Observing the Grand Silence --- &RPaward

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Chloro
Posts: 427
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 2:21 pm

Observing the Grand Silence --- &RPaward

Post by Chloro » Sat Jul 16, 2022 12:37 pm

This is a small, short story of Chloro's night of contemplation before taking the shawl. I have posted it here as a new woman taking up the mantle of a shawl is something most of the continent can rejoice at. For your reading pleasure, here is the night between what was, and what has come to be!

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Some where in the distance, a bell rung, recognized only to those who had passed the trials. Slightly hunched from exhaustion and pain Chloro looked to the women around her. Shivering from the cold hard river stone that made up the great domed chamber she watched as the glow and hum around the arches begins to dim and fade. To her left a woman spoke, she is unable to determine who, still in shock from the trials.

“You have passed, tonight you will spend your time in contemplation. Speak to no one except a full sister, some may come to speak, or they may not. Rest now the hard part has only just begun.”

Fumbling through the chest in the room she pulled her garments out, the pain in her limbs causing a tear to slowly roll down her left cheek. Turning from the chest after managing to put her white slip on, two women familiar yet she could not place them took their assigned posts to either side of her. Looping their arms under hers they half carried half drug her from the room as she stumbled to walk. To her left a red shawled woman looked at her, sympathy in her eyes yet no words are exchanged.

Further up the ramp they climb from the chamber before reaching the second floor, a wing she was not familiar with which was odd as she had been here nearly twenty years since donning novice whites. Down the corridor of heavy wooden doors, they walked slowing after seven doors had been passed, they turned her towards the eighth, a warm glow coming from it as candles flickered. A woman in a blue divided riding dress looked to her from the room a sympathetic mothering smile lighting her rather handsome face. Lighting the last candle, the woman in blue welcomed them in with a simple open armed gesture. As if the very mood had changed, the red sister to her left and brown to her right walked slowly allowing her the dignity of keeping pace in her state.

Slowly the women help her onto the bed in a sitting position each acting as if this was not the first time, they had aided a charge in this. The blue sister poured water from a pitcher into an oaken mug and placed it on the bedside table. The women worked in silence about the room, the brown moving to light a fire and the red drawing closed the window to stave off the chill of the night air.

A simple clap from the blue alerted the other two and both nodded heading towards the door. The blue lingered and lit one more candle placing it in a pewter holder to carry down the hall with her. Carefully she leaned down slighty squeezing Chloro’s forearm as a comfort before heading to the door. After a brief pause at the door, and a last glance at Chloro, the blue nodded to herself and closed the door quietly. She did not lock it, we were past the point of locks now, it was on honor towards what was to come.

Looking over her shoulder with a wince she could see the faint glow of dusk as night began to take the city. The warmth from the fire soothed her slightly as she reached out and took the mug. Water had never tasted so good as it raced through her insides. In two large gulps she finished the mug and looked at the door, her mind still swaying from the trails.

After what seemed minutes, she looked up, the moon high in the sky. She had spent nearly two hours just starring at the door rethinking the trials in her mind. The first time through the arches while traumatic had in no way prepared her for what had happened. She could see why some girls did not come out of the test or declined to take it. That time though was passed, and so too was the time to question her life here. Her mind turned to the ajahs, and how each might fit her goals in life.

While green and red were noble, fighting and policing she could not see her life going in those directions. Yellow was a common choice among girls, she did have a talent for healing but not a passion for it. Blue, now there was an ajah she could see herself in, investigating the world and championing just causes while keeping the tower safe, alas as blue, it would be far from the political world. White had been a choice years ago, though she had not found the strange drive sisters of that ajah had for numbers and removing emotion from thought. If one could not feel an opinion how could one rebuttal it? Brown in an essence was her backup choice, though she knew that dispute her flare for history she would serve herself and the tower best as a gray. Traveling the lands bringing peace and tying countries to the tower.

Sighing at the still lingering pain from bruises and now scabbed over cuts she placed the mug back on the bedside table. Rising, her walk not as graceful as it normally was, she moved to the rug in font of the fire pacing back and forth.

“How do these women expect me to last the night after what just happened in silent contemplation. How am I to sleep or rest knowing what happens in a few short hours, if only they had allowed my knitting, I could try some semblance of grace.”

On and on she paced, more vigor with each step, anger and frustration building within her, her emotions had finally begun to process the test. Stopping and turning she kicked the wall before yelping in pain, falling to the floor, the Illian carpet breaking her fall. Tears pooled and seeped out of her eyes as she wept not for the pain in her foot, but for what she would loose tomorrow, the life she could no longer lead. Weep on she did, no sons to pledge to the fight against the shadow, no owning a homestead and living out a short life. No running off when she was tired of the life she had. Duty, service, to serve till the last breath.

After what seemed like thirty minutes she lay there, tears having stopped minutes ago, closing the mental door on what was, and beginning to prepare herself for what would be. Standing up slowly she looked about the room. A simple brush and mirror lay on a desk along with a bristle twig and powered soda to wash her mouth. With a deep breath, slowly building patience she moved to the desk sitting on the hard stool before it. Lifting the mirror, she looked at herself, red hair disheveled, her eyes bagged and puffy, her skin looking paler than normal, nearly peaked. With some muster, her arm still sore, she lifted the brush pulling her long red locks back and down, something normal to soothe her nerves.

The soda almost made her smile as she scrubbed her teeth, one of the women had added mint powder to it, the refreshing feeling added to her brightening mind set. After cleansing her mouth, she looked towards the bed, she felt neither the urge to rest nor the fatigue of tiredness. Still, she should try to let her body heal a bit before the morning.

Close to four a.m., a knock came at the door. After a few moments a hawk nosed woman poked her head in looking at Chloro laying on the bed eyes open starring at the ceiling. Entering she could see the tell-tale sign of a yellows medicine bag. The woman inclined her head in greeting and checked on the water in the pitcher then turned to Chloro. The woman embraced the source, the silence observed, pointing to the bruises on the girl’s body. Chloro understood and responded with accepting nod and smile.

With a deftness Chloro had come to know, the woman in yellow weaved the elements into a intricate weave, enough to heal what was here. Yet she had not put the full amount into the weave so the effects would not be as chilling. Chloro nearly jumped as the weave settled, a feeling of being doused by cold water moved over her as skin and muscle reknit itself, soothing what had been damaged. The woman was a more senior sister, Jintara possibly? She had heard of the woman but not had the pleasure to learn from her during her time in the lower ranks. The yellow smiled and reach into her bag pulling out a warm crossed bun and placing it on the bedside table. With soft directness the yellow spoke.

“I will not have you collapsing when the time comes. You may have chosen what shawl you will take, yet all ajah’s lay claim on you until that choice is final.”

After speaking she turned swiftly and headed out the door, closing it as quietly as possible. No need to draw attention to the girl who would soon be among them, not just yet. A lingering smell of lavender wafted about the room after the woman left easing Chloro’s mind and putting a smile on her face. A look at the window could see the sun just starting to break over the horizon. Purples, pinks, and blues illuminated the sky, the tower would soon begin to wake and do what it had done for the past thousand years.

Laying back, Chloro let herself relax into the bed, the soft pillows must have been goose feather, molding to her head. The sheets where satin, her mind had been to distract to notice till now, the soft smooth feel against her skin calmed her further she her eyelids began to drift closer and closer together. With moments she was……………..
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Startled by a knock at the door Chloro nearly jumped out of her skin as an extremely beautiful woman with a white streak in hear hair came in carrying a tray of porridge with jam and cream. The white shawl draped around her shoulders announced her ajah, yet she had not seen this woman before. Perhaps more were returning to the tower of late. Either way she was thankful for the brief moments they share. The white relit the fire, left the tray on the desk, and checked to make sure there was still water in the pitcher.

The woman was quick, it had been only a few minutes before she shot a wink at Chloro then left. The warm bun now cold still lay on bed side table. Smelling the food, she felt famished as If she had not eaten in a week. Healing had its purposes, and its draw backs in the same kind. Pushing herself up she stood moving to the desk, Laras and put a small swirl of maple syrup in the bowl, a luxury for feast days. Plopping down as no one was there to judge her, she demolished the bowl as her brothers had, shoveling in every drop. Nearly choking at one point she paced herself a little slower.

The bowl clean and the bun haven been swiftly eaten after she stood up, her stomach full and her mind finally clear. Moving with her old grace she looked out the window, a group of novices tending the guardian as some accepted’s where being taught how to grow the plants with saidar. It had to be near four in the afternoon now, had she really slept that long? It was nearly time for what she had spent the last two decades preparing for.

A quick touch up of her hair with the brush and a scrub of her mouth with the mint paste made her as ready as she could be. Calmly she moved to the bed and sat on it facing the door. Seconds began to feel like minutes as she waited, time slowing as if to try and delay her from what she sought.

As if a gift from the creator, a loud knock sounded as the door was pushed open, four women in gray shawls stepped in the lead speaking.

“It is time”

Brief words yet the meaning hit Chloro like a sack of bricks, the waiting did not seem so long now as she stood following the other women into the hall. As they moved down the corridor, they took a phalanx position around her guarding her from all sides as they moved. The connecting corridors surprisingly quite as they neared the large double doors. With a loud knock from the lead gray both doors pulled back as women stood in front of their benches looking at the party now entering.

A ringing sounded as Lelaine’s staff struck the floor, the large doors closing, light fading on the corridor in front of it. Chloro looked over her shoulder for a moment seeing the last bit of the corridor as it closed on her old life, before her a new life was set to begin.

The wheel as woven, as the wheel wills………….

Korsik
Posts: 512
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 1:46 pm

Re: Observing the Grand Silence

Post by Korsik » Fri Jul 29, 2022 1:21 pm

Chloro - 5qp, 1 summary 4 content.

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