Jump to content

DRAGONMOUNT

A WHEEL OF TIME COMMUNITY

Should the Need Arise (Rashi)


Recommended Posts

After attending a very busy Gray, Ay'Lira left the Aes Sedai's quarters and headed to lunch. She had a different kind of class today. One of her teachers in the One Power suggested that she see a Green about their class in defensive weaves. Ay'Lira knew that whatever Ajah she chose, she would likely not stay in the Tower. And who knew when she would find a Warder? Even if she did bond a Warder before leaving, she would need to take care of herself. One never knew what to expect. She would need to be prepared at some point to face the dangers of the world. Another lesson the Blight had taught her. It was almost strange how much that terrible place had taught her. She had talked to a few Greens, and after a few sessions of negotiating and planning, they instructed her to go to Taia Sedai's room and begin lessons in defensive weaves.

 

Taia Sedai. She knew the woman was from Saldaea. It was always good to have the Borderlands in common. Their cultures all differed, but at the same time, they had all sworn to protect the world from the Blight, and they were all hard peoples because of that. But Taia Sedai still worried her. She hadn't really interacted with her before, but she had observed how short she was with novices and even Accepted. What would it be like having a teacher like this? What was going through her mind now that she had been made to teach an Accepted? Well, Ay'Lira had been through much worse than a difficult teacher, so she pushed her small worries to the back of her mind.

 

Looking down, she noticed that she had finished her lunch. She returned her plate to the kitchens and left for the Green Ajah's quarters. She didn't remember much about her walk there, but she always looked forward to going to the Green Ajah's quarters for anything. The tapestries of battles fought, the swords hanging on the walls...it all made her think of her home. It was a silly reason to consider an Ajah, though. But there it was. She had a bit to work out before she decided on which Ajah would be her home. But there were Aes Sedai who believed that a girl would have decided her own Ajah by the time they reached the ring. Odd, that.

 

Reaching the Saldaean Green's rooms, she knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Taia was annoyed, she had annoyed someone within the Green Ajah, probably Jaydena her ajah head now that she thought about it. Now Taia was forced to teach a class to an Accepted. Taia hated dealing with the younger children, but her Ajah head had told her in no uncertain terms that she would be expected to teach this class and teach it with the minimum amount of yelling or blowing anything up, or setting anything on fire. Taia sighed, normally that's what happened when she taught classes she ended up setting something on fire in sheer irritation it impressed, and scared the children, and certainly made her feel better. Now though, she was forced to not do any of that, most espeically because they were starting in Taia's room, and she was not going to set anything on fire! The girl would be coming here to start, some other day they would leave the room and go to the gardens for further instruction.

 

Taia paced a moment longer then sighed and sank down to a chair, twirling her hair irritated, of course the girl would be late. Just as she had that thought there was a knock at the door. Taia gathered all her restraint and temper and called, "Come in." Taia flicked her eyes over the younger woman and thought. "Ah the Malkieri accepted, she must have been lucky to escape that horror." All the Aes Sedai knew of the destruction of the lands of Malkier. Taia hadn't been an Aes Sedai when it happened, but she had attended the classes about it. Aes Sedai at the time had wished they could fly in order to be there in time to stop the disaster. Taia stood up and pushed her hair out of her face.

 

"You are Ay'Lira from Malkier, and no one else is with you?" It wasn't really a question because Taia could see that the answer to one was yes, and no to the other. She tried to sound kind as she continued. "Child we are going to start simple, warding is a good way to set up the defense of your camp. If you have enough warning before trouble arrives you can coordinate your attack to better serve you and minimize the loss of life on your side." She continued, "The first ward we will try is the Alarm ward this will let you know when anyone walks through it." Taia demonstrated the weave and then nodded to Ay'Lira "Go ahead and try."

 

OOC: The stats for Alarm ward

Air: 2

Earth: 1

Fire: 1

Water: 0

Spirit: 3

Skill: 15.

 

Have fun. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ay'Lira walked into the room when the call came from inside to do so. She curtsied to the fire-haired Saldaean sister. Before she could introduce herself, Taia immediately deduced that she was the Accepted from Malkier, and had decided on her own that she was alone. Well, she was, but she wasn't able to get a word in edgewise, so she let the Green talk. She didn't want to anger her someway. For some strange reason, the Aes Sedai seemed more wound up than Ay'Lira had been as a novice. Strange, that. Teru had taught her patience with children. Maybe that was the difference.

 

The Aes Sedai went immediately into the lessons after the short introduction. She said that this weave was the Alarm ward, used for detecting someone who walked through it. That was simple enough. She had learned that soon after taking the Great Serpent ring. Her first few tries had been feeble, but it should be much easier now after training. But, Light, she hoped these were more challenging than just this. Still not wanting to upset her teacher -- what could a woman with little control of her emotions do when provoked? -- she embraced Saidar and wove the weave easily around the room. She tied the weave off and held it for Taia to inspect if she wished.

 

Blinking, she furrowed her brow. Someone had walked through the ward. "Aes Sedai..." She paused for a moment. What under the Light was someone doing here during a lesson? "There's someone at your door..." she said, unsure if Taia was expecting anyone. As soon as the words came out of her mouth, there was a knock.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Taia watched the young Accepted work through the weave a few times, the weave gave the girl no trouble and Taia felt that was a good sign. After awhile Ay'Lira looked at Taia and said, "Aes Sedai..." She paused for a moment. "There's someone at your door..." Taia felt her annoyance grow, but shoved it down. She could try for nice she really could. She went to the door and opened it, and there was no one there. She eyed the empty hall and wondered if it was a novice foolish enough to try to prank her, or if one of her sister Greens had made up her mind to see how Taia was doing, since there was no one in the hall Taia opted for the Novice idea. She'd have to find out who was in trouble later, as it was she turned around and shut the door behind her. She nodded to Ay'Lira,

 

"That was good you were able to detect someone with your weave, it means its working well." She sighed inwardly and cursed Jaydena for what must have been the thousandth time. Taia wasn't sure she could do this, children were always so annoying. Maybe this time she would learn patience, but mostly she was learning she hated doing this. She needed to decide what to do next so she could get this Accepted done with her lessons. She decided to do some Air weaves they seemed to be the easiest for most Aes Sedai, Taia's talents were elsewhere, but it was a good start.

 

"Are you strong with Air and Water child?" Taia didn't exactly wait for a response. "I'm sure you already know most women are, men are stronger, usually, with Earth and Fire, and men and woman are split equally with Spirit. So for the next set of weaves we shall learn some Air weaves. Do you know how to hold someone down with Air?" Taia demonstrated by keeping Ay'Lira stuck where she was, and then she said "Now, in a moment you will try the weave on a Novice." Taia released Ay"lira, Taia opened her door again and smiled brightly, two novices were standing outside her door one of them appeared to be trying to do something to the door the other was a lookout. "Oh good you two are just in time." She instructed the girls to just stand where they were and told Ay'Lira to pratice her new weave on one of them. She nodded to the Novices and tried to be reassuring. "Don't worry I will stop her weave if it looks like its going wrong."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ay'Lira felt a pang of irritation when Taia continued to insinuate that she was some sort of incompetent novice. It was very subtle, but Ay'Lira wasn't stupid. She could see all those little signs. She pushed her irritation to the side, though. She wasn't here to impress anyone. She just wanted a class. At least that was what she told herself. The Aes Sedai found no one outside of her door after the Accepted had announced someone was there. But she said that she was doing well...which was good, she supposed. The Aes Sedai then trapped in weaves of Air to demonstrate her next weave. Now that felt like an insult. It was so simple. Just keep it down...you've gone through worse than this... she told herself.

 

Taia let her go, then ushered a pair of novices, apparently the ones that had performed that prank, strange as it was. What kind of a prank was that? More irritation...and now she was misdirecting it. Although it was annoying that they were trying to interrupt her training. Now with relish, she very easily wrapped the two girls in weaves of Air exactly as Taia had. It felt insulting, but maybe she would understand that Ay'Lira was ready to move forward. Maybe. Hopefully. If it went wrong, she could always request another teacher...hopefully. No, she would work with this Green. It would be a challenge to herself. She would finish this class with a smile on her face. It would possibly a forced one, but a smile it would be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OOC: Just pretend this is over a few days, practice come back etc. So we'll move on.

 

IC:

 

Taia had spent a few days with Ay'Lira, Taia taught Ay'Lira some more air weaves dealing with shields and stopping someone from moving. Taia could tell the more she seemed to be coddling the girl the more annoyed the girl was getting. Taia had gotten very good at seeing emotions that were only on the face for a split second. She didn't let on though she wondered how long it would take for the silly girl to say something. Taia usually drove the girls to yelling at her and once, the girl had foolishly attempted to attack her, Taia was always curious how long it would take for the girls to get to that point. It must be the Brown Ajah part of her coming to the fore. She pulled her mind back to the present though and watched Ay'Lira practice she stopped her after a moment and stood up.

 

"Come along child, I think its time we did something different we are going to go outside." She picked up her shawl and motioned for Ay'Lira to follow her they walked outside to the garden and Taia smiled to herself. The ward she was going to teach would cause a bit of an uproar when it went off, if it did, but Taia looked forward to it. She paused on the path, and she motioned for the Accepted to follow her away from the paths. When they were far enough away, Taia turned around and said

 

"Now child I will show you how to create an explosive ward, it is triggered when a living object passes through it, a ball of Spirit containing one or more of the other elements. Causing more damage the greater the amount of other elements used." Taia wove the weave and then ussed air to grab a beetle from one of the plants and put it through the ward, the ward went off and created a loud explosion. Taia nodded to Ay'Lira "Your turn."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never in all her days had Ay'Lira ever thought she would be as aggravated as she was with an Aes Sedai. What was worse was that she had the sneaking suspicion that Taia Sedai was testing her, seeing how far she could push her. But she would show her that she could contain herself. She could still behave like an Aes Sedai should, as was expected of an Accepted. She practiced exercises that Ange Sedai had given to her during her days as a novice every day before she went to see the Green teaching her defensive weaves. The exercises helped in the beginning of every lesson, but eventually, she would notice a slightly smug tone or the flash of a smile. What was Taia's plan? Didn't she see that practicing these weaves that Ay'Lira was sure to know was only a waste or not only Ay'Lira's time, but the Aes Sedai's as well?

 

Well, she would see. She would figure it out. Whatever it was. Now she stood with Taia Sedai outside of the Tower. The red-haired Green showed her a new weave, one that would cause an explosion when a living creature passed through it. Surprisingly, Ay'Lira hadn't seen this weave before. She didn't jump when the explosion occurred after the beetle passed through the ward.

 

Ay'Lira embraced Saidar and wove the weave exactly the first time, and almost as fast as Taia Sedai had. Odd, that. She wasn't this fast when the lessons had started. Maybe this pushing her to her emotional limits and having her practice weaves she already knew, faster and faster had helped her. A smile flashed on her face before she could stop it. Returning to her task, she turned and took a bee with a small weave of Air as Taia had done with the beetle, and moved it through the ward. There was the expected explosion and she dropped the weave, feeling her chest well up. Now she was getting somewhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Taia watched Ay'Lira pick up the weave quickly after it had been shown to her. Taia nodded her head, that was good to see at least the days spent pushing the Accepted hadn't been a total waste. Taia was pretty sure that the Accepted would pick an Ajah soon. If Jaydena had set this up so that Taia could try and figure out if the Ay'Lira was going to pick the Green Ajah, Jaydena had picked the wrong Green for the job. Taia was disliked at the least and hated at the most, passionately hated by many of the Novices, the Accepted faired only slightly better but most still hated her. Taia shook her head smiling a bit ruefully, wrong sister for this job very much the wrong one.

 

Taia turned her full attention back to the weave working that Ay'Lira was doing, the ground around the ward was looking a little worse for wear. Taia's smile widened and she stifled a laugh thinking about what the Novices who came out here on punishment or chores would think. Ay'Lira looked at her and Taia smoothed her features as quickly as she could but she could tell by a short surprised look that the smile hadn't disappeared totally from her eyes at least. Taia spoke again in a more amused and friendly tone "That's enough of that weave for the day, let us try something else." She eyed the gardens again and continued in her amused tone "I think the gardens can't get much more torn up then they have already lets try an Earth weave." She showed how to make a pit so the person following would trip and fall it was not as intense as the Riven Earth weave or a number of others, but it was a good one to learn. "Now you try." She said after demonstrating it a few more times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ay'Lira tried the weave a few more times, slowly getting faster. It felt strange, pulling these creatures through the ward, there were so many other insects in the world, this couldn't possibly make a difference. After she was satisfied with practice, she looked back up to her teacher...who seemed to be smiling. She almost smiled back, but Taia placed her Aes Sedai mask back on and continued. Now they were going to try an Earth weave. Earth wasn't Ay'Lira's best of the Powers, but she wasn't useless in it, either. She watched Taia's demonstrations and the small pits they made in the ground. This must be used for tripping a pursuer or an attacker... she thought. "But it wouldn't take down a Trolloc..." she found herself saying. She shook her head and completed the weave. It didn't take as long as she thought, even using Earth. She was grateful for all this practice now. Maybe that was what Taia was aiming for.

 

But her mind kept going back to the Trolloc question. In her next weave, she made a bigger and deeper hole, and made a small curve at the front of the pit. The Trolloc's hoof or claw would catch in the ground, and if that didn't stop them, the higher ground from the curve would catch them. Blinking, she looked at her work. It would take some practice to get it to where she could perform this weave while running, her emotions flared no less. Or even to get the weave to do exactly as she wanted in a split second. "I shouldn't presume I'll go to the Borderlands when I become Aes Sedai...but do you think that would trip a Trolloc to make him fall?" It felt like a silly question, but she hadn't been to the Borderlands since she came here, and she had never fought Shadowspawn with the One Power before. All this thought about fighting the Shadow and thinking of ways to trip a Trolloc...it was kind of exhilirating. Should she choose Green? Well, a Red or a Blue would likely run into a similar problem, but...it seemed right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"I shouldn't presume I'll go to the Borderlands when I become Aes Sedai...but do you think that would trip a Trolloc to make him fall?" Taia considered the question, it was a strange one to come from an Accepted. Most of the girls weren't thinking about what they would do after they took the test and became Aes Sedai, mostly they were thinking of passing the test. Taia was interested, if only slightly, maybe the child would join the Brown Ajah and learn more. Taia crossed her arms and thought for a second. "Your correct you should not presume anything about when you become a sister, the tower and your Ajah will mold you as they see fit."

 

She took a breath and continued, "however, I will answer your question. This." She waved at the area where they had trained "will help you in a fight with trollocs and the Eyeless, however it is not foul proof you will have to learn to think quickly, and change your strategy when the need arises. This weave we have just been using will not stop more then one or, if you make it bigger two. If you were to do this." Taia demonstrated Riven Earth tearing up the garden in the process. "That is a good way to stop more then one Trolloc. Boil and several over attack weaves will stop large groups of Trollocs as well. When you pick an Ajah you may find you don't leave the tower at all. I nearly joined the Brown Ajah and if I had I may not have left the tower as much as I have lately." She shrugged again and said, "but that's enough talk for now. One last weave for you." She paused thinking of which one to try. "You can try lightning its not really defensive, but its fun." She said with a smile. She showed how to use it and then she changed the weave some so that the lightning would jump from one target to the next. The rocks she was targeting looked very scortched after she was done. She nodded to Ay'Lira "Go ahead."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was easier for Ay'Lira to hold back any irritation she felt when Taia reiterated what she had just said and told her exactly what she already knew. At least she had addressed her question and said that her movement of the ground may very well stop a Trolloc or two. She then demonstrated a weave that Ay'Lira probably couldn't have done. She thought she had studied this weave before. She thought it was called Riven Earth. She couldn't wait until she could handle that... No. No, she would wait. The best thing to do with learning the One Power was to wait.

 

Ay'Lira was considering the Red or the Green. Sometimes the Red seemed just like the Green, just more concentrated in one area. But both were drawn to fight the Shadow. After watching Taia for so long, though, and getting to know her...maybe she would choose the Green. But that would be for another day.

 

The accepted watched closely the weaves that Taia demonstrated next. Lightning? Lightning? Not only that, but targeted lightning? She took a breath and reminded herself that she could do this. Copying the first weave, still a bit slower than what Taia had done, a bolt of lightning struck harmlessly on a patch of bare grass. Copying the second one, her lightning hit both stones that Taia had struck with her own lightning.

 

She allowed herself to smile and looked into Taia's green eyes. Odd how close in color to her own eyes they were. "Thank you, Taia Sedai," she said. "I'll clean up the garden," she said without hesitation. "Have a good evening," she said, curtsying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...