Burning Trash

[Kelitor]

Kelitor, along with a mixed dozen of Soldiers and Dedicated, trudged through the early morning light behind an obnoxiously humming Asha'man. He heard a voice behind him hiss,

 

"Are we there yet?! We've been walking for over an hour, its dawn, and-" someone snarled and he heard an "oof" as the whiner was quieted, probably by an elbow. Whining wasn't viewed in a particularly sympathetic light here at the Farm, and some Asha'man could be.... indiscriminate with discipline.

 

But as the complainer fell to silence, the Asha'man leading them stopped. Kelitor felt his heart sink as for a wild moment that he'd heard. It would be wild, even for the Farm, but it wasn't beyond possibility for an Asha'man to drag them out of bed before dawn and have them marching cross-country, apparently to nowhere, and following no obvious trail, only for the chance to "teach" them about discipline when someone finally cracked.

 

His fears were dispelled when finally the Asha'man impatiently waved them to come forward to the top of the low hill where he stood. As they obediently trudged up, Kelitor barely managed to stifle a moan when he saw what awaited them.

 

Garbage. A small mountain of it. He had no idea what all this refuse was doing here, or how it had come to be here, and he didn't really care. He just knew it couldn't be good. When they had all arrived, the Asha'man finally turned to Kelitor, who swallowed nervously at being randomly singled out by the bizarre Asha'man.

 

He thrust a finger like an angry spear at the trash as if it had offended him somehow "Burn it!", he snapped angrily. Kelitor suppressed a groan of misery and reached for Saidin. It took a few seconds of effort, but finally he grabbed it, like oil-slick water, and felt it roar through him, a constant effort not to drown. He directed the Power outward in bands of Fire, and as he placed the simple weave atop the pile, flames sparked into being. He felt others around him grabbing the One Power as the other Soldiers and Dedicated decided that assuming that the command to burn was directed only at him was dangerous. Other areas of the small mountain began sprouting flames.

 

"Weak," sneered the Asha'man, "so weak!". He gestured almost casually then, and he felt the man seize an enormous amount of Saidin and suddenly the air distorted, and spheres of flame were raining from the sky onto the refuse heap, mocking their own paltry attempts. But almost as quickly, he wove again and the flames vanished, extinguished as their heat was dispersed into the environment.

 

"Now then. The game. Yes," the Asha'man abruptly began, "the game is simple. You are weak, so burn the trash. All of it." He smiled queerly, "You have until sundown, you may only channel one Power at a time, and if you stop it is done. Well." His grisly grin let them know it wouldn't be pleasant.

 

Kelitor swallowed again, and the Soldiers and Dedicated went to work.

[Leyrann]

OOC: First RP post. I hope it's good.

 

IC: "Now then. The game. Yes," the Asha'man said, "the game is simple. You are weak, so burn the trash. All of it. You have until sundown, you may only channel one Power at a time, and if you stop it is done. Well." He looked like it wouldn't be pleasant. Leyrann tried to seize saidin, but failed. He had only been here for two weeks. Again, he tried. And failed. But he had a strong will, like he didn't gave up, walking all the way down from Caemlin to Tear, to be tested. He also won that battle, so he would win this. This time he seized saidin successfully.

 

It felt like a stream of fire and ice at the same time. He couldn't channel much already, but he longed for more. Even with that awful taint on it. Like oil. He started to channel Fire, and the trash in front of him began to burn. But slowly. The Dedicated, and even most of the Soldiers, were faster. When three quarters of the thrash was burned away, and it wasn't even noon, he felt someone channeling much saidin. He looked behind him, and saw the Asha'man. He almost thought the Asha'man had fallen asleep. A weave of Fire and Earth came from the Asha'man, and new thrash appeared. Leyrann almost shouted at him. But it would be better not to do that... And he was also getting tired from channeling this long. But he almost thought he could feel himself becoming stronger. And dirtier too. It felt like the saidin left his body again, but the taint on it didn't. He wanted to take a shower to wash it away. Looking at the sky (OOC: I hope the Dark One isn't doing anything with the weather in the mirror world), he saw dark clouds. Not that type of shower...

 

Half an hour later, it was raining. The Asha'man had made a weave that kept himself dry, and two or three soldier had copied it, but Leyrann was not strong enough already. It felt weird to him that it wasn't more difficult to weave a flame. But it DID went out faster in the rain.