I'm bored. I'm thinking about Deidre trying escape attempt number one. Anyone want to catch her?

Circle of Advisors? Alexis thought to herself as she tried to decide whether she should avoid the gardens today or not. Mors would be there for sure and that would mean that she would have to talk with him. Light! But she did want to talk to him! He was just so nice. On the other hand, talking to him was eventually going to get her a certain punishment and she didn't want that either. How twisted it is that they will allow the boys to talk to the girls, but the girls aren't allowed to talk to the boys without punishment! It's almost as if they are trying to tempt you in this place! It would be rude just to run away from someone who is talking to you, but you get in trouble if you try to be nice. I just don't understand it.

Lost in her thoughts, Alexis found herself in the garden and face to face with Mors again before she even realised that she had come that direction.

How do you keep white clean at all times? Alexis fussed to herself as she started out of the Mistress of Novices office. She started when she was very suddenly greeted by another Aes Sedai who introduced herself as Maegan Sedai, her mentor.

"Alexis Cristos, from Saldaea, Maegan Sedai," Alexis answered the woman's question quietly and then ignored the urge to scream out that she had changed her mind and wanted to go home.

The pair walked through the halls towards the Novice quarters and Alexis hugged herself tighter, ignoring the fact that she was wrinkling the dresses she held while doing so. She tried to think of any questions that she could ask Maegan Sedai, not because she really wanted conversation, but because she felt that the Aes Sedai was expecting it. Suddenly, a horrible realization crossed Alexis' mind and she had to ask a question that she had been hoping to avoid.

"Maegan Sedai," Alexis said quietly to get the woman's attention, "Will they punish you if you can't..." but she stopped short when a group of girls walked past them. Light! No one else here needs to know this. It was hard enough to admit it! She took a deep breath and then sighed in relief when the girls disappeared down the hall. She looked back to the Aes Sedai who was staring at her expectantly. Alexis swallowed and it hurt her throat to do so, but she did it and then whispered, "Will they punish me because I don't read so well?"

She felt ashamed of herself and she immediately returned her gaze to the floor and gave her arms a squeeze. This is where I get punished for not saying so before. she thought to herself, hunching her shoulders a little more.

When the door seemingly slammed open shortly after Alexis knocked for the second time, she jumped. She felt a blush starting to rise in her cheeks, but she managed to supress that. Burn me if I give that girl a reason to make a comment. Alexis thought towards the one who introduced herself as Moa.

"I am called Alexis Cristos, Aes Sedai," she introduced herself quietly and with the usual wobbly attempt at a curtsey that she would later scold herself for. Alexis was very fond of scolding herself. She flicked her eyes towards the light-haired Aes Sedai and then again towards the light-haired Novice and then back to the floor and wished she had the light hair and complexion of the two of them. The two of them, Moa and the Aes Sedai, were pretty and dainty looking, where Alexis was (in her oppinion) was ugly and swarthy and far too scrawny for her age. She hunched her shoulders and kept her eyes to her shoes, anxious to get started. The sooner they started, the sooner she could leave and if she was lucky, no jokes would be made about her.

Alexis hurried down the corridor inside the Brown's quarters, wondering if Liara Sedai's room was as bad as it sounded in the note. She looked around the hall she was passing through and wondered if the hall only seemed dusty and stuffy, if it was for some effect of a sort. Putting that out of her mind, she continued forward in her usual fashion, until she reached the door of Liara Sedai's room.

"Just get in, get it done, and get out," Alexis thought to herself as she knocked. She thought she had heard movement around inside the room, so she readied herself to curtsey and go to work, but the door went unanswered. She knocked a second time, and then leaned back against the wall to wait.

In her short time at the Tower, Alexis had seen the insides of the kitchens and had gotten to know every knick, scratch and cranny inside of the deep cookpots kept there. Her nose had gotten used to the dust on some of the older books in the library, and she had also gotten used to what the inside of the infirmary looked like. This chore would be different though, because Alexis had never been inside the room of an Aes Sedai before. The closest she had ever been was to the front door and even then, she had never had the chance to peek inside as the Sister answering almost always snatched the tray of food that she was carrying and slammed the door in her face. Even when they weren't being so rude (so Alexis thought), they would step out into the hall and close the door behind them, then thank her and dismiss her with the wave of a hand. She had also found this behavior rude, but it was more easily tolerable when they would at least speak to her. She wondered what she would find in Liara Sedai's room, and if she would find any of it intresting.

The sound of footsteps approaching brought her from her thoughts and Alexis turned her gaze from the wall ahead of her to the intersection in the hallway just in time to see another girl round the corner. She had short blonde hair and she wore the white dress of a Novice. The girl stopped when she saw Alexis standing there, and then stared at her with what looked like a grimace on her face. "Oh, this is going to go well," Alexis thought to herself, already getting a bad impression. "I wonder what cruel japes this one will throw at me," She sighed to herself and turned back to the door and knocked again, wishing that the Aes Sedai would hurry and open up.

OOC: Sorry, I just got back from LoA. I'll be around now. :)

She laughed a little at the thought of Faerzyne Sedai birching him. The poor boy has no idea what he is offering. I think she likes to hear the yelps. she thought to herself. Then she realized what he called her.

"Oh no, I am certainly no Lady and I will not be addressed as such," she said quickly. Really! That is just the sort of talk that could get one in trouble...pretending to be nobility, "Persistance is intresting on occasion," she said and tried to curtsey to him. Would she ever get the hang of that?

"I do need to go though. I'm not late yet, but I fear I will be if I stay any longer," she said before turning and walking off.

Alexis stopped and turned back to look at him. "Mors," she said gently and then slipped her hand from his, "I do want to remain friends." Light! He was so beautiful.

She sighed, "I am not supposed to be talking with you. I am not supposed to, I could get a birching or worse, they could send me away to the farm as punishment. I don't like the rules, but they are there. I don't like that they tell me who I can be friends with." A sad look crossed her face and she added quietly, "I am growing fond of our talks, though, and I am growing less afraid of you."

She glanced towards the Tower and then back to him again, "I do have to go to class now, but I will see you again. We have to stop sitting so closely though, and you must stop touching my hands and face. Maybe it won't be as bad if we're at least being a little more proper."

She felt her heart flutter and a tingling sensation on her face. "That," she started and then stopped, "you're too kind, Mors," she said instead, and then, "But we should not be talking like this."

Alexis pulled away from him and then said, "This is trouble for the both of us, you know that, right? You want honor and respect and I'm afraid that if we continue on, neither one of us will have what we want." She sighed and ran her fingers through the grass. She knew that she was right, they shouldn't continue like this, but she really didn't want to stop. He was the first guy she had met that didn't send fear through her. But it was wrong.

She stood up and dusted off her dress, checking for grass stains and pleased to not find any. "I should go," she told him, both her face and tone revealing her displeasure with leaving. "You're right, nobility is not wealth or land or having servants or any of that. It is kindness, compassion, and respect for others," she said, backing away slowly, "You've shown me that you are the most noble person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I do not want to be the reason that you lose that honor or respect that you're earning, so regretfully, I will go."

She gave him a sad smile and turned towards the Tower to leave.

"Has anyone told you that you are beautiful, Alexis?"

Her breath caught at those words. No, in fact. That was something that she had never heard. She felt her cheeks burning, so she dropped her head a little bit so that her hair would fall forward and hide her blush. "No," she said quietly, "I've not heard that before." She continued working on the chain, as she sat there trying to think of something else more to say.

By the time she realized that she had no words, she had finished tying all of the grass together and had formed a circle with it, with a few dandelions in it as well. She turned it over in her hands and then lifted her gaze up to him long enough to set the dandelion crown on his head, "I think you are nobility of some sort, whether you are rich or not. So I crown you, King of the Flowers." She hoped that he wouldn't take that as an insult, but instead realize that it was an effort to make him feel better about what had happened to him. Perhaps it would also make him forget about paying her compliments.

"Late? No," she said and looked down at the ground, "I was early actually, but I was starting to think that you had forgotten about me or got caught up elsewhere."

She stepped away and towards a bench, meaning to sit down there, but changed her mind and sat down in the grass instead. "You look as though you've been busy today," she said, commenting on how dirty he was. She began to pluck a few long blades of grass from the ground and tie them together into a long string. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him sit down and begin watching her, no doubt wondering what she was doing. She said nothing about it though, and kept forming the string with different blades of grass, occasionally plucking a dandelion and adding it in as well.

"Did you take care of your friend?" she teased him, "The one that whistled loud enough for every Aes Sedai in the Tower to hear?"

Alexis turned as she heard her name, and then peeked out at Mors from beneath her lashes. "Mors," she said with a hint of a smile in her voice, and started towards him. She stopped about halfway to him though, wanting to see if he'd come to her. Why? She didn't know, it just seemed the thing to do at the time.

He looked as handsome as he always did, despite the fact that his uniform had splotches of dirt on it, most likely from training. When stole a look at his face, she noticed a small bit of dirt on his cheek as well and she had to supress a giggle. As she looked him over, she wondered how he could not be nobility. She had seen him move and he certainly carried himself as if he were, and she thought that he most definately looked a noble. She stood and waited for him to approach, wondering why he just stood there like that. And what was with that grin?

Alexis gave her name again when asked for it, and the Mistress of Novices wrote it down. Somewhere inside of her, a little voice said, Well, no going back now. She was asked where she was from and again, Alexis answered, never lifting her gaze to meet the Aes Sedai's. She wondered what would become of her now, what if she failed? What if she couldn't be Aes Sedai?

Welcome to the White Tower.

It was done now, she was sealed. Alexis shifted in her seat and studied her shoes, trying to figure out what she needed to do next. Should she just stand up and ask permission to leave? She glanced up at the Aes Sedai again as the woman was writing something on a piece of paper. She should say something.

"Thank you, Aes Sedai," Alexis said very quietly and then stood up and tried to curtsey again. She wondered if she would ever get that right. She looked around the office and then asked, "What do I do now?"

(sorry this is so short, my son keeps distracting me)

Deidre had opened her mouth to answer her brother's questions but was interupted when Ged came trotting back over to stop them. He whispered something to Serge and that in turn earned him a look that Deidre knew all to well.

She looked back and forth between the two men for a moment and then tugged on Serge's arm gently, "Serge, let's begone so we can be talkin'. There be tings ye need t'know." Ged had been nice to her and she didn't want to see him hurt, even more so, she feared that the two of them would start channeling on each other and she really didn't want to see that.

Serge did not move though, his gaze fixed firmly on Ged's own. This does no bode well, Deidre thought and tried to reach Ged instead, "It do be aright, Ged. I be fine now," she said softly, "I do no tink me brother means t'harm me. I am no scared."

She lied, of course. She was terrified still, but she wanted to get the two of them apart. "Come, Serge," she said again, this time tugging his arm a little harder than before, "We do be needin' t'have that talk now."

She was just about to voice her displeasure with Mors, until she caught the look of annoyance on his face. He promised to take care of the trainee who whistled at her and she couldn't help but giggle a little bit before she said quietly, "Tomorrow? Maybe. You're going to get me birched yet, you know." She dared to giggle a little bit and then ran off, eyes on the ground, arms tightly about her, but this time with a small smile on her face.

The next day, she came back, but a little earlier than usual, and seeing him nowhere around, she sat down on a bench and began to read. Her thoughts kept wandering though; is talking all Mors really wanted from her? Would she ever be Aes Sedai? Well, not if she kept this behavior up.

She closed her book and stood up. "Light burn you, Alex," she said aloud without thinking, "This is no way to act and you have no business waiting around for him to show up."

She started to walk off, but stopped for one final look around the empty garden, hoping that he would suddenly show up and stop her.

She nodded to him, "When we can," she curtseyed as best she could, as she still could not manage a good one yet, "Until then, Mors. Be well."

She clutched her books tightly against her chest and hurried in the opposite direction, head down, eyes on the ground as usual, as if she was trying to shrink into herself.

She knew that she was just tempting fate, but she kept walking through the garden after her class. She was a little upset, but almost relieved though when she didn't see Mors there for a couple of days. Finally, several days later she was passing through and saw him standing there, but she didn't approach him as he was talking to a couple other trainees. Why were they all here? She started in their direction and then stopped and turned around. There was no way she could handle speaking to a group of guys, so she started back the way she had come and almost in a trot. That was, it was a trot until she heard one of those trainees whistle appreciatively at her and that set her off into a full run, despite the fact that soon after, she heard Mors calling after her.

"When?"

She inhaled and shook her head, "I don't know. I pass this way everyday at this time...unless I've been given a chore to do elsewhere and you never know when that will happen. When do you want to?"

Alexis mentally kicked herself. "You fool, it's birching if you get caught and you know Faerzyne Sedai is just aching to birch someone," she thought to herself. She should just run. He was a man anyway. Sure he was nice now, but how long until he stopped being so nice to her? Still, she wanted to talk to him again. So she waited for him to respond, fidgeting with her fingers while she did.

Alexis heard herself speaking before she could think and stop herself, "Oh, but Mors, you are anything but an unsightly hog!" She blushed brightly and then just had to look away, "I'm sorry."

She smiled a little, "That is kind of you, to offer that, but think I will be safe if I just avoid areas where those things happen. Thank you."

"No no, the Mistress of Novices tells us the rules when we sign the book," she said, "The thing is," she blushed again, "I don't want to go. It's been nice, not having to be so afraid. I'm supposed to be going to the library. Maybe we can meet again, sometime."

Light! What was she doing?

"Stop touching me,"she thought to herself,"Can you not see that it gives me goosebumps and this isn't proper."

He managed to catch her eyes again. She knew that she should go, but couldn't yet. "You were nice to me," she said almost inaudibly, "That is also why I should go. I...," she noticed that she was trembling a little bit, "...was attacked before by a man."

She turned her gaze away from his as best she could with him holding her chin like that, "And save for my brother and father, men have never been nice to me. So I have as little to do with them as possible," then she whispered, "I shouldn't be talking with you, it's against the rules." But she made no effort to move. She was starting to feel a little comfortable around this man named Mors, but it was wrong to be talking with him alone. It wasn't right. She knew that. Light, why couldn't she move?

"Do you honestly believe that she did that on purpose?" Alexis asked him, "Besides, are Warder's

not noble? I think that they must act so or else the

Aes Sedai would be displeased with them. Do not think all of that training was for nothing. At least, you are a very nice man. Who cares what a bunch of nobles think. Their lives aren't all they seem. At least being poor, you don't have people running your life for you."

She didn't know if that would make him feel any better, but as an afterthought she added, "And you couldn't possibly be a failure either. You have succeeded where no other man has." She noted the questioning look he gave her and then lowered her gaze again and said very quietly, "You managed to get me to stay and talk to you. I don't usually talk to anyone, let alone men."

"They are very real," she said in response to the first part of his statement and then answered his question in the same, soft voice she had been using while adding a shrug, "Most of the boys back home talked about going to the White Tower and becoming Warders. I assumed that is what you wanted."

She listened to him talk about why he had come here, noting the bitterness in his voice. "Is it really so bad?" she asked, "Not being considered nobility?" She had remembered an earlier statement of his, one he made while he held her face in his hand and gave her the shivers, "You are bitter. Why?"

She blushed again briefly, but then frowned, "They're not costumes. They're real! You are training to be a Warder, surely there has been conversations about shadowspawn in the training yards? If so, then wouldn't it be safe to say that they are in fact real? How could so many people lie about that?"

He didn't know what to talk about either. Light! Why was he making this so hard? "Me? Wonderful?" she shook her head and let her gaze fall to her shoes, "So, where are you from?" She decided not to finish her prior thought, "And why are you here?"

Guilt! Why couldn't he understand?

She sighed again and walked over to a bench and sat down. If she was ever going to get over this fear, she supposed she should at least try. She studied him for a minute from beneath her eyelashes then said quietly, "I'm sorry. Come, sit. We'll talk. But you should know, I'm not accustomed to it. What is it that you would like to talk about?"

He was looking at her again, and it made her nervous while at the same time, it made her neck turn red. She really didn't know what she should say to him. In her head, she could hear her sisters telling her to flirt with him, but she had no idea how to do that. She tried to smile a little more, but she was afraid that he would think her an idiot if she just sat there smiling, so she stopped. She fidgeted with the books on her lap and then said, "You know, they're real. The Shadowspawn. You speak as if they are not, but they are real. I've seen some of them."

Alexis stopped, feeling slightly guilty, and then turned to him, "You're not hairy enough to be a trolloc, besides, you smell too good. You didn't jump out of the ground at me, so I'm quite certain you're not a worm. You're not singing to me or trying to kiss me so that means you're not a draghkar and you haven't taken my head so it's safe to say that you're not a fade."

She sighed softly, keeping her eyes from his. "It's not you, it's me," she said after she sensed that she had hurt him, "Really. You seem like a very nice man, and you're so very..." she cut herself off there and blushed a little, "...nice," she said again, "I don't want that to change, so I have to go."

It was the best she could explain it, he would think her mad if she told him everything and honestly, she didn't think she could tell everything to anyone.

She smiled faintly, but tensed up again when he knelt down next to her. She couldn't believe that she had dropped her books again...and all because he spoke to her. She wished that she could just channel a hole in the ground to swallow her up right now. He smelled nice though and for a moment she was so distracted by that that she let her eyes meet his again. She held his gaze for a second and then looked away again. If she looked too long, she was afraid that she might say something stupid.

"Your name is?"he had asked and she almost missed it.

"Alexis Cristos," she said, "of Saldaea." He seemed to be trying awfully hard to look her in the eye, and that made her avoid it even more. Finally, he took her chin into one of his hands and raised her face to look at him.

"I'm no noble...but I should be, and I won't have you fawning over me as if I am..." he said to her.

Unsure of what to say and unable to pull her gaze from his, Alexis laughed nervously and pulled her books to her chest. "I should go," she finally said quietly, even though she knew that she didn't need to be in the library for a little while yet. He was being nice to her now, it was best to get away before that changed and she had to think badly of him.

Alexis felt her back stiffen. He spoke to her! She didn't know what to say. She couldn't even bring herself to look at him.

"I wo...," she started, then instead said, "You don't have to, m'lord...um...ser...oh!" Now she felt her ears turn red, "It was my fault, I can manage." She dusted off her dress then fussed over a tear at the hem of it. Great, this means needlework. She was never good with needlework.

She knelt down and began to organize her papers and stuff them into the books again. She knew he was still standing there watching her with those beautiful green eyes. What was he looking at? She risked a glance at him, not full on, but from beneath her eyelashes. When her eyes met his again, she quickly lowered hers. Light! What had gotten into her?