Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Welcome to the Gardens: one of the most tranquil areas of the Tower Grounds.
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Welcome to the Gardens: one of the most tranquil areas of the Tower Grounds. Birds sing in the trees which line the wide paths between beautiful flower beds and serene lakes. There are benches to sit and listen to the waterfall, and there is neatly trimmed grass to lie on and rest. Novices and Soldiers as well as Warders in Training can be seen, sweeping the stone paths as Accepted and Dedicated study from books and relax under leafy trees.
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Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Post by Roan » April 9th, 2017, 4:12 pm

Tia Tomosan
The Mistress of Novices seemed to call on Tia a lot lately, and called on her again to work with a Novice by the name of Zarayne. Velanya informed Tia that the Novice in question was Aiel, and Tia’d heard rumors she was the daughter of Ravak Darrow, Warder to her Great Memma. The woman’s heritage didn’t much matter to Tia, though, as she’d been asked to introduce Zarayne to Wards.

The Green was more than happy to help her fellow Sisters-to-be, but found classrooms to be stuffy in the springtime. Thus, she sent a missive to Zarayne to meet her in the Gardens near her favorite weeping willow. Tia had free time before the Novice was due to meet her and took out a leather bound book with her, where she’d started to write down her thoughts and experiences as a way to process the emotions surrounding such experiences.

Quill scratched along parchment as Tia wrote about her efforts to improve her skills at unarmed combat. Malina Gaidin was a hard task master, but Tia found she was grateful for the challenge, as it forced her to improve. Her ultimate goal? Toss Malina on her arse just as the Gaidin had done to Tia countless times.

A light breeze caught the flowing branches of the willow, and Tia looked up to watch it, basking in the warm sunlight. The Gardens made a much more appealing classroom than an actual classroom, to be sure. A bell tolled in the distance, which meant her student would be arriving any moment. The Aes Sedai put quill to paper once more to finish the entry as she waited for Zarayne to arrive.
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Re: Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Post by Craig » April 10th, 2017, 10:30 am

Zarayne
Bells rung out all over the Grey Tower. It was now three hours after High, thus three hours before Low. This meant time for classes for all of the learning ranks, whether channeller or non-channeller. White, grey and black-clad figures dashed about, making it one of the worst times to move about in the corridors and pathways crisscrossing the Tower grounds.

Zarayne was jostled about in the throng like all of the others. She hadn't planned for her journey ahead, so instead of being anywhere near the vicinity of her next class, the novice found herself descending one of the staircases in the Warder Hall. She'd spent this free hour with her father in his office. Regretting the choice of venue, she struggled past Drin and Ji'val, using her lithe build more than strength to get away.

It had to be more than five minutes after the bells before Zarayne got into the pleasant surroundings of the Gardens, using her long legs and longer gait to sprint to her goal. She loosened her grip on the bundle of skirts, letting it drop below her knees for the first time since leaving the Training Yards. The red-haired novice had got used to ignoring the stares of others as she dashed from place to place with her legs on show.

Fortunately, in spite of the delay, Zarayne found her teacher easily. It wasn't hard to find the willow tree, what with its distinctive shape and coloration. As soon as the novice's green eyes met the Aes Sedai's, she dipped a quick curtsey. "My apologies for my lateness, Aes Sedai." No point in adding the reason behind her tardiness, for that was her mistake to own.

The novice took in the Aes Sedai properly as she awaited her instructions and/or punishment for lateness. When she had mentioned Tia Sedai's name to her father, he had mentioned the Green sister's relation to his bondmate. Zarayne knew little of Miahala Sha'hal, or of Tia Sedai's mother. Still, that comment had also given her the information that Tia Sedai was Saldaean. In some ways she was a fellow Borderlander, although the Aielwoman was still struggling with that cultural identity. It was easier at times to simply think of herself as a novice and nothing more.
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Re: Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Post by Roan » April 13th, 2017, 6:27 pm

Tia Tomosan
Tia blew lightly across the pages of her journal as she heard footsteps approach. Once she was satisfied the ink was dry, she closed the leather bound book, and tied it shut with the attached strip of leather. She looked up just as Zarayne curtseyed and apologized for being late. Offering the Novice a small, but warm smile, Tia motioned for the girl to sit on the bench next to her, “You need not apologize for your tardiness, Novice Zarayne. You’re late because I decided to hold our lesson here instead of in a classroom, or the channeling yards.

“I thought a change of scenery might offer us a more relaxed environment for you to learn,” she added as she looked up once more to the blue sky. “Besides, who wouldn’t want to be out here on a day like today?” When she looked back to the Novice, Tia’s smile broadened.

The Aes Sedai made sure her inkwell was closed and secure, then set it, her quill and book on the ground, next to her feet. “Now then. . .I’m to teach you about Wards, but before we dive in, I’d like to know a couple of things.” Tia was not a stern woman, thus her expression and tone were warm, “First off, in your mind, which of the five elements do you consider to be your strongest, and which do you consider your weakest? For me, I am equally adept with Air and Water, followed by Spirit, Fire, and finally Earth.

“And secondly, what do you know of Wards? I want you to be honest. If you know little or nothing, then say as much. I am not one to judge,” Tia finished as she placed her hands in her lap, and turned so she was facing Zarayne instead of facing out towards the Gardens.
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Re: Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Post by Craig » April 17th, 2017, 11:43 pm

[font=Macondo name=Macondo] Zarayne [/font]
Zarayne felt comfortable in Tia Sedai's presence. The warm smiles did a lot, and were a contrast to some of the scowls her Accepted mentors provided.

The novice needed only a little time to think up her answers. "I find Earth the easiest element to use, Aes Sedai. I like to think it has something to do with my connection to the sands of the Three-fold Land. Fire also comes to me easily. Water is my weakest strength; I know not why."

A pensive frown drew down over the Aielwoman's brow. Her strengths and weaknesses seemed to be the opposite of her teacher. They were generally the inverse of most of her teachers in the One Power. It seemed to be a drawback more than a sign of distinction to be lauded.

"As for Wards, I know nothing Aes Sedai. Nothing when it comes to creating them," she clarified. "I've seen the Mistress of Novices form a barrier against sound on occasion, but beyond that I have no experience."

The novice uncrossed her ankles then crossed them over the other way. She tried to relax, but a tension had wormed its way through her. Zarayne wanted to do well. She wanted to excel for herself, but the pattern had a way of blocking her advancement.
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Elan wrote:Of course, the problems with observing a chain of command arise when the one in command decides to do something unspeakably idiotic, like taking off on his own for no discernible reason in the middle of enemy territory.

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Re: Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Post by Roan » April 20th, 2017, 5:00 pm

Tia Tomosan
Tia tilted her head slightly as she gave a kind smile, “You are not the only one who doesn’t know why you are stronger in one element over another. In general, women tend to be best with Water and Air while Earth and Fire tend to be a bit harder. Obviously, this is not the case for all women. One of my kin is stronger in Earth than Water or Air, so affinities don’t necessarily travel along familial lines.”

The Novice’s frown didn’t go unnoticed, and Tia couldn’t help but wonder what might be going through the young woman’s mind. “I find we are all unique, not just in where our strengths lay, but in how we utilize them, as well as how we work around or work through our apparent weaknesses.

“I suspect you will find some of these weaves come easier to you than they initially did to me given you find Earth easiest compared to Water. It took me time and a significant amount of practice to get proficient with Wards,” the Aes Sedai explained. “You actually know more of Wards than I did when I first learned, as I hadn’t seen one used. I’ll teach you the Ward the Mistress of Novices used, but let’s start with one that may be a bit simpler. We’ll start with a Ward of warning. . .something that will alert you if someone is approaching. I’ll show you the weave, exaggerating the hand gestures while also pulling the weave together slowly so you can see how it works.”

Tia cleared her throat before taking in a deep breath as she embraced the One Power, basking in the euphoria of the Source for a moment before her hands started to move, “You’ll pull together threads of Air, Fire, Spirit and Water for this one. I struggled with Fire when I first tried it, but with practice, I found it easier to form the Ward.” Tia started with threads of Air before weaving in the reddish threads of fire, and silvery threads of Spirit. “The last element is Water, and you should be careful not to overwhelm the weave with too much,” Tia explained as she pulled in fine threads of Water and let the Ward fall over the pair of them.

“If you find yourself in an unfamiliar inn, or camping on the road, you can set the weave so that you are warned if someone comes within its perimeter. The warning can be audible, or not, depending on how thick your threads of Air are. The thicker they are, the more audible the warning. If you make them very thin, then only you’ll be alerted, not the intruder,” Tia explained. She dropped her initial Ward, and created another one, this time with thin threads of Air before dropping it again, and making the threads thicker.

“Why don’t you try?”
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Re: Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Post by Craig » April 28th, 2017, 3:14 pm

Zarayne
Opening one's self up to saidar was akin to bathing in tangible wonder. The smells of the white lilies and honeysuckle were detectable from a good twenty feet away. Moisture in the air, potentially a sign of precipitation later in the day, felt like fat raindrops against exposed skin. Zarayne's skin prickled in response to the heightened intensity experienced through all of her senses.

Zarayne exhaled deeply, taking a short moment to centre herself. With her faculties under increased use, she had to focus on one thing at a time to keep herself from getting lost. This began with a thread of Air followed by a second and third. They were thick ribbons of silver light to her eyes, as Tia Sedai had demonstrated on the third example. Zarayne wanted to hear when she got the weave right.

Despite the flood of sensation, her hands moved off of instinct more than recollection. Somehow those gestures made the weaving easier, even though there was no physical connection between saidar and her hands. She wasn't literally weaving the One Power like a seamstress, yet the analogue between her gestures and the flows of saidar had always been there.

Bands of silver Air surrounded the base of the tree. She had to actively hold them in place. Doing so was strenuous but not in any way she could put many words to. It required basking more deeply in the well of saidar, although not to the point where pain and pleasure mixed. Now the Aielwoman took hold of Fire, placing the weaves with more ease than it took to maintain the structure of Air.

With Fire quickly set in place, she moved onto Spirit. Yellow ribbons mixed with the whites and reds. Zarayne didn't need the colours to tell which weave related to which element. Fire reminded her of the Three-fold Land; Air reminded her of the Grey Tower. With Spirit, her mother came to mind. Her heart beat a little faster as the yellowy lines interspersed amongst the latticework of her forming ward.

Last was Water. Blue streamers quivered uncertainly. Her hands tensed as she struggled to make these final pieces of her ward comply to her needs. Grimacing against the effort, she tugged the threads into place. Almost as soon as they did the entire structure seemed to solidify, as if in recognition of her efforts. The strain of holding the individual threads in place lessened, but she didn't feel comfortable with tying off the weave.

Maintaining an active hold on saidar, Zarayne blinked a few times before her bright green eyes were capable to focusing at anything else. She looked towards the Green sister, wondering how long this ward had taken her to create. Would she be disappointed or angry? Delighted at the first-time success? The novice smiled self-consciously, wondering if her thoughts were written clearly on her face.
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Re: Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Post by Roan » May 8th, 2017, 2:24 pm

Tia Tomosan
Tia offered Zarayne a warm smile as she tilted her head in a slight nod, “Well done. I think you had less trouble with that weave on your first attempt than I did when I first learned. Practice has helped me become more efficient with pulling each thread of the weave together. I haven’t used that particular ward more than a handful of times, all when traveling. There are those who put wards up around their quarters, or on the approach to their quarters, to warn of potential visitors.

“While using a ward to give warning of intruders is useful, I find a ward to keep unwanted ears from hearing private conversations is just as useful, if not more so,” Tia admitted. “Before I show you how to ward against eavesdroppers, I will warn you this one can be a bit tricky. The weave requires Air, Fire and Water, though you start with Air and Fire. Bringing Air and Fire together should be done with caution, as it can have disastrous effects otherwise. You’ll want to be careful weaving them together and then be just as careful and precise when you pull in your threads of Water.”

Once Tia offered her word of caution regarding Air and Fire, she embraced Saidar once more. She started with threads of Air, which came easily enough to the Aes Sedai, and once she had a sufficient ‘net’ of Air, she started bringing in threads of Fire. For her, Fire wasn’t the struggle it once was, but she still had less finesse with it than she did Air or Water.

Heeding her own advice, Tia didn’t hesitate too long before pulling in weaves of Water to finish off the ward. She let it settle over just her and then spoke, knowing the Novice wouldn’t be able to hear, “And that is the Ward against eavesdropping. I’ll do it again.” She let go of the weaves to release the ward, but held on to Saidar. “You wouldn’t have heard me, but I said I’d do it once more,” she informed.

Again, the Green brought together Air and Fire, exaggerating her movements so Zarayne could see. With but a moment’s pause, she brought in Water to complete the Ward and let it settle over her once more, “There. I could say just about anything I wish, and you would not be able to hear.” She dropped the Ward, “Do you think you can do it? I want you to put a Ward around you and say something. We’ll see if I can hear it or not.” Again, she flashed a warm smile of encouragement to the Novice.
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Re: Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Post by Craig » May 9th, 2017, 10:01 am

Zarayne
Air, Fire and Water. She'd just made a ward using all five of the powers, but... She exhaled again. Concentrate. All she needed to do was give this her focus, and she would be fine. Or the Green sister would catch her before anything disastrous happened.

Zarayne started with Air just as she had before. Silverly saidar formed a mesh around her. The cylinder was like a reel of thread with her as the spool in the middle. She couldn't twist and turn to see the entire piece in one go, so her other senses let her place the weaves. The partially formed ward was a facsimile of the Tower in her mind, with each line of Air a row of bricks... even if the Tower didn't use bricks.

Fire came next. The novice had never been to the Waste in her waking memory, but could feel the warmth of her homeland as the red threads spun out to take shape alongside her previous weaving. Tia Sedai's warning was not unheeded, but she had a strength with Fire that tended to exceed her teachers. Confidence, maybe unjustified confidence, placed silver and red together swiftly.

Enfolded in a cage of woven light, Zarayne was blind to everything but the ward. She maintained an active hold on the cage as she added Water into the admixture. It was still a struggle to make the blue runnels do as she needed. Her awareness of intense pain and pleasure piqued. Speeding up the process, she added Water as the 'mortar' to the Air and Fire 'bricks' in her personal Tower-shaped ward. As the three elements came together, the ward began to solidify, lessening the strain on Zarayne's hold of saidar. The pain and pleasure faded back into the background as the ward came into being.

Once again, the Aielwoman blinked away from her concentration on her weave to see Tia Sedai again. The Saldaean's warm smile encouraged one of her own. "That was easier than the first one," Zarayne stated. Letting go of the weave, the ward rapidly disappeared. "That one was easier," Zarayne repeated.
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Re: Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Post by Roan » May 9th, 2017, 7:01 pm

Tia Tomosan
Watching Zarayne bring together weaves of Air, Fire and Water brought back memories of when she first learned how to weave Wards as part of a class she took when she’d been a Novice. Each of the weaves had been a bit of a struggle for Tia because she initially struggled working with Fire. Zarayne didn’t seem to have the same issues Tia encountered. As the Aes Sedai watched, a dome of Air and Fire formed around the young woman, and then was brought together with a net of Water.

Tia could see the Novice’s lips move, but heard nothing until she let the Ward drop. Her warm smile turned to a grin as she nodded, “That was excellent. I am not too terribly surprised that weave was a bit easier. There was less to. . .juggle, for lack of a better term. I only know two more weaves. One will teach you how to ward things from prying eyes, while the other is meant to ward against Shadowspawn.

“Needless to say, it will be much easier to see if you are successful with the Ward of Unseeing than it will be with the Ward against Shadowspawn, but we do what we can. In the class I taught, they used rats to see if they were repelled by the ward, but I have no rats,” Tia replied, still with an easy smile.

The Aes Sedai embraced the Source once more, “Let’s start with the Ward of Unseeing. It is similar to the Ward against Eavesdropping, but instead of Water to bind Air and Fire, you will use Spirit. Another slight difference you’ll see is there’s an even blend of each, where Air and Fire were dominant in the last one.”

Once again, Tia exaggerated her hand motions to show the Novice the dynamics of the weave. She brought Air and Fire together, but also pulled in threads of Spirit, and let the net settle over the journal she’d been writing in when the Novice arrived at the start of their lesson. For a moment, nothing happened, but then the book appeared to shimmer out of existence. If one were to look closely, they might see the outline of the book, but you had to know where to look.

Tia let the Ward drop, and then nodded to her student, “Let’s see if watching once was enough for you to get the hang of it. See if you can make my journal vanish.”
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Re: Wards in the Springtime [attn: Craig/Zarayne]

Post by Craig » May 12th, 2017, 9:49 am

Zarayne
Zarayne was glad that there were no rats. She'd had enough of rats to last a lifetime, and wilful exposure to more of those rodents was far down on her list of desires. She had jumped in shock the last time she saw one in the kitchens. Unfortunately for the back of her head, she was scrubbing in the depths of a cauldron at the time. She had to lay her head down on the pillows gently for a few days thereafter.

Returning to the present, Zarayne looked down at Tia Sedai's journal. The last two wards she had just made were quite sizeable, whereas this one would be rather small. Also Spirit instead of Water. All things taken into account, this should be the easiest weave of the day.

She started with Air again, forming a mesh around the Aes Sedai's book. Between the yellow lines she wove Fire. Careful to match the thickness of the two opposing elements, the lines of Fire shrunk and adjusted as Zarayne manipulated the flows. Last came the bands of Spirit, which were just as difficult to form and shape as those of Air. She would never become a Healer with these troubles, but this was just forming a small ward.

The crisscrossed lines of saidar came together: Fire blurring into Spirit, Spirit melding with Air. The book faded from sight rapidly.

Zarayne tied the weave off. She could see more than just the outline of the book -- her Ward of Unseeing was clearly not on par with Tia Sedai's mastery of the subject -- but it was still mostly hidden. A keen eye would still be required to spot it from a distance greater than ten feet or so.

With the weave tied off, Zarayne tried to ponder where her weave had differed. She hardly expected to become a master after one go, especially with her strength in the One Power lying in more male-dominated affinities, but she was curious. It was a curiosity that reminded her of a previous misadventure. The novice's bright green eyes sparkled with imagination.

"Tia Sedai, is it possible to unweave a ward? To pull free the individual threads and make the whole thing unravel?"
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