Three Arches Experiences

When a Novice has trained enough, has learned sufficient to move on to the next level of the Tower, as an Accepted, the Mistress or Master of the Novice seeks them out, without warning. No matter what they are doing - eating, enjoying free time, studying - he or she takes them away, to the depths of the Tower, to a room dominated by a silvery ter'angreal - the Three Arches, the testing for Novices before they become Accepted.

There, he/she speaks, "Novices are given three chances at this. You may refuse twice to enter, but at the third refusal, you will be sent away from the Tower forever." Sometimes he/she adds words specific to the Novice being raised, sometimes she/he merely waits for the Novice to speak, to confirm they will go on. Then, "Good. Now I will tell you two things no woman/man hears until he/she stands where you do. Once you begin you must go on to the end. Refuse at any point and you will put out of the Tower just as if you had refused to begin for the third time. Second. To seek, to strive, is to know danger. Some have entered and never come out. When the ter'angreal was allowed to grow quiet, they - were - not - there. And they were never seen again. If you will survive, you must be steadfast. Falter, fail and..." The rest is left unspoken but the implications are unmistakable. "This is your last chance. Refuse now, and it counts only as the first. You may still try twice more. If you accept now, there is no turning back. It is no shame to refuse, many cannot do it their first times. Choose."

If the Novice goes on, they will strip and enter the now glowing Arches three times. When they emerge, they will never be quite the same as when they went in.....