Moving to her modest desk and lighting a nearly burned down candle, she yawned and started to write in her flowing script. Lydia had been having relatively the same dream each night for the past several, but she was having trouble remembering all the details and making sense of the ones she could. She noted what details had not faded immediately with the dawn. There were stars and a circle of flowing colors. There were flashes of familiar faces which she knew while asleep but could not place awake. She sighed heavily. It had been the same each morning. By the time she sat down to write those were the only glimpses of the dream she had left. Maybe I'll speak to Alex of it. She was always good for helping me decipher these blasted dreams.

The Accepted set her book aside to let the page dry and got ready to go to breakfast. She knew first bell would be sounding soon and wanted to get an early start on her day. Several novices had scheduled lessons with her and she had her own with Mordelaine Sedai. After that she had planned with Calinda and Sonea to practice their testing for the shawl. Lydia and Calinda had not gotten along when they first met in Nefertariamun Sedai's class but found they had much in common upon Lydia's raising to Accepted and thrived on their competition with each other. Sonea was newly raised but had more potential than most she had seen. Lydia had become close friends with the first and was quickly becoming friends with the second. They could find no one to push them harder than each other. It was to be a full day for Lydia.

The Accepted had donned her banded dress and just secured her typical Andoran braid when first bell sounded. She ordinarily spent more time on her appearance but decided she just did not have time this morning. Looking in the mirror she reflected on the woman she had become in the five years since her raising. She had gotten into more trouble as an Accepted than she ever had as a novice and was surprised she hadn't found herself back in novice white. She considered herself very lucky that Lacy Sedai thought that self-taught lessons were best learned and that Crag had seen to it that the two women became close. Lydia would have found herself stumbling through the Dream World and would probably be dead by now had it not been for the two of them. Their lessons had even enabled her to help Adolphus get a better understanding of the Wolf Dream.

The young woman pulled her door open to head to breakfast and barely managed to keep from running into the person standing on the other side. She made a swift and graceful curtsy to Aida Sedai who was now wearing the shawl of Mistress of Novices. She had been told the Green was to replace Lacy and while she hated to see the woman replaced at all, she was not altogether displeased with the choice. She had found Aifa firm but kind in the brief time she had filled in the position previously. She could not imagine what brought the woman to her door today.

Aifa gave no smile or greeting other than to say, "Lydia Al'Neary, you are summoned to be tested for the shawl of an Aes Sedai. The Light keep you whole and see you safe." She turned and began walking and Lydia had no choice but to follow. Her heart raced, but no one looking would have noticed. She was the picture of serenity and knew that until the test was complete it was the way she needed to stay. It was rare occasion now she could not complete the weaves required faced with whatever Sonea threw her way, but Lydia knew she was not infallible. When all else failed Calinda played on Lydia's more passionate nature and if she went about it the right way caused her to completely falter in whatever weave she was doing. She knew the test would go well beyond anything the Accepted could think to do to each other and Lydia prayed silently to the Creator that she would pass the test and arise the next morning an Aes Sedai.

As she followed Aifa down a narrow staircase and through huge unfamiliar passages carved right into the rock of the island, Lydia barely saw what if anything they passed by in the silence. She was clearing her mind and building her strength. Concentration and focus during channeling had never been Lydia's problem. They stopped before a pair of doors larger than the rest and Aifa channeled them open. The two women stepped into a large, round, domed chamber that was lit by a ring of stand-lamps. The light reflected from the polished white walls and Lydia's eyes were drawn to the huge oval ring standing unsupported in the center of the room. It colors shifted continually and the Accepted found it near impossible to pull her eyes away. She knew within it she would be tested for the shawl of Aes Sedai and she was ready.

"Attend, " Aifa said to the other Aes Sedai in the chamber, one of each Ajah. Seeing Alex of the Blue join the ring of women nearly brought a smile to Lydia's face. She was more than glad her friend was there and would be glad to resume their friendship in full if...no...when...she passed this test. She also knew Alex would not go easy on her because of their friendship. She may in fact be harder. "You come in ignorance, Lydia Al'Neary," Alex spoke formally, "How would you depart?" Lydia replied with confidence, "In knowledge of myself."

Aifa spoke again, "For what reason have you been summoned here?" Lydia answered calmly though she could feel the anticipation start to creep over her again. "To be tried."

Lydia had the sudden realization that this may be the first time Aifa had performed this role in the ceremony and that thought somehow comforted the Accepted. Aifa continued, "For what reason should you be tried?"

"So that I may learn whether I am worthy."

"For what would you be found worthy?"

"To wear the shawl." At that, Lydia began to remove her clothing, as it was custom to be tested clad in the Light to show trust in the Light's protection.

"Therefore I will instruct you." Aifa channeled drawing a six pointed star of fire in the air. "You will see this sign upon the ground. One of the other sisters stepped up behind Lydia and began to set a weave the Accepted could feel touching the back of her head. She recognized Lacy's voice murmur, "Remember what must be remembered." This was not something she had been taught but had figured there would be things Accepted were not told of ahead.

Aifa's instruction continued, "When you see that sign, you will go to it immediately, at a steady pace, neither hurrying or hanging back, and only then may you embrace the Power. The weaving required must begin immediately, and you may not leave that sign until it is completed."

Lacy murmured, "Remember what must be remembered."

"When the weave is complete you will see that sign again marking the way you must go, again at a steady pace, without hesitation."

"Remember what must be remembered."

"One hundred times you will weave, in the order you have been given and in perfect composure."

"Remember what must be remembered," Lacy murmured again as Lydia felt the weave settle into her.

The sisters except for Aifa moved into a circle around the oval ter'angreal and kneeled embracing saidar and weaving each of the Five Powers complexly causing the colors to shift and flash rapidly. The Mistress of Novices watched Lydia for the tell-tale signs of a break in her composure as the young woman laid her clothing, including the leather band holding her braid and her Great Serpent ring in a neat pile. That ring would either be returned to her to wear as she chose or to the Tower when all was said and done. Lydia concentrated on her breathing. She ignored the cold air on her bare flesh. She had become quite comfortable with her body and so did not mind the nakedness near as much as the chill.

The middle of the free standing oval ring turned to white and Lydia knew it was time to begin. She walk towards the ring with complete composure though once again her heart began to race. She stepped through the whiteness in to...

"How in the Light?," she asked herself softly. She was walking down a deserted street. Looking behind her all she could see was the road stretching behind her. The arch she had come through was gone. She was dressed in plain stout brown Andoran woolens. It was night and the wind whipped her loose waist length curls about. She had to use her hands to hold the hair back off of her face. "The Elders will be quite upset if they see me without my hair braided. How did I get here?" There were no houses, not even a farm in sight. She felt nervous and wanted to walk quickly to find shelter for the night but knew she mustn't and must remain calm.

She walked steadily as the first drops of rain started to fall cold as ice. She thought she heard heavier footsteps echoing her own and turned her head to look behind her still walking calmly. Not seeing anything she turned back around to see a six pointed star of what seemed to be white rock in the ground beneath a large oak tree several feet ahead of her, Lydia managed to walk steadily towards it. Lighting flashed and thunder boomed and she did not flinch. She heard the footsteps again, this time she knew they were real. Looking back she saw a tall dark figure that caused her to feel fear so thick it was almost choking. Must remain calm. She looked back to the tree and continued her even pace. Each step brought more lighting and thunder. She focused on her breathing and the star she needed to reach. She looked utterly serene. By the time she reached the tree the night sky looked as bright as day from the display. She could barely see or hear. Branches and pebbles were getting swept up in the wind and struck at her...hands, legs , face. She ignored the stinging pain and the welts she could feel forming, stepped onto the star and immediately started channeling.

A blinding bolt of lightning flashed and revealed the pale face of a fade standing just a few feet in front of her underneath another tree. Fear struck her heart, but it was not the first fade she had seen and knew it would not be the last. She kept channeling appearing fearless. The fade drew it's sword. Just as it made a step towards the Accepted a wall of air sprung up around it encasing it. The captive fade swung his sword and it rang against the wall of air like steel hitting steel. In another flash of lightning she suddenly saw another six pointed star appear over an arch in a wall of a building directly behind the fade. That wall had most definitely not been there before. She wanted to run to escape the weather and the fade but concentrated on keeping her steps smooth and steady. She walked around the boxed in captive so closely that he reached for her hitting the wall instead. Remain calm. She stepped through the arch...

Lydia was cold, wet, and for some unknown to her reason naked. She did not recognize where she was except for the fact that it was a large luxurious sitting room fit for a noble house complete with colorful tapestries and golden trimmings. Behind her was a large oak door. No sign of the arch remained. She could see through an open doorway across from her into an equally luxurious bedroom containing a large four-poster bed covered in what appeared to silk and a blazing fire. Inlaid in the marble floor in front of the fireplace she saw a golden six-pointed star. She walked calmly towards it and the fire that started to warm her immediately as she entered the bedroom.

Laying also quite naked and quite attractive on the bed was Christian. She had not noticed Lacy Sedai's brother when she first entered the room. The sight of him looking at her with a smile lighting up his sun-darkened face caused a slight blush to creep across her face, but that was the only sign that she was flustered in the least. She would have loved to crawl onto that bed but she continued walking across the room serenely towards the star.

Light, this room is big. Her eyes scanned his form as he rose from the bed. She stepped onto the star and began channeling. Christian strode towards her and her heart raced. She tried every movement she could think of to avoid his touch as she continued her channeling, even so much as splitting the flows she was using to distract him with noises and pokes of her own. These things paused him briefly but did not stop his advances. She channeled through passionate kisses and inappropriate caresses. She felt as if she was burning up inside, but on the outside showed no reaction. Just when her knees were about to begin trembling she completed the weave and the man was suddenly gone, as if he had never been there. A star appeared above the doorway she had already passed through and she knew she must move. She moved steadily and calmly through the doorway.

Ninety nine weaves. She had found the six pointed star on snow-covered mountain tops so cold her skin turned blue and sun-scorched deserts so hot and dry her skin cracked and bled. She found it in the Blight and in the Waste. She found it amidst throngs of dying children and riches the likes of which she had never seen. She had been beaten, bitten, starved, and tortured. She had channeled attached to an a'dam and standing on a Whitecloak hangman's platform. She had been tempted with love, money, her parents. She was bruised, bloodied and she thought she may have a few broken rib. She was beyond exhaustion and in sheer agony. Each time she continues on, she forgot what had come before not having any recollection of what had come before with no idea where her injuries had come from. She knew once this was done, whatever it was, she would be able to seek healing if she could find a bloody Aes Sedai. If not she would go to the wisdom.

She still managed to walk, even limping, with a steady step, no hint of what she felt on her face. One more useless weave and she was free. This weave only produced a shower of shining colorful flecks if done correctly. Woven incorrectly she would get what was the equivalent to a bad sunburn. She was standing at the end of a long damp stone corridor lit with torches. She was in rags and barefoot. She followed the corridor through several twists and turns past jailed cells. There were people moaning inside and she could smell the stench defecation and decomposing flesh of corpses left to rot. Her heart broke and she wanted to stop and help each still living soul, but she kept walking. Must keep going.

At the end of the corridor was a large cavernous room. The star was on the floor by a table that held an unmoving man, strapped down and bleeding so profusely that it ran down the table and onto the floor. The star was painted in the man's blood. She did not look at the table as she walked to the star. Remain calm. The wetness of the blood pooled around her feet as she stepped onto the star another man stepped from the corridor she had just emerged from. Lydia began the weave and turned to look at the man who began to speak to her. Her heart leapt to her throat. I know him. Why do I know him? She couldn't quite place him. He looked like...Light help me, Jonathan. Confusion nearly dazed her but it did not show on her face.

"Lydia, are you not even going to look at him?" His voice made her want to do anything for him. Why? How could he? She looked calmly at the man on the table as she continued channeling. It took her a moment to recognize him through the blood and bruises on his face...Diz. She got light-headed, but managed to contain herself and keep weaving. How did he end up like this? She wanted to cry, scream, run, call Jon every Blight-blasted name she could think of... kill him. Diz had broken her heart, but seeing him like this shattered it. Her expression never wavered save the hatred now flashing in her eyes at the man who had done this. "You do not look pleased, Lydia. I thought this proper restitution for the pain he caused, but if you want him to live yet it is easy enough to save him." Even through her anger the man's voice rolled over her skin like silk. He held out his hand to her. "Come here. Take my hand, Stay here with me and he lives. If you do not he dies." Jonathan sounded so calm and rational. She knew what he said was fact, but she knew she could not stop what she was doing.

The weave finished with it's glittering display around them and she saw the second star above the corridor behind Jon. She began to walk towards it leaving small bloody footprints trailing behind her. Remain calm. Keep going. She walked steadily, without hesitation and barely managed to keep from turning back as she heard Diz moan in agony on the table and call her name. She walked by the other man who was still holding his hand out to her. "Lydia," both men spoke. "Forgive me, Diz." Her heart shattered heart burned in her chest as she walked through the arch knowing she had sealed Dizs fate at the hands of Joanthan and...

... nearly fell into a round white chamber, the reflected light of the stand-lamps nearly blinding her. She stood stunned as the memories of what she had just gone through flooded back into her. Every test, every injury, every temptation she had faced while trying to maintain Aes Sedai serenity.

"It is done, "Aifa intoned, clapping her hands together loudly. "Let no one ever speak of what passed here. It is for us to share in silence with she who experienced it. It is done." Again the Mistress of Novices clapped. "Lydia Al'Neary, you will spend tonight in prayer and contemplation of the burdens you will take up on the morrow, when you don the shawl of an Aes Sedai. It is done." For a third time Aifa clapped her hands. She then turned and started for the doors.

The other sisters cam forward to Lydia. The newly raised Aes Sedai accepted Danelle Sedi's healing without question and gave herself over to the icy feeling. After her Healing. Lydia looked at the women realizing that they h seen everything. Not only had they seen it bu cased. he refused to even consider who had been responsible for which, especially he final test. It was done and that was all that mattered. When she rose tomorrow she would be Lydia Al'Neary, Aes Sedai of the Yellow Ajah.