I want my thirty-eight skill now!

[Sam]

The bright morning found Saline Wastrel smiling with pleasure as she marched into the clearing, kicking up the dew further up her skirts. Her companion seemed more sedate in comparison, each motion graceful as Rory followed, though it was clear from her smile that she shared Saline’s pleasure. Feeling the wind on her face, and more than a little frisky, Saline opened herself quickly to the Source. A yelp from the pinch of Air she sent behind her widened her smile into a grin.

 

“That’s good,” She said, just short of crashing into a juniper tree, still smug with the trick she played on Rory. “Nobody can hear us, or see us here. Shall we begin?” Without waiting for a response she instructed the other to watch carefully as she drew out some Spirit, and twisted the silver threads with a practiced, precise gesture. Saline adverted her eyes surreptitiously before twisting the strands into a small, tight net. She did not have to see the threads to maneuver them, though it took some concentration to keep the weave compact. Then she looped Fire around the edges of her weave. A searing light spouted immediately, and blinking the stars from her vision Saline clutched the arm of the Accepted she had pretty much blinded without warning. Her grip stabilized Rory, but Saline held on. When Aes Sedai teach the weave, their students are told to look away. Saline was no Sister, and reckoned Rory could learn the weave faster if she could see the last steps. Perhaps it was rather thoughtless of her to tell Rory to pay attention to a weave that could (potentially) blind her, but Saline was not one easily inclined to throw caution to the winds, and her weave had been small, not spun in reckless abandon. However, the side effect of her weave existed despite Saline’s control over its size and intensity.

 

Patting gently at the arm she had seized Saline made sure Rory was all right before she explained, “Lillian once told me how Flash is good for duels. It is a great distraction, and too many Aes Sedai forget this weave. It is also useful for escape. There is no shame in taking advantage of the opportunity to run away from what you cannot fight, for the element of surprise will keep you alive to defend your beloveds, whether they be persons, beliefs or both, another day. Flash is a more advanced weave, but it comes with practice. Flash me.”

 

 

Rory was enjoying herself, yes, and we won’t even speak about the view. She found that being an Accepted agreed with her. Certainly she was had more responsibilities, had her share of chores, and still took orders, but her dress was no longer so plain and she was allowed to pursue her studies alone. No one would have guessed it by looking at her, not that there is some form of outward indication, but she had been doing just that.

 

Rory understood that her ability to draw on Saidar was slight, and that those weaves of great power were beyond her, and that she may never come to surrender to it as easily as others. These were facts, ones that could leave her raw if she let them, but facts nonetheless. She could resign herself to relying on others, and being “mediocre”, or, she could devote herself to fully explore the limits of her abilities, push them, immerse herself in them and find other ways of achieving the same ends that she was capable of. Rory was not a one to go quietly into the night.

 

The pinch did not exactly jolt her out of her “reverie” as is the general literary custom, but it did slowly draw her mind to the present. It was rather enjoyable to see her mentor act so impulsively. It had been difficult for Saline and Rory to become friendly with one another, being almost polar opposites. But friendship had occurred and now the pair was neigh inseparable. The pinch had been a thoughtless act of mischief, but it showed that Saline felt free to be herself with Rory at least. Not something Rory would take for granted. She yelped, purely for Saline’s benefit.

 

She paid close attention to the weave, recognizing it instantly. She had seen a green sister perform the weave, but had been too frightened to ask what the weave was or how to do it, and had observed instead. It was an easy enough weave for the sister, but she judged it an above average execution by the way spots danced in front of her eyes even at that distance. After that exhibition, Rory she spent a great deal of time in practise while Saline slept ... which gave her at least ten hours a day, she figured.

 

Despite recognizing the weave, Rory was caught by its sudden completion, having not expected Saline to have done so. That cow! The explanation of it was new to Rory and she listened attentively. So that’s what it do be for! It made logical sense, now that she thought about it, and explained why the green sister had been repeating the weave to perfection.

 

“... Flash me.”

 

What girl could decline an offer as genuine as that? Certainly not Rory, whose mind was filled wickedness. She fumbled for the source twice before succeeding, owing the extra failure to her racing mind. Feigning demure she gripped her skirts, locked eyes with Saline and added in a tremulous voice, “I-I-If you do be sure ....”

 

Saline’s responses were on autopilot, as Rory knew they would be, and the other woman lurched forward to grab at Rory’s hands before she managed to articulate a response. Rory, assuming Saline to be too preoccupied by the shocked noises she was making, took the opportunity to play havoc and quickly offload some small weaves behind Saline’s head.

 

When Saline at last managed to hiss, “No!” Rory was prepared for her.  She smiled gratefully and responded, “Probably best, we wouldn’t want her watching!” Adding a gesture to indicate behind her, she was all reflective teeth when Saline turned and the globes exploded with light. None of them had been as strong as Saline’s, but they were closer, and there were three of them in rapid succession. Before Saline recovered enough to turn around she added a pinch, purely physical, and that was out of spite.

 

 

Saline breathed in soft little stops as Rory embraced the Source, sympathising. First tries were also hit and misses for Saline, who had to understand principles behind a weave before she could successfully fashion one. Being less intuitive than the clever girls meant Saline worked harder to tap into her own strength and gain acceptance. But at least she had the strength to back up her understanding. Rory was one of the clever students who grasped concepts faster, but her problem was that of strength. However, Rory was a fighter. Saline had known this when Rory first started trying to touch the Source. Lillian and Saline would lead her through exercises, and every time Rory would fail. But she would not give up; instead Rory spent all her time with her eyes closed, and imagining the Rose until it happened. Success.

 

But that was the first milestone out of many Rory crawled over to get to where she stood to-day. And there were still many more milestones to go. On Rory’s second try, Saline winced and tried not to fret. However the third time Rory set her narrow shoulders as if to push particularly stubborn mule, a glow shimmered. Despite having held on to the Source, Rory appeared so uncertain that it pained Saline. In the years shared with Rory, Saline had never seen the Illianer so undressed by her lack of ability. Rory’s words were bereft of their usual confidence, making Saline stare.

 

Her hands clasped together, and when she realised how rude it was Saline quickly cast her gaze to the grass, not wishing to embarrass her friend. She stared in silence at Rory’s slippers, and her shapely legs as the stockings grew taller. Higher and higher, until the hem of Rory’s skirt caught Saline’s eyes. No longer paralysed, Saline’s small, pigeon like hands parted as they reacted, fluttering toward the other in desperation.

 

Words garbled in her mind, choking her as thoughts babbled. Rory must have misunderstood Saline’s directions, and so lifted her skirts. Of course, that was why, and now it made sense to Saline that Rory would be so unsure about proceeding, the silly dear. She let Rory take one of her hands as the other pulled her forward, down, and closer as the word finally wheezed past her throat in one explosive command.

 

“No!” She cried right into Rory’s laughing eyes as they looked over Saline’s shoulder, at another woman. Saline turned, her heart transfixed with horror. Had an Aes Sedai… Her thought never completed itself as she tried to take in the sight of one, two, three Flash weaves, perfectly executed. She knew this from the loss of vision, and tried not to panic. Saline did not flail, knowing that her sight would return momentarily, though when it did it might not look so favourably on Rory. Was three not a bit extreme? In the meantime, she floated in her own dark world, trying hard to ignore the nagging inside that perhaps three was indeed too much.

 

 

The pinch did not exactly jolt her out of her sightless “reverie”, but it did slowly draw her mind to the present, to Rory. That cow could not take a joke, she was resentful as she devised the next exercise, but could not help giggling when she realised how funny it would be. Ignoring the purple spots that danced at the edges as her vision was restored, Saline turned and addressed Rory as the glow enveloped her. She made no explanation for holding the Source, instead asked Rory to sing a song. Rory sang, a little warily but her voice sounded strong and true, as Saline knew it would be. She had heard the woman humming and singing enough times to know how it outshined her own. Closing her eyes, she enjoyed the song as Rory sang for her, and when its notes soared Rory sounded an angel. It was an old song, and difficult, but the trembling was skillfully controlled.

 

The melodious sounds increased in volume, but not because Rory had willed it louder. Saline was channeling Spirit and Air, making the silver flows into a funnel to project the song. It became quite loud before she ended the weave, but not far enough that the song would reach the Tower. Belatedly, Saline realised she should have prepared a Circle of Silence around the clearing, but it was too late. Rory didn’t pause, but her eyes widened, then the song resumed its normal scale.

 

Saline fiddled with the slenderness of the Blue threads on the hardened mechanism, making the Air lower the volume through the funnel. Then Saline snagged the silver network about the funnel, and Rory’s voice became dramatically higher in pitch. Thicker strands of Air and looser Spirit strands made Rory’s voice go low again.

 

“You can control more than just the volume with voice tricks. Imitations are also done. More Blue makes the voice husky and deeper whereas thickening the Silver flows renders the voice sweet and soft spoken.” Saline explained, and made Rory’s voice high, adding some Green flows and thicker Silver threads into the Blue around the funnel before tying off the weave. It left Rory’s voice at one specific pitch. C-sharp, the hardest note to hit; Rory’s newly altered voice would speak only in c-sharp, unless she made Saline’s into the exact replica of her own modification. 

 

Feeling rather wicked, Saline started to sing. Blue Sky Larking was one of the only songs she knew how to sing, and Rory had heard it many times.

 

 

This was a weave Rory had never seen, and it looked interesting enough in its employ.  She understood what was required of her, which was to display an understanding of the weave’s function, and also to display an ability to construct the weave. Relatively speaking it was an easy weave. Very relatively speaking, but Rory did not see why she could not ferret out its design and get her own back on Saline at the same time. The latter was the more important aspect of the two.

 

With a purse of her lips, Rory moved to one of the nearby trees. If the funnel increased the audio output of her voice, then by the same logic it would increase the volume of anything, right? Right. Fumbling for the source once more she began to weave a cone of air, it was clumsy and she wasn’t happy with it, but it was cone shaped. Centred on a leaf, the basic idea of the weave was to enable Rory to clearly hear its singular rustling. It worked, barely.

 

Unsatisfied as only Rory could be she began her work anew. The new funnel was of far sounder build and the rustling leaf sounded clear. Rory wanted it louder, so she slowly modified the funnel, longer and wider, would this work? I did not. Thickening the strands of air? Yes, much better. Nodding to the tree she returned to Saline, and eagerly began to modify her voice.

 

Saline had shown her how to alter the pitch higher, and lower. The former would really only annoy her, her own voice was in the process of annoying her and she wasn’t about to doubly inflict herself with it. No. A good question, or one Rory found interesting was just how low she would be able to drive Saline’s voice. Just how low could she go?

 

With relish she wove more air into the funnel, as Saline had shown her. Unlike Saline, who had stopped, Rory did not, choosing to continue pushing the weave. The worst that could happen is the weave would become unstable and blow the pair of them apart. Well, she would be careful; very careful, maybe a little careful.  Careful enough that she could lower Saline’s voice as much as possible without injuring anyone.

 

Sweat started to bead on Rory’s face, and no doubt Saline would be getting worried by this point, Rory squeezing everything into the wave as she was. But she was almost finished, almost: there! With a self-satisfied smile and a raised eyebrow Rory said, “Now, speak!”

 

 

Saline was pleased to see that Rory was really getting into the voice alterations as she watched the other fumble eagerly around with it. She was considerably less pleased when Rory did not practice on her singing at all, choosing instead to place her cone between trees and such. Ignored, Saline soon finished and sat quietly watching the other at work. Head cocked, Rory seemed to be listening to the wind as it rustled the trees. Once more Saline closed her eyes, leaned against the juniper, and enjoyed the breezes that played on her face.

 

Her thoughts wandered back to when she first encountered the weave, and her Mentor had asked what other uses voice tricks might have, beside the obvious. Sure enough, they were amusing, and Saline had a hard time thinking of some purpose for the weaves that was not purely leisurely. While thinking, she had entertained the notion that were one also able to change one’s appearance, one could have some fun, say, altering their voices into bird chirps and other calls of the wild. She wouldn’t mind being able to summon a howling wolf, complete with image and sound effects, if it were possible. Those creations could be used to spread messages with voice signals that only Channellers would be able to activate, projecting Saidar-enhanced sounds. A sound message could even serve as subterfuge, or decoy signals to enemy encampments, walking in the image of their commander. Yes, that may cause some confusion.

 

Those were the thoughts that had strayed into the head of Saline as Rory asked her to speak, and she obeyed unthinkingly. For the second time she walked into one of Rory’s traps, though in retrospect she should have seen it coming. All was quiet on the Rory front and in the clearing, before Saline had spoken. She said a single syllable, not an eloquent one, mind, but it was moving.

 

"RO." One little syllable, one that shook the leaves from the Juniper, that lingered in their ears, prolonging the sounds of…. Well, let’s just say an earthquake weave may have been beyond Saline’s current abilities, but the trembling of the grass beneath them continued as Saline gaped at the sound she made. It sounded with the resonance of a groveful of Ogiers at council; the reverberations of a legion marching to war; Saline quivered when the implications struck her.

 

She was afraid. Somewhere, there might be curious Aes Sedai peering out her window to where the sound came from. Why o why had she not woven a Circle of Silence? Weaving Fire, Spirit and Air quickly she set the weave around the clearing, belatedly. All she could do now was to keep her mouth shut. Saline’s jaw clamped stubbornly as she fixed Rory with a look. But her stern look of reproval did not check Rory’s merry laughter as it pealed out. Rory had forgotten Saline’s weave, and her altered laugh tickled Saline very much. Suddenly, she became alarmed, and very aware of her own alteration. Saline tried desperately to think of Mina Daryl, modern art, and dead raccoons, but they were no use. She could not stop the laugh from pushing out, and when it happened, boy. Her HAHAHA’s filled the clearing and the clearing only drumming against their frail bodies and making them fall to the ground in one heap. The Circle of Silence she had set contained the range of her sound, while making it more powerful. It did not end until Rory changed her voice back. Her good humour restored, Saline considered Rory for a moment: her squeaky laugh had stopped and she sat on the grass, smoothing out hair that was shaken by Saline’s voice. Rory had enjoyed herself, and so had Saline, in a sense.

 

It would have been lesson enough for another, but Saline was only starting as she rose, lifting her skirts above her knees as she navigated past the puddles, and led them to a small pond. It had been still during the winter, but in the sunny morning, its waters glistened with life.

 

Smiling she asked Rory to fish some pebbles from the pond; the other did so while Saline embraced the source, explaining the threads involved. “This weave is called the Air Shield. It can be used for protection by deflecting objects. The greater your strength in Air, the more solid your shield will be, and the stronger a barrier.” She drew only on the Air element and quickly twined the threads around themselves, the flows melded into one another into a sturdy mass in shape of an invisible shield in front, taller in height and breadth than Saline, who asked ever so softly for Rory to throw the pebbles at her. She expected bruises from the hard little projectiles, and sometimes flinched, but the shiny pebbles simply bounced off. “Good, well, you can practice that in our room later. It is not particularly complicated, after all with only one element.”

 

Simple; efficient; with purpose: the air shield was a marvel to the aspiring accepted for these reasons. True, getting to throw stones at someone did help out in the entertainment department, too bad none of them struck home. Rory toyed with the idea of trying the air shield out on Saline in varying ways during the night. Her roommate had just given her unconditional leeway to use it in her spare time ... no spoken conditions. The others, those little rules of courtesy and politeness, weren’t really important.

 

Of all the weaves Rory had been shown, even that pretty flash of light, the air shield was by far the most captivating. So much potential exploration! What if she wove different shapes, what if she added other threads, what if, what if! In her limited and somewhat small beer experience she had come to see that the simple things were often the most complicated in the end and her mind raced with the possibilities ... and her eyes focused on the water.

 

Could she ... would it be possible? Her eyes took on a manic gleam and it was all she could do not to strip down right then and there and jump into the water and try. Someone must have done it before, surely, how would the Aes Sedai know so much about marine life if they hadn’t?  What was down there, after all? Some time she would come back and explore, but not with Saline left fretting on the bank, and only after severe testing.

 

Rory was almost disappointed when the lesson moved on, but not quite. She was there to learn after all and wanted to see if her roommate had any other weaves she should find to her liking. With a smile the realisation struck her that id didn’t really matter what she learned so long as her pleasant day continued.

 

 

Saline shivered. The sun had moved behind a cloud, and she rubbed briskly at the goose pimples on her arms as she introduced Rory to the next set. It would include a weave the Illianer had seen, but Saline had never touched on the why of her having lost control of the weave before. “Dabbling with the weather is considered advanced elementals and must be approached with caution. Weaves that affect the elements around us to a slight degree can be to our advantage, yet we must take care that we do not upset the balance, for flooding is as harmful as a drought, and no Accepted, or any Aes Sedai that ever was, is capable of controlling the world’s weather. We can but give little nudges.”

 

She shifted her gaze to the water. “There are times when you will travel by boat, and you may either manipulate the wind so to create a gale or,” Saline wove Green around the corner of the pool and used Blue strands of Air to move the lower part of the water, causing the whole mass of water to turn on itself, “a wave.” The waves became smaller in the series when she directed Air to the upper part of the water instead, and finally the one she made lapped at their feet.

 

Letting Rory practice the weave a few times until her waves, too, crashed at their feet Saline continued: “The weave to make waves can be altered, and this is a rather nifty reflection on how its shape relates to function. If you pick out a perimeter of the size you want, and base it on a triangle,” Saline suggested as she channeled Water around the centre of a triangular weave, “like thus, then it becomes a Whirlpool. Place too much Air, the Water will turn too vehemently onto itself and your weave will collapse.” She warned Rory. Saline was not strong in Air but she had a fair amount of practice, which gave her expertise in experience, which showed as she raised a Blue column, gently setting in a spin a little touch of Blue amongst the Green threads. “Use Earth where the Water would go and it is a Duststorm. I had my share of difficulties with this weave, but with enough time and effort, even the most mediocre can do very well creating winds.”

 

Saline picked a willow drooping over the water then sent a solid strand of Air over top of the tree before latching it into an elaborate weave of Green. The leaves rustled as they lifted themselves out of the water, spraying the cold duckweed everywhere, on Rory and herself. Saline grinned as the sun peeked through again. “This is a Pattern of Air. I remember when Perine Sedai first showed me the weave, how the artificial wind would shower down maple leaves (like a spendthrift with his coins), and it frightened me.” This was conversational, as she remembered thinking that a person who could not see threads or weaves might suppose the wind was natural, and not a strong current of Air.

 

 

Rory yawned and covered her mouth with a dip of her head. She had not meant to imply that Saline’s lesson was dull; it was purely a reflex action to the sudden wave of fatigue. Not sudden in that it only just struck her, but sudden in that she only now became aware of its existence. It was hardly a surprise; her constitution when it came to saidar was not vast. It was more impressive that she had not succumbed sooner. Even so, she would finish this lesson if it killed her!

 

Having been warned constantly of the dangers of manipulating the threads when tired, Rory knew well her limitations and would not push them while Saline was present. Having not witnessed the destructive power of a weave gone awry she couldn’t state with conviction she believed in it totally, but why take the risk? Other than the selfishly human desire to test, test, test!

 

The water weave was interesting, but didn’t seem particularly useful to her, but then she never fancied herself requiring of such methods as she wasn’t inclined to go gallivanting off around the land on a boat. She had put into it for all she was worth though, if only to impress Saline with her gumption. Everyone knew she was weak and there wasn’t a slim chance they would be allowed to think her unskilled and lazy in addition!

 

She had managed the waves okay, okay for her first time, but was not game to attempt the whirlpool or rising column of water. It took her several moments to remember when she had first seen the whirlpool weave. That particular period had been rather emotional after all. Ah. Yes. It had been on the stairwell. Saline had woven to stop her mad flight down the stairs, which had ended rather satisfyingly.

 

It had been a system shock to find a swirling mass of water in a place one normally associated with being inviolate. It had been her first example of saidar at work, not that she would come to understand that until later when emotions had cooled enough for her to analyse the situation. On that note she decided she really ought to do something about all of the internal dialogues she was having of late. It was setting a very bad example.

 

 

Saline was so giddy about flaunting all the delightful variations from the same weave that she had not paid attention to her student, and the fatigue showed. Though Rory must have been taxed, she listened attentively. Come to think of it, Saline was tired as well. Her Taraboner accent lilted throughout the soft speech, as it often did whenever her guard was down. Rory and her, they had their public displays, no affectionate gesture other than a smile was needed in private: “You have done well. Let us go!”

On the way back, Saline plucked a rose from the garden, avoiding the touch of its thorns. Its gentle fragrance drifted toward them, coaxing forth a smile. She unfurled elements, one after another until all five colours settled into a more intricate pattern than they had seen so far. Brown threads pierced the Blue and Green, then the Silver and a razor thin edge of Red at the end of the stem. Nothing appeared to have changed about the rose as the weave set, and Saline tied off her weave deftly.

 

“This is a Keeping.” She said. Simple; elegant, the Keeping had been used for anything on preserving chickens to harvests and grains, but it could also be employed for one’s own pleasure. Stopping the Illianer for a moment, she secured the rose, fingers flying in quick motions as they curled Rory’s dark hair around the thorns, and eyed the bloom where it was fastened. Saline thought the other looked radiant as she stepped back to admire her work.

 

“Thanks for a wonderful morning.” She was smiling again.

 

 

She leaned forward, her stomach fluttering as Saline placed the flower in her hair. She experienced a disquieting urge to look pretty in that moment but had no way of doing so, and became angry at herself for wishing to. With a sharp exhalation of breath and a furrowing of brows Rory started to berate herself internally, and if one were to step inside her head the conversation would go something like this….

 

You do be an idiot. No do be arguing. Cut it out!

 

Having not yet managed to deliver an internal kick she wisely chose to leave the argument where it was and come back to it later, and with that out of the way she was able to return her attention to her roommate and that horrible look in her eyes that made Rory wish she had worn something cleaner, if not prettier and had her hair tied up. Fortune prick her eyes! She didn’t mean it. Not really. They were so very nice to look at, even when looking back. 

 

Word’s failed her and she didn’t go looking for spares. She was tired, hungry, and quite sure Saline felt the same. She could thank her in return for the day, say that it was her honour to be instructed, not the other way around but there was no need for it. Rather she took Saline by the hand and resolved herself to whipping up a quick lunch. Nothing fancy. One day she would bring Saline home to the inn and treat her to its best stew. Rory’s father made the best stew….

 

Saline & Rory

 

OOC: I know it doesn't look it, but there are ten posts in here. Read them and weep.