As they split into the two separate groups, one of the old male Novices immediately took charge. “All right, I spent a little time in the army and tactics will be the same as being in battle. So here’s what we need to do—“
“Wait a minute, who died and made you general of our group?” A female’s voice broke in. “I grew up in Saldaea and my father taught me how to fight Trollocs, I can devise a strategy as well as you.”
Medaea listened impatiently while everyone clamored for who got to make the strategy until a smaller Novice finally broke in. “If we keep arguing, we won’t have a plan! Keep your eyes for those who seem to be struggling, aim at them first. I saw that Novice Wilim could barely get his water ball formed the other day, aim for him first.” Other began piping up on who seemed stronger in lessons and which were weaker until there was a clear idea of who needed to be picked off first. “Now,” the girl continued, “Once we get to the stronger ones, we’ll need to be quick and attack them before they’re able to deflect or catch the water ball. Who feels comfortable throwing fast and quick?”
Medaea spoke up, along with three others in their group—she worried that they kept talking about offense and nothing about defense. Perhaps it was every man (or woman) for himself in the end. And based on some of the comments, most seemed to feel a good defense was a great offense. It seemed they had only spoken for a few short moments when the Aes Sedai called time and they faced off against an equal number of Novices. The first toss seemed to catch the other team off guard, but after the boy bobbled the globe a moment, he took a stance and let it fly toward the girl next to Medaea. She screeched and dove out of the way, nearly onto Medaea as the globe smashed into the ground, darkening it with water.
The next water ball flew toward their side but further from Medaea, the Novice who had originally claimed battle tactic prowess caught the ball and tossed it. She gritted her teeth as it was tossed to someone they had determined to be one of the stronger players and embraced saidar, weaving the net of Water around her hands and threading it lightly with Air between them. It had to be done quickly so she couldn’t even know for sure that she’d duplicated the Aes Sedai’s weaves properly until it was her time to catch the ball. She didn’t like not knowing.
The ball came back again and it was caught deftly by one of the girls who gave a little twirl with her catch and speed-pitched it toward Willim. As anticipated, the Novice flung up his hands but it passed right through them and splattered him in the face. The girl gave a whoop of victory but it didn’t last long. Already another ball was tossed back into the fray, the other team getting their chance. She knew that it was going to speed toward her as soon as the she saw the glint in the male Novice’s eye. Her heart sped up as the ball raced to her and she extended her arms out, the connecting with her net. It worked, Light help her but she got lucky.
One of the targets they had selected was right in front of her, and she smiled, bouncing the ball slightly in her protected hands. The girl’s eyes went wide and Medaea saw saidar spring up around her as she hastily began to weave threads of Water and Air together into the net around her hands. As she stepped back to make the throw, Medaea swiveled at the last moment and whipped the ball of water to another girl who hadn’t even embraced yet. Too late, Medaea thought as she saw the glow come up around the girl and she became suddenly drenched as the water ball smashed into her chest.
There seemed to a be a pleased smile on Yasmene Sedai’s face as she watched the battle go on between them. Medaea knew it was only a matter of time before she too would be out, but Light help her, she was going to hold on as long as she could.
OOC: I have no objection to anyone writing Medaea eventually getting hit with a waterball and getting thrown out! =)
In reply to Part III: Fun and Games[show]/[hide]
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!
