Lessons 1 & 2: Source (Open)

[craftyreader]

Today was to be her first class on using Saidar...whatever that was.  After breakfast and morning chores were over, Elody was told to report to Saline Sedai.  In order to avoid getting lost again, she repeated the directions to the classroom in a soft chant.

 

Thankfully the corridors she was traveling were fairly empty.  Her curtsy was improving with use, but she was still not good at it.  She could sit a horse, pole a paddle boat, and after much abuse from her Aunt, walk with a book on her head.  Why her curtsy was atrocious was beyond her.  Thankfully her Aunt had given up on her ever being graceful.  Part of her troubles now were with the skirts she was wearing.  The Tower seamstress had been pointed out to her in the tour she received from the Accepted, but there had not been time to go back as yet.  First thing tomorrow I am going to find her and ask for these to be shortened.  Hopefully before anyone notices the scuff marks on the hem....

With a start, Elody realized she had reached the wing of classrooms.  Several had doors open, with groups of girls listening to their Aes Sedai instructors.  Finding the right room, she slipped into a seat at the back, not wanting to disturb any of the other students.  Some of the faces were ones she had seen here and there since she had been at the Tower.  Not one to make the first move, she sat quietly and listened to the chatter around her. She still was not quite sure what to make of a large group of girls living together.  They certainly could be a noisy bunch when they got excited about something.

 

After a few minutes a woman in trousers entered the class.  She had the look of authority that Elody had already associated with Aes Sedai.  It seemed to fairly ooze out of their pores.  Not at all unlike the way her cat would stalk into a room, demanding attention, no matter what you were doing at the time. Taking her cue from the other girls, she sat up straight in her chair and focused her attention on the newcomer.

 

The Aes Sedai introduced herself as Saline Sedai, and explained with the assistance of the Accepted Salandrian, she would be teaching them the basics of Saidar.  The rules were simple it seemed:  absolutely no channeling without the express permission and presence of an Accepted or Aes Sedai. 

Rules were something to be appreciated and respected, for the most part.  Everything from sailing a boat to cooking a pie had rules, so these were no surprise.  Glancing around, she noticed another Novice taking notes....why hadn't she thought to do that?  She made a mental note to be more prepared in the future.

 

“A little history, by the by. The general for the Light Lews Therin Telamon bored the Dark One away with his Companions, the male Aes Sedai. Latra Posae Decume opposed Lews Therin’s plan, and reached an agreement with every female Aes Sedai on the side of the Light to not support Lews Therin’s plan. This agreement was later known as the Fateful Concord, which kept the female Aes Sedai out of the attempt to seal away the Dark One and the Forsaken. In response to the Dragon Lews Therin Telamon and his companions the Dark One tainted Saidin with his touch, out of spite for those who dared to seal him. As one of the sisters of the Red Ajah, I am particularly interested in those who suffer this madness.”

 

After the very basics were covered each girl stood up and introduced herself while Salandrian noted the names and seating arrangements.  Once this had been completed, the main part of the lesson was started.  The girls were told to imagine a single rosebud.  No stem, no thorns, just a bud.  Closing her eyes as directed, Elody pictured a rosebud, similar to one she would have found in her mother’s old garden.  A small miniature pink bud still closed.  She saw the leaves and the tip of the flower.  The flower reminded her of her mother, and that reminded her of her father.  Before she realized it, she had lost the image of the rose and she opened her eyes. 

The other Novices around her seemed to be having varying levels of success.  One seemed to be lost in a daydream, staring out the window, while another looked like she rather be anywhere than here.  Elody rubbed her eyes and shook out her hair before closing her eyes once more.  She took a deep breath and imagined the rose again, careful to focus herself on just the rose.  Slowly she added in the sun, the way it looked and felt when it first rose in the morning.  Unconsciously her face tilted upwards, as if being warmed by the sun.  Next she let the petals begin to unfurl, the promise of pink petals being fulfilled.  The rose was nearly half opened when the sound of singing disrupted her concentration.  Eyes opened once more, she looked around for the source of the singing.  As fast as it started though, it was over.

Saline Sedai spoke up again, exhorting them all to remember the rules regarding the Source, or Saidar.  They were directed to line up at the back of the classroom where Salandrian would give them a name.  Then she would escort them to the library to find the name they had been given and see how the names all related to one another.  As Elody came up to Salandrian, she received a scrap of paper with the name Onwyn Celidae written in a smooth flowing script.

Salandrian was all business as she marched them up to the library.  Along the way Elody watched where she was going, in order to remember for future trips.

 

 

Elody Yates

Tower Novice

[Kathleen]

OOC: Sorry I'm so late to get here. I would have done several posts but since I got here late, I'll try to just do them all together so I can get all of what I was supposed to. I'm sorry it's so long, but I'm trying to do several posts in one, and respond to everything so far.

 

IC:

 

Kathleen had hurried threw the halls of the White Tower trying to find the classroom she was supposed to already be. She had wanted to go to the room the day before, just so she knew how to get there and to make sure that she knew when to leave to get to the class on time. She had been doing chores all day and didn't get a spare minute to map out her way and so when she finally arrived at the classroom on the day of the class she was late. She wasn't so late that they had started without her, in fact it looked like the Aes Sedai who was teaching the class wasn't there yet, but she wasn't the first one there, and to Kathleen that made her very, very late.

 

She had hung her head slightly as she tried to sneak into the room and sat relatively close to the door. It wasn't until after she sat that she realized people may think she sat there as a sign that she didn't want to be there and was sitting there to be the first one out. In truth she had sat there so she wouldn't have everyone stare at her as she made her way to a more suitable seat. She didn't like attention, especially when she thought it was for a negative reason.

 

She had sat silently, but listened intently to everything the Aes Sedia said and she tried to write it all down. She had taken notes before, but there was so much information. She was surprised how fast a class on what she thought was just meant to teach her how to use the One Power had become a detailed history lesson. As she listened to Saline Sedai she couldn't help but think of how much her Mother had not told her. After finding out the White Tower was real and that so many of the stories her mother had told her about this place were accurate she had started to think she knew it all already. But as the discussion turned to the Dragon and the Dark One and males who could channel Kathleen realized how little she really knew.

 

When a girl sitting close to the back of the room stood up and referred to Saline Sedai as "Saltine Sedai" Kathleen almost laughed out loud. Instead she hunched over her paper as if reviewing her notes to hide her grin. She would have to work on that, she must be able to hide her emotions once she was Aes Sedai.

 

As the girl who had jumped up continued to fumble her way through her questions and continued to refer to Saline Sedai as Saltine Sedai it became more and more difficult to stifle herself. As the questions went on and on all Kathleen could think was, Can this girl not control her tongue? Of course it wasn't so long past that Kathleen had last had trouble controlling her own tongue, but she wasn't going to think about that now. And then the girl, obviously long past meaning to ask the questions sputtering out of her mouth, uttered the question that got everyones attention,"Why are you wearing trousers like a man?" Any humor left in the situation was gone. Kathleen held her breath and kept her head down. That poor girl, she thought. Much to her surprise, Saline Sedai just thought for a moment and when she spoke again it took Kathleen a few seconds to realize that she wasn't reprimanding the girl, she was simply answering her questions. Was she really a Red? Kathleen began to scribble down what Seline Sedai was saying but soon found herself listening, both hands on her lap and eyes wide, surely she would remember enough to write it all down after the class.

 

As the lesson continued Kathleen pulled herself together and was pleased to hear they were going to learn to touch the Source. She listened to the description of the rose and closed her eyes. She remembered her first experience with it in the Mistress of Novices study. She had told Kathleen to look into a gem and to think of it like trying to put her energy into it. Kathleen tried to slow her heart rate, and she tried to calm herself. She pictured a pink rose bud floating in nothingness. She focused on it like she had the gem, and she watched it slowly open, the more it opened the calmer she became. She leaned forward in her seat trying to put all of her energy into the bud and then she felt a tingle. She jumped, and it stopped. She opened her eyes and she shook her head. That's exactly what had happened in the Mistress of Novices study. The first time she channeled she had felt the exact same way, she reacted the same way, jumping in her skin and stopping, but she felt that tingle, and then was told she had channeled. She must of channeled again! She closed her eyes, and slowed her heart again. She pictured the little pink rosebud, leaned forward and 'helped' it open. As it blossomed Kathleen tingled and then she felt it really flow into her for the first time. It should have been terrifying, but if felt to good to be terrifying. She was doing it, she was really doing it. And she didn't jump, it felt right. It felt so good she didn't want to let go, she opened her eyes thinking it would go away but it was there.

 

“This marks the first time you consciously touched the Source. If anybody has already taught you to touch the Source in the novice quarters, you will refrain from doing so again. Unless an accepted or sister is present, and you have their permission to touch the Source. If you ever break this rule, you will go to Pia Sedai at once.” The words Saline spoke broke through the calm Kathleen felt and she flooded back, letting go of the source without really meaning to. She was sad to let it go, it had felt so good, and the world felt so empty without it. She had only held it for a short time, but already she couldn't believe how bland the world was without it.

 

Kathleen listened to the rest of Saline Sedai's warnings and took them to heart. As much as she wanted to go back to that place, to be that rosebud again, she knew if she pushed too hard she would burn out, and that meant never feeling that bliss again. She had to find a way to learn more. She must befriend an Aes Sedai.

[Amadine]

*bump*