A month into her new life in the Grey Tower, Delaine Taborwin was bored. Most of her classes were only mildly interesting, if even that, and the hours upon hours of chores that were heaped upon all Novices were making her hands rough! Right now she was hurrying to grab a bite before the dinner time would be over; she’d been held up mending dresses because she had been slow with the needle. How was she supposed to be any faster when she’d only done it once before! She knew embroidery as well as any girl, but this was not embroidery, this was torture!
In the end she only managed to grab a couple of bread rolls to go, but she wasn’t that hungry anyway and was happy to retreat into the gardens with her snack. She found a place near a fountain and sat down on the soft grass, tucking her feet daintily under her. The bread roll was… decent. For all her less than charitable thoughts about the Novice life, the food was high quality, if not terribly fancy.
The only really good part about being a Novice was learning to channel. She had managed to access — to embrace, that was the word — the True Source a couple of times, now, but not do anything with it, but the Accepted teaching her was very kind and encouraging. Thinking about it, Delaine slipped into the already-familiar meditation exercise. Rosebud, opening. River, contained by the banks, flowing peacefully. She didn’t mean to reach for the Source, she knew very well she wasn’t meant to be practising unsupervised, but she figured that simply going through the meditation wouldn’t do any harm…
And then saidar was right there at her fingertips.
And then she was… doing something… the Power flowing through her…
And the half-eaten bread roll in her hand burst into flame.
With an alarmed yelp, she leapt to her feet and tossed the flaming piece of bread into the fountain. She looked around, frantically trying to figure out if anyone had seen her, then winced as the initial fright faded and she realised that she’d burned her hand. Not too badly, thankfully; she might be fine without going to the Infirmary, but it did sting. She stuck her hand into the cool water as well, grimacing… And looked up sharply at the sound of approaching footsteps.
“Who’s there?”
In the end she only managed to grab a couple of bread rolls to go, but she wasn’t that hungry anyway and was happy to retreat into the gardens with her snack. She found a place near a fountain and sat down on the soft grass, tucking her feet daintily under her. The bread roll was… decent. For all her less than charitable thoughts about the Novice life, the food was high quality, if not terribly fancy.
The only really good part about being a Novice was learning to channel. She had managed to access — to embrace, that was the word — the True Source a couple of times, now, but not do anything with it, but the Accepted teaching her was very kind and encouraging. Thinking about it, Delaine slipped into the already-familiar meditation exercise. Rosebud, opening. River, contained by the banks, flowing peacefully. She didn’t mean to reach for the Source, she knew very well she wasn’t meant to be practising unsupervised, but she figured that simply going through the meditation wouldn’t do any harm…
And then saidar was right there at her fingertips.
And then she was… doing something… the Power flowing through her…
And the half-eaten bread roll in her hand burst into flame.
With an alarmed yelp, she leapt to her feet and tossed the flaming piece of bread into the fountain. She looked around, frantically trying to figure out if anyone had seen her, then winced as the initial fright faded and she realised that she’d burned her hand. Not too badly, thankfully; she might be fine without going to the Infirmary, but it did sting. She stuck her hand into the cool water as well, grimacing… And looked up sharply at the sound of approaching footsteps.
“Who’s there?”