Intro to Saidar Class 2 - Experience the Bliss

[Arani Lepenque Aes Sedai]

Nenen waited again, hidden once more under weaves of the Power, until the last Novice was sitting and the door was closed.  Embracing the source, she channeled Water, and the candles went out with a soft hiss.  Several girls squeaked as they were plunged into entire darkness.  Releasing those weaves, she channeled other weaves of Air and Fire, the weaves shifting about, causing globes of light to appear in midair and dance around the room, sweeping by several girls.  Tying those weaves off, she left the balls of light to dance while she wove the last weave of the Hundred Weaves test, precisely and perfectly.  Multi-coloured flecks of snow drifted down and hit the floor, and another weave of Air swept up the snow and dumped it out of the window.

 

Smiling at the gasps and oohs as the girls swept their gaze around, trying to pinpoint her location in the room now filled with dancing lights, for they knew that she was hiding herself with weaves of the Power.  Nenen smiled and released the weave, causing her to pop out of thin air right beside one of the girls in the class.  (OOC: Who wants to rp this novice?  ;D)  The novice squeaked and Nenen caught her on the arm with a firm grip before she fell to the floor and injured herself.  Nenen smiled at her softly as the novice blushed, then swept to the front of the class, smiling at them in turn.

 

"Now that's an impressive display of what you CAN do with the One Power once you learn to control it."  She said to them, and she noticed that many sat up straight with eagerness.  "And today, you are going to take the first steps towards controlling and using the power.  NO GIRL!"  she said sharply as another girl suddenly embraced the source.  And weaving a shield, she slammed it onto the novice, who gasped.  Looking at her in the eye, Nenen said sternly.  "I did not tell you to try and embrace the source.  Do NOT make a move to embracing the Source until you are told to try it."

 

Then she smiled.  "But your eagerness to learn how to control that power is very encouraging.  But I think you will have to wait for your friends to have their first touch before we can start on control lessons yet."  Nenen continued.  "Today, for many of you, will be the day of your first touch.  And I intend to see that all of you who haven't embraced the source yet," she said, shooting a glance back at the girl who had embraced the source, "do so today.  I will not tell you what you will experience once you embrace the source, for a surprise.  Trust me, you will like it."  She said, with an encouraging smile.  "What I described to you yesterday is nothing to what you will feel."

 

Some of the more brainless girls looked blankly at her, while others looked more excited.  "So now, on with the lesson!"  she said, clapping her hands briskly together.  "Each of you have three roses under your desk.  They are each of a different stage in maturity.  One is a closed bud.  Another would be a partially opened bud, and the last would be fully matured and open."  She looked around and saw some very puzzled expressions.  "Well, don't just sit there staring at me,"  she said, her eyes raised.  "Memorize what they look like.  You're going to need it.  When you become Aes Sedai, you're going to need to be able to observe things around you, and some particular things.  Nobody's going to tell you what to observe then.  You're supposed to be Aes Sedai, and fully capable of knowing what to do by then.  Your training to approach that level starts when you first enter the White Tower."

 

Nenen saw the gazes of the novices drop, and not a few had blushes on their face.  But they all were now studying their blossoms intently.  "Note every detail.  It will be very important."  She reminded them.  The minutes passed, and she looked out of the window to pass the time.  Then, when she judged that the novices had studied the rose long enough, she turned around.  "Ok, good.  Now that you have studied the rose,"  she noticed a few novices looking away, "Now imagine that you are the bud.  Unopened to the sunlight.  So are you as such unopened to Saidar, not touching it, not feeling the warmth of the sunlight.  Breath in, breath out.  And imagine Saidar as the sun, shining gloriously down on you.  Close your eyes if you have to, but try not to.  In the real world, you will not have time to close your eyes and embrace Saidar.  Imagine you are the bud, sink yourself into it."

 

"Now,"  she said, "open yourself up to that sunlight.  Imagine the bud opening to the sunlight.  As such you are opening yourself to Saidar.  Feel Saidar shining down on you.  Reach out to it like the leaves of the rose.  Embrace the sunlight and embrace Saidar."  Nenen went on and on.  Her smooth voice overlaying their thoughts.

 

She smiled when one of them embraced the source.  And nodded them encouragingly.  Walking over, she bent down.  "Very good.  Release the source and try again until the end of the lesson."

 

Nenen Kailadel

Fighter of the Five

Teacher

 

OOC: Write about your character’s actions, reactions, struggles – is she able to touch the Source?  If she doesn’t manage it, then rp about her struggles to do so.  One of you may lose control.  It can be your character.  But please, its not realistic if everybody loses control during the lesson.  Some of you will be able to touch the source for a only moment before losing it, never mind channeling.

[Visar Falmaien]

(ooc: first come first serve I guess?  I do volunteer!)

Rytali entered the classroom again.  Her mind ached from attempting to memorize all the names on the list.  She wondered if she would be quizzed on that today, or if they were moving on.  Their teacher was absent again, though Rytali expected that it was some trick of the Power like it was last time. 

 

As soon as the door closed, that was when things just started happening.  The candles went out suddenly with a sharp hissing sound.  The window, previously sunny, darkened as if a raincloud had passed over it.  The room was dark.  Rytali felt the urge to shriek with the others, but forced herself not to, rooting her foot under the desk and gripping the side of it.

 

Strange differently colored lights danced above them, Rytali gasping when one swept by inches from her face.  Her shock and fear turned to that of awe when the room turned chill, and flecks of some substance drifted slowly to the floor.  Be this what they do call snow? she wondered, though this "snow" had a dozen colors.  Everyone she had talked to that described snow said it was pure white when it fell.

 

Just as suddenly, the snow was swept out the window, and some of the light from outside returned.  The show seemed to slow, and everyone seemed to try to guess where the Accepted Nenen was.  Rytali thought that she would be in the same place as last time. To her surprise, the woman appeared right Next to her!  This time, Rytali could not help but shriek, almost falling right out of the desk out of fright.  Nenen steadied her, and Rytali settled back into her seat, her heart still racing.  She felt her face heat up at the embarrassment of not noticing the Accepted at all.  Even if she was invisible, surely she would have bumped into her while taking her seat or heard her breathing?  Or perhaps she had moved to that spot while Rytali was distracted?

 

Rytali stood straight up and listened as Nenen began her lecture.  They would embrace the Source today!  Rytali was extremely excited.  Finally, we get to do what we be sent here for!  It seemed some of the other Novices were eager to try things as well, and Nenen sharply chided one of them for doing so without permission.  Rytali sensed a slight something to where that Novice had been, but otherwise, she was clueless as to how to do it.

 

She stared at Nenen blankly.  There were the explanations from yesterday, and the sensation of those around her holding...something...  But otherwise she wasn't sure how one was supposed to embrace the Source.  At the thought of three roses under her desk, Rytali glanced down, and immediately winced.  There were indeed three stems there, but she had squished the petals on one of them.  When had she done that?  When she had gripped the desk or when Nenen had scared her by popping out of thin air? 

 

She picked them up and put them on the desk.  The first two, the budded and half-flowered ones, were alright, save for being a little squished on the stem, but the petals on the fully bloomed rose was completely ruined.  She had seen roses before though, and enough glances at other Novices' flowers at least gave her a decent picture in her head.  Studying the two and imagining the third, she thought she was ready.

 

Imagine the bud opening...  Rytali closed her eyes, imagining a flower bud opening, trying to feel the sun somehow.  She tried, but couldn't feel it.  The teacher was still talking, mentioning that she didn't need to close her eyes.  Rytali cracked an eye open, sighed in slight frustration, and opened her eyes all the way, staring blankly at the desk, trying to focus on the flower there.  She tried imagining herself, however unlikely, to be that flower. 

 

Other Novices picked it up somehow right away, earning Nenen's praise, and being able to sense that they did so only frustrated Rytali further.  She would be able to do this, she had to!  Otherwise she could not be Aes Sedai!  The 'sun' was there somewhere, she only needed to open up and find it and,

 

Rytali's eyes widened.  There was the sun!  Or rather, something that shone far brighter, and yet somehow did not blind her with its powerful radiance.  It was beyond any words she could think of to describe.  All she knew is that she wanted to bask in it, to open up and flair out her flowery petals to absorb every ray that she could.  She did and,

Fortune Prick Me!

She was filled with something so frightfully amazing, so sweet and utterly fulfilling.  She could sense this bright Power, and yet she could also look around the dim-lit room, and notice things that she might not have before.  She could see individual tiny hairs on the others as if she was inches away.  She could vaguely hear a bird chirping outside of the window.  The candles were all out, yet it seemed as if she could almost smell their wax from her desk.  The balls of light suddenly had some sort of pattern attached to them, but Rytali could not yet tell what these were or what they did.  The overall sensation was amazing, and she could hardly understand why she had lived her whole life so far without ever doing this.  It was as if everything that had happened to her before this was completely meaningless in the face of Saidar.

 

And just as swiftly as it had come, it slipped away from her, Rytali losing her grasp on the Power.  She cried out in frustration.  It had been there!  She had had it, for only a few seconds!  And it had slipped away!  I will never get the hang of this! She despaired, discouraged so much that she wanted to huddle in the corner and cry.

 

She bit her lip.  She would not cry, not in front of everyone else. She had done it once, somehow.  Surely she would be able to do it again?  She tried again.  No success.  Again?  She had it!  But again, it only lasted for seconds, and she was left without it.  How did one retain hold on it?  She was tempted to ask for advice, but didn't want to be trouble. She tried again...

[Kelitor]

"Tomorrow, You be learning how to work with Saidar."

 

The Accepted Nenen had said it with a mysterious smile on her face that had lingered with her throughout the day. Despite herself, she found herself being filled with an increasing lust to discover this Power that had shattered the world, and was the center of her new life.

 

Thankfully, her class in the Old Tongue had concluded early that morning, and she had had time to return to her rooms briefly.

 

Ykoria smiled and glanced around her room. It was simple, but nothing to trouble a servant, really. Nothing was sub-par quality, merely simply and solidly made. And while the more frivolous gifts her friends and family, and the chamberlain on the First's behalf had left with her to celebrate her Novitate, the Aes Sedai had allowed her to retain a few of the more practical gifts: All of the books, the moneys, a few well-made candles, pens, gloves and a belt knife, and her parents had promised to commission an ivory miniature of the family, with her included (a artistically talented friend of her Mother had taken some sketches), to remember them by.

 

Ykoria stood there, lost in those happy thoughts, until once again Nenen's words tolled through her mind, causing her breath to catch with lust.

 

She abruptly whirled, and snatched her pure white cloak from the hook, swirled in around her shoulders, drawing the hood, and swept out the door and around the curve of the Well towards the entrance to the Tower halls. She would be rather early, but she simply couldn't wait longer.

 

She swept through the great doors of the lecture hall, raking the still rather empty room with her eyes. She didn't see Nenen, which either meant that she wasn't here yet, or hiding with the One Power again. She felt a slight smile tug at her lips as she swept down and selected a seat near the front of the room.

 

She sat as other women gradually filled the room, until everyone had arrived.

 

Then, abruptly the door slammed shut, and the room darkened ominously.

 

Some of the other girls screamed, but she found herself merely gripping the table with an insane grin. This was Power indeed!

 

But then Nenen seemed to materialize..... but not in the front of back of the room, but inches from the girl sitting to her right. The other girl screamed and nearly fell out of her seat, and Ykoria found herself having a slight choking fit and finally a stout Andoran girl from the row behind reached forward and slammed her fist into her back, which oddly proved quite effective, and Ykoria shot her a grateful glance.

 

By now, Nenen had reached the front of the room, and began speaking. "Now that's an impressive display of what you CAN do with the One Power once you learn to control it."

 

Ykoria found herself actually beginning to stand, and she slammed herself back down into her seat. She probably looked far too eager.

 

""And today, you are going to take the first steps towards controlling and using the power." Then suddenly the Accepted's face darkened, "NO GIRL!", glaring what seemed directly at her. Ykoria blinked, confused, until she traced the Accepted's gaze more accurately, twisting around in her seat to look, to the girl sitting actually to the left and behind of her, right next to the Andoran girl, who was looking quite ashen. "I did not tell you to try and embrace the source.  Do NOT make a move to embracing the Source until you are told to try it."

 

Ykoria cocked her head, narrowing her eyes speculatively as she gazed at the now rather sickly looking woman behind her. She hadn't had any idea that others in this class would have already known how to do that. If she had known, she probably would have bothered being a little more social to make them teach her before this.

 

She pondered this as Nenen continued soothing the Novice's ruffled feathers. She tuned that out. She really couldn't see the purpose in this praise now. The woman had apparently done something incredibly stupid. So why was she praising her eagerness now? It seemed brainless of the Accepted to do so.

 

When Nenen clapped, she flicked her attention back to the lesson. "Each of you have three roses under your desk.  They are each of a different stage in maturity.  One is a closed bud.  Another would be a partially opened bud, and the last would be fully matured and open."

 

Ykoria arched a brow. This was obvious. They weren't blind. Nenen admonished them to memorize the rose, and with an inner sigh, she did so. She worked in a palace library. Memorizing the appearance of three blossoms wasn't even worth thinking about when she had been expected to have memorized the location of the library contents, to at least the section a work was in, if not the exact shelf, or be able to find a particular book or document quickly amongst the masses.

 

Then Nenen began to talk in a quiet drone:

 

"Now imagine that you are the bud.  Unopened to the sunlight.  So are you as such unopened to Saidar, not touching it, not feeling the warmth of the sunlight.  Breath in, breath out.  And imagine Saidar as the sun, shining gloriously down on you.  Close your eyes if you have to, but try not to.  In the real world, you will not have time to close your eyes and embrace Saidar.  Imagine you are the bud, sink yourself into it."

 

Ykoria nodded, everything making sense now. The blossom was obviously some sort of mnemonic, or mental trick for accessing Saidar, a sort of meditation.

 

 

Tucking her legs up beneath her on her chair, Ykoria closed her eyes, envisioning the flower petal in perfect detail... She considered that for a time, but she'd never been particularly fond with roses, so with a private smile, she tried imagining one of the water lilies, from the Mayene public gardens, that she thought were so beautiful, instead.

 

With that change, suddenly it became easier. "After all," She thought, chuckling quietly "You spent more then enough time when you were five years old pretending to be the flower princess of the fountain liles. Who would have ever imagined it would actually pay off?"

 

With that she pictured herself sinking into the closed lily.

 

It was dark.

 

Then, she slowly imagined the lily's petals opening above her, cradling her in the stamen, raising her dreamily up to the sun.

 

Except suddenly that sun pulsed weirdly.

 

Her eyes flew open.

 

She stared down at the table, sweeping the roses away from her immediate view. She sat there quietly for a few minutes. Around the room, some girls were suddenly breaking out into muffled exclamations. Slowly, she closed her eyes again.

 

This time she would be ready for it.

 

The lily formed more quickly this time, and she plummeted into the bud.

 

She almost impatiently imagined the petals unfurling, until once again she basked in the fresh sun, cradled in the loving, beautiful grasp of the water lily. She forced herself to remain calm as the sun seemed to tremble in her imagination. Finally, she permitted herself to imagine what the sun looked like.

 

Oddly, the light seemed to diffuse; it wasn't the sun, it was a great blazing light, hovering above her and her lily bed.

 

"Saidar...." She felt herself breathe.

 

 

She imagined herself stretching up one arm.

 

It came.

 

Lightning, fire, ice, bubbling waters, wild winds all lept down her arm, suddenly racing through her. Her eyes snapped open.

 

She stood up abruptly. Light, what sort of iron-heart can sit still with THIS?! she thought wildly, staring around. Everything seemed so strange, and she could still see the light, feel the lily holding her as this glorious stream of light was diverted into her.

 

She stood like that for a few seconds feeling like she was about to explode, then she lost her image of the lily and the sun, and abruptly the Power snapped out of her.

 

 

 

 

She dropped heavily into her chair, which screeched in protest at her cavalier treatment, like a puppet with strings cut, staring vacantly down at where Nenen was standing.

 

 

 

[perine]

This morning Kalinde had gotten up early. Her roommate had kept snoring the entire early morning making the mere thought inaccessible. Kalinde had given up and walked like the dead to the baths and washed her curly hair. It was about time too. Her hair had started to give out an odor of chicken grease after the hours of scrubbing pots yesterday. She must have accidentally hit her head on the top of the huge pot she had crawled into to clean it proper. She had been too exhausted in the evening to clean up. The water refreshed her and woke her to the new morning. And this time Kalinde did not need to yawn to keep herself awake as she piled into the classroom.

 

The Accepted Nenen was not in the room. Kalinde did not believe this trick anymore and searched the room for a small sight of the girl in the banded dress, but she was well hidden. As Kalinde pulled out her notebooks, to dawdle on the corners of the pages while waiting, the room suddenly went pitch dark. She grimaced as she felt the ink fall from her feather onto the paper, staining it for sure. She was not afraid of the dark, but she did not really care for it either. Then beautiful balls of light started to dance about the room. Kalinde looked in awe at the performance. It truly was a sight to behold. She completely forgot about the dripping ink, until another drop fell onto her fingers. She quickly put the feather back into the inkbottle and kept admiring the show the Accepted Nenen was putting on for them.

 

The light balls remained as snow started to fall. Out of habit Kalinde stuck out her tongue at the falling drops to catch some in their flight, but after realizing that she was most likely looking like a fool and a child, she quickly settled back in her chair and waited for what would happen next. And as expected the Accepted appeared suddenly next to one of the other novices, causing the other to almost fall off her chair. Kalinde grinned happily. She had never met an Accepted that liked to kid around and be merry like this Nenen did. She made learning fun.

 

Kalinde took up her feather pen again and started to take notes as Nenen started the lesson. She had to fight to keep her hands from shaking too much and making her letters all crooked. They would learn to embrace the source. The thought both terrified and excited Kalinde. She had thought a lot about the source while in the kitchens. She had decided not to condemn the experience before she had a chance to know what it really was like.

 

Three roses were in front of each Novice, and they were to study them, and memorize the patterns. Kalinde picked up the first and brought it close to her face to see the delicate colors and patters the rosebud held. But the moment she did this, her eyes started to water and nose run. She put the rose down and dried her eyes and nose on her sleeve, as she did not have a handkerchief. The eyes kept on running, even though she did not touch the flower anymore. Kalinde blinked the water away and pushed the flowers further from her nose. She had never known that a scent of a flower could cause her to water like that. She felt like the flu was upon her all of a sudden. Kalinde closed her eyes and decided that she had to manage without the visual aid.

 

The rose in her mind did not make her eyes water or her nose itch. She imagined the flower so perfectly in her mind that she could almost feel the petals. She imagined the sun warming her, and the petals opening up. Kalinde felt the warmth of the sun on her skin and was sure she had got it. But then just as the feeling came to her it vanished and she sneezed loudly, startling the novices closest to her. She mumbled apologies and pushed the roses to the other side, closing her puffed eyes again. She took a deep breath and tried again.

 

The warmth of the sun came quicker this time, and Kalinde pulled the sun into her and felt the petals open up more and more. She felt the warm air around her and the light pulsing around. All of a sudden she could smell the roses again, just as if they were pushed under her nose. She opened her eyes to push the flowers away but the flowers were still where she had placed them but the whole room was different. She felt the beauty of Saidar pulse in her and exclaimed happily at the feeling. Now she understood what Nenen had meant yesterday about the Saidar being addictive and that stilling someone would be a punishment worse than death. Kalinde pulled at the sun even more, wishing to feel the Saidar even stronger, but as she did this, the smell of the roses took over again and she sneezed, loosing her touch to the power.

 

Just as well, she thought to herself. I’m sure I was not allowed to try that. Nenen had warned them exactly of that yesterday. Drawing too much power could cause her to burn out. And Kalinde, knowing now what the power felt like did not want to suffer such fate. She tired again, keeping her eyes open this time and reached for Saidar. And the feeling took over again, much easier than it had the time before, and Kalinde forced herself to cut the tie, and try again.