The Pot and the Kettle (Attn: Bridget)

[Jenny]

The study hall was silent except for the scratching of pens on parchment and the occasional flipping of a page. The novices sat in neat rows, bent over their desks, while an Accepted – deeply engrossed in a romance novel – watched over them.

Finally, a soft bell chimed, and the Accepted stood up. Study hour was over. “Off to free time with you all, now,” she said kindly, waving the novices off.

Mirin leaned back in her seat and stretched. She shook out her hand, which had begun to cramp with all the writing she had done, and then gathered her papers and books. She walked out into the hall, and then stared in curiosity when she saw a girl in a beautifully embroidered silk dress walking by.

A new novice! So new that she had not yet had to burn her clothing as a symbol of cutting her ties to life outside of the Tower. Mirin fell in step behind the new girl, examining the dress with a practiced eye. The seamwork and stitching was excellent. A noblewoman, surely, to afford such fine work, and the dress was cut fashionably, with a plunging neckline and intricate floral appliques, though it was not in any of the Cairhienin fashions that Mirin was familiar with.

She followed the new novice up to the novice quarters, which was where Mirin was going anyways. The new girl seemed to count the doors, and then entered the seventh door on the right – which was right across from the room that Mirin shared with Betrys.

Mirin looked at the door for a few seconds, remembering her first day as a novice, almost a year ago. Then, her curiosity took ahold of her and she knocked.

When the girl opened the door, Mirin smiled. “Hello, my name is Mirin Ronaile,” she said politely. “I saw you in the hall. You must be new. May I come in?”

[Bridget]

Audie stepped through the halls, steps light and skirts flowing decorously about her ankles. She followed the Aes Sedai witch’s instructions to the letter, her face almost calm. But her lips betrayed her; the slight upward lift at the corner of her mouth, an unhappy sneer that cut away the impression of a pretty face.

Tel’aran’rhiod.

She was cursed, as she knew she must be. But the world was not kind to her, as it never had been. It was not a curse the light forsaken Aes Sedai could remove. No, it was something that she must learn to control. As she must learn to control the One Power. Audie had laughed in the woman’s face when the Aes Sedai had told her she could channel that power. She was the Lady Audhyvar do Catalan a’Coralle, and there had never been an Aes Sedai in her lineage. She was the Lady Audhyvar, and she was to be married in a year.

Even if she woke her husband with screaming fits every night, she was to be married in a year. Her papa would not stop her, and neither would this Tel’aran’rhiod. Neither would the Grey Tower. She would learn of this world of dreams, if she had to, but she would not learn of the One Power. I will never be Aes Sedai. Audie would learn enough to never enter this Tel’aran’rhiod again, and then she would return to Rhys.

With that reassurance, she was able to stand with her back straight as she opened the door and stepped into her new… room. Audie viewed it with palpable distaste, taking in the two narrow beds and insufficient furnishings. She was to be expected to share this little hovel? What did these sows take her for, a serving girl?

Audie turned, fully prepared to march back to that Illyria and demand more suitable accommodations for her station, when she heard a knock. She glanced about for a moment, as if a maid was about to step forth from the wardrobe and send the unwelcome visitor away. But there was no maid, for this was no place for a lady. So Audie twitched her silk skirts back into place, and stepped bravely to the door.

The girl was handsome, though her nose and chin did her no favors. With enough powders and charcoal, and a skilled hand, she could be pretty. It was just as apparent that this girl was no suitable companion for her. Ronaile was as common a last name as the girl was. Audie cast a discerning eye over her figure. Mirin’s hands were stained with ink, her hair mussed. The dress was just as she had seen on many girls she had passed in her walk from Illyria's office, if perhaps better fitting. The girl could be a seamstress or a scullery maid.

But she was… a novice, as Audie was being forced to be. Mirin could be a valuable source of knowledge, for this place was unfamiliar and unwelcoming. “Please do,” Audie said, her voice melodious and face smooth as she stepped aside to let the girl pass. “I am Audhyvar do Catalan a’Coralle.” She almost opened her mouth to offer the girl a seat and refreshment when she realized she had neither. “You may call me Audhyvar.” She told Mirin after a moment, for it would be inappropriate to allow her the familiarity of her nickname, and a haughty common girl like Mirin would give no help to a Lady Audhyvar. Girls like Mirin wanted what they could not have and resented those who had it.

“I was just informed that I am to be a novice of the Grey Tower.” Audie told the girl, her voice angry, for all that she attempted to disguise the emotion. “However, Illyria… Sedai was not altogether clear as to what that entails.” It was a suggestion for discussion, for Audie suspected that Mirin would not be at all receptive to demands or commands.

[Jenny]

A Murandian noble, thought Mirin. She noticed the slight pause after Audhyvar introduced herself. If she was not mistaken, the girl had almost offered her refreshments out of habit. She hid a smirk.

“Being a novice means that you will spend most of your time scrubbing floors and washing pots. They say it is part of our training.” She made a face. “I’ve been here for two years and it doesn’t get any easier. From now on, you will be at this training for every hour of every day, from before the sun rises to after the sun sets.” Mirin’s tone was neutral, but there was a hint of glee and perhaps a touch of sympathy. Glee, because she knew that the Tower would, sooner or later, strip away Audhyvar’s airs and conceit. And sympathy, because she had gone through the same process herself, and it had been excruciatingly painful.

“As a novice, you will also be taught. There are classes on nearly anything you can dream of. And of course, you will have lessons on the One Power.” Mirin noticed Audhyvar’s reaction to this last statement and frowned in puzzlement. She had thought that learning about the One Power was the most exciting part of being at the Grey Tower. It was one of the few things that made being a novice bearable.

“Yes, you will learn to channel. Don’t try to fight it. You will learn, or be made to learn,” she said. She hesitated, and then decided that the girl deserved a warning. “Illyria Sedai may seem warm and kind, but she keeps a riding crop in her study.” The implication was clear.

She eyed Audhyvar’s dress. “Your dress is very well-made,” she commented. “But Illyria Sedai will burn it tomorrow morning and dress you in novice white. It’s a shame that such beautiful work will be turned to ash, but it will be done, whether you like it or not.

“After that, she will read you a long list of rules. Do try to pay attention, although you will inevitably break some of them. There are simply too many rules to remember them all. And then you will be sent to do chores. The chore list is posted on the board just outside the Novices’ Quarters and you must check it at least three times a day, once in the morning, once after lunch, and – oh, there is simply too much that you need to know.”

Mirin floundered for a moment, and then suddenly smiled. “But it will be worth it,” she said. “Look.”

She embraced the Power. The ecstasy of holding saidar caused her face and eyes to fill with joy. She channeled, a thin strand of Air, and lifted the chair from where it sat in front of the study desk. Then she spun a thin web of Air and Spirit, making the chair dance in circles around the room.

[Bridget]

The girl seemed altogether too gleeful about her awful description of life as a novice. Audie watched her, eyes imperceptibly narrowed, hunting for the falseness that had to lie in Mirin’s sympathy. But then Mirin spoke of lessons in the One Power, and her gaze did drop for a moment, the slight flutter of her eyelids the only outward token of her inner unhappiness. The One Power! Audie had no desire to be an Aes Sedai witch, or to be trained as one. To learn this power would be to put aside her family, her duties… Rhys.

But she could understand Mirin’s excitement. After all, it was doubtful that the girl had anything better waiting for her outside the Grey Tower. For a common girl like Mirin, becoming an Aes Sedai would mean having power and money. Audie already had power and money, and she needed no more of it. Instead, all of her longed for her beloved. It was comforting just to think of Rhys; his gorgeous dark hair and piercing blue eyes, and the easy and carefree way he smiled at her. But the joy of her thoughts soon washed away. She had been taken from him. Audie knew that he would wait for her. He loved her! But how long would he be able to wait, with awful girls like Ephaedra and Wynrhiod hounding him and his father? And her reputation would suffer if she was away too long!

No matter what Mirin said about being forced to learn the One Power, Audie knew it for a falsehood. Nothing could force her to turn away from her rightful future; not a future as an Aes Sedai, no, but as Rhys’ wife.

“I do not care about the dress.” Audie told Mirin frankly, suspecting that the other girl would react best to plain honesty. “In light of everything else you have told me… It is only a dress.” Her head spun, thinking of the chores Mirin spoke of. Her, doing chores! Audie could hardly imagine it. Grimly, she realized that very soon there would be nothing left to the imagination. These Aes Sedai had no decency, to strong-arm proper lady such as herself into such menial tasks.

The sight of the chair moving, like a scarf fluttering in the breeze, chased all thoughts of the dreadful tasks to come out of her mind. It was unnatural. If she can move a chair like that, with no effort at all, what is to stop her from doing that to a person? Audie thought with dawning horror. The One Power was truly fearsome, more terrible than she had allowed herself to contemplate. She managed to hold her ground, spine straight and face devoid of disgust and fear, only by the thinnest of margins.

Audie almost commanded the girl to stop, but caught herself a moment before she uttered the words. No command would stop a girl like Mirin, not here at the Grey Tower, where the Aes Sedai witches seemed to delight in stripping away proper structure and morality. It was obvious the girl saw her as an equal, however ridiculous and impossible it might seem. So instead of using a command, Audie countered with very well feigned indifference. She adjusted her skirts and sat down primly on the bed, her gaze fixed on Mirin, and not the chair.

“I have no interest in the One Power.” Audie told the other girl, her voice level. She fought back a wince when she heard unhappiness in her own voice. What would Papa think, to see her acting so! The thought of her father, who had sent her here, to this horrible place, without a second thought, did nothing to help her tenuous hold on her own emotions.

And then she took a gamble, one should could not have imagined taking a moment ago. “I was sent here because I have the ability to enter the world of dreams.” Audie told Mirin, only just stopping herself from calling it a curse instead. “When I have learned how to prevent myself from entering that awful place, I will leave.” Audie suspected that while she might view such information as a weakness to be exploited, Mirin would not see it the same way. Mirin would find such an ability amazing; something to be jealous of.

Audie did not admit to herself that all she had wanted since stepping into this place was a single scrap of sympathy. And Mirin, although a suspect companion, was the only person who had spoken to her with any kindness.

[Jenny]

The new girl did not look impressed. With a regretful sigh, Mirin replaced the chair and released the Power. She did not dare to channel for too long without an Accepted or Aes Sedai present. Still, as soon as she released it, she longed to embrace it again. She already missed the warmth of saidar.

She fought off the urge and focused on Audyvar. How could the girl have no interest in the One Power? But the unhappiness in the new novice’s voice was real. Mirin shifted on her feet awkwardly. She saw that Audyvar could perhaps use some comforting, perhaps a shoulder to cry on – but Mirin was not the comforting type.

Luckily, surprise soon chased away discomfort. Her eyebrows rose so high that they nearly disappeared into her hairline. “You can enter Tel’aran’rhoid?! Why would you want to learn how to stop? It is an incredibly rare Talent. Why not make use of it?” she asked incredulously. Mirin could not imagine being so wasteful as to squander ability. Perhaps Audyvar had a good reason.