Air Earth Water Fire & Spirit (attn: Jeff) - repost

[Matalina]

Isha reclined in a seat of Earth, closing his eye and letting the morning sun warm his cold, though in a different sense, face. Relaxed as he was, it was easy to block out the perpetual throbbing in his thighs and the angry ball of emotions in his head. If he could only remain this calm throughout the rest of the day, he wouldn’t have to deal with his disturbingly changed mentee or the constant flashbacks to that day of sweat, claws and blood. If only, if only… His former self, the self he had been before the capture, would have beaten his current self with the flat of his sword.

 

~Your former self had been incapable of feeling emotion~

 

‘Is that a bad thing?’

 

~Yes~

 

‘You’re wrong’

 

~You’re inhuman~

 

‘No really, my reflection just epitomises humanity’

 

He had been planning to do this class in the comfort of his living room, despite the constant interruptions living with such a crowded house brought. Unfortunately, his younger mentee Ful had a bad track record for doing stupid things and after having to rebuild that pile of stone twice already, Isha was in no hurry to have it wrecked by some Soldier incapable of controlling his new powers.

 

He must have drifted off at some point because he was eventually woken up by someone clearing his throat nearby. His single-eyed vision showed him a wiry boy a handful of years younger than himself and weighing perhaps twice his own weight. Isha sighed at the common reminder of his own enormosity.

 

“So you’re the one I’m supposed to teach?”

 

Isha

 

*****

 

Jeffery Kincaid wasn't sure if this was the place his mother had told him about, but he had no other options available to him. It was either master the one power or die from it. He was likely to die from its taint anyway, but to die before the insanity took over. He'd heard stories while in the Tower about men who could channel. The entire prospect frightened him terribly. But here he was, he had to learn least it destroy him.

 

His mother had taken to being cautious with him, her own son because of it. But he knew her dislike of the One Power stemmed from deeper problems from with in. He knew that she'd love him no matter what, and that was his only sole reason for coming here, so she could love him longer, her and the twins and Fawne. His only family.

 

The man who was going to teach him was perched on a stone chair, he wondered how it came to be here but anything was possible with the one power he was sure, he was still afraid that he'd go insane before he was ready to die.

 

"Yes, sir. I'm Jeffery Kincaid Namere, I was told to meet you here for training in the One Power."

 

He was a large man, and one eye was definately something that made him even more feirce looking, he wondered if he was already going insane. He wondered that about everyone he met. How would you know? Is it that obvious? Jeffery Kincaid didn't know if he should offer up a hand but he smiled at him, it wasn't his best or his most charming smile, but it was a smile. "I'm here to learn, if you will teach me."

 

JK

 

*****

 

“Well, that puts you a step above most.” said Isha with a grim smile, not unkindly. In the old days it would have been a grin and staggering slap on the back. The big man couldn’t even remember the last time he had slapped anyone of the back.

 

Seizing saidin, Isha wove a simple stool, high enough that Jeffrey would be roughly eye-level with him. Motioning for the boy to clamber up into the high seat, the big man managed to crack a small smile at the boy’s obvious awkwardness at being so high off the ground. “See how useful saidin can be?

 

“What can you tell me about the One Power?”

 

Isha

 

*****

 

What did he know, not much that was going to be of service here. "Not much, sir. I know what I heard from my Aunt in the White Tower, but other than that I know little about it. I know it is different for men and women and that it is tainted on the male half of the source from the Dark One's touch when the Dragon sealed the Bore shut." He had done alot of reading in his time in Tar Valon, his mother and Lila had insisted that he get a good education as well as decent weapons training early on in life.

 

"But other than that, sir, I know nothing more about it." Jeffery Kincaid hoped he would not be disapointed in him. He did find the ability to conjur chairs rather interesting, he was starting to get eager to learn.

 

JK

 

*****

 

“An aunt in the White Tower?” Isha’s eye widened at this. The question, only to confirm a fact, hung in the air while he vividly remembered a night nearly two years back.

 

"You should not call them witches. For what would that make you? ... You call them witches, I call you a monster..."

 

"Strange...are we not monsters? Do we not have the taint of the Dark One intertwined in our half of the True Source? ..."

 

"To fear Aes Sedai is only right...considering what we are..."

 

"Aes Sedai hunt us for the sake of hunting... They crave power and force their will on the world with saidar, anything that threatens that is to be removed. I will not be removed..."

 

"You speak of them as though they are animals. Worse than animals! They are no different than you or me. Better than us in many ways..."

 

“...I welcome them if they come to assist with the great battle. But if they come, as the Reds so often do, to kill us and don’t deny it.... I will not roll over and give them their prize...”

 

Isha shivered in spite of the heat. That had been the night Linten had drawn his sword on Rion; the night Isha had left the boy who had been his son on the Blightborder where he would be irrevocably changed for the worse. Light, Isha was scared of his own mentee! “I warn you Jeffrey. Unless you’re looking for trouble, keep that secret. The White Tower isn’t popular around here for understandable reasons- we are who we are.”

 

~What you are is a madman~

 

‘No! Not mad yet!’

 

“You are right. There is two halves of the One Power- I won’t get into the whole philosophy part of it. Basically what you need to know is how to use it. The One Power is broken down into five Elements. This is Fire." he created a thread of fire, spinning it into a candle flame. "Fire is usually strongest in males, not many females have much ability with Fire. That and Earth. That does not mean we are stronger though. What fire can not be doused with water? What earth cannot be worn away by the air or water, over time?" To demonstrate he wove Water to put it out. Next he carved a figure of a Dragon’s Fang in the ground with Earth and erased it with Wind. There was nothing he could really do for Spirit that Jeffrey would see yet, so he left it for a bit.

 

“Now, I want you to empty your mind. Imagine a flame then. Small and flickering. There is nothing but the flame. You are the Flame. You are alone. You can feel the heat of the Flame. You feed your emotions into the Flame. All your happiness. Your fear. Anger. Sadness. Anxiety. You are empty now. Your emotions feed the Flame and make it brighter. It makes it hotter…”

 

Isha

 

*****

 

Jeffery Kincaid nodded. "She's not really my aunt, she was my mother's bond holder. But I will do as you say and keep that to myself." Among other things.

 

The lecture continued on and Isha started to teach the void. Jeffery Kincaid reached for the void and smiled. "Now what?" His voice changed to that of one with in the void, not quite himself, and devoid of emotion.

 

He wondered if his mentor thought he was a quick study or picked up on the fact that his mother was a Warder. What he didn't know was his father was a Tower Guard and his step father was a Tower Guard and one time Warder as well. Not to mention he worked for the Master at Arms as well for most of his life. It was hard not to pick up a few things. But his mother had inisisted he learn the flame and void long before he ever touched a weapon. But he'd never felt anything different with in the void, he really was curious as to what was next. It felt the same to him, he wondered if this was just some step to reach first.

 

JK

 

*****

 

“Either way boy, I’d keep quiet about even have been to Tar Valon around here. Some of the men here aren’t as… neutral towards Aes Sedai as I am.”

 

Isha was pleasantly surprised by how quickly Jeffrey picked up the Void. Something to do with his having been around Aes Sedai and Warders, perhaps? Well, as long as the boy didn’t spread that around he should be okay. In the meantime, his past life was making Isha’s job easier.

 

“Alright, you’re in the Void. Now, can you feel a pulsating globe of warmth? Does it draw you towards it? Does it tempt you with bliss? That’s your connection with saidin. I want you to take hold of that ball, but not yet. First I want to explain the nature of saidin.

 

“The male half of the One Power, unlike rumours we have of the female half; saidar, is an antithesis of ultimate bliss and violence. Mind boggling as it is, there is nothing sweeter than riding the lava-like torrent that is saidin- even in succumbing to its violence and drowning within it; losing control, it is ultimate bliss. However YOU MUST NOT EVER GIVE IN TO IT! NEVER DRAW MORE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE!” Isha’s bass voice boomed over the morning’s activities.

 

Isha

 

*****

 

Inside the void Jeffery Kincaid could not feel anything. It was the same as it always was, he searched his mind, his body for the place that Isha had described but there was nothing there. Jeffery Kincaid wasn't sure but maybe he had been wrong, but they had tested him and said he could channel, he was strong, they said, but he couldn't feel anything.

 

Fustration set in and Jeffery Kincaid lost the void. "I'm sorry, sir, but I cannot find the ball of energy you speak of. Maybe I was wrong, maybe the test was wrong?" How could I be so stupid?

 

Jeffery Kincaid's frustration turned to anger. He tried again but nothing happened, he could feel nothing. The void was blocking the anger but he could sense it at the edges of his minds vision, see it dancing at the edges. Jeffery Kincaid kept trying and the anger built up.

 

He lost the void again and as it fell he felt a strange warmth as he kicked a rock, instead of flying it broke into dust. Jeffery Kincaid knelt by the rock and ran his fingers through the dust. "But I didn't feel it."

 

JK

 

*****

 

Isha had dealt with this once before and identified it after a few minutes of thought. “You have a block then.” The big man then watched intently as the familiar feel of another drawing on saidin emanated from the boy. ‘How terribly convenient’ The feeling winked out of existence after only a moment but left a pile of dust in its wake where there had once been a stone.

 

“Don’t worry Jeffery, blocks are normal in those who have the ability inborn. I want you to explain any and all possible times you used saidin. I need every emotion and circumstance around those events.”

 

Isha

 

*****

 

"I can only think of one, sir." Jeffery Kincaid paused as he thought back upon the time he'd thought he'd killed that man. "My friend and I were in the local tavern. A loud and obnoxious man started in on my friend and they started exchanging heated words. I was getting angry at the man, he had no right to say what he was saying, I thought 'Oh shut up', and then the man started chocking, gasping for air." He couldn't remember much more, he'd panicked when the guy fell dead to the floor only after several seconds. "I was angry at him. I was angry just now, because I couldn't feel anything, nothing was like you had described it." Jeffery Kincaid's voice fell off, he would hate to return to his mother with his failure.

 

JK

[Guest Estel]

“That makes things easier.”  Isha smiled both out of relief for having found the source of the block so quickly and to bolster the boy’s obvious confidence.  Plans were already forming in his mind to break the block as he reflected on his last “wilder” mentee.

 

Ben had been a blacksmith, one of the best and a prodigy in Isha’s own hometown of Fal Dara.  His skill at the forge was unnatural- literally.  The boy had possessed an affiliation for Earth and a strength in the One Power.  Isha had broken his block by changing the Flame and the Void to a forge: problem solved.  Or at least it had been until Ben burned himself out.

 

“What makes you angry Jeffrey?”

[Matalina]

What makes me angry? Jeffery Kincaid thought hard about that.  It wasn't something that was easy to pin point, he wasn't easily angered, or so he thought, he'd always been an easy going child, he wasn't sure what had provoked his anger recently.  "Sir, I'm not sure.  The fact that I couldn't do this made me angry, someone bad moutning my friend has made me angry.  Some one hurting my family would definately make me angry.  Or even my mother's friends."  There was a bit of mystery to his mother's friends, she was odd.  "Darkfriends make me angry.  But I don't know how that's going to help me be able to channel."  He wasn't doubting his teachers motives, but he didn't see how that was going to help him. 

 

Jeffery Kincaid kicked another rock and watched as it rolled across the ground.  He wished it had broken instead of rolled.  It would be simpler that way.

 

JK

[Guest Estel]

Isha would have smiled, but that would have made his work more difficult.  The boy made given him all the ammunition the Attack Leader needed to break his block- or so Isha thought.

 

“Try again then.  Enter the Void and search for the Source.”  The sudden loss of emotion from Jeffery’s face said he complied.  After a few moment’s, the boy shook his head.  Nothing.  “What’s wrong with you, boy?” growled Isha, feigning fury.  “It’s not that hard, just grab the stinking Source!”  Despite the Void, a small tightening around the young man’s eyes, invisible unless sought and Isha was taking care to see his words had their desired effect, bespoke of mounting anger and frustration.  Good.  It was working.  Even if the product was yet to come to fruition.

 

ooc: up to you whether Isha's strategy works or not

[Matalina]

ooc:  sorry took a while whole DM situation/move has had me uninspired but I hope that has changed.

 

Jeffery Kincaid reached for the void again and searched for the source Isha was talking about but he couldn't find it.  But the constant baragge of comments wasn't helping anything, it was only making him want to punch the old man in the face to make him shut up. 

 

The sun was setting and there was little light left, but Isha continued to make him try all the while yelling at him.  But soon he gave up on the boy, and walked back to his place of residence leaving Jeffery Kincaid to sit and fume.  He hadn't seen or felt anything different but the fury inside was raging.

 

Jeffery Kincaid finally went back to his room but what only felt like a few hours of sleep Isha was pounding on his door.  "Get up you sod."  And the remembered fury from the night before reentered his life and Jeffery Kincaid could only feel the anger.  He was once a happy kid, now it seemed this man meant to torture his life into one of pure fustration and anger, but he wasn't about to let him win.  He tried for days, and weeks to reach the source.  And when the it got the best of his anger he would channel, breaking a rock or sending stream of fire at his mentor.  Thankfully his attempts were far weaker than anything to do any damange, but Isha kept making him angry.

 

It wasn't until a month later that Jeffery Kincaid finally understood what Isha was trying to do, he knew he could find it and do this but the anger was bring it closer together, Jeffery Kincaid just had to learn how to control his temper.

 

He looked up to his mentor and smiled. "Help me control my anger and I think I can find the source.  I can't find it unless you make it happen.  Pushing emotion away in the void has always been easy to do, how do I hold on to the anger and still keep in it?"

 

JK

[Guest Estel]

ooc: blah, sorry this took so long.  Work got it the way

 

Some of the time, Isha’s frustration with Jeffery wasn’t even feigned any more.  He was ashamed to admit it, but he couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t break the boy’s block.  The first day, he had been so sure the block would simply shatter as Ben’s had done years back.  But when it hadn’t worked that day, Isha had simply shrugged and was confidant about the next day.  By now, that confidence had worn thin and the fact that he had made little to no progress with Jeffery in the last month.

 

At the very most, he had managed to squeeze a few exploding rocks or some flames- all directed at him.  It worked every now and then, but why didn’t it work other times?  There seemed to be no pattern to when the boy would be able to use saidin and when he couldn’t.  It made no sense!

 

"Help me control my anger and I think I can find the source.  I can't find it unless you make it happen.  Pushing emotion away in the void has always been easy to do, how do I hold on to the anger and still keep in it?"

 

Jeffery’s calm words pulled Isha out of his black mood as he began to understand why nothing was working.  Without a word, the big Asha’man got up and began moving through the forms.

 

“Control and master your anger.  You have some basic knowledge of the Forms right?  So you know that you can either control the momentum of your sword or it can control you.  It you simply thrashed your blade around, throwing your entire strength behind each strike, you would be thrown off balance immediately, opening yourself up to attack from your opponent.  Instead, you learn to master each of the Forms.  You have to learn how much power to put behind each attack and master every other little detail.”  Isha stopped with Heron Wading in the Rushes an inch away from Jeffery’s neck.

 

“Now, rather than feed your anger into the flame of the Void, hold on to your anger.  Let yourself be angry but remember that you are the master of it.  Use it as you would a sword, use it’s momentum to seize saidin but don’t let yourself be pulled off balance by thrashing about wildly with it.  Control it.”

[Matalina]

Isha's words made sense but it was easier said then done, he'd been using the void for more than 15 years and it was second nature to him now.  But he tried.  Jeffery Kincaid pushed all his emotions into the flame, but the anger went with it.  Again he tried and fustration took over when the source didn't appear.  Jeffery Kincaid sat down on the ground, crossed his legs and began the training his mother had started him off with.

 

He whispered to himself the words she spoke.  "Ko'di is to become one with the world.  Push your emtions away and find that focus.  Imagine a flame,  Push your emtions into the fire and watch them burn like paper in the fire."  He did each instruction, practicing the slow emotions he had once used.  Pushing each on in alone until only anger was left.  Jeffery Kincaid held onto the anger, and wrapped into a tight ball compressing it making it stronger with the confining space, soon the ball of anger began to glow, Jeffery Kincaid felt the one power course through him. 

 

In his haste and accomplishment he dropped the void and looked up at his mentor.  "I did it.  But I lost it when I realized it.  I think I need to practice the basics more."  And with out instruction he began again, using the slow technique he'd learned when he was a child, pushing each individual emotion into the flame until only anger was left.  It would take him a while to get use to leaving anger out, but he'd learn it, he knew he could do it.  He didn't think he was ready for more than learning how to touch the source.  He never tried to grab the source, he was afraid of it's power and he wanted to be able to grab it as easily as he had once the void.  He had his own set of standards.

 

JK