This ain't teatime! (Tbcb Anna)

[Rakein]

Rakein waited, knowing that it took time, focusing on the light, the pendant, and Anna. She focused on that ability in the Novice which she could sense, and when it seemed to answer the ter'angreal's 'call,' she let Anna take over. For half a moment the light remained, but soon it began to fade and even seemed to sputter out. The Accepted's brow furrowed slightly. She removed her hands from beneath Anna's and took the pendant.

Rakein shook her head at the Novice's nervous question. "No, no. That last second and the flickering was you, Anna -- but there does seem to be something keeping even the ter'angreal from fully drawing on your ability." The Novice had said that she had no trouble focusing on what she was interested in -- had it flickered out as she almost immediately lost interest? Regardless, it was as if focus was missing. There was something keeping her from focusing.

"You may have what we call a 'block,'" she told the Novice. "Sometimes those with the spark, who have channeled before, develop a 'block' which permits them to channel only under certain conditions, such as specific emotional conditions."

Anna seemed to need something to get her into the correct mindset, perhaps something emotional but perhaps...perhaps something physical. The girl's frustration with sitting still might also be frustrating her attempts at embracing.

"We must determine what your block is, and then work past it. It will take time, but it has been done many times before, with a variety of blocks."

Rakein paused, thinking. "You are certain you do not recall any time you might have channeled, without your knowledge? Did anything unexplainable happen to you? Did you ever fall sick with unknown cause?"

The Tairen was wracking her brain for all she knew about women with the 'spark' and wilders. Perhaps there was something Anna recalled that could be connected to channeling, which would be quite useful for figuring out her block. There may be a clear cause, and the Novice simply had not made the connection before -- which was to be expected. Most women did not know how the ability to channel might manifest itself, and the symptoms it could cause. If only they could educate people better, but there was too much fear and mistrust involved.

[NoMoon]

Anna listened to Rakein, her frown deepening. A block? Channeled... before?!? The girl shook her head slowly and ran her hand over her hair and ended in rubbing her neck. This was insane. Anna hadn't channeled before!... had she? For a moment she glanced at the pendent. Stupid thing... Probably is broken...

"You are certain you do not recall any time you might have channeled, without your knowledge? Did anything unexplainable happen to you? Did you ever fall sick with unknown cause?" Rakein asked, with her own thoughtful look. Anna shook her head as the woman spoke. No, she didn't think she's channeled before. No, nothing "unexplainable" has ever happened. No, she never had some unknown sick- Anna froze, watching the ground as if afraid it jump up and bite her. "Two springs ago."

The girl sat up a bit more, and watched Rakein as she spoke. "Two springs ago I got sick and no one could figure out why. I was just walkin' along and collapsed for no reason. Ended up havin' a fever and bad shakes, and some really weird night mares, for one night. It happened 3 times in... 2-3 months. Mom and Mistress Let both thought maybe I outgrew whatever was happenin' cause it never happened again, even during the next spring... But... I don' remember anythin' weird or out of the ordinary happenin' other than getting sick..." Her mind raced to pull every detail she could of those days. They had been just typical spring days on the farm. Horse work, field work, house work, messing around with her friends, pulling pranks and jokes, more working. Nothing abnormal, other than randomly collapsing and getting sick.

[Rakein]

Rakein nodded, considering. It seemed likely that Anna's sickness was caused by unconscious channeling, but apparently there was no other event that might be attached to her channeling. The Accepted knew that channeling could manifest itself in everyday situations, as a girl with the spark must channel at some point even if nothing significant spurs it. She had heard of local healers who had channeling ability, and used the One Power in their healing without their knowledge.

But what could Anna have done that she might have naturally and instinctually channeled to help her accomplish it? And not be aware of it...or at least not see anything out of the ordinary about what she achieved. It happened several times, and then stopped...strange.

"If you did indeed get ill on account of your ability, which seems likely" Rakein began, "then you channeled in some way. You could have incorporated channeling into even a common task for you, completely unconsciously. But if you do not recall anything strange...it will be a bit of a challenge to determine what your block is."

The Tairen paused for a moment, searching her mind for some other way of going about this than what she had so far managed to come up with. It would be tedious, but...hopefully thorough. She would have to rely on Anna to lead her in the right direction, which might be a bit of a struggle.

"Do you recall doing anything in that 2-3 months when you were sick multiple times that you did not do regularly in other months? And...it may be tedious, but please go over all of your regular activities before you came to the Tower, and particularly in those months."

Rakein dug into a bag underneath the small table on which the food and water sat, and pulled out a small leather-bound journal and pen and ink. She should really write everything down, so she could puzzle out possibilities later, and so she could prepare to test each possibility if need be.

[NoMoon]

Anna frowned. All of the things that go on in spring, 2 flaming years ago? The woman couldn't be serious, could she? "Spring is by far our busiest time, and I don' remember that one being any less or more. We have a farm so there is the plantin' to be done. We plant all through spring and early summer. We also raise and train horses. Trainin' picks back up but that lasts almost year round, except in the winter, so that isn' really time specific, but there is the weaning and breedin' back the broods... but... we do that into the summer and fall too, dependin' if we want a spring or summer foal... Ugh, then there is house work." Anna made a face, not liking spring cleaning one bit. "My mom makes rugs all through the winter and when spring gets around I get to clean every. bloody. one, sense I don' have a sibling to share it with. Plus mom likes every thing clean so we'll scrub the house from top ta' bottom. We do the same for the barn, and make repairs on things as we go. We have ta' go through all the tack and equipment too, make sure nothin' rusted, broke, or warped in the winter and then fix it or toss it. Dad has us oil everything and clean it all up. To prep for the training season, can't have tack breakin' on ya' while on a stubborn colt. Hmm..." Anna sat still a moment, trying to pull anything else that is spring related.

Her head tilts from side to side slowly as she thinks, drawing up lots of activities done in spring but all of them being year round. "That's really all for specific spring stuff that gets added to our normal every day things like muckin' stalls, the trainin', sales, and such. I swear once the snow melts and until it falls from the sky again the only time we really sit still is well after the sun sets and then we're up well before the sun the next day." She laughed, though it faded quickly. "Wait, are you really needin' me to go through every single thing in detail?" Light, I hope not or we'll be here for flamin' ever. It was a busy life out on a horse ranch, it required year round maintenance and care.

When the woman confirmed that yes she wanted everything Anna gapped a moment, before helping herself to some water. She had already covered spring, so she moved on into summer(it made sense to her to just go in order). Summer wasn't near as bad as spring. There was some more planting of different crops, and then the task of tending to them. For the horses there were just the typical maintenance of things(feeding, cleaning, mucking stalls, ect). The girl talked a bit on the training and how much varied and was practically at random. Horses left and come in a continuous cycle with no way of predicting exactly how long they'd be there or how hard or easy they would be to teach. Every horse was unique and required a unique hand. Her father hunted allot in the summer and into the fall for furs and meat, while her mother had more weaving and cooking, both of which Anna was regularly involved. There was also the sales where her family sold not only stock and wares, but also their service of training. It was an active business that Anna was proud to declare she had a huge hand in.

Fall was next of coarse, which was about as busy as spring. Harvest was the biggest thing, and Anna went over it briefly(it was rather boring). They also did majority of their gelding in the fall, after the first frost so that the flies didn't bother the newly gelded. Gelding was a huge production that required participation from every hand to catch, restrain, and cut the horses, plus they also had to mark their ears. The mares also where marked, but that was simply catching and holding their head. The poor stud colts where flipped on their backs and held in place with ropes and man-and-horse-power as they where robbed of their reproduction abilities. The girl didn't go into too much detail but did go over the general proses. Rope, trip, restrain, cut, mark, and release. Then on to the next one. Her father did a bit of logging during the fall also, which, of coarse, Anna helped with.

Compared to the other seasons winter was stunningly slow. During the active months every evening was devoted to Anna's studies, but in the winter it became her main focus. Her parents taught her numbers and letters, histories, and details on trading. Her mother also taught Anna allot about her other heritage, Domani, but Anna left that out. Of coarse though, the animals still required feeding and cleaning up after, which was done every day even if it was in the middle of a blizzard. Good sized ropes where laid out and tied up in the fall to act as guides in the winter for when you couldn't see further than a few feet around you. "So... Winter is kind of boring... But then spring comes around, and we start all over again. Been like that sense I was seven, when my dad retired from the military." The young girl of sixteen winters shrugged. Raising her glass she realized it was empty, refilling it she eyed Rakein and the paper curiously. Anna had talked for quite a while, yet it had all only been a brief overview of one year.


((ooc: Hope its ok that I assumed that Rakein wanted Anna to just yammer her jaw off about everything. Its what it sounded like to me in your post.  ))

[Rakein]

As Anna talked, recalling in good detail all of her usual work at her former home, Rakein jotted down shorthand notes to list each activity. She could follow most of it basically, but really had no idea what it all involved in detail, or how she was going to allow Anna to do most of her typical chores in order to figure out and hopefully break her block. The Accepted only knew the port-city of Tear. Even her experience with horses was limited to one brief riding class here at the Tower. She knew enough to stay on a well-trained one, but that was about it.

The Tower stables of course would be very helpful, but Rakein had no idea how she was going to get through Anna's block if it had something to do with...farming...or some part of it...though she had no idea how it would. Or the...neutering. The Accepted both cringed and laughed inwardly as she looked at that on her list. There was no way Anna's ability manifested to...well, unless it was to calm the horse...

Rakein sighed. "Well...this is definitely a lot to start with," she said, trying not to sound too frustrated, as she did not want the Novice to think her frustration was directed at her. No, not at her...just at her block. And that she could not remember any moment in which she might have channeled... But no, that was not her fault.

"Our next lesson we will at least meet outside, and get you out of this little room. Perhaps in the gardens. I will need to speak with the Mistress of Novices to gain permission to go to the stables, much less to...borrow any horses, which may take a little time..." And persuasion, she thought. Rakein was not looking forward to explaining her plans to Katherine Sedai...

"So we'll start by focusing on some particular things you did in the spring. Do you have any suggestions on what we should focus on?"

[NoMoon]

Anna listened to the sigh and inwardly cringed. "Well...this is definitely a lot to start with," The girl looked away from the woman, studying the wall as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, her thoughts turning inward. Light bloody burn me. Anna's sole reason for being in the Light forsaken Tower was because of this damned channeling curse. Just her flaming luck. Rakein speaking drew Anna from her sullen thoughts.

"Our next lesson we will at least meet outside, and get you out of this little room. Perhaps in the gardens. I will need to speak with the Mistress of Novices to gain permission to go to the stables, much less to...borrow any horses, which may take a little time..." Out side, that'll be nice. The stables would be even even better, though Anna had her doubts about being allowed. She nearly sniffed at the thought of borrowing a horse. Batu was still her's, no matter what the Aes Sedai said. They couldn't take her little brother away from her.

Again Rakein drew Anna out of dark thoughts. "So we'll start by focusing on some particular things you did in the spring. Do you have any suggestions on what we should focus on?" The girl sighed, shaking her head slowly. "Haven' a bloody clue." Anna stated blandly. She hoped, that against all odds, this was just a minor hick-up. Anna sat there with her shoulders hunched and head dropped, glaring at her open hands in her lap.

[Rakein]

Rakein knew that her frustration had only encouraged Anna's, as well. The girl was already frustrated perhaps even with the general idea of channeling, much less going through any tedious exercises to get to the point of channeling. Hopefully some of what they would do for the coming lessons would be a little interesting to her -- these lessons would at least start to be quite a change from her other classes, Rakein expected.

The Tairen gave Anna a sharp look at her choice of words, but did not make a comment about her language. She would be understanding at the moment, as it was an apt expression of how she felt herself. Where to begin? No clear picture whatsoever of any particular situation. No particular situation. Anna had no experience that stood out as when her ability might have manifested, and there was no clear correlation that Rakein knew of between the Novice's former work and the manifestation of saidar.

"Well, I'll see what I can come up with for tomorrow. Meet me in the gardens unless you hear from me otherwise." The Accepted would unfortunately still have to clear that with Katherine Sedai. At least the woman seemed to like her, particularly since she knew that Rakein aspired to the Red.

The Tairen rose. "See you tomorrow. And let me know if you happen to be assigned any chores at the stable," she added as an afterthought. "Though unfortunately they seem to reserve those mostly for the siswai...for some ridiculous reason," Rakein finished, half sincere and half sarcastic. One of those ridiculous reasons was likely the bright white dresses and little shoes they were both wearing.

----------------

Rakein started gradually working on Katherine Sedai -- in her first meeting, she requested permission to hold her lessons with Anna in the gardens (or at least the next lesson), and informed the Mistress of Novices of Anna's block. The Red Sister of course offered to reassign Anna to an Aes Sedai if need be, but Rakein certainly would not take such an offer until it was clear it was no longer just an offer.

The next few lessons were held outside, as the Accepted gradually worked her way toward requesting lessons at the stable. That took some intense explanation. In the gardens, she had Anna go through the rose exercise while walking. They planted flowers together. They uprooted an old, decrepit bush, digging out all its spread roots (Rakein had not yet managed to slip in a request to dress in non-uniform garb, though she did find some aprons and gloves at least, which...helped). They communed with nature.

Rakein had not yet received permission for lessons at the stableyard, when the day came when Rakein had to cancel her lesson with Anna. The evening before she had been raised to Aes Sedai, after nearly 15 years of training.

Though she was undeniably still under Katherine Sedai's jurisdiction in several ways, Rakein now wore the shawl, and so could certainly take a Novice to the stables. The Tairen sent a note to Anna the evening of the day she canceled her lesson, after she had moved into her new quarters -- they would meet in the gardens and walk to the stables. And with the note was a set of pants, shirt, and boots that hopefully would at least stay on her body.

The brand new Red Sister waited for Anna in the gardens, without her shawl but wearing a simply cut and unadorned red dress -- the first and only item of non-White Tower issued clothing she had in her possession so far. Underneath she wore pants and a blouse that was too tight for her, and she had managed to find a pair of boots. Rakein wanted to avoid being seen in such clothing until she had no choice, and was at least a little ways from the Tower itself.

She still wore one of the same white eye-patches, which she was beginning to think needed to change. Could she venture...black, even?

[NoMoon]

Rakein's class soon became Anna's favorite, even if it was more frustrating than anything she had ever done in her life. Getting to get out side, out in the sun, was so amazing that it almost made up for the fact that she was blocked. Almost. The lessons where both frustrating and fantastic at the same time, but Anna truly gave Rakein all she had. The girl had even slightly forsaken her other studies, like not doing her extra book work or assignments, to practice. She didn't dare mention that to Rakein, not even if the woman asked how her studies were going. They where always just 'fine'.

The garden work had helped keep Anna in high spirits, despite failure after failure, and for the most part the girl simply pretended she didn't have that silly apron on. Getting dirty was a amazing feeling, after all her time of work so hard to keep her dress perfectly clean. Joking a bit here and there and laughing, Anna really did act more like herself than she usually did, but she still put effort into showing she was trying. Light was she trying. When Rakein canceled her lesson Anna honestly hadn't known what to do with herself, so she wandered out to the gardens and practiced anyway. Other Novices practiced alone often, she could see that in the frustrated shakes of head and the girls who would sit still for a long time, seaming to do nothing, and Anna wouldn't be fool to think the Aes Sedai were ignorant of that fact.

The note and cloths had been such a shock that for a while Anna just stared at them, as if afraid they'd come to life and run away if she touched them. No bloody way. Once the time for their lesson came, Anna was already ready. She sat in her rooms a bit, forcing herself to wait patiently so that she wouldn't be unbelievable early. Once the time got close enough the girl practically bolted out of her room. She missed Batu so much it was horrid. No one around the Tower seamed to understand how deeply she was attached to the gelding, and she so wished someone would one day and not give her weird looks over it.

Looking around the gardens Anna searched for the new Aes Sedai and couldn't help but grin broadly at the woman. Walking up in the cloths that were provided, the shirt and pants a touch baggy even for Anna's taste and the boots where a touch small, she bowed fluidly. She itched to congratulate the woman, but held her tongue knowing Rakein could be rather prickly about formalities. Now that the woman was actually Aes Sedai, Anna suspected she expected perfect Aes Sedai treatment.

[Rakein]

Rakein rose from the stone bench she was sitting on. She could not help but smile a little. Anna looked thrilled. The clothes did not really fit her, but she looked utterly comfortable. Her Novice dress did never really fit her in more ways than one. Though her excitement was clear, Anna maintained protocol, for which Rakein was pleased.

"Good afternoon, Anna," she addressed the Novice. It was a strange, rather sublime feeling, to be right back where she was as an Accepted, only two days before. Their last lesson felt so long ago...and the new dress felt so strange. She was having more made for her, in various reds and purples, and all frightfully plain to the chagrin of the seamstress. Rakein was frugal, and after many years in very plain, simply made dresses, the Tairen had no desire to start wearing any silks or frills.

"Remember that this is a lesson in saidar, and not just a pleasant excursion. And that you are a Novice of the White Tower, even if you don't look it," she finished with a smirk.

The Red Sister began walking out of the gardens and into the open Tower grounds. They would pass near the Training Yards on their way to the stable, but certainly not cross through them. Rakein hoped there would be few out and about to witness the pair, and that no one would be around the stable yards besides the stablehands. The Tairen wasn't even too sure what they would do for this lesson, but whatever they did it would appear rather strange. An Aes Sedai and a young woman in men's clothes, saddling two horses themselves, to head out for a ride?

It was a clear day, thank the Light, and Rakein had to admit the past few lessons had been rather pleasant. She was beginning to feel that they weren't really serving as lessons anymore. When they reached the stables, the Red Sister spoke briefly with one of the stablehands.

"Well, let's pick out some horses, shall we?" she said as she entered the stables with Anna. "He was particularly happy to oblige me when I told him that you'd be doing all the work."

[NoMoon]

"Good afternoon, Anna," Shockingly, the girl grinned broader. "Afternoon, Rakein Sedai." Anna could never envision the tittle fallowing her own name, let alone Accepted preceding it, but she wouldn't undermine the great accomplishment Rakein had made. It didn't take a genius to realize after a few weeks here just how strong of a woman an Aes Sedai had to be. Anna was far from a genius, a fool really, but she wasn't blind. At the woman's reminder Anna put forth her best effort in looking hurt. Anna! Not behave as if the most perfect Novice humanly possible! The look couldn't last long though, before it broke into a slightly crooked grin that she tried to cover up with another bow. "Of coarse, Ma'am."

She knew better than to try her luck at not acting at least a good Novice, and she hoped Rakein knew that too. Anna worked hard to not step on toes or insult, let alone break rank, and, honestly, what was on her body made no difference. She was a Novice and that was the end of it. Until she was released. Trailing after the woman she walked only a step behind the woman and to the side. Fallowing behind anyone like a duckling made her feel... like she was being punished. Anna didn't like it.

Try as she might, there was no way Anna could hold in how excited she was. This was the first time she'd be visiting the stables with permission! At arrival though her excitement died down a bit. She could recognize several of the hands, including the one Rakein spoke to, and it worried her a bit. They wouldn't rat her out would they? Walking into the stables she glanced at the woman curiously.

"Well, let's pick out some horses, shall we? He was particularly happy to oblige me when I told him that you'd be doing all the work." Anna laughed, though deep down she was still nervous about losing this new found privilege before even getting to have it for a time. "I'd hardly call it work, Rakein Sedai." Glancing down the main run she eyed the stables, a few horses had their heads sticking out looking at the new arrivals with interest, she paused a moment to drink in the sights, sounds, and smells. Taking off at a walk, Anna fallowed the familiar path to Batu's stall. "Do ya' have your own horse?" she asked Rakein curiously as the came up to Batu's door. The black gelding had stuck his bold featured head out of the window of his door when they got within his hearing range and nickered a warm greeting. Anna felt so bad that he had to sit around in a stall all day, but she tried getting down here as much as possible to try and give him at least some exercise.

As her attention was on Rakein, she grabbed his lead and snapped it to his halter. Anna didn't like that they left the halters on the horses all the time, a horse could catch it on something, spook, and hang themselves, and had asked a hand to change things so that Batu wouldn't. He had said he would bring her request to the Stable Master but obviously nothing had changed yet. It irritated her. Undoing his latch Anna led him out, paying very little attention to the gelding. He was far from an imposing horse, standing only just above 14 hands(putting his back to about Anna's chest) with a lean, for a Boarder horse, build. He was only half Boarder, his other half was of the Domani Razor which gave him a leaner build and more agility and speed than most Boarders. He was bred to be a general work horse, and he did an excellent job at it despite only being 4.

The gelding pranced out of his stall excitedly, throwing his head about and dancing around like some fool. An absent tug of his lead brought him back to attention though and he stood watching Anna. She wouldn't have him getting out of hand.

[Rakein]

At Anna's comment that she would "hardly call it work," Rakein smiled slightly. It had been clear from day one that the girl's heart was not in the Tower, though what did one expect of a new initiate? But her heart and mind was not really in the classroom or the library, though she was an intelligent girl, or in the idea of saidar and channeling. It had become very clear to Rakein how much Anna loved the outdoors and working with her hands. But here likely was her greatest love.

The Tairen didn't understand it very well, unless she thought of the city she had grown up in, and of the docks she had visited often enough to her parents chagrin. She remembered watching the sailors, working to load and unload, mooring, anchoring and catting, and securing lines. Though they enjoyed setting their feet on dry land for a time, they had always seemed happiest and most at home at work on the ship. The sea was what they knew, and sailing was what they were good at.

Anna did not hesitate one bit in heading into the stables directly to a particular stall. Rakein followed, and stood outside the stall door, watching the Novice as she began to tack up the horse. It was a dark color, and it seemed quite beautiful to Rakein, though she did not really know anything else to say about it -- except perhaps that it was not quite so large as some of the horses in these stables.

"No, I do not," she said thoughtfully, seeming a little distracted as she realized that now that she wore the shawl, that was yet another thing to worry about. "I have never owned one," she remarked. Laughing inwardly, Rakein thought of how Anna could certainly help her in purchasing one that was right for her, but she did not say this -- she was already fully in Anna's realm without also requesting her help.

The new Red kept out of the way as the Novice lead the horse out of his stall. "I suppose this was yours, then?" she asked with what was for her a soft smile. She was sure that to Anna it was still very much hers, but as far as the Tower was concerned, it was not. Rakein expected that Anna would not completely lose the horse, even if it was not considered her possession anymore -- the Tower did not sell horses. And here Anna was, about to ride again. The Tairen felt worry nagging at her mind, that she was only encouraging the Novice to feed her homesickness and attachment to her previous life.

Rakein moved on quickly, even as Anna was preparing to answer. The Red did not refuse to let the girl answer, but she wanted to keep her on track, to remind her that this was not for pleasure or to make her feel more at home. "Choose whatever other mount you think is best,"  she added simply -- her voice was hardly stern and still quite pleasant, but she did not maintain her smile.

[NoMoon]

"I suppose this was yours, then?" Was?!? Anna tensed for just a heart beat, before she let the agitation go. Batu's head shot up and his ears pivoted around, looking for what had caused Anna to react like that. Horses where extremely sensitive to the feelings that hummed in the air around them, and Batu was specifically tuned in to listening to Anna's body language. Reaching up she patted the gelding's neck, more for her sake than his. "Yes, Ma'am" was all she said in a calm voice that she tried to keep the defiance out of. He was hers, and that was the end of it.

Anna guessed she couldn't really be angry with the woman for saying such. A Novice wasn't to have any personal possessions, added to the fact Rakein had never had a horse(Which more than shocked the Saldaean) let alone been as close to one as she to Batu. Anna truly couldn't imagine living without the animals in her life. Anna studied the woman thoughtfully as she walked away. Light, it had almost looked like Rakein was having a good time and then, bam, kill joy. Figures. Really, It confused Anna. Did the Tower really believe that learning and fun couldn't be mixed together? It was possible... Debating she ran over all the horses she knew in this wing, or knew as well as she could. Frowning faintly she speaks up, "I don' know the horses here very well... Let me ask someone who does." Anna dropping Batu's lead, she pats him on the nose and murmuring a soft 'whoa', before heading strait to the first stall with the door wide open and a horse tied outside. Grinning at the shirtless man, just 4 or 5 years her senior, inside who was shoveling the waste into a barrow, Anna spoke in a calm and slightly mischievous tone. "Hey, I need a horse for a rider with little to no experience. Got any suggestions?"

Jaren turned and looked at the girl with confusion before blinking in surprise. "Anna?!?" He exclaimed just louder than a whisper. Reaching out he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into the stall, nearly pinning her to the wall. Anna blinked in confusion and gaped at the man. "What you flaming doing?!?" he continued in that same harsh worried whisper. "That isn't the Tower's uniform! An Aes Sedai will kill you if she sees you like that!" Anna blinks, once, before nearly panicking herself. "Jaren, you moron." She answered back, also keeping her voice equally low and her words fast. "A Bloody Aes Sedai gave me the outfit! She's the one needing a horse! She's right outside. Put your flaming shirt on and tell me which horse would be good." He was standing rather close. Not that Anna minded, he was good looking with broad shoulders and a jaw line deserving the closely shaved beard, but light have mercy on both of them if Rakein caught sight.

The man's entire face turned rather red before wheeling around to grab his shirt where he had discarded it on the handle of the barrow. "Talis" Anna frowned, "Who is?"  The man sighed. "The bald pallie mare.", "Aww, the cute one with the single glass eye?", "Yeah." He turned, buttoning up his shirt and disappointingly covering his belly. "Temper that matches her looks." Anna grinned at him. "Thanks Jaren. She'll be perfect." Turning Anna hurried to gather the mare.

[Rakein]

Rakein considered following Anna when the girl went back into the stable, but she knew that would border on ridiculous. This was Anna's turf -- which already put her at a disadvantage -- and though she was still a Novice, she was not attached to anyone's apron strings, much less Rakein's. As if she had ever or would ever wear an apron, even. She couldn't help but take one measure, though, to keep an 'eye' on the girl. The new Red embraced saidar and channeled a simple weave of spirit to bring the sounds of Anna and the stablehand's voices to her more clearly -- a typical Novice trick which Rakein had rarely used, of course.

The Tairen listened, coming in on the conversation at the man's worried, "An Aes Sedai will kill you if she sees you like that!" Amusement stirred in Rakein, and at Anna's response, she felt almost mischievous. And then rather silly. She did, however, note the Saldaean's language. Rakein's remaining eyebrow raised high into her forehead at Anna's berating of the young man -- apparently named Jaren; Rakein wondered how exactly Anna seemed to know him so well -- to, "put his shirt back on."

Of course he was working in a stable; removing his shirt to do so was natural. Rakein did not have a sense of 'decency' to the point of ridiculousness. The young man likely did not expect a Novice to come wandering in to find him without his shirt. His "flaming shirt." Once again, the language. She might know a lot more choice words than that, thanks to the Tairen sailors, but any such language had been beating out of her regularly even before she came to the Tower.

When Anna went to retrieve the mare named Talis, Rakein released saidar and waited calmly for the Novice to lead the horse out of the stable. The new Aes Sedai was rather glad Anna had not asked about her experience level in riding, though it seemed likely that the girl had assumed she had absolutely none. That was pretty accurate, but it stung a bit to know that the Novice could tell.

As Anna lead the mare out, Rakein looked at her pointedly, but not strictly. Maybe there was amusement in her eye, but there was certainly sarcasm in her voice. "Just because you are wearing the clothes of an ill-mannered stablehand does not mean you have to speak like one, too," she commented.

"Now; before we head out, I want you to practice the rose exercise and the river exercise, to help get you focused. First take a few moments before you mount up, and then once you have mounted."

Rakein lead her briefly in the exercises, just giving her bits to think about, as they had been over both of them many times. "You are the rose about to bloom,  ready to open its petals to the light, to open up to the light of saidar..." And then she flowed directly into the river exercise. "You are the riverbed, expecting, holding, and guiding the water and its flow, holding and guiding the life-giving water of saidar, embracing saidar's flow..."

((OOC: I hope this post makes sense. I was in a weird mood! If you want I can remove the last part, to let Anna respond to Rakein's 'reprimand.'))

[NoMoon]

Leading the mare out of the stall, Anna stroked the placid palfrey's neck absently. The mare was only a hand taller than Batu and was a deep palomino with a baldface, a white marking that covered a majority of her face, most of it on her left side. On the same side her eye was of a brilliant crystal blue, an odd match to the other dark brown one. Such coloring was caused by the white markings around the eye, which was often refereed to as a glass eye. Anna personally found the blue eyes beautiful, though some said it gave a horse a distant and slow look.

Gathering Batu and tying both of them up, the Novice set to tacking both horses up with quick and deft hands. Anna hardly had to watch herself as she positioned the saddles just so, and tightened the cinches. For a while she had debated about just riding Batu bareback, preferring riding without the bulky saddle separating her from his back, but decided to just deal with the saddle. She wasn't sure how Rakein would react to her running about on Batu with nothing securing her, but the idea made her grin a bit. Leading the horses out to meet Rakein, the Novice smiled warmly.

"Just because you are wearing the clothes of an ill-mannered stablehand does not mean you have to speak like one, too." Anna blinked at the woman, looking quite confused. She hadn't said anything!... to the woman, anyway. Sure, she had slipped back into old habits when she spoke to Jaren, but the woman couldn't have heard. Unless Rakein pulled whatever it was that the Aes Sedai that had brought Anna to the Tower did every time Anna muttered under her breath. If she recalled right, it was something someone could do with Saidar... That is soooo cheating! she thought, giving the woman a playful appalled look, but kept her words to herself. The look faded as the new Aes Sedai continued though, and she nodded in understanding.

Handing over the mare's reins, fully expecting the mare to behave just as well for Rakein as she had for Anna, the Saldaean led Batu a little ways away, her mind drifting through the exercises. She was unbelivably relaxed, but nothing happened... Swinging up smoothly into the saddle, Anna went through them again. Her eyes were on Batu's neck as she focused inwardly. The rose bloomed... The river flowed... and Anna... continued to sit there on Batu's back, frowning at the nothingness in her. A sigh escaped her.

The Novice sat very natural on the gelding, looking vastly more relaxed and calm than she ever had. She glanced at Rakein, frowning a bit, and studied the woman absently in how she sat and held herself on the horse. No, she really was quite new and awkward on the mare. Anna smoothly slid off Batu and walked to Rakein's side, "Your stirrups are to short, let me fix them." Gently, she guided Rakein's foot out of the stirrup, and adjusted the straps under the fender that attached the stirrup to the main saddle, without the woman getting off. Lengthening them on both sides she grinned up at the woman. "To tell if their the right length, stand up in the stirrups and you should be about a hand above the seat with your feet horizontal to the ground."

Nodding when Rakein complied and showed that the stirrups where right, Anna swung back up into her own saddle again and waited for Rakein and what she wanted to do. In the back of her mind she was still trying to play with the exercises.

[Rakein]

Rakein began to feel as if she were back in a horseback riding class in her Accepted's dress when Anna fixed her stirrups for her. She had taken the class on horseback riding, but only a short introductory class, and had never made it back out to the stable-yard to take more lessons. She knew very well that it showed. But the Tairen was much more at home on a boat than on a horse, not surprisingly. Of course her parents had not approved of her being on either.

Her dress was hiked up above her knees so that she could ride normally, showing the pants and boots she had on underneath. It was a bit uncomfortable, though. Once Anna was back into her saddle, the Red dismounted a little awkwardly, saying, "Just a moment." She then pulled the dress over her head, so that she was in the shirt and pants. The shirt was a little tight, but she was hardly busty, so it did not really cause any...problems.

Rakein expected the stable-hand sitting outside was staring at her, even if there was nothing to see. She ignored him, and went back into the tack room to get a saddle bag, shoved the dress into it and put it over the horse, and then mounted again -- a little more gracefully this time. It had been a while, and it was much easier without the skirt in the way. This was much more practical, and comfortable, she thought. And the mare Anna had picked out for her seemed plenty docile. The Red hoped she would not look to awful in front of the Novice, but she knew it couldn't be helped. The girl was a Saldaean, and she had raised horses.

"I've been thinking about experimenting at the Ogier grove," Rakein said, "so I think we'll make that our destination. I want you to focus first on your riding, and secondly on saidar. And it is up to you at what rate you go, and whatever else -- though if you do go galloping off I won't be chasing after you," she added sarcastically, but with a smile. "At any rate, do you know about the Ogier grove on the grounds?"