Uncovered Secrets [Attn: Marla]

[Jenny]

Kaira

Kaira glared sullenly at the back of Ayana Sedai as she followed the White sister through the long hall filled with busy clerks. Though the weather outside was gloriously sunny with a pleasant spring breeze, the windows to the room were set high up in the walls. Any light that shone through seemed grey and dreary. A lamp sat on every desk, lighting the room with a soft yellow glow. It would be easy to lose track of time in here, thought Kaira, as she looked around in disgust. Parchment, parchment and more parchment! Ink seemed to dot every surface, sprayed from the quills of furiously scribbling workers.

Oh, why did she have to suffer detention?? Kaira much preferred the corporal punishment of Vanya Sedai’s slipper. At least then, her pain could be relieved by a cool salve and her pride soothed with Nasrin’s sympathy and attention. But here in the Records Room or Torture Hall or whatever-this-Light-forsaken-place-was-called, there was nothing to do but grit her teeth and bear the inevitable mind-numbing boredom.

Ayana Sedai took her to the side of the hall, which was lined by many doors. She opened one, and then ushered Kaira into the small windowless room. Kaira stifled a groan of despair. Shelves lined each of the four walls from ceiling to floor and were stuffed full of files and paper. There was one small desk and a single chair occupied by an Accepted with wavy, brown hair and large, blue eyes. She looked up at the intrusion.

Kaira was surprised to see a smile touched by a hint of mischief. She crossed her fingers behind her back. Perhaps the Creator had seen fit to give her a beacon of light on this dreary day.

Ayana spoke.

“You are to assist Accepted Leanora in whatever she should require of you. Lea, this is Kaira, your assistant for the day.”

Kaira couldn’t help but to sputter.

“The day? Vanya Sedai said that I was to be in detention only for the morning.”

Ayana smiled coldly.

“The day,” she repeated. “And if your behavior does not improve, child, then you may find yourself here tomorrow as well. If Lea has any problems with you, she will report to me. Very well. Is that all? Enjoy your day.”

The door closed with a slam. No doubt the White sister was aching to get back to her work. The room plunged into sudden silence as the noise from the outside hall was completely shut out. Kaira dropped a hasty curtsy. Accepted were not Aes Sedai, but they often expected to be treated as if they were. Then she looked again around the room in bewilderment.

“Where would you like for me to begin, Accepted?”

[Sunny]

Leanora

To some, the room Lea sat in would have seemed a torture chamber of boredom. To the slender Taraboner girl, however, the room represented something more valuable than gold: Information. The Whites liked to keep track of certain trends, and compare them: Was there a correlation between reduction in the numbers of cats and the rise in illness among Tairen commoners? How many olives did Mayene export the year their city-state flooded? The questions they asked were abstract, but the data they needed to answer them could not possibly be more concrete. Thus Lea pretended interest in their Ajah that she might glean knowledge from their research, and spoke to no one of the small notebook she carried in a hidden pocket.

Occasionally they sent some unfortunate novice or soldier in to ‘assist’ her, an experience that neither generally enjoyed, though their reasons for their distress were quite different. Thus it did not surprise the Accepted when Ayana appeared at her door with a small girl in white in tow. The older woman rose and curtsied, keeping her eyes respectfully downcast as she listened to the exchange.

Kaira. Ravak Darrow’s daughter. Lea’s eyes narrowed momentarily, but then she collected herself and sat, face smoothing to bland acceptance by the time the dark-haired girl met her eyes. “Where would you like for me to begin, Accepted?”

“I am currently cross-checking records from 800 NE to 900NE. These books,” she waved gracefully to her left, “contain birth records. We are to tally how many girls were born and how many boys, marking which years were exceptionally skewed. These books,” she gestured to her right, “contain information about weather patterns for the same time period. Our goal is to determine whether there is a correlation between warmer weather and the number of girl children born.”

Lea wanted to laugh at Kaira’s vocal groan, but instead the Accepted gave her a sympathetic smile. “Count your blessings, child. You could be shoveling manure,” she commented. Then she slapped a writing board, stack of paper, ink, and pen in front of her erstwhile companion. “What did you do to get sent to me, anyway?”

[Jenny]

Kaira

Shit is shit whether it be from a horse's ass or the mouth of a fool, thought Kaira sourly. She looked around. Or in the form of endless stacks of paper.

She kept her mouth firmly shut and her thoughts to herself, though her distaste showed clearly in her expression. Who cared if there was a correlation between warm weather and the number of girl children? It would certainly be unwise to manipulate the weather in such a large scale so it seemed to be of no practical use.

But then again, Aes Sedai did like to meddle in affairs larger than themselves. Kaira unscrewed the ink cap and picked up the pen. Her other finger pointed at the first line of the first book as she began to copy.

"One of the Accepted received a flask of perfumed soap and used it in her bathwater," she said. "And it dyed her hair blue for a week. She went crying to Vanya Sedai, who talked to Ayana Sedai, who accused me of playing a practical joke. Like I would ever do such a thing! But Ayana Sedai said something about how she examined the residue found in the flask and found a mixture of ink and sprinklewort and traced the source back to me. It was loads of gibberish. I still said that I didn't do anything, but of course I couldn't win against the word of a White sister and her logic. Hmph. I think that she just needed a scapegoat. So, here I am."

She concentrated on the papers under her hand. Numbers, numbers, and more flaming numbers! Kaira swore that she would go cross-eyed by the end of the day.

[Sunny]

Leanora

Lea’s face remained carefully poised as she listened to Kaira’s sulky diatribe. Perfumed soap? Sprinklewort? The Accepted would never claim to have all the knowledge of an Aes Sedai, but she didn’t need it to know that Kaira was not being honest. It had taken days of washing for Deyenne’s hair to fade, and even now it still took on a ghastly green color in certain light. This woman had been responsible for that? She was Ravak Darrow’s daughter!

Leanora’s mind reeled. Not many in the White Tower chose to wed, and even fewer bore children. The single child of an Aes Sedai she had encountered before she left Tar Valon would as soon have jumped off the highest bridge as play such a childish prank on one of the Accepted...and to lie about it so boldly? Dear Creator.

“I adjust my assessment of the situation,” the young Accepted said calmly, pushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she leaned over her own book. “You are lucky you are here, and not spending the rest of your natural life bent over a hoe on a farm somewhere in Illian.” She smiled pleasantly as she spoke. “For the daughter of the Gaidin Captain to behave in such a fashion is beyond comprehension. What were you thinking, child?” If there was a little more emphasis on the last word than there might normally have been, who could blame her?

OOC: I'm basically pretending like the "Tending the Baby" thread with Rav/Lea was a different Accepted. I am not even close to ready for her to be 30+, and she did not spend 16 years as an Accepted anyway.