OOOOhhhh cookies! Yum yes please! Cookies are an ANYTIME food *giggles*

Maryam, i made my sig :) I'm not fantastic with Photoshop but i can do a little with it. :)

Nope, nothing yet :) But i am sure Owne is busy with his *gasp* real life! (the horror! LOL) and will get to it when he has time. :) I'm just impatient LOL

Hi! I'm a newbie here and to RPing too :)

See now Knytiri, that does sound like fun, though my quiet Amadine will need someone who is a bit michevious to encourage her ;)

Hey Lavinya, i'm not far south of you, in Grafton on the north coast NSW. A question that may be odd... do you bead?

Hiya :) Can i be added please :) Many thanks.

Amadine rose before dawn and headed up on to the deck of The Swift. The captain had told her that they would reach Tar Valon just after the dawn and she was waiting anxiously for her first glimpse of the shining walls of the White Tower. When she had left the cabin she shared with her brother, Gris, he had still been snoring. Amadine idly wondered how his new bride, Brinly, could possible put up with the noise that her brother made while sleeping.

Amadine found herself an out of the way spot to sit near the rail at the front, the bow she reminded herself, of the boat. She thought about how far she had come already. At 15, this trip was the first time she had ever been outside of Caemlyn. She and Gris had left Caemlyn with Bren Mi’aven’s merchant caravans. Amadine had been a little sad that her father had not been able to accompany her, at least as far as Aringill, where she would board one of the river boats. But with Gris going all the way to Tar Valon with her, it was not to be. The Rose of Caemlyn, the inn where her father and Gris were stablemen, could not operate without both of them.

Amadine remembered the day she had left Caemlyn. She remembered the tears in the eyes of her mother and Patira Mi’aven, who had been her employer, but had known Amadine since she was just a little girl. Carinia and Patira had stood together, hands clutched together. Amadine exchanged hugs with her mother and father. Mazrit stood behind Carinia, supporting his wife. As the merchant train was readied to leave her sister, Maris, called to her to wait. Amadine watched fondly as her heavily pregnant older sister made her way over to hug her and press a purse of coins into her hands. “I’ve been saving this for you ever since you first decided to go to the White Tower; I thought you could use a little extra money.”

Amadine smiled at the memory of her sister. Maris was ever the generous one, always giving to others far more than she received in return; it was one of the things that made everyone who knew her love Maris.

As the boat, maybe it was a ship? Amadine wasn’t sure, travelled up the River Erinin the trepidation that Amadine felt grew. What if they said no? What if the Aes Sedai in the White Tower laughed at her? Ever since Patira had been Healed by the nameless Aes Sedai who had been visiting Azria’s, the Healer’s, shop, and then Patira had fallen pregnant after 20 years of childless marriage, all Amadine wanted was to be Aes Sedai. “You must be tested first Amadine” her mother had said “Perhaps you have the ability to learn, but perhaps you don’t. You must not be disappointed if you cannot.”

Putting such thought out of her head, Amadine eagerly awaited her first glimpse of Tar Valon. As the ship, she thought it was ship, rounded the gentle bend of the Erinin as it curved around Dragonmount, and the shining walls of the White Tower came into view Amadine gasped. It was so beautiful! So gleaming and white in the first rays of the morning sun. Just then Gris wandered up on deck and came to stand behind her. He took one look at Amadine’s face and chuckled “So little sister, this is to be your home?”

“Oh Gris” she breathed “I hope so; I hope they’ll have me!”

After some time Gris managed to get Amadine back below decks to gather their belongings. By the time they returned to the deck with their things they could see the docks of Tar Valon coming into view. Gris went to speak to the Captain, to secure his return trip to Aringill, Amadine thought. As he came back Gris said “The ship leaves at sunset Amadine, I’ll need to be back on The Swift by then.”

Amadine said nothing; she just clutched her brother’s hand tightly. Gris patted her hand gently, “It’ll be okay Dine, you’ll see.” He said using the nickname she had hated until now, now he said it and she thought she would miss hearing her brother call her Dine.

The ship was guided into the wharves by sailors manning the sweeps and the barks of the Captain to go easy, that The Swift would not be damaged by thumping into the docks. As several sailors tied off large ropes to hold the ship steady another ran a gang plank out to the dock. Amadine and Gris picked up their belongings and as they moved toward the gang plank the Captain called a reminder to Gris “At sunset boy, we leave at sunset.”

Gris nodded and took Amadine by the elbow leading the way. Up through the city he led her. One marvellous building flowing into another, here one looked the sea shells her father had bought her from a traveller at the inn, there one that looked like a crashing wave as described to her by Bren Mi’aven, and here another building, looking like great sheer cliffs. She could see the bridges that crossed the River Erinin, such an amazing lacework of what looked like crystal with the sun shining off them; she wondered what could possibly be holding them up.

Before long they came to a great square, surrounded on three sides by inns, and stalls, and shops, and on the far side there was a great set of stairs, leading up of course, to the White Tower.

The White Tower. It stood there, gleaming, beckoning Amadine forward. She felt something, beyond her nervousness, beyond the fear of leaving Caemlyn, beyond the homesickness, she felt almost calm she realised. She and Gris, hand in hand, climbed the steps to the White Tower.

Again, Amadine’s breath was taken away, this time by the magnificent room within which she and Gris stood. Gris sounded a low whistle, “What a place eh, Dine?”

What a place indeed. Amadine slowly gazed around the room they stood in. It was not crowded, not at this early hour. Yet still, there were a few other petitioners, also looking around in amazement, even though some of them tried to hide the fact that they did. There were far more women than men. Only four men were in the room in truth. There was Gris, a farmer and his wife – Amadine guessed by the way they were dressed, and two men standing together in fine coats and britches, woollen cloaks and with swords belted at their hips.

The women varied as much. There was a woman, a Lady Amadine guessed, wearing a stunning gown of green silk, with golden flowers embroidered across the bosom and down the sleeves of her dress. She wore her blonde hair caught up in a gold coronet. She was accompanied by several other women in fine dresses, though not as fine as the Lady’s. Then there were several women in rough woollen dresses and tattered cloaks, and a myriad of women dressed variably between the two extremes.

There were three young women not much older than she Amadine thought, they wore plain white dresses. These three moved around the room speaking to different groups of people, leaving, then returning, sometimes leading petitioners off into the tower. There were also two older girls wearing dresses the like of which Amadine had never seen before. They were white like the younger girls dresses, but at the hem were seven bands of colour. A red band, a blue band, a green, a yellow, a grey, a brown and a white band on white surrounded the portion of her dress below the knees. Amadine was wondering what those bands meant when Gris touched her on the shoulder. “One of the girls is coming this way” he whispered.

A tall girl in a banded dress came to stand in front of them. “Good morning” she smiled “Can I be of service to you this morning?”

“Um... ah.... I’ve come because.... I, um... I want to become Aes Sedai someday. My mother told me I’d have to be tested first” Amadine managed to get the words out in a rush. Then she remembered the words Patira had told her to use, “I mean, my name is Amadine al’Varine of Caemlyn, and I’ve come to be tested.”

The girl in the banded dress smiled at her, “Come Amadine al’Varine of Caemlyn, and I’ll take you to see Pia Sedai, she is the Mistress of Novices.” The girl looked at Gris, “And who is this?” she asked looking to Amadine.

“Oh! This is my brother, Gris al’Varine. He has escorted me to Tar Valon.” Amadine replied hurriedly.

“I’ll wait here.” Gris smiled at Amadine “It will be okay Dine; I’ll not go anywhere until you come to tell me if you are staying or coming home.”

“Thank you big brother” she whispered and squeezed his hand before letting go and following the tall girl down a long hallway.

After a time they came to a halt before a closed door. Amadine felt a swarm of butterflies take off in her belly, “I’m here” she thought “I’m going to be tested and I’m going to be Aes Sedai” The tall girl in the banded white dress in front of her lifted her hand and rapped on the stout looking door with three sharp knocks.

Job done!

Hi everyone,

Since i have a bio awaiting CCing i thought i'd best wander in and introduce myself :) I'm Amanda, Amadine will be my first ever RP character so please be kind to the newbie :) LOL

I'm an Aussie, married with 2 kids, work FT, why do i think i have time to RP? I must be crazy! LOL Anyway i have been reading WoT for around 16 years now... waiting waiting waiting for the series to be finished... and it's getting there.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone :)

Amadine