Roomate and chore RP's complete

Azalia's flirtatious grin settled into an earnest smile at Selene's words. Azalia had been afraid that she'd been doing something wrong the whole time but now she was fairly certain there'd been no misunderstanding of her intentions on Selene's part. 

She took the proffered doorway into a long empty hallway.  It would be harsh to say the environment was derelict but it certainly was disheveled.  There were patches of worn carpet, boards that needed new nails, and eaves and trim that needed a new coat of white-wash (or painting she supposed; it wasn't as if the White Tower needed to pinch pennies.)

"Browns," she said with a soft shake of her head.  Azalia actually had a healthy dose of both respect and affection for the Brown Ajah.  But they needed so much care-taking.  More than the  amorous, martial Greens, adventurous Blues, or high falootin' Greys and Reds it was always the Whites and Browns that vied for the position of the most masculine Ajah in Azalia's mind.  The Browns were so helpless but adept at trivia, whereas the Whites could spend so much time thinking so hard only to say something either stupid or obvious at the end of it all.  If that didn't sum up men for Azalia she didn't know what would.

Azalia turned her mind from the sad state of the hallway and tagged along after Selene.  Azalia might be a strong cuss but even she would be glad to be rid of all of this dead-weight.  When Selene indicated which door Azalia was to go through, Azalia took one moment to pause in the hallway, heavy load or not.  "It's been fun seeing you again, Selene.  Please come find me during the next stormy night." Azalia Switt winked at her superior then settled into a serious demeanor to face the Brown Ajah she knew would be on the other side of the door.

Azalia's mind, awash with nefarious reasons to butter Selene, was forced to change tracks.  No easy task. "Why I want your defenses lowered aside, why am I acting as pack mule?   I've never known a Brown to want for reasons they need a stack of books, but this one does seem heavier than usual."

When Selene gave her a guarded look, Azalia wondered if this might be something that a novice shouldn't be told about.  Selene was quick to bring up official Tower business and for the first time it occurred to Azalia that this might not just be a routine chore.  Seeing Selene flash from amusement to the distant mask that was so common to Aes Sedai sent a shiver down Azalia's spine, it wasn't like her friend to pull back so suddenly.

"Well," she cleared her throat hoping to ease her friend back into her former good humor, "  I hope they're studying up on a way to help with this burning weather.  First winter hangs around past its welcome, like a lazy uncle come to vist,  and then summer won't take the hint and pack off either.  Its so hot I can't sleep at night.  I never know what to do with myself."  Azalia chuckled and cast a sidelong glance at her companion.  Maybe Azalia was all thumbs when it came to getting a lady's attention but she was usually a fair hand at getting smiles from anyone.  Selene just didn't seem like Selene without a smile on her face.

As soon as Selene confirmed that she'd seen the book title, Azalia sighed and thumped her forehead against the mountainous stack of books in her arms. Still,  Azalia was a bawdy lass by nature and she couldn't stay embarrassed long.   "I suppose I couldn't say I put my nose in any other sort of book and claim that Father Switt had raised hisself an honest daughter," Azalia said, affected a chagrined smile. "When the bodices start heaving I start paying attention.  I must be part boy."

Selene couldn't suppress the laughter that bubbled up at Azalia's forthright honesty.  She would have to curb that inclination to tell the truth so plainly before she made it to the Shawl.  Pillow friends and the tendency of girls to turn to one another for comfort and companionship during the difficult years as an initiate of the Tower was something never spoken of outloud, but widely murmured about in the quiet darkness of night.  Selene herself had never... indulged as such, having been with a room mate where both of them were too shy to approach the other about the concept.  At least that was Selene's excuse, Carina may have just not needed someone to lean on and snuggle with like Selene had ached for.

She caught herself blushing outright this time and lowered her lashes to eye the younger girl.  Azalia was taller than she, but still carried herself with more gangliness than grace, in spite of not faltering with carrying the load.  "Part boy?  I should hope I never have to still you for channeling, then."  Her lips quirked into a brief smile and she turned her thoughts away from men who could channel.  There were rumors and gossip on the wind regarding just that subject she didn't care to think about right now.  "I recommend The Affectionate Altaran then, if you like the heaving.  The fashion there keeps them so trussed up that every little breath causes, well... I think you're an imaginative girl."  She laughed again, praying no Aes Sedai caught her in such silliness or she would deserve every menial job and chore they set her on just to prove that she was to defer to them. 

"Affectionate Altaran," Azalia pursed her lips as she spoke the words and mulled them over in her mind.  "Why, the sounds like it ought to be pert near as nice as The Domani Domination," she said with a laugh.  Azalia's laughter was often described by kind, or at least polite people as 'honest' or 'bouyant' but never 'quiet.'

She shifted the box in her arms and tugged at one of the girl's coiled ringlets of hair as Azalia laughed.  "You may read all the inappropriate books you wish as long as you also keep up on your studies of Tower law, history, old tongue, and the customs and expectations of each nation.  We can't have you being uncultured as well as uncouth."  There was only affection in her voice and she'd dropped her mask of serenity entirely with the girl.  Azalia always did have a warming affect on Selene.

Azalia turned her brown eyes towards Selene.  They still shimmered with tears of mirth she couldn't wipe away with her arms so full of books.  The young woman noted the blush on her senior's cheeks and at the touch of Selene's fingertips in her unruly hair, Azalia's dark skin darkened a bit more too.  Azalia, however, was one to burn with passion over embarrassment.  Selene had always been so good about making Azalia feel like an equal rather than a subordinate.  She was also such a slight person with a much soft sort of energy than Azalia's, it was hard not to feel that she owed Selene her best.  Azalia found herself suddenly poignantly pining for the days when Selene had been teaching her to read and ever day had given them an excuse to sit across from each other and talk.  "I may shirk reading but I don't shirk chores,  Mistress Selene.  I do everything my betters ask of me and, you know me,  I always do it with a smile."  Azalia punctuated her statement with an exaggerated swing of her hips that gave the smaller woman an affectionate bump.  She thought the intended effect was only slightly marred when she was forced to pick up her feet and dance a bit to re-balance the stack of books and avoid a spill. 

Once she'd steadied the books and her step, Azalia flashed a grin that she hoped her elder would find inviting.  Azalia wasn't  good at thinking up excuses, but maybe she could entice Selene into concocting reasons for the two of them to spend more time together. "Think about that if you ever need anyone to help you out like this again." After a pause Azalia found herself adding, "The me doing chores with a smile, not the me tripping.  I'd rather you didn't think of that part."  Azalia flashed the grin again, full force and shook her head a bit to perhaps artfully pull a full ringlets of her hair back across her cheeks.  These sort of things worked on getting the boys' attention.

Share Posted with Quisalas Selene

Azalia Switt wasn't a woman born to be appropriate for libraries.  She'd only gotten her head around the art of reading after she'd first arrived at the White Tower  and, even then,  only with the loving if frustrated help of a concerned Accepted and other Novices.  Now that Azalia had the knowing of books she mostly saw fit to be done with them but here she was, strolling through the expansive Library of the White Tower.  It was really because she'd just recently learned that not every book was a waste of building material or firewood.

Azalia casually plucked the piece of straw she'd been chewing from her mouth and used it to tap at spine of each book as she walked past. "Tupelo: A Kind of Tree, Turbulence: A Phenomenon Aerial and Aquatic, The Turf Quality of the Northern Nations... Ah!  Here we are, The Turgid Taraboner."  Azalia returned the bit of straw to her teeth, glanced over each shoulder as nonchalantly as she could, and quickly reached out to snatch up the book her room-mate had so emphatically described to her.

"Why Azalia-" The words caused Azalia to start and shove the steamy title back into place with thunk that seemed far too loud for the Novice's taste.  Azalia hastily turned to face the speaker. "-such serendipitous timing.  Do help me carry these books up to the Brown Ajah quarters.  There are entirely too many of them for me to handle on my own."

Light help her, she'd almost been caught holding such a perverse collection of words by a senior.   Azalia relaxed visibly when she saw that it was Selene doing the talking.

"Will do,  Selene," Azalia said, dropping the proper formalities as she did every chance she got.  It was a habit that earned her a lot of black looks since her arrival but Azalia didn't see Selene as a black look sort of lady.  Azalia swaggered to the indicated pile of literature and hefted the rectangular stack up with ease.   In the chore-laden life of a Novice, Azalia found her pig-farming muscles to be a blessing worth every snide comment her more delicate sister Novices could throw at her. "Just tell me where you want them."

Azalia picked up her quill, her first step on the long journey of self improvement, and slowly drew the long white, plume between her fingers.  The vanes were softer than a gentle breeze as they bent and slid against her skin. "Literacy is the leading cause of chilled birds' bottoms, you know.  I wanted you to be aware of that in all good conscience before we started."  She smiled weakly,  tested the point of her quill against her finger tip, and then dabbed her quill in the inkwell.  She set the dark tip of potential to the blank sheet of possibility in front of her and she opened her mind.

It was slow growing.  Just getting her letters clean and legible took weeks.  Azalia loved Selene but when she'd scratched out her umpteenth row of bastard letter M's (not at all like her sweet, behaved like her sweet lower-case "l"s) and Selene suggested that Azalia might want to try again. Azalia found herself thinking a good hearty stab to her elder's ear would be a better than another dip in the inkwell.  The image of Selene giving her lessons with quills jutting out of her forehead like moth-antennae was the only thing that got Azalia through the letter "W."

Writing left your fingers worn and creakier than mending fences in winter; nobody told you about that. Maybe they'd written it down somewhere, that be just like them those sick, literacy-loving dastards.  Reading wasn't so hard, once Azalia got used to sounding out things fuh-net-tik-lee in her head but spelling... It felt like you had to know every burning word on the planet before you knew how to spell.

There were times that Azalia felt like quitting and only the looks of trust from Selene's sweet, hopeful face kept her going. There were times she didn't know why she was bothering (Kati letting her borrow The Midnight Encounters of the Lady Beatrice D'Juantigo, and Dreams of the Thorned Rose had helped with that).  But, in the end, it was all worth it when she got to stop.

Because she knew how to write, burn it!

"Yes!" Azalia crowed as she slapped the thick sheaf of paper down in front of Selene. " A complete report on Lyndriil Sedai's Matters of Note in Regard to Pig Breeding and Pork Futures, correctly spelled, and grammared up right to the Moon and back again." Azalia folded her arms across her chest and flashed Selene a grin.

Watching Selene, her teacher of these many weeks daub lightly at the misty corners of her eyes as she flipped slowly through the pages made Azalia's smile fall away. "Wait, don't actually read it and weep.  I was being literary, not literal."

Azalia never really saw much drudgery in chores, but drudgery was a pretty big word so she rarely bothered to see it in much of anything.  Hopefully her time with Selene would help to remedy that situation.   Azalia was always happy to see Selene and, already a chatty person by nature, Azalia would normally have spent most of their walk to the library together chatting.

Today, however,  nervousness kept Azalia's mouth busy with the task of nibbling at her bottom lip. She only spoke her first words (after their initial, friendly salutations) when the two of them arrive at the huge room full of books that made up the library.  "Fantastic," she said, out of obligation more than anything else.  The Aes Sedai, and especially those quirky Browns and Brown aspirants, held this room in reverence.  They wanted you to use words like "awesome," and "impressive,"  but not phrases like "It smells like a box of dead trees in here."  They wouldn't laugh at that. Not even if you lead the way and slapped your knee.

Azalia knew how to read but she was mighty bad at it and her writing was even worse.  Whether or not she thought books were much ado about nothing, Azalia's spirit just couldn't sit right with being outright bad at something her colleagues placed such emphasis on.  She felt very fortunate that Selene was willing to take the time to help her improve herself.

Azalia agreed and the two of them left the room together to go to the baths.  They didn't really have enough time for a proper bath every day, usually washing up at a basin in the morning and evening was all a tired novice could spare the energy for, but because both of them had gotten to the baths while most girls were still finishing up dinner and seeing to their last chores or classes, they were afforded this small luxury today.  As they soaked in the cramped tubs, heated by fire they had to stoke themselves as channeling was forbidden to unsupervised novices, Azalia pondered the change she'd seen in her roommate tonight and wondered how she might change, too.  She closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself as an Aes Sedai, regal and serene and refined and beautiful.  She enjoyed the fantasy for a few moments until it was spoiled by the appearance of a stalk of grass between the lovely woman's lips.  She barked a laugh that had most Aes Sedai who heard it cringing at her lack of ladylike behavior and then gave a lopsided grin at it. 

She waved away Katiana's curious look and then relaxed back into the tub again, briefly reveling in one of the brief respites from the hard constant work of a Novice's day.  It was all too soon that they heard the generally quiet noises of Novices returning to their rooms and using the privies and as Azalia stood up out of the water and began to dry herself, she saw that she'd have to wake Katiana up in order to get her back to her room.  The pampered priss had fallen fast asleep in the tub.

Azalia slipped her arms around Kati and squeezed her into a gentle, first-class, swineherd's hug. "Thanks, Kati."  Azalia found herself wondering how a bone structure looked lovely but she wasn't going to own up to her ignorance.  These were the kinds of things she had come to the Tower partly to learn.  How to make bone structures look lovely, heck, how to tell if a bone structure could be lovely!  She knew using the gift the Creator had given her in being able to learn to channel  "I think I prefer being jaw-dropping tasty to gorgeous tho.' I've got the rump for it and it don't even need highlights."

She stood up, jut out a hip, and gave herself a pat on the behind. "And I'll try to help you be likable!" She smiled. "You've got the uh...You've got um... the room-mate for it!"

"I did it to meet girls." Azalia smiled an waggled her eyebrows, letting the words sink in for Kati, letting the rich girl notice their close proximity on the bed, as Azalia's hand slipped from the Terran's hair to rest gently on the nape of her neck.

Katiana's jaw dropped and she stared for a long moment.  Once Azalia had gotten the appropriate look of shock, she was seeking, Azalia's grinned turned into a laugh and she gave the other girl a playful shove. "All levity aside. That is a bit of the truth."  Katiana's skin prickled into goosebumps, especially where Azalia's hand was touching her neck and she looked like she was willing to kill the other girl when she laughed.

"My family's all boys and I - I had to take care of them after my mother died.  Especially my father.  I think I -  I think I lost a lot of being a girl.  I didn't have any real friends that weren't related to me or didn't want to take a break from friendship to sneak kisses." Azalia paused at that point to affectionately nudge her elbow into Kati's side. "Not that, that has to stop, Gorgeous."

"What better place to learn how to be a woman's woman than the White Tower?  And I want to learn a lot of other things too.  I barely know how to write.  And these Aes Sedai never seem to want for a meal..."  As she realized that she was prattling a bit, Azalia shrugged and smiled at Kati. "So, there you have me."

"You've got morals?  Burn it! Just when I was starting to like you, too." There weren't many people she couldn't grow to like eventually, and Katiana was just so... Katiana.  The girl was so high falutin' that she was almost a parody of what people expected a noble woman in training to be.  She'd decided days ago that most of it was just the way she was raised and there wasn't a whole lot a person could do about the way they were raised.  Azalia dropped onto the mattress to sit at Kati's side, offering an encouraging smile. A lifetime of attacking smudged faces, mussed hair, and torn seams wouldn't let Azalia keep her hands to herself and she began to fussily tuck back a few stray tresses of Kati's hair as she spoke, "I didn't know we were really here for power.  It's not why I'm here, at least."

The whole thought of channeling was  pretty terrifying, Azalia would be lying to herself to deny that, but the excitement of it all took the edge off for her.  It looked like she'd had to file a few edges off Kati, too. "I can tell," she said as she strolled over to Kati's side. "You just sort of let your anger out all over the place."

"Oh! You mean the Source!" Azalia said, pretending that comprehension was just now dawning. Her grey eyes widened with mock surprise, but not enough to give the impression that she was making fun of her roommate.  Katiana was prickly alright, but that didn't mean there was any reasont o try to purposefully make things any worse between them.  Half the time when Azalia tried to fun with someone she got the most sincerely offended reactions!  Everyone needed a little fun once in a while.  She affectionately swung her hip and bumped into Kati's side. "Yes, I suppose that is a little intimidating."

"For the common-folk."

Azalia wasn't really raised to suffer foolishness.  She had seven brothers, that would have amounted to a lot of sufferin'.  While her Dad had always tended to her and tried to make sure that his only daughter wasn't picked on overly so, there was a lot of time when Dad wasn't around and there was even more time when Azalia decided that if someone was going to stand up for herself, it may as well be herself.  While she'd never been quick to come to blows, she'd never been willing to take abuse neither.  But after a half-dozen words with the uppity Katiana, Azalia had come to realize that the other girl was just sort of built uppity from the inside out. You might even say Katiana was uppity all the way down. Bothering to get mad with her would be like wasting anger on a hog for being bristle-backed.

Besides Azalia had never really been around someone raised up so pampered and it was downright fascinating in it own way.  Still, she couldn't hardly let "Pig-Girl" go without a poke back. "It's amazing how fast you can get your chores done when you're used to doing them yourself,  Gorgeous."

Azalia folded her arms behind her head and flashed the other girl a grin. "What's wrong with you? You look even madder than usual."

• Novice Quiz - [Complete / Incomplete]
  
• Arrival: Meet MoN - Here - Post Count [ 4 / 4 ] Complete
  
• Arrival: Meet [Mentor/Roommate] Roommate: Katiana - Here - Post Count [ 6 / 4 ] Complete
  
• Novice Life - URL - Post Count [ - / 4 ]
  
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• Choice RPs:
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  * Chore - Here- Post Count [ 4 / 4 ]Complete
  * Choice RP 3 - URL - Post Count [ - / 4 ]
  
• Three Arches - URL
  

Azalia put her arms around Selene and gave her a squeeze.  She was fairly certain that she had just made a friend, an actual girl friend!  It was easier than she'd thought it would be.  She had really only hung around with boys in he past.  "I'll mind my manners.  Swineherders know all bout whips."  She flashed Selene a wink and a smile. "Thank you!" Feeling much more relaxed after her encounter Selene, Azalia straightened herself out and entered once she was bade to do so.

The room was posh enough that Azalia would have whistled through her teeth under other circumstances.  As it was, she felt it was smarter to curtsy with abject politeness to the rather fierce looking woman on the other side of that massive desk. "Good evening, Aes Sedai.  My name is Azalia Switt daughter of Sconner Switt and Rosetta Hillson Switt of Whitebridge in Andor. I've - I've been told that I have the ability to learn to Channel and I've come to pursue the teaching of the White Tower, if such will have me.  It is an honor to stand before you, Aes Sedai." 

Azalia curtsied again for good measure.  She wasn't intimidated, not yet anyway,  a life time of bullying creatures eight times your size that could cheerfully skin you with their teeth didn't dispose one to easy intimidation.  But Master Switt didn't waste his time raising idiots (Well, maybe her brother Dodd) and she'd be a fool not to recognize who was in charge here.  She didn't feel like getting lashed for impertinence by this woman. Not tonight anyway.

Written with Quisalas Selene

"Amazing.  I really can't put my mind around the concept of being an Aes Sedai yet."  Out of habit, Azalia's hand was lifting up  to pluck her usual bit of straw from her mouth, as she did whenever her thoughts grew deep, only to find that it was no longer there.  She'd dropped her last peice to the ground before entering the tower; it had seemed uncouth. "Who were you, before you came here?"

Selene smiled softly as she let her eyes grow unfocused for a moment, thinking about who she was.  "I was me.  I still am."  She turned her gaze to Azalia and smiled to let the girl know she'd not been offended by the question.  "I was raised on a horse farm, my parents bred and trained horses and I grew up practically on top of them.  They live just north of Four Kings still."

"Horse farmer, eh?"  Azalia grinned one of her biggest grins.  "I'm a farm-girl myself.  My father's a swineherd.  Actually, the farm's recently passed to my eldest brother.  I've met the odd fellow from Four Kings, before," Azalia lifted one hand and clapped it cheerfully on Selene's shoulder, the one farthest from Azalia, giving her a shake and a half-squeeze.  "They always seem to be rather bright and flirty fellows.  Mind you,  my family has raised a few horses from foal to horse as yours might have brought up a squealer or two for winter festivals but I know that's not the same."

Selene startled initially at the touch, most in the Tower were rather reserved in physical affection, but she smiled after her initial start.  "Bright and flirty?  That's my brother, alright.  He's a Tower Guard now.  He came with me to Tar Valon."  Her voice may have gotten just a touch wistful at the mention of her brother, it'd been a long time since she had seen Jasine. "Swineherd?" Selene turned and looked Azalia over again.  "Where is your family's farm? You have the speech of an Andoran, but with those grey eyes you must have been very sought after as being exotic back home." 

Selene took up a lock of her own pale blonde hair in one hand and waved it absently. "I even had a girl tell me I must be adopted with my hair, but Mum's hair was blonde when she was a little girl.  Mine just never went brown like hers did."  She nodded her agreement to having raised the occasional pig.  They had, in fact, just about always had a sow that they would breed to the Al'Aree's hog and then raise up the litter for meat.  "We never did the butchering, though.  That was what Master Thalor in Four Kings was for."

"My da's farm was just outside of Whitebridge.  We raised them, slaughtered them, and tanned the hides, why I even..."  Azalia caught herself.  Not every soul was able to deal with the particulars of raising swine.  "...did a lot the chores, myself."  She finished lamely.  "Sought after?  I don't believe so.  I got my share of looks and winks, I suppose but I don't think I was what most of the men-folk thought of when they pictured their dream girl.  As for my eyes - I guess, they are kind of special but a lot of my immediate family have them the same color so I tend to forget about them." Azalia chuckled bit more and let the other girl go from her half-hearted hug, choosing to lock her hands together behind her back, instead.  "But I love your fair hair.  It's very exotic. It makes you feel sunny."

Written with Quisalas Selene

Selenessin was on entry duty again today and it was something she always enjoyed.  While learning and helping out were both steps towards her goal of helping people, here she actually could help people.  She had a ready smile and a soothing voice for each person she spoke to, and her kindness seemed to be just the thing to set at ease many of the people nervous about visiting the tower.  She saw a young woman saying goodbye to a woman who clearly had the ageless face of an Aes Sedai and when the woman looked up into the Tower and made eye contact with her, Selene curtsied to the Commander of the Tower Guard whom she was making pleasantries to and moved towards the pair.

Azalia might normally like to think of herself as nonchalant, but every person has limits!  She was a brittle bundle of nerves.  She always felt a little odd in dresses, she preferred trousers for most things,  and she constantly fidgeted with the thing.  Honestly, what woman spent all her time straightening their dress?  Azalia spotted a chipper, perky young lady with a sunny face coming toward her.    Azalia reached for her like a drowning woman for flotsam.  "Hello, there!  My name is Azalia."  As she spoke Azalia found herself thrusting her hand out for a shake.  She paused and, with a nervous grin, dropped a quick curtsy instead.

Selene smiled and curtsied deeply to the pair of them, although her head was bowed in the direction of the Sister specifically.  "Evening, Aes Sedai.  Hello Miss.  I am Selene, is there anything I can do to help you both?"

The Sister nodded absently and murmured "Yes, yes, child.  Please do be taking this girl to Larindhra Sedai.  She is to see the Mistress about being enrolled, she do have the gift to learn to channel.  I have a letter here somewhere..."  The Aes Sedai's green eyes sharpened into focus as she tucked a hand into each of her several pouches and searched through the papers that were cluttering them. "Ah yes, here we are."  She handed the letter to Selene and then moved off towards the libraries with an air of detachment.  One would wonder at the fact that the woman never bumped into anyone, but novices and accepted scurried out of her way and the woman somehow maintained the presence of mind to step around any other obstacles, though she likely never saw them.

Selene smiled at Azalia and took her arm.  "This way, Miss.  I'll take you to see the Mistress of Novices.  Did you have a pleasant trip to Tar Valon?"

"Pleasant enough, but a might quiet for my taste," Azalia responded after giving the Aes Sedia a good-bye curtsy.  "Selene?  That's a lovely name.  Are you.... training to be an Aes Sedai too?" Azalia quietly fell into step as Selene lead the way.

The halls of the Tower were richly decorated with tapestries, vases, and statuettes from all over the world.  The high ceilings were arched and almost seemed to glow as light from gilded sconces and elaborate hanging candelabra reflected against the pure white stone.  Few people, even kings and queens, could walk along the Tower hallways without being moved by their beauty.  Fancy, Azalia mused as she only briefly took in the monumental decor.  While they did impress her, she just chalked it up to what happened when you had not only a single magic-casting woman, but a whole society of them.  By and large, most of her attention was focused on the white-clad Selene who was caught somewhere between the ordinary girl Azalia felt she was and one of the mythic Aes Sedai.

They walked along the twisting corridors as Selene answered Azalia.  "Thank you, Azalia.  Your name is very pretty, I've seen azalea flowers before, they're very lovely.  I am training to be an Aes Sedai." She smiled at the girl.  "I think I'm very close to becoming an Accepted.  That's the step between Novice, which is what I am now and you will be after you see Larindhra Sedai, and a full Aes Sedai."

Azalia would be happy to say good-bye to her new Aes Sedai acquaintance.  The only topic of conversation they could seem to settle on was uncomfortable silence.  She seemed like a very sweet woman and called herself a Brown Ajah, though the only brown she wore were her boots.  The problem was that this Aes Sedai was only interested in, well, everything actually, but while it all went in, nothing came back out.  She was quick to ask questions, and scribble up a swarm of notes, but whenever Azalia had a questions of her own, the Aes Sedai got all slippery and evasive.  After a while Azalia , who could take conversation or leave it, took to just smiling and nodding while she did whatever small chores and errands the Aes Sedai needed doing, as their horse and cart rolled over mile after mile.

The possibility of better company couldn’t stop Azalia from being apprehensive.  That tower was mighty gorgeous but it kept insolently growing larger and larger and it had seemed plenty huge enough when this little horse and cart  had still been miles away.  The thing was threatening to fill up Azalia’s whole world. 

Well, that’s what it’s about to do, isn’t it?

At that thought, Azalia chuckled to herself and switched the sprig of straw she was chewing on to the other side of her mouth.  Azalia tried to take her mind off the monolithic tower now and again by watching the bustling streets of Tar Valon.  Whitebridge, her home town was of a fair size, and when they had passed through Caemlyn it had made Whitebridge seem small and quiet by comparison.  Azalia was fairly certain that TarValon had room enough for Whitebridge, and Caemlyn together with plenty to spare.  Still, one throng was like another, really.  When you had neither room to stretch on a busy street in a small town nor a busy street in a big town, what was the difference?  Well, in Tar Valon the difference was in the variety.  The White Tower seemed to attract all kinds. Even a farm-girl like Azalia could recognize most of them; Whitebridge was an oft-used thoroughfare, but it unusual to see so many different nationalities at once.

For the thousandth time Azalia wondered how her brothers were doing without her to care for the, She wasn’t a very womanly woman by most standards but she still had more sense than all the men in her household put together.