Determined success

Novice Medaea sur Yvaine, Written by Taryn
Posted on Tue, Aug 24, 2010 09:00 am

As the humidity of the room rose, Medaea felt an odd sense of longing for home, the tang of salt in the and the sheen of moisture just on the fringe of touching in the air.  As the Sea Folk Aes Sedai talked, she wondered if the woman also felt a similar longing for a familiar place that had the same smells and feel in the air as home.  What a nonsensical thought, focus otherwise you’ll fail this trick on the first try.  Although not the strongest in the group of Novices, Medaea knew she often was more quick to catch on to a weave on the first try than others, especially when they seemed simple enough.  The weave to draw water from the bucket to the hands into a ball was one that Medaea felt confidence she could handle with the appropriate amount of patience in weaving. 

Embracing saidar, she still felt a small sense of wonder that it was so easy for her to do now, even if sometimes she still grasped and caught nothing.  With time, the Aes Sedai had said, she would embrace and always fill herself with saidar, it took time and practice working with the One Power.  As she drew on threads of Water, the Mayener was surprised at how easily it came to her, nearly leaping her grasp.  Where Fire had often been difficult to work with, Water seemed a siren’s song for her to twist and turn into whatever she wished.

The twisting, twirling strands formed a helix of sort, tightening around the liquid from the bucket and drawing it up into her hands.  Tilting her head, she examined the weave and nearly lost it, a few dribbles of water seeping out of its containment, into her hands.  Sighing, Medaea dropped her hands and shook them to free them of the water and was once more surprised to see that the weave she was constructing remained in place.  Is it unnecessary for us to use our hands to complete this weave?  Returning her hands beneath the water, she glanced over at the Aes Sedai who watched everyone with equal attention.  Surely the Sister would have let them proceed in that manner if she wanted them to. 

Drawing the helix threads together on each other in the same pattern as the Aes Sedai was slow, but Medaea preferred to finish last on the first try than rush through her weaving to try and be first.  The water shimmered in her hands, blue threads of Water circulating about and through in a simple weave.  The last part was to complete the ball.  She had looped them through one another, so Medaea began slowly duplicating what she’d seen, smiling as it began to successfully fill over her fingers and round up into the shape of a sphere. 

A couple of drops began to run down the outside of the sphere and Medaea tightened up the weave; it could be loose at the bottom but as she completed the final threading of the Water strands through one another, pulling it tight brought back in all the water to give her a shimmering globe of silver.  Glancing over to others who seemed to be racing through their weaves and failing, she saw Yasmene Sedai bend over to assist a frustrated and crying Novice.  Taking the opportunity, she pulled her hands away from the entire weave and found that it hovered mid-air in front of her. 

Quickly she returned her hands to the ball of water and waited for Yasmene Sedai to make her rounds to inspect Medaea’s ball.  At the nod of the Sister’s head, Medaea smiled in return before the Aes Sedai moved on.  For a moment, Medaea looked at the bucket and the ball of water, wondering if she could simply move the weave to dump the ball into bucket.  Surely she could, but for the moment, she merely tilted her hand and let the ball of water roll from her fingers into the bucket with a splash, the threads of Water splitting apart and dissipating.

In reply to Part I: Small Spheres[show]/[hide]

Yasmene let her eyes drift across the group of novices, hiding her dismay at how many boys there were in the group. However, she was relaxing a bit and not jumping every time Daine moved, so Yarren was probably right and prolonged exposure would help her adjust to the idea that male channelers weren’t evil and insane, though she still held secret doubts that saidin was truly cleansed. “Many of you were in Cassandra Sedai’s lesson on Fire not long ago, right?” Yasmene waited for some confirming nods before going on, “Can anyone think of some of the differences between Fire and Water? We know that they are opposites, but what are some of the subtler differences?” There was a long silence before a novice finally raised a hand. “Men are stronger in Fire and women are stronger in Water?” Yasmene smiled – a girl after her own heart! – and nodded. “Though not always true, that is the general rule. Men tend to be stronger with Earth and Fire and women with Air and Water. What else? And we can think in the broader terms of Fire and Earth versus Water and Air.” A few novices raised their hands this time, so Yasmene called on a boy in the back. “Different Elements mean different Talents, and Air and Water are usually paired and Fire and Earth are usually paired.” “Again, not necessarily the rule, but definitely a trend. My Talents are both linked to Air and Water strengths.” “Whereas my talents,” Daine broke in, “are Delving, which is Earth only, and Spinning Earthfire, which is Earth and Fire, funny enough,” he winked at the novices, prompting a flood of giggles. Smiling, Yasmene called on a female novice who had her hand up earlier. “Fire and Earth are stronger than Air and Water, so men are stronger channelers than women,” she stated knowingly. Before Yasmene could correct the girl, however, another novice interrupted. “Not true! One of my teachers said that Air and Water are just as strong, they just work more subtly. She said that there isn’t a single rock that won’t be worn down by wind and water over time, or a single fire that won’t be quenched by enough water.” “He’s right,” Yasmene interjected before the girl could retaliate. Yasmene could see a rebellious flash in her eyes, but thankfully she subsided. “And yes, men are generally stronger channelers than women, but that doesn’t really mean much. They can channel more, but if they can’t manipulate the weaves they can’t do anything all that power. Even the weakest Aes Sedai or Asha’man knows how to manipulate weaves properly, and can do anything a stronger counterpart can do. They might not be able to do it as big or bright, but they can create the weaves just as well, and in some cases better, than a stronger channeler. That is something you all must keep in mind: it isn’t how strong in the One Power that you eventually become, but how well learn the weaves and how well you manipulate them. Don’t let your strength make you complacent; many Aes Sedai have been burned out because of overconfidence in their strength and lack of ability with the weaves they used.” Yasmene could feel her brother’s eyes on her back, but she ignored him. She knew he was wondering if she believed her speech, but she had to or she wouldn’t have been able to say it, constrained as she was by the Three Oaths. And it was true; as weak as she was, she had become a master of her weaves to compensate and she had one of the most delicate touches in the Brown Ajah. It had taken a long time, but she knew that strength wasn’t everything. “Now, anything else?” No more hands were raised, so Yasmene brought up the one point she was aiming for, and the one that the basis of this part of the lesson was focused on. “Look around you. Do you see any earth? Dirt or anything? Just a stone floor, right? What about fire? The room is lit by sunlight. There’s no fire here. Air? You’re breathing, so I should hope there’s some air in here. Now what about Water?” Head, which had been shaking or nodding as appropriate, were mixed this time. Some nodded and some shook in disagreement. Closing her eyes for a moment, Yasmene opened herself to the source, smiling as she did so, reveling in the rush. Deftly spinning a web that spanned the length of the ceiling, Yasmene’s smile widened into a grin at the first exclamations as rain pelted the white clad youths. She held the weave for a moment to make her point, and then released it. Almost immediately, as planned, Daine channeled, drying each novice in a heartbeat. The room remained humid though, which was a good thing, being necessary for the lesson. “As you can see, Water is everywhere, like Air. That was a very small, localized example of Cloud Dancing, which you’ll learn more about once you test for Accepted. However, anyone can pull Water out of the air, providing there’s enough.” Yarren chose that particular moment to re-enter the room, which he had slipped out of when his sister had started channelling. “To make it easier for you, Yarren has thoughtfully obtained some buckets of water, which will give enough for you to work with.” The Warder held up the buckets with a grin, whispering to the novices something about slave labour. A few of them giggled, but the rest continued to watch him warily. Cupping her hands in front of her, about chest level, Yasmene embraced saidar again, weaving together strands of Water into a bowl shape. The novices oohed and ahhed as her hands slowly filled with water. Adding to the weave, she turned it from a bowl to a ball, and to anyone who couldn’t see the weaves, it would appear that she was holding a ball of water in her bare hands. “This is what I want you to do. Create the bowl first – I’ll repeat the weave slowly in a moment – and then when it’s almost full, finish off the ball.” Dropping her ball of water into one of the buckets, Yasmene divided the group into two, sending the boys to Daine and calling the girls over to herself. She created the weave again, without using her hands to cup it, so that all the girls could see how it worked. Once she’d run through it three times, she sent them back to their seats to practice, admonishing them not to throw the balls of water at each other and when finished to deposit the water in one of the buckets at the front of the room. Daine had sent the boys back to their seats with the same warnings, and they too were quietly practicing. Satisfied that everything was going well, she moved back to the front of the class and stood beside her brother. “Okay, you were right. Happy?” she said under her breath, before rushing forward to try to prevent a novice from drenching herself.
OOC: 500 words again please, and this lesson is still open to newcomers! Also, feel free to be one of the questioning novices if you’d like. For this, make sure you work with your strengths/weaknesses; everyone will be able to do this, but you might only get a small ball, or like the aforementioned novice, get too much all at once. If you have a block, now is the time to let Yasmene or Daine know so that they can get Yarren to beat you senseless. Just kidding, of course, but definitely let one of them know, and if possible, please email me with your intentions for the lesson so we can work something out. Also, email me if you’re not sure where to go on this lesson and I’m sure we can come up with some ideas!

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