Shaya nearly moaned under the weight of the two buckets. She felt like she had been running back and forth with hot water all morning.
The rope attached to the two buckets was cutting into the back of her neck and had already left an angry red mark. She had never seen so much filthy linnen in one heap. It was going to take weeks to wash all that! The sides of her novice dress were drenched where the water had sloshed over the buckets and the fabric clung to her legs in a most uncomfortable way. Shaya decided that out of all the chores she had been given to do, she definitely hated doing laundry the most. She set down the buckets carefully as she got to the big wooden tub filled with the dirty washing and carefully tipped in the steaming water. Using the big wooden paddle, she stirred the laundry around, making sure it all got soaked properly.

The previous batch was ready to be wrung out and hung up to dry, but Shaya found it hard to make herself move. She arched her back with a slight grimace; she would surely feel this one tonight. Her mind drifted to days when the hardest thing she had to do was to get out of bed in the morning and make herself pretty. She let out a soft sigh, there was no point in reminiscing the past, it would only make the loss more obvious. She piled a mountain of wrung out whites on her arms and moved to the door. They would have to be hung up outside to dry. She had to jump back quickly when the door suddenly swung open, nearly causing her to drop the clean washing on the grimy floor. She yelped and only just managed to catch all of it by nimbly dropping down on her haunches. She let out a relieved sigh, for a moment there she had visions of having to fill another tub and doing the whole thing all over again. She looked up to see who had come in, uncomfortably aware of how the cold of the damp clothes in her arms was seeping through her novice shift.

Maeve had been told the novices were to do laundry today. Her Saidar training had run late today, but she wasn't going to tell the Amyrlin Seat that she needed to hurry. Either way it was trouble. She was late. Her lesson had been outside that day. It was a beautiful day and she hated having to go back inside. She could see the clotheslines and she increased her speed without breaking stride. As much as she wasn't looking foward to wasting water, she had seen the way these wetlanders washed clothes, she would hate being punished even more. When she finally reached the door she quckly pushed it open and as it swung instead of the hinges creaking she heard a shriek.

When she saw the novice on the other side standing there with a soaked dressed and an armload of wet laundry she understood what had happened. Maeve quickly took half of the pile from the other novice. "I'm sorry for startling you. I'm supposed to be here doing laundry as well."