The White Tower-Novice
Kim fidgeted slightly in her seat, turning so that she could see out of the window. It was a beautiful spring day outside and she was stuck inside this stuffy classroom. And the way things looked she wouldn't get a chance to go outside today. Just like the past week. Absolutely beautiful weather and she was stuck inside learning how to talk in the Old Tongue. She would have preferred the lessons about channeling to this. She didn't like the Old Tongue, especially how sometimes she understood what Saitna Sedai was saying before she translated for them. The Brown Sister had found this extremely interesting, asking her if she had read any books on the Old Tongue before coming to the White Tower. When Kim had told her that she hadn't the Aes Sedai had been upset at first, thinking she was lying, but after a while she began to believe her. Now Kim wished she didn't, every other night she had to go to the Brown's room and listen to various phrases in the Old Tongue, seeing which she could and could not understand.
"Kimdesa!" Saitna's voice made her look back to the front of the room.
"Yes Saitna Sedai?"
"Are you enjoying the view?" Saitna asked as she walked over to stand at the head of her desk. Kim thought it would be wiser if she did not reply, so she kept her mouth shut and looked away. "What did I just say, Kimdesa?" All of the Aes Sedai called her that, none of them would shorten her name like she preferred.
Kim thought quickly, trying to remember what it had been that the Sister had been saying. But all she could come up with was one word, mandarb. "Something about a blade?"
There were a few snickers around the class and it was all Kim could do to not glare at those who had laughed. She had done that once in front of Saitna and only once. Aes Sedai could be very strict, something she hadn't expected at all. She also hadn't expected the plain white wool dresses that she had to wear. All novices wore them until they became Accepted. And then the dress wasn't a whole lot better, the only bits of color being bands around the hem and edge of sleeves.
"I think," Saitna said. "That you will profit from some time spent scrubbing pots in the scullery. Before and after evening meal for two days. Understood?"
"Yes Saitna Sedai," Kim said, trying to keep her voice neutral. When the Sister turned back to the front of the room she stuck her tongue out at her. Great, she thought. Now I definitely won't be able to go outside. She sighed and looked up to the front of the room where Saitna had resumed her lecture.
Kim stared defiantly at the Mistress of Novices. Well, as defiantly as she could with a black eye and bloodied nose. The sleeve of her dress was torn too, it looked like some wild animal had attacked her. And one did, she thought as she looked away from the Mistress for a moment, to the other novice who was standing in the Office with her. Her mouth curled upward in a satisfied smile as she noted that the other wasn't in any better shape then she was. Serves her right for attacking me like that.
"What happened?" the Mistress, Jaserah Sedai, demanded. She did not look very happy to have two Novices, who showed very clear signs of having just been in a fight, standing in her office waiting to be punished.
Kim glared at Nilara Jagar, the other novice, as the Shienaran began to speak. The two of them had started out on the completely wrong foot. Nilara was a stuck-up noble, former noble that was, and seemed to see Kim as nothing more then an ignorant country wilder. She had bullied her, subtly, ever since they first met and the Two Rivers girl had finally grown tired of it and told her exactly what she thought of her. None of which had been very flattering. For a moment it had looked as though the other novice would apologize…but then she had quite basically attacked her and it went downhill from there.
"That's not how it happened, Mistress!" Kim protested once Nilara stopped speaking. "She attacked me, not the other way around!"
Jaserah raised her eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. "I think," she said. "That the two of you need to spend a little time together…"
Kim yanked on the rope around her wrist and looked at Nilara with dark, narrowed eyes. "This is all your fault," she informed the other novice. "Now, help me figure out how to untie this."
"It takes two to fight, Kimdesa, and if we untie this rope, Jaserah might very well tie our whole bodies to each other," Nilara said, her voice haltingly superior. That was one of the things Kim despised about her, she talked as though she were better then everyone else. I thought all novices were taught that they were equal, she thought.
"It takes two to fight but only one to start it," Kim snapped. "And we both know what stared this, you and your bloody noble pride. You couldn't handle a country girl being right where you were wrong, especially in front of all those people." She sighed and stopped picking at the rope Jaserah had used to bind their wrists together. "Okay, how long do you think she'll leave us like this?" The idea of more then a day spent with Nilara…it made Kim wish she were mucking out the stables instead. She would have preferred weeks of normal penance, not this oddly cruel one that Jaserah had thought up.
"However long she thinks we deserve," Nilara replied. Kim could tell she was fighting to keep that cool, superior tone. "Jaserah Sedai believes this is a fit punishment…all we can do is wait it out. Regrettably, for I do not like this anymore then you do. My idea of fun is not being tied to a country girl wilder."
"Will you stop calling me that? It's what started this whole thing in the first place. Just because I was born in the country doesn't make you better then me. Please get that through your thick, noble head or this is going to be a very unpleasant time for both of us." She sniffed and started away, only to be yanked up short. Blood and ashes this is going to drive me mad! I already don't like her….what good could this possibly do? Make us kill each other faster?
Nilara rubbed her wrist. "You will have to stop doing that, Kimdesa. I would like to have a wrist left when Jaserah Sedai unties us."
Kim did her best not to grind her teeth too loudly. "Kim," she said as she rubbed at her own wrist where the rope had begun to chaff.
"What?" Nilara asked, looking at her curiously.
"Do not call me Kimdesa, I much prefer Kim."
"All right…Kim."
"Thank you Nilara."
Kim tossed her braid over her shoulder and poked at the food on her plate. She had already eaten half of it, no matter how unappetizing it looked. "Even Mistress Dowdon made better food then this," she complained. "And she cooked so badly that her son was the size of a twig and her husband not much better."
Nilara laughed. "It's not that bad Kim," she said as she finished hers off. "You have to eat, next meal isn't until tomorrow morning. And we're going to the Mistress's office after this. You'll want your strength up for that, in case she decides that this punishment wasn't enough."
"Punishment?" Kim asked. "Oh that's right…this did begin as a punishment, didn't it? It doesn't seem like one now." The first day had, but after a while Kim had actually started to get along with Nilara. It was hard not to find a persons good points after spending four days tied wrist to wrist with them. And, surprisingly enough, the noble did have them.
"True," Nilara responded. "I think that was Jaserah Sedai's idea though, to make this happen. She wanted us to get along and now we do. She should be pleased with herself."
"I hope so," Kim said as she made a face and choked down the rest of her meal. "Because I really do not wish to go through a penance. I only just finished the one from Saitna Sedai."
"You mean we," Nilara corrected. "I had to come along with you to do that scrubbing."
"I am sorry about that," Kim apologized. "But that penance is the only reason we got this one." She lifted her wrist up and pointed to the rope. "It could have been much, much worse I suppose."
"Having fun, Kim?" Meve asked as she slid onto the bench beside her, snickering. "Isn't that rope beginning to get a little uncomfortable?" The look she gave to Nilara said plainly that she thought the company must be worse then the rope.
"I would think," Jerelle said as she sat down across the table. "That you would be tired. How can you sleep? The beds are hardly big enough for one person, much less two."
"I took my mattress into her room and then she put hers next to it on the floor," Kim explained. "It really isn't that bad."
"Not that bad?" Meve repeated, a disbelieving look on her face. "Come now Kim, tell the truth." She leaned closer to whisper in her ear, "Isn't being tied together with a stuck-up noble absolutely terrible? I can recall you saying several times before this that you absolutely despised her."
I did, Kim thought, feeling slightly guilty. And I said some very mean things about Nilara…that aren't really true. "I did," Kim whispered back to Meve. "But…well, Nilara's not as bad as any of us thought she was. We're, well, we're friends now."
"Now if I've ever had a surprise then that would be it," Meve said as she shook her head and turned to her food. "I thought you two would have torn each other apart. That is a very, very big surprise."
"Not really," Kim said, fiddling with her cup of water. "Nilara's a novice just like us. Sure she's been here for longer and came from a noble house but still, she's just another novice." Nilara was looking at her curiously.
"So what, you're friends now?" Meve asked.
Kim looked over at Nilara, who smiled and nodded. "Yes we are," Kim said, smiling. "Me and Nilara are friends."
The White Tower-Accepted
She was standing on a hill; a strong, warm wind making her braid fly out behind her. She looked in the direction of the wind and saw a thick cloud of black smoke rising against the otherwise blue sky. Her throat clenched in fear and she gasped, pressing a hand against her chest.
That smoke was coming from Deven Ride.
She ran towards the village, her heart pounding in her ears. It seemed as though only a moment passed and she was standing on the village green, her hand over her mouth as she looked at the terrible scene that was laid before her eyes.
Her mother was lying on her back in a pool of her own blood, her mouth still open in a silent scream, her face twisted with terror and disbelief. Disbelief that anything like this could happen to her. "Mother," Kim whispered as she ran to kneel beside her, not caring for the blood that stained her dress. There was a slit across her mother's throat, that was how she had died. Kim closed her eyes tightly as she heard a rough laugh. She stood up slowly and turned around, only to see a large group of dirty men leering at her. Six of them were very familiar for some reason.
"No," she said, shaking her head and stepping back. "I killed you...I killed you! You can't have done this to my home! NO!"
"NOOOO!" Kim sat up in her bed screaming, clutching her sheets tightly as her eyes darted around the room wildly. Cold sweat beaded her forehead and made her shift cling to her. Tears mingled with the sweat on her face, tears that would not stop falling no matter what she did. She shook as she realized where she was, in her new room in the Accepted's Quarters. No longer the small box she had slept in as a novice, though if she were still there then she would not have had that nightmare. At that moment she wished she were still a novice, if only so that the memories of her Three Arches would be gone.
She climbed shakily out of her bed, the stone floor cold to her bare feet. It wasn't completley dark in the room for the moon was full and shining clearly through her window to bathe her in a soft, white glow as she paced back and forth, trying to think of anything but her Arches. The fact that she was wearing the golden Great Serpent ring on her left middle finger helped her none in trying to forget. She would have taken it off...but she could not do that. What if she lost it? She had never heard of an Accepted losing her ring and did not wish to be the first one to do so.
Half an hour later she was still pacing and knew that if she laid back down in her bed then she would never be able to sleep. The memories would come back in her dreams...and next time they might be worse. Maybe she's still awake...even if she isn't then she'll understand, she's gone through this already. Her mind made up, Kim put on her slippers and opened her door quietly, slipping into the hall. She walked quickly down the hall a ways and opened the door, closing it behind her.
"Nilara?" she whispered as she walked over to the bed. She reached out and gave the lump beneath the covers a slight shake. "Nilara," she repeated. "Wake up, please."
The lump shifted and the sheet fell away to reveal sleepy blue eyes in a face surrounded by very messy black hair. "Kim?" Nilara asked, yawning as she rubbed her eyes and sat up. "What is it? Is something wrong?"
Kim bit her lip and nodded, holding up her left hand. The Great Serpent ring glittered in the moonlight that flooded Nilara's room as well. "Jaserah did not take me for the Arches until after last meal," she said quietly. "I'm an Accepted now, like you, but I wish I was back in novice white. It was so horrible…how did you manage?"
"I managed because I had to. You thought your novice days were bad Kim, these next few weeks are going to make it seem like a pleasant dream. The Sisters will push you twice as far as you thought you could go. you have to manage Kim, or they'll kick you out," Nilara said matter-of-factly.
Kim swallowed hard. "That's really comforting, Nilara," she said. "I think I'm going to go back and have a nice, sleepless night before the Aes Sedai try to work me to death." She turned to go when she felt Nilara touch her arm.
"I did not mean to sound so blunt," Nilara said. "I was only telling you the simple truth, so that you know what it is going to be like. Here," she moved over to the other side of her bed and pulled the covers back. "Truth to tell I wouldn't mind the extra warmth on a night like tonight, and I don't want you to have nightmares or a sleepless night Kim."
The extra warmth part was a lie and Kim knew it. Nilara was from the Borderlands and used to nights much, much colder then this. Light, Kim was still used to colder nights and Tar Valon was farther north than the Two Rivers. "Thank you," Kim said as she took her slippers off and climbed into the bed. She didn't know why she had hesitated at all. She had slept in the same bed with Nilara before...of course they had had no choice in the matter. They had been tied together at the wrist after all, because they couldn't get along. Kim smiled at remembering that, a time when she hadn't gotten along with Nilara at all.
"Mhmm," Nilara said. As Kim pulled the covers back up she felt Nilara touch her shoulder. She turned to face her friend to find that she was not even an inch away. "You were crying before you came here, weren't you?" Kim nodded slowly. "I remember what it was like Kim, I remember very well. If you need to cry, then cry. Do not think I will laugh at you, I want to help you."
Kim felt the thin barrier she had errected while she had been pacing back and forth melt away. Memories of what she had seen, had done, only hours past flooded back into her mind and tears filled her dark eyes. She brought her hands up to her eyes and began to cry again, the clearest image in her mind being the one of her mother lying dead in a pool of her own blood while her murderers looked on and laughed.
She felt Nilara slip her arms around her and hug her from behind. "Shhhh," Nilara whispered soothingly to her as she held her tightly. "It's all right Kim, let it out."
She wasn't sure how long she lay there in Nilara's arms, weeping. But she did know that it was more comforting now then it had been when she was crying in her own bed alone. Her sobs began to slow as Nilara stroked her hair, still whispering soothingly to her. Finally the tears stopped coming. Kim took a deep breath and wiped her eyes before she turned in Nilara's arms to face her. "Thank you Nilara," she said quietly, smiling slightly at her and hugging her. "I feel a lot better now."
"Good," Nilara said, still stroking her hair softly. "I am glad that you do."
Kim looked at Nilara and started to pull away. But then she stopped, her mouth feeling dry all of a sudden. She had never seen that look in her friend's eyes before and it made her both nervous and slightly...excited was the only word she could think of right then. And then, before she really knew what was happening, she was kissing Nilara and Nilara was kissing her back...
Four Months Later
Kim was sitting cross-legged on her bed, reading from an old book about the War of the Hundred Years. Nilara was kneeling behind her, brushing her hair out after having unbraided it. "You should leave your hair unbraided more," Nilara said as she started to braid it back up. "It looks beautiful that way."
"No," Kim said, shaking her head slightly. "You know why I wear my hair in a braid, Nilara."
"I know," Nilara replied. "I still say you look better with it down though."
"Thank you, and you know I leave it down when I go to bed. You see it down all the time," Kim said, smiling slightly as she went back to reading her book. "We have a freeday in two days, don't we?"
"Yes," Nilara said as she split her hair into three parts and started the actual braid. "We're going into the city, remember?"
"Oh that's right," she said, turning the page. Nanalain Sedai…she had never expected to be in a class taught by that Sister. Yet she had requested lessons over the War of the Hundred Years and the Gray Sister had volunteered. Nanalain had been one of the two Sisters who had brought Kim from the Two Rivers. Along with three others; Jerelle, Meve, and Elloinde. There had been four at first…the fourth had been one of Kim's oldest friends, Nynli al'Seenar who had come with her out of Deven Ride. But Nynli hadn't made it to the White Tower. She had died in Illian, murdered by men who Kim herself had killed.
"Can we practice the hundred weaves tonight then? Before evening meal."
Before Nilara could reply there was a short knock on the door and then it opened, a young woman in the banded dress of an Accepted coming in and closing the door behind her. The woman was tall with a willowy build and coppery skin, her black hair falling in one straight wave down her back. Her hazel eyes, Kim had finally learned that that color of eye was called hazel, were puffed and there were tearstains on her cheeks. Kim would have jumped up if Nilara had not had been holding handfuls of her hair. "Jerelle?" Kim asked worriedly. "Jerelle, what's wrong?"
Jerelle glared at Nilara, who gave the Domani a cool look in return. "Does she have to be here? I thought to find you alone and tell you." Kim felt Nilara stiffen up at her back and reached around to lay a calming hand on her arm.
"Don't Nilara," Kim whispered. "Please? Something is wrong with Jerelle, you know she isn't normally like this." Nilara had loosened her hold on Kim's hair so that she could turn enough to face her.
"I know that she never likes me," Nilara said, her voice cool and flat. "Or just doesn't like the fact that we're always together. Turn back around, see what is bothering her, and I will finish braiding your hair." Her eyes weren't as flat as her voice and Kim wished, not for the first time, that Jerelle would at least try to see past Nilara being a former noble. Meve had, Elloinde as well and they all got on reasonably well.
"Nilara stays, Jerelle," Kim said as she turned back. "Come, sit down and tell me what is wrong." Jerelle hesitated a moment before she walked over and sat down.
"I wanted to be the one to tell you," she said, looking down at her hands before she looked at Kim. There were tears in her hazel eyes and Kim knew that something terrible had happened. "This morning Elloinde was taken to her test to be raised to Accepted. She…she didn't make it out of the second Arch, Kim."
Nilara's hands stopped moving and Kim stared at Jerelle in disbelief. "No," she said, shaking her head, not really feeling the hairs that pulled out because Nilara's hands weren't moving with her head. "Elloinde is strong how…she…I don't believe it. Elloinde can't be…" Her head was spinning, this couldn't be happening. She had to be dreaming, only there were sharp jolts of pain coming from her head where hairs had pulled out.
"The Mistress was going to tell you but I said it'd be better if I did," Jerelle said. "Kim…I'm sorry. I…I told Jaserah I'd tell Meve too." She hugged Kim quickly before backing up to the door. She opened it and went through quickly, shutting it tightly behind her.
Kim heard Nilara choke back a sob. Elloinde had been her friend as well. Kim turned to see that Nilara's bright blue eyes were filling with tears. "I'm sorry Kim," she said. "I know that you were her friend."
"So were you," Kim said quietly as she blinked back her tears. She wrapped her arms around Nilara, her head on her shoulder, and wept for her friend who had died. Elloinde, she thought as she stroked Nilara's back, for the Shienaran was crying too. Rest in the Light, my friend.
Three And A Half Years Later
Kim sat in front of her fireplace, watching the flames as they danced over the logs and consumed them. It was funny how much she could relate those flames to actual people, and the logs as well. The flames used the logs for their own purposes and in return the logs turned to ash, cold ash lying in the bottom of the fireplace. Useless ash that no one or nothing cared for. The flames were so beautiful though that one could easily forget how much trouble and pain they could cause.
"Look how far I have come," she whispered as the fire reflected in her dark eyes. There was no other light in the dark room for the moon was new and the stars veiled by clouds. She had not cared to light any candles and the fire was there only because she needed something to take her mind off of the day's events. "Eight years ago I was probably sitting in front of the Wisdom's fireplace, learning some new remedy from her. How to make a colicky baby stop crying or how to ease the pain of a broken bone before you set it." She looked down at the carpet, which was dyed a deep, rich red. "Now I sit in front of my own fireplace, and I could make a noble roll over and beg. Me, a woman of simple country beginnings." Country girl wilder. She shook that name away, it had been a mocking name at first and then it became something that only a very, very close friend had called her in jest. But the days of that friendship were gone, and not by her choice.
She stood and walked away from the heat of the fireplace to the nearest window. It was taller then she was and led out onto a small balcony of sorts that looked down upon the Gardens. Kim opened the window-door and walked out onto the balcony, the sharp winter wind catching her unbound hair and swirling it about her face. She walked to the end of the small balcony and leaned on the rail, not even feeling the coldness of the marble against her bare arms or that of the stone beneath, which seeped through the thin slippers she was wearing. In less then a week she had mastered the trick of Aes Sedai that allowed them to appear indifferent to the temperature about them. True her body was growing colder but she did not feel it, not yet. With a quiet sigh she forced her mind away from the calm pool that helped her to maintain the delicate balance that ensured she would feel no heat or cold.
It was as though she had jumped into an icy stream. The wind that had before only been irritating by tossing her hair in her eyes was now flowing over her body. The nightgown that she wore, made of thin red silk, offered her about as much protection as the thin slippers on her feet, through which she could feel the smooth texture of the stone. She had chosen this room for one main reason, this balcony faced a little south and west, towards Deven Ride. That was where she was looking now, that was where she was wishing she was.
It had been years since Kim had wished that none of this had happened and she was back at her peaceful village, probably the Wisdom by now or close to it. It had confused her friend Jerelle, who had spoken with her the night after her Raising, that she wanted to return to Deven Ride now and leave the White Tower and everything related to it behind. It was as though Jerelle was standing there again, Kim could practically see the disbelief on her face…
"You what?" Jerelle asked, disbelief plain on her coppery face.
"I want to go home to Deven Ride," Kim said as she twisted the Great Serpent ring, which she now wore upon her right ring finger. "I want to take this thing and throw it as far as I can manage and forget that I ever came here."
"Is this because of Nil-" She cut off when Kim glared at her. "It is, isn't it?" Kim didn't reply but turned away and after a moment she nodded shortly. "Kim you're an Aes Sedai now! How can you let that bother you?"
"You wouldn't understand Jerelle," Kim said, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "You may go now, I wish to be alone."
"Kim…"
"I said you may leave," Kim repeated. "Now please Jerelle, go." The Domani Accepted had left and Kim had curled up in the center of her bed.
Something like the touch of a feather only cold and wet brushed against Kim's face. She blinked and looked around to see that snow had begun to fall down from the cloud-filled night sky. She closed her eyes as the fluffy snowflakes drifted down on her face, melting the moment they landed on her warm skin. The wind had stopped blowing and the snow drifted down lazily.
Kim had no idea of how long she stood there watching the snow as it fell from the sky to add a new layer of white to the one that had been there for days. Her balcony was now dusted over lightly and her numb feet left prints as she padded back to her room, closing the door behind her. Snow had swirled in when she was out but she made no move to clean it, though it would take a simple weave of Fire to have it dry. A simple weave would have dried her robe and hair out as well but she didn't bother to as she sunk back down into her chair before the now-dying fire.
As her teeth began to chatter the new Red Sister embraced saidar, letting its sweetness wash through her, and wove several threads of Air. Logs from the full stack beside her fireplace floated over to drop onto the still-burning ones. Kim released saidar as heat washed over her. The flames danced over the new logs in a hypnotic pattern and she found herself dwelling on the weeks events again. They kept coming back to her no matter what she did. "I guess that I have to think about them sometime," she told herself as she sighed and stared into flames.
Maybe it was a mistake, she thought for what had to be the hundredth time. But, as she replayed what had happened in her mind, she knew that there was no way it had been a mistake, no matter how much she wished it had been. There was steam rising from her robe as it dried but she didn't even notice that it was damp as she stood up and began to pace, a habit she had developed as a novice when she needed to think something out or calm herself down. She didn't know which she was doing it for now. Most likely a bit of both.
She ran a hand through her slightly damp hair as she turned and walked through the open door that led into her study. Embracing saidar she lit the lamp that sat upon the sturdy oak desk. There was a slight hue of red to the wood somehow, everything in these rooms had at least a hint of red to it. As though I would forget where I was, Kim thought as she picked the lamp up and passed through the sitting room the her bedroom. The large, canopied bed was far too big for one person, it felt like she was lying on a soft floor. A bloody floor…every inch of that bed was some sort of red. Every inch of her room was, except for the silver trim on the walls and frames of several paintings. Kim had found herself wondering what the other Sisters would say if she added another color, any other color to the room. Or her wardrobe, which she planned on doing even if they did not approve.
Sitting on the stand beside the bed was a very small wooden carving. Kim sat on the edge of the bed and picked the carving up, turning it over in her hands as a small smile formed on her lips. She had bought it on her first freeday as an Accepted, when she had been allowed to go into Tar Valon for the first time since arriving at the White Tower. It was made of a very pale wood and carved into the shape of a songbird. Kim laughed a little as she remembered Meve saying that only Kim would buy a carving of something she could see outside her window everyday. Her laugh died as she remembered who had pointed the stand out to her and reminded Meve that songbirds were not seen in winter.
She set the songbird back down, the smile on her lips having faded away to be replaced by a frown as she sunk back into the pillows. Nilara had been the one to say that, Nilara who had been her closest friend for years. Then the Shienaran had been raised to the shawl and the years they had spent as novices and Accepted might as well have never been. Kim had thought that when she too became Aes Sedai their friendship would pick up where it had left off. She had believed that she would have a friend of the same rank as her, unlike Jerelle and Meve who were still Accepted. She could not have been more wrong.
That very afternoon Kim had come upon Nilara while she was making her way down to the dining hall. Before Kim could say a word Nilara had looked at her, turned, and headed back the way she had come. Back to the Halls of the Yellow Ajah. Kim had been completely shocked, and once the shock had faded it was replaced by hurt. She didn't understand why Nilara would do that, they had been so close, how could less then a month destroy that?
"She's a Yellow," Verona Sedai had said. She had come up behind Kim while she had stood in the hall, shocked, and voiced her disbelief, thinking that no one else was around. Verona was a Red Sister, one of the newer Sisters, having been raised not even a full year. "Yellows are haughty and think all others who do not Heal to be inferior to them. Surely you do not think that one would be any different?"
"Surely I could not," Kim said quietly as she pulled the covers up to her chin and rolled over to blow out the lamp. Maybe the rest of the her Sisters, the Reds, were correct. Maybe it was best to keep your friends inside your own Ajah.
((I might make some changes to it later, I'm not going to at the current moment though. Glad some people liked it!))