In Bloom
Tahmelah Keiake, Written by Misty
Posted on Thu, Sep 9, 2010 13:28 pm
White.
It clashed with her skin, making her look like a fire-haired ghost in any one of the Novice Galleries' warped and cracked mirrors. It got dirty about the hem when she raked paths in the Gardens, which she tried to do as often as chores were announced. Worse than about the hem, it got dirty through the aprons while you got endless dishpan hands, washing each of the plates delivered to the Aes Sedai about the Tower, or those you had eaten from yourself; sturdier earthenware also painted…white. As Tahmelah Keiake opened her slanted green eyes, she found herself very grateful that the backs of her eyelids were black. It was, at least, a respite from white. But all that greeted her eyes was an endless expanse of pristine snow: white bedlinens, white walls, white floor she had to mop morning and night.
White, white, white, while outside, the world was in bloom!
She had tried to add color to her room. Beginning with the Gardens, where clipped and spent blossoms lined the paths to be raked away, she had selected the prettiest, and stuffed them into the cup that was meant to hold quills and pencils. But they'd dripped petals as she smuggled them up the endless ramps, through the places Novices were not to linger, back into these hatefully blank halls. While she had secretly welcomed the Garden chores that had followed, they had been hard work: hard work with no prize at the end except to scrub black from under her nails and off the hems of her gowns, then tumble into bed too exhausted to cry. Not, she amended, that she cried. Ever.
Just sometimes her eyes stung and her throat wanted to close a bit, that was all.
Sniffling her latest allergy attack away, she plodded about the closet of a room. Her own at home had been little better, but at least it hadn't been white. All right, and every so often, it had been rented – when the inn was very full and the coin offered very good – but even the chambermaid's quarters, narrow and long, hadn't been this plain. She had three gowns, two hanging neatly on the hooks, one passable and one in need of laundering. She shouldered on the dirtier one and began on her personal chores: the floor mopping, bed making, and washing her face and hands in the basin. After she had coaxed her bright, curly hair into two somber braids, she pinned them to her scalp with some kited hairpins – well, if you could call such a basic necessity, piled so carelessly in a dish in the laundry, where they had been removed from the pockets of fine cloaks and gowns belonging to the Aes Sedai, stealing, then they were stolen, but she hadn't had a "discussion" with Candance Sedai about her "misappropriation" of them yet, and she'd had them several weeks now.
Finally ready, she changed her gowns, putting the dirtier into the laundry, hoping to the Light that her third gown, now clean, came back to her tonight. Three gowns anywhere was rather luxurious, but Tahmelah was used to better, and never having a completely clean gown (never mind that she dirtied them so quickly) was irritating. And they were, of course, all white. Doing up the battalion of little buttons, Tahmelah slid into the hallway just moments before the day's first bell, barely on time for breakfast. Never mind that she needed a bath: there was no time for that unless she cut her chores closely tonight. The White Tower was a harsh taskmistress, accounting for nearly every moment of every day, and yet some of the girls still whispered of creeping about to spend time mooning over trainees! Where they found the energy for that, Tahmelah had no idea. What they saw in them was another question, too. To Tahmelah, the young trainees were a mystery: one that would benignly sprout a few heroes in a few years. The male Novices were completely taboo, and she ignored them. All of them. Especially that one that had gotten her drunk and goaded her into finding that Soldier.
The Asha'man had promised not to tell Candance Sedai, but Tahmelah was relatively sure she knew all about it, anyway. Recalling that this, her first formal lesson, was going to star that particular luminary as an instructor, Tahmelah paused in her headlong gallop. Should she go at all? Only a fool baited the lion in its own den.
But she'd been here two months without another whisper of the One Power, and she was curious. More than that, she was bored of the studies that she was subjected to: arithmetic, logic, geography, reading. She had little use for what she'd known of each before becoming a Novice, and it was not those subjects she'd come here to study. On the long road from Saldaea, the Aes Sedai had given her lessons, guided her in touching the Source: Tahmelah remembered how. To know something so marvelous and not be permitted to use it was frustrating at best. Two months, she decided, was enough time to be punished for whatever fractious behavior she was accused of. She'd beard the Mistress of Novices again, because she had to.
She bobbed a curtsy to the Asha'man, her skirts wide and her head down so she did not have to look into his face. Promptly ducking down into another for Candance Sedai, Tahmelah, her hair, and her gown passed some minute inspection and retired to a chair. Noting the lack of writing apparatus, she felt a little panic: what would she do for notes? How would she study for a test? Well, Light, she did not study for half the tests she had now, and she did well enough. Fidgeting her way through the lecture, she was on the brink of falling asleep when the waterfall of talk ended. She had already heard most of this lecture on the trip from Saldaea, and it was rather disturbing that both women taught with the same warnings and emphasis. A few questions came forth from the crowd around Tahmelah, but she volunteered no question of her own. She had several, but none seemed…appropriate…with an Asha'man right there.
When her turn came, Tahmelah cleared her throat. "I have had instruction in the One Power before," she admitted. "Some. On the trip here," she clarified. "I have touched saidar before, Candance Sedai."
Remembering the balcony, she closed her mouth around the confession that sprang up behind that. Oh, and since then, too, Candance Sedai.
In reply to Embrace & Seize: For New Novices![show]/[hide]
A knock at the classroom door brought Candance to her feet, her grey skirts falling neatly to the ground, no wrinkles evident. Slowly she crossed the room, carefully checking that all of her greying hair was pulled back into the bun at the back of her head before she opened the door, finding a black clad man awaiting her on the other side.
“Candance Sedai,” he said respectfully, knuckling a fist to his heart.
“Thank you for joining me, Asha’man Roran,” she said formally, pulling open the door to allow him to enter.
“It is my pleasure. I find that I am quite enjoying life in the White Tower, if I am honest. It is drastically different to the Black Tower.”
Candance knew that to be true, having visited the farm once with Melina Sedai, before she was raised to Amyrlin Seat.
“The novices will be here soon, I told them to be here by morning bell, which is only a minute or two away.”
Candance was proved true when, within a few moments, the first novices began to arrive to the lesson. The girls dropped into a curtsey, the boys a bow, directed first at Candace and then at Asha’man Roran. She knew that the novices would be on their best behaviour, for a lesson taught by the Mistress of Novices.
“Welcome,” she began, once they were all present and seated on the cushions she had scattered on the floor of the classroom, “to you first lesson involving the One Power.”
“You all know who I am,” Candance said smoothly, a small smile playing at her lips, “and I know who all of you are.” She wondered how many of them were afraid of her; already there were a few she had had in her office for a penance, even though their time in the White Tower was relatively short. “But introductions are still in order. This–” she gestured towards the Asha’man who stood silently behind her, his face impassive “–is Asha’man Roran. He will be teaching the males of the class. When the class breaks up and he begins to guide you, I would have you introduce yourselves to him.”
Candance did not feel that she needed to add that the novices would treat his word as if he were Aes Sedai – even after a short term in the White Tower, her novices knew how they were to treat Accepted, Aes Sedai and Asha’man.
“You are here to begin to learn how to wield the One Power; one of the most important lessons you will learn is that there are differences between males and females. Females embrace saidar, while I’ve been told the methodology that males use is akin to seizing hold of saidin. A man cannot teach a woman anymore than a woman cannot teach a man, it would be like a fish teaching a bird to swim, or vice versa. For that reason, in all channelling classes you attend there will always be both a male and a female teacher. Tell me child,” she said, directing her question at one of the novices, “how much do you know of the One Power?”
“I...I know some, Candance Sedai.”
“Some is not enough, but this is easily remedied. The True Source is the force that was made by the Creator to turn the Wheel of Time; it is, effectively, the driving force of creation, ensuring that time continues to progress throughout the Ages. It is from the True Source that women and men are able to draw on the One Power.
“The One Power is what provides the force that the True Power needs in order to push the Wheel of Time; broken up into saidar and saidin, which work with each other, but at the same time they work against each other, pulling and pushing at each other, to turn the Wheel. Not everyone has the ability that we have, only a few can learn the touch the True Source and use the One Power.
“There are those, quite rare, who are born with the Spark – an innate gift that will mean that they will eventually touch the One Power, even if they are never taught by another. Most who can touch the One Power, however, need to be taught to do so; if they are not taught then would never naturally touch on the One Power. Those that I mentioned before, born with the Spark, may never realise what they are doing. It may be some odd occurrences that happen – doors slamming themselves in a temper, a baby healed from a fever – but most of the time if they are not taught control over their ability they will die. Some will survive, developing their own rudimentary control over the One Power applied to their daily life, perhaps as a Healer, possessing an amazing skill to cure even from the worst disease.
“Before you can do anything with the One Power, to guide it to a purpose such as lighting a candle, you must learn to first tap into the One Power. It is very important that you learn to do this well, so that you can draw on the One Power regardless of the situation you find yourself in, such as periods of stress or fear. It is for this purpose that we are here today and will continue to meet most days over the continuing week. We could jump through it all quickly, but that would not develop the skill and control you need to have to be successful in the White Tower.
“I have given you only a very brief background, but more knowledge will come to you at the right time as you delve into your gift. That said, however, does anyone have any questions of what I have described to you before we begin? I have a question for you all, too. I know some of this, but I would like to know if you have touched saidar or saidin before. If not, then do not fret, your time will come soon enough.”
OOC: Welcome, novices, to an embracing/seizing lesson! =) Post at least 400 words for an introduction post, and have your novice ask a question if you want them to, or at least answer Candance’s question! Part 1 will be up on the 8th!
