Another Chance (Attn: MoN)

[magdeleneinred]

Jahana Ananda sat on a boat approaching Tar Valon. Her auburn hair swung gently in the strong breeze. With nearly black eyes she stared at the immense tower jutting up from the center of the island city. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that she would end up here. Jahana still couldn’t really believe that her journey away from her parents in Arad Domon led here. Her mother, one of those renowned Domani traders, had given up on Jahana ever following in her footsteps. Jahana couldn’t talk like a Domani woman should, especially a Domani trader. She had been trained in the arts of a woman since she was twelve years old. But Jahana just couldn’t grasp the ways to make men leap. When her mother disinherited her, Jahana had begun the journey that led her to the White Tower.

 

Jahana journeyed to Cairhien, having heard the stories of “The Great Game” which was not a game at all. The Cairhienin reveled in the Game, with plots undercurrents that could destroy a person or give them a crown. Jahana wanted to be a part of that world. Leaving her small village near the Mountain of Mist was easy, with no friends to say goodbye to, but entering a city was different. Cairhein was huge. The crowds frightened Jahana. She finally entered an inn in the city, ragged from her fright. She hoped to get a job as a serving girl, and use her curving body to her advantage. What she saw in that inn changed her entire life. She was an Aes Sedai, Jahana knew now. She had begged her to teach her how to be as regal and in control. The Aes Sedai had indulged Jahana by testing to see if she could become channel. And suddenly, Jahana Ananda was on her way to the White Tower in a boat speeding up the Erinen.

 

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Jahana realized that the boat had made anchor. She walked off into Tar Valon, her constant fear of crowds was unable to stop her now. She could learn to handle these crowds. She hurried towards the mighty tower. When she finally arrived at the base of the White Tower, Jahana hesitated. This is it, she thought, the answer for my inabilities. This place will fix me.

Nervously, Jahana entered. The Aes Sedai in Cairhein said she had informed the Mistress of Novices of Jahana. A girl about her age came up to her in a white dress. She sneered at Jahana’s Domani-style dress. Jahana quickly said she had been sent from Cairhein to see the Mistress of Novices. As the girl in the white dress led her deeper into the huge tower, Jahana was awed. She was eager to start. She quickly quashed the little butterfly growing in her stomach. She could do this.

 

As the girl slowed, Jahana realized they were in front of a dark, polished door. “Here is the Mistress of Novices’ office. I will let you in.” Jahana just nodded. She was suddenly too nervous to speak. What if she sends me away? But there was no more time to think. The door opened and Jahana stepped inside.

 

~Jahana Ananda

Novice

[Lavinya]

Pia's lips curled in a small, accomplished smile. They day was still quite young, yet already she had finished the day's paperwork, evident by the neat pile of papers placed squarely on the corner of the ancient oak desk. Pia Tovisen enjoyed order, loathing to be behind in any of her work. Today however, it meant she was free to spend time watching the girls under her charge.

 

It was a joy to Pia, watching the fresh-faced, highly unpolished girls grow and develop as they honed their skills and followed the path that would one day see them gain the shawl of the Aes Sedai. It instilled her with pride, knowing that she had an influence, that she assisted in the moulding of these girls. Sometimes that required a firm hand, and other times a shoulder to cry on. Whatever it took, Pia made it her mission to be there every step of the way. Besides, mingling with the novices and accepted herself helped her pick up undercurrents and moods that would not be easily noticable behind her desk. There was not much that slipped past her notice.

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her door. "Come." She toned, lifting her dark eyed gaze to the door as it swung open. A girl in white curtseyed meekly, before departing without a word, leaving a wide-eyed newcomer in her wake. Pia's brow furrowed slightly. The novice should know better than to not announce the stranger, or even address herself. She would have words with her later. For now, she must deal with the surprise visitor, clothed in the scandalous Domani style.

 

"Please, come in." Pia's smile was warm as she waved the girl in, a simple weave of air closing the door behind her. "I am Pia Tovisen, Mistress of Novices. How can I help you?"

 

Pia Tovisen, MoN

[magdeleneinred]

Jahana stepped inside the Mistress of Novice's office nervously. The woman sitting at the desk, apparently the Mistress of Novices herself, was frowning at Jahana. The woman's gaze made her squeak.

"Please, come in." Pia's smile was warm as she waved the girl in, a simple weave of air closing the door behind her. "I am Pia Tovisen, Mistress of Novices. How can I help you?"

 

Pia Tovisen's face smoothed into a welcoming smile. Jahana was relieved when she realized that smiler was for her. Then, the door shut behind Jahana without a hand to move it. That heavy door would not move on its own. She squeaked again when the door clicked shut. Now that she had arrived at the end of her travels, she couldn't even think. Her dark brown eyes widened in panic, realizing she had spent far too long silently staring at the serene Mistress of Novices.

 

Jahana's throat tightened in a classic sign of her trouble talking to people. She decided the only thing she could do was curtsy. Jahana's knees knocked together and she floundered into an ackward curtsy. I am not making a good impression, she thought.

 

Once again she tried to speak. This time she managed to stutter, "Hello, my n-name is Jah-jahana Ananda. An Aes S-Sedai sent me here fro-from Cairhein." She sighed, glad to have finally managed to force something from her mouth. Her knees were still shaking, uncharacteristically. She could usually handle herself other than her voice.

 

Jahana Ananda

Novice

[Lavinya]

The girl standing before Pia seemed awfully pale, and Pia wondered for a moment if she would faint, but finally the girl found her voice. Sent to the tower? Pia's face brightened and she waved the girl into a wooden chair. If her suspicion was correct, it meant the child was sent here to become an initiate, to learn to channel the One Power and hopefully attain the rank of Aes Sedai someday. But that was a long way off, and assuming the girl possessed the ability.

 

"Tell me child, have you been tested?" Pia's voice was warm, in an attempt to put Jahana at ease. Skittish girls would either be oppressed and broken by the insensitive, or would grow to resent those that did try to take advantage and become unmanageable. Pia much preferred her initiates to be strong yet respectful, believing it optimised their ability to learn.

 

Jahana nodded the affirmative, indicating that she had indeed already been tested. "Excellent." Pia turned to open one of the two drawers in the large desk, withdrawing from it the thick volume known as the Book of Novices. Everyone who had ever trained at the tower was recorded within the pages, even Pia herself, though it was long ago now. This was one record that had been kept with marvellous accuracy.

 

"Let us see about making this more official, shall we?" Pia raised a brow as she lifted a pen, pausing to dab it in the small inkwell as she opened to the current page. "If you could please tell me your full name and age." She put pen to paper as the girl spoke in her timid voice. "And your place of birth and raising?" Each stroke of the carefully wielded pen sealed Jahana to them, intertwining her fate with that of the White Tower.

 

"Welcome to the White Tower, Jahana."

 

 

Pia Tovisen

Mistress of Novices

[magdeleneinred]

"Jahana Ananda, 16," she almost whispered to the serene Aes Sedai. "I was born and raised in Arad Domon." As the ink settled into the paper of the huge book, Jahana felt more settled, somehow. She was connected to something and had a purpose.

 

"Welcome to the White Tower, Jahana," said the Mistress of Novices. Jahana sighed in relief. Those words filled her with hope.

 

~