Fianna dragged herself to the Mess hall. She had been doing chores, her punishment and her classes it gave her little time to eat. She had realized she was losing weight and needed to eat something in order to gain it back. She got her food and sat down at one of the long tables as close to the doors as she could. She had learned if she didn't want to be the center of attention she should sit far from the attention of everyone. There were only a few people in the room. Men from the training yards and a few Aes Sedai. She was the only Novice in the room. She slowly ate her food and watched the room around her. The Aes Sedai were talking quitely and Fianna found herself wondering what they were talking about. She wondered a lot about these women she wondered what would be required of her to be an Accepted or a full Aes Sedai. She was not scared of the unknown simply curious. She hoped she would be ready for the Accepted test soon she was very tired of being a novice and felt the need to move on. She knew though that that was up to the Aes Sedai of the tower. She would be a Novice as long as they deemed it nessecary. She had not made many friends here she wished she had. She was an outcast here it seemed the only people who wanted to talk to her usually were the Browns and she found it hard to keep pace with there constant questions. She knew she would never be a brown. This late in the day she figured she was wasting her time hoping someone other then a Brown would speak to her and she smiled. Her strange sense of humor returning to her. How funny that only a brown sister would speak to her and her home land was brown and she only wore brown and grey when she was with her sisters. She laughed then at the sheer sillyness of it all. The Aes Sedai looked at her then and Fianna stopped laughing and looked away from them. She could not wipe the smile compleatly off her face though. She heard someone sit at her table and looked up still with a smile on her face. She nodded and said "Hello"

Nanaia's stomach growled angrily at her as she passed the mess hall. She had forgotten to eat again today. The smell for the room reached her nose and she was soon hopelessly waslking toward the kitchens to grab a plate. Normally she had her meals taken in her office, but with all the work running around today, she had completely forgotten. There was no reason to delay now and her mouth watered at what may have been lamb or venison covered in thick gravy.

She looked around the room. On one side was a table of Aes Sedai and Gaidin chattering away, one of the women suddenly laughing. Nanaia frowned. Sounded like Greens. She didn't mind the Greens so much: they had a noble tradition as the Battle Ajah, but Greens could talk your ear off. At seeing Nanaia in the room, one of the woman started to raised, and Nanaia frowned even more fiercely and haeded in the opposite direction. there was no underestimating the power of a good frown, she thought to herself, and she had spent years perfecting hers.

She came out of her revery, startled when she had realized that she stood at the table of a young novice. Nanaia sighed inwardly. The other Ajahs and Shens didn't take well to Reds for one reason or another, and that rubbed off onto the novices and soldiers. Nanaia barely knew any of them, and she definitely didn't recognize this Aiel girl. So few Aiel come to the Towers. Nanaia sat herself down across from the girl and heard her say, "Hello." After settling herself in her chair, she looked the novice up and down, and then replied, "What is your name, girl?"

Radgar walked into the mess hall wearing his soldiers uniform. It was a little tight around the chest but he didn't mind. The colour was perfect, black as night. His hair swayed behind him as he moved gracefully into the meal line hopeing the food wouldn't be as bad as some had said it would be. Looking down at the food the survers placed on his plate he hoped that it would taste better than it looked. Although he wasn't in a social mood he looked for someone to eat with. He knew if he ate along someone would bother him anyway. He looked over at the Aes Sedai and Gaidin having an indepth conversation on who knows what they probably wouldn't appreciate a soldier disturbing them. He then looked to a table in a corner with two women sitting at it. One appeard to be an Aes Sedai another a novice.

Walking up to them he was calm, nomally this would have scared him half to death but for some reason the uniform gave him a the confidence to go ahead and do it. Holding his tray with his left hand he lifted his right to move the hair that had fallen into his face back behind his ears. His crisp blue eyes stood out in contrast with his dark hair and clothes He sat down at an empty seat and looked over at the two.

"Hello," He said calmly, "sorry if I've disturbed you, I hope you don't mind if i sit here"

"What is your name, girl?" Fianna nodded her head to the woman and answered

"My Name is Fianna, I." She stopped when a young man came and sat down as well.

""Hello," He said calmly, "sorry if I've disturbed you, I hope you don't mind if i sit here" Fianna shook her head and answered

"You are not disturbing me my name is Fianna. I have been to busy to eat the last few days and so am just now getting back into the habbit of eating here in the hall." She looked over both people. One of them was clearly a soldier she wondered if she could best him. She always wondered that when she saw someone new who clearly was a fighter like her. The other was a woman clearly an Aes Sedai. Why was she not sitting with the other Aes sedai? Fianna wondered. She also wondered if the Aes Sedai had outcasts within the Ajah's. "What are your names?" Fianna asked making conversation while she was eating.

Nanaia eyed the soldier and the novice and nodded to him to sit. This would be an interesting conversation: three types that rarely interact. All we need now is a recruit, she thought to herself wryly. "What are your names," the girl asked them politely. Nanaia almost smiled. The two don't recognize me as a Red, Nanaia thought, or they would probably both be making excuses about work that needs to be done and hurrying off before I start naming them as darkfriends.

Nanaia eyed the girl again. One of the Aiel. The Aiel were a strong people, not easily broken, and very proud. It would be hard to train that one, and she'd probably teach much to her mentor. The soldier was one she recognized briefly, an Andoran. Redger or Radiger, she could not remember. Except that the confidence he tried to exhume from his stature was diminished by the scared wild look in his eyes. Good, that one is brave even when he is scared. Nanaia was glad to see some spirit in the lower ranks.

"I am Nanaia Sedai. And it is not good to miss your meals, Fianna, if you want to stay strong enough to advance around here." There, she said her piece of Aes Sedai wisdom. It would be best to stick around to mediate between these two. It would not be good to have another one of those 'incidents' of last year, where novices and soldiers tried to shield one another. A complete disaster that was. Nanaia leveled her cold gray eyes upon the soldier that sat among them and stared. He was old for a soldier, but it would be good to put him in his place to begin. "And you, boy? Your name?" she asked curtly.

Radgar sat down quietly and watched the two women. The Aes Sedai had a fierce look to her, her long sweeping red hair seemed to move like fire. Her gray eyes seemed to pick up every little movement, but that he had noticed in a lot of Aes Sedai. Her name was Nania he would remember that. Looking at the girl she was obviously Aiel, if not she was an oddity in the west lands. Tall and Dark she was a mystery he'd have to find out about later. Her red hair just as firie as the Aes Sedai's and she just as fierce. He watched quietly as the novice was lectured about eating it almost amused him.

The Aes Sedai spoke to him finally, he lifted his crisp blue eyes and returned her stare showing confidence wrapped with just enough respect. "I'm Radgar Al'Exander, Aes Sedai." He said calmly. He cursed his hair as he lifted his hand up again to move it from his face and place it behind his ear. Lifting up his spoon he lifted a piece of something to his mouth and almost cringed at the taste.

"I am Nanaia Sedai. And it is not good to miss your meals, Fianna, if you want to stay strong enough to advance around here." The Aes Sedai Nanaia said to her. Fianna looked at her plate and laughed softly to herself. She had hardely noticed the lack of food until she got free time. She knew a day or so more without food and she would have been weak but only a few days would not faze her. She listened to the Aes Sedai speak to the Soldier and gave a smile when the soldier cursed at his hair. Fianna said to him "If you cut it short you won't have to worry about your hair getting in everything. of course," she added with a smile "It won't look quite so pretty." He gave her a strange look and Fianna laughed outright she couldn't help it. She turned back to the Aes Sedai still smiling and asked "What color is your Ajah?" The Aes Sedai seemed a bit uncomfortable with that question and Fianna quickly made sure she said "If you don't wish to tell me that is fine." She didn't want to get sent back to the Mistress for being rude. She had already seen the Mistress more then she wanted to. Fianna was not sure why the question of Ajah would be rude but she had to be sure she was polite she didn't want to see the inside of the Mistress of novices office again for a long time.

"What color is your ajah?" the novice asked her. A natural question for a brave novice, but one that made and frown and her eyes go hard. Nanaia's shen was everything to her, and she hardly distinguished herself from being a Red. Of all the ajahs and shens, the Reds were the least liked, and least understood. A novice would not normally ask such as direct question, and Fianna knew it, watching her verbally flinch and make hasty apology. Normally, Nanaia would have been very upset, but the long day had tired her and she could find no fault in curiosity.

With a wave of her hand to dismiss the novice's worries, Nanaia began. "I am of no ajah. I am an Aes Sedai of the Red Shen." She looked at Fianna for a moment, and then continued. "Tell me, what have you learned about the Red Shen since you have arrived in Tar Valon?" It was always very telling about one's ignorcance when one is asked about her knowledge.

"Tell me, what have you learned about the Red Shen since you have arrived in Tar Valon?" Fianna sighed here was a question she had no good answer for. She didn't know alot about the Red shen for it had not yet been covered in her classes. She didn't know why but it had not. She shook her head at the Red

"I'm afraid Aes Sedai that I do not know much about the Red Shen." Fianna looked across the room at the Aes Sedai who seemed to be giving the Red sister a wide berth and she added "It seems you are not well liked by the other Aes Sedai." She continued softly to herself "It seems there are outcasts even here in the tower." She looked back at the two people across from her and smiled at the Solider who was still having trouble with his hair. "Here" she said and she took out a pin from her hair and reached across the table and fastened it into his hair. "there that should keep you free of it for awhile." She sat back satisfied with herself. She realized when she felt the dark looks from the Aes Sedai across the room that she probably had just broken about fourty rules. She wasn't allowed to be around men as a Novice. She raised her head and stared around the room definatly as she waited for what was coming next.

Nanaia hid the smile the formed on her lips. Fianna had broken a few rules of disrespect and presumed too much, but she was very aware of her surroundings. It was the willful stare that the novice set in the direction of the other Aes Sedai and brought the smile to her lips. Nanaia did not need to turn in her seat to know that they were staring at them. The only thing that stopped them from coming over here and separating the soldier and novice was Nanaia's presence. But Nanaia refused to give in and leave. There was a certain satisfaction in watching other Aes Sedai boil in their own indignance.

She pursed her lips. Now would be a good time to educate Fianna on a little of the Tower intrigue. "The Red Shen has only one enemy: the Dark One. We commit our lives to hunting out darkfriends wherever they lay." She widened her hard gaze to include the soldier in her speech. "Aes Sedai and Asha'men like to forget and pretend that there are darkfriends among the Towers, of the non-existence of the Black Ajah and Black Shen. But the Reds never forget."

She looked at the Aiel woman and the soldier with her cold gray eyes, now completely serious in her talk. "It would be wise that you do not forget it." She was not a fearmonger, but if having this warning might save their lives in the future, she was more than willing to scare them with what other Aes Sedai and Asha'men considered ill rumors.

Alilisa was walking by the group that was apparently discussing something. A soldier, novice and Aes Sedai all together? Alilisa found that a bit odd. When the Aes Sedia spotted her Alilisa quickly went into a curtsy, though it was hard to do carring a tray off food. "Good day Aes Sedai." She said. Alilisa was still a bit clumsy at her curtsy, and should have no way attempted to curtsy with a try full of food. Alilisa tripped and sloshed the food on her nice white novice dress. Alilisa was devistated. How could this have happened? Now she had to scrub all those stains out!