A conniving woman arrives

[Phelix]

Her money safely in the bank, Gera made her way to the White Tower. The buildings all throughout the city were glamorous, though some more so than others. Those that stood out had no equal in the rest of the world. Gera had lived in Cairhien with its fabled topless towers, but even those did not compare with the buildings of Tar Valon. Some mimicked crashing waves, mountains, and even animals. One she vowed to return to at a later date was a bookstore that looked like a cat curled and purring.

 

As she moved through the city, Gera couldn’t help but notice potential informants. There a lounging groom who looked just honest enough to keep his word, if paid for it. Here a maid shopping for produce with a light purse, and so selecting second best produce and unhappy about it. There a seamstress... seamstresses don’t need a reason to sell information, they just do it.

 

Making mental notes, she promised herself that she would come back once she was Aes Sedai to actually make those connections and buy them into her service.

 

At the Tower, she was shown to the door of the Mistress of Novices’ office. Outside the office, Gera steeled herself. If she went through with this, she would no longer be the head of her own life. She would not give orders, but would take them. Walking through the Tower, she had seen women wearing white, some wearing white with bands of color, and some wearing silks and other fine cloths. Those in white bowed to all others, and all bowed to those in silks or other fine clothing. Those with the bands seemed to be in the middle, which implied they were a rank one achieved after time in the Tower. She had headed her own web of informants for decades before leaving it all to come to the Tower, and throughout those years people died if they did not obey her. Now she would be back at the bottom of the heap, where she was before she was head of her web.

 

When she knocked on the door, she heard the command to ‘come’ and Gera pulled herself up and entered the office. For a time, she would submit... but soon, she would be an Aes Sedai, and she would be free to build a global network to rival any other informant web ever before seen. Soon.

 

“Good Afternoon Aes Sedai, I was told to speak with you regarding entering my name onto the Novice rolls.” She spoke the words, knowing they were bitter, but hiding it from her face. One did not show emotions like bitterness or irritation when one was making a first impression. Gera had a feeling this old Aes Sedai would have a significant impact on how quickly, and how pleasantly, the next few years passed for the new novice.

[Amadine]

Frowning Talina read through the latest report she had received from Mirtela Cliarnd, the Grey Sister was leading the small group of Aes Sedai sent from the Tower to specifically find older women who could channel. Oh they were finding quite a few, the number of those, who when truly presented with the chance, were accepting the offer was disappointing.

 

There was a sharp knock on the door and Talina put away her report before curtly answering "Come."

 

The door opened and revealed a short woman, Cairhienin unless she missed her guess, and Talina would not miss when guessing someone from her own country. The dark-haired woman appeared to me in her middle years and she had a shrewd calculating eye as she glanced about before announcing herself,

 

“Good Afternoon Aes Sedai, I was told to speak with you regarding entering my name onto the Novice rolls.”

 

"Come in Child," Talina was always sure to start as she meant to continue. And in this instance it was to be sure that these older Novices were aware that within the Tower, they were in fact, children. "My name is Talina Odile Bolaine, I am the Mistress of Novices. You will address me as Talina Sedai."

 

The woman stepped into the room and Talina indicated the chair before her desk, "You may sit, child."

 

Talina rose and poured tea for herself and the other woman. Setting the cup before Cairherien she took her seat and sipped before speaking again, "Now, tell me how you have come to be in my office, enquiring about becoming a Novice."

 

Talina Odile Bolaine

Mistress of Salidar Novices

[Phelix]

Bolaine... it's an older Cairhienin name; no current members acting in the Great Game; Little use. Gera thought to herself, calculating this woman's utility to her. Then she had to stop and remember that Talina Sedai was an Aes Sedai which granted her a much higher level of utility, and even if she was the Queen of Cairhien, Gera was not in a place to use or manipulate the Aes Sedai. Yet.

 

Gera sat, her back straight, glad that the other woman was a Cairhienin too, else she would have been significantly taller than Gera. Sipping from her tea, she decided the best course of actions would be to lay out a rather direct answer. It would not do to act as a Mistress of Spies in the heart of the Tower.

 

"Thank you, Talina Sedai, the tea is lovely." She smiled at the older woman, then explained, "I operated an extensive business in Cairhien, the city, and part of my enterprise lead me into conflict with the High Seat of House Daeron. His ire was not against my business, but against me personally, so I decided that the time had come to relinquish the reins to my affairs. My apprentice has likely solidified himself in my place by now." If Gera knew the boy as well as she thought she did, he had solidified it within hours of receiving her letter. There were of course lieutenants who likely thought they would inherit; and they had likely tried to assassinate the boy. If they succeeded, then the stronger person was now at the helm. If they failed, their attempts and fates would serve as a warning to others who sought to unseat her son.

 

"When I was younger, perhaps 17, I was tested to see if I could channel, and told I could learn. During my conflict with Amaury Daeron, I met another sister who told me the Tower was looking for older Novices now. It seemed a fortuitous meeting. After putting my affairs in order, I left the City and have moved myself here."

 

It was a sterile rendering of the tale, but the omitted details made it bearable. Talina would likely assume that Gera's business had been information, but a polite Cairhienin wouldn't pry too deeply.

[Amadine]

"I operated an extensive business in Cairhien, the city, and part of my enterprise lead me into conflict with the High Seat of House Daeron. His ire was not against my business, but against me personally, so I decided that the time had come to relinquish the reins to my affairs. My apprentice has likely solidified himself in my place by now."

 

Talina groaned inwardly, allowing no reaction to what she was hearing to play acrosse her features. A information monger, Cairhien's oldest profession. Talina waited and Gera finished her story,

 

"When I was younger, perhaps 17, I was tested to see if I could channel, and told I could learn. During my conflict with Amaury Daeron, I met another sister who told me the Tower was looking for older Novices now. It seemed a fortuitous meeting. After putting my affairs in order, I left the City and have moved myself here."

From the look on her face Talina thought that Gera had deduced that she herself was Cairhienin, and any true Cairhienin would never pry to deeply, it just was not done in the Great Game. Talina could play the Great Game with the best of them, outplay to be honest, but she generally chose not to play.

 

"So then Gera. You were a Mistress of Daes Dae'mar, dealing in information and you made yourself one enemy too many. You evaded the assasins but decided to hand over control of your web to your 'apprentice'. Now that would likely be your son, you said he, and no true Mistress of Daes Dae'mar would hand over control and just leave Cairhien unless it was to one of their own blood. Am i close?" Talina asked, knowing she was.

 

Talina Odile Bolaine

Mistress of Salidar Novices

[Phelix]

The woman sitting behind the desk was going to be difficult to deal with, Gera decided. The merchant of secrets had never met a blunt Cairhienin, but there was always a first. Perhaps once you became and Aes Sedai and reached Talina's obvious age you were allowed to set aside manners and the Great Game alike.

 

"You score many points with a single thrust, Aes Sedai. I had other potential heirs, but the boy proved true. The web is his now, and he can sink or swim on his own. If he is as true as I think, he'll do fine and work to build the web into something bigger than what I gave him." Gera had to let a smile show. The boy did make her proud, in most cases. "Though, in one area you are off the mark. Amaury Daeron would never be 'one enemy too many' for me. If I were thirty again, I would relish the fight with him... but as you can see, I am aging. I passed my 51st birthday this year, and people in my business rarely live to see old age. I haven't had a true competitor in decades... but that would have changed soon if I stayed in the city. My boy, if no one else, would have begun eating away at what I had built. My last foe is age, Aes Sedai. Time is the enemy that caused me to leave my business."

 

Letting that settle for a moment, Gera began to think out loud. "I have seen Aes Sedai here in the Tower, and then three other classes of women. The merchants are obvious, and they seem to be limited to the public arena of the Tower. The other two classes seem to be ranks of initiates within the Tower's hierarchy. Those in white are the lowest, deferring to all; while those with the seven striped hems seem to be of midling rank. I've not seen a single woman in either of those two groups wearing her own clothing, so I must surmise all my careful packing from Cairhien is for naught. I will be expected to wear white and defer to all. Yes?"

 

It was a galling idea, but it was one she was getting used to. She would sacrifice some freedom now to gain much more later.

 

"Talina Sedai, I am sure that my past could cover the duration of several conversations, but I am here to set it behind me and become an Aes Sedai. Time does not defeat Aes Sedai. Sisters are not pulled down by those they trained up. I would know what else I must do to enter the Tower as a novice." There. Gera could be direct, when the situation demanded it.

[Amadine]

Talina sat serenely listening to the Cairhienin expand on her tale. She nodded, mostly to confirm, the woman was right, age was a Cairhienin Spymaster's mortal enemy. All weaknesses would be exploited and Gera had done well to see the signs and retire with her life still intact. But to retire to the White Tower? The woman made interesting choices.

 

Talina poured fresh tea for herself and the potential Novice and pushed the cup forward again before sipping from her own Seafolk porcelain cup.

 

"I have seen Aes Sedai here in the Tower, and then three other classes of women. The merchants are obvious, and they seem to be limited to the public arena of the Tower. The other two classes seem to be ranks of initiates within the Tower's hierarchy. Those in white are the lowest, deferring to all; while those with the seven striped hems seem to be of midling rank. I've not seen a single woman in either of those two groups wearing her own clothing, so I must surmise all my careful packing from Cairhien is for naught. I will be expected to wear white and defer to all. Yes?"

 

"The first rank of those in White is Novice, child," Talina explained, "As far as the Tower is concerned a Novice is a child. They must be guided, supervised and educated in the ways of Aes Sedai. A child will give her elders to respect due to them. And 'elders', in this case, refers to time spent working with the One Power. You will be a Novice and would do well to remember that you will be seen as a child, despite your age."

 

"The girls in the banded dresses are Accepted. This means they have advanced sufficiently in their training that they no longer require constant supervision. They teach Novice classes and pursue their own independant studies as well at taking classes. Accepted often have one-on-one lessons with Aes Sedai. If a Novice is a child, then an Accepted is a young adult. Though you are old enough to be the mother of some you will defer to them."

 

"As to your own clothing and belongings you may keep a few personal items with you and the rest will be placed into storage until you become Aes Sedai... or leave the Tower for other reasons."

 

Talina lifted the Novice Book from her bottom desk drawer and flipped open the large leatherbound book to the pages most recently completed. She lifted her pen from it's holder and loaded it carefully with ink. "Now Gera, if you could please tell me your full name, place of birth and your current age."

 

Talina Odile Bolaine

Mistress of Salidar Novices

[Phelix]

A child. Gera hadn't been treated like a child even when she was a child. It was known that children didn't live happy lives in the Foregate. Fate had required her to mature quickly, and she did so successfully. Her parents, dead for many years, had owned an inn, and Gera had watched them gather information and sell it to more powerful people. They were only inkeepers, so their information was usually about minions of the players of the Great Game. Watching them had given Gera her inspiration to seek out a more powerful spymaster and offer her services, and from that moment on she was a woman grown and responsible for her own actions.

 

Now the Tower expected her to revert to being a child again.

 

Gera sipped from the tea that had been offered by the older Cairhienin woman. If they were in the city, meeting as foes, Gera wouldn't have trusted the teacup or the beverage within it. They were not, however, in the city. Gera doubted that Talina Sedai made a habit of poisoning the women who came to her to be entered as novices.

 

"Yes, Talina Sedai. I will make sure to only keep a few of the more important items." She mentally ran through the items she had to keep with her... it was a small list, but the items could not be stored well enough for her peace of mind. "My name is Gera Mondwin. I was born in the city of Cairhien, and as of this Summer I am fifty one years old."

 

Gera watched the old Aes Sedai write the details in the book, and it felt like she was watching the woman write a contract in blood.

[Amadine]

Talina completed the entry with the flourish of her own signature. She looked up and spoke formally, "Welcome to Tar Valon Gera Mondwin. Welcome to the White Tower Novice Gera."

 

Rising from her padded chair behind the aged darkened desk Talina moved to the closest in the corner of her main office. Sizing Gera up she pulled out several shifts, dresses, stockings, a pair of slippers and a belt and pouch, all in pristine white. She moved back to the desk and placed the small pil into Gera's lap.

 

"I am sure you will find these adequate, be sure to see the seamstresses in the next day or so to be measured for properly fitting garments."

 

Talina returned to her chair and sank back into the padding. She turned her probing gaze back to Gera, "I trust Gera, that while you are in the White Tower you will conduct yourself appropriately." Talina could see that this Novice was going to be a handful and thoughts of spy webs within the Tower were beginning to give her a headache.

 

Lifting the brass bell on her desk that had belonged to her predecessor, Talina rang it. It was specially warded to summon the closest servant. Presently there was a knock at the door and Talina called for the knocker to enter, "Ah Felila please take our new Novice Gera to the Novice Quarters and see her settled in one of the recently cleaned rooms."

 

Felila nodded and Gera rose from her seat. "I hope you enjoy your time with us in the Tower Gera, and remember my door is always open to you if you need to speak to me."

 

Gera dipped a perfect curtsey and allowed Felila to usher her from the room. What a handful that one was going to be Talina though and she leaned back in her chair.

 

Talina Odlie Bolaine

Mistress of Salidar Novices