Why am I here? she shook her head, Blood and ashes, I wish I could forget…
She held her head in her hands. It was throbbing. Silly girl! Not now fool! Not now! Already, quiet sobbing was wracking her ribcage. She bit her lip, hoping that sheer stubbornness would stop the flood that waited behind her shut eyelids. Blinking she tried to keep it back. Fool. Tears slid down her face, but not a sound did she make. She hardly dared to breathe. She knew there would be no release until the telling. Her voice came out, oddly disembodied, yet strong still. It did not waver. "I must tell you a story."
Someone looked up, unsure what to make of this sudden outburst.
She closed her eyes, and the memories flooded over.
The sky glowed red beneath her heavy eyelids. She opened them blinking. The street was crowded with people. She was simply another flea on an island of fleas, on the back of an itchy cat that was the world.
There was a rush of hooves on cobbled stone and someone crying "Make way! Make way!" Telsa barely had enough time to scurry out of the way before nearly being trampled. The riders did not even glance at her. After all, what is one less flea?
She landed in a bucket of apples. She looked up enraptured by the glow of an unnaturally red apple. Its skin was stretched so tight it looked ready to burst. The rest of the apples tumbled helplessly to the ground, erupting with rancid juice as they touched the cold stones. "You've ruined me beggar!" The farmer sneered, "Guard, Guard! Thief!"
Thief? She hadn't stolen anything, No one will believe you girl. The farmer's eyes seemed to scowl maliciously as he frantically yelled for help. Telsa scuttled away, wrapping her ragged cloak tighter around her. She breathed heavily gasping for air as she rounded another corner. No guard came. She sunk to her knees. Her eyes were sore and blood shot from weeping. Her stomach was numb from unceasing hunger pangs. Her clothes mere tatters, like the bandages of a leper, made her seem more wraith than girl.
They had made her this way.
They would pay.
A man averted his eyes from the feverish glow and wide grin the Telsa wore, and walked quickly away.
Her head itched… When was the last time I had a bath? she wondered grimly as she tried to run her fingers through her matted hair. Its color was indistinguishable beneath the dirt. It had been weeks, no, no months since they had thrown her out, two days since she had last eaten. That she knew for sure, and the seconds ticked agonizingly away as she waited for her next meal. She hated herself, yet hatred and loathing of those witches was far, far greater.
In the distance were the tall, gleaming towers of the White Tower. She grunted. It was dead to her now. She did not dare to go back, but for some reason she could not fathom, she dared not stray too far. She lowered her eyes; they stung from the whiteness. She did not know how she had become so accustomed to shadows.
They had stilled her; they may as well have killed her. Death seemed sweet release compared to the putrid, itching, starving hell she lived in. The dreams - they too continued to torment her. Once people had bowed to this wraith and replied "Yes Aes Sedai." No one had yelled, jeered, or kicked at her. She could remember this ever so faintly.
The unmistakable poise of a full sister caught her attention. She hissed, and was about to shrink away when her eyes strayed to a struggling figure. A man in a shifting gray cloak was holding the girl. Warders, she pitied them. Starving hounds waiting for scraps of meat tossed to them by Aes Sedai There was fire in the struggling girl's eyes. A fire she knew would be extinguished in the hands of those Aes Sedai demons. The poised woman was speaking calmly to the girl. Reasoning with lies, hah! With a snake's tongue, lies cannot help but become truth. So much for their precious oaths. Suddenly rage boiled through Telsa. She would not let these harpies doom anyone else to her fate.
"Stop Witch!" The yell came out as a screeching growl full of so much hatred even Telsa was surprised. The Aes Sedai turned around, clearly perturbed. Telsa laughed in premature triumph, the sound rose like the crackling cry of a hyena.
"Telsa," Eyes went wide. The woman's face was familiar. They might have been friends once... but that was gone, long, long gone.
"Leave this girl." Telsa sneered, "Leave."
The Aes Sedai backed away as if afraid to touch her. Telsa noticed a haunted look in the Aes Sedai's eyes as she stared into hers.
Her face grew pale, "Jassal, let her go. We will come back another time." The Aes Sedai turned and walked stiffly away. Her warder paused a second longer before reluctantly releasing the girl and resuming his place at the Aes Sedai's side.
Telsa was about to walk away when the girl caught her arm. "Thank you." She smiled with dignity; "I am in your debt. I do not know how I can repay you… but at least, please take this."
The girl pressed a silver armlet into Telsa's hand, and a loaf of bread. She smiled sheepishly. Telsa almost cried, shocked at the sudden kindness shown to her.
"If you ever need help? Search for the owner of this armlet." The girl hugged her and walked away with a wave of her hand. It was the first time in so, so, long That someone had treated Telsa with kindness. For that she was more grateful than words could ever express.
Telsa looked up bleary eyed, and smiled, "I am eternally indebted to her, she helped me realize that I wasn't as repulsive as I had come to believe."
She looked at the figure sitting patiently in front of her. Already the weight was lifting, however, this was far from the end of her story, but that was all she was willing to tell for now.
Telsa the gleewoman wiped the tears from her deep brown eyes. She lifted her up her sleeve and revealed a well muscled and tanned brown arm. A finely wrought silver dragon coiled itself comfortably around her left bicep. She smiled and her eyes sparkled, "Would you happen to know the owner of this armlet?"