A Spear of Light (attn Amadine)

[The Bard Babe]

Ceridwyn gathered her cloak around her as her horse trotted down the path.

The darkness around her pressed inwards, suffocating her, drowning her in its black depths. Unbidden, her mind attempted to escape the confines of reality and jump back through time to a night long ago, when her beaten, bruised body and soaked face pressed up against wood, squeezing in on her in darkness oh so black, so dark and so deeply inpenetrable. The door wouldn't open, the darkness wouldn't go away, and Ceridwyn couldn't make herself scream, couldn't make herself do anything but sit in paralytic terror.

 

A small orb of light burst into Ceridwyn's vision.

 

A face appeared, floating above the light that was slowly growing to cover her immediate surroundings.

The same scene from the past flooded through her mind, but this time, it wasn't Letair's concerned face before her, framed by the darkness, no, it was an aes sedai, very different from the young man that had rescued her from that nightmare so many years ago.

 

Kevrin Sedai's smile glowed through the dark, banishing the fear and the scene from the past. "Are you alright Ceridwyn? You stopped and you were gasping."

"Tell the child to hurry up, Kevrin! Drag her by the ear if you must, we don't have all day!" a voice called from the front of the small group.

Ceridwyn glared at the voice from ahead and turned back to Kevrin's compassionate smile. "I'm sorry Kevrin Sedai, I'm just, I-" Swallowing, Ceridwyn sighed and shook her head. She couldn't bring herself to admit to her first aes sedai that she was scared of the dark. Pfft, scared of the dark, she was flaming terrified of it! "I'm sorry."

Kevrin gave her a sideways look before nudging her horse to a walk and gesturing ahead, her little light following.

 

Ceridwyn sighed as the dark began to send shivers of fear down her spine, wishing that Letair was with her, just to be there. When she had been hurried out of the Inn by the two aes sedai that had come upon her an immeasurable amount of time ago, Ceridwyn had had only the scantest amount of time to scribble down some words to her faithful, brotherly shadow before her journey had begun, and now she regretted not having found him. Surely he would have come with her, and she would not now be suffering through the dark alone, only the orb ahead to guide her. She could almost feel the cupboard walls closing in on her...

 

"Well, we're here, Ceridwyn." Kevrin's bright voice called from ahead. "Welcome to the White Tower."

 

All thoughts of fear and darkness and being trapped in a cupboard were very suddenly blasted out of her mind by a spear of light that reared up from the ground. A smile lit Ceridwyn's face, and she dismounted her horse, barely noticing the sniff and flick of a shawl that Farrisa Sedai, the owner of the voice from ahead, gave her as the woman charged into the tower.

Kevrin walked over and gave her a smile, handing her over to a woman wearing a white dress.

 

With her brain overtired from finding out she could channel and the subsequent travelling that had seemed to last forever and no time at all all at once and hiding her fear of the dark, Ceridwyn followed the woman blindly, a tune falling out of her mouth as her mind needed sleep too much to be working properly. As the shock of arriving at the White Tower settled, memories of her fear of the dark bounced back up to the front of her brain. She had been on the road since Farris had told her she could channel, and it was a lot to take in on no sleep, leaving her family, her inn, the Foregate, her whole life behind on quite literally a moment's notice.

 

With fear of the dark creeping into her body and an overwrought brain given too much information in too short a time, Ceridwyn barely noticed the woman in the white dress as she led her through the Tower until she found her shoulder gently seized. The Accepted smiled at her as they came to a stop behind a door. "What's your name?" she asked with a smile, taking in Ceridwyn's bright, colourful, foregaters attire and travel-worn, bedraggled face and features.

Ceridwyn smiled back, shocked that she hadn't been the one to begin the conversation. She always started the conversation. "Ceridwyn Taereth. Just call me Dwyn though, everyone else does. What about you?"

The Accepted nodded and replied, "I'm Geraldine Fawren, an Accepted here in the White Tower."

Forcing her mind to focus, Ceridwyn committed the name to memory. It was never too early to build up acquaintances and start making friends. Geraldine was taller than her, but they had similar dark curls.

"I'm going to announce you to the Mistress of Novices, and then it's up to you, alright?" Geraldine informed her with a small grin.

After Dwyn grinned back, Geraldine knocked on the door, once, twice, three times. "It was nice to meet you Dwyn. Hopefully I'll get to teach you in some of my classes." she said sincerely as the call to enter came from within.

 

Dwyn followed Geraldine as she made her way inside and imitated her curtsy, peeking up at the Mistress of Novices as Geraldine introduced her. Reaching up to smooth her headscarf and coming away with a hand of dirt and horsehair, Dwyn smiled at Geraldine as the Accepted winked and left, shutting the door behind her.

 

A smile lighting her face, Dwyn turned it on the Mistress of Novices as it finally hit her that yes, she was at the Tower, and yes, she could channel! "Good day, Mistress." she said brightly, full of energy despite the long travel that showed itsself on her dirty clothes and messy hair. "Or perhaps it is night. I lost track a long while ago."

Edited July 22, 2012 by The Bard Babe

[Elgee]

Knock. Knock. Knock.

 

An Accepted, or a novice close to her test. The knock was precisely firm enough, properly measured.

 

"Enter," Valeri called in a firm voice. She smiled kindly at the Accepted who entered, ushering in and introducing a rather dishevelled looking dark-haired girl. Cairhienin, if she wasn't mistaken.

 

"Thank you, Geraldine - off to your classes now." She made a mental note to speak to the Accepted about the proper balance between friendliness and the correct distance. Discipline had to be kept.

 

"Good day, Mistress." The child sounded unusually cheery for a new initiate to the Tower; most were scared witless. "Or perhaps it is night. I lost track a long while ago."

 

"It is late evening, Ceridwyn," Valeri cocked her head to one side, regarding the girl. "Sit down, child," she motioned to the hard chair in front of her large yet simple desk. "So you wish to learn how to Channel." There was a hint of question in her statement. "Has an Aes Sedai tested you?"

 

 

Valeri Kinaea

Mistress of Traditional Novices

[The Bard Babe]

Ceridwyn smiled brightly at the Mistress of Novices and took the proferred seat in front of the powerful woman. The office Ceridwyn had found herself in was similar in ways to her mother's study room, but everything in the office was real, as opposed to the numerous well-crafted, but nonetheless counterfeit designs found throughout her Fat Cat Inn back home.

Bringing her mind back to the moment at hand, Ceridwyn nodded at the woman who would be controlling her life for much of the foreseeable future.

 

"Why yes, Mistress, I was tested and brought here by Kevrin and Farrissa Sedai. They discovered me when they stopped off at my Inn in the Cairhien Foregate. We then progressed to do a long, long…very long ride to reach here as soon as possible. I believe Farrissa Sedai was...rather impatient.”

 

Ceridwyn was impressed with how she had managed to avoid cursing throughout the whole speech, even when remembering her intense dislike for Farrissa; she refused to give her the honourary Sedai title in her head and attempted to hide her simmering anger at the woman. It really didn’t take much to spark Ceridwyn’s short fuse, and having travelled on very little sleep due to her fear of the dark whilst having her feathers ruffled by the woman had slashed away any attempt at anger management, leaving Ceridwyn’s tired mind to flare into anger that much faster.

 

She still had managed to avoid swearing. This brought an even larger smile to Ceridwyn’s face as she awaited a response from the Mistress of Novices. It occurred to Ceridwyn that she had no clue what the woman’s name was.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Elgee
inserting paragraph breaks

[Elgee]

Valeri hid a smile at the venom in Ceridwyn's voice when she spoke of Farissa. To give her credit, she tried to hide it; at least she knew better than to bad mouth one Aes Sedai to another. Valeri had a feeling that the child would have done an even better job of it if she wasn't so obviously exhausted after the long trip. What she knew of Farissa, the woman would have pushed the pace regardless of the frailties of others. The poor child had to be famished - Valeri rather doubted that Farissa would have allowed a break for eating supper, this close to Tar Valon.

 

"Excuse me a moment" She sent a flow of Fire to the water in the kettle as she rose and walked to the door. She opened it just wide enough to stick her head out and call the novice who was sitting on duty outside. "Kari, please ask the Mistress of Linens to have a room readied for our latest novice." She gave the girl directions to which room she wished readied. "When you're done with that, take some supper on a tray for her to her room. Something simple but hot will do."

 

She closed the door and walked over to the tea tray to pour out two cups. She handed one to Ceridwyn, along with some honey in a little jar. "Help yourself to that while I take down your details, child." She added a dash of honey to her own cup then went to sit behind her desk again. She put the cup to one side after one sip, pulling the novice book towards her and flipping it open to the last entry.

 

"What is your full name, place of birth, and your age, child?"

 

 

Valeri Kinaea

Mistress of Traditional Novices

[The Bard Babe]

Ceridwyn smiled at the Mistress of Novices as she observed the kettle heat up with unnatural speed. A thrill of excitement rushed through her, quickly followed by a crushing exhaustion at even that small surge of energy. She was unbelievably happy to see the tea she was poured, and gave herself a generous dollop of honey, hoping the small splash would hide the growling of her stomach. It didn’t. She wasn’t very good at going without food. When you were raised in an Inn, you always had food around, and you never went hungry when you knew and charmed as many people as Ceridwyn did. Shrugging, Ceridwyn warmed her hands on the tea and felt the heat run up her limbs, relaxing her muscles. Already, she felt the effects of the warm, sweetened tea, the comfortable office and her seated position threaten to glue her eyelids together.

 

“What is your full name, place of birth, and your age, child?”

 

The reminder that she was in a room with who would possibly be the most important woman in her life for at least the next few years, duly woke her up. “My full name is Ceridwyn Taereth, I’m 15, and I was born in The Fat Cat Inn in the Cairhienin Foregate.” Ceridwyn supplied, too tired to care about how many specifics were needed. “I can give you with a room number if you’d like.” she added with a grin, finding herself far too funny due to her overtired state.

 

Naming her Inn back home sent a pang of concern through her stomach. Her little siblings would miss her. She’d miss them too…and sure, she supposed she’d miss her mother as well. Her older brothers she was sure she would see again sooner or later, and as much as she’d miss their company, she was used to them not being around as often.

 

As for Letair…well, she was definitely going to miss him. She was terrified of never seeing her surrogate brother and best friend again, but equally terrified of his response to her few words of farewell she’d left, scribbled on a note. He would not be happy, and Letair wasn’t a fun one to have displeased with you.

 

Shoving the man into a corner of her mind, she brought her awareness back to the scribbling of the Mistress of Novice’s recording of her details.

Edited July 31, 2012 by The Bard Babe

[Amadine]

Valeri entered the details in the Novice Book and finished the entry with her own flowing signature. Sitting back in her seat Valeri lifted the teacup to her lips and sipped the sweetened tea.

 

After a moment she spoke, "Did Kevrin Sedai explain the rules of being a Novice in the White Tower child?"

 

Valeri knew that Farissa would not have taken the time out to speak of such things to a potential Novice but Kevrin on the other hand was much more thorough in these things usually.

 

The hour was late but the basic rules of the Tower must be known by all, even the newest Novice to allow the Tower to function in an orderly manner, and it would never do to have the rules broken by one who did not even know she was breaking them.

 

Valeri Kinaea

Mistress of Novices

[The Bard Babe]

At the Mistress of Novice’s urging, Ceridwyn cast her mind back to the dark days of her journey. She remembered not much past the night and foggy thoughts of Letair. She knew Farissa hadn’t spoken a friendly word to her all trip, but Kevrin…no, she didn’t recall her saying anything, and given Ceridwyn’s sociable nature, she knew that she would have listened to friendly words over any depressing thoughts of things she’d left behind.

 

“Ah, no, Mistress, I don’t believe the rules have been explained to me…”

 

Hmm…rules. Ceridwyn wasn’t really one for rules. That was the main reason that she hadn’t really gotten on with her mother. Curfews had never been obeyed, and Ceridwyn had always been lenient with the serving maids and rulebreakers around the tavern. Rules were hardly important to her, and it had taken her surrogate big brother Letair to appear to force her to gain some respect for them.

 

Somehow she doubted that would go as well in the Tower.

 

(ooc: Hiya, nice to meet you!! Fellow Aussie I see. ;p )