Unscheduled Check-in [attn: Bella/Andraste]

[Roan]

Tia Tomosan Sedai

Tia Tomosan Sedai was still in the process of building up her ‘eyes and ears,’ though it helped that she was related to Miahala Sedai. No, Tia didn’t automatically inherit the older Aes Sedai’s network, but there were those who were loyal to the Sha’hal clan. Several of these had made themselves known to Tia not long after she’d attained the shawl, and some were within the Tower walls. One of their number was able to let the Green know where she could find a certain Novice.

Exiting the Tower proper and heading towards the Gardens, Tia paused a moment to look at the clear blue sky and took in a deep breath. Spring was giving way to summer, and the morning air was crisp but not chilling. It was on its way to being a beautiful day.

Not one to wear dresses, Tia was in what was her typical garb of riding breeches, riding boots, blouse and vest. Today, her vest was a deep green and her breeches black. Many of her sisters preferred billowing dresses, but they just never seemed practical to her. As soon as she earned the Shawl, she rid her closet of any and all dresses.

Tia couldn’t help the wry smile at that particular memory. One of the Accepted who helped her moved asked if she was certain, and there was no hesitation when Tia replied, “One hundred percent certain, without any doubt at all.” Any other memories were cast aside, though, when she spotted the Novice.

Sitting next to my favorite willow tree, she thought to herself.

Closing distance, Tia made her presence known by clearing her throat, and when she’d caught Andraste’s eye, spoke, “Good morning, Andraste. I was told I could find you out here.” She offered a warm smile as she inclined her head, “Would you mind if I joined you for a time?”

[Bella]

It had taken a while, but Andraste had mostly been able to move on from being angry at the Aes Sedai known as Miahala and Tia.

Of course, she was still plenty angry, but she had moved it away from them. They had no hand in the deaths of her beloved, and they could only do what they were needed to do. She at least understood now that being able to channel without guidance and training could have led her to be a danger; she may have accidentally killed someone else's beloveds.

"Of course," she replied politely. Although she had gotten past her anger, she hadn't moved closer to any other sort of warmth for the pair of them...although Tia was the first one to speak with her since bringing her here. She had only see the elder in passing.

Andraste stood, as she had learned was the respect due Aes Sedai, and did a half-head-bow-semi-curtsy thing. It was the most she had been able to get herself to do, and it seemed to suffice. She had simply been reading from a small book and held it now before her. "What can I do for you, Aes Sedai?"

[Roan]

Tia Tomosan

Tia thought back to the day she and Mia found Andraste. The anger from the woman when she learned she had no choice but to join Tia and Mia back to Hama Valon and the Tower was palpable. Tia’d been lucky in that she was already at the Tower, and with family when she learned she had the spark. Andraste was not so fortunate.

The Aes Sedai couldn’t imagine what that day must have been like for the Novice, but mixed in with the anger was a deep sense of loss. She wondered how Andraste would adjust to life at the Tower, and hoped enough time had passed that any resentment towards her may have faded a bit. As the Novice did the bow and curtsy, Tia did her best not to make a face. She knew the reason for the strict adherence and recognition of the hierarchy at the Tower, but it didn’t mean she had to like it.

When she was a novice, she’d never consider not doing the curtsy to an Aes Sedai, but now that she was full rank, she didn’t care for the. . .boundary the sense of rank seemed to put in the way. With a simple wave and slight shake of her head, Tia replied, “Please, there’s no need for pomp and circumstance. I just. . .I wanted to check in and see how you were adjusting to life here at the Tower, and see how you were doing?” Tia sat down and motioned for Andraste to join her as she waited for the Novice’s answer.

[Bella]

In retrospect, Andraste shouldn't have been surprised...although she was, and maybe she should be. These Aes Sedai were so hard to predict, since some would send you over the edge of the Tower for forgetting to curtsy or for speaking first, but some were more like the one before her. Until she met each of them, she could have no way of knowing which was which!

That was particularly aggravating, but she did the best she could.

With a nod, she moved to sit next to the Green. It was a little stiff and uncertain. She didn't entirely know what to do with the woman, and her presence was a reminder of something very painful that Andra worked hard to not let herself think about.

"I am doing...as well as might be expected," she replied carefully, looking off over the landscape of the gardens. "It has been tricky to adjust, as life here is very different than what I've been used to. And I seem to be older than most of the other Novices." She paused. "That is...unpleasant."

[Roan]

Tia Tomosan

Tia offered Andraste a small but warm smile, “I am sure it is less than pleasant given the age discrepancy is not insignificant, and given your life prior to coming here. Truth be told, my goal in life was to become a Gaidin like my mother, not an Aes Sedai. I was less than pleased when Miahala Sedai told me I had the spark.

“Wearing a dress was not what I envisioned for myself, but there was little to be done for it other than bare it and do what I could to earn the shawl so I could be done with damnable dresses and wear what I bloody well pleased,” Tia replied, her warm smile turning to a somewhat devious smirk. “I survived, though, and so will you, so long as you don’t drown in chores,” she added with a wink.

The Aes Sedai shook her head slightly, “I didn’t live a pampered life before donning the Novice Whites, but I swear my hands were raw from doing dishes or scrubbing floors. I very nearly tipped a bucket of dirty water over an Accepted because she said I missed a spot. Kind of wish I’d done it in hindsight.”

A slightly uncomfortable silence descended between them. Clearing her throat, and looking to the Novice with furrowed brows, Tia continued, “I. . .I know how you came to be here wasn’t under the best of circumstances. I also know starting on your path here is hard enough on its own, much less when mourning the loss of those close to you. I am sorry these are the circumstances to which you’ve come to the Tower. I don’t know that there is anything I can do to make your time here easier, but if you find yourself in need of more mature company, I can at least offer you that. . .consider my door open to you, Andraste.”

[Bella]

This was the second time than an Aes Sedai had offered something like that to Andraste, which surprised her as much this time as it had the last time. Although Tia Sedai seemed more...earnest than Elia Sedai had. Everything about Elia had seemed smooth and cultured, practiced one might suppose. Tia was a little more plain and genuine.

Andra wasn't sure which she preferred, since it was a struggle to imagine being "friendly" with any Aes Sedai.

"I...thank you for that, Aes Sedai," Andra said. She did appreciate the sentiment, and that this woman seemed to understand why it was so difficult for her to be here. "I am not enjoying the chores." That was a safer topic, she determined. "While I had to do some work while on the road, never have I been deluged with so much hot water.

"I was tempted to dump a bucket over the head of a Soldier the other day," she added musingly, then wondered if she should have said that...but Tia had started it, so she should be "safe."

[Roan]

Tia Tomosan

Tia laughed and shook her head, “It is likely best you did not give into that particular temptation. Not only would the Mistress of Novices assign you more chores, our ‘Mistress of Laundry’ would make your life miserable until you earn the Shawl, and even that is no guarantee she’d go easy on you.” She scanned the gardens, “I found they always seemed to know which chore you might like the least, and assigned you to it just because they could.

“One of my roommates hated horses. . . still does, and they had her assigned to much out the stalls every day. I hated scrubbing floors more than anything, and thus they had me doing that seemingly every day. We asked if we could swap. . .and earned double duty for chores for our trouble,” she explained, shaking her head slightly.

Tia studied the weeping willow she’d always thought of as ‘her’ tree, then looked to Andraste, “We didn’t really speak much on our way to the Tower. What was it you did before. . .before our paths crossed?”

[Bella]

You mean before I watched the two people I loved best in this world mercilessly slaughtered like cattle over a stony trinket? The words bounced around with pointed anger in her mind, but she pressed her lips together slightly and did not speak them. This woman didn't kill them, and did not deserve Andra's wrath.

There are others out there far more deserving.

With that consolation, she tamped her reaction down and took a deep breath as if to blow away its remnants. "I..." She paused and sighed slightly. "We were merchants, traveling ones. We carried some stock that we took specifically from Kandor, but also found things along the way that we would barter or purchase, and then find someone somewhere else that wanted it more and barter or sell it."

[Roan]

Tia Tomosan

The Aes Sedai’s thoughts went back to the object of Power which led Tia and Mia to cross Andraste’s path. The woman had no idea what the object was, just that someone wanted to acquire it, and that someone happened to be a Darkfriend. The one object set Andraste on the path to the Tower, and a very different way of life.

Tia offered a warm smile, “It is a very different life to the one you’ll live here. Sure, you still likely had to scrub pots and do laundry, but at least it was your own instead of some haughty mid-rank, or perhaps worse, full rank.” Her smile turned a bit wry before she shook her head, “I was already here before becoming a Novice, so I knew, to some extent, what life was like for the learning ranks. . .or at least I thought I knew.

“I was younger than you, though, so the lessons learned were necessary. I was seventeen when I donned the Novice Whites, and in some ways, a naive seventeen year old, having spent my childhood in a small Saldean town before moving to the Tower as a young teenager. My background couldn’t be more different from yours,” Tia said as she looked back to the weeping willow.

Her thoughts went to Andraste’s companions, and the woman’s sense of grief for both of them. It had struck the Aes Sedai as odd at the time, though she pushed the thoughts aside and focused on escorting her back to the Tower. Turning her green eyes back to Andraste, Tia hesitated slightly before she spoke, “Your companions. . .one was your husband, yes?”

[Bella]

The question, however delicately asked, was enough to make Andra seize slightly inside. It did not actually surprise her, though, because it was the natural question for anyone who had seen her in the state she had been in then... She shifted her dark-eyed gaze out over the gardens, because she did not think herself capable to speak of it while meeting the other woman's eyes.

"Yes," she began carefully, debating how much she wished to tell. But she did not want her life to be one of shadows. Her grief might have restrained her, but never shame.

She nodded slightly, as if to herself. "Yes, Belenus was my husand." A pause. "And Chandra was my lover." Her throat tightened at the thought of both them, memories of them alive and happy blending with the sight of their discarded bodies. "We were all companions, in full truth and love of one another." She spoke not to defend but to explain, and would never justify herself to anyone.

Yet there was a flash in her eyes, as if daring the woman--an Aes Sedai, no less--to speak against the life she had.