Tilly in Tar Valon (Attention Mistress of Novices)

[Wintrow]

Arad Doman to Tar Valon was a long way to cry, but Tilly managed. Up hills and down them, through cities, villages, towns, streams and wide open spaces: she salted them all, but it was inside her nothing would grow. She was dead convinced about that. Her world had been small but it had been hers and she cherished what few pieces remained. Had remained. Now she was to be replanted like a crop, expected to thrive and blossom in alien soil.

 

Tilly thought often of leaping out of the dray, making a noble stand in protest but never did; she had not the courage. Patience Tilly always obeyed, as instructed, what was best . . . what was easiest. She was unsure she even knew how to disobey, so instead cried silently, releasing her sorrow like the overflow of a hydro-dam.

 

The aes sedai had tried to soothe her, but Tilly was beyond consolation. She’d nodded in agreement with everything the woman had said and done her best to listen but it was hard to hear over the sound of her little house collapsing, and the hooves of horses pulling the dray farther from home.

 

When she wasn’t crying, she was sleeping, curling into a ball of dramatic misery. The journey past quickly, days whirling by like dust devils and tumbleweed. She spoke when spoken to, answered any questions in her breathy whisper, but otherwise remained silent. I imagine she sucked the fun out of the journey for the aes sedai too and that was probably her intention.

 

Dragonmount rose in the east, dominating the horizon then eclipsing sky. It was large, not beautiful, but coarse and frightening, dark. The aes sedai began to explain the ‘history’ of the monument . . . but Tilly did not believe her: one person could not wield such power . . . right?

 

The sun was down by the time they reached Tar Valon, for which Tilly was thankful. She hardly wanted to be surprised, amazed or delighted by something right now. How inappropriate! She did get impressions of vastness, populous, prosperity. Buildings and people where illumed by torch light, moving shadows playing havoc with her sight. In her lifetime she had really only known her houses and a little bakery down the road; a city such as this would lose her

 

An ivory column was before her, and she recognised her destination without having seen it. The bottom was brightly lit, the upper portion vanishing into the black sky. It was intriguing. How on earth did it stay up and just how tall was it? Those questions would wait, for the dray stopped and it was time to go inside.

 

I could attempt to adequately describe the tower interior but I would fail. What words or terms would suffice or capture the other worldliness? None I can think of. So let us assume Tilly was appropriately awed, and if not by beauty (for she is no aesthete) then by designs and patterns beyond the borders of her experience. It was, quite accurately, like stepping into another world.

 

Tilly followed the aes sedai through antechambers, corridors and hallways before being ushered into a seat before a door. The aes sedai handed her a handkerchief and demanded she at least try to wipe her face. Tilly complied. The aes sedai knocked upon the door and entered, returning a few minutes later. She said, “It was nice to meet you” and walked away, leaving Tilly to clutch the handkerchief and fearfully wonder what came next.

 

 

[Lavinya]

Countless times Pia Tovisen had glanced at the sun already, and before the day had ended, countless more times would be added to that. She sighed softly, a weary sound. The Mistress of Novices stifled a yawn, and turned her attention on the book of Novices again. Everything was recorded in there, after all. Everything that mattered at least. Last night another Accepted had ventured into the rings, and passed through them free of everything she had been before she became who she was now. In her fine handwriting Pia made a note of the raising in the book of Novices. Today the girl would choose her Ajah, and her fate would become truly entwined with that of the Tower. Her choice was no secret to Pia, the way very little that happened among the novices and accepted of the White Tower was a secret to her.

 

She closed the big book after she was done. The book looked a little old, but the preservation wards that were set on it worked well. It seemed as though it would never get full. Pia had once paged through it, and found her own name, as well as that of the Mistress of Novices before her. It was interesting to learn how long some of her sisters had been here, and how long they had taken to get themselves raised. Wistfully Pia peered at the sun again, only to find that it hadn’t moved a bit. The day was still young, and she would be tired and aching by the time it was done. Not that the work of the Mistress of Novices ever truly ended. There were wards on the door to the office that told her people were waiting in front of it. The wards would wake her, even if someone tried to sneak in when the night was at it’s darkest.

 

Just as she thought of the wards, a tingling sensation crept over her skin, telling her that someone was about to knock on her door. Soon enough the sound of knocking followed. The sound of a knock often told her a lot about who wished to enter. This was the certain knock of an Aes Sedai. Pia took a moment to school her expression into something a little less depressing than the look of fatigue she had had. “Enter.” She said, her voice calm and low as usual. The door opened as she channelled a thread of air to it. To whomever entered it might seem as magic. The Aes Sedai entered and nodded deferentially to Pia, before informing her of the girl waiting outside. Able to channel, she said. A few moments more and Pia dismissed her with a word of thanks, leaving the door open behind her.

 

Peering outside the door, Pia took in the sight of the sniffling novice, hastily wiping at her tear-reddened face. She smiled her motherly smile and bade her enter, standing aside to allow Patience to proceed her into the immaculate office. "Please child, take a seat." Pia indicated to a chair before the desk, before also seating herself behind it, hands folded neatly on the polished surface. "I am Pia Tovisen, Mistress of Novices at the White Tower. How may I help you today?"

 

~Pia Tovisen

Mistress of Novices

 

[Wintrow]

What? Tilly was so unhinged by the question she swayed like an opening door. That’s not what she had expected, mentally reinforcing herself against a barrage of commands and orders. Where were the commands and orders? She felt unbalanced, altogether nonplussed and honestly a little bit cheated out of her sulkiness.

 

Tilly didn’t meet the woman’s eyes, wriggling them around the room like caterpillars trying to escape; her fingers fidgeted abominably and the room became brilliantly warm.

 

Her cheeks were heating it.

 

She was possibly regarded, weighed, put into a little box wrapped with pink paper and a cute bow, but since she wasn’t meeting eyes or looking she wouldn’t know. She felt Pia, like a warm fire across the room, or a dark closet late at night filled with goblins and monsters. Her presence was heavy, insistent and implacable.

 

A surgical scar impacting an intestine. Whichever one was most important.

 

The presence grew heavier and sweat prickled Tilly’s forehead. It was becoming harder to breathe and she really had no idea why. What was going on? Pia was becoming larger, her question bouncing from the walls louder, louder, louder, until there was nothing but question and asker.

 

Tilly could no longer ignore her.

 

“Okay!” erupting like a wine cork from a bottle. The tension left, gushing out like air from a balloon. Tilly fancied she was tumbling through the air. “I don’t know how you can help me. I want to go home . . . but I don’t think I am meant to.”

 

Just as well she'd never had fearless illusions.

 

 

 

 

 

[Lavinya]

Not even a tiny flicker of surprise crossed Pia's features as the words finally erupted from Patience; the Aes Sedai serenity that kept her expression smooth never faltered. That the girl could channel Pia had no doubt. Now that she thought about it, she allowed herself to sense the ability that lay dormant inside her. It was there, resonant and matching to Pia's own ability.

"Oh, I have a feeling you know why." Pia smiled a little, and wondered if the girl honestly believed the Aes Sedai who has brought her to Pia had kept her ignorant.  "You can channel child, of that there is no doubt. I can already sense it, so it is quite possible you've already channeled before on your own, though if that is the case you must never do so again without an Aes Sedai directing you. The consequences can be dire."

 

Whether Patience believed her or not Pia couldn't tell, though she did seem to be desperately searching for an escape route. Very few girls, even those who truly hoped to be Aes Sedai some day, believed they possessed the gift until they saw the evidence for themselves. "Fear not child, you need not merely take my word for it." Pia's lips curved in a small smile. Reaching into a drawer in her desk, she removed a small gem, smoothed and rounded and almost the size of her palm. It was polished, but not so much that the emerald green caught and reflected the light.

 

She moved around the desk and stopped in front of Patience, nervously twitching in the chair. "You can see the evidence for yourself, quite simply. All I want you to do is focus on the stone," her eyes met Patience's for a moment and she smiled again, "just trust me and do as I say, it will not hurt you. Just forget everything else, forget about me, the room, just focus all your energy on the stone." And so she continued to speak, a gentle soothing tone, waiting for the inevitable moment when the gem blazed with an inner light. It lasted only a few moments, flickered and was gone, but there was no denying it had existed. "That," she said softly, "tells me beyond doubt that you can channel, Patience." Pia smiled again, warm and broad. "And that means you are meant to be here."

 

Pia Tovisen, MoN

[Wintrow]

Tilly knew better than to swing a dog around by its ears, even if she couldn’t lift it up; she knew better than to say what she was thinking. Pia was a damn loony. Whatever, though, seriously. Who was going to argue with a tower filled with women who believed themselves in possession of super powers?

 

There was the possibility they were telling the truth but luckily Tilly was raised to know better and such things were plumb impossible. She would play along until she had a chance to flee . . . or something—not like she knew her way home or could even get there and she wasn’t about to sell her body for passage because it wasn’t worth anything and besides, gross.

 

Sadly, what Tilly was not aware of was how easily her expressions gave away her thoughts; she really didn’t have to say anything at all for Pia to know exactly what she was thinking. It wasn’t hard. Her face is very expressive. What’s she thinking now? See, you got it!

 

And what was she supposed to do now? There wasn’t a whole lot short of trying to leg it.

 

“Oh well,” she said as airily as possible, which, given how breathily she speaks is very airily indeed, “I guess that’s that then.” You’d get the same amount of noise from an oxygen machine on its lowest setting, or an air conditioning unit on high.

 

She was delayed further embarrassment by a welcome interruption. Yes! High-five!

 

 

[minisamus]

All around, in an endless fierce glitter, were countless image. She stood there, blinking at the sudden brightness. Her vision steadied, and Rydia began to sort out what she could see. They were in a high vaulted hall; its white walls were hung with rich tapestries and brilliant paintings. She looked back. There, across the hall, were the immense carved doors which had slammed behind them (with a long creak and a deep-echoing crash) when first they entered, side by side.

 

Here and there were groups and pairs of people walking; they lifted their heads, now and then, to acknowledge the aes sedai’s presence beside her. The sunlit hallway seemed to go on forever and ever, and they  were studded with more windows than anything Rydia had yet to see. At length they rounded the bend, and came to a stairwell.

 

The aes sedai stood at the bottom of the steps, a neat dark figure, her face upturned and inscrutable. “Ah, here we are.”

 

She glanced at the aes sedai, and then ahead. The narrowing stone staircase rose to a square pillared doorway ornamented with carved scrolls and figures.

 

The aes sedai said, as Rydia climbed the folding steps, “it is the office of the Mistress of Novices. Pia Sedai, she is called. Go inside, child . . . she has been expecting you.” The last words wafted up faintly, “we will meet again, if it pleases the light.”

 

Rydia was shaken, alarmed. But the aes sedai had already walked away, not waiting to see whether or not her words had any impact.

 

The door stood slightly ajar. Nothing but darkness was visible from within. Rydia stained to see more clearly, hardly daring to breathe. The door opened before her a little more, but the light that shone within reflected nothing but its own brilliance, like the gleaming empty page in a huge book.

 

Taking a deep breath, Rydia pushed in without the aes sedai and spun around, making sure to close the door swiftly behind her so it didn’t slam shut. Nevertheless, she had disturbed the expectant one called Pia Sedai, or so she assumed was the woman sitting on the other side of a desk which, like everything else in this tower so far, looked very nice.

 

The trapper’s daughter said uncertainly, “So sorry for this intrusion, but I have come to learn how to be an aes sedai.”

 

Despite the clear request in her words, she backed off a little way; her face looked pinched and ill. Her entrance was definitely not how she had envisioned.

 

[Amadine]

*bump*