On the ranch - yet another day

[Liitha]

M'bela sat aback the horse looking towards the training field then spured the mare back towards the ranch. Her hair was hanging loose for the air to play with. Truth be told she was starting to get bored even in this place, it was sort of dull to her. And she rained into a halt infront of the stable. Tying the horse to the fence she unsadled it and rubbed it down before leting it go into the padock.

 

That she was reduced to riding for fun spoke volums, she didnt mind horses, and truth be told they had their use for transportation. Preferable to walk at least, but there should have been bether ways. She picked up the sadle and reins before heading into the stable, hanging them on the racks. Then she walked over to a butock by the wall and bendt down washing her hands before drying them on a piece of cloth hanging on the wall.

 

Just as she rose she heard the familar sounds of a set of feets aproaching and entering the stables, she turned slowly.

[Quibby]

It was like a nail driven into Ayrik's head, that last piece of advice that the Dreadlady had left him with. What was so dangerous about dreams? Why should he be careful. With a sigh, Ayrik stopped himself from pondering any further. It would only give him a headache, as it had for the past few days. Great Lord, if I dont' get an answer for this soon...

 

The sound of hoofbeats drew Ayrik's attention to the stable, where the woman in question was just unsaddling the horse that she must have been riding. There she is. If you're so damn curious, just go ask. It was as simple as that. Stand up, walk across the compound to the stables, and ask. And hope that she didn't become irritated with him and skin him alive.

 

"And life used to be so simple," Ayrik muttered as he stood and started across the compound. The Dreadlady had already disappeared into the shadowy interior when Ayrik had come closer. As he stepped into the shade, his unadjusted eyes picked up the silhouette of the woman straightening up to dry her hands on a rag hanging on the wall. His footsteps must have alerted her to his presence. She slowly turned, probably to identify the intruder.

 

"Pardon, ma'am, but I have more questions." He had learned his lesson from their last talk. That sentence must have been enough to identify him. "That whole thing you spoke of in regards to dreams and warding. Why would I need to worry about dreams?"

[Liitha]

She looked up to see the initiate, so it was time then. She smiled and nodded in response to his greeting, and to aprove of the question beeing asked.

"That whole thing you spoke of in regards to dreams and warding. Why would I need to worry about dreams?"

 

She leaned her shoulder against the wall, while warding the conversation and then looked casualy on him. "Because within the dreams there is another world"

 

The plain tone in which the Dreadlady spoke revealed the truth of her words, yet Ayrik couldn't believe it. Another world? In dreams? That couldn't be possible. Or could it? "What do you mean by 'another world?' Is this some kind of sick game?"

 

M'bela shoved herself away from the wall with ease and started walking and as such bringing herself somewhat closer to him though without her walk beeing aimed straigt towards him. "Tel'aran'rhiod..." she let the word hang in the air, "old tounge, translated into" she turned and looked him rigth in the eyes "The World of Dreams"

 

Ayrik found himself wanting to call her a liar to her face, to deny everything that she was saying and damn the consequences. But there was still something in her voice that was saying that she knew what she was talking about. Pieces began falling into place. The warnings, the way she spoke about this 'Tel'aran'rhiod.' His Old Tongue was a bit rusty, but her translation sounded right. Taken in the context of their previous conversation... "You... you're not lying, are you? This place has something to do with some Talent of yours, doesn't it?"

 

M'bela deligthed in the play of shock on his face, and what seemed like denial in his eyes, oh but how this worked so well. He would soon be eating out of her palm like a puppy. And even with his brigth mind he was young, not even past 20 she would bet, what was that to match her over 200 years of experience.

She nodded slowly for the impact, "I'm a dreamwalker, yes."

 

Ayrik's mind raced, trying to identify everything that this 'dreamwalker' could be. Could she, in fact, see into his dreams? Could she manipulate them, twist them? Could she kill him? Calm... you need to stay calm, stay focused, stay... who am I kidding? They didn't teach dream wards to just anybody; Ayrik hadn't even learned what a dream ward was! And some of his dreams the past few nights... could she have been looking in on those? There had to be ways of defending himself from prying eyes. Ayrik couldn't even calm his voice as he said, "Tell me more, if you would."

 

M'bela was now close enough from her wandering back and forth and she came to a halt infront of him. Tilting her head she looked at him, up and down as if measuring him. Everything needed to happen in the rigth succession, then she nodded as if she aproved of something, and looked thougthfull towards the door for a moment.

 

Her eyes turned back on him as she spoke. "If you truly want to learn then give yourself over into my service and you shall be revarded well" she looked deep into her eyes as she reached out offering her hand to see if he would take the offer and follow her futher into the barn.

Ayrik's eyes met the Dreadlady's stare for stare, her eyes reflecting calm and the knowledge that she held, his filled with the nervousness of being in a position in which he was trapped. All that she was asking was for his service, in exchange for rewards. Ayrik had always known that the heart of his devotion to the Shadow was greed, the want for eternal life. She was offering more. Ayrik's mind was screaming for him to stop, to reconsider what he was about to do. With what she knows, I could be more than the fresh meat. I could take control of them all. Slowly, gingerly, Ayrik's right hand closed around the Dreadlady's. "It is agreed, then, by my pledges to the Shadow."

And then finaly he seemed to descide, she felt his hand close around her own and hear the sweet words that was the first step. As she looked into his eyes it was with a knowing look, as if she knew his thougths, his mind, then turned her back leading him inwards. Turning her back on him was just another piece in the game, not cause she trusted him, but to hopefully make him think herself knowing of that he couldnt harm her, make him wary of her. He was to young yet even in the shadow to fatom limits and posiblities, for now she was bether of having him think her all powerfull, something almost divine.

 

In time she would have to let that go to teach him precautiosness, and to play the shady games of the dark well enough to properly serve her.

She stoped only when she was deep enough that none could see them easily without following the same path, all but covered from the outworld, isolated. Then she turned on him and let go of the hand.

 

She studied him again silently, he wasnt hers yet, he would learn to become so in time thoug, she would make sure to shape him well. "There is many a thing to learn, the world of dreams is something you may touch by randomly a few times in your life, but are likely to wander straigth out of and into a normal dream again, unless..." she let it hang there, let him have some time to wonder and grow some tension, as well as curiosity and need to know. She needed his need now, she needed to turn his need for knowledge into need for her as an info source, or at least in his mind. "..there is a dreamwalker around who knows what it is doing, then it can hold you back, trap you in the dream. And what futher is, what happens in the dreamworld has effect on the real world, hence can peoples wake up with wounds from just dreaming, and some go to sleep to not wake again."

 

Oh she had his attention now, "But the world also responds difrently then this one, so you do as i said, and should any dreamwalker have you traped and slip their focus you will be gone beyond their reach." That should be enough to keep him entrigued for now, "Again, there is not many dreamwalkers, and even fewer who know what they are doing. Really its nothing you should worry about, you may go your whole life without never touching into Tel'aran'rhiod."

 

"Now if you would allow me I'll show you something else, something more of this world, and related to what had you here in the first place." She moved slowly to reach her hands up and clasp then softly to his head. No suden moves to unsetle him, she had no intention to have a power battle now, so everything needed to happen slow and with conviction. She knew he would be able to feel that she held the one power, but she had under all their convoe because of the ward needed to be made. Slowly she spun the weave of spirit and let it touch the pleasure center of his mind, ever so slowly she massaged it and increased the preasure. Oh but she knew how intoxicating it was as the pleasure rose through ones body so purely.

 

In big enough amounts the pleasure would b ecome painfull, but that was for another time another place. Now she wanted him to feel that intoxication that hopefully would reduce him to look on her with amasement or even more, to make him feel the adicting feeling of pleasure, at best even to not feel to unsetled when gone that he wouldnt want more of it. No at best even if unsetled at having the one power used on him he would come to long for that pure pleasure, even with her limited skills with it. Yes but limited to who she compared herself to, to what she had goten to experince herself, but he had no such measure to put it up again.

[Quibby]

"Now if you would allow me I'll show you something else, something more of this world, and related to what had you here in the first place." Ayrik's instict was to flinch away from the Dreadlady's hands, but he forced himself to stay where he was. His skin was tingling; she was holding saidar, and probably had been for quite some time. Breathing deeply, Ayrik tried to force himself to be calm. And then her hands gently closed on Ayrik's head. There was a vaguely unsettling moment as he felt her eyes seeming to bore into his skull. And then...

 

Ayrik's mind seemed to explode with pleasure. His whole body seemed to be alive with it. He didn't notice when his breathing changed, becoming heavier and ragged. Great Lord, what was happening? His hand locked onto a post, trying desperately to keep himself standing. The pleasure increased. A low moan escaped Ayrik's mouth, his knees slowly buckling. It was if his whole body were in the throes of ecstacy. And then it was gone.

 

Ayrik collapsed to his knees, his breathing ragged and heavy. He could still feel the aftereffects of whatever had happened to him, like a warmth over his entire body. Great Lord, that was... Raising his head, his breathing unchanged, Ayrik looked with a newfound awe and fear at the Dreadlady. "What... was that?" he asked her between gasping breaths.

[Liitha]

She let the weave go and watched the intiates feets give way, she deligthed in his ragged breath. She enjoyed the look in his eyes and smiled down at him. "What... was that?" She waited a moment just savouring the feeling of watching him like this.

 

"That, that was another of my secrets, quite well to let someone know you are pleased with them, yet if pushed to strongly...well then pleasure will become pain and the more pushed the more pain then." she rocked back on her heals and leaned against the wall.

 

"There is much you need to seek to learn, should seek to if you can. I can not teach you directly about weaves, but I do hold other information. In time I will describe the weave to you, mayhaps you would be able to figure it out by that on your own, if not then we will go down to more biological aspects as well to teach you" she smiled, not revealing by biological she hinted to the posible problem of finding the pleasure senter, and it ment opening a brain to show its position.

 

"One thing you need to know is most channelers in time come to discover their own litle weaves, and some learn weaves not well know from their teachers. There is none who know every weave there is, you will only learn the weaves your teachers know and descides to share. No one can teach a weave they dont know, and there is not all weaves one wish to share. Some are even restricted to rank, Mae'shadars is the ones who know how to travel, as you saw you couldnt see the weave of the gateway." she looked at a spider and then set it afire with a small tread of fire.

 

"It was because the weave was inverted, you are not allowed to learn how to do that yet, but I will make sure you learn when you passed to the next level, it is very usefull."

 

She paused and let silence overcome them, she would wait for more questions, make him ask for the information, it would make him feel he needed her more.

 

"So, you're saying that you could have killed me with pleasure?"

M'bela thougth some on it, "Peronaly i never tried i am sure a strong enough channeler could, the one i learned from was stronger then me. Mayhaps would my teacher know, or one could test it sometime, mayhaps."

 

"Why would you be willing to do that for me?"

 

"Well why to open up your world of thinking, to get your imagination going on the tools possesed, that you do not need big flashy battle weaves. Sometimes small weaves, who can do the oposite of what you want can be turned into weaves for your use, and sometime pure information can be enough to intimidate."

 

She tapped her lower lip, "Peoples will see you as what you present yourself to be, and will belive what you make them hear, its just a mather of honing those skills and you will tear down one limit after another. The lesson of that specific weave is that pain and pleasure is but two sides of the same mather."

[Quibby]

Ayrik wasn't sure what to make of any of this. Naturally, he was absorbing every word that the Dreadlady was saying, but why? One thing that he had learned since his arrival at the Fortress was that everything was done for a reason. There had to be some motivation behind her actions. But one thing was worrying him above everything else. "So, you're saying that you could have killed me with pleasure?" Ayrik asked tenatively.

 

The Dreadlady didn't answer him right away, which wasn't very reassuring. When she did answer, it wasn't an answer that Ayrik was expecting. "Peronaly i never tried i am sure a strong enough channeler could, the one i learned from was stronger then me. Mayhaps would my teacher know, or one could test it sometime, mayhaps."

 

So she served another in turn. Did that mean that he had just sworn an oath to somebody above even her? The thought wasn't reassuring. "Why would you be willing to do that for me?"

 

Her answer sounded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Well why to open up your world of thinking, to get your imagination going on the tools possesed, that you do not need big flashy battle weaves. Sometimes small weaves, who can do the oposite of what you want can be turned into weaves for your use, and sometime pure information can be enough to intimidate." Pausing for a moment, the Dreadlady tapped her lower lip before continuing. "Peoples will see you as what you present yourself to be, and will belive what you make them hear, its just a mather of honing those skills and you will tear down one limit after another. The lesson of that specific weave is that pain and pleasure is but two sides of the same mather."

 

"So you're saying that pain and pleasure can be used to acheive the same ends." The thought was more a statement than a question. Even commenting on the whole thing reminded Ayrik of that sensation, that ecstasy. It occured to him that something like that could become addicting, making a person do anything to receive it again. That really is a dangerous weapon, he thought. "I must say that you do a good job of living up to your words," Ayrik said, still a little breathily. Destruction had always fascinated him, and this was a form of the sport that Ayrik could foresee being quite useful. With something like this, he could destroy the mind.

 

"With something like... that at your fingertips, you could raise yourself higher than the lowly level of training and babysitting trainees. And, as you said, I'm sure that you have several other little tricks which you are unlikely to share. With all that, why bother with the new blood at all?" Ayrik could hear his own thirst for power in his words, but the question was a valid one. "Why do others command you instead of the other way around?"

[Liitha]

"With something like... that at your fingertips, you could raise yourself higher than the lowly level of training and babysitting trainees. And, as you said, I'm sure that you have several other little tricks which you are unlikely to share. With all that, why bother with the new blood at all?" She smiled, it wasnt as easy as that. And she could hear his tirst in his voice. "Why do others command you instead of the other way around?"

 

She looked at him, "Well first off if no one had bothered to teach me, then i wouldnt even have begun to know how to teach you or your friends. Which means if you look at that in a large scale you would have had no help in the shadow you would be runing untill the madness took you and the reds found you."

 

She let it sink in, he would need to learn this, to understand nothing came for free. "There is rarely anything in this world who come for free, everyone takes their turn at times to teach the fresh blood as someone thougth them in turn in the past."

 

She looked out into the air, "As for your second question...well simple, no one but the Great Lord has none above them. Channelers due to the one power find themself on the top of the scale, but even between our ranks there is a hirarchy. Why do I serve...well look inside yourself...why did you agree to serve me? You know the answer already..well?" she tilted her head waiting on the answer.

[Quibby]

It took Aryik a moment to register that the question wasn't rhetorical, and that the Dreadlady was expecting a reply. "Your reasons are the same as mine, then? You swore to another for knowledge." And such an oath is dangerous. He had sworn, and Ayrik would not break that oath now, not when there was so much that he could learn to use to his advantage. "The lust for power and knowledge drives all of us, in the long run, doesn't it?" Ayrik wasn't expecting an answer; he knew it for truth.

 

So, she wasn't all-powerful. There would be those above her, likely the Mae'shadar and the Chosen. She would be a good ally. Don't you mean 'master?' Face it, that's what she is, now. With a laugh, Ayrik suddenly remembered something he had been meaning to ask. "How are you called, and who do you serve?"

[Liitha]

"Your reasons are the same as mine, then? You swore to another for knowledge." Not quite the truth, but she was no oathbound Aes Sedai, and for now she was somewhat happy to let him live with that illusion.

 

"The lust for power and knowledge drives all of us, in the long run, doesn't it?" She smiled, no the lust for freedom and grateness, independancy. She had never liked bending her head and never had been ment for growing into a normal meek girl to marry have children and be happy about that. Fact was she didnt even know who her parents had once been.

 

"How are you called, and who do you serve?"

She looked at the boy and pondered, no not yet, her true indentity was something he would need to earn. "You may call me miss Alviam..." Daria Alviam was on of many identites she used. "..and I serve the best there is." she smiled oh yes she had idolised Semirhage from a young age, ever since she started reading up on the chosen. "I am sure should you ever meet her you would agree." that or it would be the death of him, you didnt argue with the chosen, nor fail them or let them down in any way. Loyal service was the best way to go, there would be offers but loyalty would earn protection and was bether then a sure death warant on your back. The best of all of course was staying away from other chosen as best could.

 

All this he would learn in time, for now it was bether if he didnt know that he already had sworn himself to a chosen.

[Quibby]

"You may call me miss Alviam, and I serve the best there is." She was loyal, whoever she served. So that's how miss Alviam was going to be. No surprise, though; Ayrik hadn't expected her to reveal everything right away. "I am sure should you ever meet her you would agree."

 

She served a woman higher in the Dreadlord ranks, then. Maybe one of the Mae'shadar? It shouldn't be too hard to identify the target. He had sworn to somebody else, too, though. That much was obvious. Ayrik would have to watch his back. No telling where this oath could take him.

 

"Miss Alviam, where do we go from here? Me carrying on as if this never happened is a given, but is there anything else which you wish of me?"

[Liitha]

"Miss Alviam, where do we go from here? Me carrying on as if this never happened is a given, but is there anything else which you wish of me?" She tilted her head thinking.

 

"Do your best, listen to your instructors, spend the time not with one power studies on reading books from the libary. Be sure also to continue the path taken here to learn difrent skills, history, weapon knowledge, information, one power, and so forth you need it all to become great."

[Quibby]

Nodding his head slightly, Ayrik said, "I'll see what I can do. My thanks again, miss Alvaim." Stepping out of the dark confines of the stable, Ayrik turned to look at the woman one more time. A part of him cried out for another taste of that overwhelming pleasure, but he quickly stifled it. No need to become addicted to it. Definitely no need. "Peoples will see you as what you present yourself to be... The Dreadlady's words still rang in Ayrik's head as he walked out of the shed. Consciously, he made the effort to change his walk, becoming less of an intellect and more of a man confident in his abilities.

 

Let the world see that things were going to be different. Ayrik had no intention of playing second-string to any of his peers.