Alannah

Melissa Johnson

Prompt: Write An Open-Ended Story In Which Your Character’s Fate Is Uncertain.

                                                 Alannah

  Alannah stood in her enclosure, folding a white robe loosely around her body which fell to the sandals on her feet. The matching wool belt fastened to buttons on opposing sides. She drew the hood up and it dangled over her forehead. She could not be categorized. No one could look at her and decide what she was or could do. She just was an apprentice to the Director.

  Alannah turned towards the faint seam that marked a doorway from this stark enclosure. It slid open to a hall. Across the hall was another seam. This opened into a stainless steel room that shined and smelled of antiseptic sterilization. To the right side of her, as she entered, centered, was an upright console attended by the Director, also clad in a robe, but of a beige color. The Director motioned her to come over to the console.

  The console was imbedded with intercoms, buttons, levers, symbols and a keyboard. Near the opposing wall, across from the console were three upright cylindrical tubes. Their clear glass sides partially overlapping so that one could slide over the other to let an occupant in or out. The occupant did not control this. The Director of the console did.

  There was an occupant in each of the tubes. They wore gray robes. Hoods draped over foreheads, shadowing their faces.

  The Director pulled a lever. Momentarily, the Director’s sleeve fluttered. Alannah noticed a small red scar on the wrist. The Director typed a command on the console keyboard. The second and third tubes misted over the glass from within. The occupant of the first tube stepped out as the overlapping glass slid one piece around the other.

  This was the first day of Alannah’s apprenticeship. She recalled her preparatory audio and text instruction to guide her on what to do next. She walked behind the former occupant of the tube and gently pulled the hood back grasping its pointed tip. The head and face of this figure was revealed.

  The Director addressed Alannah in a neutral voice and tone, “What do your lessons tell you about this person?”

  Alannah recited her observations and conclusions, “This is obviously a male because of the square jawline and thin lips. Long silver hair flows over his shoulders. There is a beard growing from his cheeks and chin pointing down the chest. This is a wizard.”

  “Very good,” commended the Director. “What, then, will he be expected to wear?”

  “A long, dark robe decorated with stars and crescent moons. A matching cap with a point at the top and an encircling brim at the bottom. Soft, dark boots. A staff will be needed. A black cloak for cold times. A dragon pendant for his neck.” Alannah paused.

  “Do not forget the multiple facetted ruby ring of power for the index finger of his left hand.”  

  Alannah repeated this, “A multiple facetted ruby ring of power for the left index finger.”

  “Good. And anyone seeing what they must obviously assume to be a wizard, will then be able to determine what he is like on a personable level. What can you now assuredly know of his character and behavior?”

  Alannah again mentally reviewed her learnings. “He will be knowledgeable of mystical beliefs and animal and plant healing and uses. His hubris will be sometimes off-setting. He will be distant and hard to approach.   He could be dangerous as wizards cannot be trusted, and change according to their own plans.”

  “Why would anyone dare to speak to or consult a wizard?” the Director prompted.

  “To offer them a partnership in something the wizard could profit from or perhaps in desperation stemming from a life crisis. Wizards will pity the needy.”

  “Good.” Then the Director turned toward the designated wizard, “Step back into the tube. You will be a wizard, clothed and instructed in all aspects of what you are expected to be, and what everyone will know you to be.” The wizard did as instructed. The tube closed and the glass became frosted matching the other two tubes.

  The Director signaled for Alannah to return. When she did, the Director stepped to the side, hands held palms up to the console. Alannah knew this next task in her apprenticeship was her manipulation of the console. She stepped closer to it remembering what she studied and had watched the Director do. Her typing was not as agile, but to Alannah’s relief the proper commands were executed. The second tube was clear; The doors slid open. The occupant stepped into the room.

  Alannah looked toward the Director,   and then stepped from behind the console and pulled the hood down. Startled, she immediately jumped back! This face was hideous!

 “An ogre!” Alannah spit out.

 “Stay in form!” the Director commanded, the voice less neutral, hinting of scorn.

  Alannah gathered herself and began the descriptions expected:

  The bulging face of warts and pockets of hair tufts, large nose, tubular ears, unkept mullet. She could barely recite the clothing expectations. When she got to the mandatory personality assumptions, she was again surprised. As she listed the stupidity, gluttony, and meanness, the individual interrupted her with a pitiful plea.

  “Please. If I am to be so hard to look at, at least allow me a positive trait. Perhaps I could be caring of others?”

  Alannah was stunned.

  “That is a nurse!” interjected the Director.

  “Someone who can bring out good in others?”

  “That is a nun!” the Director boomed. “Stop this nonsense. Those designations are also female. You will be an ogre clothed and instructed in all aspects of what you are expected to be, and what everyone will know you to be. Step back into the tube.”

 The ogre did as told. Alannah thought she saw a tear drip from the ogre’s eye. Still she was too stunned to move. This was not supposed to happen. Each being became their assigned role. There were no thoughts to be anything else. This just was and everyone knew it.

  “Return,” ordered the Director, holding a hand out to the console.

  Alannah walked back to the console, standing again beside the Director. 

  “You will continue your text and audio studies for another week. Return now to your enclosure.”

  Alannah walked to the seam. It opened and she walked across the hall and entered her enclosure.

                                                 ****

  Alannah studied diligently in the time that passed in her enclosure, but a thought periodically traipsed through her brain: Was there more to the ogre than what appeared? She chastised herself and refocused on her studies.

  It was a week and a half before Alannah saw the white wool robe in her enclosure again. She put it on and walked to the seam in the wall. When she entered the room across the hall, the Director stood in the back of the console. There was no invitation to come over. Alannah just felt it was implied. After all, it was surely known she’d been here before.

  The day’s assignments were standard and completed efficiently. However, there was something else that Alannah felt was different. This was not the director she had apprenticed with over a week ago. She tried several times to see if the beige sleeve might again reveal a red scar on the director’s wrist. The sleeve never budged so she had no way of knowing.

    In time, Alannah graduated from being an apprentice. Now a beige belt wove around the robe she wore, buttoned on each side. She placed her hood over her head and left her enclosure, entering the shiny room with a familiar console. Soon she was joined by another wearing a white robe standing beside her. Alannah pulled a lever and typed the commands. 

  The day proceeded as expected. The last set of beings was now down to the third tube. The apprentice was in command of the console. Alannah knew this one’s apprenticeship would soon be complete.

  The third tube became clear. The glass panel slid open and the occupant stepped out. In this case, the occupant seemed to be dancing by the movement of the robe. The designation to be given would be one of much agility.

  “Jester,” determined the apprentice. “Limber and effusive. Although soft-cheeked, there is a strong chin. There are no male jesters, so this is a female. She is playful and irreverent. A fool to caution. She will have a multi-colored diamond patterned jumpsuit. Her cap will match her shoes, each having floppy tassels ending in small bells . . . “

 As the apprentice continued as to how people would perceive the jester, Alannah noticed a sudden flick of red. She blinked and looked again. In the movements the jester made as part of his determination, Alannah caught sight of the red scar on the wrist.

  This was the director of so much authority so long ago. Now the robe cavorted about what would be a female jester. An unbidden thought came to Alannah’s mind: Would the stern mentor of her past be happy with this life assignment? Immediately, she checked herself. Of course she would – as much as allowed assigned to in this role. Then Alannah thought of something else she had not remembered in a long time: A tear-eyed ogre.

  The apprentice’s voice had stopped. The apprentice was waiting patiently.

  “Good.” Alannah retrieved herself. “You will be a jester, clothed and instructed in all aspects of what you are expected to be, and what everyone will know you to be.”

  The day’s work done and the apprentice dismissed, Alannah typed the commands that would cause the console to sleep, Alannah turned towards another seam in the room. As a Director, she would eat in the refectory and meet with her supervisor at a reserved cubicle. 

  The supervisor wore a red robe which signified not only the role in the review process, but also their responsibility for observations of the results of the assigned persons in the outer world. The Red Robes were a prominent presence to the established population within a community.

  “You have trained this apprentice well, Alannah. The individuals placed within their community have been steadfast with almost no lapses – and those only minor. I surmise it will not be long before you can be succeeded and will be assigned to a community yourself.”

  These last words struck Alannah. It never occurred to her that she would be anything other than a Director. Then she remembered the jester. And the ogre. A parade of others passed through her mind.

  Later, Alannah sat at the empty seat where the Red Robe had sat. She poked at her meal that was the same as every meal for this time of nourishment. If not a Director, then what? What would she be? Impulsively, a notion niggled its way forward from the back of her brain: What if she didn’t want to be assigned?

  Nonsense! She would be clothed and instructed in all aspects of what she would be. There would be no want. Everyone would automatically know what and who she was. 

   Alannah finished her food and left the refectory. She walked down a long corridor towards her enclosure. There were many seamed entrances. She hadn’t noticed this before, or that some had titles above them. Now Alannah was noticing as she walked by. She paused to look back from where she’d started and the seam in front of her opened. It was titled: Laundry. Startled, Alannah looked in. These tasks would be complete by this time of the day and continued the next. She had no business being here, but she stepped inside. The room contained a laundromat of washers and dryers, baskets of clothing piles and tables of folded robes. Then it occurred to Alannah that if she were seen here she would surely be reprimanded. She began to feel anxious.

  A stack of folded red robes invited Alannah’s attention. The Red Robes would not be questioned in the corridors and perhaps not in the titled enclosures. The Red Robes, as far as she knew, could be found in any area. Alannah was not comfortable with the plan she now decided upon, but thought it might be the safest way to get to her enclosure. She removed her beige robe. She took a red robe from the stack and put it on. She had only one more stop to complete her plan. She walked to the seam and looked side to side as it opened. No one was there. She went back, toward the refectory, to the seam labeled: Shoes. The seam opened and she ducked inside.  She found a pair of red sandals and kicked off her beige set.

  Alannah again looked both ways when she caused this seam to reopen. She was feeling less anxious – just a little nervous. She was almost sure she could get back to her enclosure without anyone stopping her.

Alannah made herself walk steadily back in the right direction, passed the laundry title and on. She would be okay, she told herself.

   As she walked, Alannah’s thoughts began to stray. What were the Red Robes, anyway? They oversaw the trainings of the apprentices. They collaborated with the Directors. They watched populations and intervened when needed. Was this their designation? Did they have a designation? What would it be like to be without a designation? What if no one had a designation?

.  Alannah arrived at her enclosure, but did not step toward it. She turned and stepped toward the room with the console. The seam opened. She entered. She was alone. There was no reason for anyone to be here.

  The console showed a diagram posted on a button with a square within a square. This symbol represented a floor plan. Alannah felt conflicted as she hovered over this button. What was she doing here? Yet, if she pushed this button the layout of the structure she had always inhabited would be revealed. She could see how the Red Robes left to patrol the communities. She could learn what a Red Robe knew.  

 Alannah revived the console. The button glowed yellow when Alannah pushed it. A labeled diagram appeared on the console screen. She could see where the refectory was, the location of the other consoles, the enclosures, and areas designated for various assigned purposes. There were places where the seams did not have anything drawn behind them. These must open to outside. What would she see on the other side of one of these?

  Alannah knew she was delving into where she had no authority, but she had come this far. She was wearing a red robe. She could take a look outside and then sneak back in. She would go back to her enclosure, put on the beige robe that would be there, hide this red one beneath it until she figured how to get rid of it. The temptation for knowledge outweighed her trepidation of being caught. 

  Alannah again shut down the console and left. She headed towards the nearest lone seam she had seen.

  When the seam opened, Alannah stepped into an open area filled with a brighter light than she’d ever seen before. She was standing on the side of a dirt road. She looked up expecting a roof. The light was coming from an orb in the sky that she immediately turned away from as it hurt her eyes. She felt a little dizzy not having seen anything solid above. Just blueness with an occasional white wisp. There was a refreshing cleanliness that was not antiseptic. Unrecognizable fragrances drifted by and surrounded her. There were store fronts, horses, carriages, stables, and eateries; People walking about, some stopping to chat with others. Alannah recognized most by designation and could predict what they would be talking about. There were a few Red Robes milling about, but they did not interact. None approached her.

  Alannah walked down this dirt thoroughfare until it dwindled to a narrowed section lined with grasses, shrubs, and trees. There were no buildings passed this point. She took a few steps forward and then turned to look behind from where she’d come. As she did so, a knight on his steed passed her by and continued down the narrowed path. Alannah recognized the designation and knew what could be assumed about this armored and helmeted form. She realized she knew what could be assumed about anyone living here and beyond. She knew what they would do, how they would act, how their given characteristics determined the type of person they were.

  A new thought came to Alannah. Everyone knew the judgements of each other. Everyone abided by the expectations of the others.

  Except Alannah.

  Who was Alannah?

  Alannah could be whatever she chose. No one could look upon her and judge her thoughts or actions. She had no restrictions placed upon her unless she imposed them.

   And so Alannah turned back to the narrow pathway and began to walk.