Ykoria felt sweat drip down her ribs as she sat and tried to stay focused on the seminar on law and negotiation. It had been going for three solid hours already, but she knew she dared not slip, not know. She warily watched the Gray sister teaching the class prowl back and forth, her iron-gray hair, a mark of her vast age and experience, pulled back into a prim bun, but wearing a dark-green gown of an unusually tight-cut for a Gray over a whipcord lean frame.

"You!" she snapped, her voice cracking like a breaking bone, her attention thankfully focusing on an Ghealdanin girl, "You are in Tear to oversee a routine purchase of olive oil for the Tower. You are newly raised, and due to suspicions that the Tower is being cheated at some point of the supply chain, you were dispatched by the Hall to investigate. You have no Warder, and you are the only Sister in the city."

She paused briefly, narrowing her eyes to ensure the girl was keeping pace, "in the final stages of your purchase, a girl in the city manifests her spark and channels with spectacular results. The visible nature of her first channeling causes the rabble to bring pressure on the High Lords to execute the girl for breaking the law against channeling. However, you receive a pigeon from a Sitter of your Ajah directing you to bring the girl with you to Tar Valon. Complicating the matter is that the girl is Amadician, and her parents are compelled from high status in the court to call for her execution as a witch. A Lord Captain with a legion of Children of the Light is two days from Tear, and on the march to earn political acclaim for the Children by carrying out the girl's execution.

To summarize: you are the only sister in the city, without a warder, you have to complete your task from the Hall by procuring the oil and discovering any fraud, convey the girl to Tar Valon in spite of the Tairen, Amadician and Children, while maintaining the proper respect for Aes Sedai."

She broke off, staring, and the Ghealdanin girl took a deep breath, obviously taking a moment to collect her thoughts before beginning. Ykoria and the rest of the class listened attentively as the girl calmly described how she would order the Tower's factors to complete and arrange the details of the oil purchase themselves, and assign her Ajah's eyes-and-ears she had access to to monitor the purchase for foul play. She herself would take the customary detachment of Tower guards and take the girl into custody per the precedent they established of sending girls to the Tower. The girl would be discreetly held on the barge and the purchase concluded as soon as possible, at which point she would take the barge back up the river to Tar Valon.

There was silence in the room as she finished, and the Aes Sedai finally nodded cooly, "An adequate solution," she remarked casually, "As Aes Sedai, you will be the paramount women in the world, it will be your job to keep the nations in line, and we cannot do that if they think they have to right to keep candidates from us, or even execute them, to say nothing of cheating us for oil. You had to make a choice between the girl and the oil, and you choose correctly, leaving the girl to die would be a waste and more degrading for the Tower than a routine scam. Ideally, you would have a trusted Warder who could handle it with a more... pointed efficiency, but the factors would prove adequate, and utilizing local contacts would give you some chance of salvaging your original goal of uncovering the cheating."

She stood silent, musing over her own words for a rare moment of stillness until the door creaked open and two Accepted stepped into the room.

"What do you want?" the Aes Sedai snapped in irritation. The Accepted all but fell to their knees curtsying, "Beg pardon, Aes Sedai," said one, "but there is a message for you," and she held out a sealed letter, which was snatched promptly as the older woman strode rapidly to them. She ripped open the letter, her face tightening in irritation. She glared out at the class with uncharacteristic heat for an Aes Sedai, "This must be dealt with now, but I will be back, and I expect you all to be here. You two." Her voice, implacable as winter in the Borderlands, nailed the retreating Accepteds' feet to the floor as if by the Power. "You will teach," her eyes narrowed, "now."

And with that she swirled past them out of the room.

Kelitor, along with a mixed dozen of Soldiers and Dedicated, trudged through the early morning light behind an obnoxiously humming Asha'man. He heard a voice behind him hiss,

"Are we there yet?! We've been walking for over an hour, its dawn, and-" someone snarled and he heard an "oof" as the whiner was quieted, probably by an elbow. Whining wasn't viewed in a particularly sympathetic light here at the Farm, and some Asha'man could be.... indiscriminate with discipline.

But as the complainer fell to silence, the Asha'man leading them stopped. Kelitor felt his heart sink as for a wild moment that he'd heard. It would be wild, even for the Farm, but it wasn't beyond possibility for an Asha'man to drag them out of bed before dawn and have them marching cross-country, apparently to nowhere, and following no obvious trail, only for the chance to "teach" them about discipline when someone finally cracked.

His fears were dispelled when finally the Asha'man impatiently waved them to come forward to the top of the low hill where he stood. As they obediently trudged up, Kelitor barely managed to stifle a moan when he saw what awaited them.

Garbage. A small mountain of it. He had no idea what all this refuse was doing here, or how it had come to be here, and he didn't really care. He just knew it couldn't be good. When they had all arrived, the Asha'man finally turned to Kelitor, who swallowed nervously at being randomly singled out by the bizarre Asha'man.

He thrust a finger like an angry spear at the trash as if it had offended him somehow "Burn it!", he snapped angrily. Kelitor suppressed a groan of misery and reached for Saidin. It took a few seconds of effort, but finally he grabbed it, like oil-slick water, and felt it roar through him, a constant effort not to drown. He directed the Power outward in bands of Fire, and as he placed the simple weave atop the pile, flames sparked into being. He felt others around him grabbing the One Power as the other Soldiers and Dedicated decided that assuming that the command to burn was directed only at him was dangerous. Other areas of the small mountain began sprouting flames.

"Weak," sneered the Asha'man, "so weak!". He gestured almost casually then, and he felt the man seize an enormous amount of Saidin and suddenly the air distorted, and spheres of flame were raining from the sky onto the refuse heap, mocking their own paltry attempts. But almost as quickly, he wove again and the flames vanished, extinguished as their heat was dispersed into the environment.

"Now then. The game. Yes," the Asha'man abruptly began, "the game is simple. You are weak, so burn the trash. All of it." He smiled queerly, "You have until sundown, you may only channel one Power at a time, and if you stop it is done. Well." His grisly grin let them know it wouldn't be pleasant.

Kelitor swallowed again, and the Soldiers and Dedicated went to work.

Ykoria swept rapidly along the spiraling halls of the White Tower, her white skirts swishing out behind her with the speed of her passage. She, like all the Novices and Accepted, had heard the story of the pies that had shown up anonymously. And everyone starts babbling like geese about how they could one up the anonymous baker Novice, she thinks with a snort.

Fortunately, Ykoria Eranyame, of Mayene, and daughter of the trusted servants who kept the First's library, was much more intelligent than some of the girls out there. She sniffed at the thought as she rounded a bend. While there wasn't anything she had against altruist, (she had read more than enough philosophy to know that it was one of the bindings of civilized society) she didn't understand the pies. It was a good gesture, but one that would have landed the perpetrator in deep trouble if she'd been caught (no one would believe a Novice claiming to have snuck into the kitchens to altruistically bake a pie for someone else!).

Thus, Ykoria thought with a smirk, I'll do something more useful.

Ykoria, having last been to the Mistress of Novice's study a week ago to receive some news from home, had noted that she had begun the laborious task of copying the massive Novice book into folios, which would be filed in some Depository of Tower records, alongside, most likely, thousands upon thousands of identical folios. She'd managed to bring up the question to an Accepted, rumored to be wishing to choose the Gray, who taught a class on the laws of Tar Valon. The Accepted had absently told her that Tower law required the Mistress of Novices, whenever the Novice book neared filling, she was required to duplicate its contents for redundancy in record keeping.

And so, Ykoria saw her chance! That ancient tome was enormous, and it was just poor luck that Valeri Sedai was Mistress of Novices when the book finally neared filling. There were thousands of entries in the book, probably dating back at least a century or two. There was much Ykoria could learn from the book, mainly the ages and origins of her superiors. She let her smirk grow into a satisfied smile as she neared the door to Valeri Sedia's study.

Like most doors in the Tower, it wasn't kept locked, there was nothing in there that anyone would want, or dare, to steal. The only item that might be worth altering, the punishment book, was kept locked out of sight when the Mistress of Novices wasn't using it.

So Ykoria slipped into the room quietly. Closing the door to a crack, she glanced out of it guiltily, to make sure the course was clear, then imagined herself opening, a flower to the sun. At first, nothing happened, but then glorious Saidar flooded her. Forbidden, but nothing that Novices didn't do anyways. Nonetheless, she hurriedly lit the desk lamp with a careful thread of Fire and released the True Source, just in case.

And there it was, the Novice book, lying open to a page near the begging, marked at the place where Valeri Sedia had paused, her copy close by. Ykoria smiled contentedly as she sat in the chair across the desk, turning the Novice book and pulling it towards her and pulling out her ink jar, setting to work.

It was, she found, long, tedious, and boring work. But it was work that she'd been raised doing, and her hand flew across the page in a strong, clear hand. She only paused when she found a name she recognized, to commit it to memory. Finally, a few hours later, Valeri Sedai's place in the Novice books markedly advanced, and the folio much fuller, she capped her ink jar with a smug satisfaction, blew out the lamp, and hurried out to sneak back to the Novice quarters.

Kelitor gave his dishes and cutlery to the humming goodwife and her two daughters who were manning the Farm's scullery after completing his meal. He turned away, bells in his Arafellin braids jingling as he moved away, and the sound of the twin giggling to the hushed, sharp scolding of their mother brought a grin to his face and lent a jaunty spring to his step.

He was so absorbed in this that he was slightly startled when another man swung into his path. But while he might be startled, his time at the Farm had instilled a reflexive response to the sight of the sword and Dragon pins on a collar. "Asha'man?" Fist to chest, and no slouching. It wasn't a man he recognized, but then again, there were many Asha'man out roaming the world, but when the Asha'man ordered him to show him to Arath's office, he ruthlessly squashed his curiosity. The last time he'd let that get the better of him, he'd gotten a week of mucking out the stables. He led the Asha'man off from the dining area with a brisk step, wondering just what was going on in the outside world that would keep an Asha'man out for so long; he himself didn't get much news. Like most Soldiers, all he knew was that the world was in turmoil with the coming of Tarmon Gai'don and the coming of the Lord Dragon. He hoped the Asha'man came with good news for Arath rather than bad.

Finally arriving outside the door to Arath's office, he turned back to the Asha'man and saluted again, "Here you are, sir. Storm Leader should be inside."

Kelitor Varashan,

Soldier.

((OOC: Looks like we have a double post. Oops)

Hi, I'm back. And I didn't bomb my midterm like I thought. Does having to know inscrutable factoids like what Voltaire and Rousseau thought about the nature of mankind and how it influenced Enlightenment philosophy and consequently modern psychology in order to keep a scholarship give me an excuse for not being around?

Also, for some bizarre reason I had that little Asha'man line running through my head at lunch.

We rode the winds of the rising storm,

we ran to the sounds of thunder,

we danced among the lightening bolts

and tore the world asunder.

Handle: Kelitor

Character's full name: Ykoria Eranyame

Character's status: Returning Novice

The sub-boards? Yes, I see them.

In long term preparation for the cleansing, some random person has a random Foretelling, or an Asha'man stumbles across a rumor of, a philosophy/metaphysics text about the One Power and how the Eye of the World (do we know about that?) was made. The entire Black Tower scrambles to grab this rare manuscript from the Age of Legends which is perhaps in a stasis box. Cue conflict with Darkfriends, Dreadlords and Forsaken. Just to make it fun, put in a museum in the palace of the King of Amadicia, in Amador. Cue Children of the Light. Three way conflict.  ;D

Then the Shadow sends in an army to get rid of us and the Whitecloaks. We can have chaos. Civilians dying as we get to use our spectacular weaves to burn thousands of Shadowspawn, and we have Soldiers getting arrested by the Whitecloaks when they get tired, only to be rescued by Dedicated. Little groups running all over Amador, working desperately with Whitecloaks and Amadicians to survive.

All over a single stasis box, that is reputed to have a One Power metaphysics tract, and possibly more, inside.

We can give the book to the Dragon Reborn when all is done for him to puzzle over.

Or the stasis box could just be empty for the lulz.

I'll join in some too, if its open

I'm about to start a Intro to Saidar class if you want to RP on a new thread rather than a long dead one :)

Sure, why not? :)

hm, shouldn't Ykoria have "Arrival" x-ed in?

Yes, I saw that and I was a bti confused, how Skechid turned up all of a sudden to nod. Towards the end.

 

Nevermind if you're confused by that. But YAY! More people to play with.

Lol oops, I meant Patlaine haha  :D

(ooc: sorry its been so long! Its been a long year.  :P  :'( )

Kelitor puffed his way up to the stump, where he saw Daevis sitting. He comforted himself by imagining Daevis being torn, screaming, limb from limb by starving dogs.

As he stood before him, catching his breath, the man finally climbed lazily to his feet, and making some initial, cryptic remarks, tossed them all cubes of wood.

Kelitor stared at it in puzzlement.

"Your final task of the day, and maybe tomorrow as well, is to take that block of wood, and carve something out of it."

Kelitor felt an ugly grimace covering his face, but when he looked up, Daevis' was holding a replica of the Dragon pin worn by Asha'man, carved from wood. But then Daevis had to go and make it impossible, and stipulated the use of primarily Fire.

And I only have one day, he thought sourly as Daevis sat back down with his own figurine. He himself stumped off to one side of the clearing. Behind him, some of the others were also spreading out to work on their figurines. He also saw some idiots heading back to the barracks for free time, as if they would be able to complete this thing at the last second.

He seized Saidin, and set to work.

He passed several hours in that fashion, in the shade of an ash tree, and he finally looked up, releasing the Source with a slight headache to contemplate his work. He had barely begun. His block of wood was only slightly deformed, but he felt that he was doing better then those whose blocks had flamed into ash. Ash wasn't particularly recognizable as any animal, and Daevis hadn't said they would get another block.

The practice had also had its mishaps, he was distantly aware. In the periphery of his mind, he had noticed when some brainless fool had thought a stylus of lightning would make a good carving instrument and had watched the resulting explosion from half a mile away, and the efforts made to save the fool's life.

With a sigh then, he seized Saidin again, deciding to try something else. He'd been told to use primarily Fire.... but he could "temper" his weaves. What would that mean. He'd been using Earth, but it hadn't done much that he had noticed, except perhaps damping the wood.

The only element he hadn't really bothered with was Spirit, but he figured it was worth trying. Extending Fire and Earth then, he tentatively stretched out cords of Spirit to the block, and carefully made to slice gently at the block.

To Kelitor's utter shock, the wood almost seemed to flow away from his weave, and his eyes widened. He could see the wood he wanted gone burn off, and it did so quickly, but the wood seemed strange now. He reached out with a finger and poked it cautiously: It still felt like wood. But, as he carved with Fire with increasing confidence, under the influence of Spirit, the image he wanted almost seemed to flow into existence, and in the early morning, by the light of the moon, he triumphantly released Saidin, and tossed his roughly carved bear statuette into the air, catching it again with a grin.

Reading this thread makes me feel guilty.  :'(

Reqs for NOVICE:  Ykoria Eranyame

   * Novice Quiz - N/A

   * Arrival:    

 A visit to the Mistress of Novices (ATTN: MoN) [ 4 / 4 ] [Complete] http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/41988-a-visit-to-the-mistress-of-novices-attn-mon/

   * Novice Life - URL - [ - / 4 ] [Complete / Incomplete]

   * One OP Related RP - URL - [ - / 4 ] [Complete / Incomplete]

     * Class 1: Intro to Saidar Class 1 - An Introduction to Saidar  - http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/42281-intro-to-saidar-class-1-an-introduction-to-saidar/ [ 1/ 1 ] [Complete]

     * Class 2: Intro to Saidar Class 2 - Experience the Bliss  - http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/42893-intro-to-saidar-class-2-experience-the-bliss/ [ 1 / 1 ] [Complete]

     * Class 3: Intro to Saidar Class - Lesson 3: Do you be in Control? - http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/45582-intro-to-saidar-class-lesson-3-do-you-be-in-control/ [ - / 1 ] [Complete / Incomplete]

     * Class 4: Intro to Saidar Class 4 - An Element of Saidar  - http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/45613-intro-to-saidar-class-4-an-element-of-saidar/ [ - / 1 ] [Complete / Incomplete]

   * Choice RP:

     * [Name of Req] - URL - Word Count / [ - / 4 ] [Complete / Incomplete]

   * Three Arches - URL - Word Count - [Complete / Incomplete]

Kelitor

Soldier

Currently attempting to join Skechid's merry band of maniac's in going to Cairhien.

Ykoria glided into the lecture hall, feeling a bit bored. She hoped that it wouldn't be another day of control drills. While she realized the necessity for absolute discipline in one's channeling of the Power, she was growing impatient with certain members of the class who were apparently too weak for it, and consequently were slowing the class down.

As she came in, she paused in surprise to see Accepted Nenen waiting at the front of the room in full sight. Well, this is a first... She noted to herself. Her eyes narrowed as she sat, wondering what was different about this class to cause deviation from her usual routine of coming in after the class.

Nenen began the lesson by commiserating with them over the tedium of the Control drills, and she followed the words with half a mind until something she said caught her interest, "...the actual elements of Saidar now, and today you will be identifying them."

Oho! she thought with a small smile, straightening up, Now this sounds promising.

Explaining the concept, Nenan called them forward, out of their seats to examine her various weaves. And she tried to motivate them. With cookies. To which one rather chubby girl actually let out a sound eerily similar to a pig's squeal, which actually made the entire class pause to stare.

Aside from that, it went rather well. To her chagrin, she was far from the best at identifying the elements, that honor went to a previously very quiet Amadician girl, one of the few in the Tower, sent away by her parents with a merchant's caravan in desperation when they could no longer hide their daughter's power.

But she herself began to get the hang of it, Earth was most difficult, seeming almost invisible as a dull amber line. Fire seemed equally strange. Spirit was better, it reminded her of starlight. And when Nenen wove out a twist of shimmering blue and throbbing green lines, she snapped automatically "Air and Water," winning her a cookie. Having grown up in the City of Mayene, the sea had always been nearby, and identifying the tidal pulsation of Water and the gusting power in Air seemed imminently natural.

She was smiling in sleek satisfaction as the lesson concluded.

(ooc: what Visar said. :( Sorry!)

Ykoria rushed into the room in a slight daze, the last of the pack. She had been feeling tired all morning and- BANG! The door flew open behind her, and she couldn't stop herself from jumping and letting out a tiny shriek.

As Accepted Nenen, cool and possessed as any Aes Sedai, glided as if on wheels down to the front of the room, Ykoria sank tiredly into a chair, feeling more then a little frazzled.

The Accepted surveyed the class tranquilly for several seconds before beginning, "I have finally decided that you have progressed to the stage where you all can now channel reliably. You have done extremely well so far, and this class has been one of the faster classes that I have taught since I became an Accepted. However, there is still a lot more that you have to learn, about Saidar and wielding it, in order for you to progress to the stage where you have mastered control."

Ykoria felt an eyebrow try and climb. Fast?... It didn't seem fast. It had seemed like they were moving more rapidly in their academic classes, if anything, she mused to herself as Accepted Nenen continued to admonish them to hard work and prudence. Then some fool must have muttered something or let their emotions show (idiot!) and Nenen lit into them, and she suppressed a sign of irritation.

Then she glanced up from her contemplation of her folded hands to see Nenen apparently glaring at her, and she twitched back, glancing away again in fright.

But then Nenen began to move to the desk, explaining that today's lesson would involve controlling the amount of Saidar one held. Ykoria frowned, that didn't seem particularly difficult. She embraced Saidar, sighing in pleasure as it banished some of her weariness (or so she told herself).

It seemed strange, Is this actually terribly difficult for some people? She wondered idly? Ykoria herself found the visualization of Saidar as a river made the exercise rather easy. True, the Accepted had used the Sun image, but this seemed more logical. The temptation was there, and to her surprise, she found herself over time, gradually embracing more. On the whole, it wasn't a major challenge, however.

Finally though, the Accepted must be satisfied, for she continued, ""Now, I want you to slowly move, or thin the cloud, such that the amount of light and warmth falling on you GRADUALLY increases. Do NOT allow it to suddenly increase to full strength, or you will feel an instant headache. Try it now."

Ykoria nodded, essentially, becoming conscience of the process that she, and many others, did instinctively. It was surprisingly difficult. Unlike the initial control of strength, what possible purpose could there be to this agonizingly slow opening? Ykoria would accidentally go too fast, producing a stab of pain in her forehead, and she would have to start over.

Eventually though, she looked up, with finally a reasonable quantity of Saidar in her.

Kelitor was working on garbage disposal duty with several other Soldiers when the Dedicated came for them. Garbage disposal smelled revolting, but it was relatively easy, requiring nothing more then that one direct pure flows of fire into the rubbish that couldn't be re-used.

So it was that he and another six Soldiers were standing in a loose ring, watching the rubbish crumble to ash when the Dedicated rode up. Automatically, he and the others released the Source and saluted.

The Dedicated surveyed the Soldiers coldly, and then the smoldering heap of rubbish they were burning before he spoke:

"Leave that. Something has come up, and Asha'man Skechid is ordering us out. You are to gather whatever you need for combat and report, ready for duty, in thirty minutes. Understood?"

"Yes, Dedicated." He and the other Soldiers answered in unison. Patlaine nodded and whirled his horse, galloping back the Farm as Kelitor and the other Soldiers broke out in a quick, ground eating lope behind him, leaving the garbage to smolder out.

*signs*

"Tomorrow, You be learning how to work with Saidar."

The Accepted Nenen had said it with a mysterious smile on her face that had lingered with her throughout the day. Despite herself, she found herself being filled with an increasing lust to discover this Power that had shattered the world, and was the center of her new life.

Thankfully, her class in the Old Tongue had concluded early that morning, and she had had time to return to her rooms briefly.

Ykoria smiled and glanced around her room. It was simple, but nothing to trouble a servant, really. Nothing was sub-par quality, merely simply and solidly made. And while the more frivolous gifts her friends and family, and the chamberlain on the First's behalf had left with her to celebrate her Novitate, the Aes Sedai had allowed her to retain a few of the more practical gifts: All of the books, the moneys, a few well-made candles, pens, gloves and a belt knife, and her parents had promised to commission an ivory miniature of the family, with her included (a artistically talented friend of her Mother had taken some sketches), to remember them by.

Ykoria stood there, lost in those happy thoughts, until once again Nenen's words tolled through her mind, causing her breath to catch with lust.

She abruptly whirled, and snatched her pure white cloak from the hook, swirled in around her shoulders, drawing the hood, and swept out the door and around the curve of the Well towards the entrance to the Tower halls. She would be rather early, but she simply couldn't wait longer.

She swept through the great doors of the lecture hall, raking the still rather empty room with her eyes. She didn't see Nenen, which either meant that she wasn't here yet, or hiding with the One Power again. She felt a slight smile tug at her lips as she swept down and selected a seat near the front of the room.

She sat as other women gradually filled the room, until everyone had arrived.

Then, abruptly the door slammed shut, and the room darkened ominously.

Some of the other girls screamed, but she found herself merely gripping the table with an insane grin. This was Power indeed!

But then Nenen seemed to materialize..... but not in the front of back of the room, but inches from the girl sitting to her right. The other girl screamed and nearly fell out of her seat, and Ykoria found herself having a slight choking fit and finally a stout Andoran girl from the row behind reached forward and slammed her fist into her back, which oddly proved quite effective, and Ykoria shot her a grateful glance.

By now, Nenen had reached the front of the room, and began speaking. "Now that's an impressive display of what you CAN do with the One Power once you learn to control it."

Ykoria found herself actually beginning to stand, and she slammed herself back down into her seat. She probably looked far too eager.

""And today, you are going to take the first steps towards controlling and using the power." Then suddenly the Accepted's face darkened, "NO GIRL!", glaring what seemed directly at her. Ykoria blinked, confused, until she traced the Accepted's gaze more accurately, twisting around in her seat to look, to the girl sitting actually to the left and behind of her, right next to the Andoran girl, who was looking quite ashen. "I did not tell you to try and embrace the source.  Do NOT make a move to embracing the Source until you are told to try it."

Ykoria cocked her head, narrowing her eyes speculatively as she gazed at the now rather sickly looking woman behind her. She hadn't had any idea that others in this class would have already known how to do that. If she had known, she probably would have bothered being a little more social to make them teach her before this.

She pondered this as Nenen continued soothing the Novice's ruffled feathers. She tuned that out. She really couldn't see the purpose in this praise now. The woman had apparently done something incredibly stupid. So why was she praising her eagerness now? It seemed brainless of the Accepted to do so.

When Nenen clapped, she flicked her attention back to the lesson. "Each of you have three roses under your desk.  They are each of a different stage in maturity.  One is a closed bud.  Another would be a partially opened bud, and the last would be fully matured and open."

Ykoria arched a brow. This was obvious. They weren't blind. Nenen admonished them to memorize the rose, and with an inner sigh, she did so. She worked in a palace library. Memorizing the appearance of three blossoms wasn't even worth thinking about when she had been expected to have memorized the location of the library contents, to at least the section a work was in, if not the exact shelf, or be able to find a particular book or document quickly amongst the masses.

Then Nenen began to talk in a quiet drone:

"Now imagine that you are the bud.  Unopened to the sunlight.  So are you as such unopened to Saidar, not touching it, not feeling the warmth of the sunlight.  Breath in, breath out.  And imagine Saidar as the sun, shining gloriously down on you.  Close your eyes if you have to, but try not to.  In the real world, you will not have time to close your eyes and embrace Saidar.  Imagine you are the bud, sink yourself into it."

Ykoria nodded, everything making sense now. The blossom was obviously some sort of mnemonic, or mental trick for accessing Saidar, a sort of meditation.

Tucking her legs up beneath her on her chair, Ykoria closed her eyes, envisioning the flower petal in perfect detail... She considered that for a time, but she'd never been particularly fond with roses, so with a private smile, she tried imagining one of the water lilies, from the Mayene public gardens, that she thought were so beautiful, instead.

With that change, suddenly it became easier. "After all," She thought, chuckling quietly "You spent more then enough time when you were five years old pretending to be the flower princess of the fountain liles. Who would have ever imagined it would actually pay off?"

With that she pictured herself sinking into the closed lily.

It was dark.

Then, she slowly imagined the lily's petals opening above her, cradling her in the stamen, raising her dreamily up to the sun.

Except suddenly that sun pulsed weirdly.

Her eyes flew open.

She stared down at the table, sweeping the roses away from her immediate view. She sat there quietly for a few minutes. Around the room, some girls were suddenly breaking out into muffled exclamations. Slowly, she closed her eyes again.

This time she would be ready for it.

The lily formed more quickly this time, and she plummeted into the bud.

She almost impatiently imagined the petals unfurling, until once again she basked in the fresh sun, cradled in the loving, beautiful grasp of the water lily. She forced herself to remain calm as the sun seemed to tremble in her imagination. Finally, she permitted herself to imagine what the sun looked like.

Oddly, the light seemed to diffuse; it wasn't the sun, it was a great blazing light, hovering above her and her lily bed.

"Saidar...." She felt herself breathe.

She imagined herself stretching up one arm.

It came.

Lightning, fire, ice, bubbling waters, wild winds all lept down her arm, suddenly racing through her. Her eyes snapped open.

She stood up abruptly. Light, what sort of iron-heart can sit still with THIS?! she thought wildly, staring around. Everything seemed so strange, and she could still see the light, feel the lily holding her as this glorious stream of light was diverted into her.

She stood like that for a few seconds feeling like she was about to explode, then she lost her image of the lily and the sun, and abruptly the Power snapped out of her.

She dropped heavily into her chair, which screeched in protest at her cavalier treatment, like a puppet with strings cut, staring vacantly down at where Nenen was standing.

"Welcome to the White Tower"

The words seemed to echo strangely in Ykoria's mind as she nodded automatically to the Mistress of Novice's declaration. And oddly, the face of that gray-haired Aes Sedai from the library floated up into her mind's eye. She looked smug. Ykoria wanted to kill her. She stepped on that, hard, and rising to curtsy, she murmured to Pia Sedai:

"Thank you so much Aes Sedai, I'll work hard at my studies and do my best."

With that, and a few more words from the Mistress of Novices, Ykoria found herself in the wake of yet another Accepted, this one classic Cairhienin with wavy dark hair and a petite build, leading her down to what she had called the "Novice well".

She sighed softly, the Accepted had told her that her possessions would be fetched from the Tower's guest quarters by the servants, not that she would have any use for it in the next ten years, TEN YEARS?!?!?!!?, a part of her screamed, and that she would probably be allowed to meet with her family and friends as long as they remained provided she act with decorum and maintain the dignity of the Tower... of which she was now an initiate.....

Ykoria squared her shoulders as they came swishing around a corner, and descended a grand staircase in an enormous glass-paned atrium leading out towards a grandly expansive mezzanine. She had no choice, so she would do this.... who knew what could happen after all. She was in the Queen of all Cities, with the grandest of libraries, the greatest philosophers and thinkers in the world.

Perhaps, she could allow herself to think and dream here. She had no alternative, really.

And with that, she wasn't so surprised after all when she found she was smiling.

Kelitor sighed, smoothing his hair back from his face. This task didn't seem like it would be an easy one. He reached out for the filthy flames and ice of the True Source, and filled himself with a measure of the One Power yet again.

He spun a simple web of pure Fire, manifesting a finer sized flame, over which he absently held the paper... Gazing around at all the others, most seemed to be doing what he was: simply drying the paper over a tongue of Saidin-wrought fire, although he noticed Seyneru had set a web of Water, interestingly enough, around his paper. He considered emulating him until he saw him open the paper and grimace, discarding that result.

Kelitor decided he'd have to rely on his own wits. No one else was looking particularly brilliant.

Glancing back at his paper, he noticed it had dried out a bit, enough that a small flap of a top layer had risen above the rest. Almost absently he sent a tendril of Air out and probed it, teasing the paper open further. The soggy paper tore slightly, and on a whim he inserted a rod of Fire into the center of the thread of Air. This time, the paper dried, and actually began to curl before he hurriedly pulled back.

Kelitor grinned. He'd figured it out he thought.

So, extending a fine thread of Fire, with Air around it, he set to work. He sent in the finest tendrils he could weave. The threads of Air, heated by the thread of Fire underneath, steadily dried the folds of the paper, while the thread of Air allowed him to delicately dissect the letter....

It took him many long, intense minutes. Distantly, he was aware of some other Soldiers crowing triumphantly and dashing away, but finally he nudged at the mass one last time with his thread of Air, and it unfolded completely.

The paper was still very soggy, the message nearly illegible, but he could still understand it.

He swore.

He loathed running.

OOC: You can assume I made it, me thinks. Sorry if its a bit skeletal.... I've been deluged with RL recently, and I finally decided I really needed to buckle down and get this up.

Ykoria Eranyame, Novice

Hey Rahlian!  Welcome back to the tainted madfarmhouse!

*runs around gibbering and foaming at the mouth, then spins Fire and lights a few of the Asha'man's houses off*

I have some interesting ideas for my Tainting.

Ykoria Eranyame swept rapidly along the tiled halls of the White Tower, her pure white skirts flaring about her ankles as she strode towards her next class. Glancing out an eastern facing window, she stifled a yawn as she paused for a the briefest moment to bask in the sun shine, before hurrying onwards.

One class on the Old Tongue just after breakfast at dawn. She grimaced I never thought being a Novice would be quite so...... physically intense. And after this I have history, law and philosophy, then lunch, an hour of raking the paths in the northern gardens, then a class on etiquette.... She grimaced again. That class she hadn't been able to test out of. Her reading and writing skills had been judged exemplary, having been practically raised in a library, also she had been excused from the introductory classes in Mathematics. But apparently the social graces of a palace servant were insufficient for an Aes Sedai, as was her grasp of most subjects. And after etiquette there is that seminar on laws and governance by Sahaila Sedai, and then I might finally have some free time, during which hopefully I will have an opportunity to take a bath.

Coming around the bend now, she joined the tail end of a stream of other white-clad women, all moving singly or in chattering knots towards the ajar paneled doors of one of the minor lecture halls. Sweeping in with the last stragglers, Having this class on the One Power directly after the Old Tongue ten floors up is really ludicrous, she flicked her blue eyes around the room. The teacher's dais was deserted. How unusual. The Accepted teaching her Old Tongue class threw fits whenever anyone was late, and usually railed on about how easy they had it compared to her.

She moved quickly to one side of the room, took a chair, and steepled her fingers, resting her chin upon them.

Barely had she done that when suddenly the Accepted materialized out of thin air, at the back near the doors they had just entered, to a chorus of startled shrieks from a handful of her more high strung companions. The majority of them, who quickly deduced that it was a weave of Saidar, simply rose quickly and curtsied.

Ykoria cocked her head as she settled back into her seat while the Accepted made her way forward. Well.... There's a myriad of uses for that. How very...... dangerous. She chuckled into her hands quietly.

Then, the Accepted began speaking, and Ykoria gave her mind over to the gruesome tales of warning for a time.

The Accepted Nenen had just delivered the list of the criminals with the admonition to memorize it and invited questions, when finally another Novice timidly asked:

"“Excuse me Accepted, I’d like to know if stilling can be practised on someone who does not want to become Aes Sedai? That way they would never be in danger to themselves or others”

Ykoria felt her head slowly swiveling to her right to bring the owner of that voice into view, who looked somewhat chagrined. Ykoria certainly hoped so. She was fairly confident that a mediocum of intelligence was required of initiates. She suppressed a strong urge to mock her by asking why men didn't practice hanging each other for fun and prayed to the Creator for the awkward, stunned silence to end.

With a low sigh then, she tore her gaze from the other Novice and began toying with a wrinkle in her skirt, while skimming through the notes she had taken. She had been rather looking forward to this class, and certainly hoped Nenen would get around to teaching them how to channel. She had been rather looking forward to that, since that was the main attraction to being an initiate of the Tower, after all. Idly, she considered how wealthy the Tower must be that they could afford to waste good parchment on note taking in a routine Novice class, of all things.