Accepted Harina and the Way, Way Back --- &RPaward

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Catisune
Posts: 245
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2020 2:18 pm

Accepted Harina and the Way, Way Back --- &RPaward

Post by Catisune » Fri Sep 11, 2020 11:28 am

Ely edit 29 Jul 2021:

1-6 qps, depending on length and quality.

Potential +1 qp: if part of a series: o

Total: .5 for rp, 1.5 for story, hey that makes 2 qps

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***"Accepted Harina and the Way, Way Back" is a short piece of writing inspired by the following RP with Fleur and Auriona. Thanks to both!"***

Fleur murmurs, "Aes Sedai, is it true that..."

Fleur coughs delicately.

Auriona turns her attention to Fleur.

Fleur says 'I heard a story that there was an Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah who read so much that she got lost in the library...forever..'

Catisune's smile would overwhelm her face if she didn't rein it in tightly, regaining her composure as the Sister's attention turns to Fleur.

Fleur looks at Catisune with concern.

Auriona arches her eyebrow and smiles slightly.

Auriona says 'To this day, none have seen young Harina but sometimes hear her turn pages in the night.'

Auriona looks back at Catisune.

Auriona says 'Child is something wrong with your face?'

Catisune blinks rapidly. "No, Aes Sedai. I've just never heard this story before."

Auriona says 'Accepted Fleur has her rumors a little wrong, she was an Accepted, not a Sedai, but!'

Auriona says 'Perhaps you can do a little research on poor Harina, the young Accepted disappeared forever into the library.'

Catisune murmurs the name 'Harina' under her breath and nods decisively.

Fleur nods worriedly, "Poor Harina..that seems like such a dreadful fate."

Auriona says 'I'd like a sent report, if you can make me smile then I will be pleased with your work.'

Auriona clears her throat and returns her gaze to Fleur.

Catisune says 'I do no think you need worry about that fate befalling you, Fleur.'

*****************************************************

"Accepted Harina and the Way, Way Back"

Harina twirled the the golden ring on the third finger of her left hand. The Great Serpent. An ancient symbol some Browns argued predated the Wheel of Time itself, though perhaps more fittingly it could be described as its first incarnation—for the ouroboros demonstrated the cyclical nature of the Pattern: a snake swallowing its own tail, one Age turning to the next.

“Light,” Harina thought, “I’m beginning to sound like one of Verin Sedai’s books.” The motherly Brown had most recently lent her “Ruminations on the Wheel,” a lesser known work by Uren din Jubai Soaring Gull, the Sea Folk scholar responsible for the Farede calendar. Verin Sedai must have thought it would help with Harina’s heartsickness; though she did not say as much, the Aes Sedai had observed Harina more than once staring longingly into the brackish depths of the Erinin.

Harina din Elmine Cold Moon, or perhaps just Harina now. She was sealed to the White Tower, had traveled through the three arches to face her greatest fears and returned on the other side, earning the right to wear a Great Serpent ring on the third finger of her left hand. She paused over the symbol again. What did it mean to live in two worlds? Could you exist in both, or did the pattern force you to bend to its needs, ta’veren or no—

Catisune reread the scroll and hastily scrawled a ’t’ at the last. The syntaxes of Illian often pervaded her speech, and she did no usually mind, but she wanted to sound more neutral in her compositions, especially one such as this—

ta’veren or not? Harina needed an answer, and she knew where to look.

*
The Tower Library no longer overawed Harina as it once had. In fact, its sturdy oaken doors large enough to accommodate the tallest Ogier and fitted with casings for iron rods that had failed only once before (during the Trolloc Wars and the fourth assault on Tar Valon, no less) were the very image of what passed for home these days in Harina’s eyes. She curtsied for the Brown sister—Masuri Sedai, she thought—who observed her entry from a desk near the front of the library’s foyer. The Brown smiled absently before returning to the open book before her.

Harina received that sort of smile from most of the Browns she encountered in the course of her daily duties. She spent all of her free time in the library, and by this point even the Sisters who were so vague that they were more likely to forget their stockings than the book they were reading had noticed Harina. She did not mind though.

The illustration of the Great Serpent in din Jubai’s book had led here here. She remembered seeing something similar in a book on ter’angreal in the restricted section. Though she technically needed a pass to access those particular stacks, Harina did not think she would have trouble convincing the library attendant to let her in—after all, Harina had cultivated her reputation for bookishness carefully.

She slipped a blank piece of paper to the attendant and disappeared behind the iron grate before anyone else noticed. She began scanning the the shelves, and quickly, for she had the sense her time was running short. She did not know why she should feel this way, but the thought floated to the top of her consciousness unbidden. She pushed it away and kept searching.

There it was, finally, on a shelf near the bottom of the third stack in the way, way back of the library’s restricted section. She could not yet make out the title, but she felt certain as a sailor taking to the sea under a red sky that this was the book she sought. She stood as she retrieved it, turning it over in her hands to discern the title: “The Dangers of Resonance in the Study of Ter’angreal”—but why would her memory of the Serpent lead her here? She flipped the tome open to the title page and revealed the name of the author.

Harina din Elmine Cold Moon.

She sunk to the ground and started reading. Something else niggled at the periphery of her vision, a twinkling of sorts, but Harina turned so that she could better see by the small light ball she wove in the air before her. She heard someone, as if another initiate were behind her, whispering in her ear. . . "The way back comes but once" . . . Harina had to know the truth . . . "Be steadfast" . . . Harina kept reading, and reading . . . And then . . .

Harina twirled the golden ring on the third finger of her left hand.

*
Catisune blew the remaining blotting sand off her scroll reverently before rolling it back up and stowing it in her pouch. She’d made little headway in her research on the apocryphal tale of Accepted Harina’s disappearance in the Library; in fact, the few librarians she’d asked had delivered her such withering looks she wondered how anyone could consider members of the Brown dreamy. That was not precisely true, Catisune admitted to herself. She was observant, and on several occasions she’d observed a Brown donning and doffing that trademark absentminded expression like a hat, and to great effect. A reputation had its perks, after all.

Catisune hoped the new tack she’d taken with Harina would make Auriona Sedai smile. And, if not, well—at least she could share it with Fleur. Fleur.

Fleur loved tales of suspense and intrigue almost as much as the tedious romances she consumed like candy ever since beginning to improve her literacy. Perhaps Catisune would slip a copy of the scroll under Fleur’s pillow and not tell her from where it came. The White Tower had many ghosts after all, at least ghost stories, and one more certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Besides, Catisune just loved to watch Fleur squirm.

Auriona
Posts: 361
Joined: Tue Sep 15, 2015 5:18 pm

Re: Accepted Harina and the Way, Way Back

Post by Auriona » Fri Sep 11, 2020 1:02 pm

Very well done, Catisune.

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