The Grey Tower

Jaryd lounged against the eastern wall of the Gardens, his olive-toned face turned up to the midsummer sun. He wore Altaran clothing: loose breeches in deep maroon, Watari’s curved blade thrust through his belt, and a scarlet vest. If not for the fine material of his garments, he might have been mistaken for a vagabond: he wore no shirt beneath his vest, and he had discarded his shoes somewhere between his quarters and his current waiting place.

It was probably inappropriate to dress so informally for a teaching session, but the Red could not find it in himself to care. The summer heat called to him, and he could no more deny its call then he could go without breathing. It was newly rediscovered, this unfettered delight in the sun. As the painful haze of his snapped bond began to clear, Jaryd found himself remembering who he had been...before...more freqently, and settling back into the role with utmost satisfaction.

He stretched languidly, releasing a contented sigh, then slouched even further against the wall, eyes fluttering shut as his thoughts drifted away.

When he opened them again he found himself face to face with a pale-haired Andoran. The man had a curious expression, and his eyes picked up light from the sky, appearing first gray, then blue. Abruptly Jaryd realized that he had been watching his student in total silence for an inordinate length of time, and shook himself with a laugh. “Apologies, it seems I have a lot on my mind,” he said with a low laugh. Like blonde curls and how well his jacket fits? He shoved that line of thought away.

“I hope you don’t mind being outside for our lessons today...I am a summer creature- if I don’t get enough sun I wilt and wither like a delicate flower.” His fingers flipped out dramatically, then he glanced around. “Shall we find a place to get comfortable so we can talk a bit about Wards?”

Jaren had been delighted when Asha’man Jaryd had agreed to teach him about Wards, and when he’d got the note telling him to meet the Asha’man in the gardens instead of a classroom, well, he couldn’t say he minded in the least. The summer was in full bloom, though Jaren was almost surprised to discover that; he’d not exactly had too much time to enjoy the sun as classes and chores were piled up on the first ranks with such ferocity that one would think the day suddenly had at least two extra hours. (Alas, no extra hours, just extra everything to fill up the existing hours…)

As he walked along the garden path, however, Jaren felt more in focus than he had in— days? Weeks? Half an Age? Maybe it was the sun lending him some of its energy; maybe it was— well. Suffice it to say that he was looking forward to the lesson and not only because of the fascinating subject matter.

He found Jaryd lounging against the eastern wall, eyes closed, face lifted to greet the sun. The Asha’man was in rather more casual dress than Jaren, who suddenly realised how ridiculous it truly was to be wearing a black coat in this weather, not that the heat touched him much anymore — and not that he had a choice; Soldiers were required to wear the uniform — but regardless. Jaren approached slowly, thinking he should probably speak up — the last thing he wanted was to startle the other man — but somehow the words failed to form as he stared, couldn’t help staring at the Asha’man.

And then Jaryd’s eyes opened. Dark eyes met Jaren’s, and Jaren was struck by the warmth in them; the Jaryd before him now appeared alive on a whole new level compared to the hollow shell of a man who had walked into the classroom to teach Jaren the basics of channelling. Jaren had thought him attractive then. Now he had to revise that opinion; in the sunlight, life returned to his eyes, Jaryd was stunning.

“Apologies, it seems I have a lot on my mind,” the Asha’man said after— a moment, an eternity, probably something in between though Jaren couldn’t have said how long.

You and me both, Jaren thought, and nearly said out loud but managed to catch himself. He had to smile at the comment about wilting like a flower without sunlight, though — and as for getting comfortable, well. He shut the door on that thought; this was neither the time nor the place. “Of course, sir,” he said instead, and gestured for the Asha’man to lead the way. “It would be a shame to be stuck indoors on a day like this. Though,” he continued as he followed the other man, “I have a question already, if I may?”

Jaren thought the Asha’man sounded amused when he replied, “Go ahead.”

“From what I gather,” Jaren went on, “you can Ward enclosed spaces, like a classroom, or a strongbox or a drawer?” That was not the question, and he barely waited for the affirmative nod before carrying on. “But what about open spaces? Like, say, a part of the Gardens? Or I mean, a part of any open space. I assume weaves are not tied to walls or physical structures, but is there a difference in difficulty?” He suddenly realised what he must sound like, and laughed softly. “I’m probably getting ahead of myself, aren’t I?”

Altaran led Andoran beneath trees until he found a place where leaves caused sun and shade to make a welcoming pattern on the ground below. He listened to Jaren’s questions, but did not respond until he had found a seat on the grass. It pleased Jaryd he did not have to invite the younger man to join him, and even more so that his companion seemed so interested in something that had fascinated him since he first learned he could channel

“You can Ward many different kinds of things, in all different kinds of ways,” the Asha’man said. “Most of them are done to cover an area, regardless of the shape of that area. Rooms provide walls, doors, and windows as guidelines, but you can achieve the same effect by creating a dome...or even molding the weave around a person or thing. How difficult it is depends on the purpose of your Ward, and the area you wish to cover. Most channelers can create simple Wards - Shadowspawn, vermin, eavesdropping, and intrusion - that cover a few spans of space. Larger Wards, or more complex ones, however, might exhaust even a strong channeler...and there are many I have discovered that cannot be performed at all by the average channeler. ”

“For example,” he dug into his pocket and pulled out a coin. Saidin filled him briefly, Spirit and Fire wrapping around the bit of gold. He held the mark up between his fingers, the flows still in his grip. “This is Warded against intrusion,” he said. “It’s a simple enough weave- I will show it to you soon. However, I have...added to it. If anyone but me touches it, it will …. give that person a bit of a shock. Care to test it out?” It was a milder version of a destructive weave he used in battle; in this case it would give Jaren a bit of a shock, but nothing terribly painful.

Long, scarred fingers held the coin out, but before he let Jaren take it, the Red leaned forward intently as if to share a great secret. “Stop calling me sir,” he said once he had his student’s attention. His lips curved up at Jaren’s expression. “In this place we are simply men who share a common ability. My name is Jaryd.”

And he dropped the coin in the Andoran’s hand.

Listening to the Asha’man speak, Jaren was very glad the topic was fascinating, because if it had been any less so, he wasn’t sure he’d remember a word afterwards. Maintaining focus on the subject was easy — well, easy enough — when he was more interested in learning than gazing into Jaryd Kosari’s eyes and letting himself drift into a daydream at the sound of his voice. Now he was honestly more occupied with questions of Warding; you could Ward a person?? That sounded complicated.

When the Asha’man held out the coin, Jaren held out his hand, curious if a little — only a little; he did trust Jaryd — apprehensive about the effect of the Ward the teacher had described, but then—

“Stop calling me sir. In this place we are simply men who share a common ability. My name is Jaryd.”

Several possible responses — none of them particularly viable — went through Jaren’s mind in the space of time it took for the coin to drop to his palm. The shock was not as bad as he’d expected; though it did make him flinch and inhale sharply, he didn’t drop the coin. He smiled as he reached out to hand the coin back to Jaryd.

“Very well… Jaryd,” he said. Maybe the proper thing to do would have been to insist that he couldn’t possibly — but for one thing, he suspected that strict adherence to rules when invited to do otherwise would not have won him any favours here, and for another… well. He just might be feeling a little reckless.

The Asha’man took the coin back with a smile, flipping it in the air and catching it absently as he considered how to proceed. “While flashy and fun, and thus great for an example, that is not a weave you will master today,” he said. “But you may be able to learn it with time, if you have the Talent.” He had learned as a soldier...but his Talent had been unparalleled at the Black Tower, and Londane had stopped at nothing to force improvement. He had no desire to pass that legacy to Jaren.

“In the meantime, let’s start with something a bit more foundational,” he said, the coin disappearing with a flick of his fingers. “What I’m about to show you is a Ward against insects. Bugs that are within its radius will hastily exit; those who are outside, will not venture near. The one I’m making is for all kinds of bugs, but it can be more specific if you take the time to experiment.”

The sun grew warmer, the smell of flowers sweeter, the day itself more vibrant as saidin poured through Jaryd. He found visceral pleasure in the process of channeling that went beyond the enhancement the One Power provided, and he interacted with his Talent the way a man might know his lover. He so rarely got the chance to simply enjoy it! He wove Spirit, brown fingers curling and flexing slowly so Jaren could see as he pulled the flows together, then added Air and a touch of Earth.

The Red held the flows loose for a moment, looking up to meet Jaren’s eyes briefly. “This,” he said, pointing to the Spirit, “is the actual Ward. Most are built the same, though I’ll show you how to alter it later. This,” and he pointed to the Earth and Air, “is what tells bugs they do not want to go near that area.” He pulled the flows tight. Nothing happened that a non-channeler could see, but to the two men a faint dome appeared over a space roughly two feet wide. “That part can be adjusted to respond to any number of things.”

Jaryd caught Jaren’s eye with a smile. “Give it a try.” There were plenty of tiny buzzing insects in the air on a summer’s day in the Gardens; once the Andoran got it right, they could use Air to demonstrate that the Wards worked.

Jaren watched closely as Jaryd demonstrated the weaves, paying special attention to the Earth bit because he knew that was the most likely to be a stumbling block for him. Earth was his weakest element and though only a small amount was required for the Ward here, he was always slightly apprehensive about working with the element. Jaryd’s evident pleasure at the channelling was infectious, however, and Jaren was looking forward to trying to weave for himself.

When the Asha’man gave him the go-ahead, Jaren smiled brightly before slipping into the Void to grasp the True Source. Wrestling saidin to his will came fairly naturally to him by now, though the sensation of holding the Power never failed to awe him. The only downside was that while the colours became more vibrant, the scent of the flowers sweeter and Jaryd’s eyes more radiant, it also made the buzzing of the insects louder.

The Spirit part of the weave formed slowly but surely as Jaren focused on the channelling, almost unconsciously mimicking Jaryd’s gestures with his hands. Once he realised what he was doing, he felt — somewhere at the fringes of the Void — oddly self-conscious about the whole thing, even though he knew that most channellers copy their teachers’ gestures while learning. He tried to shake off the distraction and keep forming the Ward, but his focus was off and when he pulled the flows together, after adding the threads of Air and Earth…

Well, it was a Ward. In a manner of speaking. And it did something, maybe; the beetle on the grass that happened to end up inside the Ward did take off frantically to exit the space, as did anything flying that was bigger than a common housefly. But the tiny insects hovering in a loose cloud above the grass didn’t react in any way.

Jaren tilted his head, squinting at the Ward. Then he looked at Jaryd again. “I was trying to be careful with the Earth part, but I guess I overdid it. That bit needs to be stronger, doesn’t it?”

The Asha’man nodded. “Just let it dissolve and try again.”

Jaren did as instructed, letting the inefficient Ward dissolve. Having failed once made him both apprehensive and eager to get it right this time, and he was glad for the Void dampening both emotions; he didn’t need the distraction. The threads of Spirit and Air formed again without too much trouble, though he made sure not to rush it. And the Earth… just so. A slightly more generous touch this time, and he could already see that the result was closer to Jaryd’s weave than the first time.

He pulled the flows together, and the dome sprung up again. This time, the little insects went as well. Jaren looked up again and, despite the Void, flashed a bright grin. “I believe that’s more like it.”

The Andoran learned from mistakes and accepted failure gracefully, Jaryd noted. He had noticed it first in their initial classes together, but it stood out more now as Jaren patiently reworked the failed Ward, carefully placing each flow until at last it fell into place and the tiny flies scattered amid indignant humming. “That’ll do it,” the Asha’man said with a satisfied grin. “Well done.” He watched it for a moment then added “You can release it now.”

Both Wards unraveled, and Jaryd began to weave Spirit once more, this time in a dome just big enough to surround himself. “This is a Ward against eavesdropping,” he said as the flows formed. “It is probably the single most useful and well-known Ward in the history of channeling.” He shifted, Air joining Spirit as he built the key. “Once I finish this, you will not be able to hear me speak.”

He did just that, then with a perfectly straight face, said “you have beautiful eyes.” It was a risky thing to say, truly, but Jaryd had been feeling rebellious all day. It couldn't hurt to give a person a compliment, could it? Especially when the person couldn't hear him to begin with. A moment later he let the flows dissolve.

“See?” Jaryd waved his fingers expressively. “There are ways to modify this weave. To fill silence with less obvious murmurs, for example, or even to magnify sound. Once you’ve mastered the basic idea, why don’t you show me how you might modify it to do one of those things?” Dark eyes twinkling, Jaryd slouched back, elbows hooking over the tree root behind him as he watched his student work.

Jaren watched as the Asha’man wove the dome of Spirit that would be the base for the next Ward. “Once I finish this, you will not be able to hear me speak.” Jaren instinctively sat up straighter, as though that might help him see better or pay more attention. The Ward came together with a touch of Air — no Earth this time — and then Jaryd pulled the flows together—

—and spoke. True enough, Jaren couldn’t hear a word of what the Asha’man said. Lip reading wasn’t his forte either — nor was it a precise art in the first place — and he didn’t want to put too much thought into trying to figure out what had been said… He was fairly sure the first word was 'you', but— No. Pointless idle speculation, and besides, it was just for the sake of demonstration; there was no reason to think Jaryd had said anything of any consequence.

The interesting part, Jaren decided, had to be the Ward itself. That was what they were there for, after all. Though he supposed he couldn’t be faulted for finding the teacher equally interesting. At least as long as he kept that interest to himself; he’d meant what he’d said to Johan about uninvited attachments.

Then Jaryd dropped the Ward and talked about modifying the weave for different purposes. “Once you’ve mastered the basic idea, why don’t you show me how you might modify it to do one of those things?” Jaren was surprised that he would be given a chance to experiment at this point of learning — and experimenting it would be, seeing as he’d be simply going by his imagination and intuition, and he wasn’t sure that sounded particularly safe… But how badly could he possibly mess up a bit of Spirit and Air? He was excited to try.

But first, the basic Ward. He constructed the dome of Spirit around himself, then began to carefully add the touches of Air as Jaryd had shown him. Eventually he thought he had as close a replica as he could get without seeing it demonstrated again. He pulled the flows together… and silence fell. The birds stopped singing, the wind stopped rustling the leaves of the trees, all other sounds ceased apart from his own breathing.

Jaren frowned slightly. Jaryd had said nothing about the Ward blocking sound both ways, but Jaren supposed it was possible that it was so obvious that he’d simply omitted to mention it. Well, at least he hoped it was working both ways and he’d not just managed to do it the wrong way entirely…

“I never thought I’d say this, Jaryd, but I sure hope you can’t hear me,” he said into the silence, feeling more than a little goofy. From the Asha’man’s reaction he could deduce that that part, at least, had worked. But he still wanted to know whether it was meant to work both ways. He dropped the Ward. “Was it meant to block sound from the outside, too?” he asked. “Or did I get it wrong? I’m not entirely sure, I may have placed the flows of Air a little… off.”

Jaryd watched his student form the flows, again with that precise care to detail that had caught the Asha’man’s attention in the first place. There were minor variations here and there, but the flows maintained their integrity; when Jaren spoke, the Red heard nothing. His lips curled up in an approving smile. The flows dissipated and the soldier spoke again, this time with questions.

‘The most basic Ward against eavesdropping does indeed block outside sound,” Jaryd said. “It can be adjusted, with practice, to only block sound one way, or to block one way and amplify another...there are a few varieties. I’ll show you one.” He channeled, weaving the Ward once more, but this time adjusting Air, taking care that Jaren saw what he did. The flows wrapped around them both; when he finished the weave, abruptly every sound in the gardens grew louder- the buzzing of tiny insects, the rustle of leaves, even the sound of voices from some distant corner of the green.

Jaryd stared at the flows for a moment, then released them. “As you’ve seen, every Ward is basically two things: A Spirit net, and a….trigger, I suppose you could call it. This next one, for example,” and once again saidin pounded through his bones as he wove the same web of Spirit, then added flows of Air, Earth, and Fire. This time the Ward only covered a small area to their right. “There’s nothing nearby with which to test it, but this is a Ward against vermin. Given that in addition to being disgusting, rats are frequently the Dark One’s spies, this is an exceptionally useful Ward to know. Can you see the parts of it that are the same, and the parts that are different, compared to the Wad we just did?"

The Asha’man left the Ward up for Jaren to examine, but his full attention returned to his student. “Do you have any other questions so far?”

Watching carefully as Jaryd formed the next Ward, Jaren thought he could see the logic behind the flows. Air placed just so, to amplify sounds instead of muting them, and to direct the effect from the outside in. He was fairly confident that he could come up with a way to modify those flows of Air to reverse the direction, to make a Ward that amplified his voice to those outside. That — or something similar enough — was what some Asha’man and Aes Sedai did to make their voice carry when teaching bigger classes, he now realised. He’d have to pay more careful attention next time he saw it in action.

He nodded along as Jaryd talked about the structure of Wards; the Spirit part seemed fairly similar every time, so far at least, but maybe there would be differences when Warding something other than spaces. Jaryd had said that a Ward could be attached to a person, too.

“Can you see the parts of it that are the same, and the parts that are different, compared to the Ward we just did?” the Asha’man asked then.

Jaren looked at the Ward against vermin, then back at Jaryd again. “The Spirit part remains similar as you said,” he replied. “But the other components change. Well, obviously the biggest change is that this one uses Earth and Fire as well as Air and Spirit. The insect Ward used Earth, too, so I’m assuming that’s the main repellent part. As for the Fire…” He looked at the Ward again, frowning in thought. He was half tempted to stick his hand into the Ward, to see if anything would happen, but of course nothing would; a space Warded against rats would still have to be accessible to humans or it would be rather pointless.

“Maybe,” he started, a little hesitantly, “insects are more easily driven away and the Ward against them needs only to make the space a little unpleasant for them to make them scatter. But rats and other bigger critters are more stubborn, or intelligent, especially if they’re being used as spies, and the Ward needs to actually hurt them to keep them away?”

As for other questions… Boy did he have questions. But he didn’t want to get too much ahead of the lesson; many of the things he wanted to ask were likely things that would come up later if he just let Jaryd stick to the lesson plan. But asking questions was also a sign of interest, and he certainly didn’t want to seem uninterested. “If you can reverse all the sound Wards, make them amplify sound instead of muting it… or, you could say, attract sound instead of repelling it… can you reverse the insect or vermin Wards the same way? To attract instead of repelling?” He assumed the answer was yes and was mainly looking for confirmation for the hypothesis. “Not that it sounds particularly useful, mind, unless you want to inconvenience someone I guess. But. Hypothetically speaking, you could, right?”