Selenessin Sedai - of the Gray Ajah? [Attn: Tigara]

[Quisalas Selene]

Selenessin walked through the halls of the White Tower with a sure step and determination in her eyes.  It was not a foolproof way to avoid being set to do more work, but if you looked as if you were already on a chore that you didn't much care for, the odds of being given more to do went down considerably.  Not for the first time, she thought that this aspect of life in the Tower was likely even still part of the training they were to undergo to become Aes Sedai.  If asked if she was busy or running an errand, she could reply with "When am I ever not busy?" and most of those she came into contact with would take it as an affirmative, even if it was not.  Side-stepping around the truth and letting assumptions and inferences do the talking for her.

 

It wasn't the first time that she quietly wished she had never come to the Tower, and it was not likely to be the last time she thought it, but more and more, her heart was not in her own muttered grumblings.  With the relative freedom given an Accepted she had managed to once more find joy in her everyday life.  If only that good had not been counterbalanced with thoughts like the one before, about what she would become and what she must do to achieve and maintain her place as Aes Sedai.  Selene had never favored deceit and even less than that did she favor putting hardship on others for her own comfort.  Her washstand had recently broken, just collapsed one day when she set her hairbrush on the edge of it, shattering her basin and pitcher and the stand itself had broken a leg and cracked clear through the top when it fell.  It had given her such a start when it happened and she feared she would not be given a new one when she went to Larindhra Sedai to explain what happened.  Larindhra Sedai had merely nodded as if she had more important things to do and then scribbled  on a slip of paper and handed it to her.  When taken to one of the servants in charge of the store room, it was only a matter of minutes before she was leading a pair of burly men and another servant, this one female, all holding her new belongings.

 

None of them would allow her to assist in any way, and while it was a small thing, it still rankled her that she was expected to allow servants to do things she was fully capable of on her own.  Aes Sedai were on a level with the highest diplomats and nobility, the Amyrlin herself a half-step above queens.  Aes Sedai did not carry their own furnishings, and she was training to be Aes Sedai after all.

 

Carrying a proper Aes Sedai's furnishings was not beyond her expected chores, though.

 

She ducked into another hallway and took three ramps up and then another hallway to the left before she came to the Gray Ajah Quarters.  Ziya Sedai was teaching her a lesson on the laws and customs of various countries and never liked to be kept waiting.  Although she had yet to meet the Aes Sedai that didn't mind waiting for a tardy Accepted.  There was something about Ziya Sedai that Selene just couldn't quite put her finger on, something that always made her feel like the woman didn't see Selene as a person, but as a tool that was built for a specific purpose, in this case the purpose being to learn about law so that she could behave properly when abroad and never bring shame upon the White Tower.  There seemed to be nothing more important to Ziya Asunawa Aes Sedai than the Tower itself, and it continuing on.  It was a disconcerting feeling, but at the same time it was a refreshing change from a great number of the Aes Sedai that you couldn't puzzle out anything from.  At least she could read something of Ziya Sedai.

 

As the lesson drew to a close and Selenessin put her pen down and began to massage the cramped muscles in her hand, Ziya's sharp gaze suddenly focused on the girl as if for the first time, she really saw Selene, and it was the girl herself that caught her attention. "Tell me child," Ziya began and Selene's gaze snapped up from where she had been cleaning the nib on a bit of cloth and putting things away.  There was something in that tone.

 

"Yes, Ziya Sedai?"  Selene's voice sounded respectful and confident, entirely without the fluttery butterfly feeling that was actually plaguing her.

 

"You put a lot of effort into your studies with me, Child.  Are you like this with all of your studies, or is there some special interest in law?"  Ziya sounded calculating, but she looked only serene and impassively attentive.

 

"I uh... that is..."  Selene coughed gently into her hand and cleared her throat.  "I do try to put my all into my studies, Ziya Sedai.  It would be disrespectful to take up a Sister's time and force her to repeat lessons or forget the things I was taught.  There is ever so much to learn, Ziya Sedai, and I would not be able to learn it all if I had to go over everything many times because I did not pay proper attention."

 

Ziya seemed to weigh her words, eyes narrowing ever so slightly, and after a long pause, Selene felt she was expected to say something more.  Haltingly, she spoke again.  "It's not that I don't have a... specific care for law.  I do, it's important to learn all of this.  And I'm good at getting people to work well with each other," Deanne and Esther flashed through her mind but she dismissed that.  She wasn't a miracle worker, "so the study of mediation that the Gray Ajah do is very insightful, Ziya Sedai."

 

Ziya rose abruptly and set aside the books she had been using as reference material and made her way to her door.  Selene scrambled to get together her papers and writing desk and get everything put away and gathered into her arms.  She did not delay Ziya by much.  At the door Ziya turned to her, serene mask let slip for a brief, but warm, smile.  "I think you should speak with Ophelia Sedai, Selenessin."  Ziya always called her Selenessin, and never Selene.  But being called by her full name was better than being called child.  "I think she would be most interested in speaking to you about where your future may lie, Accepted."

 

Selene nodded slowly, suddenly aware that that was what Ziya's odd behavior must have been about.  She must have been interested in what Ajah Selene would choose when she did finally gain the shawl.  She nodded to the woman and thanked her for her time before slipping out of the woman's chambers and nearly flying down the halls in her haste to get back to her room.  Selene didn't yet know which Ajah she would choose when she gained the shawl, she'd not been an Accepted very long yet and hadn't even begun her training on the 100 weaves that would be part of her testing.  But she couldn't escape the feeling that she had very nearly been roped into something.

 

She dropped her notes and writing desk onto the chair and dropped onto her bed and with a tiny cry of dismay, realized that everything Ziya Sedai had been teaching her had gone entirely out of her head and she would end up having to study her notes all over again after all.

 

 

Selenessin

Thought she'd be much older before she started going Gray