Vivien Senette

Name: Vivien Senette
Place of birth: Somewhere around the Caralain Grass
Age of coming to the Tower: 15
Hair: Golden brown, thick, reaching over her shoulders. Wears glass beads in her hair as decoration - colourless ones as a novice, but now that she's Aes Sedai they're colourful.
Eyes: Light blue, long-lashed
Skin: Normal skin tone
Height: 5'7"
Voice: Soft, warm
Other: Slender, athletic build; she has the kind of body that doesn't need much maintenance to look good.
Psychological Description: Warm and easy-going by nature, is not phased quickly. Not to be angered quickly either (although that might change). Smart, has a good head on her shoulders, a quick learner. Very creative, likes to create art. Used to create jewelery for her fellow novices and accepted which they'd wear under their clothes. Uses her art as a way of relaxation.
Because she grew up sheltered, she's taken rather hard hits from disillusionments in the Tower. It leaves her quite vulnerable.
== Character History ==
Vivien was born amidst a Tuatha'an camp, to loving parents and a troupe of traveling Tinkers that were all as close to her as any family. She grew up amidst a slew of other kids and spent a happy youth playing with children, nurtured by her parents and the easy atmosphere in the group. She has a set of twin sisters, Tina and Tirase, that is two years younger than she is, but in all actuality she was a lot closer to her best friend, Berida – who they called Bibi. Bibi was only a week younger than Vivien – who was playfully called Vivi, and the two literally did everything together. They sat together at the evening campfires and listened to the stories, they studied together as Bibi's mother gave reading and writing lessons to the Tinker kids, and they shared their first kiss with the same boy on the same night.
She was sheltered from the outside world; when she would encounter violence in villages where they would camp, her parents would tell her that some people needed guidance, that they did not have the strength and patience to overcome heavy emotions. She drank in their words and followed the Path of the Leaf in the most innocent and truthful way possible. Always was she smiling, always was she peaceful and full of a genuine wish to make people feel better when they were down or sad. Vivien was the kind of person who would remember naming days and who would bake you pies when you felt down, she was the first to console children with skinned knees, and she was always the one to depend upon if there was something that needed to be done for you.
Vivien loved everyone, and pretty much everyone loved Vivien.
Until the day came that they camped near Tar Valon. Vivien loved the beauty of the White Tower, and the grace of the city. "Ogier-built," her father told her. "Tar Valon is one of the most beautiful cities in the world," he added, and Vivien was inclined to agree. She had artistic tendencies herself; she loved creating things out of nothing: pottery, painting, sculpting – she loved being busy with her hands and creating beauty. She wanted nothing more than to go into the city and see it's splendor for itself. Her father, however, wasn't about to let her go unchaperoned and forbade her to go.
Vivien couldn't wait, though. Her enthusiasm won over her normal obedience for her father, and as soon as their camp was all busy preparing dinner, she slipped out of camp and into the city. She walked around with eyes full of wonder, taking in the graceful lines of the buildings. Even in the smallest buildings there was beauty to be found. The sun was setting and the windows were lit with candles, and lampoons were hanging between roofs, lighting up alleyways and streets. The city seemed very safe and beautiful to Vivien and she couldn't quite understand why her father had not wanted her to venture out here on her own. Naturally, that was at the same moment that she realized that true night was falling over the city and that she was lost in a maze of streets and alleyways and she had no idea how to get back to camp.
"I feel so stupid," she chided herself, looking around frantically for something she recognized. But it was all just as pretty and just as new to her, and she found herself completely, utterly lost when she rounded a corner and found everything unfamiliar. Looking up, she scanned the area for landmarks and then figured she might as well head for the biggest landmark she could find: the White Tower. It would be a starting point, and it was easy enough to find.
She walked through boulevards and wide streets, passed through dim alleys, and half an hour later she had finally found her way to the White Tower. She had heard stories about it, if course. The Aes Sedai dwelled here and did lots of mysterious things, things that had to do with power and... well, mystery. Or something. The place they lived in, though, was one of splendor. Vivien stood on the plaza before it and laid her hand in her neck, looking up and up to the top of it, white and glorious against a sky that was tinted with sunset. It was so beautiful!
"Child," a female voice spoke close to her ear. Vivien started and whirled around. She was facing a regal-looking woman, clad in a gown of sapphire velvet.
"Hello Mistress," Vivien said, curtsying quickly. Her parents had taught her manners, and this woman seemed to be a rich and powerful one. "What can I do for you?"
"You are not a Novice, are you?" The woman asked. She nearly demanded it, as if she completely expected Vivien to do whatever she wished. "You have the looks of a Tinker."
Vivien blinked in confusion. What did she want? "I... I am with the Tuatha'an, my lady."
"I think you should be both," the woman stated.
"Excuse me?"
And with that, the woman just decided Vivien's future for her. "You're coming to the Mistress of Novices with me. I want you to be tested."
And Vivien went with her, mostly too confused to put up any objection, and also because she didn't feel like getting into conflict with the woman. The so-called Mistress of Novices gave her a jewel stone and told her to concentrate, and the next thing she knew was that she was going to be a novice, and that her family would be notified. And thus her fate was sealed.
The fact that she was not allowed to even go back to the camp to tell her family was a heavy blow to her. She walked around the Tower grounds like a ghost, often not eating, crying herself to sleep, and driving her roommate up the wall with her moping. Vivien couldn't help it. She was not used to being cooped up in one place for a long time, so apart from fiercely missing her family and her friend Bibi she also suffered from heavy cabin fever. She threw herself upon her studies and did well in class; combining her natural intelligence with a practicality that some of her fellow novices missed. She made a few good friends, but none of them were as cherished to her as Bibi.
As time went by, she was beginning to find her place in the Tower. And after seven years, she was allowed to test herself for acceptance. After a horrid experience in which she first let her friend Bibi behind in a burning camp wagon, then managed to nearly decapitate one of her Novice friends in an experiment (and walked into the arch when she was supposed to get help), and lastly she found herself in the Tower with a Yellow Shawl around her shoulders. Her best friend was being accused of being Black Ajah, and she had to testify. It was a horrible accusation, what they thought her friend had done. And Vivien was the only one who knew what had really happened. She knew how to solve the situation. She would take the First Oath again, to show her truth, and tell them what had really happened. Her poor friend and sister was not to blame. She'd show them… and just as the trial was starting, just when she was called forward to speak the truth before the Amyrlin and all of the White Tower, the silver arch appeared. Her friend cried, pleaded for her to stay, but she leapt into the white light anyhow – embittered once more, but now of what she had done, not at what was done to her.
Even as she was initiated into Acceptedhood, Vivien started to wonder why the price of being Aes Sedai should be so high. She had been torn from her family, had to betray friends in a world that might be true, in an illusion that might be real. The Tower had asked for her to do this, and it nauseated her. Still, she went through her time as an Accepted, deeply troubled but doing still relatively well. Her time for pranks was over though; she'd seen enough pain and betrayal in the arch.
She was contacted by the Yellow Ajah, who were more than happy to start grooming her towards their Ajah. She was good enough at healing to be a nice asset to them. And when finally her testing came, Vivien passed that test as well. Once more she did what the Tower asked of her; she faced horrors posing as distractions, she left her family and her friends behind to channel those 100 thrice-blasted weaves. And why? She was an Aes Sedai of the Yellow Ajah now – but at what price?
Category:Biographies
Category:White Tower Bios
Category:Yellow Ajah Bios