Child’s Play

Cerawyn felt a certain amount of excitement that she was moving on to the second part of the Water lesson. She smiled at she read Yasmene Sedai's notice. The first part of the lesson had been a surprising and yet gratifying success. She may even have been envied by a few of her fellow novices. That was something she'd never experienced before. Adasine was always the one who was envied, Cerawyn always stayed in the shadows, doing as a proper woman and eventual wife should. When Balin first arrived at the White Tower, Cerawyn was the subject of countless stories and scandals and rumours that made her ears hot just to think about, but this envy, this wishing to be Cerawyn and have her success was a strange new thing. And there was a part of Cerawyn that hoped it would not last. She felt so much more comfortable out of the spotlight.

But whatever happy excitement Cerawyn felt about the next lesson to come was pushed aside every time she looked down at her own attire. Breeches and a shirt, Light what could she possibly need to do that such clothes were required for? She felt foolish, and the feeling of the breeches rubbing against her legs was strange to her. Yes, she'd worn stocking from the day she arrived in Tar Valon, but this was different. It felt like walking the corridors in stockings meant for someone twice her size. As though she was constantly needing to adjust them, pull them up, keep them from twisting, in truth it was very distracting. She'd had to borrow a belt to keep them up, another strange and new experience for Cerawyn. She grimaced, thinking what Valda would think of her dressed like a man, as though she intended to roll about in the fields and slop the animals as a man would. True she had slopped pigs before, but never while dressed in such ridiculous clothes for a proper woman. A brief thought crossed Cerawyn's mind that she could skip the final lesson. She was embarrassed enough to make that possible without much though, but she knew that wasn't fair to herself, or Balin or what they were trying to accomplish together. Her only consolation was that the other novices would look every bit as foolish as she felt. Safety in numbers in an odd sort of way, so she squared her shoulders and started the walk to the lesson's location as per the Aes Sedai's note.

Cerawyn found her way to the Training yards and though she had been there before on a few occasions, mostly to watch Balin train, she never attended a lesson in the Yards herself. Novices were not permitted to train with weapons, which for Cerawyn was a small blessing and likely kept her in possession of all her fingers and toes. She asked Balin if her presence was a distraction and though he said it was not, she could not help nearly jumping every time he fell over, every time he was struck with, well, anything. His sessions were often difficult to watch and as guilty as it made Cerawyn feel, at times she avoided the yards and watching him train for the sake of her own sanity. She couldn't help him. But the fact that her lesson was located in the training yards made her uneasy, even suspicious as to what the Aes Sedai had planned.

At the mention of practice, Cerawyn nodded, though her practice had been scarce at best. Yet another thing to feel guilty about, and yet she pushed the guilt aside to concentrate on the Aes Sedai's words. She would need to befriend some of the Accepted if she was to ever have properly supervised time to practice her weaves. Perhaps another hour less of sleep would not hurt so much, she thought to herself as she watched the nervous shuffling of the two groups of novices. At least she was not the only one who did not practice as much as she should have. As much as she disliked to be in the group of those not doing as they should, she found it comforting. Valda would scoff at such things, she expected more of her daughter. I used to actually sleep a full night in Deven Ride as well.

A child's game Their final lesson was a child's game? Cerawyn could scarcely believe her ears. Was she in the wrong class? It was all well and good to enjoy the lesson and perhaps even have a but of fun with the weave, but a child's game? She would never express her disbelief to either Yasmene Sedai or Asha'man Daine but this bordered on ridiculous. Though the fact that many of the other novices looked delighted at the idea was somewhat dismaying. Cerawyn had played dodgeball as a child, only once or twice as she was often needed for other things around the farm, and to say she was terrible at the game was a very polite understatement. This is going to be far from pleasant I'm afraid, she thought to herself, but I will have to make the best of it. I can make the balls, throwing them…. might be a nice challenge. Oh Light, but I'm going to be soaked.

Then as if Cerawyn's dismay wasn't already having a life of its own, Yasmene Sedai showed that the fragile balls of water could not actually be handled. There was a chorus of gasps from a a few of the novices near Cerawyn and a few shocked looks from the group of male novices across the yard. The addition of the weave for handling the water balls was a nice touch, but it did little to make Cerawyn feel any calmer, and she would need to somehow be calm, if she had any intention of succeeding in this lesson. The Gaidin that was always present at their lessons split the groups into two teams, and Cerawyn glanced at the members of her team. She did not offer much in the way of suggestions, happy to simply follow what others thought was best.

Cerawyn watched the ball get tossed back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Her weaves were at the ready and the longer the ball stayed away from her, the calmer she felt. But the players on each side were beginning to dwindle and Cerawyn knew that she would not be able to hide for much longer. One girl on the opposite team seemed to be used as bait, drawing the throws of her team time and again with little success. Cerawyn remembered her from class, another one of the novices who found the Water lesson to be of some ease. Still, the number of novice behind this brave or somewhat impressionable girl was slowly going lower and lower, and one of the larger male novices from Cerawyn's team took aim now. With a splash the other team's ruse was undone, though Cerawyn felt bad for the girl, as she was knocked out of the game. One of the Novices on the other team looked quite irritated that his teammate was eliminated and he threw the ball as hard as he could manage at Cerawyn, though how it did not break under the force of the throw Cerawyn could not be sure.

With a yelp she dodged, landing on the ground and rolling to the side before climbing to her feet again. Somehow she was still dry, if only by the grace of the Light alone. But how long it would last was decidedly a thing of luck. And Cerawyn's luck was quickly fading. The large male novice had the ball in his hands again and Cerawyn managed to somehow just barely hold onto it, though she almost slipped over in the wet dirt of the yards. Cerawyn stood again slowly on shaking legs and threw the ball back. Another dodge from the opposing team and now the ball was headed in Cerawyn's direction again. This time there was no stopping, no hanging on, the force of the ball hit Cerawyn squarely in the chest, knocking her backward onto the ground with a thud, taking her breath away for a moment. With a grimace, she got to her feet and brushed off her breeches though there was little point in that. She coughed a few times and join the rest of the eliminated players to the side of the Yard. Light, how she hated dodgeball, and breeches.