“A wind blew through the meadow, across open fields, toward the shadow of a tall tower, dominating the land for all to see. It rose and curled and danced about, as it reached the windows to a room facing the setting sun. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was -a- beginning.”
Taylin looked out from the balcony over the gardens, from the highest vantage she could gain. The clouds were dark over the lands, heavy with unshed rain. Thunder peeled off into the distance, and lightning danced from cloud to cloud, not yet forking to the ground. There could only be so many sunny days on the lands, their time numbered as the Wheel moved and the pattern wove. Stray wind found the open window, playing with her blond hair, caressing her cheek with the promise of water soon to come. The smell of the garden was fragrant in the heavy air, of green things and flowers, of perfumes and life. She could forget herself for the moment; forget the pain still lingering from the Arches, the night terrors that plagued her. How long ago it seemed she had arrived at the Tower. Her banded dress of Accepted fit her well now, her breasts large and firm, and her hips shapely and good grounds for child bearing. Her face was losing the child like quality of an angelic cherub and in its place a seducing beauty was given birth. She was a woman in full blossom, and her strength in the Power was growing in bounds.
Books littered the table near her, but the candle light of the room flickered in the storms preface. She reached out to the Power, embracing it as she would a lover’s kiss. It filled her, and ecstasy was she. The moment lasted but a second, yet felt a lifetime. She wove simple weaves of air, stretching them to protect the candle flames. Someone walking by stopped, looking at Taylin as she was bathed in the glow, silhouetted by the darkness of the storm.
Gabrial Sedai was of the Indigo and rather intimidating, built much like a gaidin. However, the woman was a walking weapon with the Power. Taylin could hope to one day know so much, her bow was respectful as she released the Source. Gabrial walked to the window, sharing the space with Taylin. She didn’t say much, she was old and spoke only when she had something to say. She seemed to pick up on Taylin’s mood easily, and could in a swooping movement take in the situation.
“You know child, there are those who are like the weather, unpredictable, and volatile, unforgiving, beautifully awful. But the truth is much more complicated than one word, or emotion. It’s like working the weather, pulling winds this way, may cause them to move another way in a place you never even thought to factor in. People are like that, they forget they move the small winds,make the small changes and choices; and in return don’t realize why the bigger changes take place, or why something has not had the desired effect they wish.”
Gabrial embraced the Power, motioning for Taylin to join her. Taylin watched as the woman wove strands of Air and Water thicker than her arms into the sky, farther than Taylin could see. It seemed to spider web where it met the clouds, vanishing in the distance in its repetitive patterns. The clouds churned as the weaves altered, and the Water grew thick, as the thunder peeled and rain began to pour down. The wind whipped harder, as the clouds swirled above the city. Taylin stood in awe. Gabrial let her weave dissipate, and the storm ride itself out. As she did she explained; there was no undoing the weather, what was set in motion must play out. Everything you change, you must be prepared to deal with the effect.
The woman was aware Taylin was without an Ajah inspiration, and perhaps that was what kept her there, to show Taylin what a true Talent could mean, and what the Indigo could help her learn. “You try it now, this is a talent not uncommon, but uncommonly mastered by Aes Sedai. Follow my lead, if I tell you to stop, release the Power, you understand?”
Taylin nodded at the woman with excitement in her eyes. She embraced saidar again, letting its glory fill and elevate her. She watched Gabrial weave the same forms and patterns as before, yet this time the Aes Sedai let them fall before they could do their job. It was Taylin’s turn. Unsurprising, her flows of Water an Air came out as thick as the business end of a club, smaller than the Aes Sedai’s though not by as much as one would have thought.
This seemed natural, easy to understand. She pictured the lands past the city and Tower, passed the farmlands and mountains and cities of people. The weather was one unit, one mind, with a million working parts. To change one, was the alter them all. No matter how big the pond, a pebble’s ripple was enough to change the surface. She felt herself reaching with the laced air and water, pulling with the winds, directing the clouds. The swirl over Haman Valon would increase in speed, opening in the center to let the sun shine through upon the Tower, upon their faces. For a moment they stood as if bathed by the Creator.; and then Taylin let the swirling winds stop, lest a funnel form.
Taylin did not notice Gabrial’s smile, or her hidden satisfaction. She realized the child’s Talent immediately for what it was. The question was how was she so strong? Another mystery of the Power they Indigo worked on finding out. This would be a special case to her. She watched the blond headed Accepted with a glimmer in her eye. A woman coming into her own, becoming what the Tower needed, always gave her a deep satisfaction. She was near to telling Taylin to stop when she realized the girl was working the weave in a way she hadn’t shown her.
Taylin altered the Air and Water, adding in Spirit. The rain became heavier and the winds worse, the window shook. She altered the weave again, and the thunder let forth with such force it shook the Tower. Gabrial grabbed the Power to form a shield. Taylin wove Fire into her weave, as she had seen Green’s do to call lightning. The lightning outside danced at her call, from cloud to cloud, until finally, it hit earth.
Gabrial’s shield slammed in-between the fountain of Power and Taylin like a hammer. She was dazed. Gabrial didn’t look pleased, but nor was she angry. She channeled for a moment, the weather outside calming within minutes to a storm that would drive everyone inside. “You’ll need to work on that Child. You have great potential, but getting carried away is dangerous. We have Dream Walkers here, and in the way they must learn control of the Dream, you must learn it over the weather. You felt the vastness of it, no? It can swallow you up if you let it. Never let yourself ride the storm, always be the one to direct it.”
Taylin felt weak in her knees as she let the Power go. The shield dissipated and the Aes Sedai smiled at her. “You will find your control child, I know here, you will. Now why don’t you go get something from the kitchens and retire to your rooms for tonight? The rain is settling in for a while, outside classes will be canceled.”
Taylin did as told, finding herself a bit at odds. She wanted to try more, and she would. She knew now who could help her, and with Gabrial’s reassurance, she was sure she would learn quickly. Taylin read herself to sleep within her rooms that night.
Meanwhile Gabrial made her way to the Mistress of Novice’s office. She’d knock twice then enter, the women from the same Ajah, and Gabrial being eldest would likely know one another. “Your Accepted Taylin Melandrin, has just found her latent Talent. I assume you felt the Tower shake with the thunder? Write her in for Cloud Dancing, and we will need someone Talented helping her, maybe one of our Sisters. She’s going to need to learn control. The strength, oh Sister, that she has in spades.” Gabrial’s excitement was evident, as if she’d found a new lab rat to watch and study.
