, Katrani was not the usual sort to be scouting the yard. Yet it had always been said that she was closer to the Green in temperament, and in general was considered unorthodox in her Ajah, and in sisters in general: her age and her relative strength in the Power often made her tolerated in spite of that, however.

 

She had not been bonded to a man in nearly eight decades, the span of a lifetime for those born without any connection to the Power, yet the pain still felt as fresh as the day Giran had died, and Yune before him. If their families had any distant relations still alive, they would not remember their names, but Katrani still held their memories close. She did not know how some of her Green sisters coped, taking three Warders or even more at a time, and feeling several of them pass in the three centuries a stronger sister might expect to live. Some men had wished for her to bond them over the years, knowing of her strength in Earth or her exploits in past centuries, but she had not entertained the notion seriously for too long.

 

She was only here for a brief walk, though also seemed to be passing by for the famed rumor mill that was the Tower guards. She was still a Blue at heart, after all, and the ramblings of Warders or Younglings could be some of the most enlightening source of information for the real happenings in the Tower. Katrani was wearing a rather simple blue dress that might be worn by the average upper-middle class woman of the city, and wore no shawl in the informal setting. Her Great Serpent ring obviously marked  her as Aes Sedai, though, as well as the fact that despite her fully white hair held up in a bun, an onlooker could not obviously discern her age.

 

"Josanda." She felt that the Brown sister was of a strength to be middling-low rank, but was still courteous to even the weakest sister most of the time. Josanda's relative youth and lack of strength did make her unfamiliar with the sister in question, but she would not have been a Blue if she did not take the time to at least familiarize herself with the large majority of the thousand sisters in the Tower. "I trust your visit home was pleasant?"

 

She was a bit wistful at that moment. As a foundling girl, the only thing she had to remember home were a couple of letters sent by a shatayan who died nearly two centuries ago, and she does feel that there is something lost in seeing the younger sisters and the initiates getting to be with family. But Tar Valon is her home now, and the Aes Sedai are all sisters; dysfunctional as they might be at times.

[Arie]

 

It had been some time since Josanda had conversed with another Aes Sedai, and a Blue of no less or more rank than herself. Any Blue was worth far more than their One Power strength regardless of how they were taught, simply because of how they viewed the world and how it was so different than how Josanda saw things. Too much intricacy for Josanda to particularly care about. It was her own fault, of course. Not that it mattered much within the White Tower though if could prove dangerous outside of it. 

 

"Katrani Sedai." She replied with curious respect. "It was, thank you. How as the Tower fare while I was away? I trust the Hall did not set some new rule that I need be aware of?" There was a subtle chuckle under her throat as she spoke. The Hall was as predictive as the world itself outside the Tar Valon rivers, and even then less so. "And yourself? What brings you to the Warders Yard? I'm sure the eyefull is delightful but I am sure that other things have sparked your interest more, perhaps?"

 

 

Josanda

Of the Brown Ajah

@The Purple Ajah

 

Sorry it was WAAAAAAAY overdue.. like, well over a year...... and I'm sooooo sorry!! I am around more and would love to chat about plot and potential friendship, perhaps??