Derys and her shield

[Thanatos]

Ok, I am on ACoS re-read in expectation for ToM in late October.

 

My question is, when Nyn and Elayne go to meet the Kin with Setalle Anan, Derys, who is really quite weak in the power, shields Elayne.  Elayne says that when she tried to batter down the shield, it "flexed."  Then Derys explains that she could probably shield one of the Forsaken with it.

 

She explains that it is a talent that she has.  My question is, what type of shielding is this, how does it work, and how can it hold someone so much stronger in the power.  As far as I remember, nobody else in the series has been able to achieve this type of shielding.

[Arkane101]

anyone can have talents with different abilities, such as healing, what i got from different explinations of a shield is when someone is already shielded generally it takes less of the power to hold the shield than the person can hold. This is because once a shield has set, it is flexible to an extent and when the shielded channeler forces against the shield instead of being a solid wall it's a bendable barrier, and the better at holding the shield the channeler is, the more flexible, so when a large amount of the power is used on it instead of breaking it just keeps bending.

[Luckers]

Firstly it was Berowin, not Derys, and Nynaeve that pressed it (though Elayne probably did too, its just the description is from Nynaeve's POV).

 

The answer is that it was a Talent. And we have seen a limited form elsewhere--someone asked RJ how Ispan and Falion were able to shield Nynaeve, and RJ replied 'some people have shielding Talents'.

 

 

[Fains nose]

She made the coment that it was a Talent she had that she had developed over time. Because the kin get so old they have ages to develop talents like healing, compared to aes sedai who live for half as long and rarely use their abilties because they spend their lives in the tower. When Elayne and Nynaeve first get to ebou dar and they are under disguise they see a Red Belt healing a guy and one of them makes the coment that she shouldnt of been strong enough to heal him, she must be particularly talented in healing

[Thor]

It's like a bubblegum or one of those flexible plastic films, istead of a thick plate blocking the source.