Part III: Fun and Games

Yasmene Sedai & Asha'man Daine (MuCs), Written by Meg
Posted on Sun, Aug 22, 2010 13:43 pm

Yasmene was feeling quite light-hearted this morning. Last night she had posted a notice for the Novices, giving the time and location of the second part of the Water lesson, and each girl who was in the class the previous week had received a set of breeches and a shirt to wear today, since skirts were too bulky for the next section to work properly. Asha’man Daine was completely on board with the lesson plan, which actually incorporated all of her ideas and none of his. He was surprisingly recalcitrant when she asked for his input when they first began planning their lesson. Yasmene herself was doing much better around Daine, and the entire idea of male channelers. Every evening for the past week the pair had met, along with Yarren, and discussed the differences between being an Aes Sedai and a male channeler, and how their reputations affected them in the world. After a week with Daine, Yasmene was finding it more difficult to summon up the all-encompassing fear she had felt before meeting Daine. Yes, she was still jumpy around strange male channelers, but the novices didn’t bother her at all, and once she got to know the various Asha’man staying in the Tower Yasmene thought that she might not find them all that dangerous after all.

Reaching her rooms in the corridor above the library, Yasmene let herself in, planning to make herself a mug of tea and settle down with her notes before lunch, since her afternoon would be full of rather wet novices. Unfortunately, all hope of a quiet morning dissolved when she turned around and saw Daine sitting in one of her armchairs.

Blinking, mouth open rather foolishly, Yasmene managed to overcome her momentary surprise at the man managing to break through her wards to ask, “How did you get in here?”

“I let him in,” was the unexpected response from the kitchen, followed by her brother carrying a tray of tea with three mugs. “He knocked on the door to ask you a question and since I knew you were on your way back, I invited him in to wait.”

“Oh.” Yasmene stated, somewhat mollified. Accepting the mug of tea Yarren handed her, she sank down into another chair. “What was it you wanted to ask me?”

Strangely, Daine looked embarrassed. “Well…” he began, trailing off as his cheeks reddened, “I was hoping you could describe to me the weaves you were intending to use for today’s lesson?”

The twins eyed the Asha’man curiously. “Describe the weave?” Yasmene repeated for confirmation, not entirely sure what Daine was getting at. “Like, what it should look like?”

“Yes, please. You see, I didn’t learn anything like that at the Black Tower. They teach us only useful weaves, ones that we would use in every day situation. This entire lesson has been a novelty for me. The other weaves were easy to figure out, they were just simple nets, something we would use to make a ball of Fire, or a net of Air to carry something, but the ones for today sound a little more complicated.”

Yasmene could only stare at Daine and process his words. “Only useful weaves?” she croaked out. Taking a sip from the almost forgotten tea in her hands, she tried again. “How do you strengthen your abilities then, if you’re using what they determine to be useful weaves?”

“We channel for everything. Those who aren’t burned out continue, are trained, and go on to teach others in the ways they were taught. Everything we do uses the Power, from lighting our rooms to building housing. Carrying, cleaning, cooking, constructing, everything uses saidin.”

Both Yasmene and Yarren watched Daine with expressions of horror tinged with sorrow, the sorrow becoming more eminent as his list went on. “But…but what do you do for fun?” Yasmene finally demanded. “Don’t you make the lessons fun?”

The Asha’man’s face hardened. “Weapons don’t have fun.”

~*~

Yasmene, Yarren and Daine, the apparently inseparable threesome these days, stood in the middle of one of the smaller training fields used by the Warder Trainees, chosen for its proximity to a small pond on the Tower’s grounds. This, Yasmene felt, was much better than hauling bucket after bucket out to make sure there was enough water available.

The novices were trickling onto the field in ones and twos, carefully segregated into boys and girls, which Yasmene found rather amusing. Judging from the emotions filtering through the bond, Yarren thought it was funny too. Were we ever that young? She asked herself, trying to remember what it was like when she had come to the Tower as a new novice. It had been a very long time ago.

“Welcome to the last part of your Water lesson,” Yasmene called out once she had judged everyone who was going to come had arrived. “I hope you practiced at least a little bit last week in your study time, as today’s lesson will be more difficult than last week’s, and require a little bit more strength. Not to worry though, everyone will be able to participate in this class, because half of the lesson here is teamwork.

“Today we will be playing dodgeball.” Embracing, Yasmene quickly created a ball of blue tinted water and tied off the weave, “this will be the ball. For those of you who haven’t played dodgeball before, the object of the game is to not get hit by the ball. However, as this is a ball of water, you can’t handle it with your bare hands, or it will ‘pop’, like this.” Reaching out, the Brown sister plucked the ball out of the air where it had been hovering, and as soon as both hands pulled on it, it liquefied, soaking her hands, feet and the bottom of her skirt. Channeling the water away, Yasmene created another ball – also blue tinted – and this time simultaneously forming a weave of pure Water around her hands, much like a set of gloves. “This weave will allow you to handle the water and keep it in ball form, so you can catch it and throw it just like the leather ball you might have played with back home.

“Here are the rules. You will make a net which you will use to catch the ball. If your net is strong enough you will successfully catch the ball. If it isn’t strong enough, the ball will shatter, soaking you completely. You can choose to catch the ball, deflect it with a net or dodge it. When the ball shatters I will create a new one and throw it randomly to someone. If you get hit, you’re out and whichever team has the last person or people standing is declared the winner.”

Embracing, Yasmene slowly wove together a dense net of Water with several strands of Air interspersed through it. She held up her hands which were coated in the net like the previous weave, but was also strung between her hands, very much like if she were holding a fishing net. “You can add Air, which makes the net more flexible and makes it easier to catch the ball, or Earth, which will toughen it, helping to deflect the ball. Be careful you don’t add too much of either, though, because too much Air will weaken the net and it can break, and too much Earth will harden it to the point that the ball can splatter on contact. Don’t try to add both because that will weaken the net, there won’t be enough Water to attract the ball, and many of you haven’t progressed to the point of being able to weave three separate Elements at once.”

Judging from how closely the boys were watching Daine, he was most likely demonstrating the weave, so Yasmene quickly ran through the three weaves again to give the girls a good look at how they were formed. A pair of gloves made of water, and a ‘sticky’ net that was strung between their hands and was enhanced with either Air or Earth.

“Now, are there any questions?”

Yasmene quickly answered the questions offered and then picked up the ball of Water. “I said earlier that this was a teamwork game, and what I meant by that is that you will be divided into two teams, mixed boys and girls. Some of you will be stronger in Air, others in Earth, and others with just Water. You will need to discuss together a strategy that will utilize your strengths against the other team.” While she had been speaking, Yarren – bless his heart – had been moving among the novices, dividing them equally into teams. Once that was settled, Yasmene raised her voice again. “Oh, one last thing: if you use any weaves other than what I have demonstrated, you will be disqualified. Now you have five minutes to work out a strategy, and then the ball will be in the air.”

Smiling to herself as she watched the two teams huddle up, speaking and gesturing frantically, Yasmene idly tossed the ball back and forth between her hands.

“I’m glad the boys have a choice in where to be trained now,” she heard Daine mutter to himself. If she were to be honest with herself, Yasmene was too.

“Time!” Yasmene called out, and held up the ball while the novices scattered to their respective sides of the field, as instructed by Yarren. She gently lobbed the ball at one of the male novices who fumbled and almost dropped it, but held on. Grinning, he threw it at a girl on the other team who squealed and dove out of the way. The game was on!

OOC: I thought we’d have a little fun with this section! Slightly different format this time, rather than each of you responding to my post, I’m going to ask you to respond to each other in one long string. Again, it’s a 500 word minimum, and you’re only required to do one post, though a second one is more than welcome for bonus points *grin* If you have any questions/concerns/comments/extension requests, feel free to email me, and I’d like to have the lesson entirely finished by the 31st. Good luck and have fun!

In reply to Novice Channeling Lesson: Water[show]/[hide]

Yasmene din Loran was curled up in an overstuffed armchair so old that the stuffing was starting to leak through the seams and the upholstery on the arms had been rubbed almost bare. With a mug of strong tea on the table next to her chair and a book on her lap, she was taking what she felt to be a well deserved rest. She usually spent her mornings supervising novices in the libraries and then after a hurried lunch, teaching Accepted about the Brown Ajah, the Sea Folk culture, her research into Elemental Strengths and other general knowledge the Brown sisters were expected to dole out at the drop of a hat. Being exceptionally weak in the Source didn’t help Yasmene, as she was near the bottom, if not the bottom of the Brown Ajah, and so any task the Browns felt necessary to be carried out yet wouldn’t do on their own were quite often assigned to Yasmene. And recently, to add even more to Yasmene’s work load, an Atha’an Miere novice had arrived and was terribly homesick. Yasmene’s evenings were consumed with helping the girl adjust to her new life and setting the precedence for choosing the Brown Ajah, because the majority of the Atha’an Miere were of the Brown Ajah which wasn’t surprising since they were all encouraged to choose the Brown. Hence Yasmene’s assignment: she had to make sure the new girl conformed to the rules and fit in like a good Atha’an Miere girl who was exiled from the ships and the life she knew. But today, oh yes, today Yasmene finally got a break. Her usual Accepted were on some sort of day long field trip with a pair of Browns that took them into the city or something, and the young novice had lessons all afternoon and then chores before dinner; this meant Yasmene had the entire afternoon free to do whatever she wished. Smiling to herself, the Brown took a sip of tea and settled more comfortably into her chair, deeply engrossed in her book. Most people wouldn’t have found it particularly interesting, being a history of the Atha’an Miere in the White Tower – a biography of each woman who had held the shawl, but to Yasmene it was fascinating. Unfortunately, as was Yasmene’s luck, she hadn’t been reading but five minutes when there was a knock on her door. Growling under her breath, she put her book aside and rose to answer the door, hoping that whatever it was, it would be fast. Wishing she had the strength to fling open the door and demand what it was that whoever was on the other side wanted, instead she opened the door and meekly waited for the Aes Sedai to say her piece. She was expecting a fellow Brown sister with a task, or wanting to come in to discuss this or that, or something of the like. As weak as she was, she had no say in the matter, and would have to do whatever was asked of her whether or not she wanted to. What Yasmene was not expecting to see on the other side of the door was a very pale, diminutive man dressed entirely in black. Gleaming in the lamplight was a silver sword and a red enamelled dragon pinned to his collar. Light! Heart stuttering, Yasmene stumbled back a few steps, eyes fixed on the Asha’man as if he were a poisonous snake. Gasping for breath, Yasmene didn’t hear what the man said though she knew he said something. Feeling dizzy, she closed her eyes, hoping that when she opened them he would be gone, but then realized that she couldn’t see the dangerous male channeler, so she had to open them again to watch him and make sure he didn’t do anything crazy. Leaning on the door – it was the only thing holding her up – Yasmene watched the Asha’man unblinking, though to be fair to him, he hadn’t moved since she opened the door. “Yasmene Aes Sedai?” He said slowly once he was sure she wasn’t going to pass out. She wasn’t so sure of that herself, but she could pretend for as long as possible. Not trusting her voice, she nodded, still watching the Asha’man warily. So focused she was on the Asha’man that she failed to sense her Warder approaching, though anyone else in the Brown wing and most of the public places in the Tower failed to miss the passage of a very large man with a colour shifting cloak running at a breakneck speed through the halls with his sword unsheathed and held high above his head. “I’m Asha’man Daine, I’m supposed to help you – LIGHT!” The Asha’man ducked in mid-sentence as a sword sliced through the air where his neck had been only seconds before. Flat on the floor, the Asha’man rolled over and extended his hand towards the swordsman, who froze mid-swing. Blinking, Yasmene realized that the swordsman was her twin brother Yarren, and through the Warder bond, he was furious. For a long moment the three were frozen like that: Yasmene leaning on the door, staring bug-eyed at her brother, who in turn was staring at the Asha’man lying on the floor, sword held high in the air, held in place, seemingly, by the Air itself. The Asha’man was watching Yarren, though there was no fear on his face. Finally shaking off the shock, Yasmene turned to her brother, “Yarren, no, it isn’t what you think! This Asha’man knocked on the door and I was so surprised at seeing him...” She couldn’t finish her sentence, unable to utter aloud her one weakness to the source of the weakness, lying on the floor before her. Her friends knew how she felt about male channelers, and many of the other Browns suspected, but only Yarren knew how truly terrified she was of them. Turning back to the Asha’man and summoning a calm she didn’t feel, Yasmene extended a hand to Daine, pulling him to his feet. “If you let him go, I promise he won’t hurt you. You startled me, is all.” Daine eyed her suspiciously, obviously doubting the truth in her words, or worse, her sanity, but he finally nodded and released the weaves. Yasmene had already reinforced that promise with pressure on the Warder bond, so when Yarren was able to move again, he merely sheathed his sword, and moved into the room, firmly closing the door behind him and effectively shutting out the questioning eyes that had gathered since Yarren made his appearance. Removing his fancloth and hanging it on a peg beside the door, Yarren gestured for the Asha’man to take a seat and then grasped his sister by the elbow, steering her towards her seat and pressing the mug of tea into her hands. “Now Asha’man, what is it you came to talk to my sister about?” To Yarren’s credit, his voice was calm, though Yasmene felt through the bond he was a roiling bundle of emotions, worry and pain for his sister mixed with anger and frustration at the Asha’man, and embarrassment piled on top of that. Yasmene made a mental note to ask her brother what that was about, because she didn’t sense it was embarrassment for her and her fear. “I merely came to tell her that the Mistress of Novices has requested we combine our channelling classes on Water since both are quite small. We’re to be teaching tomorrow and so we should discuss how we want to teach, and discuss ideas.” “I see,” Yarren said slowly. As though coming to a decision, he rose abruptly and moved into the small kitchen area, reappearing moments later with a tray containing a teapot, honey, cream and two cups and sauces. Handing one cup to Daine and keeping one to himself, he held the teapot out to his sister, who channelled to heat it without thinking. Finally, once the tea had been served, Yarren looked from Daine to his sister and back again. “Very well, discuss.” ~*~ Yasmene arrived to the classroom where the lesson was to take place rather early. She was dressed in full Atha’an Miere garb, as she felt appropriate, complete with chain linking hoops in both nostril and ear. She hadn’t risen very high in rank, only two medallions, but she was still proud of them. Her silk blouse was a vibrant blue and her linen pants a deep brown. She was barefoot, as she chose to be wherever possible. “Yasmene?” The Aes Sedai whirled around, relaxing when she saw it was her brother in the doorway and not Daine. “I thought you might feel better if I were here. I might help keep some novices in check as well,” he told his sister with a grin. “Thank you,” Yasmene replied, hugging Yarren. She didn’t know what she would have done if she had come to the Tower without him. This time when the door opened, Yasmene tensed, but didn’t go into a full blown panic when Daine entered the room. For the first time, Yasmene looked at him as a man, not an Asha’man, and was hard pressed not to giggle at the thought of the pair of them teaching. Yasmene was tall, very tall for a woman – as tall as her tall brother, in fact – and slender. Her skin was very dark, her straight black hair cut very short so that it stood up in spikes. Her square face was rather masculine, and when seen standing beside her brother, who looked almost identical to her, they could pass for brothers. She had brought her brown fringed shawl with her today though, so even from behind she wouldn’t be mistaken for a man. Daine, on the other hand, was short, a head shorter than Yasmene and Yarren, and very fair. His shoulder length hair was almost white, his eyes a washed out blue, and his skin very pale. His features were very delicate. Standing side by side, the Asha’man and Aes Sedai would provide a very amusing picture. Maybe Yarren is right, and this will help me get over my fear, she thought as she greeted Daine. He smiled in return and moved to stand beside her while they waited for the novices to arrive. Yarren moved to stand behind Yasmene, fancloth swirling around him. Yasmene fought to keep her face smooth and not laugh at her brother, who would do his best to intimidate the novices but probably not succeed. He just didn’t have an intimidating air about him. Unless he was almost slicing off Asha’man heads. “Welcome,” Yasmene said to the gaggle of novices grouped at the desks in front of her. Tattooed hands clasped in front of her, she continued, striving for the Aes Sedai calm she rarely lost. “My name is Yasmene din Loran and I am an Aes Sedai of the Brown Ajah. This is Asha’man Daine, who will be helping me today, and the intimidating looking man lurking around behind me is my brother and Warder, Yarren. Though I am not very strong in the One Power, Water is my strongest element and tied to my Talents, Cloud Dancing and Wave Dancing. Now we would like you to introduce yourselves giving your name, where you are from, and what experience, if any, you have with Water. If you are a Wilder, let us know what you’ve done with Water, if anything, before you came to the White Tower. Lastly, if you have any questions, now is the time to ask.” Yasmene let her eyes rove across the group of novices, finally pointing to a young man on the far right side of the classroom. “Let’s start with you.”
OOC: welcome everyone to Water! You know the drill, 500 word minimum, lesson is open to anyone who has completed embracing/seizing and please don’t mind Yasmene, she’s a little high strung. Try to fit a physical description into the post please so that a) I don’t have to scurry around finding bios, and b) it’s good practice. Email me if you have any questions.

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Replies to Part III: Fun and Games

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