"Yes, Larindhra Sedai," Kembial responded promptly, and fell in behind her as they moved through the high-arched hallways.

The Mistress of Novices was no doubt telling her important things, but Kembial found it difficult to concentrate on both her words and where she was going. Light! It's like a maze! An overly decorated one, but still a maze, the girl thought as she gazed about, so used to leagues of nothing but sea and sky. How was she ever going to learn her way through this? The art and decorations pretty much blended one into the other as far as the Atha'an Miere was concerned. However, she followed the older woman gamely, plucking at her skirt as she went, as it tended to whip around her legs uncomfortably.

In no time they were at the novice quarters, and the girl peered inside her room. She smiled in relief at the nicely attired, but simple room. She could handle that, yes. If she'd been surrounded by fine tapestries, paintings, and glass, she would have twitched to death in a week. "You said Jaydena Sedai?" she asked, and curtsied, a little better this time. Maybe she was getting the hang of it - a hint of the storied Sea Folk grace raised its head in her movements. "I will remember."

With that, she sighed, and turned to her room, wondering what the rest of the day would bring.

Kembial nearly shot fifty feet in the air at the sound of the scream, and then the ringing slap. She watched, mouth agape, as  Katiana made her attempt to leave the room, only to be detained by the Accepted. What had her fellow novice been <i>thinking?</i> Being balky was one thing, but to actually <i>hit</i> a teacher! And an <i>Accepted</i> at that? The girl shook her head in total disbelief. If this had happened back home, the methods her superiors would have used would have been far less gentle - the restraining would have been the most gentle part, truly told!

Accepted Jerenia had things well in hand, though, so she closed her eyes during a half-second of peace...only to have her concentration broken again as Allrianne lost it. "Oh, for Light's *sake*," she grated under her breath, and whipped around again, her annoyance actually visible. She was never going to finish this silly exercise if she couldn't have quiet.

Kembial walked out the door feeling as if she'd been keelhauled. The Accepted had been a very patient instructor, but demanding. She'd never thought simply thinking would be such a exhausting enterprise. But now, it was time to relax and reflect on all she had learned...

Or perhaps not. The young novice was startled out of her reverie when an Accepted bustling by saw her and hurried over. "Thought you were down here," she said, "but I wasn't sure what room the class was being held in. No matter. Here." A slip of paper was placed in her hands. "And all of you get going before Halina Sedai comes down here looking for you herself!" she snapped.

Kembial blinked, peered down at the note. "What...?" She trailed off, skimming the spidery handwriting. Ah. Chores. When she looked up to get clarification, the Accepted was already gone. Oh well. The novice shrugged, and glanced round at her classmates. "Well, I suppose it is to be expected. Does anyone know the way? We would not want to keep her waiting."

I didn't see this till just now - is it too late to join in?

Kembial closed her eyes. A flower, eh? A light purple anemone bloom came to mind; she'd remembered seeing that in a vase of flowers in the Sailmistress' cabin one day, sent as part of the gift of passage by a boarder. It'd been such an unusual color, the memory of it'd stayed with her till today.

So. The anemone bloom. She imagined herself standing on the deck of her home ship, twirling the flower in one hand as the sun slowly rose in the east. She took a breath, forcing her hands to unclench from her skirts as the sun rose higher in her mind, rays skimming over the ship's side, reaching out towards her and the bloom. Out. In. Calm. Relaxed.

A tendril of sun touched the bloom, and she willed it to open.

And...nothing.

If she had channeled anything, she definitely had not felt it. After a moment, she cracked open one eye to peer at the Accepted watching them all, checking for any sort of sign that she'd succeeded. When no such assurance seemed to be coming, she sighed, and tried again.

This time Kembial concentrated on the flower itself, blocking out the images of the ship, the deck beneath her feet, the wind-tossed sea. Those were probably distracting her, but it was hard to just imagine a flower without context! The young novice narrowed her focus down to the single purple bloom, closed once more.

Imagine yourself as the flower. That made no sense, but the Sea Folk girl tried anyway. Imagine it opening to the first rays of sun. She saw the bloom unfold and expand in her mind's eye, taking in the sun peeking through the clouds.

And for a moment...she felt it. Something similar to what she'd felt that day when she'd been tested in the Mistress of Novices' office, but the instant she focused on that to study it, it vanished like seaspray on the hottest of days.

Kembial didn't notice the reactions one whit. "Thank you," she said softly. "I was hoping I was not lost." She paused, then snorted. "You could place a raker in this Tower and still have room left over."

With that, the darkskinned girl espied a free chair near one of the windows. She did not walk to it as much as strode, a less than feminine stride that didn't work with the simple white skirt. She grunted, paused to straighten it out again, and settled into her seat. Sharding dresses! the Seafolk girl thought irritatedly, tucking a beaded braid behind her ear in  before it hung in her face.

"I am sorry, but I would not know the first thing to ask, right now," she told the teacher. Bands of color. Ah, right. An Accepted. "When the class begins, then I will have questions."

Kembial frowned slightly as she came to the door herself, trying to remember if she'd followed the directions given her exactly. This Tower had such ostentatious design in places that, to her, the grandeur bled into *everything* making one archway seem very much like another. The young Atha'an Miere could be walking into a meeting of Aes Sedai by mistake.

That, she thought, would not be pleasant.

With a sigh, she pushed open the heavy oak door with a dark-skinned hand, peering inside. Two - no wait, three - in white. Perhaps this was the right place. "ah...excuse me." Her hand went up in a greeting salute on instinct, but before fist hit chest she corrected herself and bobbed a very awkward half-curtsy - wait, was that correct? Larindhra Sedai had explained the ins and outs of that silly shorebound nonsense not three sunrises ago, and she still didn't understand all the nuances. "Is...this the Novice class?"

Struck by a bit of self-consciousness for such a question, she dropped her gaze to the floor and her hands drifted down to smooth out her skirt, a motion that was becoming something of a habit for her.

"Curtsy...what is that?" At least the blow-by-blow of the color coding in the tower made sense, until you got to the fact that Aes Sedai could wear whatever they wanted.

And so, Kembial was introduced to what she would consider a nemesis for the the next few years in the Tower - the Novice dress. She eyed the thing as she would a live snake, or an oncoming storm at sea. There was going to be nothing but trouble with her in one of these things.

But when you were in a boat, you had to row or die. "Yes, Mistress," she said softly, and doffed her top; several years of doing so at sea made her less than conscious about nudity from the waist up. The trousers soon followed, but she was slightly more reluctant about those, of course.

As she slipped on the scratchy cotton garb, she turned her thoughts to the Mistress' comment that she would have Atha'an Miere Aes Sedai look after her. The thought that there were Sea Folk that were still here of their own will made the girl's head reel. But they were here, and so was she....getting in this usleless thing. How could you get anything proper done in...and the wind blew through your legs! How were women not cold in these silly things? She tied the sash that went round her waist at her side, resisting the instinct to make the knots of rank along its slightly wrinkled length.

And then...the curtseying. Light and Sea! Kembial had never felt more self-conscious in her life attempting those curtsies. Putting your feet just so and bobbing like a cork when a simple salute could get to the heart of the matter with more dignity...! And different ones depending on who she was speaking to? Her already dark skin deepened further with a flush, a combination of embarrasment at her lack of ability...and inner laughter at how silly this was.

"Yes, Mistress Sedai." Well, the Aes Sedai seemed pleasant enough. Mirelle had gone into rather great detail about how to behave around this woman. The Mistress of Novices must and will always be obeyed by you in everything, Kembial din Maris, or else the stropping you'll get from her will make any punishment you've ever taken on board your ship! That definitely had given the girl pause, since Mirelle Sedai had seemed rather serious about that. Besides, Aes Sedai couldn't lie.

They could certainly exaggerate, though...Kembial studied the woman across the desk, dressed so finely and carrying herself like the nobles she'd seen very briefly on shore trips before. Perhaps she was not as bad as Mirelle made her out to be, but that didn't mean she wasn't obliged to treat the woman with respect. Aes Sedai were still Aes Sedai, and she didn't want to incur any of the woman's wrath. Particularly not in the heart of the Tower itself.

At Larindhra's request, she nodded and gazed into the depths of the crystal. Empty all your thoughts and concentrate on the stone, Larindhra said. It sounded so simple, but was actually one of the hardest things she was ever asked to do. A slight frown crossed her features. How did one stop thinking?

Maybe if I can't do this, she thought, they'll send me home! Just the idea of it was relieving. If she didn't get the crystal to react, she could go home, and she and the Sailmistress would never speak of this again.

Unfortunately, that moment of relaxation was all she needed. Flash.And with that, her fate was sealed.

"Well, I...uhm...it's Kembial din Maris, of clan Rossaine," she began, looking at the still swinging gem in dismay, and I'm sixteen..."

There would no going home for her. She had to stay now. Light! I'll never see my family again - no, *can't* see them again. If I do, I might give them away.

The girl trailed off, gave the stone one more last rueful look, then glanced at Larindhra. "I can't really say where I was born except in terms of latitude and longitude, which doubtless means very little to you, Aes Sedai." Her gaze drifted down to her lap, fingers bunching in the thick sailcloth of her trousers. "And I - we -  never studied much of your ways. My people tend to give the Tower a wide berth...no offense meant, Aes Sedai. Honestly. We just have our lives, and you have yours."

There. That was true enough.

Me too! I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

“You will follow me, child, and quietly,” Mirelle Aes Sedai said to Kembial as they passed through the gate into the White Tower proper, and their horses were taken away for stabling. She gathered her skirts, and swept off down the hall.

“Yes, Mirelle Sedai,” the young Atha'an Miere had replied, meekly. Not as if the woman was really expecting anything else from her, of course.

What had the woman expected her to do, Kembial thought as she fell in behind the Aes Sedai – march into the White Tower banging a drum and singing at the top of her lungs? Or, perhaps, run away? To be truly honest, the second had occurred to her, but the look the gray-shawled woman had given her when the thought had crossed her mind had promised very thorough punishment if she'd gone through with it. And that had been strange, because she hadn't said anything out loud, but somehow the Aes Sedai knew. Were they mind readers? Kembial couldn't remember anything concerning that in the legends...

Not that there would have been anyplace she could have run, anyway, she mused. Dry land might as well have been a whole new world for Kembial; she'd never needed to know anything about the world off ship besides where the nearest port was. She wouldn't have known the first place to run and hide. And it's not as if she wouldn't be noticed as an outsider half a breath later if she tried!

As she walked, she felt the eyes on her, curious ones; she was probably one of the first young ones of her people seen around here in Light knew how long. And she knew they were staring at her clothes. What was wrong with wearing a perfectly servicable blouse and trousers? She tried not to stare back, but she couldn't help it. Mirelle had murmured something about 'getting her into novice whites' and she was seeing that now – gleaming white skirts as far as the eye could see, with an occasional flash of a rainbow-banded one, whatever that meant. But still. Her? In a skirt? She didn't know the first thing about wearing those...useless things!

She was startled out of her musing by the sharp staccato rap of Mirelle's knuckles against the wood of a  massive door covered in elaborate carvings.

“On your behavior, child,” she murmured, then paused long enough to give the Mistress of Novices time before she opened the door.  "Larindhra Sedai? I do hope you have a moment to spare to get this girl in the novice book." A quick glance behind her summoned Kembial forward, and she pointed towards a heavy oak chair in front of the Mistress of Novices' massive desk.

"Sit there, Kembial, and she'll get started." As the Atha'an Miere sank into the chair, Mirelle exchanged polite pleasantries with Larindhra. "I'm sure I'll be given the third degree about where I found this one," the ageless woman went on after a moment. "Perhaps in a day or so, I'll allow you to do that. But now I must report to my sisters, so I'll leave her to you, yes?" The redheaded Aes Sedai adjusted her gray-fringed shawl, nodded to the girl, and turned to leave.

"And, my first lesson to you...do relax child. She won't eat you. At least not if you behave as you should," Mirelle Sedai said, almost impishly, as she slipped back out the door.

Kembial blinked. "Relax? But..." It was too late, though, Mirelle was gone, and she was left alone with Lar..uhm...the Mistress.

• Novice Quiz - Complete
  
• Arrival: Meet MoN
  http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,35909.msg937662.html#new[ 4/ 4 ]1576 words Complete!
  
• Arrival: Meet [Mentor OR Roommate] - URL - [ - / 4 ] Incomplete
  
• Novice Life http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,36299.0.html [ - / 4 ] Incomplete
  
• One OP Related RP - URL - [ - / 4 ] Incomplete
  
• Choice RPs:
  * Choice RP 1 - [OP Training] -
  Pt. 1: From Student to Teacher
  http://forums.dragonmount.com/index.php/topic,36125.0.html - 326 words / [ 1 / 4 ] Incomplete
  * Choice RP 2 - [Name] - URL - Word Count / [ - / 4 ] Incomplete
  * Choice RP 3 - [Name] - URL - Word Count / [ - / 4 ] Incomplete
  
• Three Arches - URL - Word Count - Incomplete
  
• Novice Interview - OOC - Incomplete
  

Kembial din Maris will be joining this class if she can!