Speak of the devil.  Estel briefly entertained the notion of having subconsciously Compelled the woman into the room, a childish fantasy she was far too old for – if she had the ability to control people’s mind, Nastascia Romanovni would not be the woman she called to her aid.  While Corinne had certainly been her main antagonist in the Ajah, the appositely nicknamed Nasty had been little kinder.  Therefore, the roundabout compliment came as a shock.  No doubt the new arrival hadn’t meant it as such; nevertheless, it buoyed Estel’s ever low self-esteem.

“We can’t stop, Nastascia, I’m sure the shock would kill half the Ajah and we can’t afford that, now more than ever.  As for Shevara... I have to hand it to the hall for their sense of humour – a Red on the seat after the disaster of Watchers?  Here I was thinking we were a group of bitter old ladies while the Hall hands out forgiveness like the Children pass around Mantelar’s book...”  Light mocking turned mush darker.

Estel ignored icy glares from Corinne until the woman cut her off.  “None of you were in the Tower following Annais’ death, how can you say I should have handled it differently?  Do you have witness accounts of my poor judgement?  Don’t tell me how to run this Ajah when you had all abandoned her.” 

While she was painfully familiar with the rough side of Corinne’s tongue, Estel had never seen the woman so flustered.  Lectures had always been delivered in perfect monotone and cold enough to frost the windows.  Now, the First Selector snapped each word, the pitch of her voice rising and falling in waves.

Estel Liones

Unsuspecting Sitter-to-be

Corinne'dei Susten

Feeling the end of her reign approach

Having unceremoniously collapsed onto the ground, Addi tried to avoid looking at her feet but masochistic curiosity revealed blossoming blisters and a thin trail of blood between her toes, probably the work of a stick she’d tripped over.  Bloody hell, no doubt she’d be sent to the Yellows again after this session – three days in and they already knew her by name!  No doubt they laughed about it in whatever secret lair their Ajah met in.  While it may prove beneficial for her, her budding reputation would probably keep any Yellow Sister from considering a Bond when she became a Tower Guard.

As her gasps slowed in frequency, Cairma sat down and motioned for her to join in a more decorous position.  The exercise the woman demonstrated certainly didn’t seem particularly difficult; indeed, the first sit-up was not.  However, after fifteen, her shoulder no longer came quite so close to her knees.  Push-ups were far more difficult; Addison was by no means weak, farming was hard work, but lifting jugs of milk and bales of hay used different muscles than lifting one’s body weight.  While Cairma counted down to zero, Addi bit back tears as her arms trembled with the strain of pushing herself up off the ground.

She was almost glad her next task was another lap around the track, until she tried to stand.  The blisters on her feet protested the sudden surge of pressure and her muscles cried in agony, threatening to topple her back to the ground.  With much wincing and gritting of teeth, Addi was back at the track.  Just think: a few more times and they’d call it a day.

~ You’re getting stupid, boy. ~

Isha didn’t bother to respond; truth be told, he wasn’t sure whether the thought was his own or Abrem’s.  His palm stung and bled.  He hadn’t drawn his sword since the fight began, considering his constricted movement made him barely half the swordsman he had been before, and Linten’s steel had been a surprise; he had been distracted, cutting the boy’s half-hearted attacks – stupid.  Reaction: yanking his blade as far out of its sheath as possible to parry the boy’s blow on the crossguard; to accomplish such, he had been forced to grab the blade with his bare hand while his other held tight to the other side of the crossguard, pushing Linten’s steel away from his body. 

As the boy tried to force the blade, caught between hilt and crossguard, back towards Isha’s body, the giant shuffled one painful step back, taking his left hand from the crossgaurd and attempted a left hook.  The blow hit as, simultaneously, Linten managed to force his sword close enough to Isha’s body to score a deep gash along his mentor’s ribcage.  The resulting pain and a new move by Abrem to steal control of saidin caused the Void to collapse.  He regained physical balance but his mental stability faltered, fell, and watched as Abrem pulled all they could manage of the One Power and threw a massive wall of fire between the two men in a real attempt to incinerate the boy.

~ My turn! ~

‘You son of a bi...’

The persona of Isha felt himself pushed away – squelched, even.  He battered against the intangible hands of Abrem, trying to win back control of the One Power and his own body but could not.  Light help Linten now.

Abrem dropped the useless piece of steel – foolish men who played at being soldiers when they were secondary only to the Creator in power.  Steel was obsolete against a blade created solely of saidin: the mind moved so much quicker than hands.  Light forsake them all, bodies and existence itself was obsolete when one could control another’s mind, kill them, heal them, Aginor had gone so far as to create a new breed; physical movement became extraneous.

Fire rained from all sides and every eye in the practice yard was trained upon them, hesitant to intervene.

ooc: sorry, unfortunate allergic reaction to flowers at work left me miserable and void of muse

can't listen to music in English when I write, so generally I'll have classical (especially opera) on.

Estel - generally Puccini, especially Madama Butterfly, or I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo - plus there's a bunch of choral stuff I'll put on

Addison - generally Donizetti, particularly La fille du regiment

Isha - definitely I Pagliacci or some Russian choral stuff I've got

yes... after an attack, some tears, and a great deal of frustration :P

I kinda actually wrote Estel specifically to go Blue and even as I played her through Novice and Acceptedhood, that decision never wavered.  Probably because she came with a built in cause which probably should have pointed her to the Red Ajah (she would have made an interesting Red Sister :P), but unfortunately, I also built in a prejudice towards the Red Ajah (yay for cliched daddy was a male channeller storylines :P).  To be honest, I'm not entirely sure whether the fact that I wrote her as a Blue or whether it was just the way she developped, Estel had to go Blue simply by process of elimination.

White: Lord help them, Estel as a White?  I'm not entirely sure the woman has a drop of logic in her, plus she's incapable of making a decision without the bias of her own emotions.

Brown: Estel spent more time getting in trouble than studying as a Novice and Accepted and this never really changed when she became Aes Sedai - she simply doesn't have the patience required.

Grey: This is just simply laughable, I can't remember a time when Estel didn't instigate or aggravate a fight.

Yellow: Estel as a Healer?  The woman has a propensity towards physical violence when she gets mad and her empathetic abilities are poor to non-existent.

Green: She may actually have considered this Ajah but is, unfortunately, a huge wimp when it comes to physical pain.  Plus giving her a sword and telling her to kick the crap out of various beings would do little to temper her rage issues.

Red: She should have saved the poor Blue Ajah the trouble and gone Red but considering I wrote in the bio that her mummy made her swear never to become a Red Sister, it put her best choice of Ajahs as the last on her IC list.

In the end, that leaves just the Blue Ajah, which I'm more than happy with.

This is true, mind you, the Band's new (and by new I mean only a little over a year old :P) system's waaaaaay better than the old one.

and yes, weapons training sucks majorly

if you bring Jain over, Andrea, I might be tempted to pull Carnhain out of retirement to train him :P

*tackles grand soeur*

heya!  welcome here!!!

*rolls in a keg*

*insert ballet sequence*

:D

you know I'm in

An irritatingly familiar voice rang out above what little din was left in the room; everyone had gone silent to watch the gratis entertainment – everyone except the idiot that never seemed to know when to shut his mouth.  Addi’s face was an unfortunate shade of red, a combination of humiliation and fury, while the whole tavern watched.  She felt minimally better when Edana stepped out to join her in the centre of attention, yet it seemed the woman had no more confidence in Addi’s skills than Sandre.  Truthfully, why should she?  Addison could barely hold the spatha straight without her arm trembling from its weight but did everyone really need to announce her incompetence for every present person to hear? 

Blood and ashes, she was going to need another drink.

The big man, apparently named Bart no Sir-Can’t-Talk-Properly, shoved her out of the way with no regard to the “threatening” sword.  As if she hadn’t already embarrassed herself enough, the force of his push was enough to knock the blade out of Addi’s pathetic grip.  Snatching it up, she fought her way against the crowd of people streaming out of the building after Bart, Cassie, and the Flirt.  Finally reaching the bar, the bartender poured a bottle of something into a tiny glass and slid it across to her.  The farm girl considered just asking for ale instead but the man’s smile egged her on.

She shrugged, muttered “Bottoms up!” and tried to drink the liquid... promptly choking and spewing it everywhere.  The bartender laughed, still dry – for the sake of Ms. Thwait’s pride, hopefully this was fairly normal occurrence.

“You don’t drink much do you?”

“Do you need to ask?” hissed in between coughs.

“No need to bite my head off.”  The man poured two more shots and threw one back.  “Trick is not to taste it, swallow it before it hits your tongue.”

Addi stared at the glass, disgusted.  She could hardly become the first Warder unable to drink hard liqueur, though, and so tried to do as instructed.

It took another four shots to get the technique down.  When the fifth hit her stomach, it took everything back up and out with it.  The bartender shrugged and laughed.  “I think that’s enough for you, tonight.”

“Oh c’mon, one mooore!”

“Save it for tomorrow night, champ.”

“Fiiiine, ‘ll go s’mplace else.”

The man snorted as Addi had to hold on to the bar to keep from falling.  She stumbled her way outside, her eyes immediately focusing on Sandre – to the best of their drunken ability.  Ignoring the female twin with him, a finger pointed accusingly at his chest.  “You’re a jerk!”

For so many years, Estel had struggled with a constant barrage of disappointments, deaths, failures, and other unfortunate events.  Like a pot that was too full, set over the fire, her emotions were constantly spilling into the rest of her life, unable to contain them.  As Telcia had said in her Arches, there was no trauma she hadn’t suffered thus, enabling her to empathise with nearly anyone else’s pain.  Yet, the Blue felt uncomfortable watching Maegan’s reaction to the news of Annais’ death, an intrusion upon a private moment – usually deemed by Aes Sedai as a moment of weakness.

More surprising for Estel, though, was her own grief.  Certainly not for Annais’ sake, to whom she’d recounted the details of Watchers; the same woman to make that fool deal with the Black Tower and to pretend she knew what Estel was going through.  No, she didn’t care that the Amyrlin Seat had died from whatever cause.  The Blue averted her eyes from Maegan’s face, staring at the other pair of Reds instead.  The woman was certainly keeping up appearances better than Estel would have managed; not that Maegan had been particularly rigid about maintaining Aes Sedai decorum during their time at the Academy but neither was she ever anything short of composed.

Maegan, who had been part of the legendary GPCN; who had, as an Accepted, befriended Novice Estel; who had saved her life and kept her secret; who had taken the time to help, without judgement; into whose sanctuary she had been invited; the woman who probably have been more exclusive when two members of her own Ajah were delivering news for her – Maegan was hurting and Estel felt... sorry for her.  This small victory, empathy, might have made up for her earlier weakness but it would go uncelebrated: she was not paying the cost for it.

The ride back to the Tower was long.  Oppressive silence slowed the Aes Sedai’s progress with each of their horses’ steps, juxtaposed against the loud noise of the crowd that parted and bowed to let the four women pass.  A single Blue among Reds, an observer with any knowledge of White Tower politics might have figured Estel’s stiffness to be caused by her company; instead it was the woman’s inability to come up with anything remotely appropriate to say or do.  She was accustomed to feeling powerless but rarely because she was incapable of a “normal” human response.

Their dreaded arrival at the Tower was overshadowed by news of Annais’ death and Estel was really starting to crave the bottle of brandy, left on her desk in the Academy.  Overall, no signs were pointing to a successful “rehabilitation”.  Grooms were attending the horses while servants began hauling bags up towards the Blue and Reds Quarters.  Having refused to look at Maegan, almost in fear of somehow making things worse by her mere presence, Estel nearly jumped when the Red tapped her shoulder.  The woman’s voice was surprisingly calm as she to meet at her apartments in the Red Quarters once the Blue was settled back in.

Aes Sedai were not supposed to show emotions, even when a friend died.

Estel nodded in response and was about to offer some sort of condolences before Maegan left, but thought better of it.  If the woman was avoiding the issue for now, it would do no good to remind her.

Silence: a tool Estel was finally beginning to learn.

An hour or two passed, bags were still heaped where the servants had left them.  The Blue considered unpacking them, but discarded the notion in favour of passing her room.  Bloody hell, a Red Amyrlin?  A few months earlier, she might have thought this a disaster.  Now...  It was awfully hard to hate the Reds when Estel wanted nothing more than to slaughter every last Asha’man.  Plus, a little kindness went a long way.  The politics of the Hall of Sitters, though, affected her far less than the politics within her Ajah – Estel was not looking forward to facing Corinne or Serena about her sudden disappearance, whether or not it had been of her own volition.

Finally, the Domani decided she was “settled in” and had given Maegan enough time to do the same.  Her passing caused a bit of a stir in the halls – no doubt her “Sisters” were debating where she had run to this time.  Estel could pretend she didn’t care what they said but the First Oath would prevent her from ever voicing it aloud.  The Reds she saw, making her way through the crimson tiled hallways, were no more pleased that the Blue was in their territory than Tais and Narissa had been to include her in their conference.

Wishing Orion were there to guard her back, Estel knocked on Maegan’s door.

There was little bartering to be done in Braden’s Hill, where everyone knew everyone else and cheating one’s neighbour was simply bad business, and Jon Thwait had never taken his daughter to Whitebridge when he sold what little surplus there was.  Thus, Addison was somewhat enthralled by the process – enough that she stopped awkwardly glancing at the whore they were trying to hire.  Soon enough, they had settled on a price that, to Addi, still seemed incredibly expensive.  Light, was Edana expecting her to pitch in for half?  There might be enough left in the purse from the Mistress of Novices to cover it.

Addison barely heard Edana’s question.  “Uh...”  Her fellow trainee didn’t bother to wait for her reply and headed back to the Yards, leaving poor Addi alone with the prostitute.

“Just you and me, kitten.”

Blood and bloody ashes, with the amount of blushing she’d done today, it would be a wonder if her face ever returned to its usual shade.  “Uh...  Well, we umm... hired you... for my roommate Sandre.”  How exactly was one to phrase sentences to a whore?  Were they likely to be offended?  More importantly, what would the do if offended?  Damn Edana, why did she have to leave?  Light, people were staring at them!  What were they thinking, her leading a whore around the city?

Further conversation was nonexistent on the incredibly long walk back to the Warders Yard.  The sun was now only barely showing above the horizon and no doubt Sandre would be returning to the room soon.  Wait, what exactly was Addison supposed to do while the prostitute was in her room?  They finally reached the room and she peeked her head inside - good, no one was back yet.  “So, uh... this is his room.  Wait here and he should be back soon.”  Hopefully.  “I’m umm... just going to go now.  Uh... goodbye.”  The woman’s cackle followed her out the door.

Light burn her, they’d forgotten about the twins: what if they came back before Sandre?  As much as Addi wanted to be as far away from the room as possible, she slumped against a doorframe within view of her own door and made sure nothing ruined the prank.

OOC: We ready for Sandre, Lor?

Laughter rang in the echoing stone passages and chambers.  Upon seeing the welts covering the newest Blue’s backside, Estel was reminded of her own Oaths, again.  The image of Carise’s and Serena’s faces as they stared at her blue hair had been priceless, though likely not as amusing as the flustered expression on her own.  An entire population of Aes Sedai had been treated to a bare-naked, blue-haired, bruised-bottomed Blue.  Estel had hardly been the first Accepted to misuse her “Night of Reflection” for one last hurrah and Gianna was proof that she certainly wasn’t the last.

“Well, Nastascia, it seemed we’ve found your culprit!”  She was still laughing.  The woman’s screams hadn’t exactly been quiet and Estel lived only a few apartments down the hall.  “It seems Nastascia has a score to settle – if only someone got to parade the poor girl naked around the Tower.  Shall we?  I can’t wait to hear what the Greens come up with when they see those bruises.”  Light, it had been a long time since she’d laughed so hard.

your awesomeness level just skyrocketed :D

actually, I prefer French :D

blah!  edited

LOL! :D

oops!  fixed.

heh poke Wyndy, I'm fine with Nasty barging in, not that she's likely to get along with Estl particularly well :P

There were three recurring thoughts in Addi’s head that morning and as a general rule, they switched every five strides.  It was about five hundred strides from her room to the fitness field.  Not that Addison was any good with numbers, but her basic arithmetic skills told her she revisited each topic roughly a hundred times.

One.  How on earth could she keep making such a fool of herself in front of Cairma?  First the swords, now sleeping in – was she getting in her own way?  Was the unconscious self-sabotage because she couldn’t do this but needed to be expelled from the Yards because selfish pride wouldn’t allow her to quit?  Maybe the “living a dream” experience was just new and scary and so much bigger now, in the middle of it?  Could it be that she really was this incompetent?  Had she gotten anything right since she’d gotten here?  How long could she last?  Where would she go when she failed?  Blood and ashes, why was she suddenly plagued with self-doubt?  Why was she thinking entirely in questions?

Two.  Maybe having three male roommates was a blessing in disguise.  If not, she could very well have ended up sleeping in a nightgown or underclothes, which would have made this morning even more embarrassing.  Luckily, instead she was wearing yesterday’s breeches and a sort of undershirt that was, admittedly, rather disgusting after already surviving yesterday’s training – another bonus, the undershirt wasn’t nearly as heavy and sticky as a blouse.  So, maybe she wasn’t off that badly.

Three.  It really hurt to run without boots.  She would probably have to see the Yellows again to Heal blisters and cuts.  This made three days in a row; damn, she was already earning a reputation.

By the time Addison arrived at the fitness field, Cairma was already waiting.  The woman ran like a gazelle... or Addi ran like a tortoise.  Was she supposed to be winded already?

It didn’t take an Aes Sedai to see the turbulence boiling underneath the surface of Corinne’s usually impeccable calm.  Light, how badly had the Ajah been hit politically? Estel had expected some slipping in the Blue Ajah’s influence with a Red on the Amyrlin Seat, technically a former Red, but if Corinne was cracking...  A proper Aes Sedai wouldn’t have felt smug to hear of her Ajah Head’s plummeting political career; however, Corinne had been one of her loudest antagonists and the political standing of her Ajah barely affected Estel who had as much chance at affecting any decisions by the Sitters while across the Aryth Ocean as she did in Tar Valon. 

In such a politically oriented Ajah, a lack of communication and influence with the Amyrlin and Hall majority meant one thing: a change in Sitters and Ajah leadership.  It took a great deal of effort not to cackle or blurt out the hundred snide comments poised to leap off the tip of her tongue but Maegan’s voice was yelling loud enough to induce a headache.  Estel hadn’t even discovered the new Amyrlin until a few hours ago, though she could imagine the scene in the Hall – no doubt Corinne had been the last to stand.  The woman’s refusal to stand, pointlessly delaying proceedings because of her stupid pride, probably sucked out any remaining pity leftover from the affair with Lanfir and Nastascia.  This left the Blue Ajah with absolutely no allies; Corinne wasn’t known to keep friends for any other sake than politics.  If there was a single thing Estel had agreed upon with the woman, it was a hatred of the Red Ajah.  Ironically, now the Domani probably had more friends in the rival Ajah than any other Blue: Maegan, Carise, Telcia was another former Red Sister.

“Spoken with Shevara lately?”  She couldn’t help herself; at least it was more subtle than the hundreds of other quips she’d stifled.

Corinne glared, followed by a surprising silence.  The woman had no answer?  Again, Estel was wondering how badly the Ajah was suffering, when the Taraboner finally spoke.  “I assume you’ve heard of the new Red Amyrlin.”  Elyssa nodded.  “The Hall has been in heated discussion about how to address the topic of the Black Tower.  Shevara is pushing for further negotiations towards an alliance despite the lack of accounts from members of the Watchers mission.” Corinne sent a meaningful look in Estel’s direction, no doubt warning of an impending interrogation session.  Damn the woman, she’d sooner recount the unfortunate story to the Red Amyrlin than the bitter woman.

Estel bloody Liones

She of the Unlikely Political Potential

Corinne'dei Susten

Not Playing Nicely with the Reds

1st of May here, so I figured I'd start the thread

Estel Liones

A Sorrowful Return

After time away, Elyssa and Estel learn not all is well in the Blue Ajah hallways.

Stripes and a Shawl

The Blue Ajah welcomes Gianna Riatin home.

And with the Dawn, Came Change

The tables turn for rivals Estel and Lavinya.

Daes Dae'mar for Dummies

Estel ends up teaching an group of similarly inept Accepted.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Estel struggles with her return to the White Tower after a month in Cairhien with Maegan.

Nastascia Romanovni

A Night of Reflection

Gianna takes her revenge on the nasty Nasty.

Namandar was before my time, so he's definitely talking Namandar

'cuz he was one of the poor Novices Estel got into trouble during the herb prank :D

hey dude!

and Kandor was early 2007, I believe

-Estel