R&U

 "Bloody, blighted Warders," Ariani thought to herself as she sulked on the back of the Warder's horse. Her earlier escape attempt had been thwarted only because she was unaware of the other two. She had managed to slip away from the Aes Sedai and the Warder unnoticed, she had even managed to make it pretty far into the forest before the other two caught up to her and took her right back. Maybe they already knew, and they just let her think she had gotten away? It didn't matter now. She shot a baleful glare at one of the men and then bristled when he flashed her a grin.

They had been traveling for days, stopping for short rests at night. During those rests, the Aes Sedai would take Ariani off to the side and try to talk with her. Sometimes, she would try to explain to her what she should expect once they reached the tower, and sometimes she would have Ariani try to make the little gem flash again. Those particular sessions lessened after the girl, having become intensely frustrated when she couldn't make the gem flash, let out a torrent of swears and threw the gem as hard as she could and hit one of the Warders. Of course, it wasn't hard enough to actually do any harm, but in retrospect, it probably wasn't the wisest thing to do. The Aes Sedai began lecturing her instead, on the importance of self control, focus, and respect. Despite the fact that the girl hardly spoke at all the entire trip, the Aes Sedai continued those lectures nightly. Ariani wondered when they would decide that she just wasn't worth the trouble and let her go.

Tar Valon lay before them, and Ariani caught her first glimpse of the shining walls that made up the White Tower. She craned her neck to look up and almost fell off the back of the horse as she searched for the top of it. Giving up on that, she decided to take in what she could see. She saw ornate buildings, all seemingly built to compliment the colossal tower that they surrounded. There were people everywhere you looked and she wondered how everyone seemed to travel through so smoothly when they all seemed to be moving shoulder to shoulder. "A person could easily lose themselves and never be found in a place like this," she thought to herself. The Foregate had been busy, but Tar Valon seemed even more so.  With all of gawking about, she hadn't even noticed that they were passing through the Tower gates.

There, they dismounted and she stared in amazement at the pristine campus about her. A couple white clad girls hurried by her, stopping briefly and giggling when they looked at her, and then rushing off. Ariani glared at them icily and then gazed down at herself. Everything here was so perfect and clean. Everything was precisely in place, and she stuck out like a sore thumb. Her choppy hair was a mass of tangles, her clothing was full of holes and ill fitting. She couldn't even remember the last time she had worn a dress. She slouched and kept her head down in an effort to hide.

All of a sudden, Ariani felt eyes on her and she spun around ready to give those two girls an earful, and then froze mid step as she saw a different girl standing before her. She was rather tall, much taller than Ariani was, and her ebony hair flowed in soft waves down her back. She was also wearing a white dress, except hers wasn't solid white like the other girls that she had seen. There were seven bands of color around the hem of hers. The girl regarded Ariani coolly, and maybe with a hint of disgust. "Come with me, girl," she said flatly, "I am to bring you to the Mistress of Novices." And with that, she turned on a heel, and started towards the front steps of the tower. 

Ariani looked around slowly. "Where did the Aes Sedai and her Warders go? When did they leave?" she wondered and then cursed under her breath.

"Come along," the older girl demanded, "I haven't all day, you know."  The girl walked away with her nose in the air. Ariani hurried to catch her, wondering all the while if that girl would drown if it rained.

Through several twisting halls the older girl led her, lecturing all the while. "You know, it is impolite to ignore someone who is talking to you. Do you not have manners where you're from? Leala Sedai will fix you soon enough, she'll switch you so hard that you won't be able to walk for a month. Come on now, don't dawdle. Do keep up!" the girl went on and on.

Just when Ariani was about to unleash a multitude of verbal horrors, the girl stopped and pointed at a door. "There," she said, "and hurry up. You have kept the Mistress of Novices waiting quite long enough."  She tossed her hair over her shoulder and made her way back down the hall. Ariani thought that the girl didn't quite walk as gracefully as she thought she did. 

She crept over to the door and softly rapped on it. What would happen to her now?

Wow, that was QUICK! I have access now. Groovy!

Weeeeeeee! My Novice ready to run rampant in the Tower. Fun fun!

Posting to say hello. Once I have the ok, I'll be the mad mind behind Ariani Cairawyn. A new novice who doesn't speak, swears like a sailor when she does, and hates feeling trapped. Looking forward to the RP with all of you! :)

Thank you. Again, I apologize for the somewhat crude writing. There were so many details that I wanted to add, but I didn't want to make a novel of what should have been a simple biography. I have this horrible habit of being long winded.