Chance Meetings [All who signed up]

[frosted_drop]

OOC: Welcome aboard! This thread is based on the rules of the game set out in this thread on the "Broken Telephone" thread on Great Hall board: http://whitetowerdiv.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6839.

 

The sun was high in the sky by the time Carise Doraile stepped over the threshold of the dressmaker’s shop. Squinting in the sudden glare of the street, she let out the scowl that she had been keeping in with almost Herculian effort. A curious passer-by did a double-take and darted deeper into the crowd. Undaunted, she strode angrily into the stream of people, which at this hour thronged the streets like a packed school of silverfish in warm current. A small bubble opened up around her, though whether caused by her ageless features or the small tempest clouding them she could not say.

 

Blood and ashes! It had been a long while since Carise had last used that expression; of course, it could only be a blessing that her trips to the dressmaker’s were few and far between. Though many years in Tar Valon, her tastes and expectations in fashion were still those formed in her simple hometown of years before. Such a mindset could not understand why some of her sisters seemed actually to enjoy the banter and hidden negotiations that seemed an essential part of dress-making. Here exists a type of politics even more convoluted than that invented by the Aes Sedai.

 

Her cynical stream of thought was suddenly interrupted, and Carise turned to look about her. In the press of people close about her there was someone with the ability to channel, which might be a cause for wariness but more often than not would signal a target for observation… To her surprise the face that greeted her was not the smooth one of her sisters’, but rather a tender, youthful one as yet uncreased by the slow onset of years. Just then the bearer of that face turned a corner, and Carise was drawn to follow. There was no doubt that the girl could learn to channel; in fact, she was probably close to her change. In days such as this, a veritable gem for the Tower and whichever Ajah found her.

 

Making her way against the flow of the crowd, it was some time before she caught up with the girl. The girl was dressed simply in dark blue, a riding dress in the style of the Borderlands. With soft brown curls and a pretty, slim figure, she was the type to turn boys’ eyes, and indeed even as Carise had that thought a boy in the crowd whistled appreciatively. His target ignored him with a toss of her head. Carise chuckled, but the moment of inattention cost her: a little tow-headed boy squeezed in front of her and she tripped, taking the child with her.

 

By the time she helped him up and on his way, and brushed off her skirts, her quarry had disappeared. She frowned, upset, but realised there were no turnings at this point off from the main street, and the girl must have gone into one of the shops. Craning her neck, Carise looked around and realised she was in familiar territory: the Inn that met her eyes, clustered among cloth shops and bookshops and the like, had a signboard that read “Staff and Stole”. The Red Ajah’s unofficial network centre for eyes & ears.

 

Well, even if she didn’t come this way, I could have a drink and talk, Carise thought as she walked into the doorway. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light, and she smiled as she saw her quarry in conversation with the matronly innkeeper’s wife. Not as pleasant was the sight of one Phaedra Eskarne, a Gray Sitter whom Carise knew only by reputation. The Gray was rising slowly but inexorably from her seat, gaze fixed on Carise’s own target, and the Red had no doubt that the Gray was thinking what she herself had been for the past quarter hour. Sitter or not, she was not going to pinch the girl after all Carise’s efforts in the hot, crowded street.

 

Quickly striding into the common room, Carise made a beeline for the counter where the girl and innkeeper were talking. Passing Phaedra, she glanced briefly at the Gray and addressed her in a courteous tone, touched nonetheless with an inescapable hint of triumph. “I will take this girl to the Tower, sister. Let us not disturb your meal.”

 

Carise Doraile

Sister of the Red Ajah

[Guest Celes]

The letter had been brief and brought by someone that Phaedra knew she could trust. An old friend as they said, someone with connections who brought news to an Aes Sedai in the White Tower, then it must be important. Phaedra had left the Tower a little early that morning, dressed in a black simple dress and a cloak of deep gray that hid part of her face as she passed the city that was just waking up. It was the time of day when only a select few of the population ventured around the city of Tar Valon and she did not normally belong among them. The merchants set up their shops and the early birds had their fresh loaf of bread under the arm as they passed and greeted the Aes Sedai, walking past them in the street. She had arranged to meet her guest at the end of the morning in an inn she was not familiar with. Firstly, she needed to visit a contact and so she was out on a move early. She liked to adjust her eyes to the room and when she finished her errands in the city, made her way to the inn that was described in the note. Phaedra settled near the door so she could await the arrival of her guest, unknown to her but only by a simple marking that would tell her it was him. This unknown guest from Cairhien was to arrive shortly and would bring her the message announced in the letter.

 

As time passed, Phaedra had some tea and some bread and slowly started to regret her morning rush which meant missing her simple breakfast of honey rolls and black tea. Then the door opened and someone came in who attracted her attention. She passed a glance over the man’s face and nodded to him to join her at her table when a Red Sister passed her and whispered that she would escort a certain young woman towards the Tower. Phaedra realized she had been staring at a young hopeful mind for some time now, focusing on this talented gift who she could have brought before Faerzyne herself, had her mind not been clouded by thoughts of the guest that had now arrived. She gave Carise Sedai a curt nod and seated herself, waiting for the Red to leave this inn. It was part of the routine that Sisters acknowledged each other based on Ajah and rank, she sometimes missed the old ways in Cairhien where she was a Judge and where respect came from her work and not merely from age and strength in the One Power.

 

Channeling a weave she made sure the conversation she was about to have would remain between her and her guest and waited for him to join her table. “The name is Bernard,” he said and she nodded, “We are able to speak privately here,” and then waited for him to reveal the message he brought. “So you have received my letter then, Aes Sedai,” he said and she frowned lightly, why did he wonder about this as he found her sitting right there. What passed on between Bernard and Phaedra was a conversation that was nothing like she had imagined having on this early morning hour. A promise of full reinstatement in her court if she chose to return to Cairhien, to her old position as High Court Judge. Phaedra felt a bubble of excitement as she considered the possibility of regaining what she had given up. Ever since her return she had felt captured by what she could not run from. Her duty in the Tower was an inescapable part of her life.

 

Thoughts ran through her mind as Bernard informed her how the man who had now taken a seat in court was being asked to leave by the end of this term, which would be in a few months time. She would have time to leave all of her work behind her and travel to Cairhien. It was all possible and the White Tower could benefit from her direct influence, she knew this was an opportunity to grand to step over lightly, but she had to. As she knew, like the Hall she was standing in on behalf of her Ajah, the White Tower was standing on the threshold of a bigger turning of the Wheel, one which none could escape. On the onset of this new era, with the dark rising strong from the Borderlands, one of their great accomplishments was the victory over the Tower. It had cost them their leaders, both Amrylin and Keeper lost and now a new Amyrlin had arisen to lead the Tower into a new era. The new Amyrlin had chosen a new path after the events in the Tower had been written in the history books and the Library had closed those books to move on into a new history. Phaedra brushed a strand of hair from her shoulder and in that gesture circled her eyes to focus on the man in front of her. He presented to her a time when she was happy and fulfilled in her work.

 

The inescapable truth of life in the White Tower hit home as Phaedra realized that she would have to decline this man’s offer of work as a High Court Judge in Cairhien. She could not forsake her duty in the White Tower, not now that her Ajah needed her with Sisters lost and leadership changing for all. She wanted to take a step back and calmly collect her thoughts, but Bernard awaited an answer as he and if the answer was “No,” she knew she would not be asked again. “Kind sir, I will have to decline your offer, my duty is here in the Tower and not anywhere else,” she felt something break inside of her but her Aes Sedai composure betrayed none of that. As she broke off the weave she thanked him for taking the time to meet her in Tar Valon and then left the inn, calmly striding past the innkeeper who greeted her formally. “Aes Sedai,” he said and as she felt his peering eyes wondering behind her back what kind of business had to be discussed in public in his inn, she closed the door to the inn.

 

Outside for a brief moment, she felt the world swivel around her and nearly missed the Aes Sedai who passed her only by an inch, she recognized the face as that of Isra Sedai, a White who Phaedra had only met once in brief conversation. She greeted the White as the relations between the Gray and the White Ajah were funded on long history and there was not a fiber in her bone that would not acknowledge what made them all bound together, their Ajah and their duty. “How are you Isra Sedai,” she said, finding the woman in her memory to find a light topic of their shared interest. But it seemed the White had no intention of making small talk and greeted her kindly, but curtly and Phaedra was happy for it. It was a veritable truth that she was not in any mood to stay for more than a greeting. They made their greetings and then Phaedra moved on her way back to the Tower, already allowing the wind that had come up from the east to clear her head of thoughts of leaving. She was not a young novice, dreaming of a new life far away from the Tower yet under its guidance and protection. She was a servant of the White Tower and for now, her service was here. Yet, it still hurt to finally have to give up that connection to Cairhien and to realize and accept that the turning of the wheel meant great changes for all who followed.

Phaedra Eskarne

Sitter for the Gray Ajah

First Voice

 

OOC: Not sure I used all the words perfectly, but I gave it my best. :) The words for Isra are in indigo.

[Isra]

OOC: Red for mine, green for Lillian's. =) I used all ten, for fun.

 

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The flock of Aes Sedai chattered, hen-like: an unusual amount of twittering from an Ajah so reserved in public. Josefina held the reins of the discussion, and indeed today fitted the role of mother hen more appropriately than normal. Her white gown was sewn with thousands of feathers, dripping from skirts and sleeves and sweeping upwards into a grand collar. White peacock eyes stared from behind Josefina’s own eyes, where they were pinned into her hair.

 

Isra only mused privately that her skirts were doing the job of servants, and sweeping the dust away.

 

The other women in the room were equally stately, but none dared challenge Josefina. Nidori – a veritable firebrand in the eyes of the Whites – was the only one who might have tried, but today was prim and proper for some reason Isra could not fathom. She was still trying to grasp the personalities who comprised the White Ajah, little changed as it was from when she’d left an era ago. But the changes were momentous in so small an Ajah: two sisters were no longer in this small circle of powerful Whites which Isra had bound to herself during her tenure as Ajah Head, and three more in their place. Their politics differed, and their loyalty lay more at Josefina’s feet than Isra’s.

 

Which was well and good for the moment, as it was necessary for Isra to reacquaint herself with the goings-on of the White Tower before she began pulling strings again.

 

“Tell us again of Kandor, Isra,” Avenlan asked suddenly – or perhaps not suddenly. Isra might only have not heard the question the first time, for Josefina was frowning at her peculiarly. Isra knew she had taken to wandering off more often of late and struggled to regain the present. The last thing she desired was suspicion on the part of the elder White, for that might lead down dark and haunted paths. The smallest bubble of horror choked her suddenly, filling her throat with terror that was better left for nightmares, and she swallowed with much effort. Her mask of composure cracked an inch.

 

“There is little to tell,” she repeated herself quietly, for the seventieth time. “I returned with what I wished to show you – the charters, treatises, notes, translations. Documents from a lord’s library, and thousands upon thousands of years old. I wish not to speak of the Blight or what occurred there.” They had all been suitably sympathetic and horrified when she'd told the story of their battle with Shadowspawn. The loss of sisters was a blow the Tower could not suffer many more of.

 

She had not yet told them of the book. Somehow she had managed to speak around it every time they asked. Her many years of Tower training had been exercised to the fullest, her politicking and scheming and double-speaking had been of great assistance. She’d nearly turned to Taya for guidance when she thought she might break from the strain of not-lying, still might if it came to it, for she trusted the Green nearly as much as she did any of the women in the room at that moment. Perhaps moreso, although that thought was unsettling.

 

A few more questions, a handful of vague answers and the gathering was dismissed. Josefina stood, her plumage fluttering, the peacock’s eyes staring unblinking at the women who filed from the room. She drew near Isra and fixed her with a quiet look, one Isra thought she meant to convey sympathy. It failed miserably, so miserably that Isra nearly laughed aloud. “Something happened in Kandor,” said the woman, and it was all Isra could do to keep her face expressionless. “You are affected by it yet. I will help you if you but let me. Not today, nor tomorrow. When you are ready.”

 

Josefina swept from the room, pausing at the threshold to leave the final words at Isra’s door: “You know where my room is. Let me listen to what burdens your heart.”

 

It was so uncharacteristic an offer from the frigid White that it made Isra uneasy. She had trusted Josefina for so long, but her overture felt like manipulation. Taking a moment to set everything to rights – her room, her gown, her hair – she went the way of her fellow sisters and was soon out of the Tower entirely.

 

She did not like Tar Valon. Admiring its architecture from her room high in the Tower was one thing, but to take in an eyeful from the streets of the city quite another. The uneven cobbles beneath her feet, the noise of the crowd, the smells all set her off-balance. Despite her time away from the Tower, she still preferred the peace of her room to the thrum of the streets. But she’d been meaning to come into the city for days to visit the jeweler, wherefore to have a ring reset. Her carnelian deserved a better setting, particularly when it was a gift from her long-ago deceased sister. The simple band fitted it well, but was bruised and beaten with age.

 

Pausing a moment when Phaedra Sedai stopped to give her greeting, she was glad the Aes Sedai did not linger. Standing for conversation in the middle of the street made her feel like a fishwife out to market, haggling over pricing. Her glance took in the name of the inn from which Phaedra had descended, and found it interesting that it was a well-known haunt of the Red Ajah. Something to be filed away and examined later.

 

Finding her jeweler, she entered and conveyed her business quickly, hoping to return to the Tower before the onset of dusk. The tavern-folk swarmed the streets then, and their ilk was worse than the merchants. He accepted the carnelian ring in his grave manner, promising the new band would outshine the old, mentioning filigree and diamond chips and perhaps jasper to complement. Isra only nodded, glad to leave it to his expertise, and left him as soon as she was able.

 

Her return to the Tower brought with it the knowledge that a conversation with Josefina was inescapable – a frank conversation, one in which she must admit that Gavrin’s death was still a nightmarish blot on her mind, lest the elder White suspect she was hiding something else and uncover knowledge of the book.

 

Turning in the direction of her quarters, desperate for the peace of privacy and late afternoon, she nodded shortly to an Accepted who crossed her path, one Lillian of whom she had heard some few tidbits but to whom she had not yet spoken.

 

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[Wayfarer]

OOC: I've done everyone's words red, my new ones are in teal. Lillian's speech is darkblue and Darienna's is green.

 

---

 

Performing one of her more graceful curtsies as Isra Sedai nodded at her, Lillian made sure to keep her eyes and her face averted to the floor as the Aes Sedai passed. Isra Sedai was not a sister Lillian was familiar with, and she most certainly did not want to be reacquainted with scrubbing the floors if she could avoid it. Accepted or no, the banded hem did not make her immune to some of the more detestable chores that Lillian had taken a dislike to. It wasn't that she detested cleaning as such, her room was her own bubble of order. But, beyond the threshold of her own room, the years of chores as a Novice had worn away at even her zeal.

 

But, she was done with her classes for now and it was time for her to return to her room and study, or relax. Well, probably study, the day was far from over after all. Seeing Saya Sedai almost gliding down the hall towards her, Lillian quickly stepped aside and curtsied as she passed. Lillian most certainly did not want to call the attention of the grave Aes Sedai. She'd contemplated the idea of making an overture to Saya Sedai, despite her strict bearing she had shown a human side before. It was strange what memories that one recalled about people.

 

It was another ten or so minutes before Lillian made it out onto the steps that led into the Tower. Normally she would not have paused but it seemed that a new petitioner had arrived. What made her stand out was the rather garish plumage she had garbed herself in. The colours were enough to blind a person, the jewelry almost as overdone as her make up. Attended by a pair of maids, Lillian felt sorry for them. Their mistress seemed to lack any form of composure, from what she could make out she had been sent to the Tower rather than come of her own accord. A new Novice in the making perhaps? A birching and some guidance by the Mistress of Novices from the onset would probably fix that. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on her part, Novices didn't get to keep maids and maybe the pair would find a kinder mistress elsewhere.

 

"I would speak with you privately, Accepted Lillian."

 

Turning about and curtseying as she began to give an apology for being idle when she saw the banded hem of a skirt. Looking up to see the smirk on Darienna's face, Lillian laughed as she shook her head. "Fine, you got me."

 

"Of course I did. So, is that a new novice over there? I could hear noise from the Entrance Hall and I can't fathom any other reason why we'd take her."

 

Covering her mouth as she laughed, Lillian tried to restore her sense of decorum as best she could. The last thing they needed was an Aes Sedai to see the pair of them laughing at the sight. Speaking of which, there was an Aes Sedai coming out now to deal with it, their cue to leave. Elbowing Darienna, Lillian inclined her head for her fellow Accepted to follow as they made their way back to their quarters. "So, what have you been up to today? I didn't see you at breakfast."

 

"Oh, I had an inescapable appointment with my mentor."

 

"That sounds odd, unavoidable would have been better."

 

"What are you? Sister of the Grammar Ajah? At anyrate, I was excused from all lessons so I could assist her, she wanted me for linking. So, I have the rest of the day off, up for relaxing for an hour or two?"

 

"Do we live in the New Era?" It was one thing to laze about, another thing to be entertaining a guest. If she had someone in her room, she'd just have to put her work aside so she could pay attention to her visitor, it'd be rude to do otherwise.

 

"Excellent, splishy splashy sounds like a plan. I'll drop my things in my room first, I wouldn't want to besmirch the perfection that is your room."

 

"Aren't you quite the veritable cornucopia of commentary today?" Reaching the entrance to the Novice and Accepted Quarters, Lillian nodded at the fellow Accepted who stepped aside for them as they entered. It was only after they'd passed by that it occured to Lillian that she couldn't remember the woman's name. "Who was that?"

 

"Zeveria, only spoken to her a few times, seems nice. Unlike you, you're getting to be quite the curmudgeon. Probably because you've been hiding in your room like a hermit." Lillian was about to say something when she saw the grin on Darienna's face. Always able to wind her up, distract her and disrupt her usually unruffled state.

 

On the otherhand, it was welcome. Smiling sweetly, Lillian almost sounded naively sincere as she responded. "You know, I think I know what you would've been now if you hadn't come to the Tower. A fuller."

 

"Charming. At anyrate, I'll see you in a minute."

 

Nodding Darienna, Lillian left her and continued on to her own room. Letting herself in, it didn't take her long to recover her magnum from its hiding place and the moment it saw the light of day, the better part of the afternoon was written off.

 

 

Lillian Tremina

Accepted of the White Tower

[Guest nephitess]

OOC: sorry everyone for the wait but here you go. My words are in red and Taei’s are in blue.

 

IC: Pushing the piece of green ribbon back from her forehead, Zeveria looked at herself. With a nod she turned and grabbed her clock. It was white and banded along the hem as was all her other clothing. These past 10 years did not give much variety in the clothing department but she was not going to complain. Today was a beautiful day to visit Tar Valon. It would be the first time in ages she was able to go. At

precisely 10 am she stepped out of her quarters and headed down the main hallway.

 

Moving out of the way of two fellow accepted she realized that she did not know them. She had only been in the banded dress about 6 months. There had been no time to visit with of get to know very many of her rank. Making a mental note to get to know them, she moved on. She heard the word curmudgeon behind her and she had to sigh. She had to admit she had not been very social. That was something she was going to have to fix.

 

Walking through the main gates of the tower, Zeveria entered the city. It was always a sight to take your breath away. The architecture was amazing with its

splashy detail that in places looked like crashing waves. Walking with purpose she turned to her right and headed to the bank. She had a bit of money there from her time as a bar maid and Inn worker. Arriving there she was greeted by the banker and seated politely.

 

“How are you this day?”

 

“Oh very well thank you, have you had much business today?”

 

“Accepted Zeveria, I always have a cornucopia of customers!”

 

With a laugh, Zeveria signed the withdrawal slip and left the banker with a dignified nod of the head.

 

With her prize in mind she moved to wards the other side of the street and walked along. She saw many familiar sights. Hawkers advertising their wares, street cleaners sweeping the roads and men enjoying a drink from their magnums. The last made Zeveria wrinkle her nose. In her estimation they should not be drinking this early in the morning.

 

‘To each his own I suppose’ she thought to herself.

 

A few blocks walk and about 15 minutes time later, she arrived at her destination. The sign outside the shop was of a file and a gold colored blade. With the bell above the door announcing her entrance, she heard the proprietor of the store put down her tools. Admiring the swords with a callused hand she felt the

fullers along the their blades.

 

“OH, yes, you have excellent timing. I’ve just finished polishing you purchase.”

 

“Thank you” Zeveria replied with a smile.

 

The portly woman went in to the back of the store and came back a minute later. She handed Zeveria a long belt knife. The sheath and hilt were both made of simple silver and engraved with ladybugs. One on the hilt with its wings spread and two on the sheath. Admiring the work, Zeveria held the blade and felt it’s perfectly balanced weight. It was gorgeous work and well worth the coin she was about to pay. Opening her pouch and counting out the price, she paid the maker of her purchase and left.

 

Finding herself hungry she walked back towards the tower, finding the Inn with a stole and staff sign she made for the door. Walking in and looking around she saw a fellow accepted there looking as if she was about to eat. Accepted Taei Mirel, she had given Zeveria chores and even played a prank on her while Zeveria was still a novice. Not really wanting to eat alone and finding the prospect of chatting with Taei an interesting one, she stepped over to her table.

 

“Do you mind if I join you?” she asked with a smile.

[TaeaDawn]

((Taei couldn't post just yet so they passed it along to me. My words are in green. Bethylene's are in red.))

 

Aramina let out a deep sigh as she finished her spiced cider and watched the young women around the Inn. She had come to get away for a little while, some time to sort things out in her head, but she hadn't expected it to be a freeday. Accepted were everywhere. If she'd known about it, she would have gone someplace a little rougher, a little more rowdy. She tried to force her smile away, thinking of her first meeting with Aran. She shook her head. It'd been a few weeks since she'd last spent much time with him. Light, she felt like she was going through withdrawl. Not a good thing to think about today.

 

No, today she was getting her head clear of such personal matters. More precisely, she was just getting that man out of her head. He really was the only thing that distracted her so thoroughly. No, that wasn't entirely true. Sirayn Sedai had been playing havoc in her mind as well. The two were enough to set her mind twisting and turned in ways that made her question her mental acuity from time to time.

 

Still, she had better things to do than stand around listening to the young woman who seemed not to see Aramina in the corner. It was bad enough to know the sort of mischief the Accepted got away with these days without having to listen to them advertising it.

 

She stood and began to walk out, a nod and small smile to the proprietor of the Inn. She stopped at a table close to a number of White Tower youngsters. She recognized one of them as the Novice Bethylene. Part of her wanted to remind the girls that they represented the White Tower in all they did. Another part of her whispered about roommates and sneaking in late at night. It reminded her that even now she enjoyed sneaking out with a certain someone. She smiled at the girls instead. "Enjoy your day off girls." She said and walked on by, wondering just where that Tower Guard might be and if she could convince him to play hookie for a change.

 

[raposa]

OOC: Just for the record, I've been dying for my turn! Estel's words are in blue.

 

IC: Ah, the freedom! An afternoon all to herself! Who would have ever thought that an old crone like Marideth Sedai had an ounce of generosity in her tiny, shriveled heart? Since being taken under the Gray's personal tutelage, Bethelynne had hardly seen the light of day, much less had a minute of free time. Between the endless pages of history she had to read and copy each night for her lessons with Marideth Sedai and the regular rigors of her saidar, science, and philosophy lessons, Beth was lucky to get a wink of sleep at night. And so, on this her very first afternoon off in weeks, she made her way--leisurely--to the small room she shared with Jahana with every intention of taking the world's greatest nap.

 

Beth's eyes, knowing full well what was in store for them, hardly waited for her to reach her bed before closing. She walked the last ten yards in a half -trance--half-fall, not caring who saw her or how silly she looked. So Beth represented the Tower, so what? She was exhausted! If she had a choice, she would play hookie for the entire day, and the next week besides. Oh, how her bed was calling her by name...

 

"Beth! C'mere!" Her bed sounded eerily similar to Laeri, one of the newer girls--a young girl, maybe fifteen summers--who had taken to following at Beth's heels for the Light knew what. "Bethy! Psst!" Her brain sluggishly determined that the voice was, indeed, that of her tag-a-long, determined it was coming from behind her, and turned her head--eyes still half-closed--towards the source of this pre-nap interruption.

 

"Heya, Bethy!" Beth hated the nickname. "Wow, you look tired. You should really get some more sleep." An understatement. "Hey, we're going into the city. One of the Accepted is taking us so we can have lunch and shop! You should come! Oh my goodness, we are gonna have so much fun! Come on! Come with us!" Beth didn't respond inwardly or outwardly. She showed neither interest nor disinterest. Rather, she waited for the girl todissolve into thin air so that she might take her blessed nap. Laeri stopped yammering for a second, waited for Beth to jump up and down and sharing in her ridiculously youthful excitement, and then grinned mischievously. Before Beth could process what was happening, Laeri had grabbed her by the hand and ran down the hall laughing gaily, a horrified zombie Beth in tow.

 

Laeri's friends were all her own age. Three other girls fourteen and fifteen were giggling at one of the side entrances as a now very much awake Beth and Laeri arrived. "Honestly, Laeri, I greatly appreciate the invitation, but I simply cannot," she was saying for the one hundredth time. Laeri, listening no more now than before, just grinned her stupid grin and began introducing her to the other girls. Now theprisoner of etiquette and niceties, Beth worked desperately to excuse herself without offending--one of the girls was, of course, next in line for a High Seat and had told Beth so at least twenty times in the first ten seconds--but to no avail. Their giddy small talk had only just resumed when the Accepted arrived--seemingly annoyed, though Beth couldn't imagine why--and swept them out and into the city.

 

They wrought havoc with every step, leaving a trail of messes and mutterings behind them. First, Kiro, a Saldaean, knocked over a glass vase in the glass blower's shop. Then, Nessa, a Cairhienin, had a sneezing fit in the flower shop and sneezed on the sleeve of a prominent member of the don't-sneeze-on-me-or-I'll-scream-like-a-ninny committee. By the time they reached the Staff and Stole, Beth had all but removed herself from the group. The Accepted, Laralin, was gracious enough to let Beth walk a few steps behind once she realized that she wanted to be there just as much Lara herself. Laeri and her friends entered the common room with a heterogeneous mixture of sounds and carrying-ons--a liberal amount of giggling the catalyst of it all. Beth, knowing full well that this was a regular haunt for Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah and their agents, came in quietly, every bit of reserve energy focused on separating herself from the girls. Had she seen Isra on the street or was it just the hysteria setting in?

 

Laralin stopped and spoke with another Accepted--Aramina?--before speaking with the innkeeper and ordering them lunch. A few ageless faces glanced in Beth's direction, but did not linger. Perhaps they remembered the magical drunkenness of a Novice's day off--as Aramina surely expressed in bidding them farewell--or perhaps they had more important things to address, but not one face went beyond showing the slightest sign of disapproval.

 

Lunch went by with, thankfully, little more than gossip. If Beth had had any appetite, she may have helped herself to the split pea soup and rack of lamb, but the walk had done her little good. By the end of the meal, though, she noted a drastic change in the girls' demeanor. The gossip was wearing too thin too quickly and the girls began yawning incessantly. Beth, perhaps the only one at the table who paid any attention to anything other than the juicy love affair Kiro was telling them about, dipped her spoon in Laeri's soup and tested it delicately with her tongue. Ha! Sleeproot, the most basic of sleeping powders.

 

"Are we ready to go ladies?" Lara reappeared from seemingly nowhere, but the generous amount of sleeproot had dulled the girls' wits and responses. They all turned to look at her, unsurprised, and nodded collectively. "Good. Shall we?" Beth slipped the spoon back onto the table and made sure to finish her water before following the group out.

 

The walk back to the Tower was spent in blessed silence. Lara betrayed herself only once, glancing at Beth with a grin much akin to the one Laeri had been wearing all afternoon. Beth smiled back in spite of herself and Lara winked. It was all Beth could do to keep from laughing out loud. She decided then and there that she liked Laralin very much.

 

By the time they were back on the Tower grounds, Beth still had an hour and a half before her next lesson with Isra Sedai. Silently thanking the Creator for suchmercy, she made her way back to her room. She bumped into a woman as they both rounded the same corner and Beth apologized immediately, and then begged pardon when she noticed the Great Serpent ring and took in the ageless face. "Many apologies, Aes Sedai. I was not watching where I was going."

 

The Aes Sedai made a face that could have meant anything--anger, embarrassment, frustration--but another Aes Sedai appeared at her side before she could say anything. "Estel Liones, you are the most difficult woman to track down. I have been looking for you all afternoon." The name sent bells off in the back of Bethelynne's tired mind, but she saw a chance to escape and took it. It wasn't until she was finally in her rickety bed that the name struck her like an arrow. Estel Liones. She had just bumped into Faerthines' mother. Light, but she had the worst luck.