Avialle hadn't realized that becoming an Aes Sedai could be so monotonous. Chores, lessons, sleep; chores, lessons, sleep; chores, lessons, sleep ... how could anyone survive without going mad from boredom? Not that the lessons themselves were boring, but still ... class and homework wasn't exactly fun and exciting. Avialle needed something to release the tension and she happened on it one bright day during the Festival of the Dragon. Because they had so much more free time than usual, Avialle found herself wandering the halls before chores one morning.

"This is wonderful, Toma!" She heard from around a corner. She paused, eavesdropping could be fun, she supposed. "Where did you get it?"

"A friend of mine in the city picked it up for me." Responded a voice, presumably Toma's.

"So, now what?"

"We'll put it Leai's bed - she'll be an itchy wreck!" The two girls were giggling to themselves as Avialle rounded the corner. When they saw her, they jumped and one of them put her hand behind her back quickly.

"I couldn't help but overhear," Avialle started, as the other two Novices exchanged nervous glances, "and I'm interested in what you have there."

"You're not going to tell, are you?" One of them blurted out. The other one gave her friend a dirty look.

"Not if you share." Avialle said, crossing her arms over her chest.



Later, as she headed to her afternoon chore of laundry, Avialle couldn't help but grin. Putting the itching powder in the bed of one novice was a small way to think, to Avialle's mind. Putting it in the laundry, on the other hand... well, that was a plan. She'd need help if she was going to get it in as much laundry as possible though. Who to recruit? When she saw that her roommates also had laundry duty, her question was answered for her. Who better? Avialle got started on the laundry and tried to catch the attention of the other girls. They'd need to get together long enough for Avialle to tell them her plan and give them some of the powder. She wasn't worried about getting in trouble; she didn't think her roommates would give her up, even if they weren't interested in participating.

(OOC: Glad you got it started!)

Uggh! Laundry. Out of all the chores she could have been assigned, she had to have been assigned laundry. She hated laundry, even more than she hated scrubbing pots and pans. Mirazhe wasn't sure why she hated laundry, but she did. Maybe because there was always so much laundry. There were the clothes from the women in the White Tower, the clothes from the soldiers, and the clothes from the recruits. Their clothes were the worst. Smelly and grimy from the day's workout, it was like washing something covered entirely in mud. Actually, it was washing something covered in mud. Many of the recruits were new and just learning, therefore it was likely that they would get bashed into the mud of the practice field many times by someone more experienced. She had had to force herself from gagging when she first saw a basket of laundry from the recruits. Thankfully, she'd been given a basket of laundry from the White Tower this time, so it wasn't as bad as it might have been.

As she scrubbed the dirty dresses, her thoughts drifted. She liked living in the Tower. Her rooms might be small, and she might have to share them with three other girls, one of whom definitely seemed to like her, but learning to channel definitely made up for a lot of it. She hadn't progressed very far, since she seemed to be a slow learner, but that was okay. And her mentor was very nice. Lyla Sedai was very patient with her, always telling her what to do. She smiled at the thought of Lyla Sedai. Then a voice jolted her back to earth. She blinked, and saw the Aes Sedai who was supervising them glaring at her. Realizing she had stopped washing, she quickly resumed her washing, and mumbled an apology. The Aes Sedai gave a warning look and went back to supervising.

After a few moments, she snuck a peek at the Aes Sedai. She had her back turned and seemed to be berating another novice, so Mirazhe took a moment to stretch as relax. She made a face at the Aes Sedai. The Aes Sedai wasn't mean, but she was very strict and didn't tolerate any lazing about. One novice had found herself scrubbing pots for a month for taking a moment to talk with one of her fellow laundry washers. Mirazhe had been glad that it hadn't been her. As she looked up, she saw that her fellow roommate Avialle was also doing laundry. She smiled at Avialle. Avialle was nice, and Mirazhe liked her. Then she noticed that Avialle was motioning at her, probably to get her attention. Glancing quickly at the Aes Sedai to make sure she was still talking, which she was, she whispered, "What?" to Avialle. She didn't want to get caught not doing her laundry, but she was curious as to what Avialle wanted.

[ooc - wooohoo! *snuggles*]

This whole day had started in the worst possible way. Morgaine woke up late, had to get dressed so fast she didn’t have time to brush her hair properly, and had barely enough time to eat a few bites before having to run to the room in which Freyja Sedai trained her in the power without being late – and she was late; a passing Aes Sedai sent her to her room to comb her hair properly, as if she didn’t know she looked like a monster with her hair like that. Or worse… like a peasant who cannot even afford a comb.

To top it all, she had to do the laundry!! Morgaine hardly knew where to begin… it was all so filthy and… gross was the only word she could think of. The Aes Sedai supervising nearly gave her another load of laundry when she saw the look on Morgaine’s face. A look of disgust, mostly, but there was plenty of anger in it too. How dare they make her do chores?! How dare they?!

Her roommates were also in the room – Avialle and Farina, and of course, that wretched peasant Mirazhe. They knew what to do, how to do the laundry. Morgaine looked at what Farina and Avialle did, trying to copy them – but not Mirazhe, she would never copy from Mirazhe! – and hoping she would succeed. She did not care for more chores, she was stressing with what she had already. Morgaine was not used to so much work, that was sure.

Morgaine stole another glimpse at Avialle, to make sure she did right, when she noticed the girl was trying to catch her attention. All of their attentions, actually. And Mirazhe seemed to have noticed too, as she was whispering back, but Morgaine didn’t listen. She didn’t want to hear a word coming out of Mirazhe’s mouth. She did, however, smile slightly at Avialle, to let her know that she was listening too.

Morgaine forgot about her laundry completely, only her hands still moving to make it seem like she was working. She was focused only on Avialle, and, as much as she hated to admit – on Mirazhe too. The Aes Sedai, luckily, was busy on the other side of the room and not noticing at all.

Farina wasn’t smiling when she tried to rub out stain of mud from a shirt. When she had been a child, she had barely had any chores, but she had learned soon when she had moved to her own house with her dreadful husband. And a girl could know what real housework meant only after she had an infant crawling all over the house, spitting and tearing and messing. The thought of her daughter immediately brought a stab of pain, but Farina was surprised to find it a bit weaker than before. Maybe it is true, maybe I can get over it during time. She shook her head slightly and concentrated on the laundry again. She knew how to do chores, but it didn’t mean she enjoyed it.

The stain of mud was very persistent, and Farina had to use all her strength and skill to clean the shirt. She knew that the Aes Sedai wouldn’t let her go until each piece of clothing was as clean as a new one. Otherwise she wouldn’t have bothered. She had learned what came from neglecting chores, one extra shift of scrubbing the dirtiest pots had made it clear. There was no use in trying to fight it, she would have chores whether she liked it or not. The only thing she could decide was whether she wanted more of them or not.

And besides, it wasn’t that disgusting. She could think of several other things she found more unpleasant. Like work in the stables, or carrying books to the library. Laundry was just monotonic work that left a lot of room to think and ponder what you wished. It suited Farina rather well. The only thing that made Farina down was how her hands wrinkled in the soapy water.

Farina could hear whispering behind her, and she saw Avialle there, whispering to their other two roommates. Farina hadn’t noticed them before, she could be lost in her thoughts so that she didn’t realise who was around her. Avialle signalled for Farina to joint them too, so after making sure that the Aes Sedai supervising them wasn’t looking, she joined them and listened as Avialle told her plan. A wild grin spread in her face as she saw the picture.

It only took a few minutes for Avialle to get her roommates attention, and soon she had an audience of three. The other novices and the Aes Sedai were too busy to pay attention to the four girls and since they were pretending to be working there was nothing to draw attention to them. After all, there was no rule against novices talking while they worked, was there?

Avialle took the small vial of powder from the precarious place she had hidden it - her bosom - and showed it surreptitiously to the other girls. "Itching powder." She said, before they had a chance to ask. With that wicked grin that Maric had loved, she unstoppered the vial and poured some into the basket that she had just finished with. In it were novice whites, accepted's banded hem dresses, and even some recruit's clothing. "Now, I don't know if you girls are interested in having some fun, but imagine how much more laundry we could get this into if we took turns with it?" Grinning she placed the stopper back in the bottle. "Now, don't feel like you have to ... we could get in big trouble for this if anyone found out it was us, but if you're interested we could spread it around." She looked at the faces of each of her roommates to see who would be interested in taking the next turn with the vial.

As it turned out, the rest of Mirazhe’s roommates had ended up doing laundry as well. Morgaine had a disgusted look on her face, no doubt thinking that a lady should never be forced to do something as lowly as washing laundry. Farina was there too, and she seemed to be doing okay. Glancing at Avialle again, she noticed that the girl was motioning for them to come closer. Mirazhe almost looked at the supervising Aes Sedai, but then thought just to go to Avialle. Who cares if I’m not doing my laundry? It’s not like something horrible will happen if a basket of laundry is washed. The worst thing that might happen is that someone will have nothing to wear, and that’s no concern of mine. She quickly walked over to Avialle, noticing that the rest of the girls seemed to be doing the same thing.

When they all reached Avialle, she pulled out something from under her dress. It was a little glass bottle of something white. “Itching powder,” explained Avialle, with a big grin on her face. She uncorked the bottle and poured a bit in her laundry basket. "Now, I don't know if you girls are interested in having some fun, but imagine how much more laundry we could get this into if we took turns with it?" Avialle looked at them all. "Now, don't feel like you have to ... we could get in big trouble for this if anyone found out it was us, but if you're interested we could spread it around."

Mirazhe was half shocked, half amused. The poor soldiers would be itching madly the next day. It was a bit mean, but it was still funny. Should she do it? It seemed like fun, but as Avialle said, they could get in big trouble. And Mirazhe was already in a lot of trouble. There really was no need for her to do this. In fact, she probably shouldn’t do it. She should go right back to her laundry washing and ignore whatever Avialle said. But the fun to be had…… After a short internal battle, the amusement and the chance to cause some mischief won out, and she put out her hand. “I’ll take some,” she said, grinning. “The results should be interesting to see.”

Avialle grinned wickedly as Mirazhe was the first taker in her little joke. Not that it would be funny to quite everyone, but still... Avialle handed the little vial to Mirazhe. "Here you go. Just do the laundry as usual, but whenever you know no one's looking, add some of this into your baskets, then pass it on." She looked at the faces of Morgaine and Farina. So far neither of them had volunteered, but she had a feeling that once they saw how easy it really was, they might want in on the fun.

Winking at the other three girls, Avialle hoisted her basket of itchy laundry onto her hip and headed back to the laundry room to deposit it in the "finished" section. It occurred to her that whichever novices got the job of delivering these clothes to their rightful owners would also fall victim to the prank, but at least they could simply wash their hands.

When she set the basket down next to the other baskets waiting for delivery, she spied a basket of silken Aes Sedai underclothes. Temptation and caution warred within her, but the temptation won. Gingerly taking the top shirt from the basket she had just deposited, she shook the itching powder from it onto the silken undergarments. Some unwary Aes Sedai would get quite a surprise!

Avialle grinned and handed her the vial. Mirazhe held it carefully. “I’ll give it back as soon as I’m done with it,” she promised. Then she left the small cluster of girls and went back to her basket of laundry. Thankfully, the Aes Sedai on supervising duty hadn’t noticed her absence. Well, it wouldn’t have been so bad. Actually, it could’ve been helpful. Maybe she would’ve made Mirazhe do more laundry, thus giving her the chance to spread the itching powder around more. But she might’ve asked what Mirazhe had been doing, and that might have lead to her discovering the little bottle of powder. It really could’ve gone either way.

She looked at her basket. Most of it was Accepted and Novice dresses. There were a few undergarments, but otherwise, nothing of color. She washed them quickly and set them out to dry. Then she noticed another novice putting dry clothes into a basket. The clothes were all colorful – a sure sign that they belonged to Aes Sedai. She smiled evilly. Accepted and Novices weren’t allowed to have nice dresses. And there would be the added benefit of knowing that none of the dresses belonged to her. Quickly walking towards the novice, she smiled and took the basket from her. “I’ll take these. You look like you could use a little rest.” The other novice frowned but went off to enjoy her short break. Mirazhe looked around carefully. It would never do for any one to see what she was doing. Novices were an odd lot. Some would join Mirazhe in the fun, some would report her to the Aes Sedai immediately, and others would probably do nothing. Satisfied that no one was looking, she uncorked the bottle and poured some of the contents into the basket. She swished the clothes around a little bit, trying to get the powder onto all of the clothes. Then she put on her best innocent face and went to put her load with the rest of the clothes that were ready to be delivered.

When she got back to her own basket, most of the clothes were fairly dry. Some were still a little wet but Mirazhe decided to ignore that. Taking down all the clothes, she put them into a basket and poured some powder into them. The bottle was half empty now, but she was sure that there was still more than enough for Morgaine and Farina if they decided to participate in the little joke. After depositing her basket by the rest, she hurried back to Avialle and handed her the bottle. “I’m all done,” she said, smiling widely.

Despite her wide grin that had settled on her face when Avialle revealed her plan, she didn't quite know if she should participate or not. She would get into royal trouble if someone found out that she had been a part of the prank. So she let Mirazhe take the bottle and went back to continue with her laundry.

Although she had almost decided that she wouldn't participate because the thought of a punishment for such a prank was far greater than she wanted to experience, but she couldn't help taking peeks at Mirazhe as she set off with the vial of itching powder. The novice took a basket from another novice and poured itching powder to the basket of colourful Aes Sedai clothes. Farina would never have noticed it if she hadn't known what to look for.

Farina twisted the shirt she had been washing and laid it on the basket. That was the last piece of clothing in her load, and she would soon have to go and get some more. She knew that the Aes Sedai wouldn't let her go after one basket of clothes. She shook her head slightly as she took the basket and started to take the clothes to be set to dry, when she saw Mirazhe giving the bottle of powder back to Avialle. Farina couldn't resist the temptation, but walked to Avialle as in passing and snatched the vial from her hand. The wide grin had again settled on her face as she walked on.

She but the vial in her bosom just like Avialle had done as she set the clothes to dry. She wondered where she could use the powder, she didn't want to wait until her own load was dry enough to be delivered. She stood there for a while, frowning slightly and thinking of a way. So she jumped and dropped her empty basket when she heard a faint cough behind her. Her eyes widened in horror and she dropped a low curtsy when she saw the Aes Sedai there, looking down at her. The first thought that ran through her mind was that now she got caught, but then she realised that she hadn't done anything yet. "Don't just stand there child, take down those dry clothes." She motioned towards a basketfull of black Soldier and Dedicated outfits. Farina dropped another curtsy and muttered "Yes, Aes Sedai", but on the inside she smiled. Now she had the perfect opportunity to use the itching powder. She took down the black clothes, and once she was done, she poured a good lot of itching powder on them and mixed the clothes a bit. Then she brought the clothes to be delivered and went to give the vial back to Avialle, flashing a wicked grin to show that she had succeeded.

Avialle had a hard time keeping her own grin in check when Farina brought back the vial; she was impressed with both of her roommates' daring. She still wasn't sure if Morgaine wanted to be a part of their prank, so she saved a little of the powder that was left, just in case. Besides, even if Morgaine wasn't interested, there might be other opportunities to use the powder later on.

Her latest load of laundry folded neatly and stacked in the basket, Avialle wondered if she could safely sneak away to hide the itching powder in her room. It didn't look like it - there was still a lot of laundry to be done; someone would surely notice if she tried to leave. There was nothing for it but to secret the vial away in her bosom.

Avialle retrieved a basket of wet clothes that needed hanging and headed outside to pin them up on a long clothesline where several other novices were doing the same thing. After only a few minutes of hanging up clothes, Avialle began to feel an uncomfortable itch in the area of her bosom. Oh no! She hid behind a flapping sheet and reached down into her dress for the vial of itching powder. Sure enough, the stopper had come loose and some of the remaining powder had made it onto her skin and the inside of her dress. It was beginning to itch madly now and Avialle wanted to just rip her dress off and scratch her skin to bits. What am I going to do? She looked around frantically for some water or anything that she could use to soothe her itching skin, but there was nothing nearby. Her eyes fell on the basket of laundry that she was hanging up and she began to rummage through it frantically, praying that there were some novice whites in there somewhere. Luck was with her, for she found a novice dress that would fit her near the bottom of the basket. Still behind the sheet, she stripped off the dress she was wearing, and her smallclothes, then used a wet sheet to rub the powder from her skin before quickly donning the wet novice dress. She still felt a little itchy, and now she had to suffer the discomfort of wearing a wet dress with no underthings, but it was still better than it had been. Sighing in relief, she finished hanging up the rest of the clothes quickly, her novice dress and underclothes included, then headed back into the laundry room, hoping that no one would notice her damp dress.

Unnoticed, the vial of itching powder lay where she had dropped it in the grass.