Note: From now on it is all my work, aside from a small contribution from Ariana Sedai, The Amyrlin Seat at www.wheeloftimerp.com. Rayel is my own character, her (sur)name slightly altered from the character you will eventually find in my Ragewater Chronicles. A few names mentioned from here on in are not my own inventions, but the majority of them are.

Foremath



Rayel worked all that day, exhausting herself in her attempts to forget. She scrubbed dirty dishes, something that had always repulsed her, and even did part of the floors. The cook looked astonished that she was volunteering herself without being dragged in by her ear. She just looked at the woman briefly and continued about her business.

She washed up when someone else came in to take over—they had been assigned the job, and Rayel was not about to let them get into trouble by forcing them out of a chore—and headed over to the main entrance of the Tower. She didn't hide herself, and soon enough an Aes Sedai approached her with several errands to run. She was to deliver messages, letters and summonses, and then go and help clean out the cabinets in the sickroom. She did all of this, moving as fast as she could so that the pain in her muscles kept her mind from wandering.

Next she practically leapt on an Aes Sedai, and realised she had sounded like she was begging when she asked for a chore. "Are you well, child?" the Sister asked, frowning down into Rayel's wide eyes. She simply nodded and waited eagerly, fighting not to hop from one foot to the other with impatience. She soon had a chore and wasted no time completing it.

She worked like this all day, doing whatever she could. She knew she impressed many a Sister, though that had not been her intention. She also knew that she could not keep up this pace forever—and the thought not only angered her, but set fear into her heart. What would happen when she could not move, and had to sit there thinking? Thinking of…

She went to visit friends, but realised she didn't have those anymore. She spoke with Elli for a brief moment, but it was not like it had been. There were long silences and those were the last things Rayel needed. She moved on, desperately searching for something to do.

Eventually she really had nothing to occupy her. She was so exhausted that she had to be helped to her room by a stately Aes Sedai with a streak of brown in her hair. You must be so very old, Rayel thought. Or, she believed she had only thought it—until the Aes Sedai slapped her and deserted her to the care of an impatient novice. Rayel had spoken aloud! "You fool," the other novice glowered at her. "You don't speak to Aes Sedai like that! I wonder how you've lasted so long."

So do I, Rayel said inwardly, knowing she didn't speak aloud this time.

She had been in her room an hour, writing about and drawing the Forsaken, and her idea of what a Black Sister would look like, when a knock sounded at the door. She dropped her charcoal and absent-mindedly wiped her hands on her dress. Heaving herself up off the bed she limped over to the door. When she opened it, Madeline Sedai stood there regally, making Rayel feel like a little street urchin. "It is time, dear," the woman said, her voice sending chills down Rayel's spine.

"Time…?"

The woman nodded and motioned for Rayel to follow. She did not hesitate, exhausted as she was, hobbling out the door after the woman. She was so tired she forgot to shut the door.

'*''*''*''*'

She listened carefully as Madeline Sedai told her what no woman learned until this moment. Her stomach churned but she barely noticed it, such was her exhaustion. Is it safe to do this in my state? she wondered, but by then it was too late. She had already nodded and murmured the words, "Yes, Aes Sedai. I am ready." Madeline smiled, and motioned Rayel forward. No turning back, a small voice echoed in her mind as she stood shivering.

A slender woman with a yellow-fringed shawl approached, and Rayel did as she knew she must. When she had stripped she neatly folded her novice dressed and crouched to place it on the ground, for the first time noticing how filthy it was.

The link with Marana was just a dull presence in the remotest corner of her mind. It means she lives. So where did she go? Why did she leave me? Ordinarily at least one tear would have fallen by now, but this was no ordinary moment. Rayel looked at the looming arch before her, and felt a peculiar sense of affinity for whatever lay within. Fool, she muttered, or perhaps it was someone else who spoke the word. You may never come out, came additional words, either her own or someone else's. She knew they were true, either way.

"…Faced them, but now is willing," Madeline was saying, and Rayel blinked and tuned in.

"Then let her face what she fears."

Her throat felt tight and dry. She thought of asking for water but decided she dared not. Countless pairs of eyes were on her, including Marana's, and without further ado she stepped forward and into the light.

For a moment she truly believed she had stepped into the Creator's shadow…