Rytali's day began bright and early, just like the ones before.  She always woke before Dyrum, and busied herself tidying the room before leaving for chores and classes.  She was lucky to have time to break her fast every other day, but Rytali occasionally could sneak in a snack here and there.

Lunch was usually the first real meal she could make time for, and then it was back to the grindstone, studying the use of the One Power and a particularly grueling session of geometry.  Then, after finishing another late afternoon of chores, usually something involving cleaning somewhere in the labrynthine that was the White Tower complex, Rytali would be able to have supper in the kitchen hall.

 

She looked forward to supper every time, mainly because by then she knew that the day was almost over with.  If she had any additional tutoring or chores after that she would go, but unless she had to serve penance for an infraction, evening chores and lessons were rarely as strict or strenuous as those earlier in the day.

 

Today had not started well at all, with her roommate Dyrum waking in a grumpy state before she could leave, and they had argued so long about how the room should be kept properly clean that Rytali had been late for her first class.  In penance, she spent two hours of her afternoon going from room to room to dust off and clean each clock to remind her of how important the time was.  And she would do this for another two weeks, no matter how clean the clocks were when she found them.  If they were not spotless , she would have to do them all over again anyway.

 

Finally she stumbled into the kitchen hall, her feet and arms weary and her brain feeling deadened from the mind-numbing chore.  She was late for supper too; almost everyone had already gotten their food and there were only a few people in the line, most likely coming back for seconds, she wagered.  She joined them, got a bowl of soup, some juice, and a small roll of bread to dip in the soup.  That would be plenty supper for her, as she wasn't terribly hungry.

 

Glancing around, Rytali looked for a place to sit.  Most of the good, quiet spots against the wall were already taken by similarly solitary figures, so she didn't want to disturb them.  That left the middle rows of tables, what some nicknamed the beehive from the almost constant chatter of more social young women sharing the latest gossip.  While novices were required to be respectfully silent during many of their labors and studies, here some who wished to speak about everything and nothing could come together without fear of being punished for talking too much at their food.

 

"Fortune prick me, we be into the beehive tonight..." Rytali muttered, and she bravely strode into the chatter of full tables, looking for an empty spot to join in on.  After a while of asking around and getting negative responses, she found one that looked promising.

 

"Ah... Do... Do anyone be sitting here?" she asked nervously.  She had been turned down from sitting at some tables before, especially with the group Dyrum talked with. Rytali instinctively avoided them. Most of them were nobleborn or Cairhienin, and didn't want anything to do with Illianer accents or commoners.  But this table here was a better mix of girls from all over the place, and they rarely had any qualms with you if you were different.

-Rytali

Punished. Allisia had been punished early that morning by a rather testy Aes Sedai in her history class. And for nothing more than her 'withdrawn demeanor' and 'unsatisfactory posture', the remedy to these problems apparently being a slipper to the bottom to 'toughen' her and walking back and forth for what seemed like hours with her back as straight as physically possible and a stack of rather heavy books piled on her head. It was embarrassing and uncomfortable for her, her typically slumped shoulders were nearly painful to pull back and her every step was measured and small so that the books would not fall. Her shuffling about was far from graceful or even remotely normal, but at least it was safe. Books falling meant being switched on the bottom by a small flow of air, after all.

 

Allisia had come to the conclusion early in her life that her gangly limbs would prevent her from ever being graceful and effortless in her manner, and her height always seemed to impede her in social situations so she learned quickly the best way to deal with something so unchangeable was to mask it. And what better way to mask height than to slouch like a wilted flower? The Mistress saw that her case would be a difficult one to correct in just one lesson of posture training, so she was sent on her way and expected to return to the Mistress of Novices office every day at a set time, and without question for at least another week. Before she left, she was given comforting words and told to 'put herself out there', the Mistress was a fair woman and kindly, but stern.

 

As she left the Mistress of Novice's chambers, she found herself rubbing her rather sore behind gingerly in an effort to stave off the lingering pain. Put yourself out there. The words rang in her head along with the clamor of one of the great bells, signaling the novices it was time for supper. Making her way to the dining hall, she shivered as she heard the humming of the 'Bee Hive', to put it lightly, the chatty section of the Novices. She had made a point not to sit anywhere near them in the past, far too often she drew teasing comments from the haughtier girls, typically about her height, abundant lack of curves or her lurch-like gait. But she was told to put her foot forward and something inside her knew that urging from the Mistress or not, she would need to anyway.

 

Her journey to the dining hall had been a long one as she was still taking small, slow steps to avoid any unnecessary pain from that damnable slipper. By the time she arrived, there was only a small handful of girls still getting their food, she was late again it'd seem. Taking her place in line, she looked around awkwardly and silently. After minutes of surveying the crowds, she blushed furiously as she saw she was a good two paces behind all the other girls in the line. She winced as she hurried to catch up and retrieving herself only an apple and some juice, she went to look for a place to sit.

 

Weaving her way through the eddies of White-clad gossiping girls, she made it to the Beehive and looked around nervously. Craning her neck, she ignored the off-hand comments of a group of girls whispering about how much she looked like a one of those stick-legged wading birds, a heron she believed the name was. Finding a suitable place, she straightened her back and steadied herself. The girl she took her seat next to was tanned with dark-hair, seeming to be an Illianer and, from what Allisia guessed, a couple years younger than herself. Preparing herself, she tried to come across as confident when instead her voice sounded utterly bored. "You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"

As Rytali sat down at the not quite too bustling table, she was pleased to note that none of the other girls seemed too terribly different from her.  They all seemed to show slight signs of the strain of novice life, though no one was complaining about it yet.  Instead, the topics of conversation seemed to be more about mischievous gossip concerning this girl or that one, or perhaps one of the servants whose full time job was to keep the Tower in ship shape condition. The servants, especially the older ones, seemed to have an odd mix of belligerence to novices which took away some of their wages, to benevolent helpfulness to novices that were forced to do dirty work as punishment.

 

Rytali contented herself with listening to the conversations going on, taking the time to finish her meal.  She was about halfway done and listening to one novice's strange encounter with an Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah in the Great Library when she felt the towering presence behind her and heard a strangely lethargic voice ask, "You don't mind if I sit here, do you?"

 

Rytali opened her mouth and turned in the direction of the bored voice, and for a moment could not think of anything to say.  The girl asking to sit next to her had the most striking red hair, and was thin and surely stood taller than any other woman at that table.  Rytali was sure she had seen someone that conspicuous before in one of her classes, but she could not remember the girl's name.  Then she quickly remembered her manners, and coughed in order to try to conceal her face flushing with embarrassment.

 

"Yes... Er no, I do no mind.  Do have a seat."

 

Rytali, now curious of the woman sitting next to her, missed the climax of meeting the strange Brown sister in the library.  Everyone else at the table except herself and the newcomer laughed, and Rytali sighed, giving up trying to keep track of two conversations at once.  Instead, she turned to the newcomer, who had only an apple and a glass of juice on her tray.  Rytali observed her with some slight alarm, as the girl looked like she needed to eat more or she would be nothing but skin and bones!

 

She looked down at her own plate.  She had only finished half of her soup and she had not touched her roll of bread.

 

"Would you like this?  I do find I do no have much of an appetite tonight.  Or be you no hungry?"

 

As the red haired girl answered her, Rytali realized again that she had forgotten to ask her name.  Burn my soul! Where be these manners that they do be supposed to teach us?

It came as no shock to Allisia when the girl stared for a moment at her, mouth agape. In her recollection, it was only in Andor where her coloring wasn't horribly abnormal, though her height always seemed to be cause for stares. She suddenly remembered why it was she had always been slouching in the first place, but through sheer force of will, she kept her shoulders back and head high. Watching as the Illianer's cheeks flushed ever so slightly, Allisia ran her fingers through her hair lazily, as though she had some manner of cool indifference to her, though overall the action simply looked awkward.

 

"Yes.. Er no, I do no mind. Do have a seat." The shorter woman told Allisia, and she hoped the relief at the Illianer's politeness was not written blatantly on her face. Immediately, the rest of the beehive erupted into laughter causing Allisia to jump in surprise, eyes widened. Flushing furiously, she coughed into her hand as nonchalantly as she could muster and smoothed her skirts. As she looked down at her tray of food, her mouth hung open slightly at what lay there. One glossy apple and a measly glass of juice, hardly enough sustenance. Rubbing her hand across her eye she sighed softly, she had been too distracted to get any substantial amount of food.

 

Looking over to the Illianer's plate, her eyes widened and she licked her lips. The girl had half-finished soup and an untouched roll of bread, and as luck would have it, her stomach decided now would be the perfect time to growl. Biting her lip nervously, she hoped the girl had not heard.

 

"Would you like this? I do find I do no have much of an appetite tonight. Or be you no hungry?"

 

So much for the girl not noticing. Allisia made a pained expression, hesitating before answering. "..Truly? I'm.. rather hungry, actually. If you really would not mind, I'll take it off your hands.. Figuratively, of course. I mean.. that would be ridiculous, it's not as if you're actually holding it or anything." She laughed nervously and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She knew she sounded like a driveling idiot, but meeting new people and seeming the confident girl wasn't exactly her strong suit.

 

Realization came over her features, her eyes widening as though she suddenly had some miraculous epiphany. "Oh!" She exclaimed, "My name is Allisia Mirobell, by the way, from Andor." She tried her best smile, though the nervousness in her eyes was apparent. "Might I ask your name as well?"

"..Truly? I'm.. rather hungry, actually. If you really would not mind, I'll take it off your hands.. Figuratively, of course. I mean.. that would be ridiculous, it's not as if you're actually holding it or anything."

Rytali nodded her assent and the girl took the bread off her tray. It immediately dawned on her that the two of them had a similarity; they didn't seem to fit in too well with more socially aggressive girls.  Or at least if they did fit in, they tended to serve in a supporting role or as a source of humor for the group, which could sometimes be a bad thing when you wanted people to take you seriously.

 

"My name is Allisia Mirobell, by the way, from Andor."

Rytali smiled as well, suddenly very glad she could sit next to someone who did not seem to be anywhere nearly as condescending as Dyrum.  Allisia may be a little nervous and awkward, but Rytali felt that way too, and she could tell that Allisia was at least honest and kind in her expressions.  As she noticed her own awkward pause, Rytali rushed in to fill it, forgetting months of lessons of etiquette that she should not swear.

 

"Burn my soul, but of course!  Rytali Basim!  I do be from the city of Illian," she added with a sarcastic roll of her eyes, "in case my "horrendous accent" do no make it obvious the second I do open my bloody mouth."  She giggled at the audacity of her statement.  She would not have dared say such a thing to an Aes Sedai's face, but here in the beehive, you could say what you wanted to with relative sanctuary. 

 

Rytali's accent and her language had gotten her into trouble with Aes Sedai before, especially her Old Tongue tutor who insisted she speak properly and not roll off her verbage like filthy-mouthed sailors.  Rytali dreaded her lessons like a plague, and doubted she would ever speak "properly" even if she were somehow to become an Aes Sedai.  Even if she knew how to disguise her accent, which could be useful, surely she would not do so always by choice?

 

The two girls, properly introduced, went to eating their food for a short time, not sure what to say to each other.  The conversations in the hive split up into multiples, too many for Rytali to follow all of them, so she shut them out for the time being. Rytali, not satisfied with her own shyness in conversations, spoke up, saying the first lame topic to come to her mind.

 

"How does life as a novice be for you, Allisia?  You do look like you did have a long day."

 

Perhaps it was a bad idea to ask about her day having just met her.  But Rytali hoped that she could make some sort of friendship with a few of her fellow girls in white despite their busy days and all the stressful, humbling conditions the Aes Sedai threw at them as part of their training.  Rytali thought that since they were in this together, that meant they should look out for each other and at least be willing to at least listen.  Even if that meant listening to snotty Dyrum complaining for over two hours while she was trying to get to sleep... surely Allisia could not be anywhere near as annoying!

*bump*