White and Woolies [Open] COMPLETE

[Hannah]

Eveayla Eveayla puffed air up through her lips, blowing a drooping ringlet from her damp forehead. She was sweating. Disgusting. She couldn't remember the last time she had sweated, not to mention the last time she'd had her arms elbow-deep in wash water. Who knew that your first week as a Novice was so full of servant's work? Aes Sedai didn't work like this, so why should she have to? In her opinion, being a Novice was far less glamorous than advertised. She had barely done anything so far, outside of listening to some dried-up, boring Accepted droning on and on about flowers and flowing water. Apparently you couldn't just start channeling right away, you had to learn to be at peace with yourself or some nonsense. The whole thing was beyond frustrating.

She didn't even want to be here, and now, here she was, scrubbing someone else's woolens on a laundry board, in a hot and sweaty room. She reached down into the water and fished out a small item, puzzling over what it was for a moment before turning beet red. Oh Light! Men's smallclothes? She looked around quickly before dropping them back into the water and pushing them under with the laundry stick. No way she was handling those.

Other novices toiled around her - a few Accepted too, and some of the younger male channelers. Dedicated? Soldiers? She wondered if any of the Drin were in here. At least a Warder in Training might give her a welcome distraction from the mind-numbing boredom of ruining her hands. Chores. Chores were her least favorite thing so far.

[Locke]

Alric

The steamy wash room probably wasn’t the best place to read. Excess moisture and books didn’t mix. A simple weave Air and Fire sat tied off keeping the air around his book dry. It was for the best. It wasn’t like he was doing anything else worth his time. Supervising students do their chores again. He hated doing this. Maybe if he made some more progress on his block, they would give him an actual class to teach. Until then, he’d read. There wasn’t much written on the subject of the Power in warfare. Oh there were accounts of channelers blasting trollocs or defences of the Three Oaths, but nothing about the actual application. No doctrine. Even this book that tried to delve into the Trolloc War was of little help.

With a grunt he snapped the book closed and stood adjusting his sword belt. He walked among the students on their hands and knees scrubbing laundry. Some seemed not to mind the task, others, however, seemed to resent even being asked to do such a thing. He picked up a wash board of his own and knelt next to a new novice who seemed to be having quite a hard time with her washboard.

“You know,” he said rolling up his sleeves to begin scrubbing. “I don’t think I heard such l foul oaths from my old company sergeant,” he said with an amused quirk of his lips. “Look, you want to make sure the board is stable and put some serious elbow into it. It’s tedious work, but somebody has to do it.” Alric didn’t even try to count how many hours of his life he’d spent scrubbing other people’s small cloths, first as a soldier in Lord Damodred’s army and more recently as a Soldier at the Grey Tower.

[Hannah]

Eveayla "It's not that it's difficult," Eveayla mumbled, annoyed. She couldn't help rolling her eyes. A man was going to tell her how to do chores? Why wasn't he doing them himself? Her father did all the chores at home, it should be the same here. Everyone outside of Far Madding was living backwards, but she had expected that. She just hadn't expected it to affect her so directly. She watched him scrub for a moment, taking in his clothing. A sword pin on his collar, so.... Dedicated? That meant he had been here for awhile. Maybe his presence could be used to her advantage. He looked like he was in charge.

She changed from a frown to what she imagined was a sweet, friendly smile. Usually it meant she got what she wanted at home. She opened her eyes a bit wider and parted her lips slightly to look more breathless and flushed than overheated.

"I wasn't really cursing," she said, looking at him through her lashes for a moment. "I'm just not used to being worked so hard. I can't even channel yet, so I don't even feel like I'm learning anything." She fished around in the water and pulled out a shift, grateful that it wasn't more small clothes. Taking the garment to the board, she scrubbed it generously to make sure he thought she had been doing it right all along. She needed a distraction. I suppose he'll do, she thought.

"What are you reading? It looks interesting," she said, glancing towards the old book that looked decidedly un-interesting. Books were for people who were terrible at socializing.

[Jenny]

Kaira Darrow Kaira stood next to another novice, scrubbing roughly at the clothing on the laundry board. A drop of sweat trickled down her back and she shifted uncomfortably, unable to scratch at it with her wet and soapy hands. Too bad Nasrin wasn't right next to her to help her scratch the itch. The Dedicated on chore duty had very carefully separated her from her best friend and roommate, knowing that if he left the two of them together, they would get into Trouble with a capital 'T'.

Not that Kaira minded too much, as the Dedicated had also spared her from an hour of merciless teasing. From across the room and through the haze of steaming, she could see Nasrin shooting her meaningful glances and horribly obvious winks. Kaira ducked her head and pretended not to see the foolishness of her roommate. Nasrin knew that Kaira thought the Dedicated on duty, Alric Aurella, was a total hottie - which he totally was. Kaira bit at her lip and snuck another glance at the young man, who was sitting nearby and reading a book. She squinted, trying to make out the letters on the spine. Something about.... war? Was he interested in the Green Ajah? Hm...

Ugh, that itch was really becoming unbearable. Kaira debated in her head. Was it worth embarrassing herself to get rid of the itch? Perhaps she could ask another novice to help her out. She looked at the girl next to her and grimaced. It was little Miss Prissypants, Eveayla Amasalan. Even as Kaira watched, the other girl's nose wrinkled in disdain. What was that Eveayla just threw back into the washtub? A man's smallclothes? Kaira stifled a giggle. She caught Nasrin's eye, tilted her head at Eveayla, and rolled her eyes.

Then she nearly choked as Alric appeared on the other side of Eveayla, rolled up his sleeves, and began scrubbing. Light! Light! Light! Kaira couldn't help but to stare at his hands, which were strong and callused from training with a sword. And his forearms, so toned and muscular. And his body. And his face. Kaira's imagination ran out of descriptors as she stared at the object of her affections, standing so near her. She could hardly breathe!

And suddenly he looked past Eveayla and straight at her. Kaira inhaled sharply. He had such beautiful eyes! And he was looking at her! She could not... she could not...

"Can you pass me the soap, Kaira?"

Kaira gaped at him like an idiot.

"Kaira? Kaira?"

The new novice kicked her in the shin.

Oh! Kaira startled out of her daze and quickly reached for the bar of soap. In her haste, it slipped out of her hands.... and into the washtub. She stared at the murky water. Her cheeks burned. She could almost see Nasrin laughing at her out of the corner of her eye. Well. Bloody flaming ashes. What now?

[Hannah]

Eveayla The sudden plop of soap drew Eveayla's attention away from the book momentarily. The other novice had dropped it into the washtub. She was glad that the Dedicated had had the sense to separate Kaira from her beyond-annoying friend. They had absolutely no class or grace, always making faces and running around thick as thieves together. Hardly what she had expected from women who hoped to become Aes Sedai. She gave the other girl a disapproving look, then smiled to herself. Maybe getting this boy to pay attention to her could be amusing, especially if the other girl had feelings for him. She couldn't think of any other reason Kaira would be gaping at him like a newborn calf.

"I'll get that," she said, and reached across the water in a graceful motion, dipping her hand beneath the surface and allowing her hip to lean against the Dedicated's side. The curls that had escaped her headscarf haloed around her face, frizzing slightly at the steam coming up from the warm water. If there was one thing warm water was good for, it was a glowing complexion. She meant to take full advantage of it, too. Feeling around, she managed to put her hands on something that felt like soap - slippery and slightly squishy. Triumphantly, she lifted it out of the water, only to find herself holding the nastiest, muddiest old boot she had ever seen.

Yelping in surprise, she lost her balance and went for a full-face dip in the tub, drenching Alric in the process.

[Locke]

Alric

How did this even bloody happen? Alric thought as he drew his sword just long enough to dry himself and some of the Novices off with Saidin. The new girl, he still didn’t know her name, had managed to upend the wash tub, not only drenching him but splashing dirty, sudsy water across the entire floor. Most of the other Novices were pressed against the edges of the room, avoiding the ever expanding puddle.

Initially, Alric had rounded on the girl who’d caused all his trouble assuming she’d planned this. Her look of pure mortification however, lead him to believe it had all been an accident. A rather messy accident. Looking around the room, he asked himself, would a proper Dedicated make them mop up the spilled water? Probably, but this laundry needed to be done. Drawing his sword again, he shoveled his annoyance into the Flame and pulled the Void around himself. He could feel the Source raging like a bonfire, offering both life and death. He reached out and seized it and it crashed over him like a storm wall. Using weaves of Air and Water, he fathered the water into a large orb in the center of the room. An idea occurred to him, and he channeled again. The murky orb began to turn clear, from top to bottom, as he filtered the dirt and old soap out of the water. He let the clean water settle back into the tub with a satisfied nod. While he was at it… He channeled again, drawing the dirt out of the other tubs. All the accumulated grime floated before him in a glistening black ball. He let it fall into the sink usually used for emptying wash tubs into.

Not much time had passed, but the the looks of shock on many of the Novice’s faces had morphed into looks of interest or in some cases amazement. Before he released the Power, there was at least one more thing he needed to do. He channeled threads of Fire and Water into each tub causing steam to rise from the surface. There, he thought, releasing the Power, They should be able to make up for lost time now.

“Grab some soap and get back to work,” Alric said, “It should go quicker for you.” Instead of returning to his book, he sheathed his sword, and began picking up clothing that had been scattered. He knelt down at a tub with Kaira and began scrubbing. The clumsy Novice’s accident had drenched a number of stacks of clean clothes waiting to be dried as well. Scrubbing alongside these kids wouldn’t hurt. He’d always been a lead by example type anyway.

[Jenny]

Kaira Darrow Kaira watched all the channeling with wide eyes. She couldn't see any of it, of course, since he channeled saidin - actually, she still couldn't even see saidar - and the water flowed like magic before her eyes. Growing up in the Tower meant that she was used to people channeling around her, but seeing new weaves always filled her with awe.

After everything was cleaned up, she went to a storage cabinet and fetched a few new bars of soap. Then she returned to scrubbing. To her surprise, Alric knelt next to her. She forced down her excitement and kept her head down so that she could not be distracted by Nasrin's raised eyebrows or Alric's gorgeous face.

Which, of course, didn't stop Nasrin from coming by and whispering in her ear.

"Talk to him," the Domani novice hissed. "Or else I'll make sure that you don't sleep tonight."

Light help her! It was not an empty threat. Nasrin knew all of her worst ticklish spots. Kaira squeezed her eyes shut and screwed up her courage. What could she say? Maybe... maybe she could compliment him on his channeling. She took a deep breath. But before she spoke, she felt someone nudging her aside. She looked up to see Eveayla settling in between her and Alric with a new laundry board. Kaira's mouth dropped open. How dared she!

[Hannah]

Eveayala Having come up spluttering and covered in filthy water was an unexpected detour to her clever plan. Utterly humiliated, every ounce of anger had disappeared from Eveayla and been replaced by momentary fear when the Dedicated had drawn a sword - a sword! - before all the water in the room had flown around and coalesced as a grimy ball of filth. She had realized moments into it happening that he must have been Channeling. It was terrifying! She had never seen men Channeling before. She hadn't really seen anyone Channeling before this week, but seeing so much of it made her feel slightly sick. When the ball hadn't come hurtling towards her head, but ended up in the dirty dump sink, she relaxed slightly. At least they didn't punish people in the tortuous ways the folk in Far Madding whispered about.

Her awe was short lived when she noticed the glances exchanged between some of her classmates. They thought they would make fun of her? She would show them how miserable life could be when they did. She smirked as she settled down beside the object of Kaira's affections. Unrequited affections, to be sure -- the man could not be more oblivious! That was a little disappointing, but she could deal with it. It's not like she would have developed feelings for him. He wasn't her type, but upsetting the other girl made her feel a little more in control.

"I can't believe anyone would have put a boot in there," she mumbled, glancing at him. He certainly didn't look like he appreciated being flirted with. He kind of looked like he had been forced to eat said shoe. Just who she needed to spend time sitting next to - a male channeler who had almost stabbed them all to death. She'd seen him draw that sword.

What if he was really old? Pre-cleansing old. She had heard some tales about male channelers who had gone mad before saidin had been cleansed, and Aes Sedai lived a long time, and everyone said they didn't look old... What if him drawing a sword was a side effect of going mad? No wonder they had him here in the laundry, reading books. He probably wasn't suited to doing more important things, like fighting off Trollocs. What if he was a permanent Dedicated because of faulty mental capacity?

The thought made her very uncomfortable and she scrubbed harder. It might be a good idea to be done with chores soon.

[Jenny]

Kaira Darrow Kaira snorted.

"And I can't believe you thought that old boot was a bar of soap," she muttered under her breath.

When Eveayla cut her eyes at her, Kaira gave her a pointed glare. She hadn't spoken much (yet) to this new novice, and didn't understand why the girl had to slide in between her and Alric. Just when she had gathered the courage to speak to him too! Now Nasrin would tickle her to death.

Wait, what was stopping her? He was still sitting right there. Kaira narrowed her eyes and tried to look past the girl sitting between them. She stumbled awkwardly over her words.

"Weren't we, uh, talking about books? So what was that book about, Alric?"

Unlike her father, Kaira had no interest in books or reading. She could hardly sit still through her lessons, much less for enough time to finish a book. She tried to pay attention as Alric spoke, but couldn't help but to drift away in her thoughts as he droned on and on about the Trolloc Wars. Even if the man was handsome, he could be so incredibly dull...

Eveayla had begun to scrub harder, perhaps in desperation to get away from the pedantic Dedicated. Kaira huffed under her breath. Not to be outdone, she also increased the force and speed of her arms on the laundry board. Whew! Her arms were getting tired. But she refused to be second-best, not in front of Alric.

[Hannah]

Eveayla When her replacement finally arrived, Eveayla's arms were so sore she wasn't sure if they would work properly to take notes in her next class. The rest of the laundry chores had been fairly uneventful, although she did have to fish something that looked suspiciously like a bloated frog out of someone's pockets. Children's clothing should have to be washed separately - they were just too prone to picking up weird things!

She left quickly, brushing past the other novices in a hurry to get out of the steamy room. She began pushing her fingers through her hair and wrapping corkscrew curls around her fingers to get them back to normal. The frizz from the room probably had left her looking like a thistle gone to seed. She certainly felt prickly. Maybe there was time before her next class for a bath -- unlikely, really. The Aes Sedai and Accepted who taught classes liked to pretend that novices had already learned weaves for time traveling. Did those even exist? She wasn't certain.

Either way, she was done, and on to the next thing. That's all that mattered. Today was almost over. One day closer to being released from this stupid Tower, she hoped.