Intro to Saidar: Final Lesson

[Phelix]

Elin was waiting for the novices in the classroom, but she had a more interesting locale for their final lesson in mind. She kept her grin to herself as the novices filed into the room.

 

When they were all there, she let her smile show. “Girls, we will be working with Air and Water today, but we won’t be having our lesson here. Please, follow me.”

 

She lead the girls down, out of the Tower into one of the gardens. Outside, she had the girls stand in a circle around her.

 

“First, we will weave Air.” Taking several thick threads of Air, Elin wove them into a simple wall. “Girls, please weave a wall of Air for yourself.”

 

Elin watched the novices weave their walls of Air, smiling as they all succeeded. Once they were done, Elin pulled a thread of Water and knotted it, as it came together, it formed a ball of water, hanging in the air. With a casual twitch on the weave of Water, it went flying at one of the novice’s wall of Air.

 

“Girls, did you see how I did that? Please practice weaving both walls of Air and flinging Water balls.”

 

Elin watched as the girls had a giggling water fight, while some girls tried to maneuver their walls of Air to defend from the flying balls of water others looked a bit disgusted with the idea of having a water fight. When they had all practiced both weaves a few times (some more than a few), Elin called them back to attention.

 

“This, girls, is the weave to dry out cloth, please practice it on your own clothing.” Elin showed them the two threads of water woven to dry cloth, and watched as each girl dried their dresses. While they stood around her, Elin spoke again. “In this lesson, we won’t cover Spirit because most weaves of Spirit are more complex than novices should attempt. That said, I will give you a demonstration of one of my favorite wards.”

 

Elin spun out a variety of shining silver threads of Spirit, some thick, some thin, and formed them into a dome around herself. “Girls, this Ward is called, rather unimaginatively, a Spirit Barrier. It will keep any living thing from crossing the barrier until it is untied or cut.”

 

As the bells rang, signalling the end of class, Elin waved the novices off to their next class or chore section.

 

OOC: Please RP your feelings about the water fight and how wet you got, then dry your clothing. Then you’ll be done with your intro to saidar! :D

[keyholder21]

More actual channeling! Miahna thought with glee as Elin explained that they would be working with two more elements – Air and Water. It had been so thrilling in their last class when she’d been able to watch her weaves reshape the stone and light the candle. Who knew a simple task could have felt so good?

 

She stood up with the rest of the class, the other girls mirroring her own confused expression when Elin announced that they would be having the lesson elsewhere. Were they going to another classroom? She hadn’t had many in the short time that she’d been at the White Tower, but none of her other teachers seemed inclined to move. She put her notebook away as the girls in white followed the Accepted out of the room.

 

The gaggle of girls made their way down a wide staircase, the white stone dazzling in the mid afternoon sunlight. Soon there was a large glass door in front of them and a beyond that, one of the infamous Tower gardens. Elin pulled the door open and ushered all of the novices past her. She closed the door behind her and moved toward the class, instructing them to stand in a circle around her.

 

Miahna embraced the Source, reveling a little less in the joyous feeling than she had the day before. She watched as the glow sprung up in rapid succession around her classmates. The Accepted was already shiny with Saidar glow. Suddenly thick strands of brilliant white Air appeared and were deftly woven into a small wall.

 

Upon suggestion, and permission, from Elin, Miahna took several strands of Air and wove her own wall. She smiled as the wall came together smoothly. Compared the effort it took to shape the stone, this felt like she was working with, well, air. It had required hardly any effort on the Arafellin’s part. Glancing around, Miahna noticed that each of her fellow novices had repeated the weave as well. Elin appeared happy at the successes that were walling the class in.

 

Water was next. Mimi watched as the Accepted channeled one thin strand of water and knotted it to form a small ball hanging in the air. She flicked the weave slightly and sent it crashing into Miahna’s wall of Air. The ball exploded, droplets raining down on the entire class. Giggling reigned supreme as Elin told them to practice making balls of Water, walls of Air, and practice flinging them. Even Miahna chuckled at the silliness. She’s a good teacher, Miahna thought as she made a wobbly ball of water and threw it at her neighbor’s wall, what a better way to teach us than to have it interactive and fun! From what she’d seen so far, the Arafellin knew there wasn’t enough of that in the Tower.

 

The water fight continued for a while. Mimi and her neighbor made a contest out of creating a large ball of Water over the other’s head and then that person trying to weave their wall of Air before the ball hit them. Both of them ended up soaked to the bone. The bells at the ends of her braids tinkled as Miahna tried to shake and squeeze out the extra water. She noticed that some of her classmates had preferred to stay dry, but the majority had joined in on the fight. Water balls whizzed back and forth as Elin tried to call them to attention.

 

Once the class had quieted, water dripping off the hems of many white dresses, the Accepted showed the novices how to extract the water from their clothing and leave their dresses dry. Miahna sighed contentedly as water evaporated and her skin lost that clammy waterlogged feeling. It had been a wonderful stress reliever to have a water fight, but it was even more wonderful to be dry instantaneously. This is a very handy thing to know!

 

Elin spoke again after the novices had all dried their dresses. “In this lesson, we won’t cover Spirit because most weaves of Spirit are more complex than novices should attempt. That said, I will give you a demonstration of one of my favorite wards.” Miahna watched with the class as the Accepted spun out a variety of shining dark gray threads of Spirit, some thick, some thin, and formed them into a dome around herself. “Girls, this Ward is called, rather unimaginatively, a Spirit Barrier. It will keep any living thing from crossing the barrier until it is untied or cut.” Miahna nodded absently, watching the pulsing threads of Spirit. Though the name is lacking, I can tell that that is an even more useful weave to know.

 

The bell rang then, and Elin let the barrier dissolve. The class was dismissed, but before she left, Miahna wanted to ask about the drying weave. If it worked on clothes, it could possibly work on other things too. “Accepted Elin?” she called, stopping the Accepted as she moved toward the doors, “will the water weave you showed us for our clothes work on our hair too?” It may have seemed a silly question, but who wanted wet braids slapping them in the back all day?

[Matalina]

Kate had been practicing all the weaves they'd learned with her mentor, she needed the practice as she still had issues when her emotions came into play, she knew she had to work on it. But when she reached class, they had already moved on to something else. Kate sighed, she wasn't ready to move on, but she guessed she could have more sessions with Camigwen Sedai later to hone her skills, she knew she needed alot of work still.

 

Accepted Elin took the class outside, while it was refreshing to go outside for once. Kate watched as Elin wove the wall of air, that for Kate seemed simple enough, she had to try a few times as it was a bit more complicated than her prior air weaves, but most of the girls seemed to have a little issues with it as well.

 

Kate soon realized why they were outside and she was not happy about all the water that came flying her way. Kate not only lost control of Saidar, she was more than tempted to try a fireball. She bit back her rage, but it was all over for her, the source refused to come. Kate watched as Elin wove the drying weave, and it wasn't until everyone else had gone that Kate tried to embrace the source again. She practiced all the exercises Carigwen Sedai had given her to calm down and to embrace the source. Kate was finally able to embrace the source and dry her sopping wet dress off. Kate nodded to herself then to Elin. "I'm sorry it took me a while." And then Kate left, she wasn't sure what to do or what to say beyond that, but she was thankful that today's class was over.

[Zentopia]

They wouldn't be in class? Fianna regarded their instructor with a curious blink. And here she thought that 'school' meant 'classroom.' But she filed in behind the rest, peering about curiously as Elin lead the girls past room after room. Her confusion doubled as the troop of white-clad students marched right out out a door into sunlight. Outside? They'd be outside? She hadn't expected this!

 

But, to be honest, Fianna had been feeling rather nervous and uptight lately, and the instant she got outside she knew whay that was. When was the last time she'd been outside, even in a small garden like this? No wonder she'd felt like a cat in a cage lately. She let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, and inhaled deeply. Goodness. The sun was warm, and there was a light breeze that ruffled dresses and tousled hair.

 

At Elin's direction, she carefully wove the wall of Air, and was pleased to notice that her good mood did affect her ability to channel. The ribbons of blue wove and coalesced...just in time for the Accepted's ball of water to splash against it.

 

And with just a word from the teacher, the class descended into a an old fashioned waterfight. For Fianna, it was just as much a stress reliever as it was actual practice, but as she flung and maneuvered her wall, she was thinking hard through her giggles. She certainly wasn't hurting anyone with this. Perhaps, with practice, she could find ways to defend herself without bringing harm to anyone. Like, using Air to bind, or weaving with water and air to create ice slicks....

 

The Tinker novice was so busy thinking about implications that she forgot to keep up her wall, and ended up getting absolutely doused by waterballs that were flung at her head in both directions. She went down laughing. Thankfully Elin had one last practical lesson for them, and concentrating carefully, the novice wove the water out of her garments.

 

As she tried to bring her sopping locks to order, Fianna watched as the Accepted performed the complex weave with Spirit. Her eyes nearly crossed; it was so complicated it was practically beyond her ability to follow. No wonder they held off on this training till later. But she did find it intriguing. Perhaps later she would learn how to do that, she thought as class was dismissed and the novices each went their separate ways.

[Phelix]

With her hair worn in a tight bun, held in place by the pin she had made from her obsidian stone in the previous lesson. It was a small piece of pride, but she wore it anyway. It was the first physical thing she had made in decades, and she was proud at her success.

 

When Elin gathered Gera and the other novices together into a group, telling them their lesson would be held somewhere else. Gera wasn't entirely suprised to be lead outside. Whenever she had been training a lieutenant to train other listeners, she had taken them out into the field to learn, and it only made sense that some of their lessons here in the Tower would take place outside of the classroom. Aes Sedai wouldn't be nearly as competent or skilled at dealing in the world if they only learned in the classroom.

 

Watching Elin weave the wall of Air, Gera mimicked the weave, glad that it formed easily. The threads of Air seemed to just flow into place, which made Gera smile. Who would think that flows of Air, the stuff that one breathed in and out, could form a solid wall? Her flows made a firm barrier about a pace tall and a pace across.

 

Gera was not pleased when she saw Elin weave a ball of water and flick it at another novice's wall of Air. Yes, this was a practical lesson, but it was sure to cause a mess. Gera firmly believed in clean lessons. When Elin gave them the order to "practice" by flinging water balls at each other, Gera increased her wall of Air, making it larger to keep herself dry. Frowning, she moved it as necessary to defend from flying moisture, and she was mostly successful. Knowing that she had to at least attempt a water ball to pass the lesson, Gera wove a few and launched them across the circle at solid walls of air, knowing that was the least likely to inspire a retaliatory strike from the other novices.

 

When the fight was finally over, Gera was extremely glad that Elin showed them how to dry their clothing as well. Dry again, Gera enjoyed watching the ward of Spirit that Elin wove. That could be a very useful tool indeed.

[Grimmlocke]

Water and Air? Finally! Nanna gave a soft grin at the news. Ever since she had put a little to much force into blowing out that candle in the previous class, Nanna had wanted to work with Air more. Water, not so much. It wasn't any easier or harder than any of the other elements they had used during the last class. She frowned in confusion when Elin asked them to follow her. Where was she taking them? Maybe another classroom? No, that didn't make sense. Why take them to another room where they could do the same thing without having to shepherd a gaggle of girls through the hallway?

 

She grew more and more confused as Elin led them out of the Tower, to the Gardens. Nanna looked around, grateful to be out among the trees and other growing things of the Gardens. It almost reminded her of her little herb garden, of tending the various plants to sell to people who knew what to do with such things.

 

Elin finally stopped and had them circle around her before she Embraced the Source and wove something with Air. Apparently, it was how to weave a simple wall of Air. Nanna eagerly formed the sunflower, her eagerness actually making it harder to touch Saidar than normal. In time, though, she was able to allow the Power to fill her and weave her own wall of Air. She marveled again at how much easier it was for her to use Air than the other Elements. Well, except Spirit. She hadn't tried to use that yet, so she wasn't sure if it would be easier or harder to use.

 

The sound and feel of a ball of water striking her wall snapped her back to reality. What was Elin doing that for? She replayed the last few moments in her head to get her bearings. Oh, part of the lesson. She could have at least given her a warning.

 

Then she heard Elin tell the girls to practice with water balls and walls of ir. She gasped. What was the girl thinking? Did she have any idea what she had done? Her gaping mouth as closed a moment later by a ball of water slamming into the side of her head. She turned and glared at the offending girl who had thrown the thing. The girl managed to look abashed, wilting under Nanna's iron-willed gaze. Until the older woman's own water ball bashed into the back of her head. Nanna gave a sharp bark of laughter and worked on strengthening and widening her wall of air.

 

The rest of the short battle passed quickly as Nanna did her best to defend herself, successfully, until the silliness had passed. With the water fight over, and the girls had dried themselves, Elin demonstrated one last weave, this one of Spirit. Nanna happily copied it, though perhaps a bit imperfectly. Still she gave a happy sigh. Spirit was as easy for her to weave as Air was. Part of the imperfection of the Ward was from the speed afforded by the ease of working with Spirit. She let the weave fade and spun it out a few more times, making sure she was getting it right by the time Elin had dismissed them from the class.

 

Nanna scuttled off for the Kitchens. She had work to do there. Hopefully she wouldn't get into any other altercations with other Novices about their cooking.