Lavida sullenly followed the Wise One, having no choice in the matter even if her toh did not hold her. In truth, she had been expected to try escape anyways... but that made it no less wrong. But light, she had to go to Rhuidean now! It was forbidden to speak of what happened as a Wise One's apprentice, but Rhuidean...
They reached the tent of the Wise Ones, and went within. She was dropped onto the floor, and Rayna, with two other Wise Ones, stood before her.
"The time to run with the spears has ended," Rayna said, her voice lacking the usual harsh edge. "It is time for you to face your destiny." The words, so like the Seer's, rung in Lavida's ears.
"I will not! I will never! I am a Maiden!" she trailed off under the three woman's harsh stares. "A maiden..." she murmured. Rayna thrust her hands into Lavida's face, suddenly. She flinched visibly. This was the one part Maiden's were taught. Biting her lip, she took out her spears and placed them along with her buckler in the woman's hand, her eyes bright. As the woman's hands flicked them aside, she turned her face, slowly unhooking belt, holding her quiver and bow, along with one of the more wickedly curved knives. As she slid out her throwing knives, she deliberately avoided looking as her prized possessions clattered to the floor, instead focusing on the palm-knives. One of the Wise Ones began to murmur appreciatively as she took out her long calf knives, and ankle knives. She gave a satisfied nod when the last, poisoned dagger was removed.
Tears glistened in her eyes as that, too, was discarded. "Your cadin'sor, Lavida," the woman who had nodded said softly. Like a child's wooden toy, she stripped and threw her clothes onto the scattered pile of possessions. "Your new clothes will await your return. If you do not, your things will be given to your family, for remembrance." Lavida nodded woodenly.
"In Rhuidean," Rayna began, speaking as if reciting, "you will find three rings, arranged so." She drew lines in the air. "Step through any one. You'll see your future laid before you, again and again, in variations. They will not guide you in whole, as it best, for they will fade together as do stories heard long ago, yet you will remember enough to know some things that must be, for you, despised as they may be, and some that must not, cherished hopes that they are. This is the beginning of being called wise. Some women never return from the rings, and some who survive the rings do not survive the second trip. You are not giving up a hard and dangerous life for a softer, but for a harder and more dangerous."
With that, all three approached her, kissing her cheeks. "Come back to us," they murmured. With that, Lavida ran from the tent, running down the slope to the only city of the Aiel.
xxxx
Kaimla calmly watched as Lavida was forced to throw her old life behind and enter a new one. She did pity the former maiden though, because they had become friends, of a sort, and Kaimla knew what it was like to be forced into a new lifestyle. Lavida stripped, then listened, and ran out the door. Once Lavida had disappeared, and headed towards the city, Rayna turned to her. "You must go to Rhuidean too, as I previously stated." She said, her voice sullen and serious, "But you will not be doing the same thing as Lavida, you have gone through that already. When you enter the city, instead of looking for three rings, you will have to find a large room full of glass columns. When looked into, they will show you lives of Aiel who used to live in Rhuidean. But since you aren't an Aiel, I assume that you will find something different. I don't know."
Kaimla calmly listened to Rayna's little speech, and then ran to the door, as to follow Lavida to the city. But Rayna made her strip first (she was still a little uncomfortable with this, and she really didn't know why she had to strip too) then Kaimla proceeded to run out the door.
Once outside the camp, Kaimla let her senses guide her towards the city because she could not see any foot prints, not that she had really expected too. She ran half-blindly for what seemed like hours until she finally saw the legendary city on the horizon. She slowly wandered closer. At the cities front, Kaimla looked up in awe. Although she had been there before, it was still intimidating and wonderful.
She entered the city slowly at first, but then ran to find the columns. Kaimla knew that she would be here for a good half a day at least, so the sooner she started, the sooner she left. After wandering around the abandoned city for a while, she found herself in a fairly recognizable place. She had been here around a year ago to go through the rings that Lavida now had to pass through.
Sure enough, she found the rings and Lavida readying to pass through one of them. Its got to be the first one, she thought, It's too soon for her to be on the second or third already! She approached Lavida quietly, and stopped about two meters away from her. "Good luck." Was all Kaimla said, and then she passed into the shadows to try to find the glass columns.
xxxx
The run to Rhuidean seemed short, yet long at the same time, her life passing before her like a dying man. Within moments it seemed she reached the limits of the city, yet she had seen her childhood, and life as a Maiden of the Spear, pass by her. Slowing to a slow jog, then a brisk walk, she strode stiff-backed, for all the world like the Wise One was standing over her. Craning her neck to glimpse ever detail of the buildings, her eyes yet searched for one thing; the three rings she must pass through. From the way Rayna told it, she need only go through one...
There. Three stone rings, arranged so it seemed they must roll away, or at least topple over at any moment. Taking deep breaths, she moved to the one in the center, pausing just before she passed through it. "Creator help me," she whispered. Into the shadow with teeth bared... she recited to herself, and stepped through as a dim voice spoke from behind her.
Scenes flashed before her eyes, more than was possible. Past, present, future. There; her, playing with a loom as a child rather than her toy spears. There; An old woman with her face, bent over a forge. Her, lying in a pool of blood. Her, her, her. There, she touched the True Source, destroying her family and closest spear-sisters, and there, she touched it un-noticed, dying later in the night. Over and over, she died. And lived. And others; others dead, others alive. She saw the first man she had killed alive again, laughing and talking with his family as an old man. She saw things that made her laugh with tears of joy, and weep of remorse. Yet one scene was replayed before her again and again, with subtle changes and small differences. At last, she was huddled on the ground, or what passed for the ground, here, rocking back and forth like a child.
"Alright, alright," she gasped in between sobs. "I'll do it," she whispered. Abruptly, it stopped, and she found herself on the stones of the courtyard she had found the circles. Wiping the tears hastily from her eyes, she was astonished to find it noon. Have I truly been in there an entire half day? Wasting no time, she stood, quickly turning to the direction she knew instinctively as back. She began running again.
xxxx
After leaving Lavida, Kaimla searched for the columns for what seemed like hours. She wandered through large rooms, wide hallways with thousands of doors on both side, and courtyards. This place is scary, with all of the dark halls and doors half ajar.
Finally, she saw an eerie glow emitting from a crack in the wall of a large, half torn-down building. Must be the columns. she thought, and then she sprinted to the door at the foot of the building. The door swung open easily, and Kaimla ran inside. It didn't take her long to find the room with the columns in it, as there were only three rooms that we intact throughout the entire building. She ran up to the opening and looked in.
It was an amazing sight. The room was surprisingly large for the seemingly small building. There were thousands of clear columns scattered about the place. Kaimla was drawn towards them, her face glowing from the reflection of the sun off the columns.
The first column she looked into didn't show her much, only a woman running across a desert. Must be somewhere in the Waste, she thought. The next two columns showed her the same thing, but the faces were different and the third had a burning city behind her. So I was forced to come here for this? she wondered sourly, to see a bunch of different women run across a flaming desert? This is bloody pathetic!
Even though her past efforts had proven useless, Kaimla felt like she had to go on. She wandered around the room, looking for a column that would show her something interesting. One column that stood in the middle of the room had a certain feeling about it that made her peer into it. Kaimla was immediately pulled through the glass.
Directly in front of her, a grey haired woman in green stood, with many Aiel in odd places scattered around her. She wore a white shawl with a yellow fringe on it. An Aes Sedai. She was talking to the Aiel around her and directing a couple of them in errands. It really didn't seem right because Kaimla knew that Aiel would never act that way, unless they owed her something...
The image blurred, and Kaimla appeared in another room. It was empty. She walked forward through a door and into a small room with another Aes Sedai in it. She was alone, though, and was wearing a brown fringed shawl instead of a yellow one. The brown was reading books, which was expected, but she was reading more violent books than the ones that browns usually read.
More images flashed about her, showing her life, death, hope, despair, Aiel, Aes Sedai, the odd warder, more death. The pictures flashed quickly, gaining speed, until they stopped. One frame lay vividly before her. She stepped into it. A single woman lay on the ground, spread-eagled. Her chest wasn't moving. Kaimla moved around to get a look at the woman's face. Large, uncomprehending eyes stared up at nothing. A sword hilt protruded from her chest.
Kaimla knelt down to close the eyes, but as she reached forward, she gasped and sprang backwards. The woman was her! It was hard to tell, but there was no mistaking those grey eyes. She turned to run, but she only got a few feet. She crashed into an invisible wall, which she assumed was the column. With her hand on the wall, Kaimla walked around the area, trying to find a way out. There was none. She turned around, and put her back to the wall. The column wasn't done with her. Kaimla took a deep breath, and prepared herself for what she would see next.
xxxx
Lavida's feet struck the cool stone endlessly, foot after foot placed with precision in front of her. As a Maiden, she had learned to judge her own body, and was surprised to find it so weakened by her ordeal. Could it have taken so much will to merely get out of there? Yes, that was it. It had taken so much force of thought to exit that terrible place that her body was wasting away! Lost in her self-convictions, she started when white canvas appeared on the horizon, as she passed through the mists that encased Rhuidean.
I have to be a Wise One now, she thought with the faintest touch of nervousness. She snorted aloud. Of course, if I don't manage to escape before then... Kaimla's face swirled in front of her, the heat from the rocks hazing the image. And if she doesn't snitch me out again, she thought bitterly. Most likely I'll have to sleep in her tent from now on!
A small group in the blouses and skirts that marked a Wise One appeared by the tent nearest her, the foremost recognizable as Rayna. Finally reaching them, she abruptly stumbled on a rock, falling towards them. I must be more exhausted then I though...
Sleep took her as she tumbled towards the Wise Ones.