Introduction to Saidar: Lesson 4

[Kathleen]

Seheria walked the hall of the Tower with the same basket she had taken to the last class. There was a light cloth covering the top so nothing would fall out of it. She arrived early as she always did and set the basket under the desk. The first girls to arrive were just shortly behind her and Seheria was pleased with the display. Punctually was expected, being early put them a step ahead of the game. Still she left the door shut until the time the class was truely to start. Just because you got there early didn't mean the world would bend to your desire to start sooner. At least not until you a shawl on your shoulders.

 

When everyone was settled and ready to start Seheria rose and addressed the class, “Good morning class. Today I will show you Earth, Fire and Spirit, much like we learned of Air and Water in our last class. This will be our last lesson in our Introduction Course, so do not be afraid to voice your concerns or ask your questions. This will be your last chance to ask me, as your teacher in this course, to further explain or demonstrate. If you come to me after you have left this room asking for more study, but did not speak up during the course I shall not give you the instruction. You have been warned."

 

Seheria did not give them a chance to speak, but carried on the final lesson. "We will look at Earth first. Earth can be used for many things, including finding mineral ores, helping crops and plants to grow and bloom, to detect fault lines deep within the earth. There are other things Earth can be used for, but you will learn more about them when you become Accepted. Today, as your introduction to weaving with Earth, we will be making a rose bud bloom.”

 

Seheria took up her basket and set it on the large desk. Setting the cloth aside she exposed the full basket of tightly closed rose buds. "We started this course with having you image yourself as a rosebud, opening to the sun. I feel it is only fitting to end it with having you making a bud bloom."

 

The Yellow took a small rose bud out of the basket and addressed the class, “You see the rose bud here, tightly closed, so tightly furled we can see even a hint of colour, but watch carefully girls, concentrate on the weave.”

 

She pulled out three threads of earth, and weaving them together just so, she laid it across the rose bud, causing the rose to slowly bloom in front of their eyes. This one was soft yellow, coincidence surely, but a few girls seemed to think she had found it deliberately. Truth be known there were buds from so many different bushes they could be any number of colour.

 

“I shall show you once more before you attempt your own, remember to take care when observing the pattern the threads make.” Seheria slowly showed them the simple weave again and then walked through the room with the basket of buds, letting the girls choose their own. The students all copied the weave she showed them as Seheria settled at the large teacher's desk and watched the girls intently to see if they needed help. A few girls did struggle and the Yellow rose to their side for individual help and encouragement. When each girl had at least one bloomed flower on her desk the lesson continued.

 

“Remember now, the elements we are using today are ones you will most likely be much weaker in. Do not be discouraged if this is difficult. Most things worth your time in life will be difficult. Next we will learn about Fire. The number one rule when working with the Element of Fire is to never,” for emphasis she repeated the word, “Never, draw heat out of a fire to extinguish it. You will be burned severely if you do. To extinguish a flame use Water to douse, or Air to snuff it out, or Earth to smother it – but never use Fire to draw the heat out.”

 

"Now the simplest thing we can do with Fire is to light a candle, and it’s a handy weave to know too. A single thread of fire is all that is required,” she said as she demonstrated. “Pull out your thread of Fire and wind it around the wick like so." Seheria's thread of Fire wrapped around the candle wick in her hand and it caught alight. The flame bobbed and danced as it sparked into existence, but soon it stabilized and stood straight.

 

When it had settled down and the flame stood long enough for the students to all see it, Kathleen spoke again, “The same action from a thread of Water will extinguish it.” Seheria demonstrated this and the blue thread doused the flame with a small hiss.

 

She reached into the bottom of the basket that held the rose buds and took out the candles she had placed on the bottom. She handed them to the first girl in each row and told her to pass them back. When all the students had their candles she instructed them to try the weave she had just shown them. When they had all lit and extinguished their candles Seheria had them returned to the front of the row and she put them back in her basket. She turned back to face the class.

 

“The last Element is Spirit. Highly underestimated, Spirit is central to many weaves such as Healing, setting Wards, Shielding another channeller from Saidar and in the Bonding weave, to name just a few. These weaves are too advanced for you to learn today, but learn them you will as your strength and control increases. However I will demonstrate the Ward against eavesdropping for you.” Seheria pointed out two Novices and beckoned them to the front of the classroom. “All I need for you to do is stand there talk about what you had for breakfast this morning.”

 

The pair of Novices giggled but began speaking of porridge, eggs, hot tea and the like. Seheria deftly spun out the threads of Spirit required and wove them together in a complex pattern. She laid the weave over the two Novices. It seemed to sparkle in the light shining through the windows and though the Novices could be seen to be talking not a sound was heard. “So you see,” Seheria continued, “they talk, and they see us, but we cannot hear them and they cannot hear us speaking.”

 

She allowed the weave to dissipate and the pair of girls could again be heard discussing their breakfasts. The Novices seemed suitably impressed by the weave and exclaimed to each other about it. Seheria repeated what she had said to the class to the two who had missed it and told the class that as they had more experience with One Power they would be taught many more weaves. When the two girls were sitting back in their seat Seheria centered herself at the front of the class.

 

"We have only touched on the uses of Saidar but you now understand the nature of Saidar and the different Elements contained within it. I want to reiterate to you the importance of never channelling unsupervised. You will have many opportunities to channel in the coming months and years; do not find yourself serving a harsh punishment for breaking the rules.” Seheria looked over the class once more before she finished, “If you have any questions about what I have taught you in this class, either from this lesson or one of our previous ones, please feel free to approach me after class and I will help you with what I can. I will be watching to see how far you go. Class dismissed.”

 

Seheria cleaned off the large desk she had used for the lessons and put the cloth back on the basket as the students began to leave the classroom.

 

Seheria Mori

Aes Sedai of the Yellow Ajah

 

OOC: RP out arriving, your reactions to the lessons, and rp out doing each weave with the new elements. General reaction to the goings on in the lesson.

[Leala]

Ay'Lira walked from her history class straight to her last class with Seheria Sedai. Well, the last class for this introduction course. She had learned so much, and she couldn't wait to learn more. She felt like she could expand on these lessons into anything! She couldn't wait to become Accepted and channel on her own and think about her... No, no. She had to take this one day at a time. She was stubborn, and if she got an idea into her head, it would likely stick. She had to take this easy. She she let out a huff for herself and resolved to take this as the Aes Sedai taught it.

 

She sat down in class and clasped her hands together, waiting patiently for class to begin. Seheria began when everyone was seated, which to Ay'Lira felt like half the day had gone by. The Yellow said that she'd be teaching them about Fire, Earth, and Spirit. How useful Fire and Earth would have been when Malkier had fallen. And Spirit, that beautiful, pearl like color. She wanted to know what it did. Their teacher continued and said that Earth would be first. She passed around the basket, and everyone took on rosebud. She hadn't gotten the concept of the rosebud for the very first exercise, but she had found what worked for her. It was different, but it had come tot he same result as everyone else.

 

Seheria Sedai demonstrated the first weave on her own rosebud, revealing a yellow rose after three threads of Earth. She passed around the large basket, and Ay'Lira took hers at random. Everyone else had spent some time picking theirs, but you couldn't even see the color, so what was the point? She waited for instructions, and embraced Saidar. It was so easy now. She had figured out that it wasn't imagining herself opening up to the sun, but really a state of mind that she had to reach. With Saidar flowing through her, she fought the urge to draw more, and took three flows of Earth, and laid them carefully on the rosebud as her teacher had done. Well...it wasn't quite as well as her teacher, apparently, because nothing happened. She looked around and observed the girls around her. Again, she took three weaves, and this time slowly placed them as she had seen. This time, her rosebud slowly unfurled, and she was surprised to see a pale blue rose in her hand. The bright color made her smile as much as the accomplishment of the weave made correctly. She released Saidar and waited for the next element.

 

Next, Seheria Sedai showed them an easy weave of Fire to light a candle. Then she used Water to douse it much the same way. Their teacher passed out candles and instructed them to light the candle, then douse it as she had done. When everyone had their own candle, Ay'Lira embraced Saidar again, and took one weave of Fire. She wrapped the weave around the small wick as Seheria had, and the candle's wick came to life with fire. It had only taken one time this time. Taking a breath, she took a weave of Water and wrapped it around the fire in just the same way, and the flame extinguished, leaving the wick now black, and a small tendril of smoke trailing into the air. A wide grin spread across her face as Seheria continued.

 

She was almost jealous of those three girls who were called to the front. But she could tell her teacher had picked them because they were shy. She listened to Seheria's explanation of Spirit, and was fascinated. She had heard talks of Compulsion. It sounded like something out of a story. She watched as the glittering weaves of Spirit wove itself around the three girls and made them silent. Apparently, it worked for the other way around. The girls couldn't hear them either. She wondered when she would be able to do something like that as Seheria called an end to the class.

 

Ay'Lira stood and curtsied to her teacher, and left with everyone else.

[jozan]

Liana had just woken up when her roommate called out, that the last lesson of intro to saidar was to start soon. That made Liana nearly fall of the caused by surprise. She dressed as quickly as possible and then started to run after her roommate, as fast as she could muster. She really hoped she would not be too late on the last lesson with Seheria Sedai, since she really liked her and the lesson was very interesting and most important.

Liana actually happened to come in second to the class room this time around, which both shocked her and the Aes Sedai. Ay’lira smiled at her and Liana smiled back.

 

Liana grabbed one the rosebuds in the basket out in random, she didn’t think it would matter which one she actually choose. Well, at least she hoped it didn’t matter what so ever. Then Seheria showed them the Earth weave they needed to complete to make their rosebud to bloom. Liana thought it looked beautiful when the rosebud slowly bloomed in front of their eyes. She gave it a try but it didn’t work at first – neither on the second try. She became a bit irritated that it didn’t do what she wanted. Liana clasped her hands together tightly, so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

Seheria Sedai came by and gave her some extra assistance and after the third try, Liana was able to make the bud finally bloom. That made her slowly calm her self down.

 

Liana carefully listened to the warning about fire, to not use it to draw heat out – but instead use water or air to put it out. She wrote it all down in her parchment, which she had brought with her to each lesson with Seheria Sedai. Because you never know what you might learn, during the lesson. She took the candle and put it down on her desk. Alight this and you’ve learned something she thought to her self. Liana actually alighted her candle on her second try, caused by the weave being such a simple one. And then she used water to douse it off – using water was very simple now.

When the teacher told two novices to walk up to her desk and discuss what they had for breakfast, Liana nearly bursted off giggle, but she contained it. She both carefully listened to Seheria Sedais words and what she showed them. The weave was complex but somehow Liana was able to make out some kind of pattern to it. She gave it a try and started doing the weave and nearly had it done, when it dissolved in front of her – which made her disappointed. But her second time was successfull though and she weaved it to completion. This weave would come in handy when you didn’t want someone hear what you were talking about – a very useful weave, indeed it was. She tried to imprint it into her mind. So, she wouldn’t forget it.

 

Liana took heed to all the warning Seheria told them and then the class was dismissed. She was actually beaming this time around, and her roommate could see it , and giggled a little. Which made Liana stop and even blushed a little, and then walked to her room to rest before her next class.

[Leala]

Aureli sniffled as she walked to her class. She had just finished helping a Yellow in her gardens, and the pollen was affecting her already. She wished she could wipe her nose, but her arm was too busy holding her supplies, so she did without. At least she wouldn't be the last one to the room. Narie showed up on the way, having just finished scrubbing pots. The other novice had had time to change, but she seemed tired. The girl from Andor tried to apologize for not saving her a seat in the last lesson, but Aureli told her that there was no need. She got along just fine. The two sat in front, having arrived shortly after Seheria Sedai. This was their last lesson in the course. Would she and Narie have more classes together? She hoped so. What she had initially taken for silly giddiness in the girl was really just friendliness and enthusiasm.

 

After all the seats were filled, Seheria Sedai began the lesson. They would be working with Fire, Earth, and Spirit. She took the cloth off of a huge basket and showed them an array of rosebuds. Aureli could not distinguish their color. The Aes Sedai took one out and wove three threads of Earth over the bud, and it bloomed yellow. She showed the weave once more, and Aureli thought she had it. The basket was passed around, and she took a rosebud, set it on her desk, then passed the basket to Narie. Aureli hoped the pollen from the roses did not clog her up like the gardens had. She sniffled and embraced Saidar. It seemed easier every time she did it. She took the three threads of Earth and fought with them for a time before finally making the weave. She settled it on the rosebud, and it bloomed a happy pink. Narie's was red. They giggled at their accomplishment and waited for further instructions.

 

She lectured them on the use of Fire. Fire seemed interesting. But apparently, it was very dangerous to try to put out a fire with Fire. Aureli kept that in mind. Seheria showed them a truly simple weave that wrapped around the wick of a candle, lighting it ablaze. It was easily put out with a similar weave of Water. The basket was passed out again, and Aureli took a candle for herself. She waited for permission, then embraced Saidar once more, now with less concentration needed. She took out one thread of Fire. And oddly enough, it did exactly as she wanted with very little fighting and struggling. The candle was lit. Blinking, she readied a similar weave of Water and snuffed it out.

 

Aureli watched as Seheria Sedai gathered the candles and went back to her desk to continue. Now they would be talking about Spirit. Spirit seemed to have a lot of uses. Aureli wondered why it would be underestimated. for the weave of Spirit, the teacher called on two novices and asked them to speak about their breakfast in front of the class. Seheria wove a weave around them, and all of a sudden, the words from the girls were cut off. They could not hear them. And according to the Aes Sedai, they could not hear the class, either. Remarkable! That would certainly come in handy one day.

 

the girls sat back down, and Seheria Sedai reminded them again about the dangers of breaking the rules. aureli felt somewhat downtrodden, though. She felt like she wanted to hold on to Saidar and not let go, to see how much she could hold, but she would control herself. At least she had a friend now that could share her frustrations. The novices left, and Narie and Aureli went to their next part of the day.