Walking into the busy hallways outside the Classroom, Satin paused to think about Saidar and it's wonders. Oh, she knew about it, of course. But did she ever think once about using it, let alone having it? Her life was set up to where she would join her Father at the Barrister's office and work along side him.

 

She looked at her shoes, followed up to her hem. The starkness of her dress signified her life, now. Suddenly she was shoved forward and nearly fell over. Behind her stood that sad Novice who just couldn't stand it that she could channel. Poor creature. She doesn't realize how handy this is going to be for her....

 

"Allrianne, its a surprise to me that you are holding yourself together at all." Her eyes glared at the girl. This time, she would not school her intense stare. "You are in such a rush to get clear of someone who can channel yet you stumble out into a hall full of young girls who may indeed, have that spark." She shook her head.

 

Just then another Novice came rushing up to her handing her a note. The girl was very short and very round. Her cheeks were hot and red. No doubt, she scuttled from some distance. She shoved the note into Satin's palm as if note deliveries were well beneath her, and scuttled off exactly the way she had come.

 

Satin looked at her hand, then to the girls behind her coming out of the Class room door. She wondered if they would have notes delivered.

 

She opened the note and to her surprise, the note accounted for all the girls in the class... The note said:

 

 

Satin,

 

You and your classmates are to report to Mistress Wullamenia, in the Laundry. You and your class mates, will all be cleaning the tapestries from the Green and Brown Halls.

 

Report then, to Sherice Sedai in the Library to re-stack books.

 

Complete your tasks by the dinner hour.

 

Halina Sedai,

Sister of the White Ajah

 

 

Aeryn, appearing to be the image of calm composure like the noble she was raised to be, strode out of class before she was stopped by an Accepted, causing her to coolly raise an eyebrow. The dark-skinned Accepted twitched a muscle in her cheek before almost tossing her a crumpled note before stomping off. Gracefully picking up the note, she held it close to her face, trying to read what was written on it before neatly folding it up again and pocketing it... Though if anyone would be able to look past that serene facade they'd spot a smouldering fire that threatened to flare up at even the slightest provocation.

 

- "I suggest keeping a hold of that letter. The Ajah Halls cannot be entered without Aes Sedai permission, and it would double as passes. Shall we go?"

 

She nodded at her classmates, taking a couple of steps in the direction of the Halls before waiting on the others to start moving as well. She didn't quite know the way though, so she decided to let herself fall back from walking in front around where she hadn't quite learned the layout of the floors yet. There was a copy lying in her dorm room, but that would have been the other way.

 

 

Aeryn

... Manual labor? *twitches*

Kembial walked out the door feeling as if she'd been keelhauled. The Accepted had been a very patient instructor, but demanding. She'd never thought simply thinking would be such a exhausting enterprise. But now, it was time to relax and reflect on all she had learned...

 

Or perhaps not. The young novice was startled out of her reverie when an Accepted bustling by saw her and hurried over. "Thought you were down here," she said, "but I wasn't sure what room the class was being held in. No matter. Here." A slip of paper was placed in her hands. "And all of you get going before Halina Sedai comes down here looking for you herself!" she snapped.

 

Kembial blinked, peered down at the note. "What...?" She trailed off, skimming the spidery handwriting. Ah. Chores. When she looked up to get clarification, the Accepted was already gone. Oh well. The novice shrugged, and glanced round at her classmates. "Well, I suppose it is to be expected. Does anyone know the way? We would not want to keep her waiting."

Katiana stalked back towards the classroom where she was under orders to apologize to Jerinia and then join the other novices.  It would appear that cleaning the tapestries would be something she had caused her fellow classmates to have to suffer through alongside her.  She walked stiffly, her face a dark stormcloud of rage except for when she caught sight of an Aes Sedai.  Only then did she school her features into something that resembled deference enough to excuse her from immediate penance.  To the Accepted she gave no respect to whatsoever.

 

She waited outside the door until the novices filed out and then she went in to apologize to her instructor.  She wouldn't have been surprised if Jerinia sent her right back to the Mistress of Novices for her tone, but the Accepted seemed oddly hesitant to get the novice into further trouble.  Katiana didn't like to let her mind linger on the thought that the Accepted could be showing any level of kindness to her, her insides already felt twisted up and unsettled enough with everything that had happened.  Once she had made nice enough that the Accepted couldn't send her back to Larindhra for disrespect, she left the room with a much more sedate and controlled pace.

 

Outside, her classmates were still milling around talking about the chore they had been assigned.  Katiana chose not to mention the fact that they would likely have been sent off to do much less strenuous work if it hadn't been for her behavior in their class.  She simply nodded to indicate she was ready to go and crossed her arms over her chest.  She didn't want to talk to anyone about slapping Jerinia or about what had happened in the MoN's office.

 

 

Katiana Carreras

Sharing the Fun

The note was scribbled at best. Aes Sedai must have so much to do in their daily lives that they have no time for penmanship? Though Satin didn't much show anything on her face she did let out a sigh.

 

She turned to face her classmates as she noticed that a more notes were delivered, to a few of them. A single brow rose as she she turned to spy Katiana coming towards them, with a scowl to befit a Queen on her face. She watched as she sqeezed by them and into the classroom.

 

She would love to be a fly on the wall right about now. What great human/character study this would be.

 

Revealing that they too were instructed to go to the Green Halls beat the tapestry would mean two things. Even after completing this task... they had to go then, to the Browns Hall. She looked at each in turn realizing they were in white. Her head shook slowly, "I can see that we'll be washing our whites, this evening."

 

The girl, Kembial had a good point. She placed the note in her side pouch as the all did. They were minus two girls yet. The note did say.. "you and your classmates." No need to second guess an Aes Sedai. That mean all of them.

 

 

"I've explored the Tower a bit in the last week. I know where they are. Not that I've been down them." She lowered her chin giving them that "knowing" look.

 

She eyes the doorway again. Without realizing, her foot began to tap. The night would waste away and dinner would be very late.

 

 

Allrianne stumbled out of class, tears still running down her cheeks. She ended up bumping into the Mayener novice who kept trying to mother her.

 

"Allrianne, its a surprise to me that you are holding yourself together at all. You are in such a rush to get clear of someone who can channel yet you stumble out into a hall full of young girls who may indeed, have that spark."

 

That sent Allri into a whole new set of howls and blubbering. She hated this place. She overheard the other say something about the class all needing to do chores. With her back to the wall, she slid down and curled into a ball, weeping less-than-quietly. "The only place worse than this could only be the Pit of Doom itself." Someone ended up making her get on her feet so that they could go and do whatever horrible chore these witches were making her do, forcing her to conform to their Darkfriend ways.

 

Allrianne Viventi

Less-than-pleasant company

Katiana's lips curled in an expression of disgust.  She pointedly stepped away from Allrianne, as if it was the girl whose madness was catching and not the Aes Sedai's ability to channel as the girl behaved. "Sniveling wretch, it's no wonder your countrymen sent you off to be trained by the witches, you don't even have heart enough to be a spineless White Cloak, hiding behind their ignorance and anger.  Don't worry, Allri," she shortened the name into a pet name that was more derogative than fond and continued, "I'm sure if you keep this up even the witches of the Tower will decide you're not worth the effort and send you back home to be useless somewhere else."

 

Katiana turned and stalked off, forcing the rest of the girls to follow... or not.  Katiana didn't know where she was going exactly, but she was going to get there on her feet instead of down on her knees disgracing herself before the tower.  She kept her nose turned up and her back ramrod straight, giving no hint that she would need Satin and her note's directions to get to the Green Ajah.  Even with the directions she expected the girls would probably get lost, so many of these corridors looked so much alike.  But she did know that the Ajah headquaters were all up higher in the Tower and as long as she went up, she would at least be starting in the right direction.

 

She didn't look back to see if the other girls were coming, but when she heard their footsteps only a little after hers she wouldn't admit even to herself the relief she felt.

 

Katiana Carreras

What, that's how the Aes Sedai behave, right?

 

Aeryn was feeling a bit relieved that at least some of the Novi-- other Novices -- she was one as well now! -- were starting to move. They were given an assignment, and the faster they would be getting it done the earlier it would be over with again. The way the note was written implied that when they'd be done they'd have the remaining time until dinner to themselves.

 

Noticing Katiana stalk past her, she calmly set a fast pace behind her, focusing on the girl's back as she strode after her with all the grace moving at this speed allowed her. She was a Lady, a noble, and she'd be damned if she was going to toss it all out of the window by running through the hallway. The Novice in front of her would just need to slow down a bit to reach a compromise on how fast they'd be heading to their destination.

 

 

Aeryn

Following with style

The notes was unconsiously crumpled in her hand as she turned to stride towards the Laundery as instructed. The Tapestries would be there for beating and scrubbing, if they were indeed that dirty. Satin was not the best housekeeper. The chores in their house were always done by young village girl who were hired by mother. They weren't always the same girls either. Just when Satin was about to begin investigating the newest girl, she would never return.

 

The trip down the hallway was not serene or even exciting. Katiana's rebellious nature againt all that was not her idea, stormed down the hallway ahead of everyone else. Satin thought she would be a great case study but she knew she would have no time for it today.

 

The Halls were tall and wide. The beauty of the White Tower was as held within the stonework. Each hallway has some type of image work on the walls, if not a picture, it was a tapestry. Each told some kind of story and one day another would be added. Hopefully hers.

 

It always seemed to her that going anywhere in the Tower was a journey. By the time they had gone floors below, the group of girl were staggering at different lengths behind Katiana. Satin was in no hurry to best her pace because she felt that no matte where she was, she was by herself.

"Sniveling wretch, it's no wonder your countrymen sent you off to be trained by the witches, you don't even have heart enough to be a spineless White Cloak, hiding behind their ignorance and anger.  Don't worry, Allri, I'm sure if you keep this up even the witches of the Tower will decide you're not worth the effort and send you back home to be useless somewhere else."

 

That spurned a small response from Allri. She rubbed her eyes and managed to get out a small objection. "I wasn't sent. I was kidnapped." She went into another set of whines as she followed near the back of the trail of novices, near where Satin was. She did, however, make an interesting observation. At least three of the girl in this class were nobles before coming here. herself, Katiana, and that new girl, Aeryn. She heard about her and some claim of nobility in Tarabon, or maybe Almoth. In that general area, at least.

 

It was a rather lengthy walk to where they were going. Her tears were dried when she got to the laundry. She saw the stacks of tapestries here and there. "So what do we do now?" She honestly had no clue. She never had cleaned anything before.

Somewhat to Aeryn's relief, she managed to keep up with Katiana until they reached the laundry rooms where the tapestries were. Once there, the disheartening stack of tapestries were rolled up in a corner of the room, and she couldn't help but glance at the other Novices present to see if their reaction mirored her own.

 

"So what do we do now?"

 

- "Simple. We drag these outside, hang them over something and keep hitting them until they're clean... If it helps, just pretend they're Aes Sedai."

 

She suppressed a grin as she added that last bit, raising her eyebrow at Allrianne as she noted to her satisfaction that the woman's tears had dried. She was used to doing housework, as rulers of the village her House had prided itself on maintaining a good relation with the commoners, which in simpler terms meant that they knew how to take care of themselves without servants and such. Much like the Tower, her family believed having them all do housework 'built character', though they hadn't really taken it to the extremes the Aes Sedai were handing out to their Novices. She walked to the middle of the tapestry, trying to lift it to measure its weight, and turned around to face the others again.

 

- "Right, three people per tapestry or you'll ruin your backs. Come on girls, these things aren't going to clean themselves."

 

 

Aeryn

*rolls up her sleeves*

Katiana planted her fists on her hips and glared at the tapestries a moment.  She had never been one to shirk away from hard work, but she had considered things like balancing the company's accounts and bartering with a particularly difficult client to be hard work.  Not hard physical work!  For once she didn't complain, though.  Aeryn was being a good sport about it and the idea of taking a stick and beating Larindhra Sedai until all the dust had come up out of the old hag sounded like a divine idea.

 

She moved to the same tapestry Aeryn was standing at and waited for a third to join them, praying to the Light that it wouldn't be that sniveling white cloak.  One might have wondered at the fact that the two of them hadn't instantly bonded over their shared dislike of the Aes Sedai, but Allri had no style to it.  She just got all weepy and hysterical.

 

Katiana immediately dismissed the memory of how she had behaved when she'd first met Larindhra Sedai and didn't let herself think about hiding under the chair crying. 

 

She took her place at one of the tapestries and helped to move them outside, watching Aeryn speculatively.  The girl was noble-born, that was clear, but she seemed so at home doing all this work.  Poor girl, her family must have been a failing house that couldn't afford proper servants, even though they still held onto their title.  She mused as she took up one of the sticks and started laying into the rug with a will.  She was covered in dust and sweat and her hair was just a mess in a short time, but she just tucked her dark curls back into place whenever they got in her way and kept at it.  She was scowling and whispering curses that would have had her under Larindhra's slipper if the woman had heard her.

 

Maybe having Allri around actually made her behave better still.  It was hard to whine and complain about doing work when you'd just yelled at someone for being useless.

 

 

Katiana Carreras

Momentarily Quiet

After they reached the Kitchen, Satin handed the Mistress of the Kitchen, her note. The Mistress, eyed each girl with her squinted, frowning eyes. Glancing from the note she began to walk towards a pantry area and out through an enclosed court.

 

They followed of course, what else could they do? Satin listened intently to the whining and berating going on. She wondered how did these girls ever make it out of Novicehood with such cantankerous attitudes and such fear? She glanced only curiously a few times at Katiana and felt the need to strike Allri herself. But she viewed it as a medicinal need, as sometimes a good slap would awaken the most hysterical person.

 

The Mistress pointed to the tapestries laying about in a heap near the door. They would need to be hung by the lot of them on the thick heavy ropes strung from the high balconies. There were Swatters hanging on the courtyard walls along with other tools for cleaning. There were bucket with steaming, soapy water with brushes poking out above the water. The stranger the tool the more repulsive it looked.

 

Satin was no stranger to beating rugs. Though she didn't do it often, she was still more experienced than all of these High Born. Satin felt a bit of pleasure from that.

 

Taking out a small scarf that had been wrapped around her belt, she tied back her hair. Grabbing a rug and tugging it to the rope she hefted it over, watching it flap down to near the ground. She shifted it to sit evenly and then, picked up the rug swatters and began to swat the rug with earnest. The dust clouded the courtyard, wafting out in small clouds.

 

The other girls began to do the same. How much would they hate scrubbing those rugs with soapy water? Probably as much as any other discourtesy against a High Born. She didn't realize that she was snickering and shaking her head slowly.

Her fingers looked like dried prunes. Her knuckles were read and chapped with so much scrubbing and drying, over and over.

 

She didn't concentrate on what she was doing so much as getting it done and moving onto the next rug or tapestry. There had to be at least 15 or 20 all in all but with size of each, it may as well had been 50.

 

It was dinner hour and with the last squeegie swipe of the last corner, of the very last rug her stomach roared. Strangely she had no idea what time it was and how quickly it had flown by.

 

She only wished now that she could heal her own hands. That of course, was forbidden. She would ask Jerinia when next she saw her to see if it was permissable to do this for her. The cracks in her hands were so sore as she rubbed over them so softly.

 

She quickly took her bucket of dirty soap water and poured it onto the paving stones. She still had to go to her room and clean up and change her clothes.

 

The walk to her room was brisk only because she was so hungry or she would have fallen where she walked to go to sleep. Many of the girls were flittering down the halls and disappearing into their rooms. Some were already skipping out and down the hall to dinner. She felt the urge to run... that was a first for her. She never had to ever, worry about missing out on her share of food. The luxury her father afforded her, never left her wanting.

 

She washed up and cleaned up her dress as much as possible before dinner. She supposed it would pass a quick glance as long as she kept moving. She would have to get it cleaned tonight, for sure.

 

She chose the roast pork and potatoes. She was devouring her food when she noticed others staring at her. She looked at them in a hard stare. She knew it was not lady like to woof your food but, tonight she was going to.

In the end, Aeryn's share of the work had consisted of flailing the tapestries, coughing as dust once again made its way up her nose. Her arms hurt, but she wasn't about to give up regardless of what they would ask of her. Those that would know her -- of whom there weren't many in the Tower yet, perhaps for the better -- would of course say that she was simply too stubborn to give up on what she started on, but she kept flailing the material as if to beat it through the wall.

 

When all was done, she helped with the tail end of the cleaning before making her way to her room to wash her face and her hands. Her dress was probably more grey than white by now, but having only one Novice dress kind of limited her options. She slipped out of the dress, brushing the dust off as best she could before putting it on again and walking over to the dining hall, Aes Sedai like composure back in control once more. Though it felt as if her stomach wanted to reach out of her abdomen and latch on to the food on her plate, she sat down and calmly started eating.

 

The only thing that seemed out of place being the very unladylike amount of food on her plate. Where most had picked one meal, and some others a combination of two, she practically had a six inch pile of meat on her plate, with roast potatoes looking about ready to roll off from the sides. Since this didn't leave much room for vegetables, she simply brought a second plate for them. Oh, and for some more potatoes too.

 

 

Aeryn

Fast metabolism...

Allrianne stumbled into her room and began to clean her face. All the dust from the tapestries had mixed with her tears and her whole face had been covered in grim. Her muscles ached from swinging that bat over and over. Her throat burned from inhaling all that dust and then coughing it up. She was just generally exhausted.

 

She scrubbed the grim off of her face and neck, then brushed the dust from her hair and slipped a clean dress on. She slowly made her way to the dining hall and reluctantly joined her dusty comrades. She hadn't taken much to eat. She knew that she would just end up picking at a lot of it and it would be wasted. She had a half a potato, a small chunk of meat, then a regular helping of vegetables. As it was, she only ate half her meat and potato. Her vegetables she made herself finish since they were favorite part of the meal. The rest of the time, she just stared at her plate while the other girls wolfed down their food. Satin was going to give herself indigestion and Aeryn was going to bloat the way they were going.

 

Allrianne Viventi

Dainty

Once her stomach felt the comforting feeling of fuel she slowed up a bit from eating. She nonchalantly looked around the room for the other Novices who had been with her. She spotted a few and felt a tinge of relief noting that they too, had both heaping plates of food and were ravenously devouring it.

 

She sat alone, which wasn't always so, but more often than not. She remembered her Mentors words carefully in her teachings in her efforts to behave normally and not to be so intense.

 

She had begun to read a book on the art of relaxations and stretching techniques that she would practice. They looked interesting, and if they did work, it would improve her outlook... and the calm her inner turmoils. Coming to the realizations that she had inner conflicts was a vast improvement since she never look inward.

 

The meal completed, she rose and walked out of the dinning room. She glanced here and there to make eye contact with the masses. It was a practice session. One day, she would look into the eyes of these people without them having so much as a flinch.

 

 

 

By the time they got around to washing the tapestries with soap and water, Katiana was too tired to fight the chores any longer.  She couldn't even work up the effort to scowl at Allriane anymore.  Conscious of her dress being white and the fact that if she mussed it, she would likely have to be the one to launder it, she was painstaking in not spilling any of the murky used water on herself.  There was little she could do for the dust that coated her evenly from head to toe, but dust was easier to clean off than mud.

 

Her fastidiousness helped her in another way, too.  By keeping her hands out of the water as much as possible and gripping the brushes high up on the handle, she managed to keep her fingers from ending up cracked and raw like Satin's - even if the extra effort did cause her hands to cramp up and grow stiff.  With the last of the tapestries done, Katiana never wanted to see another rug in her whole life.  When she had a palace of her own, it would be all smooth tile floors.  Nothing that would have to be taken outside and beaten.  Even if she did fully intend to have servants for that kind of thing, she felt she would just die if she had to be reminded of this every time she walked into a room.

 

As they retired to their rooms to wash up, Katiana gave over the thought of dinner.  She was famished and would likely regret her decision, but she was more tired than she was hungry.  And she still had to study for her lesson with Lillith Sedai on the Old Tongue before she went to bed.  With a heavy sigh, she left her room and went to the baths, intent to soak away the weariness from her muscles before trying to memorize greetings in a tongue few now spoke and even fewer cared about.

 

She stripped and slid into the copper tub that held water nearly as hot as the wash water they had used to clean the tapestries.  With a groan, she sunk all the way into the water, holding her breath as she willed all thoughts of woven decorations from her mind.  Her stomach rumbled and just as quickly as she had made the decision to skip dinner, she reversed it.  Dragging herself from the tub, she toweled off quickly and then pulled on a fresh dress and tied her hair back with a ribbon.  Maybe if she hurried, she would be able to get something before they closed the kitchens for the night.

 

Is she didn't, she would know to put necessity before luxury next time.