Kira Aracy: White tower novice and hating every moment. That aptly described Kira’s life. Being a novice wasn’t that bad, she tried to convince herself. There was food and clothes in ample supply. That was something that she hadn’t seen in years. There were chores of course, but Kira had never been scared of hard work. She didn’t mind it really. It kept her mind off of the fact that she was in the midst of her enemy – the Aes Sedai.

They had made it clear to her in no uncertain terms that she would have to stay in the tower as a novice until she could learn to control her ability. Her ability? That was obvious her ability to wield the one power. That was a scary thought. Exciting but scary, she had to admit.

Was she becoming her enemy? The thought almost made her choke. They were shaping her into something she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to be. The whole situation was thrust upon her – without her consent or true knowledge. The Sisters said she could leave after learning control. But could they be trusted? Her gut feelings told her that the Aes Sedai wouldn’t let go of her that easily. No, they wouldn’t force her to stay but they would lure her to stay. Already, even as a Novice, the comforts she enjoyed was much better than that on the streets.

She shook her head as she tried to get those thoughts out of her head. She was too tired to think on it. Already she had too much to worry about to think on such things for too long. Novice’s classes, chores and other work piled up on her schedule. Not that she had a schedule really. But she supposed they kept her busy to keep her mind off of dangerous thoughts. Truth be told she didn’t want to think on it anymore. It was depressing.

She looked down at her steaming plate of food. A fresh roll sat on the side of the plate with a steaming bowl of soup. The kitchen had given her an extra helping after the first time in the eating area. She had been skin and bones when she got to the Tower. She was faring better now, but she was still gaunt looking. She still had some time to reach a healthy weight. Those in charge of the food seemed to know it as well as they didn’t stop with giving her a something extra every time she came down for a meal.

She wolfed down her food. She had learned that food was scarce and when you had some you had better eat it before it disappeared. That instinct would be difficult to unlearn. Of course, she knew the Tower had ample food – but her instincts outweighed her reason.

She looked back at the plate, completely clean. She took it to the kitchen and washed it. The cook gave her a smile. It seemed that she had earned a soft spot in the cook’s heart. But somewhere she remembered hearing that a cook would love anyone who loved their food. Not once had Kira left anything on her plate and often came for seconds. The cook seemed to appreciate it.

She would have stayed to talk but that would just give the Aes Sedai, that lurked around, a reason to give her something else to do. When a sister approached her she feared that it was too late. She merely curtsied (a little awkwardly) and waited for the woman to speak. All the while keeping a lid on her anger she felt towards the woman, to the society itself!

((OOC: Kira's still in the kitchens here, right? If not, let me know and I'll edit. :)))

Sapphira stood from her desk, it was time to get out of her office for a little while. She had done all the work that needed doing right away, everything else she had could wait a few hours. Provided that nothing dire happened while she was gone, Sapphira was sure everything would be fine, and she had certainly done enough to deserve a break from paperwork. Not that it was a break entirely, there was never a complete break as Aes Sedai, and much less so as Amyrlin, as Sapphira had long since learned. But she would not give the job up for anything, it was difficult and often tedious, but when things went right- or almost right -it was very rewarding. She stepped out of her office, giving a nod and a smile to the Keeper, still busily at work. Light, if there was one job in the Towers that Sapphira did not think she could ever stand it would be being the Keeper of the Chronicles. It seemed like she had even more work than Sapphira, she had to take care of everything that she did not deem worthy or needful of the Amyrlin's attention. And the Light knew she was slim on what she did let through, yet still it never seemed to end. It made Sapphira wonder what Edrin kept back, and how many tedious reports and things she had to read each day. For a little while, there had been a necessary suspicion that she was keeping important things from Sapphira, as there would be with anyone who controled what Sapphira learned from outside sources. But time and experience with her new Keeper had proven that the woman was dutiful and honest, no this woman definately let Sapphira see all the important things, and Sapphira had made entirely certain before choosing her as Keeper that the woman was not a Darkfriend.

She continued through the hall, smiling at Accepted and nodding to sisters, as was her custom. Another one of those little things she had started years ago to make people more comfortable with having a formerly Red Amyrlin. The Red had had a bad reputation when it was still an Ajah, as a Shen it was too secretive to have changed that much. Oh, no one could ever say they were at all the same as the former Red Ajah, but no one knew enough about the Red Shen to really form a good opinion about it. And what one did not know, one distrusted and naturally disliked at least on a certain level. It was to be expected. But that was not what Sapphira's errand was today, it was not the day to contemplate the entirety of the Red Shen. Today, she was paying a visit to the kitchens. Not because she was hungry, just because now and then she liked to see the different parts of the Towers in motion, and she had not been to the kitchens for quite a while. Besides, it made sure that every part of the Towers felt necessary, and more important, they all knew that they were under surveillance for any wrongdoing. Sapphira may no longer be a Red, but she still retained the natural suspicion and the desire to root out Darkfriends. She made her way down the halls into the kitchens. It was noisy and busy, as always, especially since it was lunch time right now. They were making sure everyone who came ate at least hot food, even if it was not necessarily the tastiest for the initiates, and making sure that the Aes Sedai, Asha'man, and Gaidin received delicious meals, prepared to their order. And, Sapphira was sure, at least a few people were thinking about dinner, what they would serve, and making sure they had enough of everything they needed.

Sapphira did not recognize most of the faces in the kitchens, some of the cooks were familiar, and the Head Cook was of course known to Sapphira, but other than that most were novices, and there were far too many of them for Sapphira to know more than a handful by sight. She saw a very skinny girl looking prepared to go, but not quite ready to leave yet, standing idly by. Sapphira made her way over to the girl, she must be new if she was that skinny, and probably not yet used to Tower life. She gave an awkward curtsy that also implied that she had not been long in the Tower and stood silently. Well, at least she knew not to speak until spoken to, and to curtsy when an Aes Sedai came around. Sapphira rather assumed that she knew what her stole meant, but there were some who did not, and if the girl was as new as she looked, she may be one of those. "Hello child, what is your name?" she asked calmly. She did not know anything about this girl yet, she did not want to appear unwelcoming to a new novice, but she also did not want to give the girl any indication that she stood above other novices in Sapphira's eyes. "By your appearance, you are rather new to the Towers, what do you think so far?" Clearly the girl knew she was Aes Sedai, and so would probably take care in her answer not to say anything contradictory, and if the girl knew she was the Amyrlin, she would be even more careful. Sapphira would have preferred to hear what the girl really thought, but she would listen to whatever she said. Besides, it was only a question to strike up converstation, after that more interesting and meaningful things could follow.

((That's spot on - ;)))

Kira didn't like this one bit, but what choice did she have but to talk to the woman if she spoke to her? She couldn't very well refuse, could she? No. She was the White Tower's prisoner. But even a prisoner had to know when to lash out and when to keep silent for the sake of peace.

"Hello child, what is your name?" The Sister asked but before Kira could say anything she was bombarded with another question - the one she had been dreading to have been asked of her. "By your appearance, you are rather new to the Towers, what do you think so far?"

She had limited choices as of now, she could either answer the woman truthfully and likely sound the alarm of her feelings - which Kira definitely didn't want to do. The alternative was to blatantly lie. Kira might have been a thief but she was honor bound not to lie. She would not and there was no way around it. But perhaps there was a third alternative. That would be to tell something that was completely true but not all of it. Keep the woman in the dark so to speak without giving away too much.

That of course was a dangerous game to play, especially with an Aes Sedai. But Kira didn't think she had much of a choice.

"My name is Kira Aracy," she said and added, "Mother." Kira almost smiled but kept it to herself. When she arrived the first thing she had done was read up on the protocols. If she were to fool the Tower and even possibly escape she would have to seem as if she was willing to learn. She would have to know everything or at least try to. The woman didn't scare her. Of course, she knew that this particular Aes Sedai was the head of the entire organisation. But Kira had seen much more scary things than a woman in fancy clothes. "The tower is larger than what it looks," Kira answered very carefully. "It's as impressive from the inside as it is from the outside."

Kira was quite proud of herself. She answered the question but at the same time avoided it altogether. She didn't reveal any of her feelings nor of her dislikes of her situation. She could only hope that the Sister didn't see through it all. If she did, she might be in more trouble than what she cared. She still didn't know much about the Aes Sedais, but she knew a captur/prisoner relationship when she saw one and she saw one with herself.

The girl said her name was Kira, definately not a name Sapphira had ever head before. That was not surprising though, there were far too many novices for Sapphira to know the names of more than a handful. Kira also addressed her as Mother, which showed that she knew at the very least that what Sapphira's stole meant, either because of growing up in a family that had taught her something of the Towers, or because she had done some research since arriving here. Of course, it would not take long for a novice to learn who the Amyrlin was, even if she had not yet seen her. She also said that the Tower was impressive and big. It did not actually tell Sapphira anything about how she felt about the Towers, but she let it slide. It was more than possible that the girl did not want to tell the Amyrlin Seat that she disliked the Tower. Many novices came here wanting nothing more than to get away, they hated it. Sapphira had not been one of those, although she had not been excited when she found out she would be coming here, by the time she got here she was ready to become Aes Sedai. She was one of the minority though, most girls hated it here before they arrived, and the amount of work they had to do only cemented that. Of course, that was why they had a Mistress of Novices, to make sure their opinions changed. Eventually, many or even most women decided that they wanted to become Aes Sedai. Of course, far too many for Sapphira's liking also decided that they would not give up a normal life, but the Towers were in no danger of extinction, the situation of the Towers had been steadily increasing ever since Egwene al'Vere was Amyrlin.

That was a woman to look up to. al'Vere had been a wise and good leader, although she had been very young, raised to Amyrlin directly from Accepted- and she had even been young for Accepted at that time. She had made many improvements in the way the Tower was run, even while she was still only the leader of the rebel forces of Salidar. If the Towers had been able to have her as their Amyrlin for a longer span of time, doubtless things would have been even better. It was quite plausible that the woman would still be alive, she had been very young and it was quite common for women to live more than two hundred years. Yes, if al'Vere had not left to fight the Last Battle even before Sapphira's birth, doubtless Sapphira would be serving as Head of the Red under the most able Amyrlin the Towers had ever had. Sapphira pushed those thoughts from her head. She could admire al'Vere as much as she wanted when she had some free time. And that was never, she had to focus on being the best Amyrlin she could be, not thinking about the best Amyrlin the White Tower had ever had. She wondered whether this Kira would be one of those who ended up keeping that hatered for the Towers and eventually leaving. Of course, Sapphira could not be entirely certain that she did hate the Towers, but given her answer Sapphira thought it was a safe assumption. She was Cairhienin after all, and Aes Sedai, that meant she had to be able to read between people's words to find the real meaning of what they were saying. This girl appeared to be half-starved and not Cairhienin, it would be a shame if she could play the Great Game better than the Amylin Seat herself.

Well, Sapphira thought, she could at least put a few ideas of the wonder of the Towers and Aes Sedai into the girl's mind, and perhaps do a little part in improving her opinion of the Towers. All she had to do was find the thing that would hit this girl hardest. "I'm glad you're impressed," she said with a small nod. "It most certainly is an impressive place, it never fails to strike me how much beauty can be wrought by human- and Ogier -hands when the Power is used to help. Of course, far more important things are done by the Towers. There is no limit to the work done by Aes Sedai to live up to their name of Servant to All. That is the impressive thing, if you ask me," she said, her voice slightly introspective and thoughtful. It was absolutely true, there was no spin on the truth in that statement at all. She hoped that Kira would see that, and realize that perhaps there would be some good in becoming Aes Sedai after all. Not that she expected to change the girl's mind all in one go, that was an unrealistic hope, it was more about putting the thought in her mind. Hopefully, what Sapphira said would come back to Kira's mind in the future and make her think about what she wanted to do with herself. She could leave the Towers and try to have a normal life- try would be the key word though. Kira could get married and have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but she would outlive them all by perhaps hundreds of years most likely. The life of a channeler outside of the Towers was a hard, sad one, outliving so many loved ones was hard even for sisters who had little or no contact with their families anymore, how much worse would it be for someone attempting to live an average life? Likely Kira did not know much of anything about the Slowing yet, but she would learn, Aes Sedai or not, and have to live with it one way or the other.

Kira listened to the woman as she spoke. She made odd sense to Kira. There might be something about the Tower that she hadn't considered, there might even be a purpose for being there. But she couldn't get past the fact that the Tower was the reason why she had been orphaned and left alone in the streets to fend for herself. And the Tower had forced her to train under them.

It took everything in herself not to push the woman aside and run away that instance. But being in the streets she had learnt to be patient and dull her emotions - for her own survival.

She felt like her entire life was out of her hands, and the Tower had robbed her from the only thing she had left after her parents death and that was her freedom. She sighed, visibily trying to get her emotions together. She didn't think that the Aes Sedai missed that slip in her composure, but the woman didn't show any signs of recognision regardless.

Kira blinked back a tear before it could drop. She wanted to go home - but the question remained, where was home?

(OOC: I'm so sorry this has taken so long! :())

Sapphira watched Kira's reaction to what she said. The girl did not speak, but Sapphira did not fail to notice the tear that she blinked back. Sapphira's interest was piqued now, what had happened to this girl that a simple statement about the helpfulness of the Towers would make her cry? On the one hand, Sapphira wanted to know and help this girl get over what had happened, but on the other, she did not want to pry so suddenly and upset this novice even more. This was where over one hundred years as Aes Sedai would be helpful. She looked the girl over, wondering what would be the best way to get this girl to open up to her. Of course, standing in the kitchens was not the best way to have an in depth conversation between the Amyrlin and a novice. The Mistress of Novices would be better at this sort of job than Sapphira, Mistresses of Novices were supposed to be easy to talk to and good listeners, that was part of their job. Cayana had been very good at that, Sapphira knew, and despite Kathera's newness to the position, she was sure that the Brown sister would do fine. At the same time, Sapphira concidered it part of her job as Aes Sedai to do her best to make the novices see the truth of the goodness in the Towers. Clearly this girl had some problem with that, and it was one of Sapphira's duties to do something about that.

She stayed silent a few moments, letting the girl think, as well as doing some thinking herself. She knew nothing about this girl, it was always easier to gain entrance into the mind of someone one knew, but that was not an option right now, so Sapphira had to be careful. "What's bothering you, Child?" she asked gently. Sapphira had no children of her own, but she tried to make her voice sound as motherly and comforting as possible, and she thought she did a fairly good job of it. She waited patiently for the girl's answer, hoping she would not be blown off or given an entirely unhelpful answer, she did not want the girl to have anything against the Towers, after all. Oh, she knew there would always be novices who hated this place, and Sapphira had neither the time nor the patience to deal with all of them, but surely she would be able to handle one young girl for a short time. She did not expect to be able to completely change this girl's opinion of this place in one simple conversation, but at the very least she could have some sort of impact, Kathera or another sister would be able to finish the job, if it was at all possible, the White Tower would find a way to do it.