Ely edit 14 June 2023:
1-6 qps, depending on length and quality.
Potential +1 qp: if part of a series: 2
Total: 2 qps
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View of Nori
Participants: Nori
Cameo: n/a
Honorable Mentions: Friendly Novice that watered the plants towards the back of the garden (thanks friend!)
Nori woke up early in the morning, as she did every day. The sound of sailors in the harbor and carts of merchants could be overhead through nearby open windows as the city began to wake. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stretched her limbs as she began readying to start a new day of chores and studies as a wearied novice in the White Tower. She got dressed quickly, donning the traditional dress of the Wearied Novice. Pausing for a moment she peered into the tall mirror in front of her, doing her best to straighten any creases she could see. The sound of other girls waking and getting dressed hurried her along, grabbing a stack of books and headed out the doors of the dormitory.
As she made her way to the dining hall, Nori mentally went over the lessons she had learned the day before. The names of different roots and herbal remedies danced in her head as she tried to recall everything she had been reading as of late. She had been studying healing after a little mishap with flame strike, and she felt as if she was starting to make some real progress between her studies and practicing after hours. She had received some feedback from several Aes Sedai that had spurred on a more rigorous studying approach in effort to show maturity and her ability to perform her duties as a Wearied Novice. She was determined now to prove to everyone that not only was she mature, but also capable of taking on increased responsibilities as a Journey Accepted in her near future.
Breakfast was a quiet affair, with the novices eating in silence as they contemplated the day ahead. Afterward, Nori headed to the gardens to tend to the plants and to check on a few herbs of her own she had been experimenting with in regards to healing remedies from her studies. It was her favorite chore, and she loved the peace and quiet of the garden. She watered the flowers and pulled out the weeds, making sure that everything was neat and tidy and took a moment to admire her hard work. Nori had been spending a considerable more amount of time than most of her peers to ensure she was an example for other novices.
After finishing her gardening duties, Nori headed to the library to study. Finding a nook on the left side of the shelves where she had taken a liking to, she curled up with a rather large leather bound book titled "Herbal Remedies of the Steddings" and began turning the pages. Although she had become a connoisseur of several topics lately, Nori found herself diversifying her reading palate in effort to show growth and round out her edges as a Wearied Novice. Reading was a fun way to grow and she found it fascinating. As she read, she couldn't help but wonder about the Aes Sedai who had come before her. What had they been like? What adventures had they been on? She wondered if they had endured the struggles that she was enduring in hopes of showing her own value. Perhaps they took a similar approach in learning new things from different subjects. After all, they did seem to know something about everything in her experience.
Nori was so engrossed in her reading that she almost didn't hear the bells tolling from the square nearby, signaling the start of one of her next lessons in the upstairs classrooms. Nori shelved her book from where she found it and made sure to shelve some of the others it seemed a forgetful classmate had left out and then hurried to the classroom, taking her seat alongside the other novices just in time. A Tower Accepted's bright smile greeted her as she found a seat towards the front. A curtsey was exchanged as the class doors were shut and the "A Detailed Look at the Three Oaths" began.
As the day wore on, Nori attended more lessons and completed more chores, stopping by the garden throughout the day to instruct other Novices as to how to handle some of the plants and tend to others. By the time dinner rolled around, she was tiring but satisfied with her accomplishments. She had accomplished everything on her "to-do-list" that kept inside a pocket of her dress and had been managing to accomplish most of her daily tasks assigned to her thanks to her new morning routine of getting up earlier and going the extra mile on chores to show dedication.
As Nori ate dinner the dining hall was much more busier with the buzz of other novices talking about their day, their chores, and some friendly banter between the other girls. She allowed herself to drift off into space as she began pouring over her thoughts of herbs, healing, and trying to remember if she had watered some of the hanging plants in back of the garden. A nervous washed over her as she was unsure if she had or not but, just like that a fellow novice approached her snapping her from her thoughts. "I watered everything in the garden, even the hanging plants", said the curly haired novice who had stopped by to speak to Nori. "Oh, very good. Very good indeed, I was trying to remember if I had managed that or if I had left it up to one of the others", replied Nori. A sheepish look crawled across Nori's face as the girls both laughed once they realized things were fine. It was hard work, but satisfying none the less to hold herself to higher standards and ensure that everything was being done, whether it was by her hands, or working with the other Novices to ensure everything was as it should be. There are many things that make a Novice worthy of donning the dress of an Accepted, but focusing on her work ethic would surely not harm her and she was doing well in that department if nothing else.
With her meal settling in and her mind buzzing with what tomorrow looked like, Nori retired to her room for the night. Entering the dormitory she exchanged curtseys with other Novices before making her way to her part of the dormitory. Nori washed her face and took one more brief look in the mirror, satisfied with the work she had put in that day. She climbed into bed, feeling grateful for the day she had just had and excited for the possibilities of the future. She was confident that her extra efforts in the class room, studying outside of normal class hours, and her hard work in chores would not go unnoticed forever. She closed her eyes briefly, allowing today's studies to permeate her conscious once more before slowly drifting off to sleep. Her thoughts waned from studied herbal remedies to dreams of tilling the gardens. Practice makes perfect I suppose, even in one's dreams.