Memories and Rememberance (3 oaths - closed)

[Miya]

(( As part of my requirements to play a second aes sedai, here are my three oaths done as a dream that my character had in the course of her travels back to the white tower.  This isn't an rp but a dream of a past occurance meant to give some insight into my character.  Thanks. ))

 

 

“Miya Kiyoshi, you are summoned to be tested for the shawl of an Aes Sedai, the light keep you whole and see you safe.”  The mistress of novices didn’t wait for Miya as she made her way out of the room.  Miya hurried to keep pace.

 

An oval ring stood in the middle of the room that glittered in the light that seemed to stand unsupported. One Aes Sedai from each Ajah was standing in a ring around the room and the Mistress of Novices raised her voice saying “Attend.” all the sisters gathered to them and then she began a line of questioning.

 

“You come in ignorance Miya Kiyoshi, how would you depart?”

 

It took everything she could muster not to tremble with excitement and to emulate the women she so looked up to, “In Knowledge of Myself.”

 

“For what reason have you been summoned here?”

 

This had to be the single most amazing moment of her life up to this point.  She could feel the shawl on her shoulders even now, imagine it’s weight and the feel of it’s frilly edges against her upper arms.  She held herself taller, imagining even now that she was already Aes Sedai and how she would look to the people of the world with such distinction attached to her name. 

 

“To be tried”

 

“For what reason should you be tried?”

 

“So that I may learn whether I am worthy.”  I am… aren’t I?  What if… what if someone could fail now?  What would I do?  Where would I go?  For so many years I’ve wanted this… eat, breathed, and sweat the love of this place - how on earth would I survive if somehow I failed now?

 

“For what would you be found worthy?”

 

Miya couldn’t help but smile as she said, “To wear the shawl.” 

 

She could remember each weave as if they were burned into the inside of her eyelids, each one more intricate and difficult as you could possibly imagine - made more so by the distractions she faced.  Would it ever be this hard in the real world?  One after another Miya spun the colorful threads until at last she set the final one and everything was silent.

 

---

 

She was exhausted.  The walk to where she’d gone now was a blur.  She knelt down on the cold stone floor and fell upon herself in the silence.  Despite the healing of the bug bites and minor bruises she just couldn’t shake the bone weariness from herself.  She’d done it - completed the 100 weave successfully and was suppose to spend the evening in contemplation.  The weight of this achievement was much more than she had expected.  She had supposed that she’d be dancing after being successful but all her mind kept coming back to was the question of her worth.

 

How would she serve all?  What would the legacy of Miya Kiyoshi be?  How would historians remember her to future generations of Aes Sedai?  These questions boiled down to the last burning question in her mind.  She’d told herself she’d settled on Blue, it seemed logical, but if she was going to change her mind this was the final moment in which she could do it. 

 

Green.  She could return to the borderlands and avenge her brother and fight along  side the men and women whom she once called family and countrymen.  They would sing her praises, make her feel as welcome as any queen… she knew this, and there would be warders to join her on this journey … but was war what she wanted to commit her life to?  Yes, it was the duty of all borderlanders but she wasn’t a borderlander any more … she was of Tar Valon now… more specifically, the White Tower.  Her ties to those people were no more strong now than to those in Tear.

 

No.  She would not make her future in a tomb.  She would fight the shadow another way… perhaps in the hearts of men everywhere.  The grays had made a good case for her to join them.  They spoke about her abilities to be so open and compelling and how that would prove useful in negotiations, treaties, and the upholding of law.

 

But whose laws?  Burn it all but she couldn’t accept the ways of some people as Justice and right… she just couldn’t.  Yet an Aes Sedai who came in with her own agenda under a flag of negotiations and compromise could do horrible damage - Bonwhin had been a prime example of how an Aes Sedai with a personal agenda might end.

 

Yes.  Justice was her cause and there was only one place in the white tower for a woman with a cause such as that.  Silently she prayed that the Light and Creator would send her the wisdom and strength to do good in the world with her great power and that she would be remembered one day as a truly wise and important member of the White Tower & the world.

 

---

 

Again things seemed to blur together and she found herself standing before the Amyrlin Seat.  I was so in awe of you … I remember the day you died.  I remember the funeral… For a moment the room wasn’t there and a rainy court yard full of people dressed in white and shawls replaced it.

 

Shaking her head Miya found herself before the Amyrlin again.  “Who comes here.”

 

“Miya Kiyoshi.”  It took everything she had not to curtsey and add ‘mother’ to the end of her statement, but that was not how it was done during ceremony.

 

“For what reason do you come.”

 

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

 

“By what right do you claim this burden?”

 

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

 

“Then enter, if you dare, and bind yourself to the White Tower.”

 

Miya couldn’t remember crossing the distance between the Amyrlin and herself but the feel of the oath rod in her hands was as clear as a spring day.  The smooth texture, the weight, how cold it felt and what it did to her skin as she spoke… horrible, exquisite, and spiritual.

 

“Under the light and by my hope of salvation and rebirth, I vow that I will speak no word that is not true.”  How wonderful it was to make that oath, she couldn’t help but smile through the shock of it’s weight upon her body.  The first oath was the one by which most knew the Sisters of the Tower and now, it was hers.

 

“Under the light and by my hope of salvation and rebirth, I vow that I will make no weapon for one man to kill another.”  She smiled and drew breath as the oath settled and quickly recited the last oath which would bring her decades of work finally come to an end, “Under the light and by my hope of salvation and rebirth, I vow that I will never use the One Power as a weapon except against shadowspawn, or in the last extreme of defending my life, or that of my warder, or another sister.”

 

“It is half done, and the White Tower graven on your bones. Rise now Aes Sedai and choose your Ajah and all will be done that may be done under the Light.”

 

---

 

Miya Sedai, sister of the Blue Ajah, sat up from her bedroll on the ground.  There hadn’t been a town close enough to stop in when night had fallen and so she slept right where she‘d been the moment the sun had set.  Perhaps she’d dreamed because of how uncomfortable she was, her mind was wandering… but perhaps it had been something more.

 

The dream seemed so very vivid, as if it only just had occurred… sadly, that had been nearly three centuries past.  Swallowing hard she eased herself up from the hard earth, grunting in pain as she did so.  It would rain today, her bones screamed it. 

 

Washing her face in a bowl of water, fixing a few of her braids carefully, she regarded the ageless face reflected back at her.  Had the child who was given a shawl that day done all she wanted to do in life?  Now, in her twilight years, could it be possible that time had finally run out on her? 

 

Looking towards the White Tower that loomed in the distance, she contemplated what role she had left to play and the very thing she’d been concerned about all those years ago: what… if anything, she would be remembered for.