Hey… Just for a head's up, I haven't quite decided when this story takes place in relation to Rand and the books. Some time before the series starts, and post- Trolloc wars. I don't intend this to have anything to do with Rand or the Dragon, so to really get this; you may have to ignore any things that don't really fit with the books, (i.e. possible Black Ajah becoming known before they should, etc) Thanks, hope you enjoy!
Eyes searching the dining hall, Shana quickly spotted Jemma sitting alone at a table a few pace away from the door to the kitchens. Walking over to the other young woman, she slid wearily into a seat next to her friend just as the sound of a gong echoed through the room, and, as the main doors swung shut, those novices whose turn it was to serve at table came through the doors next to the table where they were sitting. Shana let out a soft groan; she hadn't seen Kerinelle come into the hall before the doors closed. If she had she would undoubtedly have made her way to where she and Jemma were sitting. Few of the other girls would tolerate her superior attitude and almost constant whining about the quality of the food, which, although it far out stripped that on which Shana had been raised, was apparently not in the same league as that which would be served to an Andoran lady. Even Jemma had trouble understanding why she was so kind to the girl who obviously thought of her as an inferior. Even though Kerinelle treated Jemma with some respect for being of noble blood, ever since she had discovered exactly the social standing of Jem's family, which wasn't wonderful, she had been decidedly distant with her.
Noticing her groan, Jemma asked "Are you alright? I didn't see you after Larien Sedai's lesson. If you're ill, you should go and see one of the Yellow sisters. Thari Sedai is supervising tonight. You could speak to her after the meal."
Glancing up at the slightly raised table in the center of the room where five Sisters were eating, keeping an eye on the novices and Accepted while they dined. Thari, a pretty, if slightly plump woman with a kindly expression on her face as she thanked one of the serving novices for whatever dish she had set before her, and laughter lines at the corners of her mouth. She did have a bit of a headache, true, but it was nothing that had not been brought on by talking with Nelle.
"I'm fine… it's just Nelle again. She can't seem to get it into her head that none of the Aes Sedai care that she is a noble, or are likely to start caring any time soon."
"Why do you keep putting up with the horse muck she comes out with? Blood and ashes, she treats you like dirt beneath her feet! If I were you, I'd leave her to be switched until she works out that no one here gives a damn about her daddy's precious estates. 'Oh, my dear Jemma, it is simply gorgeous to ride out of a morning on my horse into the grounds. He's from the finest Tairen stock you know. He must have cost my father and absolute fortune, you know.'"
Giggles at her friend's uncanny imitation of the Andoran girl fading, Shana sighed again and looked down at the empty plate in front of her, and wished the girls who were serving would hurry up and finish with the Accepted, and get over to where they were sitting. She seemed to be sighing an awful lot lately, and she felt more tired than her chores warranted. Perhaps she really was getting ill. Or maybe I'm just homesick she thought. It had been nearly six weeks since she had sent her last letter home off with a pigeon to her father, and she still had not had a reply. Usually her letters were answered in half the time this one had taken.
"I'm worried about my father, Jem. He's never taken so long to answer one of my letters. And you were there when we over heard those Sisters talking about the Whitecloak incursions into Ghealdan. What if something's happened to him and Elli? Mira's not that far from the border with Amadicia. What if they've been taken prisoner? If they find out that they're related to a novice, they'll be put to the question, or just hung, or-"
"Whoa! Calm down. Your father's fine. Your sister's fine. Everything's fine. Have you considered the possibility that the pigeon just didn't make it? A million and one things can happen to a bird on a journey that long."
"I know… I guess I'm just stressed because of hearing about the Whitecloaks."
"Look. If that was anything to worry about I'm sure we would have heard more than just to Aes Sedai talking in a corridor. Light, if it were really serious, they wouldn't even be talking in a corridor in the first place. If it will make you feel any better, we could try that eavesdropping thing you discovered again on one of their studies. Who were they again? Reylina and-"
"Shut up!" hissed Shana, glaring across the table at her friend as she caught sight of the tiniest of smiles crossing the face of Girona, the novice who had the bedroom next to Jemma's. If the Aes Sedai got even a hint of a tenth of what she had discovered for herself when she was meant to be asleep, she would probably spend the next two years of her life being soundly switched by Heria and a further decade scrubbing pots in the kitchens. Novices were not allowed to channel on their own outside of lessons, and Girona was spiteful enough to be perfectly capable of running straight up to the centre table and telling the Aes Sedai sitting there what she had overheard. If she had overheard. The girl seemed to have a permanent smirk on her face nowadays, ever since she had walked in on Jemma Channeling her washing water warm and had told Heria, who had in turn given Jemma the responsibility of copying all the notes that she took for two weeks.
Glaring at the girl's retreating back, Jemma turned to face Shana, at least having the grace to blush slightly as the look on her face turned from hatred to guilt.
"Blood and ashes, Shan, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that cow was here, or I never would have mentioned it. But anyway, I don't see how you've managed to go this long without being raised to Accepted. You've been here two years and you're more powerful in the Power than almost all the girls who have been raised since then!"
Trying and failing to suppress a smile at the complement, Shana replied, "Be that as it may, I can hardly reveal to the Aes Sedai that I've been working on my own for a year and half can I? I have play stupid in lessons, you know that. Light, I'd rather name the Dark One a hundred times than face what would happen if they find out exactly how much I can do. Anyway, I'm not that remarkable. Nelle's at least as powerful as me, for all her airs, and you're not far behind. Speak of the Dark One!"
She looked over at the door, which had just shut with an audible bang, and her eyes quickly found Kerinelle, who was gliding towards them with her chin in the air. She still managed to think herself worthy of attention, despite being dressed no differently from most of the girl's in the room. Oh well. She was likely to get that extra attention if the faces of the five Sisters sitting around the centre table were anything to go by. They were more serene even than usual- never a good sign with Aes Sedai, Shana had come to realise- but every eye was fixed on the girl now sitting down next to Jemma. Rolling her eyes at her Jemma, Shana addressed the new arrival.
"Late, are we, Nelle?" she asked.
"Only a little. Surely that can make no difference." Despite her arrogant voice and apparent confidence and lack of concern, she still shot a nervous glance towards the Aes Sedai who were supervising when she though Shana's eyes had turned back to Jemma. "I saw Jaydan on the way down here, Shana. He's already finished dining. He sends his regards, although he seemed very anxious to be getting on. I can't imagine why. Surely the Warders don't keep their apprentices working after dinner?"
Glaring at Kerinelle, and Jemma, whose face had split in a grin at the mention of her twin brother, who had been sent to the Tower to train to become a Warder the same time as Jemma had become a novice. She knew she should not have mentioned the way she felt towards the man. Kerinelle seemed to think it terribly romantic- she would- and could not understand why Shana did not speak to the man, or at least stop turning bright red at the sight of him. Jemma, for her part, seemed to think it a colossal joke, and never missed an opportunity to make her talk to him. Really, Jemma seemed to be able to pass her brother in a corridor while in Shana's company than seemed humanly possible.
Sighing, she pictured the man in her head. Despite being Jemma's twin, and as such the same age as herself, his tanned body, broad shoulders and strong arms two years of Warder training, and years of swordplay before hand had brought him made him seem older by a few years. She had loved him almost at first sight, when she had almost tripped over him during her fist week in the Tower, as he had been fishing a baby bird that had fallen from its nest in the big tree that overhung the path from the bush beneath it, and she knew for a fact that he had kept it hidden in his room, feeding it on worms until it was old enough to fly off for itself. Jerking back to reality as Jemma kicked her under the table, giggling, she flicked a bit of gravy from her plate of stew across the table- Kerinelle shrieked as a few drops of the brown liquid splattered the front of her white dress, earning a reproving glance from one of the Accepted eating at the next table- she began to eat, trying to banish thoughts of Jaydan to the back of her mind. And failing. She couldn't quite forget those shoulders.
Irlana Pelinova stared at the map of the novices' quarters on her desk. Three rooms were marked on it. Kerinelle Pelinar. Shana Jelasqua. Jemma Tamoya. All of them powerful. Each of them had the potential to take the Amyrlin Seat. She would put her money on Shana, but it really could be any of them. And wouldn't it be wonderful if the Amyrlin Seat could be Black Ajah. She herself was Keeper, and at least one of the Sitters, Reylina, a pretty Sster who pretended to have no Ajah other than the Blue, but had in truth been sworn to the Black even longer than she herself had been. But for one of her Sisters to be Amyrlin… the possibilities were endless. She was the leader of the Black Ajah inside the Tower, and as such new more of her Sisters names than any other Black Sister in existence. And the thirteen needed to turn the girls to the Shadow would be easy enough to find. The necessary Myrddaal would be more difficult, but for some thing so important, she was sure she could persuade her superior at Shayol Ghul to send the Halfmen by the Waygate just outside the city. The location of that Waygate was one thing she was certain was known only to the Black Ajah, as was the extraordinary work that Shana and Jemma had been doing.
All she had to do was get the girls there. Somewhat more difficult, but not impossible. The foundations of the plan were already laid. Smiling to herself, she rang the bell which would bring a servant scurrying into the study. She hoped it would be one of her agents. She needed a message taken to Reylina.