Surrender to Serenity [attn: Bella]

[Astarte]

Since that first time when Makenna had brought her to the gardens Betrys had liked the gardens; although love would be a far more accurate description of how she felt about it. She'd not shared that knowledge with anyone yet, or indeed very much about herself at all. This place was still very new and also strange in unexpected ways.

So, far Betrys hadn't found anyone to be a confidante with and she was not sure if that was a good or bad thing only that right now it was probably rather necessary as she made the adjustment to being here instead of home.

She needed to adjust. However, that hadn't prevented her from being assigned to duties around the Tower - such as being here in the garden, not to walk but to help tend the flowers and make sure they were growing well and unhindered. She'd always liked to be among plants and growing things and while the village hadn't exactly encouraged the care of flowers and plants purely for smell and beauty but it was still the one place that Betrys felt most comfortable in here at the Tower. Digging her hands into the dirt she felt around the roots of the planet, aware of how...wrong it felt. It needed her help and support to make sure it didn't die and so Betrys concentrated on making sure that it was not going to suffer as she tended to it and the rest of the plants in the garden.

While she was working Betrys hummed, she'd be tired and worn out at the end of the day but that too was becoming something she was accustomed too, not happily but necessary all the same. Or so she had been told.

[Bella]

The gardens were among one of Miahala's favorite places here in the Grey Tower as well, and they had been since she herself had been wearing novice white. The more than a century that had passed since that time had really done nothing to dissuade her love of the place, and they had only seemed to grow more beautiful since the twenty years back when... Well, since Miahala had died. Did resurrection make you appreciate beauty more? Perhaps.

And so it was that the woman was walking through the gardens now. There really was no particular need for her to be there, other than the fact that the walls of her rooms were closing in on her again. It was happening more and more often, and when it did, she needed to escape for a time. She often came here, and admired the greenery.

On today's particular walked, she was caught by the sound of...humming. It seemed something of a tune, or at least more than a simple noise, though she could not identify it precisely. Curiosity swayed her and she followed the sound and found a girl in novice white, like Mia had once worn, working on the flower bed. Mia watched for a moment before stepping near.

The woman's perfectly ageless face, like a mask of ivory stone, was impassive but not displeased as she watched. Life only lived in the flickering of her blue-green, Saldean slanted eyes. "I'm sure the gardens appreciate having someone give them such diligent care," she commented on an impulse.

[Astarte]

Betrys had vowed not the surprised again.

She didn't much like or appreciate the rather condescending look that usual followed when she was startled. However, this new Aes Sedai managed to do what all the others achieved and rendered her shocked from both her own abstraction along with the silent manner in which all of them moved. So...she jumped!

Which resulted in dirt and such spilling everywhere as her hands were thrown up in the air "Oh! oh...!" she gasped and then turned a brilliant shade of red as she tilted her head down and started focusing on the ground and the dirt she had spilled out onto the path. Betrys hated these complicated and confusing sensations and wished they would end. She really did "I's like to work. I pick the task when it comes up..." she admitted, wondering if that would somehow be against the rules.

She hoped not.

[Bella]

Miahala smiled, very slightly but there was sincerity in her eyes as she did. Those who had actually seen this expression upon her face often wondered how the seeming porcelain skin she sported in her agelessness didn't crack with the very movement of her mouth. Yet, despite these doubts in the minds of others, the stone veneer remained in tact even as she afforded the small smile.

"Be at ease, child," she said. She was used to surprising people, actually. Even those who saw her approach would sometimes be startled, her being...well...her. She didn't really like to intimidate everyone in the known world (or so it felt at times), at least when she wasn't trying, but it was apparently unavoidable. It was her lot in life, and she was going to have to live with it.

She glanced at the garden beds and nodded approvingly. "There is nothing wrong with liking to work hard. You will do plenty of it during your life at the Grey Tower, and the gardens never mind some kind attentions."

[Astarte]

She swallowed, the sound gulping slightly at the same time.

"I's used tae working, I's...it is what I do" she murmured, looking down at the plant again and then back up as she licked her lips and nodded slowly "I's...thank you - I's umm...." she felt shy and unsure and more than a little nervous about all of this but that was hardly surprising. Makenna had been approachable in her own way and the proffer of tea and honey had definitely helped out in soothing her worries and concerns during that first meeting between the two of them.

Betrys moved to stand up wanting to show some sign of respect but not completely sure of exactly how that needed to go or at least not feeling comfortable about doing so given how nervous she was.

[Bella]

Sadly, Miahala knew she was no longer made to put people at ease. She used to be pretty good at it when she had served as Mistress of Novices, always the type to be encouraging and reassuring rather than harsh and demanding; except when the latter was called for, and then she had no problem bringing her wrath upon the young one standing before her desk.

Now, though, she was no longer skilled at it. She smiled faintly and observed the girl as she fidgeted nervously.

"You have not been at the Tower long, have you, child?" she asked, but not with any chill. It was just a simple question. "My name is Miahala Ives Sedai and I am a Green." She gestured to her green dress, since she was never one to stray too far from the theme of Ajah loyalty, although there had been a time when blue was much mixed in. "And you are?"

[Astarte]

She would have been surprised to learn that the other woman had been the Mistress of Novices - a woman whom she might have preferred knew less about her given the fact that it seemed to be more about punishments than anything else "I's? No, I's not....I've came only a sort while ago..." she blinked slowly and looked a the woman.

So much taller and more confident than she was sure she'd ever be even after years in this Tower and all the lessons that were designed to prepare her for that being the case. Still, she would make try. Betrys almost smiled at the whole idea of it ever being a possibility but she managed to temper her features enough to avoid giving anything away - or so she hoped "...I's Betrys Cadwallader and I's a Novice?" she was not sure about how exactly to reply properly but at the same time she did wonder about what it would mean to be Green.

Or indeed any of the Ajah.

All of them appealed in their own way.

But she'd not concerned herself with worrying about what exactly making that sort oif choice would end up meaning but she would have to make a choice. However, would it be a bad idea to ask about it. Was that wrong?

"What is it like...tae be Green?" she asked eventually, deciding it was worth the risk.

[Bella]

It was a common question for Miahala, having had dozens of meetings with young women and men about what it was like to be a Green. Or about why she had chosen to be Green. She imagined that some of them were disappointed by her answer, believing that fifteen year old Miahala Sha'hal had the same logic and foresight as one hundred and fifty year old Miahala Ives...

She couldn't help but feel they were somehow disappointed to learn that she had once been just human.

"Well met, Novice Betrys," she said, her tone and demeanor easy. "What is it like to be a Green..." She paused, letting herself consider the best answer for the young woman before her. It would always be the truth, but there were different ways to say different things to different people, and that was the best lesson any Aes Sedai would need to learn.

A faint, wry smile turned up the corners of her mouth. "Dangerous," she said truthfully. "It's an Ajah that spends it focus upon making an active enemy of itself to the Shadow and its agents, in often direct ways and by active means. But it's a necessary task in our preparation for the Last Battle, for those who feel drawn or called to it."

[Astarte]

At least it seemed that asking that kind of question wasn't going to end up getting her into trouble, not that she took immediate reassurance of that being the case. Sometimes it just meant a delay in trouble, she seemed to be rather adept at managing to locate trouble since she'd come to the Tower. While not all of it was her fault Betrys had to admit some of it might have been, or at least she should have possibly have handled it a little bit better than she had done up until that point.

"I's not sure making myself a target for the Enemy would suit me really..." she admitted, didn't that make her sound weak or foolish?

Perhaps a little bit of both. Betrys elected not to worry about that, she had more than enough to be worried about without adding a load more burdens on top of things "I's...is it hard?" she asked "Or dangerous?" Betrys continued, deciding she could afford to take her chances about this while the Sedai's patient continued to last. She knew it wouldn't be forever though.

It never was.

However, at least it seemed that she was not about to end up in any kind of trouble from enjoying her time in the gardens and the work she undertook there. Betrys briefly smiled, hoping it would encourage a further response from the other woman that would be positive and well- received but also not assumed to be anything than intended as a simple friendly gesture.

[Bella]

Miahala tilted her head slightly, peering curiously at the girl. "Do you mean to ask if being a Green is hard, or if making one's self an active target of the enemy is?" she asked, seeking to be certain that she was following the proper trail of thought.

OOC: Sorry this is so short. Long day. XD