To Raze the Bar (Attn: Jeremy, Toma)

Three hours had passed since Sadrok had gone running to seek Cassandra Sedai, and the night was still young. Being just before curfew, he’d been able to avoid being harassed by any of the Aes Sedai or Accepted he passed in the halls because he at least looked like he was on some sort of important errand for someone. He was stopped once or twice, only to be told to slow down so he didn’t hurt anyone, and then in their next breath they told him to hurry off on whatever errand he was on, and to make sure he was back in his room by curfew.

He’d found Cassandra Sedai and Gideon Gaidin talking, or at least he assumed that was what they’d been doing -though a part of his mind wondered-, in her rooms when he got there. Well, that had made things a little easier for Sadrok, though he spent several minute apologizing for interrupting the two of them so close to curfew, insisting that he would not have done so if it were not of the utmost importance. He wanted them to join him in finding Asha’man Scott and Roran, while he went to speak to the Mistress of Novices – he had something important to show them all. Cassandra set Gideon to find the Asha’man, then escorted him to the Mistress of Novices office herself – to the assuming smiles of several Aes Sedai he had passed at a run earlier.

When they reached the Mistress of Novices office, Cassandra escorted him inside, and with both Aes Sedai looking at him expextantly, he started explaining in a rush why he was rushing around so late. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately.. about my Bar. Before I came to the Tower, I stayed in Far Madding for almost a year after I’d Channeled for the first time. I didn’t just touch the Power that day – I used it to help me kill a man.”

That certainly got their attention – and the looks he received were not pleasant ones, no.. Not pleasant at all. Candance Sedai looked like she was about ready to skewer him, and Cassandra’s glare wasn’t far behind. That was the scene as Gideon led the two Asha’man into the room. “Please let me explain what happened before you send me out of the Tower. I signed up to join Far Madding’s Guardsmen as soon as I was old enough to get my mother’s permission – I wanted to protect my friends and family. I was born there, and a ter’angeal in the city called the Guardian keeps anyone from being able to Channel inside.”

Of course… he was sure they already knew about that. It had been covered in one of his first lessons here in the Tower, along with learning about all of the other major cities between the Sea of Storms and the Spine of the World. He waited to see the confirmation in their eyes before he continued. “I’d never been outside of the city before, much less beyond the Guardian’s influence.. We were patroling up the Caemlyn road, on our way back after midday when we were ambushed..”

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment – he didn’t talk about this often, sensitive topic as it was. He fed all the bitter emotions and pain into the Flame to keep from showing how it affected him, but the sudden change in his voice would tell them all they needed to know in that respect. “Two of my friends were killed right away by their bows.. Out of the five of us, Captain Caeyl and I were the only ones to live through it. I made my first and only kill in that fight – by tearing my opponents sword out of his hand with the Power and running him through with my own. It was weeks before I knew what I’d done, and then I spent every hour convincing myself I’d only done it because I was injured at the time.”

As he finished, he was gently rubbing along the scar on his shoulder from the sword wound he’d taken that day. Sadrok turned to Candance Sedai.. He believed she had the seniority here as the Mistress of Novices – he still didn’t fully understand how the Aes Sedai ranked themselves the way they did, but surely her title put her above that somehow? “Candance Sedai.. I would ask if you can Heal me, so I can prove beyond any reasonable doubt that my Bar is eliminated and that I can Channel now without needing to be in pain.”

Candance looked over to Cassandra, who nodded to her and stepped forward to take Sadrok’s head in her hands. He shivered as her Healing washed over him, then stepped back and looked to each of the five in turn. Either his previous teachers in the One Power, or a mentor of another kind, each of them had helped him to this in one way or another. Cassandra had only delved him to see that he was uninjured, then washed away his fatigue with the Power. Looking again to the Mistress of Novices, he smiled as he asked, “May I Seize, Candance Sedai? I will create a small flame as Asha’man Scott taught me recently in his Fire lessons, to show you I can Channel at will now.”

With her permission, he flung himself at the power, into it’s firey embrace. He felt the flames scouring away the remainder of his doubt, the ice freezing his fear till it shattered. He struggled bitterly for a moment, the concentration writ plainly on his face, and then the Power flooded into him. He took as much as he safely knew how to handle, while staring at the Asha’man with an insufferable grin on his face. He’d done it – up until now he wasn’t sure he’d really have been able to, but he had wrested control of the Power and rode it’s torrent, filled with the purest essence of life itself.

Stepping back from the others two paces, he held his hand up before him, and quickly wove the first weave of fire that would create the flame, then the second that would sustain it as long as he wanted, and pulled them both taught at the same time. A ball of fire the size of a large fruit burst into life above his hand, nearly singing his palm. He looked a little surprised, he hadn’t expected it to be that big.. But that insufferable grin had not left his face yet.