Stifling a yawn, Rendra made her way through the quiet Fortress. Even in places such as this where evil never rested, the agents of such did have a need of sleep. So, outside of an unlucky few dragged from their repose on the behest of their superiors, most garnered what rest that they might.
That wasn’t to say that Rendra was cross at having to be awake, but quite the opposite. She had been keyed up since receiving the missive to attend the lady M’bela. And while she didn’t know the exact nature of this class, she was definitely eager to find out. Would it be something with Saidar, or perhaps another class extolling their master? While she had learned so much, Rendra had the impression it was only the tip of the iceberg. At least she’d have all the time she could ever want for that and more, if her masters spoke truly…
She thought then of the One Power as she continued to winder her way to her destination. It made her chuckle to recall her against her ability she had been when she’d arrived at the Fortress, and how far she’d come in accepting what she was. Not like the Tar Valon witches, no. No indeed, the denizens of the Fortress were clearly superior.
Pulling herself out of her reverie, she cracked the Library door open and entered the room; time to find out what the evening would hold.
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05 March 2009 (12:10am)
Rendra winced as the wall of flame sprung into being around the room. After a moment, however, she realized that she felt no heat from it, and that nothing was catching on fire. ”What is… wait a moment,” she thought, attempting to keep herself quite still just in case it was real fire, and she just couldn’t feel the heat for some reason.
“Good!” the Mae’shadar called out, and started throwing small objects towards the class.
Catching the small sparkling stone that was tossed at her, Rendra eyed it curiously. It was a deep blue, and it almost seemed as if it had a light of its own. As the teacher explained that it was an angreal, her eyes widened a bit. She’d heard talk of these objects of power before, but this was her first time getting to use one. Even if she had to give it back, it was exciting to have a chance to learn how to use one. ”I’ve heard it told that angreal can make you a lot stronger; I guess I’ll find out how much stronger if what I was told about using one of these holds true!”
Her attention turned back to M’bela as the more experienced woman explained how to make the illusions. The threads were carefully weaved alongside her explanation, and soon the image of a bird appeared before her; before the male channeler, a mouse appeared in the air. A few more examples followed the first one, and then all were instructed to practice.
Nodding to herself, she eyed the rock… erm…. angreal in her hand. Someone had told her that the trick was to open herself to Saidar through the angreal. It took her a few tries, but with some prodding, Rendra found herself filled with more of the One Power than she ever had before. It made her feel a bit giddy, as if life were even brighter and shinier than normal when she was filled with the One Power. Of course, there was still the task at hand…
Envisioning a cat, she wove Spirit and strands of other elements to try and shape what was in her mind. What came out, however, was kind of spiky and not at all cat-like. Biting her bottom lip, she mused to herself, “Maybe I’m not holding the image right, or perhaps I’m using too much Earth…” Dropping the flows, she weaved anew, trying different combinations as she felt suited the image in her head.
While she had the size right, her mental image of what she was supposed to be weaving faltered as she thought of different cats that had been running around the various parts of Tanchico that she had been in. While she tried to hold the simplest sort of image in her head – a generic black cat of an average slender size, it took several tries before what she was able to even get something that approximated what she had in mind. Around this time, M’bela had made it around to her. The older woman weaved almost lazily, easily rendering what Rendra had in mind. Watching what was woven carefully, Rendra mentally noted how much of which elements were used to show the illusion of what she had in mind, ”Too much earth indeed… too much of all the elements, perhaps.”
Under the Mae’shadar’s watchful eye, Rendra carefully laid the flows while concentrating on the image in her mind. It was easier after having some guidance, and after a few more tries, she was able to generate the illusion of a cat standing by. Her lips quirked into a smile, and she continued to practice the weave.
Of course, Rebecca’s sad little attempts at oneupmanship were ignored; Rendra was too excited at her relative successes with this weaving. A poignant image popped into her mind, and she tried her luck and presenting an image of the rose that once had graced her tiny bit of personal space in her parent’s home. While it wasn’t spot-on perfect, a trace of sadness crossed her face before the image could fade away. And while her mind was still on the sadder times, she tried for a simple image – a loaf of bread. Of course, that was basically just a lump of brown, and she couldn’t suppress the giggle that escaped before she let the image go.
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10 March 2009 (1:07am GMT)
Observing M’bela’s weaving most carefully (where she could), Rendra was most pleased to not be the ‘assistant’ in this class’ demonstration. Oh sure, the two that were selected received healing, but that was beside the point!
When it came to pairing up to practice, she studiously ignored Miss Snottypants Rebecca and turned to another girl next to her. Her face lit up briefly, and she inquired, “Hello, didn’t we pair off in the last weapons class?” The girl smiled hesitantly before nodding. Nodding in reply, Rendra responded, “Well, as we didn’t manage to kill each other with blades, let us trust each other again to not kill each other with the One Power, shall we?” Her pouty lips quirked into a smirk, and she almost thought for a moment that she saw the other girl smile too.
Taking a calculated risk, the Taraboner let the other girl go first. It took a bit before she got the hang of the sleeping weave, and after a rude awakening from falling on the floor, Rendra was relatively pleased to find herself upright and heavy-lidded, “I’ll have to remember to get her to lean against a wall, even if making her fall over would be sweet too.” she mused briefly before gesturing her partner to the wall. She laid the weave gingerly on the other woman, who stifled a tiny yawn, but didn’t seem to be particularly incapacitated. Still, it was better to be a tad too light in her weaving in this case, and as she carefully strengthened the flows, she was very pleased to achieve the right result.
She started to wonder if she could use such a weave on herself to aid in getting to sleep, but then remembered a basic lesson – one couldn’t weave upon oneself. Still, she could see the value in such a weave – if someone was asleep or drowsy, they would be distracted, and therefore be an easier target to prey upon. And, of course, should one be lacking an actual weapon on hand, there were always weapons of the One Power to use…
Stifling a tiny yawn, Rendra nodded to the other girl, “I guess we should try to weave these blades, then?” Her partner murmured assent, and stifled a yawn of her own. Chuckling softly, she turned her attention to the weaves she remembered M’bela doing. The ice blade formed easily, and she marveled at the beauty and utility of such a relatively simple weave.
She then tried to emulate the fire blade the Mae’shadar had woven, but found that she wasn’t strong enough without using the small angreal she had been issued. Even then, it was difficult, and she was most grateful to move on to trying other combinations. She found that making a blade of ice was very simple and easy, angreal or otherwise, but that making one of the very air itself was the simplest of all. Satisfied, she covered her mouth and stifled yet another yawn.
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29 March 2009 (2:36am BST)
Once in the room she’d been assigned, Rendra looked at her subject. It was an old woman, bent and withered. Her iron-gray hair was in a bun, and she was eying the young Adept warily.
The Taraboner smirked, and opened herself to Saidar. Binding the serving woman with flows of Air, Rendra said nothing for a long moment before speaking, “You have some important information for me, and I think that you should consider giving it up.” The old woman sniggered; it was obvious that she didn’t think much of Rendra or her current situation. “Silence!” Rendra proclaimed, extending her existing weave to gag the prisoner.
“What kind of pranks have some of the students here gotten up to for a servant to be so blasé about being bound with the One Power?” she mused as she paced the small cell, “Perhaps she’s mad or something. Or perhaps she’s a repeat offender, and knows that I cannot kill her for this.” Glowering, she continued to pace and think.
Over the next few hours, Rendra tried several different ways to get her prisoner to talk. She bound the woman’s ears and tried the illusion of fire, complete with little weaves of the element dashing at her toes. The ear blocking, of course, was so she didn’t have to deal with getting laughed at for not getting the sound right; it was easier to not attempt the illusion of sounds yet. She attempted weaving images of Trollocs and other such monstrous creatures, but as her ‘skill’ with such was so new that the effect was really laughable… at least, as best as someone can laugh around a gag of Air.
As she despaired of ever breaking her subject, Rendra recalled something that had been said, “…severe damage that may threaten their life is not allowed…”
Nodding slowly to herself, she slightly constricted the weave of Air wrapped around the serving woman. The subject looked at her steadily, but the young Adept could see a bit of doubt creeping into her eyes. Smiling, she wove another flow of Air and whapped the woman across the back with it. Not waiting for the initial reaction to die down, she thwapped the second weave against the back of the woman’s legs. She kept this up, slightly constricting the first weave here, increasing the size of the second weave there. It wasn’t too long before she released the bit gagging the woman’s mouth, and not much longer past that before she was able to retrieve the desired bit of knowledge.
Rendra unbound the woman, and shut the door behind her. She was extremely tired, but relieved to be done with this task. She wasn’t sure what she felt for her subject – it wasn’t pity, but more annoyance that she couldn’t threaten her with anything worse. Still, judging by the reactions, perhaps if she was a repeat offender, none of the other students who had worked her over in the past had thought to go for the physical. She wasn’t terribly happy that she’d resorted to that, but didn’t want to lose to… that sad little thing. ”Still,” she reflected tiredly, ”I could stand to learn more about interrogation… I’m sure that not everyone would fold to a beating…”