Taken to Slaughter....Aramina's Initiation (Attn all Green)

[Jaydena]

Jaydena stepped from the office of the Captain General and wished for one minute that it had been her own office she had been leaving. Walking steadily she approached the very end of the Green Ajah Quarters. She opened the door to one of the recruit rooms and motioned for the recruits inside who were busy moving Aramina's things from her rooms in the Accepted's quarters to leave the room. They left with sympathic looks to Aramina and Jaydena smiled quickly at the young ladies. They were all doing very well in their tests to become a Green Sister. She walked all the way into the room and shut the door behind the newest recruit. Turning to the girl she noticed a set of gloves in a box next to her with roses across the wrists and top of the hand. Picking them up she spoke, "I would love to know where you got these, the workmanship is excellent. We will discuss things like this later but right now let's get down to business." She smiled at the young woman and spoke again, "Your things are being moved her by the other recruits of the Green Ajah. No one must know that you are not truly a green sister and this ensures that. I hope you will go through your things and if anything is missing let me know. Though we have never had that happen there is always a first time for everything."

 

She looked around the room and wondered what the new recruit saw in this let down from the a full sisters room. The walls were bare, no tapestrys or paintings for a recruits room. She did have her own bathroom thought it was much smaller that a full sisters. All full sisters had a suite of rooms with kitchen, office, bedroom, two bathrooms, and enough bedrooms for three gaidin. They also had a combination living room and dining room. This excuse for a room was not anything like what Aramina would have when she moved up to Green. The room sported one rug on the floor, a wash stand and pitcher and a sligtly less hard bed than the one Aramina has just left. Turning her attention back to the woman she said, "We will now go on a tour of the Green Quarters where you will go before all the Sisters who are currently in the Tower and meet them. In the next few days we will start the Battle Weaves and other things your need to need to know to become a Green. When I deem you worthy I will let out Captain know and she will call the Sisters together for your second petition. You will go before the Sisters and people who speak for you, you will also give your reasons for being Green."

 

Jaydena eyed her, "I would come up with better reasons than last time child." She smiled and then continued, "You will also do a midnight vigil where you will spend the night with one green sister of your choosing and talk to her about being green. You will have the night to think about everything, it's a night of contemplation. Now before we go and meet all the other Sisters do you have any questions that your would like to ask me?" She smiled at the girl hoping to put her at east as much as she could. Despite the girls rough start with the Captain she had a feeling that this one was more than ready to be molded and reformed in the image of a Battle Sister...

 

Jaydena Sedai

 

ooc: *laughs* The taken to slaughter thing has to do with a on going joke within the greens about the recruit being led before the greens like a pig about to be slaughtered. I think you have heard it before just wanted to let you know what it meant...

[TaeaDawn]

((OOC: I didn't know it was an on going joke but I got the title anyway. Cracked me up and made my husband look over at me like I was crazy.. he's used to that by now though :P))

 

 

Too much was happening too fast, Aramina thought as she listened to Jaydena Sedai. This woman was her only hope of gaining the shawl now and Aramina listened intently to her words. She was thrown off when the woman roamed the rooms and admired her gloves. The room itself was better than what she had as an Accepted and she was grateful that her shame hadn't taken her to lesser quarters, though she would have deserved it.

 

Jayena turned to her and spoke then of another chance. "We will now go on a tour of the Green Quarters where you will go before all the Sisters who are currently in the Tower and meet them. In the next few days we will start the Battle Weaves and other things your need to need to know to become a Green. When I deem you worthy I will let out Captain know and she will call the Sisters together for your second petition. You will go before the Sisters and people who speak for you, you will also give your reasons for being Green."

 

More classes. It was a little surprising to find herself in someone's tuteledge when she thought she had just ended that part of her life, but Battle Weaves were something she knew she would have to learn eventually. Sirayn Sedai had said that Jaydena would teach her what she needed to know. She just had realized what all that would entail. She still wasn't sure, but she kept her face schooled to reflect only interest in the Aes Sedai's words. Not her own misgivings and misunderstandings. The woman had seen enough of her ineptitude today and Aramina had no desire to share any more of it.

 

"I would come up with better reasons than last time child. You will also do a midnight vigil where you will spend the night with one green sister of your choosing and talk to her about being green. You will have the night to think about everything, it's a night of contemplation. Now before we go and meet all the other Sisters do you have any questions that your would like to ask me?"

 

The tone of her voice wasn't as daunting as the Captain General's and Aramina was feeling a little better about Jaydena Sedai. She had never taken class with the woman or been sent on chores for her. She was a total mystery to Aramina and she disliked placing her future in the hands of a woman unknown to her.

 

"You said the others weren't to know that I am not a full Sister. You mean that I am to charade around as if I were one for the rest of the Tower when I must come back here and meekly serve as I did as an Accepted? I confess I don't understand where I am now. I am not an Accepted. I am a Sister, but not of the Green Ajah. Will you... guide me in this? I would not give offense to the Sister's of the Green Ajah knowingly but I fear that I will misstep in this uncertain ground I walk upon."

[Jaydena]

ooc- Sprry it took so long I didn't realize you had replied! *hugs*

 

Jaydena waited for the woman to speak and admmired a pair of green leather books with roses up the side sitting in a box. Wondering who did the woman's leather work, she smiled and then composed her face before turning back to the recruit. Aramina seemed to consider what to say for several moments before she began to speak. "You said the others weren't to know that I am not a full Sister. You mean that I am to charade around as if I were one for the rest of the Tower when I must come back here and meekly serve as I did as an Accepted? I confess I don't understand where I am now. I am not an Accepted. I am a Sister, but not of the Green Ajah. Will you... guide me in this? I would not give offense to the Sister's of the Green Ajah knowingly but I fear that I will misstep in this uncertain ground I walk upon."

 

When Aramina had finished speaking Jade nodded. "It's a hard space to be in, your no longer an Accepted, you are in fact a Sister of the Tower, you have been raised rightfully to this. The rest of the Tower thinks that you are now a sister of the green but truthfully you are a student or a recruit. You are bound to the Green Ajah because you picked us but you are not yet a full sister. That makes it hard, it's more difficult still by the fact that you will do you best to conceal this from the rest of the Tower and must do so without breaking your new oaths. Believe me I understand how hard this can be. I am sure that you will do your best and I will help yo guide you along every step of the way. In regards to our sisters, don't act to cocky or know at all and that will get you a long ways. Shall we go?"

 

Jaydena

[TaeaDawn]

"It's a hard space to be in, your no longer an Accepted, you are in fact a Sister of the Tower, you have been raised rightfully to this. The rest of the Tower thinks that you are now a sister of the green but truthfully you are a student or a recruit. You are bound to the Green Ajah because you picked us but you are not yet a full sister. That makes it hard, it's more difficult still by the fact that you will do you best to conceal this from the rest of the Tower and must do so without breaking your new oaths. Believe me I understand how hard this can be. I am sure that you will do your best and I will help yo guide you along every step of the way. In regards to our sisters, don't act to cocky or know at all and that will get you a long ways. Shall we go?"

 

Aramina listened carefully to Jaydena as she spoke. So, thanks to her new oaths she was going to have to learn quickly how to lie without lieing. Well, she was Cairheinin and there wasn't a child she knew that hadn't learned that art on their mother's knee. She could manage her words well enough.

 

She smiled slightly then at Jaydena. "I think i'm ready to me the other Sisters now." She said. "And thank you, again, for your help in this." With thos words, she followed Jaydena out of her quarters and into the hall.

[Jaydena]

Jaydena saw the smile and visibly relaxed, these days she was always ready for attack from any quarter. She thought it had been bad when she first became a Aes Sedai but it had gotten worse in the last few years. The Tower was no longer a safe place if it had ever been. "I think I'm ready to me the other Sisters now. And thank you, again, for your help in this." Jaydena smiled and spoke, "You welcome Aramina, I have high hopes for you." Turning she walked and opened the door to the room. She held the door open and let the recruit through, closing it tightly behind her. Speaking again she turned to the door, "I know wards are not something you had to worry about as an Accepted but now that you are a Sister, whether you are recruit or not you need to ward your door against intruders of any kind. I also suggest you ward your mail and anything else within your room that you feel might be of value." She turned and walked toward the first room on the tour. Opening the door she led the girl inside and embraced the source to light the torches in the walls.

 

"This is the Vault." Jaydena led the way into the main sunken seating area, around the deep seated couchs were glass walls. Inside the walls were cubbys, inside each cubby was a portrait of the deceased or missing battle sister and a few of her prized position, including pictures of her gaidin. Into the other section of the vault were large portraits of the Sisters, she had painted quite a few of them herself. Turning she spoke, "The Vault is a place where we can come and remember what it means to be Battle Ajah. We will all die and if we are lucky we will do so fighting for the greater good such as these women did. When we die we earn a place within the Vault." She smiled and led the way out of the room and to the first Sisters door. Knocking on it she waited for the woman to open it. When she had she said, "This is Aramina Sur Dulciena, she is not yet Green but she is sealed to us." Stepping back she waited for the two to converse...

 

Jaydena Sedai

Banner Captain

[U4ea]

Loraine scrawled notes in her journal as fast as her fingers would go. Her thoughts were jumbled and the need to see it all out in black and white was comsuming her. She had picked up pieces of information while away from the Tower that only now made sense. Knowing what only the Tower can learn has its advantages, even though she hadn't felt at home in the Tower in a long time.

 

She stopped writing, stretching her back and laying her pen aside, not bothering to cap the ink. She'd be back to her anxious scrawling soon enough and unstopping the ink well would just make her fumble it and make a mess. She pressed her fingertips to the bridge of her nose and pinched, hoping to relieve the pressure enough that the concern coming from her warder through the bond would slack off. If she knew Kyn, he was neck-deep in a spar with a man twice his size and not bothering to use lathes to practice, either. She doubted whether a fresh set of stitches would make writing this any easier.

 

As soon as she thought it, she laughed at herself and shook her head. They were in the Tower now, there would be no need for stitches. Someone in the Infirmary would heal him and she wouldn't notice the wound once that had been done. Only she would forget something as silly as that.

 

"And besides," she whispered to herself, her lips spreading into a warm smile. "It's not as if there are a dozen warders in the Yard who are bigger than Kynwric."

 

A knock from the door startled her and she barely caught the ink well with a weave of Air before it tipped and splattered everywhere. She narrowed her eyes, rising slowly from her desk and moving towards the door, her mind racing as she tried to think of who could be on the other side. She checked her reflection in the mirror on the way and sighed. She had ink smudges on her nose and a few strands of hair had come impossibly loose, hanging down her face in a way that would've had her grandfather screaming for her maid. And promptly firing her, she was sure.

 

The thought lit her face with humor as she pulled open the door, her smile warming still more as she saw Jaydena on the other side. "This is Aramina Sur Dulciena, she is not yet Green but she is sealed to us." Jade's words drew her eyes to the girl standing beside her and brought back a wealth of memories in a flash.

 

It was Sirayn standing where Jade was now. She'd walked past this door while on this fateful tour, for it had been empty at the time. The girl's face drew her eye and Loraine felt her smile widening. Another Cairhienin joining the Green Ajah? Light help, but the Blues must be rolling over in irritation.

 

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Aramina, and wonderful to see someone from home. My best wishes on your raising to these halls and I hope you find your decision doesn't..." she paused and flicked her gaze over to Jade before smiling again and sighing. "...chafe as it does so many others. All of us here have been where you are, and if not for the nature of our Ajah, we would most likely not be so stiff about it. I can promise that this will be for the best in the long run, though I pray it doesn't take you a terribly long run to learn that, yourself." She paused and tilted her head slightly. "Come by for tea some time. Being Cairhienin within these halls isn't as easy as it sounds, though I expect you're learning that all to quickly."

[TaeaDawn]

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Aramina, and wonderful to see someone from home. My best wishes on your raising to these halls and I hope you find your decision doesn't..."

 

The pause was deliberate if slight and Aramina wondered what games she was being pulled into now. The World and the Tower played the Great Game and she had been foolish enough to think at one time, that her Ajah Sisters would be any different.

 

"...chafe as it does so many others. All of us here have been where you are, and if not for the nature of our Ajah, we would most likely not be so stiff about it. I can promise that this will be for the best in the long run, though I pray it doesn't take you a terribly long run to learn that, yourself. Come by for tea some time. Being Cairhienin within these halls isn't as easy as it sounds, though I expect you're learning that all to quickly."

 

Aramina nodded her head slightly. "I would enjoy that Loraine Sedai. It is always a pleasure to speak of our homeland." She said politely.

 

Cairhein had never been home to Aramina, but there was no reason to comment to the other woman. She knew that many Cairheinins live happily in their homeland, dabbling in the Great Game and never leaving it's borders, but Aramina had always wanted more, had been raised to want more. In the Tower, she looked at another Cairheinin as a possible adversary but not even in her youth would she have looked for companionship.

 

A small smile graced her lips then. "As for my decision to petition the Green Ajah, I will not falter and I will learn as fast as I may. I can assure you of that."

[U4ea]

Loraine fought the urge to say something about the flicker in the woman's eye, swallowing her newfound forthrightness in the wake of a lifetime of training. First her grandfather, then the Tower...it seemed the stretch of mistrust hung everywhere. She wasn't sure why that surprised her, not being back in the Tower, at any rate.

 

"I would enjoy that Loraine Sedai. It is always a pleasure to speak of our homeland." Loraine felt the corner of her lip quirk up at that. "As for my decision to petition the Green Ajah, I will not falter and I will learn as fast as I may. I can assure you of that."

 

"I should hope not, Aramina, especially since someday it will be my back you're guarding with a blade and faltering will hardly make me comfortable in that situation." She smiled, the old Loraine emptying herself into the new one's eyes. It left her feeling cold and she felt Kyn's reaction to it as a blow landed on his shoulder. He may have fallen in love with that woman, but this one was what he fought for. He'd start urging her to leave the Tower again if this kept up, she was sure of it. Ah, but those were thoughts for another time. For now... "As for speaking of our homeland, it's been my experience that it's hardly something anyone actually from it chooses to do, especially if we're given any choice in the matter." She nodded slowly, turning her smile on Jaydena. "Perhaps we can find a quiet place soon, Jade, there is much to catch up on and much news to bring to your ears from my travels."

 

She stepped back, nodding to the pair of them. "Good day to you both," she said softly. She stepped out again a moment later, watching the pair move down the hall. Her eyes remind me of Grandfather, she thought, losing herself in the haunting memories of a man who spent his days in politics and The Game, hoping to drag Loraine with him, all the way to the crown if possible. She shuddered inwardly and sighed. That was before Sirayn and Lwena had rescued her. But had they really saved her from The Game? Or had they deposited her in the heart of it, instead?

[TaeaDawn]

Aramina watched as Loraine Sedai left them and she turned to watched Jaydena for a moment. Some days she wished she could have been born someplace other than Cairhein, or that she had been raised as her siblings had, to want farm and family, a life easily within their grasp. But Aramina had been the odd one out all her life. She had been taught the ways of the Game in subtle ways so that even she had been unaware of the teaching for a long time.

 

Now, in the White Tower, she watched all interactions with the casual eye of a new Recruit but the trained instincts of a Player. She trusted to Jaydena Sedai, had no choice as this woman was her only redemption, but there was history in these halls that she knew nothing about. Soon, she would begin to learn it, to end the ignorance that she currently suffered from.

 

"An interesting encounter." She said with a small smile.

 

[Jaydena]

Jaydena smiled at Loraine and stepped back as the two began to converse about their homeland. She had spent quite some time there but she herself was from Andor, she was of course well versed in the game of houses, but nothing like Loraine was, the woman had been fed at the breast on the Game. Her thoughts wandered as she thought over the events of the day and what was still to be done for this young woman to be ready to become a Green. Jade turned her attention back to the women and saw Loraine smile at her as she spoke, "Perhaps we can find a quiet place soon, Jade, there is much to catch up on and much news to bring to your ears from my travels." Jaydena nodded and said, "I will send you a note when I have some free time. Hopefully you will also be free." Loraine bid them farewell and closed her door. Turning back to the recruit she smiled and waited for the girls reaction. "An interesting encounter,"was all the woman said. Jade nodded and motioned to another door. She knocked on the door and when it was opened she said, "Sister this Aramina Sedai, she is not yet one of us but sealed to us." Nodding to the woman she waited for the two to speak...

 

Jaydena Sedai

Sitter of the Green in retro

[KaraSedai]

Kara sat at her desk in her room. It was small, and slightly messy. She never really used it. But she sat there anyways. The papers before her were of not much importance. They had been letters from her family back home. Asking how she was, and things like that. They were years old however. It had been a long time since she had any contact with them.

 

Kara stood and looked at herself in the mirror. She was older, but her reflection didn't show it. Anyone looking at her would say that she was only about twenty years old. A grin blossomed on her face, Light how she wished that were true. Twenty plus ninety some years. Thankfully her body didn't feel that old. She felt like she was ripe in middle age. Her rigerous training had helped keep that in check. Meia had also kept her check. Sending a feeler out through the bond, Kara could tell that Meia was working hard in the yards.

 

A slight tap came on her door. One she recognized as Jaydena. She had a unique way of knocking. It must be a new sister she was showing around. Kara had heard voice down the hall a moment before.

 

She opened the door and sure enough, a younger woman stood before her. She looked just as confused as Kara herself had. Kara remembered well what it was like to be in her shoes. It wasn't easy for sure.

 

"This is Aramina Sur Dulciena, she is not yet Green but she is sealed to us." Kara heard the words and recognized them. An ancient tradition almost as old as the Tower itself.

 

"It is nice to meet you." Kara said warmly "I know you must be confused right now, it is a tough time. But I can promise you that the rewards are great." Kara gave her a genuine grin, there wasn't any reason to make the recruits anymore nervous than they already were.

[TaeaDawn]

"It is nice to meet you. I know you must be confused right now, it is a tough time. But I can promise you that the rewards are great."

 

The words were warmly said Aramina wondered what the woman was like, this Aes Sedai who had been accepted and had found a place long ago with the Green Ajah. Warm words but Aramina wasn't ready to hear anything just yet. Her face remained the calm composed facade she always wore and she smiled slighty at the Aes Sedai so as not to appear rude.

 

"Thank you for your words Aes Sedai." She said politely. "To be one of the Green Ajah is all the reward I ask, all the reward I will ever seek." She added honestly. "I hope someday the Ajah itself will see that."

 

More bitterness came through her words than she had planned. Light! She was slipping all over the place. She had trained in the Great Game for longer than she could remember. Coming unhinged the way she was made her take a deep breath to try to calm herself. Her inner feelings, her hurt and betrayal, her sense of failure, those were her own to deal with, not something to be shown around to anyone who cared to look.

 

[KaraSedai]

Kara watched the girl react to her words with a calm face. Nothing was getting through. Kara couldn't blame her, she herself had been the same way. Kara had of course handled it differently. She had cut off her hair, and forgon dresses. Black slacks and coats were her manner of dress thereafter. Being so angry with herself after getting denied, she turned that anger into training passion.

 

"I hope someday the Ajah itself will see that." Kara almost winced at the words. Not so much because she took it as an insult. But because the girl was missing the point of this. There was a difference between being angry with ones self, and being angry at the Ajah. There was almost a lack of responsibility.

 

The anger that crossed her face was another thing to be worried about. If the girl so easily showed emotions, then she was going to have a rough time acclamating herself to the Tower, where a thousand words could be said in the raising of an eyebrow.

 

"It is not the Ajah's fault that you did not get accepted. There are things you have yet to learn, and it is no fault of the Green Ajah's that you haven't learned them yet." Kara let a harder edge find its way into her voice. "Take responsibility for the task before you, and meet it head on, that is what it means to be a Green. We stand ready. And you do not have all the information and training you need to stand among us yet. Either accept that, or don't. That is your responsibility, and no one can take that away from you." Kara hoped that her words had some affect on the girl. There was no reason why she couldn't be a wonderful Sister, but there was much for her to learn yet. Much.

[TaeaDawn]

"It is not the Ajah's fault that you did not get accepted. There are things you have yet to learn, and it is no fault of the Green Ajah's that you haven't learned them yet. Take responsibility for the task before you, and meet it head on, that is what it means to be a Green. We stand ready. And you do not have all the information and training you need to stand among us yet. Either accept that, or don't. That is your responsibility, and no one can take that away from you."

 

Aramina was taken back a bit, by the misunderstanding, but that was the way it was with people. She would have thought a member of the Ajah would understand her bitterness, but it appeared that Kara Sedai had not understood her emotion at all. "Forgive me, Aes Sedai, my failure is laid firmly at my own feet. I meant only that I hope someday the Ajah sees that I can be more than I have been." She answered, her calm fell back into place then, the misunderstanding taking Aramina's mind back to places it understood and roamed without effort. "I will endeavor to be more than I thought possibly, or I will die trying. I have promised to stand as a Green Sister as the Last Battle and I would not make a lie of those words."

 

She hoped the sister would be pacified by her words. She wanted to look to Jaydena Sedai at that point to see if she had made a grevious error already, but it was cowardly to look to another to correct such an error and she refused to do it. Jaydena Sedai would tell her what she needed, she would have to trust in that.

 

[KaraSedai]

OOC: This is fun! I have been away for so long that I forgot how great initiations are!

 

IC:

 

Kara nodded. The girl found her calm again fast.

 

"I am confident that you will very soon stand among the rest of us. There is no reason for you not to." Kara looked directly at her. Aramina looked directly back and didn't falter. That told Kara a lot in an instant. She was strong. And she held her own ground, rather than looking to others for support.

 

"The Green Ajah will be proud to have you." Kara said calmly and sincearly. She hoped the girl understood that.

 

"You have a strong one with you Jaydena." Kara smiled at them both, nodded, and stepped away back into her room. The door closed, and Kara smiled to herself. The girl was going to be something someday. Her time would come soon.

[TaeaDawn]

"You have a strong one with you Jaydena."

 

Kara Sedai's words went around in Aramina's head as she watched her go back to her rooms. Left alone with Jaydena in the hall again, she look at the other Green Sister. Strong? She wasn't sure of that at all, but she was going to become Green Ajah, if it killed her.

 

Still, she felt as if she had passes another test, just talking these halls. Each sister she met was another person to call on, to talk to, and to help her gain the shawl.

 

"Thank you for taking me around Jaydena." She said as they continued on to the next door. "Their words of encouragement are actually a comfort."

 

[Jaydena]

ooc- I don't think anyone else will be posting on this so I am going to close it up!

 

Kara Sedai opened the door and Jade nodded to the woman, she hadn't had a huge amount of contact with the woman, but she was a wonderful sister and led them into rousing battles. She listened silently as the two conversed and returned Kara's smile when she said, "You have a strong one with you Jaydena." She nodded and said, "Yes I do, she will make quick work of this process I think, good day to you my sister." Kara closed the door and she turned to Aramina and smiled at the girl as the young woman spoke, "Thank you for taking me around Jaydena. Their words of encouragement are actually a comfort." Nodding she spoke, "I am glad you say that, your far more mature than I was, I was so angry at what had been done to me, I didn't listen to sense. I knew these women, I had had tea with them, my mentor was from the Green Ajah, I has spent hours in most of their rooms and trained to be a green for a long time. Let me tell you how betrayed I felt when they denied me." Shaking her head she chuckled and moved to the next door, "Don't let it get you bitter and don't lash out at anyone and you will be just fine in this whole process." Knocking on the next door she repeated the process and before to much time they had met all the greens that were currently within the Tower. She showed the woman the other features of the quarters such as the Hall of Swords where they would have her second intiation and their tea room and then told her about her battle weaves lesson the next day. Jade said her goodbyes and headed off to finish off her duties for those lessons...