08/19/2000

Basements, White Tower, Tar Valon

A labarynth of dark grey stone, branching off into various directions with
no markers to indicate where they might be going. Dust is prevalent here,
floating lazily through the air in an attempt to provoke sneezes and
choking coughs. It is so thick that one can see footprints, indicating
where traffic may be routinely going, and where it is largely absent.

At the very end of the hall two men in white and gold livery guard a barred
door. This is the entrance to the dungeons. No murmur of sound exudes from
there out into this hallway, for important information not intended for the
ears of all may at this very moment be spilling from a prisoner's lips. A
locked yet grand looking door of arched redwood is seen at the end of a
hall to the right. To the left a series of storerooms can be found, most
locked or forgotten.


Juliana nods to Espiria and starts moving the boxes she can carry around
when she hears Tarah's latest barb. She rounds on the novice and her fists
clench, but they unclench quickly enough. She probably could teach the
novice a lesson or two, except that the other girl can probably channel,
and in front of Espiria isn't the proper place. "She's /NOT/ going to die,
you hear me?" she asks the larger girl.

Yeah, yeah, grumble. She got the cleaning out the rooms part. What she
didn't get was that they were basically just rearranging the rooms so
they'd be a little more organized. Alright, she can handle that. She
ignores Tarah's picking on Juliana. In truth she's a little jealous
herself, though she didn't know there was any special treatment going on.
"Will you all just shut up and work," Kyleigh shouts at them all, not
caring that there's an Accepted there and that she's making just as much
noise. "Do you want someone to come down here and find us before we're
done??" Nope, no comments on the girl being picked on. It's not her place,
or desire to defend anyone.

"OWWW!!!" Tarah screams. "Watch it!" She sits down now to doctor her poor
foot. "She looks up to Juliana and her head falls. "I don't want her to die
either. At least she'd have a snowball fight with us. Kirra Sedai wouldn't
do that. And Talanta..." Tarah just shivers. that Red is worse than the
Tetrarch on a scale of meaness. Alright, she'll calm down, but she looks up
at Vashta. "You wouldn't switch me. Wyntere Sedai doesn't allow that."

Vashta grins a bit.. "I'd find a way around it, Tarah.." She gleams, her
eyes narrowing.. "Just because you're spitefull.." She turns and motions to
the room.. "You should be able to finish it all right.." She looks over at
Juliana.. "Want some help, Juli?"

Espiria lifts a brow and takes two steps toward the girls, "That will be
quite enough out of both of you. Tarah..just because she is her daughter
doesn't mean she gets special treatment. Juliana, I know that hurt, but we
have a job to do here that is very important. Understand? Very..and you
don't have the luxury of starting a fight right now or time would be
/wasted/." She tips her head slightly to one side as though hoping Jul gets
the hint. "We don't /have/ time to waste at the moment. So please...try to
just ignore what she says." She glances over to Tarah again, "Please..get
back to work now. And try to cooperate..regardless of your feelings." She
sighs heading over to Aed. She sees that he dropped something, "What's that
you have Aed? Did something fall out?"

Someone to come down here and find them? Well, perfect timing for Neelkan,
as usual. He rounds the hallway just in time to catch the back end of the
fight, and he stays out of it. He had five older sisters. All as hot headed
as he is, and tending to be more violent (if you believe that). Chick
fights were not things he tended to enjoy, hmm? So he waits until it...
seems to have cooled down before approaching. "'eya. Stupid Gaidin holdin'
m' o'er f'r a lesson." And yet another one he didn't really need. He's
actually looking forward to when they give him electives. He doesn't know
much the stuff in those. "What's m' job?" This is the one time he'll
actually let the girls order him around, so make the most of it.

Juliana deflates slightly at Tarah's apology, and she nods her head
slightly. "She won't," she murmurs to herself, to reinforce whatever the
novice is trying to convince herself of. "Yes, Accepted Espiria," she
replies, turning back towards the boxes. With a blush, she nods to Vashta,
since most of the boxes are far too big for her.

"Looks like a Journal of some kind. Twas the only thing I saw laying loose
so I put it with the box. Thought it was just a shawl that belong to the
Aes Sedai on the box. It says 'Haven' on the inside..." Aed looks at the
jounral oddly. What in the world was this doing loose instead of boxed up
like everything else...

Espiria blinks and mouths the word Haven. "Aed...Let's take this over to
one side." She pats the boy on the back gently, glancing over to Neel as he
walks in, "Ahhh..Good. You can help Sunan(here but not here) move the
bigger furniture pieces out of the way." She turns quickly back to Aed,
"Now..let's see what you've got there."

A tiny book. It is beautifully bound in black leather. There is a lockable
clasp, but it is currently open, the key long gone. Gold lettering on the
front reads: Thoughts & Memories. The pages are starting to go a bit yellow
around the edges, a function of their age. 

Tarah is curious. "Hey, Accepted Espiria. I wouldn't be going through that
journal." She shakes her head. "That darkwitch prolly made some terrible
thing where if you touched it, you are gonna die!" Oh great confidence
there. "We should just burn it."

Vashta Looks over and frowns.. "Can you NOT speak ill of a person, Tarah?"
She places her hands on her hips and glowers at Tarah.. "You will never
make Sedai."

Something about the name rings a bell for Juliana, and not the usual one.
She hasn't had the class where the stilled channellers were talked about
yet. Her work brings her closer to the book, drawn by curiousity.

"Can you stop sounding like an idiot for once Tarah? If touching it would
kill someone I'd be dead already." Aed's voice is crisp. He maybe 8 but
he's not your average eight year old. With that he allows Espiria to usher
him off to the side where he opens the book and sets it so that Espiria can
see it without bending over /too/ much.

Kyleigh doesn't seem to be cooperating with anyone really. She's in her own
little box world, not really being one to work well with others, even if it
is for Wyntere. She glances over at Aed and the journal he found, and then
at Espiria before she stops tugging on the box, not bothering to make any
pretext at working her way over, and quietly just walks over to see what
that is all about. Haven? Does that mean the book is some kind of haven?
Will the person reading it get sucked in and be safe? Haven is.. er.. was a
darkfriend? A strange name for a darkfriend. Come to think of it it's a
strange name for anyone. Burn it? Hmmmm.. she could paobably actually
oblidge there... wait.. no.. considering how her -last- weave backfired on
her she'd probably end up being the only one chared to a crisp. "What does
it say Espiria," she asks quietly, glancing down at the little boy's find.

Neelkan's not quite with the uptake yet, so he looks around a few moments,
glancing at the journal and the reactions to it, smirking lightly as Aed
snaps at the girl, then he starts to move the furnature out of the way like
Espiria told him too. While he isn't a 'big guy' like ... well... most of
the Warders, he can handle the weight it seems so he doesn't have much
trouble, and he keeps an ear out for what's going on with the girls and the
'kid'. The 'kid' who'd better keep his mouth SHUT about something! Grrump.

Espiria glares a bit at Tarah, "Tarah...This woman was wronged badly. I
refuse to judge anyone on the heresay of the past. I prefer to come to my
own conclusions." She looks at the book carefully shaking her head, "And
ther eis nothing at all wrong with this book. It is only a book." She picks
it up from Aed's hands, flipping thru is as she seems to grow sadder and
sadder. "This poor woman." She sighs softly, shaking her head. "Something
odd...hmm..." She reads on, forgetting everyone for a moment or two. "I'm
not sure..but something is very odd here." She taps a finger to her temple,
frowning. "Yes....this is important, but I'm not sure how just yet." She
glances over to Juliana, "Juliana? Would you come over here please? I need
to speak with you a moment."

"You sticking up for the Darkfriend, Vashta?" Tarah glances curiously to
Vashta. "Come on, what are you a darkfriend too? Only a darkfriend would
find it upseting to make comments about them. I'd watch your step. They
might have you marked like they did Niglite. And you'll end up like her."
Nope, Tarah has no tact. Maybe Kyleigh isn't near as much trouble as this
novice. the novice glances to the boy. "You could still get sick /later/."
But then hearing Espiria, Tarah tilts her head and shuts up. She sighs and
then goes back to cleaning out things. You just wait.. you'll get sick.

Vashta frowns sharply.. "No, I'm just not being a total idiot, Tarah.." She
motions with her hand and a weave of air pulls a box of clothing tumbling
down on Tarah... all but burying her in downy softness.

Juliana tries to listen into as much of the conversaton without intruding.
She knows she's the low rung on the ladder here, and if one novice is
willing to denounce her publicly for being a MoNster's pet, there are sure
to be ten whispering the same thing behind her back. Wondering if any of
them are in the group her, she busies herself with her work, trying
futilily to put all thoughts on the subject out of her mind for now. When
she's called she looks up and nods, walking over hesitantly to the
Accepted. "Yes, Accepted Espiria?"

"This is a /very/ strange journal. It is like two /different/ people wrote
it. However, it is in a single handwriting..." Aed's voice is slightly
distant,"At the beginning she's talking about her daughter and then she
talking about a murder of a Novice. The circumstances are much the same as
the present... The daughter is Wyntere. Something is /definitely/ odd... "
He seems a bit confused,"Can someone be /forced/ to do something and not
remember it afterwards?"

Not as much trouble as another novice?? That sounds like a challenge.
Kyleigh's troublesomeness is just playing second fiddle to he fact that the
one person she'll actually admit to liking here is in serious danger of
being killed. It's enough to make the most ornery novice behave, just not
completely. "Tarah, you're awfully quick to accuse others of being
darkfriends." She lets the insinuation hang in the air. She doesn't need to
come out and say that maybe it's an indication that Tarah is the
darkfriend. Besides, what does she care if she is? She certainly has no
loyalty to the Light. "So if anyone should be watching their step-" she
stops and turns to look at Aed. Did he just say Wyntere is this
darkfriend's daughter? Woah! She can't really picture Wyntere being
anyone's daughter... she's- she's- she's so -old-!

With the clothes falling, Tarah spins around and is ready to fight now.
"that was not funny, whoever did that!" Too bad there are too many
channelers to figure out which one or someone would get it. Hey now..
Wyntere doesn't look more than 20!

Lifting things off to the side, Neelkan pauses at what he hears from Aed.
He glances over at Espi, and sighs, moving to finish putting that thing
aside so he isn't stuck holding onto it forever, then he heads back over.
"Aed? Ya say 'at the same things 'at happened t' 'is women 're happenin' t'
Wyn, 'n Wyn's 'er daughter?" Yup. Even a dense person like Neelkan can see
the pattern. Plus he'd been told about something dealing with this earlier.
But no need to mention that here. He wasn't supposed to, and he won't. Even
if it just got blurted out for all ears in the area.

Vashta moves over towards Tarah and smiles broadly.. "I did it, Tarah... if
you were not so used to blather on about darkfriend this, darkfriend that
you might be bble to pull some of that wool out of your ears."

Espiria glances over to Aed for a moment and nods gently. "I need to speak
with Juliana for a moment. Would you go help the others for the time being?
Maybe some extra help for Neel?" She sighs glancing over to the two girls
again and sighs, "If you both don't stop this I will send you both up to
Mother and let /her/ decide what to do about it. And that will be /enough/
with the insulting or I will...Is that understood by the both of you?" She
glares and an older voice is the one who said that last part, even though
Espi didn't notice it. Her eyes stay on the both of them till she hears the
correct words heard from their lips. If it's anything other than, 'Yes',
she will send them out and heavens help them if they have to be punished by
Mother right now. She moves away from Aed, taking Juli with her, but she
stays looking at the pair.

Rising squickly, Aed sort of bounces over to Neelkan,"Need some help? Espi
wants me to help you!" Those pale blue eyes glitter mischeivously, the fact
that his lips are curled into an impish smile probably doesn't make Neel
the most comfortable but oh well.

Tarah jumps up and nods. "I'll go over to that side and help with that
other room." Nope, she doesn't want anywhere near that mean Amrylin.
Espiria, was that a future MoNster voice?

Juliana nods her head and follows Espiria, turning her head to try and
catch the commotion that is going on. It's a miracle no Sedai have made
their way down here yet. Wyntere must think that the Fort is invading with
all of the noise. A curious look is affixed to Juli, as she wonders what
the Accepted wants to talk about.

Vashta curtsies deeply.. "Yes, of course Espiria Sedai.." She looks over at
Tarah and frumps.

Kyleigh watches the Accepted and Juliana suspiciously, but she at least has
enough... sense isn't quite the right word. It's not that she doesn't know
better, it's that she doesn't care, most of the time. But she decides now
might be a good time to start and instead of staring at them, and what the
heck, Espi hasn't said anything about any of the other novices channeling
so she might as well try something. She slips just her thumb out of her
glove and brings it to her lips, chewing on the back of it. It could just
be a nervous gesture, but it's not. It hurts, just not too much. Just
enough so that she can whip up a wind. Arg. All she accomplishes is tossing
her own hair around and making her own skirt billow, and not even that
much. The box she was trying to lift remains unmoved.

Aed gets to come over and help him? ... Oh fun... Neelkan is just counting
the other things he would rather be doing right now. But he offers a small
polite smirk and shrugs, "Ye'h, come on. Ya can carry the smaller stuff,
like 'at thing o'er 'ere." He'd rather like to hear what Espi is saying to
Juliana though. Pause. So that's Juliana? Hmmmmm.

Espiria takes Juli over to one side, sighing softly before she lowers her
voice to a whisper. With all the noise of moving things, she hopes they can
have a bit of privacy at this. She hands the girl the book, continuing to
speak very softly to her.

Juliana blinks as she listens to what Espiria is telling her. She accepts
the book hesitantly, but then holds it right back out for her.

Tarah just keeps cleaning and staying far from Vashta. Yeah, she's curious
about what's going on, but she really doesn't need more trouble. One time
with the Mother is enough!

Vashta is searching through the things from time to time, before she
reaches down and pulls out something.. She blinks a few times... it's a
necklace.. made out of bone..It's a Dolphin jumping..framed by four small
balls that connect it's nose with it's tail.. there is a shiny gem like
mirrorish gem in the middle of it.. "Oooh!" She holds it out.. "Espi!"

Neelkan is lifting things and looking incredably antsy and bored. But can
you really blame him? He could be doing this work in the Practice Yard, and
at least get credit for it. All the cool stuff is going on over there.
Sniffle. Grrrr. Women suck. They always give men the icky horrible jobs
while they get to do all the fun stuff. But he doesn't complain verbally,
beyond a grumble or a scowl on his face.

Espiria sighs softly, placing a gentle hand on Juli's shoulder before she
nods. She takes the item back, whispering something softly to Juli before
she moves from the place she was and glances at the item in question,
"Hmm..Nice necklace, but it belongs to someone. Please put it back where
you found it." She smiles at the rest working hard, "Hmm...I think we all
could use a break. We've been working very hard as it is and I need to see
someone for a moment. If you wish to keep working, feel free to do so, but
I would advise taking a break before long or you will be very sore
tommorrow to continue. Mother's birthday is coming up, but we still have
enough time to get it all done before then..without killing ourselves." She
chuckles, glancing at the book again before she nods to everyone. "I will
be back shortly to help those who are still here."

Vashta pouts a bit.. "Aww come on Espi...."

It's another month before Mother's birthday. You have plenty of time.
Wyntere made sure of that. Tarah glances over and nods. "I need to go hunt
a few stories."

Juliana blushes and leans over to whisper something to the Accepted. She
smiles a little bit now and nods to her. It's beeen awhile since she's had
any sort of smile.

Putting down the latest thing he was carrying, Neelkan grumbles, "Thank the
Light." He doesn't want to do anymore work today, thank you very much. He
stretches a little and abandons the area he was in and heads back over to
the girls.

Kyleigh glances over at Tarah and glares, muttering something about hunting
something of her own. Apparently none of this has put her in a better mood
(big suprise) so she adds before storming out, "In that case... I have
someone to give a piece of mind to." Yes, she's going to go find Kaomi and
yell at her for being so stupid, even if the Amyrlin decides to hang her
upside down by her toes again. When does she get her classes done? Or her
chores for that matter? Weeeeeell.. when Wyntere gets out she's probably
going to be hearing about that as the novice is conveniently avoiding as
many of them as she can.

Espiria purses her lips as several end up leaving. She glances over to the
ones remaining, smiling. "Well..I won't be long if you'd like to hang
around for a bit longer. Then we can go and..umm...have a chat." She
glances toward the stairs, watching to make sure noone comes down. "I won't
be long."

Vashta nods.. "Okay.."