Saidin Training (Open: All Dedicated)

[Covai Seriba]

Covai sat on the top of the stack of firewood leaning against the wall of the inn, munching on a roll stuffed with beef and cheese as he looked up at the clear blue sky. Storm Leader of the Black Tower he may be, but he certainly didn't look it at that moment. Taking a sip from the wineskin at his hip, Covai washed the food down as someone came through the back of the inn.

 

Shielding his eyes from the sun, Covai took a look to see who it was. It was about time the Dedicated showed up. Covai had told them to meet him outside the Inn after lunch. The men had been making good progress during his time at the Tower. Today Covai would be finding out just how good that progress was.

 

Whistling, Covai got the fellows' attention and waved him over. Rolling his eyes as the Dedicated saluted, Covai shook his head and motioned the man to relax. "Take it easy, I'm not hear to tear you to sheads or anything. Here.... catch." Covai took the winskin and tosssed it to the man. "Have a drink."

 

"All right, it's time to see just how far you've come along in your training men. You've now reached a stage where you're deemed, and have shown yourself to be capable of handling each of the five elements of Saidin in simple circumstances, having been shown what to do, step by step, in order, over and over, each day, on numerous occasions, under supervision, at all hours... And its time to kick your training up a notch. But first some simple revision. "

 

Dropping from the stack of wood, Covai shoved the rest of the roll into his mouth and seized the source. Moving his hands as he worked, Covai shaped the earth to create a stone manikin roughly the same size as the Dedicated. "So you see how its done?" Covai asked the Dedicated standing opposite him. "Just grab hold of the earth, and push, pull, tug, squeeze or whatever" Covai shruggged "Until its in the shape you want." Wiping his hands of the matter as the Dedicated nodded, Covai released the source and motioned for the fellow to try for himself. 

 

Finishing off the food in his mouth as he waited, Covai nodded his approval once he had created his own manikin. The man seemed to have the right idea, but Covai doubted he had made many life sized objects before. "Well, now that thats over, I'll be showing you how to blow stuff up." Covai raised his eyebrows a few times in what looked like enthusiasim. Truth be told, he simply had an itch that was starting to annoy him.

 

Pushing the irritation from his mind, Covai reseized the source and stretched out his hand palm up, forming a thread of red fire. Twisting it into a circle, Covai gave it a little tug and started feeding more power into it, letting it grow in size and intensity. "Now this, is a fireball." Covai showed it to the Dedicated....by making it dart to within an inch of his face.

 

"Now, remember your mother telling you not to play with fire?" Covai asked as he walked a few paces away from the manikins. The man nodded stiffly as he followed, seemingly unimpressed with Covai's stunt. Some other the others however seemed to have a better sense of humore. "Well ignore what they told you. Truth be told, there's something empowering about being able to set random objects of fire. Looks cool too." Covai commented as he spun around and sent the ball into the middle of the manikin, baking it where it stood. "See?"

 

"Clear your mind and sieze the source" Covai instructed the Dedicated before him, becoming serious once again. "Now, single out the element of fire. There are two ways to do this. Either from a single thread and form it into a circle, or concentrate it all in one point. I find it works easier if you focus above the palm of your hand. Pretend it's a ball you're holding. Either way, once you've got the thread formed, Feed it until it becomes a sphere, a ball of fire. Dont worry about making it too big, or you'll burning your hand at this stage, just make it as big as feels comfortable to sustain. Then, once you've formed in, raise your hand with the flame just above it, to show me what you've done. Now try it. You have done this before after all"

 

OOC: Have fun guys. If a soldier wants to sneak in on this class too, go ahead. Just say you got the wrong memo :P

[Sieve]

This was Geirrin's first class as a dedicated well second actually as he had recieved his sword pin in the beginning of another class.  Even so he did not want to start off by being late.  He looked around quickly desperate to spot his instructor.  A whistle got his attention, he turned to find the Storm Leader sitting on a stack of firewood against the wall of the inn.  "Take it easy, I'm not here to tear you to shreads or anything. Here.... catch." The Storm Leader said as he tossed him the wineskin saying "Have a drink."  Geirrin drank greedily from the wineskin, he had run from the other side of the training grounds and was parched as a result.

 

Take it easy he thought, not tear him to shreds?  Yeah most of the time the Storm Leader was even keeled and not one for ceremony though he had also seen the man go up like a bonfire when one of his trainees was acting out.  Geirrin made sure to show the proper courtesies regardless of the Storm Leaders feelings on it.

 

Gierrin watched as Covai made a manaquin of earth.  "So you see how its done?" Covai asked the Dedicated standing opposite him. "Just grab hold of the earth, and push, pull, tug, squeeze or whatever" Covai shrugged "Until its in the shape you want."   Geirrin nodded that he understood and when instructed embraced the source making his own manaquin.  He had never worked with such a large piece of earth yet the rock shaping exercise that Covai had assigned him had helped him immensely.  The rock lay in his pocket as a reminder of the exercise, the reminder to control his flows.

 

Covai made a fireball which he pushed within inches of Geirrin's face.  The heat from it made it feel like the fireball itself was touching his skin.  When Covai moved it away from him he instinctively touched his face expecting to feel burns.  Luckily the Storm Leader had not held it there long enough to burn.

 

"Now, remember your mother telling you not to play with fire?" Covai asked as he walked a few paces away from the manaquins.  Light not just his mother but his father, his brothers, sisters, and everyone else in the village.  The one thing sailors feared most was fire.  A dry ship could be fully engulfed in seconds, most sailors despised fire immensely.  It was ironic that he was strong in that element which he had been taught to fear.

 

Geirrin had to admit that playing with fire was fun in a way.  It was certainly fun blowing things up and he was pretty good at it.  He followed the Storm Leaders instructions seizing the source.  He felt the sweet sickly taint that came when he took hold of saidin, it always made him want to empty his stomach though he was getting more used to it with each day that passed.

 

Geirrin kept making fireballs one larger than the next.  He feed more fire into the weave increasing the size of the fireball until he thought it was as big as he could handle without harming himself.

[Tigara]

Always running, wasn't it. It seemed this whole place was obsessed with it. Run here, run there, run laps, run run run. Ikki hated running! He was not made for such things! He continued his rant in his head as he limp/jogged towards his assigned class. Storm Leader Covai was teaching saidin. This was a good thing.

 

He came just in time to hear the instructions and went right to it. He much preferred the channeling side of being in the Black Tower over the physical side. He wove earth as he had done so before and pulled up a manaquin. Easier than a army of them, at least. While the other dedicated was still finishing his, Ikki decided to make his look nice. he started to add eyes and a nose and other details. He nearly jumped when a flash of fire went past him and nearly burnt Geirrin's face.

 

Playing with fire? He was good with Fire. In fact, Ikki was well rounded and descent with all five elements. He held out his palm and wove the fireball into it as instructed. He continually made them bigger and bigger as instructed. Perhaps his hand was feeling a tad bit warm...

 

Ikkiliad sur Paendrag

Late

[Covai Seriba]

Covai nodded. "Thats good you two. Now, you've both throw fireballs before, but I want you to try something different this time." Walking over to the stack of wood, grabbing the four poles he had placed there earlier.

 

Ignoring the odd looks from the Dedicated, Covai walked up to the manikin, dropping the poles in front of it. Forming a small hole infront near the manikin's base, Covai lifted one of the poles and stuck it end down into the earth, using his foot to kick the loose dirt around it in to fill the hole and keep it stable. After giving it a little nudge, Covai was satisfied the breeze wasn't going to blow it over. Waving the two men backwards, Covai walked around the mankin until he was lined up in the right position for what he had planned, marking a line with his foot in the ground.

 

"Okay, each of you come stand over here." Covai ordered, stepping back from the marked position. "I want each of you to try and hit the manikin...without hitting the wooden pole The poles are old halberd shafts that have been worn out. They wouldn't support their any real weight in combat, but they'll still burn if you hit them." Walking over so he was side on to the targets, Covai mused loudly "Hm...I'd say you've got maybe five or six inches btween the

pole and manikin. Add in the thirty of so pace distance on top of that to where you're standing, and you don't have much on a front on target."

 

Shrugging, Covai walked back towards the inn, putting himself at an angle to both the Manikin, as well as Ikki and Geirrin. "You'll need to learn to control the path of the fireball in mid-air for this one. I'll be adding more poles as you start hitting the target.

Little by little your striking area is going to shrink. You'll need to control both the size, speed, and angle of your attack to pass this test."

 

 

OOC: Sorry about the delay on this one guys. I know controlling weaves mid flight isn't something we really do, so I thought it'd be something interesting to work with. Feel free to burn a pole or two if you like. I'll just send you out to cut another one down later ;P

[Tigara]

Ikki puzzled over what exactly was being asked of him. He was....stopping and starting the movement of a fireball? It seemed like an unusual thing to do with not a significant amount of use. And he wasn't particularly skillful at weaving either, so it would certainly be an interesting exercise. He wove the fireball and it launched at the mannequin full force...running straight into the front pole. He blinked a few times while Covai put a new pole in. That was an incredibly sad attempt he thought as he readied the next fireball. It launched and he yanked it and it swerved strongly to the left. It missed the left pole, but went far past and nearly hit Covai before he doused it with Water. His cheeks colored a bright crimson before he wove another fireball and launched it, but tugged it back a bit less and it did stop, then he sent it at an angle and hit the mannequin strongly in the side. He tried a few more times, hitting the poles a few more times before he was mostly hitting the earthen dummy.

[Covai Seriba]

Covai couldn't help but grin as he watched the Dedicated's attempts. He could admit it wasn't exactly usual training they were doing, but then again, considering they were still trying to discover weaves lost for thousands of years, usual didn't really fit anything they did. Stretching himself as he walked over, Covai decided he'd give Ikki a few points.

 

"Alright, you seemed to pick up the concept on this one fairly quickly, even if your aim is off. As you figured, trying to fully control a fireball whilst its moving is going to take way too much strength and effort to be worthwhile. You can still get a similar effect if you pull on the edge of the weave as for release it, like putting spin on a ball you throw."

 

"Now I want you to try modifing this weave. The basic idea for fire weaves is all the same, burn whatever you hit. When you get more advanced though, you can really cut back on the strength you throw behind it and still be the same effect if your weaves are done right. Think of it like trying to push a door open without turning the handle, and oppose to turning the handlle and nudging the door gently, letting the weight of the door do the work for you."

 

"Which bring me to my next question. Most Asha'man simply concentrate on the rough area of the fireball they create and through their strength into it. Myself and a few others through find its better to create a stream of fire and turn it into a ball. It may not as large, and it's trickier to do, but the power and control we have over it seems to work better. We could just be the odd ones out."

 

"So which way to you find is easier? I've got some new weaves to show you, but I'd rather play to your strengths. If power's all you've got, I can show you how to blow up a man. If you've more skill though, I can show you how to pick him off piece by piece, or just kill him with a single concentrated strike."

[Tigara]

It was un-nerving to see the Storm Leader stretch and grin at you while training. There was just something that made him think nervous, like her was expecting the Taint to drive Covai mad and go on a killing spree. He was rather relieved as Covai instead gave him some pointers. It was like a light suddenly went on. It made perfect sense to do it that way! It was just like a spin on a ball.

 

"So which way to you find is easier? I've got some new weaves to show you, but I'd rather play to your strengths. If power's all you've got, I can show you how to blow up a man. If you've more skill though, I can show you how to pick him off piece by piece, or just kill him with a single concentrated strike."

 

He pondered for a moment. "So far, I seen to have a lot of strength according to the other Asha'man, but not an amazingly high skill in weaving. I'm good at large destructive weaves, but anything more complicated than Gateways and Healing is too complex to do. So I think power is what I've got going for me." He had never thought about his power and skill much. He was used to being lesser than others, so he never paid attention that he was one of the stronger men in the Black Tower. Not the strongest, but formidable.

[Covai Seriba]

Covai nodded. "Far enough. There's something I want you to take a look at then." Walking over top the pile of halberd shafts, Covai picked up one of the broken handles and brought it over with him. He had only recently come up with this idea, so he figured Ikki was was as good as any for working out the kinks in it. Covai knew he had the strength to do it himself, but it just didn't really fit in with his style.

 

Weaving earth and small traces of fire along the length of the wooden shaft, Covai focused the tip like a spear before thrusting it into the ground, letting the threads of earth spread out before bringing them back together. Hefting his creation up from the ground, Covai lowered the sledgehammer to the ground again, releasing the handle before motioned to the Dedicated to pick it up.

 

"You've had training with a sword before, so you know how a cutting tool works. Most Asha'man are training to be blades for the Dragon to use. I'm going to shape you to be a war hammer instead. Pick it up and take a few swings. The movement is different and it takes time to collect power before a strike, but it can break through a defence where a sword would harmlessly bounce off. Skill may count for a lot, but no matter how good a swimmer is they are helpless against an ocean."

 

Scratching his chin as he stepped back, Covai was curious to see how the man would go. He was probably just confusing him, but he needed to get the man's mind thinking differently before showing him the weaves he had planned. The were definetely on a different scale to anything the man had worked with, and probably wouldn't do it much good against another channeler or a arrow. Against an army though...the man would be a force to recon with.

[Tigara]

Ikki watched with interest as Covai formed a hammer right before his eyes. He wasn't a sword, but a sledgehammer? It seemed...different from the normal, but Covai was the boss man. He went over and gripped the hammer with both hands. He grunted to even pick it up and it took all his might to swing it over his head. But the results were exactly as intended. The head had buried itself in the ground where it had struck. Ikki wiped the sweat off his brown and gave his teacher a weak grin, then tried again. He strained to swing the top heavy tool and nearly fell over on his third try.

 

"I thought this was saidin training?" Ikki muttered as he picked himself up, waiting for new instructions.

 

 

[Covai Seriba]

"It is." A cold fire burned behind Covai's eyes as he pulled the hammer from it's resting place. Spreading his feet apart as rested the shaft over his shoulders, Covai vaguely noted the others had moved away to give him space. "Now watch"

 

Tweaking the elements to add to the visability has he wove, Covai's left hand reached out in front of him as a ball of fire and earth began to swirl above his finger tips. Flexing his right arm from the shoulder, Covai could feel the power flow through his palm and wrap itself along the hammer's shaft. Focusing the strength of the weave into the hammerhead, Covai let out a grunt as heaved the the hammer from his shoulder. A twist to set the ball of fire and earth spinning was all he had time for before bringing the hammer down.

 

In the moment the weaves connected there was a blinding flash as the sphere he had created was torn apart, tearing throught the ground beneath it as it erased the distance between the targets. The shockwave from the hammer was barely a second behind, creating a sort of earthen wave briefly before crashing against the manikins. Covai heard at least one of them take in a deep breath as the manikins were uprooted and set flying towards the tree line at the edge of the practice area.

 

Waiting for the dust cloud to settle, Covai relaxed his grip on the hammer's shaft, letting the weight of it's head drop it to the ground beside him. Resting his arm casually on the pommel, the Storm Leader tilted his head slightly.

 

"Training enough for you Dedicated?"