Just Desserts [Attn: Nyaine]

[Bridget]

Haxia

She could not help but grimace at Nyaine’s story. Hers was not as similar as the other girl assumed- she had been sent to the Tower to see to her strange dreams, not to become Aes Sedai. There had been no chance for her to speak to her father about that possibility, and for all her efforts, Haxia had not been able to engineer one. Her father sent her brother to deal with her when she had run from the Tower, rather than coming himself. Surely he does not wish me to become Aes Sedai. Why in the Light would he?

“My family is of some consequence in Murandy.” Haxia responded, her words slow and distracted. Father could not mean her to become Aes Sedai, not when she had been so close to marrying Rhys. Had she not proven that she could be a strong political ally, that she was all a do’Catalan a’Corale should be? “Before I was sent to the Tower,” for there was no other word for it than sent, “I was to marry the nephew of the King.” It would have been a strong political connection, even if the King of Murandy was little more than the king of Lugard. Why had her father not wanted the match? It still made no sense to Haxia, and even her brother hadn’t had an idea.

It occurred to her then that her statements were little more than bragging, especially in comparison to Nyaine’s description of her own family’s standing. “I am sorry I spoke so.” She told the other girl, regretful and ashamed. “I miss home very much, and I find the advantages of being Aes Sedai pale in comparison.” Haxia paused, giving the other girl a rueful smile, attempting to salvage the conversation, and perhaps even Nyaine’s opinion of her. “Especially since I must be a novice and Accepted before being given those advantages.”

[Daniel]

Nyaine “You are not alone in missing home”, Nyaine commented amiably and taking up the walk towards the stables again. “As I said before, so do I occasionally, especially when something makes me think about the family. I don’t believe that that is something worrying.”

When she actually stopped to consider the amount of time she had already spent away from Cairhien, here in the Grey Tower, it always amazed her how much it actually was. Somehow it still felt like she had left mere months ago, if not weeks since she had bidden farewell to her parents.

“I will say, one gets used to being away from home”, she added, frowning, in her mind already considering the next consequence of what Haxia had said. “So, your plan then is to leave once you have learned to control your abilities, regardless of whether or not your match to the king’s nephew is forfeit now?”

Nyaine hadn’t really considered the fact, that being a novice and Accepted could be seen as a hindrance. Obviously, there was a need to acquire knowledge before you could apply it. Being apprenticed to the full channellers had seemed very natural to her. It was very comparable to being the student of the teachers she had had at home. On the other hand, what she would do with all the knowledge she acquired here, she had no clue yet about other than some very vague concepts and the desire to become Aes Sedai.

[Bridget]

Haxia

It took effort not to twist her mouth in displeasure when Nyaine told her she only missed her family occasionally. Haxia herself missed her brother incessantly; she wrote him often, though he did not reply nearly as regularly as she would like, and only distracted herself with games and pranks and other worries. She did not miss her father, exactly, though he certainly never replied to her letters. It was more… his lack of regard, that she could not understand-

Haxia shied away from those thoughts with the ease of long practice. “How long have you been at the Grey Tower?” She inquired, settling her arm more comfortably with the other girl’s. Nyaine had jerked her a fair bit when she started walking once more. They were still heading in the direction of the stables, though Haxia’s desire to spirit mice into the Accepted’s bed had certainly waned.

“I would not take him to wed if he begged me.” She snapped out in response to Nyaine’s question, shocking herself with the force of her own anger. “He did not treat me well, when I was sent to the Tower.” Haxia told the other girl, although it was a half truth. Rhys had betrayed her to her when she had run from the Tower months ago. He had not wanted her for a wife, and he had been cruel enough to see that she was sent back to this loathsome place. He was a horrible spineless man, and she would be happy if she never saw him again. “Yes, I plan to return home as soon as I am able.” Hopefully within the year. If it was a longer time, Haxia did not know what would be left for her at home. Certainly no marriage prospects, let alone decent ones. She did not know what she would do, if the Tower kept her longer than a year.

They were arriving at the stables now. It was a large wood and stone building, settled right against the side of the Tower. Haxia let go of Nyaine’s arm to pull the door open for the two of them, and gestured Nyaine through. “Do you see that stable boy you spoke of?" She squinted into the gloom, trying to steady herself. It was no use to pull a prank if she wasn't going to enjoy it.

[Daniel]

Nyaine “How long have I been here?”, Nyaine asked considering the question and counted the time in her head, then finally resolved that she did not really want to put a definite number to it just now. There was time enough to tally up her time as novice when it was over. “A few years, not long at all.”

Entering the stables, the memories of that one day came back instantly. Not wanting a repeat, this time she didn’t make any attempt at remaining hidden and looked for the groom in question, walking past a few of the horse boxes. It was weird to consider that Haxia wanted to leave the tower despite her marriage contract having been voided, something that she herself even approved of. Yet despite that negative experience, she was still looking to return home, find some other bumbling noble and marry. Nyaine wondered what the Murandian hoped to gain from that, apart from doing her duty to her family.

“There he is”, she said, pointing to a box towards the rear end of the large room. As she had done before, she approached with extra loud steps, in so far as that was possible with the slippers she was wearing. Yet the man seemed to have heard her and turned as they came close, giving Haxia a mustering look before turning to Nyaine.

“Hello, sneaky one”, he said in a heavy Andoran country accent. “What is it this time? You haven’t decided to run away, have you? Found yourself a you lover boy to bond – well it is obviously a girl, but details – ready for the big adventure?”

Giving the stable boy a withering look, Nyaine proceeded to ignore his tease otherwise. “Haxia, this is the light-blinded fool I was talking about. Goose-brain, this is novice Haxia. We are here, because in connection to one of our lessons, we are looking for a number of living mice. Since we are rather unfamiliar with the hunting of said creatures, I immediately thought of you.”

That was some good Aes Sedai word mincing, Nyaine thought. She had absolutely told the truth, this whole idea with the little rodents had come up in one of their lessons, but certainly not in the way the stable boy would interpret what she just said.

“Could check the traps”, he replied dubiously, intently looking at Nyaine this time. It seemed to Nyaine as if he was trying to ascertain whether she had been serious. Fortunately, Nyaine had no reputation for mischief, so she just calmly returned his look.

Spoiler: show

Feel free to do whatever with/to the guy.

[Bridget]

Haxia

The idea that Nyaine thought a few years was not long at all made Haxia swallow. She had been at the Tower for a handful of months, and that already felt far too long. Well, the other girl wanted to be Aes Sedai, and doing so often took women decades. A few years was not terribly long, in that respect. She shuddered a little; a decade or more in horrible white dresses, scrubbing floors and curtseying to just about anyone? It was too terrible to contemplate.

Nyaine’s stable boy was an… interesting fellow. It took all of her mother’s training not to gawp at him. What a dreadfully familiar way to speak to a lady! Sneaky one? Found herself a lover boy to bond? Haxia repeated to herself, faintly. Nyaine’s response was not much more dignified. Light, she hadn’t even named the stable boy- or at least, a name more likely than Goose-brain! It was a wise thought to claim that the mice were in conjunction to their lessons, although Haxia couldn’t think of a single relevant lesson they might be needed for. She would leave that deception to her coconspirator. And really, the whole thing was in connection to their lessons, wasn’t it? The Accepted had taught them a terrible lesson, so they were quite bound to teach her one as well.

Not that Goose-brain looked particularly convinced. Well, there was no way but forward. Gamely, Haxia stepped forward, giving Goose-brain her best smile. He was tall enough to look up to through her eyelashes, which her friends at court had always used to their advantage, so she tried that as well. “Lovely to meet you.” She told the boy, letting a touch of the harsh Lugard accent into her voice. He would hardly find her believable if he knew her to be a noblewoman, and no lady would talk in such a common way. “Nyaine told me all about how you met! I can’t imagine..” She kept up the prattle, exclaiming over how she could not stand the sight of blood, how she had never seen stables quite as fine as this. The Tower was a fine place, too, wasn’t it? And how had he come to work as such a fancy place as this?

She cut a glance at Nyaine as she stepped a little closer to Goose-brain, tilting her chin just slightly in the direction the boy had indicated for the traps. If Nyaine didn’t mind gathering the mice herself, she could certainly distract Goose-brain long enough for the other novice to do so. Still smiling and chattering on like a silly girl, Haxia laid a hand on the boy’s arm, careful to keep her white sleeve away from the muck. She chanced another glance up; Goose-brain was more than a little red in the face, and more than a little befuddled. It was really a question of how long it would take Nyaine to gather some mice, and how long Haxia could think of more insipid things to say.

[Daniel]

Nyaine That had not at all turned out how Nyaine imagined it would. Now Haxia was flirting with the stableboy, whom she had intended to collect those mice and he seemed to enjoy it. Nyaine meanwhile seemed to be completely forgotten by the two of them. Well, that might be unfair to Haxia, but Nyaine didn’t feel like being particularly fair at that moment. It really hadn’t been her intention to distract the stable boy, after all, she had already provided him with a pretence of why she wanted those mice, which meant he was in the know regardless of whether he was now distracted by Haxia or not.

There was not really a point to antagonizing the other girl either who seemed to think that she was doing a something to help the mission, so Nyaine resigned herself to her fate, demonstratively turned on her heels and walked away. Where had the boy said the trap would be? Probably somewhere where mice were, she surmised, immediately afterwards wondering where exactly that was. She walked along the edge of the stable, looking for something that could be a trap. After a few paces, she found one, a spring-loaded device that had killed the mouse lured into it by a piece of cheese. At least the little rodent wasn’t moving. It seemed its neck had been broken. But maybe that was good enough, though. A live one would be a bigger shock for the Accepted, but a dead one was better than none at all.
Nyaine looked around for something that could be used to smuggle the animal out and finally identified an empty linen bag, that had probably held feed for the horses before. It was a lot bigger than would be needed for the little mouse, but everything was preferable to having to carry the creature with her own hands. Nyaine snatched the empty bag and looked around, checking whether anyone was paying attention to her. It seemed not to be that case.

Nyaine examined the trap, looking for a lever that would disarm the spring. Her search came up empty, so instead, she picked up the device and forced the jaws open with her hands, which turned out be easier than she had expected it to be. She was careful not to touch the dead animal, then quickly disposed of the empty trap by tossing it away from her after the dead rodent had landed in the bag. She picked up the bag and then returned to Haxia and the stable boy, who were apparently still talking, probably flirting. It was curious how the Murandian was similarly quick to mope over losing her marriage to some royal brat and begin flirting with a random stranger. Nyaine wondered not for the first time where there was some relation between geographical latitude and common decency.