To Begin With

Note: A continuation of this!

It had been Candance’s hope that she would find Amahli Maseed in the depths of study, perhaps in the library, or maybe even in her room. The girl was not far, the Mistress of Novices felt, from being ready to test for the ring; under a year, certainly, and maybe even as soon as in a few months. It turned out, however, that Candance’s hopes were to be misplaced. The library was the first place she looked for the girl, wanting to know what the novice was doing with an unexpected free afternoon – a simple test Candance used to test the novices’ maturity and dedication to their studies. She was not in the library, nor was she in the Grounds mooning over the trainees, nor was she in the infirmary. The girl was not to be found in her room in the novice wells, either. All places one might find a novice with some free time.

As Candance was on her way to the dining hall, she spied a familiar bunch of braids scarcely held back by a cloth ribbon tied roughly to keep them in place, accompanied by another girl whose name Candance had only learnt a few days ago – one of the newest novices.

“Unless I am mistaken,” Candance began, her voice causing both girls to stop and turn reluctantly to face her, curtseys at the ready, “which I know I am not, that room does not belong to either of you.” It was her place to know every room of every novice, and was curious as to their presence in Zynel’s rooms when Amahli had fetched the girl for her only earlier this afternoon. “What were you doing in Zynel’s room, I wonder.”

Moving forward up the corridor, Candance smoothly opened the door and looked in, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Knowing too well the ways of novices – both from her own time in the white as well as lessons learnt from her charges – Candance quickly embraced saidar and ran through the room with a weave of Air, Earth and Spirit. The weave tingled across the bed and through the clothes that hung off of the hooks on the walls. Her heightened senses detected the slightly acidic smell of a powder that was familiar to her.

“Ah, itching powder, if I am not mistaken?” Amahli shook her head regretfully. “No, I didn’t think that I was – I am rarely mistaken.” The last she added without boast, it was true. Her heightened vision caught sight of something tucked away in hiding under the bed.

“And what’s that under the bed?” She wove again, threads of Air this time to deftly pull the box to her, her hand carefully opening it up so that she could peak into it. “Of course, frogs. You’ve both had an interesting evening planned for Zynel, I see. And here I was coming to find you, Amahli, to see if you had spent your free afternoon productively. I assume not, if this is what you were doing.” No, certainly not in a few months’ time, maybe not even in a year’s time. She was too old to be pulling pranks like this! And Teli…well, she would soon learn. “Amahli, put these frogs back where you found them from and then report to my office. Come Teli, to my Office with you now, please.”

She held the box out until Amahli took it, her braids bouncing as she hurried away after casting a glance at Teli. Candance turned swiftly and strode the short distance down the corridors to her office, which lay just around the corner. She did not pause to check if Teli was following her, but had every confidence that the girl would follow her without hesitation. They arrived quickly, Candance holding the large wooden door open and gesturing Teli inside to take a seat.

“Well, child,” Candance began, “not a week yet has your name been in the novice book and already I catch you pulling pranks with some of our more…experienced girls. Something like this I cannot let go unnoticed, even if Amahli tricked you into it, which I will find hard to believe. I know she can have a sweet tongue, but still, no excuses. I think perhaps it is fitting that you clean up Zynel’s things for her – I will inform the Mistress of the Laundries that you personally are to wash her sheets and dresses before you are allowed into your bed tonight. And then tomorrow morning a short paddling will set you nicely on your way to the kitchens – Laras will be expecting you – for the morning. And then for the afternoon I would like you out in the Water Garden; the weather has left the pathways covered in water moss and leaves from the surrounding trees and I would like them clean. That should give you enough for one day, I believe.

“Off you go, child.”

OOC: I think I've given you more than enough to write about, but you need to write at least four posts of 500 words each for credit :) Have fun!!