It was that day again. He had no choice. But still, Edeleas dragged his feet toward the kitchens, entering through the back doors as silent as shadow, reaching for the yellowing apron waiting on the peg for him and he wore it over his Asha'man black. Already the place was bustling, filled with smells and steam, and he went to his usual post by the sink, rolling his sleeves. It was still breakfast time, but the pile of tottering plates waiting for him was huge. Edeleas braced himself and was just about to tackle the first plate when a finger tapped him sharply on the shoulder, and he turned to see the familiar round form of the Mistress of Kitchens.

"Yes?" he said.

"You're not washing plates today, pretty boy." the woman sneered. "You're going out in public to serve trays." There was savage triumph in her voice. Apparently she loved the idea of the Master of Soldiers being punished. Edeleas stared at her, his mouth hanging open. She grabbed his shoulders and literally pushed him out of the kitchens, into the Mess Halls.

The reactions were immediate. The initiates lined up front waiting for food gaped at Edeleas, his Soldiers and Dedicated the most. He felt his cheeks grow hot, but he proceeded, tearing himself from the Mistress of Kitchen's hands and grabbing the tray a Novice held. The girl squeaked in fright and jumped, looking up at him fearfully.

"Where will you sit?" Edeleas demanded.

"O-over t-there, sir..." she pointed.

Edeleas led the way to the table and placed the girl's tray on it. To make matters worse, her friends were there, all gaping up at him. He frowned and gave his glasses a push. That was when a mop was thrust into his hands by the Mistress of Kitchens.

"There's some soup spilled on the floor." she said menacingly. "Go clean it up." She sneered.

Edeleas glared at her before doing what he was told, feeling the intensity of the gazes of what seemed to be everybody in the Mess Halls that morning.

Karena grabbed her tray and look around the tables for a place to sit. She didn’t know many people here yet. She had only arrived a few days ago. And already gotten in trouble. she thought ruefully. How was she supposed to know that recruits weren’t allowed to teach Novices to fight? No one had told her.

She walked around the mess hall aimlessly while thinking and looking for a place to sit. She passed by a table with a large group of people. Maybe she could sit with them. She didn’t know that many people in the group, but she liked to meet new people. As Karena walked quietly to a chair in the center of the group, one person in the group stood up to leave. The person didn’t see that Karena was standing behind her and quickly turned around and knocked into Karena.

Her face grew red as her soup bowl crashed on the floor. clumsy person. “What..” Karena started to yell, but then her face paled. An Asha’man was walked towards her with…a mop, in his hand. She stared at him horrified. She had already gotten in trouble by one Asha’man. Dropping into a low curtsey she said, “I…I’m sorry Asha’man….It was an accident.” She tried to grab the mop from him, assuming he was going to give it to her anyways. “I’ll clean it up right away. Sorry for causing a problem.” She rambled on apologizes not wanted to get in trouble.

Edeleas glared as the young Recruit tried to object to his cleaning her mess. He gave her a gentle push and said, "Keep your hands off that mess on the floor, girl, because I will clean it up, because it's my job." He said, and he did not have time to apologise if his answer was a bit snappy. He was starting to seethe, he was growing angry, because it was completely out of the contract that he would have to do his penance in public. And now...it seems Rialt was determined to get rid of all of his pride. Edeleas glared at the floor as he mopped up the soup.

"Go back to your seat," he snapped at the Recruit again. "I don't need you to bloody watch me!"

(OOC: sorry for taking so long to reply. Next time you can just poke me.)

The Asha’man didn’t seem to want her help. He pushed her back and yelled at her to stop watching and go back to her seat. Karena jumped and took a few steps backwards, but didn’t take her eyes off the Asha’man. He seemed scary; she had never heard an Asha’man yell before. Even the Asha’man who had just gotten her in trouble didn’t yell at her. That reminded her, she had to report to Kiren Gaidar for punishment today.

Someone at the table whispered at her to sit down, but she ignored them. She didn’t understand why he was angry but she didn’t want him to remain mad at her. Cautiously walking back over to him she said, “Asha’man, sir….I didn’t mean to upset you.” She stared down at her feet to avoid the look he was giving her. “I…I’m very sorry. But, you really shouldn’t have to clean it up. It’s my mess. Pleeease Asha’man, let me clean it up.” She almost begged, still horrified that an Asha’man was cleaning up after her. Karena grabbed a handful of napkins from the nearby table. “At least let me help you clean it up?” She bent down to wipe up the floor with the napkins.

Edeleas had to bite down in the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from raging. He spoke, this time in a much calmer voice. "You will keep your flaming hands from my job, child, and you will go to your seat, or I will have you flogged for disobeying me." He said this in his most silent, most dangerous voice. "If you must know, I am serving penance for the flaming Mahdi al'Tain, and if you get in the way of that, he will have your hide instead. SIT DOWN!" He shouted now. The Recruit cringed, hesitated and finally bloody obeyed, and Edeleas mopped up the mess on the floor. He could hear laughter somewhere in the room, and a voice shouted, "Edeleas, look, I spilled my coffee! Mind if you clean it up?"

He swallowed. Hard. Then he walked toward a table in which a group of Doon M'Taal were sitting. True, there was coffee on the floor. But it all smelled like it was spilled on purpose. But still, Edeleas cleaned it up, his eyes on fire, so he kept his gaze to the floor. One more...one more from these bloody men... He gritted his teeth. Suddenly the fang angreal he had dangling from his right ear was as tempting as ever.