Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

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Bridget
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Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

Post by Bridget » September 23rd, 2017, 12:33 am

Haxia
She had known very well that she disliked learning. It was painful to stay still for so long, cooped up indoors with nothing but books and lectures for company. But Haxia had not known that she could dislike it quite this much. Her afternoon had been all but ruined; locked inside a stuffy classroom with ten other novices and soldiers, learning the Old Tongue. Haxia huffed, shifting irritably in her chair. She already knew the Old Tongue! No do Catalan a’Coralle was let loose without a basic education. But the Light forsaken Accepted, Fanryn, would not hear a word of it. Haxia had arrived early to the first class, had even curtsied to the chit. Fanryn had looked at her coolly, in what Haxia supposed was her best approximation of an Aes Sedai, and had told her no novice was above learning the Old Tongue. As if Haxia was trying to avoid learning altogether! It was clearly a purposeful misunderstanding, but Fanryn hadn’t let Haxia speak another word. And then she had the gall to call her a child! If Fanryn was more than a few years older than her, Haxia would eat her bloody novice skirts.

Haxia knew better than to tell the Mistress of Novices. Tia seemed to be a sweet woman, but she was Aes Sedai, and one didn’t involve Aes Sedai in their business needlessly. She was more than capable of sitting through a useless class. But Fanryn’s ability as a teacher was as terrible as her personality. She all but refused to answer questions, had humiliated a poor girl for getting a phrase wrong, and had given a young man kitchen duty for getting out of his chair to comfort the other novice. And to top it off, her knowledge of the Old Tongue was certainly not as sophisticated as Haxia’s.

When it was all over, Haxia rose and curtsied at the woman with the barest twitch of her skirts, and marched out after the aforementioned novice. The girl still looked a little shellshocked, really. There had been no call for Fanryn to yell. And there was certainly no reason to call the poor girl an idiot.

“That woman deserves to find a rat in her bed.” Haxia muttered to another novice, who had exited the classroom after her. “Or better yet, several rats.”

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Daniel
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Re: Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

Post by Daniel » September 24th, 2017, 3:56 pm

Nyaine Classes that tried to teach her the Old Tongue were just a waste of time, Nyaine thought. After all, she had been instructed in it by not one but three different teachers before she was even sent to the Grey Tower. Likely she could have easily taught this class and would have been better at it than the irritating Accepted that was Fanryn. Once, she had tried to talk to Vanya Sedai, the previous Mistress of Novices, about skipping a class that did not teach her a thing. A history class about Cairhien and her noble houses. That had not gone down well, though. The Tower had a different point of view than the Houses themselves, she had been told. Still, she had not learned a thing.

So, she sat primly in her place, fiddling with a loose strand of her light brown hair, staring at the Accepted in order to not appear inattentive, but not actually seeing her at all. Her mind was half-occupied by trying to come up with plans that would allow her to skip the next lesson after all, while the other half was concerned with the actually useful lesson on basic Illusion weaves she had received before. When the torture was finally over, she quickly gathered her things and hurried out the exit and then smiled when one of her classmates addressed her in the hallway.

“I don’t know about rats,” she said conspiratorially, grinning up at the other novice. “They have this stigma of being creatures of the Dark One. I also can’t say that I have seen any since coming here, so it might not be so easy to acquire them. But how do you feel about mice?”

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Bridget
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Re: Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

Post by Bridget » September 26th, 2017, 1:50 am

Haxia
”I feel very well about mice.” Haxia told the other novice, beaming at her in an effort to disguise her flush. How had she forgotten about rats? It wasn’t as if she was ignorant of the Dark One, the Creator, and the Pattern… But Light, she was so tired. Haxia had not slept in days. Perhaps, she admitted to herself, it was beginning to show. There was only so many nights she could go without sleep, before her willpower would not be enough- before she would find herself in Tel’aran’rhiod again. But it would not be tonight, if she had any say in the matter.

“I’m Haxia.” She said, pausing before offering her last name. “do Catalan a’Coralle.” So many other novices were common women; farm girls and seamstresses and bakers. With them, it was better to just be Haxia, although she was certain most of them could intuit her nobility well enough. This novice, though… There was something in the way she had held herself in that classroom, with perfect posture and seemingly perfect attention. Haxia was a betting woman, and she would bet that this girl was a Cairhienin noble.

She led the other novice down the hallway, away from the classroom and the possibility of Fanryn overhearing their conversation. “Is it your free hour as well? If we could manage to catch a few mice in the stables, it would be easy enough to slip them into her room while everyone is at dinner.” It didn’t occur to her that the other novice might have spoken in jest; Haxia’s mind went immediately to the more interesting task of planning her revenge. It was as good a distraction as any from how tired she was, and how much she longed to spend the hour before dinner asleep.

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Daniel
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Re: Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

Post by Daniel » September 27th, 2017, 2:36 am

Nyaine So her co-conspirator was Murandian and of noble birth, too. If they had not both been novices, the next step would be to evaluate which of their houses stood higher and who therefore had precedence. She could probably still ascertain that somehow, but right at this moment, she did not really care and somehow she doubted that was something she would have to concern herself with in future. Much better, however, to hear where this mice fantasy was going or whether it might even turn into reality.

“I am Nyaine Lintelle”, she said, adding her House’s name as well, not to brag or level the playing field. They were all in the same banner here anyways, she thought, remembering on of her eldest brother’s favourite sayings. She was slightly amused by Haxia’s immediately concocted plan of attack. She did not really fancy crawling around in the dirty stables attempting to hunt mice, but thinking about the stables, she remembered a certain incident that had caused her to be doing chores on a very particular set of garden paths for weeks. “Coincidentally, I also have a free hour now. Also by random chance, I know a stableboy who owes me a significant debt. His life, actually. Well, sort of. If there are any mice to be found, he would surely be able to help acquire them. Why don’t we have a word with him?”

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Bridget
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Re: Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

Post by Bridget » September 30th, 2017, 2:41 am

Haxia
”Yes, let's!” Grinning, Haxia linked arms with the other novice and tugged her into a walk without a second thought. It was the sort of thing that she had always done with her friends, and she had a good feeling about Nyaine. There was little Haxia liked more than a prank, and mischief was all the better with a co-conspirator. So many of the other novices seemed… cowed. Haxia wasn’t sure if it was the Tower itself, the Aes Sedai and Asha’men, or the monotony of life as a novice. Nyaine, in comparison, was a breath of fresh air. Haxia had not made a nuisance of herself since she had come to the Tower. A few days before she had been all but forced into a carriage to Hama Valon, she had coated her brother’s smallclothes with a marvelous powder- it had made her hands itch, just to put it on Cedric’s clothes. Her brother had not quite forgiven her when she had left. If there was one good thing about being sent to the Tower, it was that Cedric had had no time for retribution.

“How in the world did you save a stable boy’s life?” Haxia asked, laughing a little at the thought of it. “I’m sure he’ll be glad to pay off that debt, anyways. Mice are a fair trade, don’t you think?” She had been right; this was the perfect distraction from her exhaustion. Making a new friend and tormenting a new enemy was rather invigorating.

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Daniel
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Re: Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

Post by Daniel » October 3rd, 2017, 2:35 am

Nyaine “Oh, I expect I might be able to get more than a couple of mice out of him.” Nyaine concluded after thinking about the question for a few seconds. Mice would most certainly not balance out the weight of a life saved, not that it was a contest. The groom was just going to do them favour in exchange for the favour he had received some time ago, by the grace of which he was even able to her this favour in the first place.

“Basically, I Healed him from a life-threatening wound. He had large piece of wood poke through his chest. It was quite a frightening view. There wasn’t really anyone else around, so I pulled out the wood and Healed him using saidar. The reward was three weeks of sweeping the garden paths for unsupervised channelling.” She elaborated as they walked towards the building’s exit that would lead them to the gardens and stables. No need to mention that she was the one who had caused the accident to happen in the first place. Well, there was the risk of the groom bringing it up, but that bridge could be crossed when they came to it. Best to steer the conversation back to their scheme. “We will probably need some kind of small cage or a basket or something to transport the mice in. I don’t particularly fancy doing that with my hands.”

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Bridget
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Re: Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

Post by Bridget » October 9th, 2017, 5:33 am

Haxia
It was hard not to freeze at Nyaine’s story, but Haxia managed it as well as she could. Light. Nyaine had pulled a spike of wood out of a man and Healed him? If she had happened upon such a scene, she would have immediately gone for help, not done… that. Even if she had been able to channel more than a lick! Tia Sedai never said it, but she rather thought the woman despaired of her; for all that Haxia had the spark, her ability to embracing the source was spotty at best. Not that Haxia particularly wanted to improve.

“Light, Nyaine!” She exclaimed, ignoring the less exciting comment about finding baskets and drawing her own attention away from channeling and its associated horrors. “That sounds grisly.” Haxia eyed the other novice, curious and repulsed all at once. “He didn’t bleed all over you, did he?” She had been no particular use at her mother’s deathbed- Haxia couldn’t imagine managing to do anything helpful for anyone else. “And only three weeks of sweeping garden paths?” It was easy enough to shy away from the thought of her mother, as well. “I was caught out of my room after hours, and had two weeks of scrubbing pots. That hardly seems fair!”

She paused for a moment, the clenching and unclenching of her free hand the only sign of her tension, before she finally blurted out her question. “Nyaine, do you want to be Aes Sedai?” Haxia couldn’t imagine such a thing. Perhaps all the common women who came to the Tower might, for the place and power it conferred, but why would another noblewoman?

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Daniel
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Re: Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

Post by Daniel » October 22nd, 2017, 6:25 pm

Nyaine Nyaine didn’t really want to elaborate on her experience in the stables. Obviously there had been blood. She had discovered that in the moment the grisly scene had not fazed her, yet afterwards she had not slept well for some weeks, the images having stayed in her mind. So she was glad when Haxia moved the discussion on to her punishment. About to comment on the respective durations of the disciplinary measures, she was surprised and dumbfounded when Haxia asked her next question and stopped dead in her tracks.

Did she want to be Aes Sedai? What kind of a question was that? Was that not the reason for coming here in the first place? Obviously, some women with the spark had to learn to control the ability lest they die. But for anyone else, especially someone with the resources Haxia must have, given her noble heritage, why would one be in the Tower if not to become Aes Sedai?

“Of course I want to become Aes Sedai,” she replied finally. Haxia asking that question clearly indicated that the Murandian had no similar inclination and that was astounding. She could somehow understand someone like Amaranie who had grown up with the mindset of channelling being evil to have their doubts and potentially having to overcome that idea, but somehow she doubted that Haxia found herself in a similar situation. Naturally, her curiosity was now piqued, so she would have to find out why her co-conspirator did not want to become a full sister. “You make it sound like you do not?”

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Bridget
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Re: Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

Post by Bridget » November 5th, 2017, 9:48 pm

Haxia
Nyaine stopped suddenly, yanking Haxia back with their linked arms. “Nyaine?” Haxia started, alarmed. “Are you alright?” Perhaps it had been cavalier to ask about the other girl’s… experience in such a way. But Haxia had never talked about such a thing before! It was terribly disconcerting- Haxia had never run into so many awkward situations before she had come to the Tower. It hardly improved her opinion of the place.

When Nyaine finally spoke, Haxia could not help but gape. Light. Nyaine wanted to be Aes Sedai- and the way she spoke of it! As if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Haxia could not imagine such a thing, and couldn’t gather herself to respond. If she had had her wits about her, she would have removed her arm from where it was still looped with Nyaine. How could Nyaine talk so casually of abandoning her family to become Aes Sedai? Did she have no loyalty? Haxia found herself rapidly reevaluating her opinion of her spontaneously chosen conspirator.

“Of course I do not.” Haxia snapped, just as adamantly as Nyaine had been about becoming Aes Sedai. “I have a duty to my House and to my family that I can hardly honor while I am kept here as a novice, let alone as an Aes Sedai.” It still rankled that she could not leave when she wished to, that she must stay and learn how not to accidentally kill herself. Before her life had taken a turn for the worse, Haxia could never have imagined such a ludicrous syllabus. “If it were not for… unopportune circumstances, I would not be here in the first place.” Haxia turned to stare down at the other noblewoman, aware of the disbelief written across her face but unable to smooth it away. “Did you seek out your place at the Tower?”

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Daniel
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Re: Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

Post by Daniel » November 13th, 2017, 5:06 am

Nyaine „No“, Nyaine replied thoughtfully. Haxia had explained some of her reasoning and the logic was sound. But was not her premise faulty? At least Nyaine believed that that was the case for her. She had not abandoned her family, had she? They had only reluctantly let her go, to be sure, but when two Aes Sedai explained the way of things to them, they did not really have a choice, besides potentially sending her to the White Tower instead. It was only natural, too. Her father had doted on her, her mother always treated her lovingly. Parting had not been so easy for her either. She missed her family occasionally, when she wasn’t distracted by lectures, chores or something else.

“No, my ability to channel was discovered by two sisters passing through the city. They told my family that I had the spark, so I would have to be trained. Similar to you, I assume. So I was quickly sent here to start said training. Yet I came gladly. The tower has so much to offer, besides channelling even. Not only that, having an Aes Sedai in the family, think of the prestige and respect that will give my house.”

Maybe in Murandy that was different, Nyaine realised. That would surely explain Haxia’s reluctance. It appeared their situations were not as similar as it seemed on first glance. “If I were to return home, I would be the fourth child of a minor house, destined to be married off, managing some buffoon’s estate, a third-rate scholar at best, in the little free time I would have left. Instead of the marriage ties to some other unimportant Carhienin house, I can now provide a connection to the Grey Tower.”

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