EtchedSteel
*mumble mumble*
- Location
- Lima. Peru
[x] Plan Veekie
Aes Sedai Quest [Wheel of Time]
- Thread starter Choo Choo
- Start date
The Arches, 1
Choo Choo
THE GRIEF TRAIN HAS NO BRAKES
- Location
- Sweden -> California
- Pronouns
- She/her
Two years pass by, like the blink of an eye. Familiar people, familiar classes, familiar chores; your routines are largely set in stone, dictated by the rules of the White Tower. Somewhere in there, you turn twenty years of age; your family sends gifts from home, as they do every year, trinkets and clothing confiscated by the Mistress of Novices for safekeeping. Novices are not allowed personal effects, so you will receive them once you attain the shawl.
Your lessons progress nicely, both in the One Power and more mundane topics. Saidar comes to you easier than breathing now, but the novelty never wears off. You know better than to pull on too much, safety has been drilled into your head, but the temptation to feel more is always there. You are at your most adept when working with flows of Air and Fire, Spirit and Water is a bit more of a struggle, and you are utterly hopeless with Earth.
You remain attached at the hip with Rielin, and like before, the two of you spend a lot of time in the stables fussing over her horse. You also discover an interest in gardening that you both end up sharing; Rielin hates being cooped up in the tower, and is grateful for anything that gets her out in the fresh air. Ninea rarely joins you anymore, choosing to spend the extra time studying instead.
Some of your limited free time is spent with Kiyoshi. The two of you have a shared interest in diplomacy and etiquette, holding mock arguments and debates to practice on each other. You were never very close with her before, other than both of you being in the same loose circle of friends, but you find yourself enjoying her company. She's quieter and calmer than her twin Nacelle, though that is a very low bar to clear. However, after a year, she and her sister both get raised to Accepted and your budding friendship is put on hold.
After your little talk with her, Ellyne has woken up, there are no other words for it. At first, you hang around to keep an eye on her and make sure she won't do anything stupid, but it isn't long before you consider her a friend. She is reserved and soft-spoken, but there is an intensity to everything she does. She throws herself headfirst into the One Power, making remarkable progress in a short span of time. "I was always able to see the flows," she confesses to you late one night, as the two of you walk back to the novice gallery; it is no longer deemed necessary for her to have an Accepted watching her. "Try as I might, I couldn't pretend that I didn't." She likes to garden, too, and often joins you and Rielin pulling up weeds and getting your hands dirty.
You resume teaching Janna swordwork, which surprises her, but you can tell that she is pleased to reforge that friendship. You make less progress in your own practice than you did on your own, since you were able to focus better, but training is more enjoyable when you do it with a friend.
And so life continues.
~
The first hints of spring have come to Tar Valon after a long, bitter winter, and you are awoken just before dawn by a knock on the door. This isn't Rielin, with the three sharp raps that have woken you up every morning for four and a half years; this knock is slower, heavier, with four raps instead of three.
[] Write-in
Your lessons progress nicely, both in the One Power and more mundane topics. Saidar comes to you easier than breathing now, but the novelty never wears off. You know better than to pull on too much, safety has been drilled into your head, but the temptation to feel more is always there. You are at your most adept when working with flows of Air and Fire, Spirit and Water is a bit more of a struggle, and you are utterly hopeless with Earth.
You remain attached at the hip with Rielin, and like before, the two of you spend a lot of time in the stables fussing over her horse. You also discover an interest in gardening that you both end up sharing; Rielin hates being cooped up in the tower, and is grateful for anything that gets her out in the fresh air. Ninea rarely joins you anymore, choosing to spend the extra time studying instead.
Some of your limited free time is spent with Kiyoshi. The two of you have a shared interest in diplomacy and etiquette, holding mock arguments and debates to practice on each other. You were never very close with her before, other than both of you being in the same loose circle of friends, but you find yourself enjoying her company. She's quieter and calmer than her twin Nacelle, though that is a very low bar to clear. However, after a year, she and her sister both get raised to Accepted and your budding friendship is put on hold.
After your little talk with her, Ellyne has woken up, there are no other words for it. At first, you hang around to keep an eye on her and make sure she won't do anything stupid, but it isn't long before you consider her a friend. She is reserved and soft-spoken, but there is an intensity to everything she does. She throws herself headfirst into the One Power, making remarkable progress in a short span of time. "I was always able to see the flows," she confesses to you late one night, as the two of you walk back to the novice gallery; it is no longer deemed necessary for her to have an Accepted watching her. "Try as I might, I couldn't pretend that I didn't." She likes to garden, too, and often joins you and Rielin pulling up weeds and getting your hands dirty.
You resume teaching Janna swordwork, which surprises her, but you can tell that she is pleased to reforge that friendship. You make less progress in your own practice than you did on your own, since you were able to focus better, but training is more enjoyable when you do it with a friend.
And so life continues.
~
The first hints of spring have come to Tar Valon after a long, bitter winter, and you are awoken just before dawn by a knock on the door. This isn't Rielin, with the three sharp raps that have woken you up every morning for four and a half years; this knock is slower, heavier, with four raps instead of three.
[OPTION SELECT]
[] Write-in
So we're no healer, but we'd make a heck of an eavesdropper and battlemage.
[X] Call out to ask who's there. Get dressed quickly in case it's important.
Choo Choo
THE GRIEF TRAIN HAS NO BRAKES
- Location
- Sweden -> California
- Pronouns
- She/her
Well, keep in mind what Lucia's first spontaneous use of the Power was...
Romv
A Memory of TREES
Also illusions, I think. And other light manipulation.
[X] Prepare yourself quickly and then silently open the door. There is no need for words... you understand in your bones that the day you've been waiting for has arrived.
Yes, those too, very nifty set for Green, Grey, Blue, neutral for White, slightly detrimental for Brown and Red, bad for Yellow.
On the bright side there's the Arrows of Fire(those laser beams Rand pulls off in the later books), and the death pillar stunt(single thread of Fire, surrounded by a rotating cylinder of Air, which will scream and then explode)
Romv
A Memory of TREES
So she may have a Talent for Healing even though her abilities in Water and Spirit are not that good.
True...Fire is used for healing minds after all.
lavanderjasmine
Master of decoration
- Location
- R'lyeh
[X] Prepare yourself quickly and then silently open the door. There is no need for words... you understand in your bones that the day you've been waiting for has arrived.
EtchedSteel
*mumble mumble*
- Location
- Lima. Peru
[X] Prepare yourself quickly and then silently open the door. There is no need for words... you understand in your bones that the day you've been waiting for has arrived.
- Location
- Reno
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Prepare yourself quickly and then silently open the door. There is no need for words... you understand in your bones that the day you've been waiting for has arrived.
redzonejoe
Vaguely Pastafarian
- Location
- Canada
[
] Answer the door in your shift, with your hair all messy and your eyes crusted shut. "Whossat?"
] Answer the door in your shift, with your hair all messy and your eyes crusted shut. "Whossat?"While it's in jest, barring the Aes Sedai feeling mortally offended that's entirely fine.[
The Accepted test is taken nude to begin with.
redzonejoe
Vaguely Pastafarian
- Location
- Canada
Indeed. It's a many-layered joke I was making, and this point was part of it. Good catch.
The Arches, 2
Choo Choo
THE GRIEF TRAIN HAS NO BRAKES
- Location
- Sweden -> California
- Pronouns
- She/her
Lying on your hard bed, your entire body goes still, the heavy knocks still ringing in your head. You know who it is, and all traces of sleep lift from your mind. It's time.
You rise and dress in seconds, not bothered by the pitch darkness in this room that you know so well, and open the door without a word to see the Merean Sedai, the Mistress of Novices, with her blue-fringed shawl draped around her plump shoulders. You curtsy, lowering your eyes.
"The time has come, child," she says, and under her smooth voice you think that you sense some approval. "Follow me."
And so you do, trailing after Merean Sedai through the deserted halls of the Tower. It's the hour just before dawn, when the night servants have finished their duties but before the fires have been lit in the kitchen. All of Tar Valon is sleeping, and the only sound you can hear is the whisper of your slippers against the cool marble floors. Merean Sedai makes no sound at all.
She leads you to the library, but doesn't enter. Instead she takes you into a hidden little niche that you have never seen, not even exploring the Tower with Rielin, and down a steep and narrow set of spiral stairs. Down, down it goes, deep underneath Tar Valon, before you reach a tiny door; on the other side of the door is a ramp, continuing to curve down and down until you wonder whether you're being led to the core of the world.
"Are you scared, child?" Merean Sedai asks you, and you jump a little, startled at the break of the silence.
"Yes, Aes Sedai," you say after a moment's thought, deciding that the Mistress of Novices is likely to see through any false bravado you might attempt. You have no idea what the Raising entails, only that it's supposed to be a harrowing experience meant to test your resolve and dedication. You've known more than one girl who were tested to be Accepted and found wanting. A few had been put out of the Tower... but most had never returned. "The unknown, it be a terrifying thing. I do believe that I will no be so nervous once I be knowing what to do."
"Good," Merean Sedai says with a sidelong look at you over her shoulder. "You should know, novice, that your friend Rielin has passed through the arches already. She was raised not an hour ago."
You stumble a half-step in giddy surprise, a smile lighting up your face despite the trial ahead of you. Accepted Rielin. It has a nice ring to it, if not so nice a ring as Rielin Sedai will, and you are proud of her. Now all you have to do is make sure that you can tell her that in person.
The ramp finally ends in a spacious hallway, its walls smooth but otherwise unadorned, and a set of dark wooden doors tall and broad as the gates to Tar Valon. Merean Sedai has no issue pushing them open with ease regardless of how imposing they are, and they swing wide.
A great, domed chamber lies on the other side, carved out of the bedrock. Tall lamps arranged around the room burn with steady fire, their light reflecting off the walls. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the structure dominating the hall, however; three rounded arches of glinting silver just tall enough to walk under sit on a thick ring, joined at the ends. Between the arches light flickers oddly, so you can't see what lies on the other side, and something lurches in your stomach. It's a ter'angreal, you realize, a device that manipulates the One Power for a specific, mysterious purpose. Wherever arch meets ring, an Aes Sedai in her shawl sits cross-legged on the stone floor, staring at the arches. You recognize only one - Edrivea Sedai, the woman who first escorted you to the Mistress of Novices when you arrived in Tar Valon. There are two others, too, whose faces you know but whose names you do not.
"Lucia," Merean Sedai says, her voice echoing through the hall. "Novices are given three chances at this. Twice you may refuse to enter, and you may go back to your life as a novice until called upon again. Refuse a third time, however, and you are sent away from the Tower forever. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Aes Sedai," you say. You won't refuse. You'll become Accepted today.
"Very well." The Mistress of Novices takes a step closer. "Now I will tell you two things that no woman hears before she stands where you do now. Once you begin, you must go on to the end. Refuse at any point and you will be put out of the Tower, as surely as if you had refused to begin the third time. Second - to strive, to seek, is to know danger." She sounds like she has said these words many, many times, almost chanting, and her brown eyes rest on you with sympathy... maybe pity. "Some women have entered, and never come out. When the ter'angreal was allowed to go quiet, they were not there, and they were never seen again. If you will survive, you must be steadfast. If you falter, if you fail, you will be lost to us."
A frisson runs down your spine. The pity is what scares you.
"This is your last chance, Lucia. Refuse now, and it counts only as the first. If you accept, there is no turning back." Her voice turns gentle again, and she puts a hand on your shoulder. "There is no shame in refusing, child. Many women refuse the first time."
"I will no refuse," you say. Your voice rings as clear as hers through the room, settling into the very stone surrounding you. Around the arches, you feel the Aes Sedai embrace saidar, and the light in the arches stops flickering and steadies into a soft, white glow.
Merean Sedai nods, slow and thoughtful. "Then ready yourself."
You strip out of your clothes as fast as you put them on, willing your cheeks not to burn overmuch. Everyone in this room is a woman, decades if not centuries old all of them, and you have nothing they haven't seen before. The air in the chamber is cool, goosebumps running over your skin. You shiver a little.
Merean Sedai takes a step forward and you follow, bare feet padding against the stone.
"Whom do you bring with you, Sister?" one of the Aes Sedai unknown to you calls. She's a stocky woman with the copper skin of a Domani, and her shawl is fringed in green.
"One who comes as a candidate for Acceptance, Sister," Merean Sedai intones. The three Aes Sedai around the ter'angreal remain still.
"Is she ready?"
"She is ready to leave behind what she was, and, passing through her fears, gain Acceptance."
"Does she know her fears?"
Do you? You think about common fears, like spiders and snakes, heights and tight spaces. You think about the stories your wet nurse would tell you, about Trollocs who eat naughty children and Myrddral hiding under the bed. You don't think those are the kind of fears they're referring to, though. Fear of failing? Fear of being alone? You never thought about it...
"She has never faced them, but now she is willing."
"Then let her face what she fears."
...but you suppose that you're about to find out.
"The first time is for what was," Merean Sedai says, her voice heavy with formality. "The way back will come but once. Be steadfast."
You draw a deep breath and step forward before you can think to hesitate, three brisk steps through the first arch and into the light.
The light envelops you, flows into you, flows through, you.
The light becomes you.
~
You awaken to bird song and the sweet smell of perfumed sheets, your eyes flickering open. It's your bedroom at your family estate in Illian, familiar and opulent, just as it always was. You're back home.
...wait, back? You frown to yourself, staring up at the canopy of your bed. What a strange thought, back. As if you had ever left! You shake off the thought and get up, going about your morning routine.
The way back will come but once.
[] Write-in
~
Hi everyone! I'm still alive, despite the best efforts of my classes. Sorry about the long wait; I knew I'd be busy this semester, but not that I'd be this busy, jfc.
You rise and dress in seconds, not bothered by the pitch darkness in this room that you know so well, and open the door without a word to see the Merean Sedai, the Mistress of Novices, with her blue-fringed shawl draped around her plump shoulders. You curtsy, lowering your eyes.
"The time has come, child," she says, and under her smooth voice you think that you sense some approval. "Follow me."
And so you do, trailing after Merean Sedai through the deserted halls of the Tower. It's the hour just before dawn, when the night servants have finished their duties but before the fires have been lit in the kitchen. All of Tar Valon is sleeping, and the only sound you can hear is the whisper of your slippers against the cool marble floors. Merean Sedai makes no sound at all.
She leads you to the library, but doesn't enter. Instead she takes you into a hidden little niche that you have never seen, not even exploring the Tower with Rielin, and down a steep and narrow set of spiral stairs. Down, down it goes, deep underneath Tar Valon, before you reach a tiny door; on the other side of the door is a ramp, continuing to curve down and down until you wonder whether you're being led to the core of the world.
"Are you scared, child?" Merean Sedai asks you, and you jump a little, startled at the break of the silence.
"Yes, Aes Sedai," you say after a moment's thought, deciding that the Mistress of Novices is likely to see through any false bravado you might attempt. You have no idea what the Raising entails, only that it's supposed to be a harrowing experience meant to test your resolve and dedication. You've known more than one girl who were tested to be Accepted and found wanting. A few had been put out of the Tower... but most had never returned. "The unknown, it be a terrifying thing. I do believe that I will no be so nervous once I be knowing what to do."
"Good," Merean Sedai says with a sidelong look at you over her shoulder. "You should know, novice, that your friend Rielin has passed through the arches already. She was raised not an hour ago."
You stumble a half-step in giddy surprise, a smile lighting up your face despite the trial ahead of you. Accepted Rielin. It has a nice ring to it, if not so nice a ring as Rielin Sedai will, and you are proud of her. Now all you have to do is make sure that you can tell her that in person.
The ramp finally ends in a spacious hallway, its walls smooth but otherwise unadorned, and a set of dark wooden doors tall and broad as the gates to Tar Valon. Merean Sedai has no issue pushing them open with ease regardless of how imposing they are, and they swing wide.
A great, domed chamber lies on the other side, carved out of the bedrock. Tall lamps arranged around the room burn with steady fire, their light reflecting off the walls. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the structure dominating the hall, however; three rounded arches of glinting silver just tall enough to walk under sit on a thick ring, joined at the ends. Between the arches light flickers oddly, so you can't see what lies on the other side, and something lurches in your stomach. It's a ter'angreal, you realize, a device that manipulates the One Power for a specific, mysterious purpose. Wherever arch meets ring, an Aes Sedai in her shawl sits cross-legged on the stone floor, staring at the arches. You recognize only one - Edrivea Sedai, the woman who first escorted you to the Mistress of Novices when you arrived in Tar Valon. There are two others, too, whose faces you know but whose names you do not.
"Lucia," Merean Sedai says, her voice echoing through the hall. "Novices are given three chances at this. Twice you may refuse to enter, and you may go back to your life as a novice until called upon again. Refuse a third time, however, and you are sent away from the Tower forever. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Aes Sedai," you say. You won't refuse. You'll become Accepted today.
"Very well." The Mistress of Novices takes a step closer. "Now I will tell you two things that no woman hears before she stands where you do now. Once you begin, you must go on to the end. Refuse at any point and you will be put out of the Tower, as surely as if you had refused to begin the third time. Second - to strive, to seek, is to know danger." She sounds like she has said these words many, many times, almost chanting, and her brown eyes rest on you with sympathy... maybe pity. "Some women have entered, and never come out. When the ter'angreal was allowed to go quiet, they were not there, and they were never seen again. If you will survive, you must be steadfast. If you falter, if you fail, you will be lost to us."
A frisson runs down your spine. The pity is what scares you.
"This is your last chance, Lucia. Refuse now, and it counts only as the first. If you accept, there is no turning back." Her voice turns gentle again, and she puts a hand on your shoulder. "There is no shame in refusing, child. Many women refuse the first time."
"I will no refuse," you say. Your voice rings as clear as hers through the room, settling into the very stone surrounding you. Around the arches, you feel the Aes Sedai embrace saidar, and the light in the arches stops flickering and steadies into a soft, white glow.
Merean Sedai nods, slow and thoughtful. "Then ready yourself."
You strip out of your clothes as fast as you put them on, willing your cheeks not to burn overmuch. Everyone in this room is a woman, decades if not centuries old all of them, and you have nothing they haven't seen before. The air in the chamber is cool, goosebumps running over your skin. You shiver a little.
Merean Sedai takes a step forward and you follow, bare feet padding against the stone.
"Whom do you bring with you, Sister?" one of the Aes Sedai unknown to you calls. She's a stocky woman with the copper skin of a Domani, and her shawl is fringed in green.
"One who comes as a candidate for Acceptance, Sister," Merean Sedai intones. The three Aes Sedai around the ter'angreal remain still.
"Is she ready?"
"She is ready to leave behind what she was, and, passing through her fears, gain Acceptance."
"Does she know her fears?"
Do you? You think about common fears, like spiders and snakes, heights and tight spaces. You think about the stories your wet nurse would tell you, about Trollocs who eat naughty children and Myrddral hiding under the bed. You don't think those are the kind of fears they're referring to, though. Fear of failing? Fear of being alone? You never thought about it...
"She has never faced them, but now she is willing."
"Then let her face what she fears."
...but you suppose that you're about to find out.
"The first time is for what was," Merean Sedai says, her voice heavy with formality. "The way back will come but once. Be steadfast."
You draw a deep breath and step forward before you can think to hesitate, three brisk steps through the first arch and into the light.
The light envelops you, flows into you, flows through, you.
The light becomes you.
~
You awaken to bird song and the sweet smell of perfumed sheets, your eyes flickering open. It's your bedroom at your family estate in Illian, familiar and opulent, just as it always was. You're back home.
...wait, back? You frown to yourself, staring up at the canopy of your bed. What a strange thought, back. As if you had ever left! You shake off the thought and get up, going about your morning routine.
The way back will come but once.
[OPTION SELECT]
[] Write-in
~
Hi everyone! I'm still alive, despite the best efforts of my classes. Sorry about the long wait; I knew I'd be busy this semester, but not that I'd be this busy, jfc.
Last edited:
- Location
- Reno
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[x]Don't forget while you're here! Go downstairs and talk to your family while looking for the fear you're supposed to face!
redzonejoe
Vaguely Pastafarian
- Location
- Canada
[X] What a wonderful day! Isn't family great? Sure, the building can't compsre to the wonders of Tar Valon, but it's still brilliant, in its own way. It's good to be home. Now why'd I think a thought as queer as that?
Invisitext important part of vote. Pls include if copying.
Invisitext important part of vote. Pls include if copying.
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redzonejoe
Vaguely Pastafarian
- Location
- Canada
Aye, I hope my invisitext vote portrays that properly. Everything normal here! Except...
Edit: I might be hinting a bit too strongly, but to be fair this is a pretty awkward vote. The alternative is "go eat breakfast"
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Choo Choo
THE GRIEF TRAIN HAS NO BRAKES
- Location
- Sweden -> California
- Pronouns
- She/her
So it is, and I'm sorry for that - I wasn't quite sure where to end this post, I'll admit. I hope it still works well enough.