Netland Towers Library: Lacy's Arches

Lacy's Arches
by Lacy Lane al'Meraia

Andor and even in your ! Ashlin Manor, but my family will not have it. If you do not go..." Scott turned to her and tears were rolling down his cheeks. BE STEADFAST. THE WAY BACK... "Burn the way back." Lacy shouted and looked at Scott. "You know I must go or I will die. I hope you decide to stand up for me to your family. I will be Lacy Lane Al'Meraia as long as I live. I will not change. I will not." As Scott walked away Lacy ran after him crying then she saw a white arch appear and Scott was walking toward it. Running past him Lacy ran through the arch screaming... ********** "I will not change..." Lacy yelled as she ran out of the arch and then began weeping. Her heart was broke all over again. She thought she had gotten over her love of him but she had not. As the chalice was poured over her head the cold water blended with the hot tears on her cheeks, then she heard. "You are washed clean of what crime you may have committed, and those committed against you. You come to us washed clean and pure, in heart and soul." Lacy shivered and gave a smiled that didn't touch her eyes. Pure in the heart you say... Sure I'm pure in the heart. Pure heart broke... Lacy was still crying when they reached the second arch. Kirlanna Sedai looked at her worriedly but went on with the ceremony she knew by heart. " The second time is for what is. The way back will come but once. Be steadfast." With her head drooped Lacy slowly walked into the second arch wondering if it would be more heartache... ********** Lacy was standing in a white dress and was in an open field with one of her classes. Sarlena Sedai was going on about Air Weaves, and Lacy wondered why she was surprised that Sarlena was an Aes Sedai. "Lacy are you o.k." Sarlena asked and Lacy nodded. "I'm sorry Sarlena Sedai. What was it you asked me to do." Lacy blushed and shook her head. It should not be strange that Sarlena was an Aes Sedai, it just should not! "Very well," Sarlena said. "I was asking you to pick up that rock, " she pointed to a huge bolder on the other side of the river, "and float it to this side." Lacy looked at the bolder and sized it up. It was tall but not wide. Sarlena was going easy on her since Air was not her strongest power. Lacy seized Saidar and felt a dirty feeling in the air but ignored it. BE SEADFAST THE WAY BACK WILL COME BUT ONCE... Lacy shook her head and picked up the small bolder with a net of Air. Lacy had the bolder half way to her when she heard some loud noises and heard a shout! of "Trollocs!" Half turning and half falling Lacy let the rock go and went to channel Fire but saw that the trolloc had Aifa. "No... Aifa..." She screamed as she seen the girl's eyes roll back in her head with a snap of her neck. Aifa was days away from being raised, at that Lacy felt her temper go up and threw fire at the trolloc... "I'll kill you all." Lacy shouted and got to her feet and started to run to join the fighting around her. BE STEADFAST... Lacy ignored the voice and went after the trolloc in front of her. I'll avenge Aifa, she thought and then heard it again. "Blood and bloody ashes. I'm trying to kill a trolloc." Lacy shouted at the voice and then she seen another novice in the hands of a trolloc and went after it. To her right a white arch glowed and she looked at it then at the novice that was rather new. THE WAY BACK WILL COME BUT ONCE... "I bloody well know it will come but once. Burn you. " Lacy shouted at the voice once more with a shake of her fist toward the air. Stomping off toward the arch Lacy's eyes flashed white and the lightning came in her eyes. As she walked through the arches she head the tortured screams of the novice and her calling out for Lacy to help her as she was ate alive. Balling up her fist Lacy walked through the arch... ********** As she exited the Arch Lacy's eyes were still showing her anger and she did not even notice the second chalice being empted over her head, nor did she hear when Faeone Sedai said, " You are washed clean of false pride. You are washed clean of false ambition. You come to us washed clean, in heart and soul." On the way to the third and final arch all Lacy could hear were the girl's agonizing screams... Kirlanna Sedai turned to her and looked at her. "The third time is for what will be. The way back comes but once. Be steadfast and come back to us Lacy." Lacy nodded walked through the arch determined to come back and burn anyone who didn't think she could... ********** Lacy looked at Krunk as he leaned against the fireplace in their room. On the second finger of her left hand she had a small gold band made of leaves and on the second finger of her right hand was her Great Serpent Ring. "I think we should watch your so called Sister, Lacy." Krunk was saying. She felt his bond and all she felt when he looked at her was love and respect, and she knew he felt the same thing. She had bonded him when he was raised. She had waited a year for him to be raised but she would not bond another before she did Krunk. He was the only reason she was still alive and had been since days before she signed the Novice Book... "Yes I know Krunk but I can not think Aifa would be a member of the Black Ajah. Don't look at me like that. You know as well as I do that there is and always has been a Black Ajah. I know that as a Sitter of the Green Ajah I should deny it but all know it. What is the use of even trying to get around it for I can not lie." Lacy nodded and ! looked at the door as it opened and Aifa walked in. "Hello Sister." Lacy said and was surprised as Aifa walked in with her three Gaidin. Lacy had had three at one time but had to give one his bond back for he wanted to be bonded by another and the other had died. Lacy was still not fully over that and Krunk still held her at night when she cried from the pain of it. "To what do we owe this visit?" Lacy asked and felt Krunk tense. Lacy made a signal to let him know all was o.k. "You know why I am here Sister. You have come to close to my secret and my Warders' as well. Now you suffer." Lacy was stunned as a shield slammed in place over her. She did not even notice that Aifa was channeling. She wasn't, Lacy then remember her Warder that could channel and knew why Krunk had tensed. Why did she not listen to him when she knew she should? As Lacy figured it all out Aifa seized Krunk with Air and floated him up into the air. BE STEADFAST... Lacy shook her head. "NO... Aifa please don't. No..." Lacy watched and tried to slam against the shield that held her from the power, Krunk was lifted higher into the Air and made no sound or even the bat of an eyelash. Lacy watched terrified as Krunk was bent into, she could feel his pain through the bond and all Krunk did was let out a small moan. Lacy jumped up but was caught with Air and she fell to the ground. Getting to her knees she heard and felt Krunk's neck break. Screaming her pain as well as Krunk's, Lacy jump! ed at Aifa and rolled past her as she easily ducked. When Lacy had gotten back to her feet she saw a white arch and ran to it with the sound of Aifa's laughter in her ear. As she reached the arch she tripped and fell through it... ********** Falling to the cold marble Lacy stood and the final chalice was emptied over her head and she heard her mentor say, " You are washed clean of Lacy Lane Al'Meraia from Ashlin Manor. You are washed clean of all ties that bind you to the world. You come to us washed clean, in heart and soul. Lacy Lane Al'Meraia, Accepted of the White Tower. You are sealed to us now." At that Lacy looked up. "I hope that was not real. I walked out on my first love, I turned my back on a fellow Novice, and I watch my Warder, no my husband die. I hope it is all worth the price," Lacy said as she looked at the Aes Sedai. Kirlanna Sedai turned to her. "You are no longer a Novice Lacy Lane. You are now an Accepted aspiring to the Green Ajah. You are part of the Tower now. We do not know if it is real but we know that it is worth the price."