To Be, Or Not to Be (Attn: Elyith Ishel)

[SerenaMorrigan]

Tapping her pipe to remove the ash and resin left over, Serena put the dainty wood carved thing into a small box and closed it with the small latch. Putting the small mahogany box into a drawer in her desk, the Blue then turned around to stare out the window behind her. The sun was descending the western portion of the sky, indicating that later afternoon was upon the city of Tar Valon. Birds chirped outside the window, and nested against the rail of the small stone balcony. It seemed strange to the Aes Sedai that the birds would be nesting this late in the year, but she was not a Brown and hardly spent much time pondering the situation.

 

Stacking some papers together, and cleaning the surface of her desk, Serena thought about the class she had given earlier that day. Shadowspawn were never a subject taken lightly, especially for this Blue, but to any Aes Sedai. The innitiates had to be instructed on the different types and how to deal with them, they simply had to. How would an Aes Sedai deal with a Fade if she had never seen or heard anything about them? Most of the girls that came to the White Tower still believed that most of the Shadowspawn were just horror stories their parents would tell them. Unfortunately, maybe fortunately later in the young womans life, one Accepted had had previous interactions with the dark beings of the Dark One.

 

Elyith , an interesting girl from the borderlands, a girl that the Blue Ajah had been keeping an eye on for quite some time. Part of being a Sister of the White Tower was to help in directing the young innitiates towards the Ajah that would suit them the best. Atleast, towards the Ajah that the Aes Sedai thought would suit them the best. Now, most of the women that came from up north, Borderland area, would head directly towards the Green Ajah. It simply seemed to be the choice of most women raised in a family that battled the minions of the Blight. However, like Serena, Elyith seemed to have a certain flair about her. Something that had more to do with fighting than just plain steel against steel.

 

Picking up her quill and dipping it into the ink, she began to write out a summons.

 

Elyith Ishel,

 

I request your presance in my quarters as soon as this parchment touches your fingertips. If there are classes you are concerned with, or other appointments you have made, I will speak with the necessary individuals to have you freed from any consequence should you miss your appointments. The behaviour you expressed in my Shadowspawn class earlier today interests me greatly; however, also deserves a penance. Please be rational in making your decision of whether you will appear in my rooms as soon as possible, or not.

 

Thank you,

In the Light,

Serena Sedai of the Blue Ajah

 

Sealing the parchment with her Great Serpent ring and some blue candlewax, Serena beckoned for a novice to carry the note straight to the Accepted, whose name was clearly written on the front of the paper. Stepping back into her rooms, Serena waited patiently for the Accepted to arrive.

 

 

Serena Morrigan

Blue Ajah

Bonded to Thera Trakelyn

[Elyith_Sedai]

Caught flashing around her room, trying to find a pen for the class she was already late for, Ely jumped a foot into the air at a sharp knock on the door. She dropped the lumpy pillow she had picked up to look under, and tried to catch her breath. Her heartbeat slowed from the hectic pace it had just picked up. She wiped her eyes, which were still red and puffy from crying. She could still not determine why the mistress of novices had forced her to attend a shadowspawn class, when she knew this would be its effect.

 

Wishing it was not so obvious that she had spent the last few hours crying, Ely opened the door. She barely glanced at the slight woman standing before her, before staring at her feet to hide her puffy eyes.

 

“Yes?†Ely said blandly, still staring at her feet.

 

The other woman simply thrust out a piece of parchment, sealed with blue wax that was imprinted with a serpent biting its own tail. Her heart beat faster once more. She took the letter quickly and thanked the girl. As soon as she had closed the door, she felt slightly guilty for being short with her, but what was done was done. Besides, the curiosity eating away at her could be better quenched by opening the letter, not running after some novice.

 

Hesitantly, hoping for the best, yet expecting nothing like it, Ely split the seal and read the letter.

 

~*~*~

 

Ely felt her pulse against the letter crushed in her hand as she flew up the corridor toward her class. As she opened the door and stepped inside, her eyes darted around as though she expected Serena to be waiting for her inside.

 

However, what met her gaze was a full class, all seated and holding pens at the ready, and one livid looking teacher. Ely dropped her gaze and curtsied low, reminding herself how much she prefered this to her only other option.

[SerenaMorrigan]

The sun had descended the sky more than Serena had hoped. Elyith had not arrived, which meant she had failed to heed Serena's call. Clucking her tongue on the roof of her mouth, the Blue shook her head and headed for the door. Gliding down the hallway, making haste towards the classroom she knew the girl would be in, servants and innitiates quickly hopped out of her way once they saw the look on her face. She was NOT a happy Saldaean.

 

Reaching the classroom, Serena paused before the door and raised her fist. Three hard loud knocks rapped on the door. Knocks that could have instilled fear into a madman. The door opened and the Aes Sedai teaching the class glared at Serena, then whiped the look off of her face and took a step back. Tilted emerald eyes shone like a cats in the night. "Elyith Ishel. I believe you were instructed to come to my quarters. Better late then never." Walking over to Ely, Serena smirked and embraced the True Source. Wrapping the girl up in flows of Air, she lifted her up out of her seat.

 

"Is this what you wanted?" Once she had pulled Elyith out of her classroom, she placed her on the ground in the corridor. The bonds of Air still around the girl, Serena asked. "Alright, can you walk by yourself, now?" Once Ely answered, Serena went on. "As we're walking to my quarters, you will tell me of why you decided to disobey me. Once we get there, I have something waitinf for you to take care of."

 

 

Serena Morrigan

[Elyith_Sedai]

Making a quiet apology to her teacher, Ely kept her head bowed and sat down near the back of the classroom. Better this kind of bad attention than face Serena.

 

Ely barely listened all of class for worrying about Serena and what she might do now that Ely had not turned up. Bad as she knew the punishment would be, she could not have brought herself to pick Serena's rooms over this class had she been given the choice twenty times again. The only thing left to do was wait. And plan.

 

What would Serena ask? And what would Ely say? She could not tell Serena about her mother and the trollocs, yet what else could she use as an excuse?..

 

The class was wrenched out of their stupor by an unsavoury knock at the door. The Aes Sedai standing at the front of the classroom started toward the door, hands on her hips, looking incensed. The girls all looked scared, as Ely’s eyes darted around the class, but no one had more to fear of what lay behind the door than her.

 

The door flew back before the Aes Sedai teacher could reach it to reveal Serena Sedai, looking more murderous than her knock had sounded. Ely made a small noise somewhere in her suddenly tight throat. Wow. She thought faintly. I’m really going to get it now! She wanted to run, but her legs had turned to iron, hard as an anvil.

 

"Elyith Ishel. I believe you were instructed to come to my quarters. Better late then never." Ely made the same guttural noise in her throat as her eyes popped out. She could see weaves of air moving in around her as if in slow motion. Had she been quicker, she would have tried to do something about it, but, as she realised later, that would only have made things a great deal worse. Her head was held tightly by Serena’s weaves so that Ely had to look straight into the small woman’s eyes. Where Ely had once thought they looked like beautiful polished emeralds, they now smouldered like eerie green flames. The Aes Sedai’s eyebrows drew down in razor straight lines, and her rosebud lips grew thin.

 

A sudden jerk of the weaves made Ely lift off her chair and toward the open door. She would have squealed, if she could. Serena did not even apologise to the Aes Sedai teacher as she stormed them both out of the classroom, but Ely hardly even noticed the rudeness as she was dropped roughly to the ground.

 

"Is this what you wanted?†Ely did not reply, but stared straight into Serena’s eyes, her expression one of horror. "Alright, can you walk by yourself, now?" Ely made a small noise in her throat that Serena must have taken for a ‘yes’ as she felt the weaves around her release.

 

“As we're walking to my quarters, you will tell me of why you decided to disobey me. Once we get there, I have something waiting for you to take care of." Ely shivered, but did not speak. She could not yet find her tongue. She glanced into Serena’s eyes as the woman looked at her as though she was a wolf hunting her prey.

 

“I… I… um…†Ely glanced again at Serena and began to feel the whole weight of the unfairness of it all. Penance for acting so in a class she had been forced to attend, though her mother had been brutally tortured by trollocs in front of her very eyes? Her own eyes narrowed in anger. She stopped walking and turned to face the small woman besider her head-on.

 

“I will not apologise for my actions, and I will not do penance for having my mother…†Ely began to scream, before breaking down into tears. Wow. She thought again. Didn’t it a long time for that to start again. She thought crying all afternoon since Serena’s class would have worn the appeal of the action out completely. Apparently not. She simply could not help it, but neither could she run. Falling to her knees, hands over her face, Ely gave in and allowed the tears to flow thick and fast down her face. She hoped Serena did not think she was looking for pitty…