Class IV: Testing your Ability

[Jehaine]

OOC: To complete the set, all you need to do is post once here (and in Class III if you haven't posted there yet). This thread will remain Open after that for those that want to finish the test, but all i'd need is one correct answer after which you can consider this Req done. More posts are of course encouraged, though not mandatory ;)

 

IC:

 

Jerinia was grinning as she waited for her students to arrive. Much like in her last class, she had had some things brought in again, only this time there would be a sponge in a bucket of water standing next to every desk, including her own. She studied the sheet of parchment that was on her desk again, describing the test she had worked out with the help of Chamindhra Sedai. Though she knew the White Ajah generally looked down on her lack of forethought and planning, they hadn't turned down a request for help.

 

Behind her there were five words, created using the Five Threads, floating in midair behind her. The 'weaves' were tied off, but those that knew her handwriting would have no problem figuring out who had been responsable for them. The words read:

 

 

AIR

EARTH

FIRE

SPIRIT

WATER

 

 

As her students would come in, she'd greet them as she always did, and wait until they were all seated before habitually walking in front of her desk to begin talking about what she wanted them to do.

 

- "First off, congratulations on making it this far. You've all made great progress, and i'm proud to say that this will likely be the last class you'll be getting from me. Well... provided you pass this little test, of course."

 

She chuckled at that, and turned around to lift the bucket on top of her own desk. After rolling up her sleeve, she took the sponge out, showing everyone that it had indeed soaked itself full of water before dropping it in the bucket again. She motioned to the words she had written with the five threads behind her, and continued her speech.

 

- "This test is about practical uses of the Power. As you are well aware by now, there can be large differences between two Aes Sedai in terms of strength, both overall and in specific elements. Using myself as an example, i am quite strong in Air and my potential in Fire is among the highest in the Tower, but there are Novices around that can beat me when it comes to Earth and Water. This test is a test of the mind more than anything else, to make you realise that there are several ways of achieving the same goal. If you are weak in a specific element, simply work around it and use another."

 

She put the bucket down on the floor again, and leaned against her desk again, running her hands through her once again crimson -- she had managed to get her hands on some dye during a Freeday -- hair. Taking a deep breath, she waited for her last speech to sink in before telling them what they'd actually be needing to do.

 

- "Now, you all have a bucket and sponge, and your goal is to tell me a way to get the water out of the sponge. You don't have to show me, but you can test out any theories on your own bucket and sponge before replying. I'll say that there are five possible answers to this test, and every time someone has a correct answer i will strike it off the list behind me, meaning you can't use that element in your answer any more. No double answers i'm afraid, girls."

 

She winked at them, giving them an encouraging smile as she waited for the first one to answer. A couple of answers were obvious, some others weren't, but she hadn't called in the help of a White for nothing! It should be fun to see what they'd come up with...

[Cleopatra Narisse]

Satin instantly knew that using two separate weaves of Air to squash the sponge would certainly remove the water.

 

She wondered, would she use Fire to boil the water out of the sponge. If so she would have to be very careful with her weave. She would not want to set it on fire.

 

She knew also that she could use Spirit, to coax it out.

 

Her answers could indeed be any one of the five but she wanted to choose the one that she would definately use.

 

"I would use two weaves of Air to press against the sponge."

 

Jerinia, motioned her towards the bucket and water. Satin stood in front of it and stared with the same intensity as everything else. The study of this weave was remarkable.

 

Pulling in the one power began in her mind. It radiated down her spine to build like a furnace in her chest. The warmth of it was perfect, sensual, and sweet.

 

She plucked out Air from the ball of tangled threads and sent it out, delicately, to touch the sponge. Then she duplicated this thread and like a fluid snake, coiled away from the its twin to find the other side of the sponge. Strange, how she could feel the texture of that sponge in the weaves... She moved her head to crick a tad, sideways and commanded them to press towards one another. The sponge began to drip an then, to pour out all its content. Satin released the flows as she plucked the sponge from mid-air. It was perfectly dry. A small smile creased one corner of her mouth as she handed the sponge to Jerinia. With a curtsy she returned to her seat. She was so wholly satisfied with herself that she was nearly messmerized.

[Tigara]

Allrianne pondered each possibility. The drying weave would use Fire. Air, as Satin just answered, could be used to wring it out. She was pretty sure she could pull the water out of the sponge with Water. She wasn't exactly sure how to use Spirit, but supposedly it was possible. And Earth? There was no way Earth could pull water out of a sponge!

 

She decided to test out the Water theory with her bucket. After performing her ritual clawing, she embraced the Source and grabbed a firm hold on the cool, slick flow. She then picked up the sponge and held it over the bucket. Next, Allri wove into the sponge with her flows of Water then 'pulled' on them and watched the water fall out of the sponge back into the bucket. She felt her sponge up. Not perfect, but it worked.

 

She raised her hand then pronounced to the Accepted. "Water can be used to pull the water out of the sponge."

 

Allrianne Viventi

Earth? Really?

[Quisalas Selene]

Katiana watched the two and for once she regretted her perpetual behavior to be late to everything and dawdle about her tasks.  Her classmates had taken the easy answers, but thankfully it was fire that Katiana was most proficient with. "You can dry the sponge with Heat, Jerinia Accepted."  At her teacher's gesture, Katiana rose and filled the sponge with water from the bucket.  She paused then.

 

"If I'm going to be heating the sponge, I shouldn't be holding it in my hand."  She focused and caught hold of Saidar, finding it the only thing that she could easily submit to.  She couldn't blame the One Power for what people who wielded it chose to do, after all.  She wove air first, using it to hold the sponge aloft over the bucket.  She concentrated on this for a while before she attempted to weave fire as well.  It would not be a good idea to lose control over either weave because her attention was divided.  Once the sponge was held fast, supported on a buffet of air and bobbing gently as the weave shifted slightly, she drew fire.  She held one hand still, holding the air weave physically even though it didn't need it.

 

The thread of fire was hair-thin at first, and she wove it carefully into the sponge.  This was taking forever, Satin had just smacked the sponge with air and was done with it.    Once she had the fire woven properly, she increased the strength she put into it, watching for any signs of trouble.  She nearly lost her concentration when a pale mist began to rise from the sponge, worried that it was smoke.  She relaxed again when she sniffed and smelled only steam and continued the work. 

 

She boiled away the water quickly once she found the proper strength and release the weave of fire first.  When she took the sponge in her hand she dropped it almost immediately. "It's still hot!"  She should have realized it would be, but as she blew lightly on her fingers and then bent to pick the sponge up off of where it landed on the desk, she was more careful.  Now that the fire weave had been removed, it was cooling rapidly.  When she was able to handle the warm sponge easily, she handed it to Jerinia Accepted.

 

"If you had the control of the fire and Saidar to do so, I bet you could flash just the water within it and not harm the sponge.  It took me so long because I was trying to be very careful with it."  She gave Jerinia a smile, feeling just a touch of the pride and sense of accomplishment that her less jaded classmates had already enjoyed in the previous classes.

[Jehaine]

Jerinia smiled as each of her students gave a correct answer, much as she expected them to. It was a bit surprising to hear Fire being the last to be named, though that could be because of her own preference for the element. Chances were her students weren't as strong in Fire as she was, and thus didn't think of applications of the element as much as she did.

 

- "Correct, all three of you! Chances are, you've been wondering what the remaining two ways are now, and we will get to that in a minute. First though, i'll remove the answers that were given from the list."

 

 

===

EARTH

===

SPIRIT

===

 

 

The threads forming the words blurred, turning into double lines to show the answer had been crossed out. Which, as she had just said, left two answers still open. A smile crept on her lips as she wondered whether they'd be able to think of the final two. Truth be said, until the White Ajah Aes Sedai she had approached to help her with the assignment had given her the answers, she doubted she could have thought of them herself if the tables would have been turned now. Ah yes, which reminded her.

 

- "The reason why i gave you this problem to solve was to remind you that there are always several ways to handle a problem. In the end, it doesn't matter whether you're strong or weak in an element, or even the One Power in general, as long as you can think of a way to apply your strengths in different ways to get the job done."

 

She looked at the threads again before turning back to her students. The easy part was done now, but she couldn't help but wonder if they would be able to figure out the remaining answers amongst themselves. The way Chamindhra Sedai explained it to her, it was quite an important part of knowing how to channel as well, and she didn't want to skip it after the work the two of them had put in together.

 

- "Now, though all of you just passed Basic Saidar class, i'm going to offer you one last problem... What are the last two ways to get the water out of the sponge? Again, you don't have to answer this, but i want to find out whether you can figure this one out. You may discuss this amongst yourselves... Have fun girls!"

 

She chuckled at that last bit, feeling a bit excited at wondering how long it would take them to come up with the answer.

 

 

Great Teacher Jerinia

Riddle me this...

[Quisalas Selene]

Something teased just at the edge of awareness for Katiana and she let her eyes drift away from her teacher as she chased it and tried to bring it to light.  There was something about Earth, and the way it could be used.  Her brows knitted together in a frown that was, for once, not one of surly anger or pertulence.  It was merely a frown of concentration.  She thought about her lessons before, about the weaves that Jerinia Accepted had taught them.  She would not be asking them this question now if it was not something that could be solved by what they knew, it would just take a little sideways thinking.

 

Trying to think around the problem, she thought of half a dozen ways that air could be channeled to dry the sponge.  A breeze channeled through the holes in the sponge, or the air sucked from the sponge strongly enough to create an empty place that the water would be pulled to- a vacuum, as of air that causes the crashes of thunder.  Blowing the water from the sponge would do much the same as drying it with air, and probably faster too.  But the question was of Earth.  Well, and Spirit, but there was not even a tickling of thought when she tried to think of how Spirit could be used.  Katiana was not entirely sure she had the understanding of Spirit being woven by itself anyway.  It seemed to shape and focus the other powers woven along with it, but alone?

 

Earth. 

 

The thoughts that finally formed for her were not very impressive or creative, but they were worth mentioning anyway.  It wasn't as if anyone else had come up with any ideas while she had been thinking.  If the other girls had been talking, she hadn't paid any attention to them and certainly hadn't joined in.

 

"Jerinia Accepted?"  As the woman's eyes shifted to her, Katiana went on before she could be allowed to question herself.  "If the sponge counted as Earth itself-" She had no idea what the sponge counted as, it was the body of a sea animal long dead. "then perhaps you could channel Earth into it and using Shaping, remove the holes themselves that hold the water, and then reshape it back into a sponge?"

 

 

Katiana

Trying to be inventive

[Jehaine]

Jerinia grinned, leaning back to think about the answer Katiana had given. She already knew the answers, of course, but she wanted to build up the tension a little before mentioning whether the Novice had been right or wrong.

 

- "That answer is... wrong, i'm afraid. Though you would be able to fill the holes with Earth, the moisture would be absorbed, not expelled. As soon as the weave is undone, the water would flow right back into the sponge again. Nice try though."

 

She crossed her arms, leaning back and forth from where she was sitting on the desk for a moment as she looked at the Novices. To be honest, she felt somewhat relieved that they were having some trouble finding the remaining two answers. She had felt rather stupid at hearing them herself, but this proved to her that it wasn't just her.

 

- "No one? Very well, i'll give you a little hint. You need to think simpler."

 

She winked at them, waiting with some excitement on the next answer her Novices would give her. The urge to tell them was great indeed, but she managed to hold herself back, preferring to have her students figure it out for themselves. They'd be needing those skills later.

 

 

Great Teacher Jerinia

Really likes this riddle