Kathera, her chin cupped in hand, stared gloomly at the mush. Swirling it around with a fork, she grimmaced to herself. Real fun, eh, Kathera? she thought to herself. She scoped up a bit of the suposed porridge and shovled some into her mouth, grimacing slightly. Wonderful food for all those high and talented people, mush for the novices.

Muttering to herself indignatly, she took a long gulp of the milk. At least no one could spoil that. Kathera wrinckled her nose in distaste, and pursed her lips thoughtfully. Tower life, she scoffed. More like the 'sleeping in dung' type of life. She smiled slightly, thinking of home. She really couldn't say this life was below her. It wasn't.

She put more of the acid stuff in her mouth, chewing fast, washing out the horrible taste with the milk. Lifting the cup up and examining it, she sighed a little. At this rate, her milk wasn't going to last that long. Inspecting her fingernails, Kathera had nothing better to do, she looked around the mess hall, mentaly cursing herself for chosing a semingly abandioned table. Kathera groaned, softly, just once, and thought about the day ahead of her. Nothing fun, that was for sure.

Gathering her tray from the line, Marian couldn't help but wrinkle her nose, but she turned that quickly into a smile when an Aes Sedai walked by. Who knew if a facial expression could send her to the Mistress of Novices, but Marian wasn't about to find out. It certainly wasn't her idea of a good plan, even if the food wasw that disgusting.

Looking about the lunch room, she figured she'd better find a place to sit, otherwise she'd be standing alone against the wall. She scanned the different areas for an open table. Hmm... Aha! There was a fairly empty table, seated at it, one novice. She seemed to remember her name to be Kathera from her chores. She smiled to herself - Kathera had seemed nice.

She approached the other novice quietly. When she came up to her, and said quietly, "Hi. Mind if I sit with you for the meal?" She gave a smile, as was her way and hoped Kathera would agree. "I was in one of your chores, remember?"

Kathera grinned at Marian. "Of course... my hand still hurts." Sighing to herself, she mixed up the porridge once more. "I'm so bored... I might just insult someone for the fun of it...." Shuddering a bit at the thought of her thinking that would be fun, she grimaced down at her porridge. Stabbing it with her fork, she muttered "Die mush! Die!" She looked back at Marain, giving her a smile that ment 'please excuse me from my insane behavior'.

She scowled at her empty cup of milk, and picked up the 'pastry', sniffing it. Taking a bit, she snorted, spraying crumbs over the table. "Stale." she announced, boredly. "Completly stale." Muttering over stupid cooks, Kathera mashed up her stale pastry, and stired it in with her glompy porridge. "A gormet meal, don't you agree?" she asked Marian. "Lumpy porridge mixed with stale pastry! The cook's best, you know." Chortling softly to herself, she lumped the grayish substance in to a big glob.

Forking a bit of it, she gestured with the lumpy stuff as she talked with Marian. "Really, this place reminds me of home. Same greasy pots," she pursed her lips, "smae gross food, no efense to my mother of course, and the lumpy bedding!" Giggling sudenly, Kathera said "Oh, I just love complaining about life styles sometimes!" She stuck the fork into her mouth, and a look of horrifed remeberance passed over her face.

Spiting it out dramaticly, Kathera sputtered, spraying more small lumpy gray globs over the table. "Arg!" she muttered, wipping her mouth with the back of her sore hand. "Light, I swear they try to poison us!"Glaring down at her tray hatefully, she prodded her lumpy mass with the offending fork. "Stupid porridge." she muttered angrily to herself.

((mind if I join?))

Edeleas tapped the tray he was holding, which was laden with an apple, a bowl of too-sticky porridge and a pitiful slice of bread and cheese. Everywhere he looked there was a crowd, and it seemed that by the Grace Of The Light, he would eat on the floor.

He pivoted on his heels, looking. His body ached distantly, the pain reminding him to never channel when not told. His mentor, the Mahdi, gave him quite a...beating.

He spotted a table with two Novices sitting on it. He bristled like an offended cat. He was awfully shy with girls. But still, he did not want to eat on the floor. Deciding, he walked toward them.

"Can I join you?" he asked politely. The Novices looked at him. For an instant he was sure they were going to refuse. He tapped his tray again, waiting for their answer.

Kathera looked up, wipping away more pastry porridge. "Uhh.... of course." she said, looking at him. The last thing she expected was to see a solider pop up. Well, strange things happened in the mess hall. Including novices spitting out porridge. She looked at Marian, she didn't seem to have noticed.

Quickly, Kathera picked up her only napkin, and wipped away some of the gloppy gray stuff she had got onto to table. Inspecting her glass again, she sighed, no milk had magicly appeared. She pelled her battered orange, looking back at Edeleas.

Marian giggled at Kathera's remarks. She was quite funny, Marian found, and she liked the newer novice a lot. She had a rather sarcastic humor, and Marian liked it. She'd enjoy getting to know this girl, if the opportunity presented itself. She shot her a grin and mushed own fork around in her food a bit, taking a gulp of milk after every bite of food she took.

"I must admit," she said between bits of revolting food. "This is nothing like my home, though it's been awhile since I've experienced that." Shaking her head, she wiped her mouth delicately with a napkin. It was times like these that her noble heritage was shown through. "I had a maid at home, and she would have gagged at this. I've learned to cook with Seshi, that's her, and even I could cook better." She sighed. "Still, we're training to be Aes Sedai, I guess."

"Can I join you?" She looked up to see a soldier come to them. He looked rather polite. Marian scooted over next to Kathera to make room for him. "Uhh.... of course," said Kathera. Marian shot him a nice smile and pat the seat next to her. "Come sit with us," she said kindly. "I'm Marian Skylas. I don't believe we've met." You met someone new every day in the Tower...

Edeleas inclined his head in acknowledgement and sat down. "I thank you...my Lady Marian. And my Lady...?"

"Kathera. Kathera Galwyn."

"My Lady Kathera." Edeleas finished smoothly. "I fear the Tower is getting too crowded, don't you think? Even the mess halls are scarce of vacant tables and chairs."

He ladled his porridge idly, and started to eat. He very nearly spat it out. The thing was unbelievably hot! What was this, Power-cooked? He immediately went red in the face. He really did not know how to move infront of women.

"I thank you...my Lady Marian. And my Lady...?" When Kathera answered, he responded, "My Lady Kathera. I fear the Tower is getting too crowded, don't you think? Even the mess halls are scarce of vacant tables and chairs." Marian nodded in agreement, taking note of how polite he was. It was a nice thing, that was certain to have polite soldiers in the Tower. She took another nibble of her food.

Edeleas put a spoonful of porridge in his mouth... and immediately spat it out. Either he too thought it was quite disgusting... Or, from the steam rising from his bowl, it was hot. She took an empty glass on the table and filled it with water from a pitcher resting nearby. She gave him a smile, and pushed the glass toward him. "It's actually fairly good food for the Tower," she said jokingly. She knew very well he had spat it out because it was hot - he had had too good of manners earlier to do otherwise.

Seeing Edeleas respond to the 'porridge', Kather couldn't help herself. She giggled, trying to cover the sound with a porridge globbed hand. Almost as red in the face as Edeleas, she finally calmed herself down, and notied with amusment that the poor boy seemed... stiff. She hid her face in her arm, and giggled some more, even though she knew Marian and Edeleas would probably be offended. It was too funny, and she didn't encounter interesting things that much, anymore.

"As you can see," she joked, "you really can't describle me as a lady." That sent her into fits of laughter once more, and she gave them a hopefull look, one that ment 'once again, excuse me for acting extremly stupid'. Finaly calming herself down for what she hoped was that last time, Kathera glanced around, and was glad to see no one was looking at her funny. "Sorry." she muttered, poking at the porridge with a fork.

A smile slowly spread onto Edeleas' face. He reached for his napkin and dabbed at his mouth, throwing the piece of cloth onto the tray with disgust. He reached for the apple and took a bite. At least this was not too hot.

Marian and Kathera were very nice. He would very much like to befriend them; it was not always nice in the Black Tower, he needed to have female friends too. If only he could get rid of his stuffiness...

"As you can see," Kathera joked, "you really can't describle me as a lady."

Then she started to laugh merrily. Edeleas looked at Marian, who shrugged smilingly. He shook his head, but he was laughing too. Kathera recovered and poked her porridge with a fork.

"There is no need to apologize for laughing, you see." Edeleas smiled again. "It's very nice meeting you both, my ladies. So...what else to talk about while we...go on with this meal?"

Kathera looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "Meal? What meal?" She grinned sarcasticly, and continued to prod her mush. Once again, she looked around the mess hall, seeing a few people look at them. Oh, well, they could go kill themselves for all she carred. She looked at Edeleas, asking "Hows the Black Tower? Better or worse with the chorse than the white, by your opinon?" she grinned, it was probably worse.

"The Black Tower is as busy as ever." Edeleas answered mildly. "And not to mention a good place to get some body ache, if you ask me."

Kathera and Marian arched their eyebrows, and Edeleas felt his cheeks grow warm. He would not tell them about his own ache. He would have to die first.

"And how about the White Tower, my ladies?" he continued. "Is it true you receive milder treatment and almost no chores?"

By the expressions that dawned on their faces, Edeleas soon guessed the White Tower was no better than the Black. He smiled inwardly.

Kathera grinned. "Eh, we just have to scrub floors, cleean pots, shovel dung... bring buckets of water." She shrugged. "Just the easy stuff." she said sarcasticly, rubbing her back. "I still hurt from that last chore." she moaned theatricly. Grinning again, Kathera continued to mush up her porridge. Turning back to Edeleas, she spoke again. "So how many aches do you have? Right now, I have about five."

Wincing, Edeleas rubbed his head. His head still seemed to vibrate after what Asha'man Rialt had done to him. But he managed a weak grin.

"Five?" he chortled. "I have about nine aches right now. That's about the average I get everyday."

Kathera gaped at him. He threw back his blonde head and started to laugh.

"You're kidding!" she said, and Marian nodded with her.

"Oh, no, I'm afraid." Edeleas replied. "And Asha'man don't just Heal you, you see. They'd like to leave the pain for sometime to serve as a reminder. I'd like to see one of the Yellow Sisters after this, and see if they can pity me with some Healing."

Kathera chortled, spraying a bit of milk over the table. "The yellows? Good luck to you." She snorted softly, then set about whiping up the milk. "The only time I've gotten healed here is when i burnt my hand. And that was by my mentor." Grinning with the sudden vision of Edeleas begging one of the yellows, Kathera prodded the congealed mass of suposed food. "You'd think they could cook up something relativly nice." she muttered, watching the stuff jiggle like jello. Picking up her bruised apple, she bit itno it and looked around thoughtfully.

Ah, chores, the discussion among all the young members of the White and Black Tower. Both societies seemed to take pride in them, handing the Mistress of Novices and Master of Soldiers both a task whip. Marian grinned. "Oh, come on, you two," she said, put her hands on her hips. "Chores build character." She rolled her eyes and shot Kathera a look. "Yes, don't remind me." Kathera had gotten whacked when Marian had not shown her what to do during chores. She felt slightly guilty about that, but it made it better that Kathera did not seem to mind.

To Edeleas, she said, "Light, you think the Yellows will help you? Asha'man not helping, surely I can understand, but the Aes Sedai are no more likely to take pity on you than they." She shrugged. "It's scary to think that one day, I might be one of them, giving everyone cool stares." She tried to mask her face into the serenity that marked an Aes Sedai out in a crowd, but she could not, bursting out laughing every time she tried. She looked at the two of them with a smile.

"Well, I suppose they will be sending us out to our character-building chores soon, and I have some studying I should have finished last night, but I was far too tired," she said. "However, a couple more minutes of talking won't hurt." She winked at them both. She did like them, especially Kathera who seemed like they type of person that could become her close friend.

Edeleas was stopped answering when the bells tolled the hour of the Soldiers. He winced and stood up, searching his pockets.

"Much as I'd like to stay some more and get to know my new friends better," He said as he gave Marian and Kathera both a small ivory carving. "My duties call me. And it looks like too that I will just have to wait until my pains recede on their own. Please take these. I always give friends some token. Thank you for the nice morning. I hope to bump into you two again."

He picked up his tray and bowed at the ladies before leaving with a smile on his face. When his back turned, though, his smile vanished and was replaced by a sour grimace. He was late...yet again.

And yet another ache to be added in the list. He thought wryly as he dashed out of the Mess Halls after depositing his tray.

But he couldn't deny that he was happy.

Kathera waved goodbye to Edeleas, and then inspected the ivory figurine. It was a good carving, though she couldn't really tell what it was suposed to be. Pocketing it and resolving to put it on the table beside her bed, she looked over at Marian, who was also looking at her figure. "Well, I'l see you later." Kathera said in goodbye as she picked up her tray and left.