Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 20:36:18 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tara North <tremalkinger@yahoo.com>
Subject: White Tower Saga 2

(The usual disclaimer: This story contains details of explicit sexual acts
between females and females, and females and males.  If you're under
eighteen, or are turned off by explicit sexual contact, stop reading here.
Otherwise, enjoy!

This is based in a world roughly taken from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time
novels.  In an interview I read at www.wotmania.com, he said that he didn't
mind if people wrote stories in his world, as long as they didn't use his
characters.  Keep in mind that I've altered many details to make the story
more in line with what I really think would be and not be.  Knowledge of
The Wheel of Time is not necessary, but it might let you understand things
that I don't take the time to explain.

Feel free to email me with questions, comments or suggestions about my
story and the upcoming chapters.  I hope to be a professional writer
someday, so I'd love to hear from you!)


Chapter 2 --

       We reached a riverboat the next day.  It took us four more days to
finally reach Tar Valon from there, carried by the swift river current.  I
spent two of them as I had the previous week, sleeping nearly the whole
day.  The final two days were a little better, and I was awake for hours at
a stretch.  I now rested on a sterile cot and most of the time I was alone
except for Rena and the five Warders who seemed to be guarding me.  I spent
my time talking with Rena about what was happening to me.  My legs were
still weak, and they told me to stay on the cot to let my body rest.
Jessica and Grenthal were no where to be seen, but Amanda lay across the
room from me, with Willow and her Warder by her side.  I don't know where
they got some semi-proper looking clothes for Amanda, but she now wore a
boy's britches and a shirt.  They strangely didn't seem to reduce her
beauty.  Her beauty... I realized when I thought of Amanda it wasn't quite
in the normal way of competition, but rather evaluation.  I shook off the
feeling.  I wore a rather ugly coat over my own gown.  I liked the feel of
the silk on my skin, but it was rather lacking as far as concealment went.
Rena explained about a lot of things, including what happened at the
village.  Apparently, some Darkfreinds had killed the guards at the gates,
allowing the Trollocs in.  I started crying all over again when she
explained this.  It seemed so unfair that Father had to die because some
Darkfreinds betrayed us.  I finally came to accept that he was
dead... probably along with the rest of my family. Rena also explained who
she was.  She was an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah.  The Ajah are like
sections of Aes Sedai, each with a job to do.  The Greens are the Battle
Ajah, and she was the most helpful in saving my town.  Willow was a Yellow,
whose goal in life was to heal people and help people.  And the third was
Grenthal, a Red.  Reds hated men, and their only purpose in life was to
hunt down male Wilders and kill them.  I knew why, but she explained to me
anyway that men who could touch the One Power went insane and killed many
people, so they needed to be taken.  Rena also explained that the men
walking with her were her Warders.  They were talented swordsmen who swore
their life to protecting the Aes Sedai.  Most Ajah were bound by tradition
to only have one Warder, but Greens could have as many as they wanted, and
Reds refused to have any men.  The nights seemed quick, and though I
strained to stay awake to see a repeat of the first night's performance, I
never did.  I knew I should have been relieved, but I felt vaguely
disappointed.
       For the last hour of the last day of our journey, we went ashore and
walked.  I saw Jessica again, but she was strangely withdrawn.  I'm not
sure why, but the three of us from the village stayed apart, barely even
talking to each other.  As we went through the city of Tar Valon, Grenthal
bid a quick good-bye to the group suddenly, almost without warning.
Jessica gave us each a quick nod, then turned to leave.  With a questioning
look to the Aes Sedai, I asked what was happening.  Rena explained that it
was a personal request that Grenthal had made to the other Aes Sedai, that
she be allowed to take Jessica in separately.  Willow seemed a bit
displeased, and Rena shrugged.
       Tar Valon approached over the tops of the trees.  The White Tower
stood above everything else, its glorious spires bridging out to the walls.
Amanda and I marveled as we walked through Tar Valon.  We approached the
gatehouse, and the guards clad in plate mail, came out and bent knee,
reciting each of our names.
	"Rena Sedai, Willow Sedai, Novices, and Warders.  Welcome to the
White Tower.  May the Light shine on you and your kin."  I found his
blessings for my kin strangely appropriate, but I knew that it was only a
formality, that he couldn't know my family and what had happened.  The
gates were lifted, and I was taken into the central court of the White
Tower.  My breath nearly left my body as I looked around a place of such
unearthly beauty.  Yellow flowers ran in circling patterns around lush
grasses, and trees with yellow buds dotted the court.  Despite the fact
that it was biting winter at home, and was still quite cold down south in
Tar Valon, once I stepped through the gates it turned to a balmy summer
weather.  We walked down a long path towards the entrance to the actual
Tower itself.
       "Yes, Novices.  It is a beautiful place, isn't it?"  The voice was
Willow's.  "None of the other Ajah's entrance gardens are quite so
beautiful.  The Grey's is a pitiful thing.  Even the Red's is better than
the Grey's."
       Rena laughed.  "The Green's is almost as good as the one you Yellows
tend to day in and day out.  It would be better, if we had as much time to
dedicate, but we actually go out and hunt the Shadow, instead of staying
inside and gardening."
       Willow gave her a mock glare, which seemed a fitting response to
Rena's lighthearted, playful taunt.  I heard a call from down the path, to
a spot where I saw another woman in a nearly identical dress as Willow's,
all puffy and yellow.  I could see a huge grin on Willow's face blossom.
She yelled out "Sana!  It's been too long!"
       "Indeed it has, my pillow friend.  I thought you would never
return."  Sana's voice began to lower as we approached, and it became
easier to hear her.
       "I thought we would be out there forever as well, but look what we
found."  Willow smiled broadly as she spoke, and I knew she was gesturing
to us.  My eyes narrowed.  I'm not an object they can find.  How dare they.
"There was a third as well, but she goes in through the Red's Gate."
       "Well, just as good that you are back, our friends are having a
meeting."  She looked to her left, to where towering, thick bushes
obstructed my view.  "In fact, it looks like I'm missing it.  Care to join
us?"
       Willow pursed her rosebud lips in a girlish pout.  "No, I have to
report to the Amyrlin Seat after I get these ones into the hands of the
Mistress of Novices."  The Aes Sedai guided the two of us along the path
further.
       Sana shrugged.  "Your loss, pillow friend."  She then reached her
arms up behind her back.  It looked as though... it looked like she was
unlacing her dress!  I looked over at Amanda but she was just as puzzled as
I.  Rena had a look amusement as we continued down the path, and seemed to
be watching for my reaction.  We rounded the bushes, which had previously
blocked my view.  Behind Sana was the most indecent sight I had ever seen.
Under the balmy leaves of a flowering cherry blossom tree lay five women;
their discarded yellow gala dresses and fallen pink petals forming a
disheveled kind of blanket.  Their bodies writhed in lovemaking, and I felt
that burning rush swell up in me again.  I tried to stop it... I wanted to
feel repulsed, but couldn't.  I heard Amanda's sharp intake of breath.
With a quick twist, Sana had shucked the dress down to her waist, and bent
up from her attempts to remove it the rest of the way to receive a kiss
from Willow on her lips.
       "I will be back, my dear." Willow said in a business-like tone.  I
was in shock.  I couldn't do anything but stare at the undulating bodies of
the orgy not thirty feet from me.  One of the women stood up, and arched
her back against the trunk of the tree as her fiery-haired companion
nuzzled her most intimate place with eager lips.  I allowed myself to be
guided by Rena once more down the path, and the green brush which formed
the walls of the path quickly blocked my view.  What in the Light was going
on?  What was this depraved place I was entering?  I had no trouble
admitting that I was scared now.  Rena had seemed so... sweet, if having no
idea what was proper for a lady.  I had finally managed to convince myself
that the events I had witnessed on the first night I had awaken were just a
dream, but that was all shattered now.  I didn't know what I was going to
do.  I was terrified into complacency.
       At the doors to the Tower itself, we endured the same long naming
process that we received at the gate, and again they seemed not to care for
my name, or the name of the Warders.  Only the Aes Sedai seemed to matter
here, though I supposed that made sense.
       We went up what seemed like endless sets of stairs, which left my
breath slightly ragged.  I supposed that I was at least fifty levels up,
which was a meager quarter of the height of the Tower, to my best
estimation.  But seeing as how Master Ferrin's four level inn was the pride
of our town, and how I nearly got sick looking out the top windows, I was
frightened enough to die.  Not that I wasn't already quite frightened.  I
was still cognizant enough, however, to notice the exquisite beauty of the
tapestries on the wall, as well as the moulding on the edges of the
ceiling.
       We entered into a cavernous room, where men of all ages were
practicing with bundles of stout reeds which I assumed functioned as
practice swords.  Their real swords lay close by.  Many of them spotted
bruises or cuts, and Willow stopped to brush a few nearby with her hands,
and the Warders in training shivered when she touched them.  The small
wounds all but disappeared.  I watched a few of the men with an appraising
eye, feeling guilty as I did.  Most of the men in the room were too bulky
in muscle mass to be the kind I liked, but some were the perfect sort of
lean that I thought looked best.  Back home I had scoped out a few
prospects for the future, boys who I talked about when my friends and I
talked about who we would like to marry when the Women's Council decided we
were old enough to braid our hair.  It was against what I had been taught,
but that didn't stop me from imagining. I continued down the room, feeling
eyes follow me, suddenly wishing I had something more elegant than this
ratty overcoat on.  I felt my facing begin to blush.  Soon, we reached the
doorway and I tried to make a graceful exit by turning back and waving.
Rena pushed me none to gently through the door with a grin.
       After the training hall came another long hallway. Finally, we
arrived at our rooms.  Rena gently shook off my hand, and I realized that I
must have been squeezing the hand that was guiding me quite hard.  The fear
of being up so high had returned without me even realizing it.  The door
too our room swung open like magic.  I silently berated myself.  `Of course
it's magic, silly!  I'm with Aes Sedai.' The thought resounded in my head.
Rena gently guided me into the room.  It was breathtaking; pink fabric
wallpaper with gold gelding over angular patterns, and a warm carpet that
formed around your feet and went between your toes, creating the most
wonderful tickling feeling.  There was a desk with a platter of food on it,
and single bed.  The bed was a quite large, big enough for only three
normal sized adults.  Though, if we were meant to stay here, Amanda and I
would have to flip for the bed.  I doubted that she would share it with me
past the first night, since I have a reputation of a squirmer. But that was
only a distant though as I marveled the bed.  It was beyond extravagant,
with transparent pink silk hanging from the canopy top, and gilded gold
lines streaming across the ivory white poles that held the canopy aloft.  I
watched in mute awe as Amanda sat down on the bed, and the surface of it
seemed to flow with her.  There was a quiet sloshing noise as she sat, and
I realized the mattresses must have been hollow and filled with water.  I
had heard of such things for nobles, but certainly no one else.  The
Warders shut the door resolutely.
       Perplexed, I tried to figure out what we were meant to do.  Aes
Sedai had a way of evading questions that I did not particularly like.  I
doffed the ugly coat and we moved the tray of fruit, breads and cheeses to
the top of the bed, on top of the down comforter, and we nibbled at it a
bit, but we mainly relaxed and thought.  For the first time, Amanda and I
talked casually.  Amanda and I lay on the bed, a short distance from each
other, enjoying the novelty of the waterbed.  We knew each other of course,
but neither of us had truly considered the other a friend.  We each told
our tale about what happened that horrible, fateful night.  I tactfully
omitted the part when the Trollocs exploded into flame, instead saying that
Father had killed them.  Amanda seemed to hesitate towards the end of her
story, where she was running away from several Trollocs.  She said that
they stopped chasing her, but I knew that she was lying.  Trollocs never
stopped chasing anything that was edible to them unless they were dead,
especially not women.  On a whim, I came clean and explained how the ones
after me immolated, and Amanda reluctantly said that hers seemed to have
exploded.  She seemed lost in herself as she needlessly explained how they
were torn limb from limb by an unseen force, and that there was little left
of them to bury if she had even wanted too.
       I thought over what I had seen, both the first night after I woke
and not long ago outside.  My mind kept traveling back to it.  The
women... seemed to be enjoying themselves, if nothing else.  But, enjoying
yourself doesn't make something right.  I felt torn.  My father always said
I had been much too curious for my own good, and at the moment I was
feeling very curious.
       I realized that during my thoughts a long, uncomfortable silence had
reigned.  We both seemed to want to change the topic, and talk about what
we had seen in the garden outside, but neither of us could bring it up.  I
saw Amanda sniffing the air, and for the first time realized that this room
smelled better than anything I had ever smelled before.  I guess I had been
so caught up in the visual aesthetics of the room that I hadn't noticed the
subtler things, like the olfactory elements.  It smelled of sweet nutmeg.
I felt warm all over, more than just feeling like the air around me was
warm, more like a tingling feeling over my skin.  I glanced over at Amanda.
She was lying next to me still, but she seemed a little closer.  Her
crystal blue eyes were staring at something, and I followed her gaze down
to my legs.  Amanda's hand reached out tentatively, reaching for the place
where my nightgown met the skin of my legs, slightly above my knee.  Her
fingers lightly touched me, and the touch was electric.  Her fingers, two
on the silk of my nightgown and two on my leg, slowly slid upwards.  Her
eyes trembled, like she didn't know if she should stop or not, and though I
ached for her touch, I was transfixed into inaction.  The silk gently
gliding across my leg sent sparks of pleasure up my spine.  I couldn't
believe this was happening.  Slowly, Amanda slipped her hand under the
nightgown completely, rubbing up and down my leg.  A soft moan escaped my
lips.  Her eyes snapped up to my face, as if she was just now realizing
what she was doing.  Her fist clenched up in the way I knew it did when she
was angry, only this time I knew it was with herself.
       "I'm so sorry.  I'm so... so sorry.  I don't know what's wrong with
me, this place, it's just... I'm so sorry."  She was blushing so furiously
I thought she might die of embarrassment.
       "No no, it's OK, really."  I said quickly.  "I... it felt good, I
kinda liked it."  She looked at me doubtfully.  I went on quickly with a
nervous laugh. "I mean..." A long pause. "Yeah, I kinda liked it."
       Her face was almost back to normal, the blush quickly fading on her
snow-white skin.  She had always been good at controlling her emotions, I
remembered, and now her face was unreadable.  She pursed her lips slightly,
as if in deep thought.  I would have given a thousand Gold Crowns and
everything I owned besides to know what was going through her mind at that
moment.
       She started hesitantly speaking.  "Well... I..." she stopped.
       I reached up and pushed a stray lock of her golden hair behind her
ear, letting my fingers trace down her neck.  She stopped in mid-word,
shivering in delight.  As she met my gaze, our eyes locked. We both slowly
leaned forward, our lips brushing gently together.  The light smacking of
our lips quickly turned into a kiss of passion, and I slid my hand up
behind Amanda's head, gently rubbing the nape of her neck, pushing aside
her golden curls.  After what seemed like an eternity, she broke off the
kiss and pulled back suddenly.  Her eyes shifted rapidly back and fourth,
not even looking at me.
       "This cannot be happening!  I don't believe it."
       "Believe it, Amanda," I giggled.  I felt free, more free than I ever
had in my life.  I reached over and started tugging on her shirt, untucking
it from inside the boy's britches.  Her look of horror quickly faded,
replaced by one of desire.  I rolled up so that I was over her, and she
stared up at me with a look of mixed pain and desire.  I could tell she
wasn't entirely comfortable with this, but then neither was I.
       "My father always told me to experiment and try new things." I
murmured with a sly grin.  I let myself down on her, our breast crushing
together through the shirts in a wonderful way that made my heart race.
The arms that had been holding me above her came around her head and I ran
my fingers through her hair gently.  It smelled of bathing herbs even after
many days going unwashed.  I realized I must look a mess, but it was a
distant realization as more primal instincts took over.  I felt her hands
roaming over my back, the silk feeling delicious as it slid across my skin.
I pulled back a bit from the kiss, sliding my hands Amanda's shirt.  Her
skin felt so smooth.  The shirt rode up my arms, peeling back to reveal her
breasts.  I left the shirt very nearly over Amanda's face, and I heard her
mumble something, distorted by the cloth.  Her breasts were a bit smaller
than mine, around the size of an orange.  Those very same pink nipples I
had spied the first day stood out, and I descended upon them with my eager
mouth.  She let out a moan as I quickly began to flick the tip of my tongue
across her nipple.  With a quick look up, I realized that she had stopped
her efforts to free herself of her shirt, and was simply lying back and
enjoying the feeling.  I redoubled my efforts, gently pinching her now wet
nipple while giving the other attention.  I set a rhythm, alternating
between the two.  After a minute or two, she finally began to pull herself
free of the unglamorous shirt.  She enjoyed her new unobstructed view of my
attentions to her with a wicked gleam in her eyes.  She ran her hands down
my back, and began to pull at the fabric.  I could feel it sliding up,
bunching at my neck and leaving the upper parts of my legs bare.  She
finally shucked me off of her, and rolled over in the sloshing bed so that
she was more on top of me.  I smiled up into her eyes, slowly licking a
single finger.  She returned my smile with a look of predatory desire that
made my heart race. Her expression morphed into one of careful
concentration, the face of someone working to figure out something they do
not know how to do.  She slid my arms out of my nightgown, letting the
shoulder straps fall below my arms.  Then she tugged the gown down a bit,
over my breasts.  Closing her eyes, she began to lick small circles around
my nipples.  I arched backwards, delighting in the new sensations, pressing
my breast into Amanda's face.  After a moment, she rose to her knees again,
that look of determined concentration on her face again.  I smiled up at
her lazily.  She turned away from me, reaching for my legs.  She grabbed
one, pulling it up into the air.  I bent my knee, submitting to gravity.
She planted kisses down one side of it.  My smile began to fade as I
worried about what I would do next.  I could feel the fabric of my
nightgown slipping upwards.  She continued to bend my errant limb towards
my chest as she stroked it.  The silk was already bunched from Amanda's
pullings, and was now very nearly completely up around my waist.  Amanda
started back down my leg with her lips, and I realized her intent.  I could
feel myself getting lightheaded again.  I could barely think.  This WAS
really happening.  Perhaps Amanda had seem what I saw too?  Her hands
scooped the folds fabric around my waist higher, up to my stomach.  She
rearranged herself on the bed, then settled her head between my legs.
       I could feel her slowly placing kisses on the insides of both my
legs.  Her mouth worked its way down my leg, and I could feel her hot
breath on my needy lips when she turned from leg to leg.  She was
deliberately inflaming me.  Her tongue snaked out of her mouth, licking the
insides of my legs, then the crease where my leg met the waist.  I was
quivering with anticipation, I could tell.  I propped myself up on my
elbows and looked down at her.  Her crystal blue eyes looked up at me with
a lavish grin.  Pursing her lips carefully, she blew a small stream of hot
breath onto my aching loins, never breaking eye contact with me.  I was too
far gone for rational though or conversation, so I just looked at her and
said "Please...", my voice thick with lust.  I don't know if she was
waiting for encouragement or permission, but my words stirred her to
action.  Still watching me, she stuck her tongue out long and pointed, and
drew it up between my most intimate lips.  The sensation washed over me,
and without thinking, I brought my hands to my head, closing my eyes and
collapsing back onto the pillow with a moan.  I was still trying to control
my breathing when I felt her fingers pull my lips apart gently, drawing her
pointed tongue up again, sending electric jolts through me.  She was
lapping her tongue up and down, licking farther inside me each time.  Her
tongue caressed my swollen clitoris, and the electric jolts turned to a
white hot fire.  I arched my back, trying to force her face against me
harder, beginning to buck against her.  I had thought the fires were hot
inside me before during the first night of our travels together, but they
were an artic chill compared to what raged through my veins now.  I cried
out, grasping her tumbling curls and pushing her head down.  Her tongue
burrowed into my inner folds as I moaned harder, making unhurried circuits.
I squirmed, but her arms held me firmly in place.  I was not sure if I was
in the arms of the Creator or the Dark One.  The intense feelings of
pleasure bombarded my mind, shaking my being to its very core.  A lifetime
of barriers and internal defenses crumbled under the gentle assault like
chaff before the winds.  Deep inside the spark that burned so slowly in me
ignited into a fire that was all consuming.  I could feel my juices flowing
out of me, running and being lapped up as fast as Amanda could.  Her tongue
was everywhere at once, inside of me, along the lips, tracing delicate
patterns, flicking against my pearl.  Pleasure assailed my sanity in red
waves that rose ever higher.  Muscles that I was barely aware I had spasmed
deep inside my body. I could not control the rhythmic clenching and
relaxing, nor could I hope to contain the tension that was building.
Amanda's tongue was working on a spot I hardly knew existed before this
hour, a spot that seemed to be connected directly to my spine. Each flick
of her tongue caused a spasm now, each caress sent a new wave crashing into
my overloaded brain.  My body was rigid and I felt certain I would die if I
did not put a stop to it, but I was powerless to resist the onslaught.
When I had reached the end of my rope, when it felt so good I felt certain
I would die with another caress, something happened that I was altogether
unprepared for.  A shock ran through me, starting in my enflamed sex and
spreading through my body.  It brought with it euphoric pleasure and a
delicious rippling sensation.  In it's wake I felt my body relax, but only
for a split second before another wave tore through me. I gasped for air
like a fish out of water as the waves, some weaker, some stronger ripped
though my slight frame.  The pleasure was unbearable and with the next
powerful contraction I fell into a black abyss.  My hands flying against my
face, I arched my back so hard I thought it might break, crying out so loud
that everyone in the whole Tower must have heard.
       I collapsed back down to the sloshing bed, gasping for air in
pleasure as Amanda tenderly brought me back down with her tender
ministrations.  After a while more, she crawled up next to me, and we lay
shivering on the down comforter in each other's arms, wordless.  I rotated
myself towards her, kissing her roughly, as she pulled me close to her.
She tasted different, a kind of sweet, in a way much different than sugar
or melon.  A sort of tangy thrill.  My breath caught in my throat.  I was
tasting myself I realized.  As much as that should have horrified me, I
found it quite arousing.  Our naked breasts crushed together again.  My
senses were returning to me, I thought over what we had done.  I had no
regrets at all.  More kisses, and our saliva and fluids mixing.  We both
crawled under the lush blankets in a spoon position.
       My fingers moved down Amanda's body, but she shook her head no.  "In
the morning, perhaps..."  She made a great yawn, then closed her eyes.
"Stay here with me, please?" she whispered.  Her chest fell slowly.  I felt
sleep again trying to overtake me, yet I had so much to say to Amanda.  Did
I love her?  Was that even possible?  I absently fondled her breast, but I
could tell she was already asleep.  I sighed, content, as sleep took me.