The Newest Novices

Candance Sedai, Mistress of Novices, Written by Jeremy
Posted on Sat, Aug 28, 2010 08:19 am

A knock at her door brought Candance’s attention as she pulled herself up from the bottom drawer of her desk, replacing her schedules there. Light, teachers were beginning to go scarce, and if this trend continued then Candance was going to have to speak to Melina Sedai so the Amyrlin Seat could begin to insist on Aes Sedai to teach the lessons of the Accepted and maybe even the novices. Zaria before her had ruled with an iron fist and had seemingly bullied Aes Sedai into teaching her lessons, but Candance refused to do so.

They should want to teach the lessons!she thought to herself fiercely, Their loyalty to the White Tower should see them wanting to better the initiates.

Her gaze quickly drifted around her office; Candance’s sight passed over the furniture, most of which had been here since before she was a novice. A desk, some bookshelves and small tables that were all dark and sturdy, mostly unadorned. Beside the door was a narrow tea table, a few notices that she had read and had left there for her, its legs carved with a strange pattern that had well and truly faded; she was fairly certain it was over two hundred years old. A large mirror hung from one of the walls, was framed with spotted and faded gilding. It was that mirror that she looked at herself nearly every day, as she bent a novice over her desk if they needed switching.

“Come in,” she intoned as she settled herself in her chair, deftly pulling at her grey slashed skirts so that they were sitting straight in her lap. Idly she moved and straightened the novice book which sat atop her desk, so that it sat at a right angle to her desk. Candance looked to the plain door that sat on the dark paneled wall opposite her desk, wondering whom it would be knocking at her door.

Two girls walked in hesitantly, looking about the office in wonder. One of them bore the same Saldaean heritage that was present in some of Candance’s features. Her nose was similar to Candance’s, although more prominent, and her tilted eyes would have been near identical to the Mistress of Novice’s if they weren’t brown instead of green. At first glance, Candance dismissed the girl’s hair as black, but realized quickly that it was actually a deep red – remarkably similar to the colours summoned up in her mind when she thought of the deep brown coats of her father’s razors. The other girl, both of them being of a similar height, was also obviously one of the Borderlands. Her thick, dark hair was worked back from her face in a multitude of fine braids, the small silver bells throughout them marking her as a Arafellian instead of a Taraboner. She had the dark, petite colouring of a Cairhienin, interestingly, with her large deep eyes set against a pale, small face.

Behind them walked another woman, one that Candance recognized but had not seen in many moons.

“Welcome home, Sister,” Candance said as she rose, “you have been gone from the White Tower for many a month, Eleria.”

“I have,” Eleria said, offering up Candance a small smile. They had been friends once, when they both wore the banded hem of the Accepted. After Candance had been raised to the Shawl the distance between them had been great, and when Eleria had chosen the Blue Ajah the rift had never truly been closed, “I was longer in the Borderlands than I thought I would be. There were a fair few…complications.”

“And you’ve returned with two girls for the novice books?”

“I can only claim one of them,” she replied, pointing at the Saldaean, “the other literally ran straight into us on our way here, obviously eager to have her name written down in the book and to have her life in the whites begin.”

The Arafellian girl blushed a brilliant crimson, her hands clenching together tightly at her waist.

“Who found you, child?” Eleria Sedai asked her.

“Koralyn Sedai.”

The answer was short and polite, but Candance could feel the missing title to address Eleria, the silence weighing heavily between all of them.

“You are to be a novice, child,” Candance quickly admonished, “and when you address an Aes Sedai who will address her with her name and the honorific ‘Sedai’ or simply as ‘Aes Sedai’. It would do you well to learn this rule quickly, my daughter, lest you spent more time in this office than you would be comfortable with.”

There was silence from that. Candance’s mouth tightened; she would have to work with this girl.

“Well, let’s start with you,” Candance said to one of the girls, “I’ll need your name, age and where you’re from. I’ll be able to write this all down in the novice book and then we can get you enrolled.”

In reply to Uncharacteristic Behaviour[show]/[hide]

As Miranna began to untangle herself from the girl she’d ran into, she realised that the girl was probably at a similar age to herself: not quite a girl, not quite a woman. Especially where these Aes Sedai were concerned, calling even a woman who looked old enough to be their grandmother ‘daughter’ or ‘child’. Light!

Miranna immediately noticed the Saldaean features, having seen many Saldaean merchants dealing with her father and his furniture. Her nose, sharp, was not as bold as some that Miranna had seen, but it still proudly trumpeted her heritage, as did the tilted brown eyes that sat atop her nose studying the girl who had run into her. Miranna was glad to note it was not an Aes Sedai, and ashamed to think that she had been worried about running into an Aes Sedai and the punishment that such an error would incur. Light, Koralyn Sedai really had gotten into her!

As they both pulled themselves to their feet, Miranna noted that they were of a similar height – that is, average, bordering on short – and that the girl’s hair was not black as she had originally thought but a dark, deep red, similar to the rich mahogany wood her father sometimes worked with. Just as the other girl began to smooth down her dress, Miranna became aware that there was another woman watching her, and she realised that she certainly was an Aes Sedai, her ageless face a giveaway.

Hastily, Miranna dropped into a curtsey, disgusted at herself for doing so only because she was scared of another beating. Light, Koralyn Sedai had broken her! Her face flooded with blood and she blushed, but she pulled off the curtsey before pulling herself back up, offering an apology to an Aes Sedai and then, at the woman’s stare, to the girl that she had run into who had also apologised to her.

Light, Miranna Aedori curtseying and apologising!

“My name is Zerese Demenia,” the girl said, curtseying to her. She had curtseyed to her! Light, the girl was mad: for a moment Miranna watched her to see if she was being mocked for her willingness to drop to a curtsey for the Aes Sedai, but she saw no traces of mockery in the girl’s eyes. No, best just to assume that the girl was being unnecessarily polite, especially while that fierce Aes Sedai was breathing down their necks. Miranna suspected that it may be the first and last time that someone would curtsey for her until she became Aes Sedai. That seemed almost as likely as one of the servants curtseying to her, to be honest – Miranna was finding it hard to dedicate herself to something she held no interest for.

“I am Miranna Aedori,” she replied, under that watchful look of the Aes Sedai. Light, that woman seemed to have the fierceness in her eyes to match any other Borderlander that Miranna had ever come up against. “From Shol Arbela,” she added as the Aes Sedai kept looking at her. Would that make the woman look away?

“Oh?” Zerese replied, Miranna beginning to pick up the hints of a Saldaean accent. “I’ve always wanted to see the fabled city of Ten Thousand Bells.”

Miranna offered her up a sad smile; dare she admit that she was homesick? She did not miss her family, but she did miss her childhood home, which wasn’t much of a surprise considering how unhappy she felt with her new life. She had wanted to become a Gaidar, not an Aes Sedai and now here she was on her way to see a woman who would beat her for a misstep only because Miranna was scared another woman might punish her!

“I take it you’re on your way to see the Mistress of Novices as well, then? Perhaps we can make the trip together. Er, since you’re already on the way, that is…”

The girl trailed away and then flashed Miranna a dazzling smiling that she found rather forced, but at the same time comforting. Was this girl just as nervous about meeting the seemingly infamous Mistress of Novices as she was? Despite herself, Miranna decided facing this apparent beast of a woman would be easier if she was with someone.

So there is someone else for her to take her temper out on, Miranna thought, knowing full well that that was not the reason why she was comforted.

“Yes, I would like that, Zerese,” Miranna said, uncharacteristically softly.

The Aes Sedai cleared her throat and the two of them quickly stepped in front of her, continuing down the corridor. They moved quickly up the blue runner that lay atop red and green floor tiles, moving towards the large, plain door that was set in between two magnificent wall hangings, their thread looking recent and their colours fresh and vivid.

Steeling herself, Miranna looked across at Zerese and offered her a small smile of comfort – as much for Zerese as for her – and knocked firmly on the door.

Login to post!


Replies to The Newest Novices

  • Into the Novice Book — Novice Zerese Demenia, Sat, Aug 28, 2010 20:37 pm