The First Age

Prologue

((OoC: This occurs in the past of the past lives timeline - just thought it would be fun to write Kira's arches))

Kira smiled as she finished her last story.  The novices watching applauded and laughed.  Listening to Kira sing and tell stories had become a sort of tradition for the girls on their very rare days off.  Kira got to perform, which she loved, and the other novices got some entertainment, which they loved. Shiro had stopped by to listen for a short time and Kira gave him a bright and appreciative smile.

Kira was about to perform her last song of the day when the Mistress of Novices arrived carrying a bundle.  Kira dropped into a deep curtsy. "Aes Sedai," she said, respectfully while praying to the Light that she didn't put a stop to these performances.  The girls really needed this outlet. 

"Kira, I heard you were singing today.  I wondered if you might perform a song for me," she said and opened the bundle she carried.

It was her harp.  It was the harp her father had given her so many years ago - a memory from before the White Tower.  It was well polished, and the strings were in good shape.  The harp had been maintained outside of her care. And the Mistress of Novices was offering it to her.  Kira was conflicted.  On one had, she had to obey the Aes Sedai.  On the other, she wasn't allowed to have this.  Not yet.

Kira decided to follow what she thought was right. "I'm so sorry, Aes Sedai," she said, making another curtsy.  "The rules do not allow me to have this harp.  I ask that it be kept in the possession of the White Tower until..." Kira hesitated, but only for a moment. "Until I wear the shawl of an Aes Sedai."

It was the first time she had said it.  It was the first time she had told anyone that she desired this.  As a novice, she was supposed to try to emulate the three oaths as much as possible.  Kira was not lying.  Since she had begun to heal, she had found a true family here.  The other novices weren't just friends.  They were her sisters.

"I can understand that," the Mistress of Novices said, wrapping the harp again. "I will continue to make sure this is taken care until it's owner is ready to reclaim it.

"Thank you, Aes Sedai.  If you would like, I would still be honored to sing a song for you,"

The Mistress of Novices agreed and Kira began to sing.  The melody was a known one, but the words were her own.

"The Aes Sedai went to town
To find herself a Warder
She saw a man there tall and strong
With a dozen bottles before him.

No! No! This one won't do
He drinks enough for me and you!
Go! Go! And search once more.
To find the one to shield you.

The song continued - a song of an Aes Sedai searching for the perfect warder.  The novices and the Aes Sedai listened and applauded as she finished. "Very good, Kira. Now," she clapped her hands drawing the attention of the Novices. "Free time is over - you all have chores to do.  Get to it!" A chorus of "Yes, Aes Sedai" and a multitude of curtsies met her words. "Kira, your assignment has been changed. You are to report to Aranea Sedai in the hospital wing."

Kira curtsied and replied, "Yes, Aes Sedai, Thank you!" and moved with haste to the hospital wing.

Chapter 1: The First Arch

Kira followed the Mistress of Novices through the halls of the tower.  It was night, and that just seemed odd to her.  She traveled down flights of stairs to places she had never been before. She was finally brought to a domed room, where three silver arches stood.  Aes Sedai were there.  Kira had learned of the ceremonies here.  It was part of her training.

"Two things I will now tell you that no woman hears until she enters this room. The first is this: Once you begin, you must continue to the end. Refuse to go on, and no matter your potential, you will kindly be put out of the Tower with enough silver to support you for a year and will never be allowed to come back," the Mistress of Novices began. "The second: To sekk, to strive, is to know danger. You will know danger her. Some women have enter, and never come out.  When the ter'angreal was allowed to grow quiet, they were not there.  And they were never seen again. If you will survive, you must be steadfast. Falter and fail. You may refuse three times.  Refuse now and it will be one mark against you.  It is no shame to refuse.  Many have."

Kira thought about this for a moment.  It was a serious decision.  But the only thought that came to here was she had to be Aes Sedai. "I am ready."

They entered and an Aes Sedai, Kira thought she was a Red spoke. "Who do you bring with you sister?"

Kira knew she faced her fears clad only in the light, so she removed her dress, folded it and set it aside. She approached the arch.

"The first time is for what was. The way back will come but once.  Be steadfast." the Mistress of Novices concluded.  Kira stepped through the Arch.

Chapter 2: The Second Arch

Kira didn't speak, just gathered herself for the next arch. "The second time is for what is. The way back will come but once.  Be Steadfast"

Kira entered the second arch and found herself in the Hospital Wing. She was sitting next to a patient, a man who was sick.  She wasn't sure what it was, but the on duty Yellow had told her to stay here. He asked for water and she gave him one, humming to herself as she did.  She saw another novice - long red hair and a pale complexion.  Kira had seen her before. She gave Kira an annoyed look.  Kira couldn't remember her name.  They didn't interact much.  Her bedside manner was atrocious and Kira just felt it best to keep her distance. 

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

Kira returned to her patient with a glass of water, but found he was convulsing.  Kira put the glass down, turning to tell the other novice to get help, but she had disappeared.  She thought of procedure.  If something happened - go to the Aes Sedai.  Don't try to handle it.

"I don't know if you can hear me," she said, slight panic in her voice. "But I'm getting help."

She turned and ran to where the Aes Sedai stayed, but found the seat empty. "Aes Sedai," she yelled. "Aes Sedai! He needs help!" 

A crashing sound caught Kira's attention.  Her patient was now standing, but he no longer looked human.  His skin looked burned and his eyes were a glowing red.  Kira barely kept from screaming as it spotted her and began to move towards her.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

It moved fast and Kira turned to run, leaving the infirmary.  There were always Warders, Aes Sedai, Accepted, and Novices around, but she found the halls empty.  Her lone companion had disappeared, and her patient had become some monster. She closed the door, hoping that would slow the creature as she ran through the halls. But hope came.  Hope came as she heard voices.

Kira ran towards them, finding a gaggle of Novices hiding in a room - her friends and sisters.  Many of them had been there for her since the beginning, encouraging her and trying the get the Aes Sedai to help her through her trauma.

"Kira!" one of them called. "What are they!?"

They implied more than one.  A loud bang from the side wall made the Novices jump.  Several of them cried.  A hand broke though the wall, skin burnt.  Her patient had arrived. A change in the mirror above the girls caught Kira's attenion and she saw the arch behind her.  

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

Kira knew she had to, and it broke her heart to do it. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Tears began to stream down her face as she turned in ran. The screams of the girls echoing in her ears. The crashing of the wall stop and the screaming reached a crescendo as Kira ran though the arch.

Kira fell to her knees as she once more entered the arch chamber.  Tears stained her face and she struggled for breath.  She focused herself, using the techniques Aranea Sedai had taught her to imagine her emotions.

Cool water washed away her tears as the Red spoke. "You are washed clean of false pride. You are washed clean of false ambition. You come to us clean in heart and soul."

"I abandoned them all," she whispered, as the Mistress of Novices took her arm to lead her to the last arch. "I left them to die."

There is always a reason not to come back. The ter'angreal pulls this from your mind. You must want to be Aes Sedai more than anything to pass the test.  Each arch is harder than the last."

Kira considered those words. She could stop.  She could refuse.  She would be removed from the White Tower, but it was an option. What was worse than abandoning her friends to death. The thought frightened her more deeply than anything had before. But she couldn't.  She would be Aes Sedai.

She didn't speak, but took another step forward, and then another.  She would be Aes Sedai.

Chapter 3: The Third Arch

The water had washed the tears away, but Kira could feel her heart pounding in her chest. "The third time is for what will be.  The way back will come but once. Be steadfast."

Kira stepped through the arch and appeared on a battlefield.  Screams and the clashing of blades filled the filled the air, and the scent of blood was everywhere.  Kira, who wore a yellow dress, stood amongst a number of fallen people.  Most were women, many wearing green dresses.  She recognized a few faces.  She had sung to them this...no it was a long time ago...so long ago, yet so near.  One man lay face down at her feet.  A warder - her warder.

"Kira Sedai," a woman's voice interrupted her thoughts, and Kira looked up to see a woman, a hood drawn up to cover the top half of her face approach.  On a finger lay the Great Serpant ring of the Aes Sedai.

Black Ajah... she thought as she began to breathe faster.

The woman moved towards her with a supernatural speed, bringing Kira to the ground.  Kira wondered why the woman didn't channel, but she was unable to find Saidar herself. They struggled, and the woman pulled out a knife and brought it down.  Kira twisted and the knife took her in the arm.  She screamed in pain and the knife came down again, hitting her shoulder.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

The arch appeared.  Kira could see it, but with the Black sister on top of her, she wasn't going to make it. She rolled, trying to get herself on top of the sister, and was surprised she succeeded. The other woman wouldn't let her go, so Kira did the first thing that came to mind.  She bit the woman's hand.  The woman let her go with a yelp and Kira stood, running towards the arch.  She tripped on the hem of her dress just moments before and crawled foward into the Arch chamber.

Kira screamed, tears falling, only some of it coming from the pain that still lingered in her shoulders.  The woman's shrouded face was still clear in her mind. 

Light, it hurts... Kira thought, trying to calm herself as she saw the Amyrlin Seat in front of her.  She tried her best to keep the Aes Sedai serenity that they had preached.  Novices were held to a lower standard than Accepted, but no reproach came from the woman. 

"Bl...bla...black ajah..." was the only thing she spoke through the crying.  

"Heal her!" the Amyrlin's voice said.

A yellow Kira did not know came to her and Kira felt the coldness of the healing weave hit her as her wounds knit back up.  The pain in her arm and shoulder replaced by a deep fatigue.  It did nothing for the pain in her heart. 

The Mistress of Novices, came and picked her up off the ground, pushing her to move forward.  Kira only resisted because of the fatigue. The room had become silent after the Amyrlin's command.  Kira hadn't known that the reason the command had been given was becuase the Aes Sedai in the room had hesitated at her words.

There was an Aes Sedai from every Ajah in front of her, and in the center stood the Amyrlin Seat, holding the last chalice.  Kira approached, and knelt down in front of her. She tried to banish the image of the Black Sister from her mind, but it lingered. 

The Amyrlin tipped the chalice, pouring the cool water over her head and it washed away her tears and blood. "You are washed clean of Kira Valyrios of Tear.  You are washed clean of all ties that bind you to he world. You come to us washed clean, in heart and in sould.  You are Kira Valyrios, Accepted of the White Tower." The Amrylin came and pulled Kira to her feet.