A Visit to the Infirmary [open]

[Quisalas Selene]

Selene had managed so far not to get into enough trouble to deserve more than a stern talking to by a few sisters for forgetting her manners.  This whole curtsy to everyone thing was taking longer to get used to than she thought it would.  She didn't forget to curtsy to be rude, she just didn't think about it most of the time.  She'd also managed to squeeze past getting into too much trouble by regularly using her free time between classes to volunteer for chores and work.  She'd worked in the stables, been on entryway greeting duty, copied notes for several Aes Sedai, reshelved books in the library, and now today she was headed towards the infirmary to help Nynaeve Sedai.  As she walked, she reached up and tied her hair back in a white ribbon to keep it out of her way.  She probably wouldn't get to help with any of the actual healing, more's the pity, but even by helping to clean and organize, fetching water for the patients, and generally making herself useful she would achieve a small part of her lifelong dream: to help people.

 

She saw a Sedai in an elaborate blue dress gliding up the hallway in front of her and dropped into a curtsy that was proper and precise, thankful that she had just been thinking about the courtesy and deference that she was supposed to show.  The Sedai's ageless face softened into something that probably passed as a smile as she went past the girl and Selene's mood brightened a bit.  It took so little to bring Selene's mood back up to bright and smiley, and just this small kindness from a sister did wonders.  Selene longed to skip and be silly down the corridor, but it wouldn't be seemly.  Instead, she took up her skirts in one hand and ran the rest of the way to the infirmary, hair fanning out behind.  At least novices were allowed the small joy of running, and running had the added bonus of making the Sedai think you're busy, and thus leaving you alone.  Selene nearly ran into a Tower servant carrying a large box, but dodged to the side just as she noticed him.  The movement knocked her off balance and she tumbled to the ground with a startled squeak that turned into a cry as she landed awkwardly on her left foot and felt the ankle twist painfully.  "Oh, excuse me-" Selene began.  The servant looked over the edge of the box and glared at her before moving on, not even offering to help her up.

 

With an injured ankle and an even more injured pride, Selene scrambled up to her feet and limped the rest of the way to the infirmary.  Hopefully one of the sisters working there would be able to either just heal her ankle or bandage it well enough that she could still help out.  Selene's grand plan for life did not include being one of the people who needed to be helped.

[Tigara]

Infirmary duty. This was a new. Larindhra was getting more and more creative with her punishments. Perhaps one of them would actually work to keep Jasmyne out of trouble. Not likely. She found herself mostly making beds, carrying supplies, and distributing food to those just Healed. She hated being nice! No one nice ever held power. Power is the goal, but it would not be achieved on infirmary duty.

 

A taller girl (most were to Jasmyne) in novice whites limped in the door. Respa Sedai, the Yellow she was supposed to be helping, went over to her and then motioned Jasmyne to come. She put on her sickeningly sweet face and and skipped over. "Yes, Respa Sedai?"

 

"Jasmyne, the girl do have an injured ankle. Why do you no practice your Healing? Go ahead." Inside, Jasmyne grimaced. She wasn't very gifted at Healing. Might have something to do with being very unusually weak in Water. However, she really didn't have much choice, unless she wanted another punishment for not cooperating during a punishment. She embraced the Source and wove the simple Healing that worked mostly on scrapes and bruises. She noticed the swelling in the novice's ankle do down considerably. "Well, how's that?" she asked the girl.

 

Jasmyne Ceres

Always doing punishments

[Quisalas Selene]

Selene listened intently as the Aes Sedai spoke to the accepted, making a note of the girl's name.  Jasmyne, Accepted.  She filed the girl's name away with a little mental image of the girl's face, so she would remember her and her kindness in the future.  With no idea that the girl's friendliness was feigned, Selene eagerly looked forward to the chance to make yet another new friend in the Tower.

 

Biting her lower lip, Selene winced as the Accepted touched her, she'd heard of the shock of healing, but it was worse than she had expected.  She felt as if she had been dunked bodily into ice water, the feeling rushing through her and leaving her breathless.  And hungry.  It was over remarkably quick and Selene was left blinking up at the seemingly kind girl in front of her.  She flexed her ankle and put weight on it, turning a beaming smile up to Jasmyne. "By the Light, thank you!  It's all better." 

 

She shifted her weight entirely to the ankle that had been hurt and hopped up and down a few times and then turned shining eyes, wide with amazement and excitement to the girl.  "I've never been healed before, that was amazing!  Can I learn to do that?" She turned her gaze from the girl to Respa Sedai and back again.  "I know I'm not allowed to channel alone, but you're both here, so it should be okay, right?" Selene flushed guiltily and looked down, honesty forcing her to say more. "I mean, I've only barely begun using the one power in my studies, but surely it couldn't hurt to learn this weave?"  She looked back up hopefully, smiling again.  "I was sent here to help out, and surely being able to heal would be even more help than rolling bandages or whatever it is you need novices to help with."

 

((OOC: I'm fine with this going either way, being told to help mundanely or trying to teach her the weave.  I know it's not something novices are typically taught, but Selene doesn't know that.))

[Tigara]

OOC: I DIED laughing at your post! Great work! ;D

 

IC:

 

It worked? It worked. It worked! Perhaps Jasmyne was not a complete failure at Healing after all. A failure, none-the-less, but not completely. The girl was hopping about on it like it was new. It almost made her feel good inside. Almost, being the key word.

 

During her pondering, the girl, Selene, had spoken. Luckily, Respa Sedai had caught it. "No child. That weave do be too risky to teach you, as it is very difficult and dangerous is not done right. I do believe you will have to wait until you are Accepted to leanr it, assuming you make it that far." Jasmyne watched with inner delight at the girl's disappointed face. She sometimes found it strange that she enjoyed the misfortunes of others, especially ones caused by herslef. And even more especially ones caused to Larindhra, that vile wretched woman!

 

"I heard you do be here to volunteer. You can help Jasmyne here, after you get some food in yourself, of course. Jasmyne, see that she's fed." Jasmyne bobbed the smallest acceptable curtsey and motioned for Selene to follow as she traversed to the small kitchen the infirmary always kept stocked. "Help yourslef, then come help me with the beds." Beds were very hard for her alone. Curse her height!

 

Jasmyne Ceres

Shorter than most Cairheinin

[Quisalas Selene]

Selene looked crestfallen, but not really surprised.  She nodded obediently to Respa Sedai's words and then nodded again as she gave her orders.  Selene's curtsy to the sister was much more genuine and respectful than Jasmyne's, but she didn't notice the other girl's slight.  She bobbed up from the curtsy and padded after the Accepted, still remarkably impressed by the complete lack of pain in her ankle.  Maybe she could get Melianna Accepted to teach her the healing weave if she caught her Mentor in a good mood.  Selene wasn't intentionally disobedient, just willful and excited about learning.

 

Her eyes lit up at the kitchen and the hunger that the healing had inspired in her made itself known loudly.  Selene blushed as she put a hand over her tummy and murmured to Jasmyne "Is it the healing that's made me so hungry all of a sudden?  It hasn't been very long since I ate last."  Selene picked up an apple and poured herself a cup of the chilled blueberry tea.  And a roll.  And a little wedge of cheese.  And a small dish of pudding.  She set all of it down on a tray and then picked up the apple and started to eat it.  It didn't take her long to eat everything and then wash it down with the tea.  She took a second glass of tea and drank it quickly before she washed her hands and dried them.

 

"I'm Selene." She smiled at the girl after she wiped her mouth on a handkerchief which was then tucked back into her pocket.  "How long have you been at the Tower? I'm still really new here."  She moved after Jasmyne to help with the beds, and then took down one of the folded sheets and set it on one of the unmade beds.  She took up her side of the sheet and flipped it out, tucking it in as she talked. "I haven't met very many of the Accepted, mostly just novices and a few of the Aes Sedai.  Do you know which Ajah you want to aspire to? I don't have even the faintest idea which one I'll end up in, there are so many good reasons to pick each of them." She paused a moment, thinking about saying that the Red Ajah didn't really appeal to her, but showing a rare moment of tact she chose not to mention this, in case Jasmyne was herself aspiring to the Red.  Not that she thought such a nice girl would ever want to be one of those angry, man-hating -- although Larindhra Sedai seemed nice enough.  Maybe they weren't all bad.

 

"Do you help out in the infirmary a lot? This is my first time in here.  I asked the Mistress of Novices where I could help out and she told me that I could help anywhere I wanted as long as I left her office and stopped asking her for chores.  I was a little surprised! So many of the girls seem to think Larindhra Sedai loves to hand out chores, I'm not sure why she was so exasperated with me."

 

Selene Al'thorin

Clueless Goody goody.

[Tigara]

"Yes, Healing takes energy away from you. But I hear there is a type of Helaing that uses only the One Power." Jasmyne surpised herself. She might actually like this girl! She hadn't like anyone since her early novice days. Unfortunately, anyone she liked usually disappeared. The first was too weak to make Accepted, the next wasn't emotionally strong enough to go through the second silver arch, and the third fell out a window. Perhaps she should have friends. Or should she?

 

"How long have you been at the Tower? I'm still really new here." 

 

"Well, I've been here for over fifteen years. Ten years a novice, and about 5 so far as Accepted."

 

"I haven't met very many of the Accepted, mostly just novices and a few of the Aes Sedai.  Do you know which Ajah you want to aspire to? I don't have even the faintest idea which one I'll end up in, there are so many good reasons to pick each of them."

 

My, the girl asks a lot of questions! But strangely enough, she didn't mind. "I have been thinking about the Green Ajah, but the Red and Blue Ajah's also have their appeal. But it's far too soon to decide. Much can change very fast."

 

"Do you help out in the infirmary a lot? This is my first time in here.  I asked the Mistress of Novices where I could help out and she told me that I could help anywhere I wanted as long as I left her office and stopped asking her for chores.  I was a little surprised! So many of the girls seem to think Larindhra Sedai loves to hand out chores, I'm not sure why she was so exasperated with me."

 

The girl must be new. She asks for chores? She's volunteering? By the Light, the Tower would break her soon. "No, I have never worked in the Infirmary before. Larindhra's running out of ideas for punishments for me." There, the beds were made. It goes so much faster when there's a taller person to help. Selene followed her to the kitchen and Jasmyne picked up a tray of food. "Grab that tary and we'll distribute some food." Oh no! Was her kind and sweet mask becoming part of her? Did she catch kindness from this novice? Was she losing her touch? She'll have to do something drastic soon.

 

Jasmyne Ceres

Freightened by her own kindness

[Quisalas Selene]

Selene listened intently as Jasmyne spoke of the nature of the healing weave and the existence of another, different kind of healing.  She was a bit disappointed when Jasmyne didn't tell her more, she'd hoped that she might be able to figure out the healing weave on her own if she just learned a little more about what it entailed.  Respa Sedai's warnings of its dangers had gone right over the optimistic little Novice's head.  "Fifteen years, wow.  That's almost as many years as I've been alive!  I guess I was just a teeny baby when you came to the tower!  I wonder what I'll be like when I'm that old.  Not that you look old, you actually look very young for your age!  I thought you were 23 or 24, and here you are, at least 30!" She thought about this for a brief moment and then continued. "I wonder how old Larindhra Sedai is, she's probably been an Aes Sedai for longer than I've been alive!" Hey eyes gew round with wonder.

 

"The Green Ajah sounds so interesting." Selene mused as she smoothed a last wrinkle out of the sheets. "Going out into the world, killing trollocs and fades, fighting the shadow and defending the Light.  I bet they get to help lots of people."  She very politely didn't comment on the reds, and she didn't really know very much about the Blues other than something vague about being dedicated to causes.  "I wonder if I'll know which Ajah to choose, 15 years seems like a very long time to think about it, so I guess I don't have to worry so much about it now.  I just know I want to be able to help people."  She smiled brightly at Jasmyne. "Like you helped me, today."

 

"Do you want me to ask the patients what they would like to eat, or should we just make up trays with a little bit of everything for them to choose from?  I wonder what the Tower does with all the food that doesn't get eaten - there must be plenty of stuff that people take and then can't eat, or are given but they don't like it.  I should ask Melianna, she's my mentor, she might be able to tell me, or at least find out.  I wonder if the Tower gives food to the poor, I'd love to help out there too.  There's so many ways to be useful here!  I just wish I had more time to play with my horse.  Her name is Rao and she's a black filly, I rode her here all the way from Caemlyn.  Well, near Caemlyn, I'm from just outside of Four Kings.  Have you ever been to Andor? I've never been to Cairhein."

 

She'd forgotten her own question about choice of food while she was babbling and had made up several trays to be taken to the patients.  There was a bowl of broth, a banana, a dish of applesauce, and a piece of toast on each tray and she picked up two of them to begin handing them out to the patients in the infirmary.  She returned shortly for more trays and once each patient had a tray from one of the girls Selene took up another tray of cups and filled them each with the same blueberry tea she'd had earlier.  At each patient she smiled warmly, asked if there was anything further she could do for them, and wished them well in heir recovery.  She had hoped helping out in the infirmary would be rewarding and fulfilling, and she wasn't disappointed there, but she had not expected I to be so much fun.  The last was due almost entirely to Jasmyne and each time she met up with the girl as they were handing out trays she had another warm smile and random bit of babbling to share with her.  And of course, plenty of questions.

 

Selene Al'Thorin

Determined to change the world, one happy smile at a time.

[Tigara]

Jasmyne only half listened as the girl babbled behind her. Something about babies and age and herself. Jasmyne nearly tripped when she asked how old Larindhra was. "Aes Sedai consider it very rude to ask another's age. It is never discussed. It will do you well to remember that." There, a firm  and un-nice answer. It wasn't nasty as she normally would have, but it wasn't sickeningly sweet either.

 

She went off on a ramble obout the Green Ajah. Jasmyne could not count on all the Accepted's fingers and toes the amount of new novices who came dreaming about being Green Ajah. It grew repetitive after the first three dozen. Yes, she was considering it herself, but for other reasons. She wanted to blow things up, not flirt with men. She never would! Suddenly the girl was smiling very brightly at her and Jasmyne suddenly felt like she missed something important. She smiled back and kept going, not wanting to find out why.

 

But the girl kept going! Jasmyne only caught half the questions and statementsm, answering quickly as she went. There was something about Melianna, that Accepted who always had her head in the clouds, then something about a horse, then something about Andor and Cairhein. "No, give them whatever. Yes, ask her. No, I have no been to Andor." Thankfully, they split up to hand out trays, but they met up frequently where Jas was bombarded with questions and babblings. Yes, she did like the girl, but she was going to drive her batty before long. Larindhra had better not find that out, or Selene would be her new punishment.

 

Jasmyne Ceres

 

 

OOC: You can think of where it goes next. I need two more posts for this to count as a req. ;D

[Quisalas Selene]

((OOC: Muahahaha.))

 

"Oh my goodness!  I didn't know that was considered rude." Selene dropped into a curtsy to the girl and smiled again. "Thank you for letting me know, much better to find out from you than from an irate Aes Sedai who has just decided I was being rude intentionally and deserved penance!"  She smiled again, and decided then and there that Jasmyne Accepted wasn't only someone who she could look up to as an elder and one more knowledgeable, but that she could also look to as a friend.

 

Jasmyne was given frequent respites from Selene's commentary, but even when they were apart she could hear the taller blonde talking to the patients in her cheery voice, asking if there was anything further she could do for them and if there was anything else they needed.  Right as they were finishing with the trays and would begin soon to take them back up again, Selene straightened from a bed that held a sleeping mother and her young child.  The child was only perhaps a year old, maybe a small bit more.  The little girl was squirming and wriggling and obviously bothered by something.  Selene looked at the child consideringly, looked up to try to spot Respa Sedai, but the woman seemed to have stepped out for a moment. 

 

With a determined nod, she hurried to Jasmyne and leaned down to whisper rather furtively. "Jasmyne Accepted, that child has a diaper that smells just awful!  I don't want to wake the mother, she looked so tired and hardly even touched her food, but I was the youngest child in my family and I don't know anything at all about changing a diaper.  Do they keep diapers here in the infirmary?  Can you help me change the child?  I would hate for the poor thing to end up with a rash!"  Selene wasn't thinking about the fact that a rash could be cured with the smallest effort of healing, the child would be uncomfortable and in pain until any such healing was done.  And there would still be the diaper to deal with.

[Tigara]

A diaper? She was not this child's mother! Why on earth would she help change a diaper! She had never done so before. She was an only child. But...Selene gave her a look that she really couldn't say no to. What was it about this girl that made her so soft. She quickly looked around to make sure the Aes Sedai weren't near, embarced the Source, then wove delicate flows of Air to untie the diaper. She slowly lifted it and over to the infirmary window. She wove water and pulled all the 'contents' out of the fabric and watched them plop out the window. She looked around and saw no one but Selene was watching. She released the Source and quickly put the diaper back on. She thought she heard someone's loud muttering from out the window, but she was mostly eager to see what Selene would do.

 

jasmyne Ceres

Likely in trouble. ;D

[Quisalas Selene]

Selene stared as Jasmyne spirited away the diaper with the one power and turned to grab a wet cloth to wipe down the child's rear.  She held him out again for the diaper to be put back on, her eyes going wide as she realized it wasn't a new diaper, but the same one, cleaned!

 

"Oh my goodness!  I didn't know you could do that with the one source!"  Selene's eyes were huge and wide as she brushed a hand across the diapered hiney and felt the smooth, clean fabric.  She put the baby up on her shoulder and patted his back until he quieted and fell back to sleep and then quietly settled the child in beside his sleeping mother.  That done, she curried back to Jasmyne and spoke quietly, but quickly.

 

"That was amazing, Jasmyne!  What quick thinking on your part, knowing you could clean the diaper!  I'd probably have spent hours searching the infirmary trying to find a clean diaper, or at least something that can work as a diaper."  She abruptly hugged Jasmyne and then leaned back and smiled.  "You're going to make a great Aes Sedai, Jasmyne.  I can just tell."

[Tigara]

Jasmyne was quite taken back by the sudden embrace gave her. She was not used to physical affections. She wasn't sure she liked it either. She could crush the girl's spirit by telling her that she nearly maxed out her skill with Water doing that. Light, she was likely the worst woman ever to weave Water. However, she made up for it with a strength in Earth stronger than most Aes Sedai, and she was yet Accepted. And that Green keeps pestering her about Earth Signing, but Jasmyne had no idea what she keeps going on about.  A vague tingling in her head told her it was a rare Talent.

 

Jasmyne just studied the girl who gawked at her with cow eyes. It wasn't effective because she always had to look up, which ruined the look. It was so hard to intimidate when you barely come to the person's chest. Her studying look faded into one of Jasmyne's rare sincere smiles and she just shook her head. "I think we're done in here. Come on, I'll smuggle us some sweetcakes from the kitchen." She trotted off out the door and started off toward the kitchen.

 

OOC: We can keep going if you like. If you don't want to, that's cool too.

[Quisalas Selene]

((OOC:  Marked it as done on my reqs, but I'm happy to keep writing.))

 

 

"Oh, I should love to have sweetcakes!  I do have such a horrible weakness for sweets."  She smiled brightly at Jasmyne and then went to Respa Sedai's office to let her know that she was finished helping out and that all of the patients were content and cared for and fed and the sheets done and the trays all put away and everything was neat and fine.  Respa Sedai ended up shushing the girl and then waving her away impatiently once she realized that Selene was just a bit of a chatterbox.  As they walked to the kitchens Selene continued to pepper the small Cairheinin girl with questions and comments about life in the Tower, especially channeling.

 

"I'd never really thought about being an Aes Sedai before I was tested for being able to learn to channel, but it's absolutely fascinated me now.  There was this wonderful book in the library about weaves that could be used to help plants grow.  It was so complicated, not that I tried to make the weave!" She assured the Accepted quickly and earnestly.  "But it would be so lovely to learn it.  There's so much that Aes Sedai can do to help people, it just amazes me.  Just imagine! Being able to help people who are starving or in a drought to grow more food and grass for livestock."

 

She tipped her head and looked to Jasmyne as they got to the kitchens and tipped her head to one side. "Did you want to be an Aes Sedai before you found out you could channel?"

[Tigara]

Light, the girl was so helpful it was sickening. But it was a good sickening. The sickening feeling you hjave when you eat too much sweet. You enjoyed it in the process. The girl was going to be sent to Larindhra's office for trying learn too fast...or be too helpful. They got to the kitchens and Selene popped a very good question.

 

"Did you want to be an Aes Sedai before you found out you could channel?"

 

Jasmyne stopped and thought a moment. "Sort of. I hadn't thought about it until I decided to run away to become one. So I suppose I did, just not for long." she said with a nod and moseyed into the kitchen. "Hello Laras, how are you?" she said in an overly perky voice to the plump woman wielding the wooden spoon. "What did you do now, Jasmyne?" she replied in a bored and uninterested tone. "Nothing, Laras! How could you say such things. I'm just here to show Selene around the kitchens. That's all." she replied once again in an all-too-sweet voice. Laras rolled her eyes and went back to prodding on a Novice with her head inside a dirty cauldron. Jas gestured for Selene to follow and she began to loudly proclaim the wonders of the kitchen. "This is where Mariara scrubs pots! This is where beef get roasted on spits. This is...." she continued her proclamations while she slipped some sweetcakes into a sack she hid in her dress. "And this is the door were we shall be leaving from!" she said rushing out the door with Selene in tow.

 

Jasmyne

[Quisalas Selene]

Selene hadn't known anyone who ran away to become an Aes Sedai, and she wondered for the first time how many girls could learn to channel that never got tested or never saw an Aes Sedai within the age range that the Tower accepted girls into the novice book.  Selene bobbed a curtsy to Laras and smiled brightly, but the woman had turned to one of her charges with barely acknowledging Selene.  She shrugged it off and padded after Jasmyne, giggling behind her hand at the inane tour of the kitchen.

 

Selene gasped in delight as they made their escape and smiled brightly to Jasmyne.  "I'd never have expected you to do something so naughty!  Aren't the Accepted supposed to behave like Aes Sedai and do their very best to follow all those rules?"  Selene didn't sound like she was scolding the older girl at all, just that she was surprised and amazed.  "You're so... genuine, Jasmyne Accepted."  She gave the girl a fond smile that bordered on hero worship as she was handed one of the sweetcakes.  She thought a lot about how Jasmyne showed her expressions and broke rules and got mad and did all those things Aes Sedai weren't supposed to do.  For once, she didn't have a million questions to ask - although she did have a sweetcake to nibble on and that could be the reason for her uncharacteristic silence after the single question.

 

They ate as they walked and Selene wondered where Jasmyne was headed and how long this happy moment of freedom and fun would last.