Unraveling Reality [fanfic]

When channelers need to channel and don't want to risk breaking the Tower into a million pieces, this is where they go.
Post Reply
User avatar
Jenn
"The Path of Daggers"
Posts: 1086
Joined: October 12th, 2015, 1:33 am
PC: Zarius "Zeen" Iiro, the M'Hael
SC: Afanen "Affie" Vallen, Novice

Unraveling Reality [fanfic]

Post by Jenn » March 21st, 2016, 5:01 am

OOC: Just to keep things all neat and tidy, each new reply to this is a separate fanfic, but I didn't want to spam the new shiny section. *snuggles it*
Katrie I
Katrie spread her hands out in front of her, trying to use that oddly comforting gesture to keep herself focused. Liza was expecting her, but the tall Cairhienin was in no mood for that woman. It would probably earn her penance, and it would probably fan the flames of the Yellow's obvious dislike for her higher. But Light! If she had to spend one more moment in the Infirmary with that horrible Yellow, she was going to scoop out the Aes Sedai's eyes.

Learn to Heal that she-Trolloc! The Accepted grinned a little, morbid amusement and sharp anger darkening brown eyes.

She let the breath out she hadn't realized she had been holding, forcing her feet to take her away from her sparse room. It was... hard, not to glance back over her shoulder, even though she knew she wouldn't find what she sought. Dax wasn't there. Just like he wasn't... Light, don't think about it. Katrie closed her eyes, long coppery fingers reaching up reflexively to touch the side of her head.

It was both a blessing and a curse, that her room was situated near the Warder Yards. In some small way, it made her feel as if she was closer to him... even if that didn't make sense. And yet, being able to see the Yards only made the hollow space in her mind that he once occupied that much worse. Her nose wrinkled. You went and thought about it, Papa's voice accused and she lowered her head, refusing to acknowledge the swirling chaos that rattled inside her skull until she had finally reached the Channeling Yards.

Katrie blinked in surprise as she looked around, head lifting slowly. She had expected more people... kind of like how the Warder Yards were always busy with Drin, Ji, and Gaidin coming and going. She shrugged inwardly. She didn't mind the relative emptiness; it was probably better for everyone else, really. Full lips pursed thoughtfully, an odd sense of excitement rising to the forefront. She couldn't remember exactly where she had first heard mention of what she was about to attempt. It was supposed to be very dangerous. No one else in the Tower knew how to do this... or more accurately, if they did, they weren't all that keen on teaching her. She was determined to learn this... and then master it. Or at least be skilled at it. It was a good thing her curiosity was such a beast then. The pretty Cairhienin grinned; if she could pat it, she would have.

She picked a spot as far away from everyone else as she could, taking several deep breaths to steady herself. When she felt suitably fortified - or maybe it was just giddy lightheadedness - she opened herself up to saidar. With deft motions she made a simple knot of Air. Katrie studied the few threads, her nose wrinkling as she picked one at random, tugging it out from the rest of the weave. The flows... sagged for a moment before slipping out of her grasp. A loud burst of sound rocked her back on her heels. She yelped, scuttling backwards until her back hit the barrier that denoted the very edges of the Channeling Yard.

Once she was sure her heart wasn't about to beat out of her chest, she tried again. She made the same weave, pulling at a different thread. It ended with the same resulting boom of sound. The third and final thread she tried yielded the same outcome, Katrie having to shake her head a little to clear it. She felt the prickle of curious eyes on her and she brushed at her skirts, keeping her head down as she left the Channeling Yards behind. Inwardly her thoughts were spinning. That was... the basic gist, she thought. She would have to come back and try again. For now, it wouldn't do to draw too much attention to herself.
Image Image
Jenn's Tracker - come write with me!

"Gravity has a way of humbling a man."

User avatar
Jenn
"The Path of Daggers"
Posts: 1086
Joined: October 12th, 2015, 1:33 am
PC: Zarius "Zeen" Iiro, the M'Hael
SC: Afanen "Affie" Vallen, Novice

Re: Unraveling Reality

Post by Jenn » March 31st, 2016, 6:00 am

II
Warm brown eyes went to recheck the ward she had woven around the very center of her room, finding that nothing had changed in the scant minutes that had passed since her last inspection. She wrinkled her nose before dropping her gaze down to the sheet of parchment on her desk. Katrie sighed a little, reaching up the rub at the side of her head, the corners of her eyes tight with irritated impatience. This really wasn't going as well as she'd expected.

The pretty Cairhienin set the quill down next to the inkpot, not caring that fat droplets of ink splattered down onto the paper, seeping through to the worn wood beneath. Long, coppery fingers went her temples, her motions small and circular as she tried to soothe away the dull ache that throbbed inside of her skull. Three marks for the failed attempts yesterday in the Channeling Yards. A dozen fresh ones for all the times she had failed today. Thirteen, she corrected herself, picking up the quill in order to add a mark in the column that denoted her most current efforts. She blew out a breath, directing it upwards, letting the quill drop back down onto the desk again.

Maybe that's the reason nobody teaches this... Her mouth skewed to the side as she glared at nothing in particular, her thoughts aimless and floating as her gaze drifted to the small window. I want... Blue eyes looked back at her for a fraction of a second. No. She shook herself abruptly, her brows lowering and drawing together. She glared at the empty space in front of the window for a moment, then at the sheet of paper for several heartbeats, a quiet growl of annoyance sounding as she turned her attention to the small tied off bubble of saidar.

She was going to figure this out. She was going to do this.

Katrie's expression shifted as the interminable edge of her stubbornness gradually rose up and crashed over her. Her mouth set ostensibly, mind lurching, then with a jolt much like a dislocated joint popping back into place, her focus returned to the task at hand with single-minded intensity. She stepped away from the desk and back into the ward that blocked sound from escaping. There had to be something she was missing... Obviously. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, a crease appearing along the slope of her forehead as she frowned. But what?

Her head tilted to the side ever-so-slightly, her fingers drumming against her thigh as she thought. How did one... unravel anything else? Carefully. Slowly. But with practice, familiarity and deftness would come. What else? She tried to envision something similar... and in her mind's eye she saw one of her papa's favourite tapestries, draped against the far wall of his study... the couch of white velvet poised beneath it to draw out the rich colours and shining pearlescent threads. She hadn't ever been allowed to touch it, but when she could get away with it, she had played with and tugged on the gilded tassels that adorned the corners. Sometimes the stiff strands would work their way loose and a tug at just the right place, at just the right angle would make the strand unfurl completely as it dropped into her palm. And -

Almond shaped sable orbs widened and the pretty Cairhienin gasped. That was it! That's what she was missing! She pulled in saidar, plaiting together the strands of Air into the infernal knot, staring at it almost defiantly. Katrie took hold of the opposite ends, manipulating the threads as if they were actual sections of hair and she was working on undoing a braid. One flow slipped and she winced as a loud bang of sound burst in front of her face. Fourteen. Light but she was so sick of bloody sound. She made the weave again, repeating the motions. She made it farther along this time, but her grasp slipped again as she neared the middle. Fifteen. At this rate, she wondered if she would actually go deaf before she succeeded.

The tall Accepted was grateful for the ward; she didn't want anyone to know what she was doing, more out of possessive pride than anything else. She assembled the flows together yet again, her brow furrowing.

Sixteen. Not quite. The weave dissipated as her focus slipped. She let out a curse she had heard Dax use frequently. Seventeen. She was literally an inch from completing her task before all three of the flows slipped and another clap of sound came. Katrie bared her teeth as she hissed out her annoyance, pulling the weave together once more. Her eyes followed each separate strand with care as she slowly worked on unplaiting the flows. Her touch was steady as she worked to undo the weave and she fell into an almost hypnotic rhythm; over, under, beneath, behind. She blinked as suddenly, there was nothing more for her to grasp onto.

A moment passed, then another. She even turned her hands over, and as she realization sunk in, she let out a whoop of sound, bouncing up onto her toes as she let saidar slip from her grasp. Eighteen! It had taken her eighteen tries, but she had actually done it! As the warmth of the Source left her, Katrie sagged, exhausted, but nothing could erase the smug sense of satisfaction that bubbled up in her chest.
Image Image
Jenn's Tracker - come write with me!

"Gravity has a way of humbling a man."

Post Reply
meble kuchenne na wymiar cennik

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests