A Raising that...Isn't

[Muirenn]

Iriana alternated between fidgeting nervously and grinning with pride as she waited for the Mistress of Novices.  Last night, she had finally, finally, been tested for the shawl, and had passed.  It had been easy.  Well, as easy as it could be given the circumstances, she was sure.  But she hadn't faltered once, hadn't had a false start on a single weave, and hadn't broken her composure.  Well, not enough to count anyway.  The Aes Sedai testing her had marvelled that she had so few injuries after the testing.  Well, of course, she had spent almost the last forty years preparing for that one event.  More than enough time to have done everything exactly right.  Forty years as an Accepted, and it ended today!

 

She composed herself as she heard the knock on her door, and glided to open it.  Outside stood the Mistress of Novices, Larindhra Sedai, along with a sister from every Ajah.  They were all wearing their fringed shawls.  She nodded to each of them and they surrounded her as the group moved in silence through the Tower.  She kept her hands still, though she wanted to fidget, to pick at her skirts, to be doing something.  It had all been explained to her, the changes that would be made to the usual ceremony.  The Aes Sedai all seemed so confident, so certain.  But if that was the case, why had it taken so many years to come to this conclusion.  She should have been Aes Sedai thirty years gone.  At least women who used the One Power aged slowly.  At almost seventy, Iriana had barely a gray hair.  And she had noted that her worry lines were few and far between.  It was strange still, to have people think that her sister was her mother, or grandmother, when she came to visit.  And after today, she would be Aes Sedai.  She had never seen an Aes Sedai who looked old, or one who had worry lines, for that matter.  She supposed she would be the first.  She had certainly had enough to worry about these past forty years.

 

As the small group approached the room where she had been tested, Larindhra Sedai smiled at her.  "I will speak your part for you, Iriana.  Have no worry, it is almost done."

 

Iriana blinked, but smiled back.  A breach of protocol, yes, but a necessary one, considering the circumstances.  She had almost forgotten the ritual phrases that were to be spoken, that she must have help with.  Larindhra Sedai pushed open the door and Iriana heard the Amrylin speak.

 

"Who comes here?"

 

"Iriana Tenialle," the Mistress of Novices replied smoothly.

 

“For what reason does she come.”

 

“To swear the three oaths and thereby claim the shawl of an Aes Sedai.”

 

“By what right does she claim this burden?”

 

“By right of having made the passage, submitting herself to the will of the White Tower.”

 

“Then let her enter, if she dares, and bind herself to the White Tower.”

 

Iriana held her head up and back straight as she walked toward the Amyrlin.  She saw groups of Aes Sedai all around the room, all the sitters and one extra Aes Sedai from each Ajah, all holding shawls fringed in the Ajah's color.  She stepped through the oval ring ter'angreal, silent and still now, and knelt in front of the Amyrlin.  She watched as the Amyrlin lifted the Oath Rod from it's cushion and handed it to her.  The rod looked a bit like aged ivory, but felt as smooth as glass as Iriana held it in her hands. 

 

"Nod your assent, Iriana, as I speak each of the Oaths.  Your intent to be bound should be enough," said the Amyrlin with a smile.  "Iriana Tenialle, by the Light and your hope of salvation and rebirth, do you vow to speak no word that is not true?"

 

Iriana nodded solemnly.  Nothing happened. 

 

The Amyrlin hesitated.  "Did you feel the Oath tighten around you, Iriana?"

 

Iriana shook her head slowly, she hadn't known she was supposed to feel anything.  Of course, she had heard some new Aes Sedai speak of the tightness of the Oaths, but she had thought they meant that the new constraints were difficult to get used to following, not that there was any physical discomfort.  Obviously she had been wrong, and the Amrylin had been waiting for some reaction.  But there had been nothing, no tightening.  Her eyes grew wide in panic, what was to become of her now?

 

-Iriana Tenialle

Not an Aes Sedai

 

[Elgee]

Larindhra wondered who was more nervous about the upcoming ceremony: herself, or the woman about to be raised to Aes Sedai. It had been a long time since she could think of Iriana as “child”. For over fifty years they had walked a path together, and if ever she had had a model student, this was the one. If ever someone had deserved to be raised, Iriana did. In every way and form, she was the perfect Aes Sedai. Except for one thing … one tiny little thing: she could not speak the Oaths. Iriana had long since disproved the objection some held that a mute Aes Sedai could not be allowed; she had proven her worth and her ability to communicate.

 

Well, at last enough people had been brought round to accept the proposition that they try it this way. Larindhra fervently hoped that it would work. She herself had jumped to offer speaking on behalf of Iriana where necessary. Those who had still harboured doubts about the woman’s right to the Shawl had been silenced very effectively by the ease with which she passed her test. And they had tried very hard to make her fail; in fact, so hard, that Larindhra had given them all a tongue lashing she usually reserved for Accepted who stepped much too far over the line. Only her position and wariness of the Red Ajah had kept some of them from complaining formally to the Amyrlin. That, and the fact that some of them knew of the fearsome temper Larindhra usually kept very tightly reigned in.

 

She ignored some of the distinctly cool looks she received, speaking Iriana’s replies in a serene voice. Serenity cracked when it became clear that the Oath’s were not taking. Sympathy was writ large across her face as she enveloped Iriana in a comforting hug. “Do not give up, child – we will find a way!” But what way? What could they possibly do to make this woman Aes Sedai? There was no way around the Oaths, not if she wanted to receive the Shawl.

 

 

Larindhra Reyne

Mistress of Novices