Intro to Saidar Lesson 3 (attn all who signed up)

[claireducky]

Lesson 3: Pushing and Pulling

 

Claire reached the classroom a little late this morning because she had been in the gardens preparing her surprise for everyone. She loved taking her students out of the classroom and the gardens always seemed to help them relax. She knew Novices hardly had free time to see the gardens because of all the other classes and chores they do. When she reached the door to the classroom, the students were waiting in the corridor outside for her.  She opened the door to let them in, then turned and faced the young women.

 

"Good morning, class. I hope you are ready for a more strenuous lesson today. First I would like you to place your essay from yesterday and the description of your new relaxation exercise on my desk.” She waited until the girls had carefully placed the sheets of parchment on the desk before she announced her surprise. “Now that that’s done, I feel that we need a little fresh air. I’m taking you out to the gardens today.  I think if you are put in a quiet and serene atmosphere, then concentrating on this particular lesson will be much easier for you.”

 

While they were making their way out of the Tower, Claire briefly went over her notes regarding this lesson. When they reached the secluded area she had set aside for her class, she asked the Novices to take a seat on the arrayed benches.  Then she began the lesson. "The theme of today’s lesson is control.  In life, control will be an integral part of everything you do.  As the Source will be a big part of your life as well, it would do you well to learn control of it.  The most common technique for controlling the Source is called Pushing and Pulling. The objective is to embrace and hold the Source, but hold it as far away from you as you can without releasing it. This discipline will help you to back off from the Source before you reach a level you can’t control. This will also help you when it comes time to learn linking in your later studies."

 

"Now close your eyes, everyone. I want you to first use your new relaxation technique, then picture your flower bud again. Once the light of the sun has hit it and it has opened, just hold yourself there." Claire watched as the glow of Saidar winked into being around the girls. When the light shone steady and did not waver, Claire continued.

 

"Now, the sun’s rays being filtered by a cloud passing in front of it. As the light from the sun is diminished on the flower, so should your hold on the Source. Push it away from you, while still maintaining contact. The sun still provides heat behind the cloud, just as the Source can still flow into you at a smaller rate. To pull it back into you fully again, imagine the cloud drifting away from the sun, and the full light and heat back on the flower. Beware of losing the cloud too quickly, as snapping it back can hurt." Claire had taken the bench directly across from the Novices to make sure she could see their faces.  The look of troubled concentration was back on some of the young womens’ faces, and it seemed that perhaps some were not succeeding in pushing away the Source. "You may take a break for a moment.”

 

She saw the Novices open their eyes and look at her expectantly. “Now I have noticed that it seems hard for some of you to push the Source away, but you must try harder.  Female channelers know when you are holding the Source.  It appears to us as a glow around you, like a nimbus.  As you become more practiced at channeling, you will also begin to see the glow around others.  My point is this: if you hold the Source simply to feel the joy of it, you are weak of mind.  It is an addiction, and if you cannot struggle against it then will not learn how to control it. In the end you will most likely burn yourself out or die.” Claire watched as many of their faces went pale at the consequences.

 

“I am sure you understand the necessity of this lesson better now. So please close your eyes again and concentrate." She made the Novices do this for most of the class until she decided that they were making an effort to push the Source away. Satisfied, she instructed them all to take a break again.  After a few minutes, Claire continued on with the lesson.

 

“In order to weave you must know what the elements are. The five elements are Air, Water, Fire, Earth, and Spirit. I’m going to show you which threads are which.” Claire then embraced the Source and strands of all five elements together into a thick rope.  The threads wrapped tightly around each other in a spiral pattern; each thread stood out clearly. “Now can you tell me which thread is which?” One of the women pressed a finger to her lips in thought, and then answered, “Air is Blue, Water is Green, Spirit is White, Fire is Red and Earth is Brown.”

 

Claire was pleased that the Novice had caught on so quickly. “Good, I see you have been studying. Now, I want each of you to come up and work with me to identify the different threads. You will have problems doing this at first, but if you work hard it will get easier.”  The Novices and Claire worked on this task for another hour or so, until Claire was satisfied that the young women could pick out each strand fairly well.  She then dismissed them with no homework for that night.

 

 

OOC: Alright for today’s lesson:  Write about meeting me at the classroom and leaving your essay and relaxation exercise on my desk, include the text of your essay (in italics) in your post so that I can read it.  RP how it feels to Push and Pull the Source.  Be sure to RP your new calming exercise before your first attempt at Pushing and Pulling.  RP picking out the threads with me, which ones are easiest for you?  Which ones are hardest? Realize this is not a statement of which element you’re strongest with according to your OP score but which comes to you easiest right now. Keep in mind that Fire and Earth will probably be most difficult for you.

 

What is your physical body doing when you pick out the threads? Some Aes Sedai find physical movements help them with working in the power. Perhaps you make gestures with your hands or maybe you have to think about something (like your calming exercise) to keep your concentration. Nothing you do here has to be a serious or long lasting thing, but everyone has their little tricks that help them learn. Maybe you have one too?

 

[Arath Faringal]

OOC:  You use different colors for the OP than we do at the BT ... :P

 

Rochel raced down the halls of the White Tower, dodging servants and other novices and bobbing quick curtsies on the run to anyone who deserved it.  She knew she wasn't going to make it.  She could almost hear a clock ticking down the final seconds until she was late for class.  She rounded the final corner, excuses ready to fly from her lips, and almost ran headlong into one of the other novices from the class, waiting outside the closed room.  With a sigh of relief she leaned against the wall to catch her breathe.

 

A few minutes later, Claire seemed to wander along by happenstance and addressed them.  "Good morning, class. I hope you are ready for a more strenuous lesson today. First I would like you to place your essay from yesterday and the description of your new relaxation exercise on my desk.”

 

With a grimace at the slightly crumpled papers in her hand, Rochel walked forward and put her essay on the pile.  She had been up a great deal of time over the last day researching for it.  At first she had not cared much for the assignment, until she had found a name among the lists of training casualties that intrigued her.  Information on the accepted she had chosen was hard to find, but she had written almost all she could find.

 

Accepted Seleena Dion was entered into the novice books some hundred and fifty years ago.  A bright girl with an appetite for knowledge, she seemed to have a knack for understanding ancient texts and translations, and naturally aspired to the Brown Ajah.  One of her favorite studies included ter'angreal, which she spent a rather large amount of time investigating, often against the advice of the sisters.

 

While very careful with her own studies, Seleena's downfall came by the hands of another accepted who was less capable when it came to ter'angreal.  This accepted, by the name of Daera Fairns, carelessly channeled spirit into a ter'angreal of unknown purpose.  Reportedly, there was a large flash of light, and moments later the pair were found unconscious on the floor.  Though Daera herself was spared any ill consequences (to the contrary, for a time she seemed to have rather excessive amounts of energy), Seleena's ability was instantly seared out, simply for being too close to the incident.

 

As per custom, Seleena was put out of the tower with enough coin to last her for a year, and was last known to be returning to her native Arad Doman.

 

Rochel remembered listening to her father talk of his own childhood.  His favorite relative when he was young had been his great-grandmother, Seleena.  Rochel wondered if this could have been the same woman.  It had certainly intrigued her.  Further pursuit on the matter had actually turned up Seleena's journal, and the second part of her assignment.

 

Meditation exercise: Wind in the Willows

 

This exercise requires the person to imagine themself as a tall, graceful willow tree.  Once the willow tree is firmly established in the mind, imagine a wind begin to pick up.  The branches of the willow slowly ripple in the wind, riding the breeze and weathering the storms that may come.  No matter how the wind howls, the willow conquers it by letting itself bend rather than rigidly fight.  A willow may seem weak and frail, but it is the seeming frailty that enables it to withstand the ferocious winds, where a proud, unwavering oak tree may fall. 

 

A favorite of Seleena's, according to the journal she had found it in, it had seemed an appropriate one to include.  It actually worked rather well too.  She had tried it last night when her room mates snoring had kept her awake.

 

“Now that that’s done, I feel that we need a little fresh air. I’m taking you out to the gardens today.  I think if you are put in a quiet and serene atmosphere, then concentrating on this particular lesson will be much easier for you.”

 

When they had reached the garden and taken their seats, Rochel listened carefully to Claire's instructions.  Pushing and Pulling ... the idea itself made sense, but Rochel wasn't sure her control was good enough for it to work.  She had a hard enough time holding on to Saidar at all, let alone while trying to maintain a weaker hold.

 

Closing her eyes, Rochel let the willow form in her mind, the wind moving briskly through the branches, but the tree itself moving calmly.  Then she added the rose bud to the image, sheltered from the wind by the tree.  Slowly, frustratingly slow, the rose opened up to the light of Saidar.  Once she managed to hold onto the source, the tried to imagine the cloud Claire spoke of, drifting between her flower and the light.  Immediately the flower began to close back up, and Rochel lost Saidar.  Grimacing to herself, she tried again.  And again.  And again.

 

Finally, she managed to do it.  As the cloud drifted in front of the light, the rosebud began to close up again, but this time it held open some.  It was hard to try to hold so little when she had to struggle to hold anything at all.  Not that she was really holding a lot to begin with, but it was difficult nonetheless.  It was a relief when Claire told them to take a break.

 

“In order to weave you must know what the elements are. The five elements are Air, Water, Fire, Earth, and Spirit. I’m going to show you which threads are which.”  Rochel concentrated hard in order to see the weave that Claire laid out in front of them.  “Now can you tell me which thread is which?”

 

Rochel thought for a moment.  How was she supposed to know?  Well ... Red had to be fire.  It only made sense.  Brown ... didn't fit anything else but earth.  But green only seemed to fit earth as well.  Blue ... that could be air or water.  White could be air or spirit.  Since blue probably wasn't spirit, that only left white.  Which made air blue and ... water green?  That didn't seem right.

 

One of the other novices spoke up and listed everything off to Claire, who looked delighted.  “Good, I see you have been studying. Now, I want each of you to come up and work with me to identify the different threads. You will have problems doing this at first, but if you work hard it will get easier.”

 

Rochel watched carefully as the first girls had their turns with Claire.  There really wasn't much to observe, so she didn't learn anything by watching.  She simply enjoyed what seemed like her first moments outside in a long time.  Before she knew it, Claire was motioning for her to come forward.

 

Surpressing a sigh, Rochel trudged up to the bench where the Brown sister was sitting and when she was given the confirming nod, the embraced Saidar.  On the second attempt.  Firmly holding on to the source, Rochel explored it for the first time.  It was surprising.  It was like looking into the sun and finding a five color rainbow.  She ... reached ... there was no other word for it, and began to pull at one of the threads making up the light.  The white one.  It came away easily enough and floated there in front of her.  Rochel cocked her head and looked at it for a moment.  "White.  That makes it Spirit?" 

 

When Claire nodded, she released the thread and pulled at another one.  Red this time.  It wasn't nearly as easy as the white one.  It didn't seem to want to move.  Unconsciously, Rochel made a pinching motion with her fingers and tugged harder.  Finally it fell away from the others and dangled in the air in front of her.  She experimentally waved it around a little, mimicking the movement with her pinched fingers.  "Fire."

 

Air and Water quickly followed, both easier than Fire had been.  Last came Earth.  Pinching at the brown thread, Rochel tugged at it like she had with fire.  Nothing happened.  Pinching her fingers tighter, she pulled again, still with no result.  A little embarassed, her fist balled up and she gave one last mighty pull.  The thin brown thread wavered in her grip, resisting her every attempt to move it.  Letting the miserable element go, Rochel looked at Claire.  "I suppose that was Earth then?  It was like it didn't want to be moved."

[Jehaine]

OOC: Saidin works differently than saidar, my dear Arath... Though Jerinia used different colors as well ;)

 

IC:

 

Aeryn arrived in the classroom in the nick of time, calmly closing the door behind her mere seconds before the bell chimed to signal the start of the next round of classes. As if nothing had happened, she walked to her chair at the very front of the classroom in a dignified manner, waiting for Claire to begin. The first thing the Aes Sedai had asked for was the essay she had told them to write, and she rose up to place hers on the desk.

 

Accepted Jerinia Zaralyn was entered into the Novice books in the year 950 NE. Though her relentless enthousiasm has been... problematic at best, she is currently still in the Tower, unable or perhaps unwilling to decide on an Ajah to join.

 

In order to aid her decision, she was given rare permission to head out to the Borderlands under the leadership of Loraine Sedai as an orientation trip of sorts. However, the group stumbled upon a Trolloc raid that was being led their way by Darkfriends, and in the fighting, Jerinia channeled more than she could handle trying to shield the Aes Sedai.

 

Once returned, the Accepted was found to still be able to channel, though at a much weaker power than before the incident. After the Yellow Ajah had inspected the connection, they concluded that her connection had been strained, but not severed. Over time, her channeling increased back to its normal state again with no adverse effects, and the incident has been catalogued by the Yellow Ajah accordingly.

 

Not quite what Claire had been looking for, but close enough. She had been reading the logs when she came across that entry, and Jerinia had been more than willing to fill out the blanks when she had asked for them. Though technically she had never actually burned out, it had been close enough to fit the parameters, or so she hoped. The second page was easier.

 

Meditation Exercise: On the Beach.

 

This exercise requires someone to imagine they are lying on a warm beach, the sun shining down on them. Closing their eyes, they imagine that they hear the beat of the waves crashing on the sand, yet being unsuccessful to drag it back out to sea. Whatever is dragged out, the changing tides replaces. This sinuous movement represents the idea that while everything seems to constantly change, in the long term the cycle remains as it's ever been, much like the Wheel as a whole. One can be sand or one can be waves, but in the end, the Wheel sees that there is balance between the two. Knowing this, one may conclude that no matter what happens, the Wheel keeps the situation under control, as it always has.

 

It had been strange to write her thoughts like that. She was much more of a doer than a thinker, and after rereading what she had written it sounded almost like something a Tinker would have answered. Still, she had to admit it sounded pretty good, and as such she decided against redoing it in favor of something else more attuned to her character. The assignment was to find a calming exercise after all.

 

Once everyone had handed in their assignent papers, she followed the rest of class to the gardens. When she arrived, she stood there for a few seconds, taking a deep breath to take in the colors and sounds that coud be seen and heard. As Claire started to speak, she moved to sit down on one of the benches with the others, her behaviour befitting of the Lady she was.

 

Closing her eyes, she decided to follow the meditation exercise she had written down. Given that she had had good results with it during the first couple of classes, she decided to make the small alteration and see how that would work. Just allowing everything to just... slide off of her rather than standing there, tapping her foot waiting on it to arrive. Much to her surprise, saidar came easier then, faster than it had come before. She tried a couple of times, each time managing to hold onto saidar a little longer though it was clear from her reaction every time the glow would appear around her that she still needed to get used to the surge of feeling that rushed through her every time she succeeded in touching it.

 

Next came the threads. After a little break, she watched one of the other Novices -- Rochel, she believed her name was -- to finish, before standing up to glide over to Claire herself. The nature of the exercise was to recognise the elements used in the different threads, it seemed, and though they were hard to make out she could see the threads the rope had been woven from taking a closer look.

 

- "Water is Green, Earth is Brown, Fire is Red, Air is Blue and Spirit is White. The other Novice mentioned it, and you confirmed it by answering."

 

She touched out the threads before leaving though, trying to figure out what they felt like. One was slippery, Earth seemed to resist being moved whereas Water adapted to whatever shape the thread took easily. She didn't notice anything be particularly harder to move than the other though, but she figured that would likely come later, when her studies would be sufficiently advanced for her to notice the difference. With a curtsy, she returned back to her seat, waiting for the next person to take their turn.

 

 

Aeryn

Can make long posts too!

[Guest dragonsworn1991]

ooc: Will get to this tomorrow, I tried to post it tonight but my internet glitched and I lost it, so it will be up tomorrow, after I rewrite it.

[Jehaine]

OOC: I usually select everything, right click and choose 'copy' before posting, that way when something glitches and i lose it all i need to do is paste it into the reply screen again for another attempt. Or paste it in a textfile for later use, depending on how bad the interweb crashed on me. Bit after the fact, but advice nonetheless ;)

[Arath Faringal]

*bump*

 

1 more?

[Far Dareis Mai]

Daraniea glided into class with her papers neatly in hand. Her fine script graced the pages in prim, neat lines. As she followed the line of girls to the desk to turn in her paper, she smiled briefly at the information she had found.

 

Accepted for seventeen years, Vellaine Miralen was close to her testing. One evening, while practicing her 100 weaves with a colleague, the two girls decided to participate in an absurd duel of sorts, to see which girl was more deft with their weaves, while holding as much power as they could. Unfortunately, Vellaine drew too much of the One Power, and while trying to weave fire and earth together, burned herself out while subsequently unleashing a weave that rocked the entire Novice Quarters. Though Vellaine was put out of the Tower, the other Accepted spent another eight years as Accepted, in the kitchens scrubbing pots.

 

Short, sweet, and to the point. It had better be suffiecient, thought Daraniea. The last thing she wanted to do was pour over old manuscripts again. The other part of her assignment, while equally as boring, was much easier to write about.

 

Meditation exercise: Pouring the water

 

The person envisions themselves with a tall pitcher of clean clear water. The pitcher is representative of the person holding the Saidar, and the water Saidar itself. As the Pitcher lets the water loose, the stream can be thick or thin, a strong flow or a weak trickle. As the water flows out of the pitcher, the stream is steady, and balanced. It flows peacefully from the pitcher, and wherever it lands, it reacts with what it comes into contact with in various ways.

 

“Now that that’s done, I feel that we need a little fresh air. I’m taking you out to the gardens today.  I think if you are put in a quiet and serene atmosphere, then concentrating on this particular lesson will be much easier for you.”

At this Daraniea perked up. The notion of escaping this place of lessons and chores seemed too good to be true. Since Daraniea arrived, there had been only one free day! ONE! And in that day, she was so busy taking care of odds and ends, and catching up on sleep, that she hadn't had time for anything like strolling through a garden. Bouncing up with perhaps a little bit more energy, Daraniea followed the rest of the students out of the classroom. As she took her seat on a small bench, she instantly turned her face up to the warmth of the sun. The day was lovely, and she did her best to bask in nature as much as possible. Closing her eyes as instructed, she began to envision herself slowly filling the pitcher with water. As she did so, she felt the life and vitality of the One Power course through her. Holding onto Saidar, she waited for the Aes Sedai to continue the lesson.

 

"Now, the sun’s rays being filtered by a cloud passing in front of it. As the light from the sun is diminished on the flower, so should your hold on the Source. Push it away from you, while still maintaining contact. The sun still provides heat behind the cloud, just as the Source can still flow into you at a smaller rate. To pull it back into you fully again, imagine the cloud drifting away from the sun, and the full light and heat back on the flower. Beware of losing the cloud too quickly, as snapping it back can hurt."

 

Ever so slowly, she did as the Aes Sedai instructed. It was quite a challenge, moreso than she had thought it would be. Keeping even a tenuous hold on Saidar whilst still holding it at all made her want to grit her teeth. As Claire Sedai called for a break, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. The Aes Sedai began to enforce the notion behind becoming addicted to holding the One Power, and the consequences for doing so. Daraniea, while respecting the woman's experience, figured it was not something she would ever have to worry about.

 

“In order to weave you must know what the elements are. The five elements are Air, Water, Fire, Earth, and Spirit. I’m going to show you which threads are which.” Claire then embraced the Source and strands of all five elements together into a thick rope.  The threads wrapped tightly around each other in a spiral pattern; each thread stood out clearly. “Now can you tell me which thread is which?” One of the women pressed a finger to her lips in thought, and then answered, “Air is Blue, Water is Green, Spirit is White, Fire is Red and Earth is Brown.”

 

“Good, I see you have been studying. Now, I want each of you to come up and work with me to identify the different threads. You will have problems doing this at first, but if you work hard it will get easier.”

 

Daraniea watched as the other Novices worked with the Aes Sedai in identifying the various threads. It was difficult to see at first, though right away Daraniea could easily pick out the thread of Spirit every time. When it was Daraniea's turn, she gave Claire Sedai a half smile and began to name the threads. Spirit was by far the easiest. She felt as though she would even be able to sense and identify that particular thread blindfolded. Air and Water were easier, but Earth and Fire not so much. They looked the same to her, and it was very frustrating to feel so inept.

 

As class ended, Daraniea felt only relief when the Aes Sedai did not assign any extra work. She left the secluded garden slowly, dragging her feet the entire way.

[claireducky]

Claire was delighted with how well the Novices were doing in this exercise.  Some of the relaxation techniques they had come up with were delightful, too!

 

Rochel had trouble with the brown thread and asked if it had been Earth.  Claire nodded to confirm this, commiserating with the girl.  While she herself was strong with Earth, she remembered struggling with these threads as a Novice as well.  The other girls also seemed to have troubles with Earth and Fire.  Well, at least she would help them on the way to mastering what they could of those elements in the Final.