Secrets Born in Slow Motion [attn: Leala]

[Chris]

There was a feeling at the Grey Tower that when a fellow found his feet, he was supposed to start giving something back. Murdock was initially intrigued, then annoyed, and finally quite exasperated, at the idea that he was expected to teach Soldiers now. Wasn’t that what Asha’man were for? There were Browns for a reason, surely. Besides which, there was the rather unfortunate fact that when it came to teaching, there was simply nothing for Murdock to teach. He had no real knowledge of anything worth sharing, surely his superiors were aware of this?

But the words of Mirin Sedai rung in his head, blast that infernal, interfering woman. How he had to live with his pain and keep himself occupied... oh wait that second part was him... but he was blaming her anyway, because he was convinced that the woman had spoken to the Masters of Soldiers and, ah, encouraged him to give Murdock some students to teach. Murdock did not have the time, patience or skill for teaching. He wanted nothing more than to be left to his own devices, learning to Heal in his own time, until he somehow broke his block and was able to return to his children. That was it. Nothing more, nothing less. Why did the Tower have to complicate matters for him all the time?

Who was this upstart Soldier he was supposed to be teaching anyway? Some Aiel who probably didn’t want to be taught Healing weaves in the first place. What a waste of everyone’s time, the lad could use a better teacher than Murdock and he could use the time to practice his own weaves instead.

Instructions were sent to the Soldier (Jhanic? What sort of name was Jhanic?) to meet him outside the Infirmary that morning. It was an early one, but not too early because unlike the Aes Sedai and Asha’man, Murdock saw little point in training and concentrating without having something to eat first. After breakfast he stood, tall and irritated, outside the doors to the Infirmary where he was known to help out when he needed somewhere to quiet his thoughts. He did attempt to look pleasant, or failing that, neutral, as he leaned on his walking stick. But standing around for long periods was a little irritating now, especially in a morning when his long joints were still remembering that they could in fact operate without aches and groans and forgetting how to bend.

“Are you Soldier Jhanic?” he would ask each Soldier who walked past, as it was unlikely they would know who Murdock was by sight alone. It wasn’t as if Murdock spoke with many of the people training in Saidin alongside him, and in keeping his own company, he often avoided such interactions. He was by no means elusive, but he hardly drew attention to himself either. “Are you Soldier Jhanic... no, you’re not an Aiel.” Limited experience with the Aiel said he was looking for some tall redheaded bloke. The sooner he turned up the sooner they could get this idiocy over with and then the Soldier could be given to someone competent and capable of teaching instead of Murdock. The Wheel weaves, he thought, but the Wheel can be a pain in the rump.

[Leala]

Jhanic had found out that life in the Grey Tower was not as conducive to keeping his body in the shape that he had been used to for the last ten years, at least not as a soldier. So, he had gotten into the habit of waking before the dawn, before everyone else was awake, and running a few laps around the Tower's grounds. He was going to have to find a better way to do this, though. He ran in the black pants issued to him upon entering the ranks of the soldiers, and his shirt sleeves were permissible, as long as no one saw him without his uncomfortable black coat. What really bothered him was the boots. They were not for running, and his feet felt it. He missed his soft boots and the easy movements of the cadin'sor. He had developed a route around the grounds that passed by a few guards. They usually nodded to him, some waved as he passed by. The Aielman still intended to become Asha'man, but he would not allow his body to go to mush in the process.

He allowed his mind to wander a bit too much this morning, and realized that he did not have enough time to make his class on time. The sun was only just beginning to rise, but he still had to change shirts, wash the sweat from himself, and generally make himself presentable. He grunted in defeat and ran back to the soldier's quarters. By the time he had finished washing the sweat and grime from himself and wore a fresh change of clothes, his class for the weaves for Healing should have begun.

At first, Jhanic hesitated before asking for the class. Healing was not what he had pictured himself doing. However, he remembered watching his spear-brothers, and even members of the clans outside of warrior societies dying of deep wounds and illness. Sometimes the Wise Ones could save them, sometimes they could not. While Healing was not his first choice, he could not deny that it would be very useful. The Asha'man seemed to be hesitant to have him try Aligning the Matrix before he became more comfortable with channeling, so Healing seemed like a logical choice.

As he walked to the Infirmary, he wished that he could just run, like he had earlier, but even if that had been acceptable decorum expected of an initiate of the Grey Tower, there were far too many people about the hallways, slowing his pace, but making his mind race. When finally he could see his destination, he found a man in a black coat with a sword pin on the collar, who seemed to be asking every man in a plain black coat if he was "soldier Jhanic." Embarrassment flashed through his mind. His absence had not gone unnoticed. He approached the man and said, "I am soldier Jhanic," he explained, his face straight. For a moment, he thought about saying that he owed toh to the man, but he had come to realize that wetlanders normally knew nothing of ji'e'toh, and so he had tried to stop speaking of it. His toh would be something he kept to himself. But, toh was something that only someone else could release you from. But, wouldn't causing confusion only incur more toh? Either way, he would have to get used to life away from his customs, so he simply said, "I apologize for being late."

[Chris]

This was starting to get silly. Sure, Murdock was a little earlier than planned, but he was fairly sure his Soldier ought to have turned up by now. This wasn't the best first impression to make on your teacher now, was it? Murdock asked the passing Soldiers still whether or not they were the man he was looking for, but eventually the tall whelp of a trainee made his appearance at long last.

Aiel had that distinct figure. Taller than most men, with reddish hair and pale skin - this was definitely one of the men from the Waste. Murdock didn't know a great deal about them, nor did he particularly care to as long as they did as they were told, and already Jhanic had proven that he was unable to follow simple instructions. "When people are late, it makes me think that they assume their time is more important than anyone else's," he informed the Soldier flatly. What was the point in apologising when being late was an active choice a man made more often than not? If he was late for a good reason he would have looked to be excused, and if he had no reason he apologised because it was what was expected of him. Murdock didn't have the time for such pleasantries. So rather than accept the apology, he beckoned for the Soldier to follow him into the Infirmary itself.

"I am Dedicated Murdock and you are fortunate enough to be taking a few lessons from me about Healing with Saidin." Murdock's tone said how fortunate he thought Jhanic really was. "This sort of thing can be taught in a classroom but I prefer to learn in the Infirmary. It's more appropriate and hands on, something the Black Tower had going for them." The Dedicated walked with a limp, leaning on his stick and not actually moving all that fast. But they didn't have far to go before he led the man to a quiet corner of the Infirmary away from the Yellows and the patients. There, he took a seat on a stool and put his leg out as he gestured to a nearby cabinet of medical supplies. "Those bandages there are in need of rolling and counting, Soldier. Give that a go now and tell me everything you know about Healing, so I know what I am working with here. Can you reliably seize Saidin? Are there any blocks or problems I ought to know about? I don't want any surprises halfway through the lesson."

As he spoke in his quiet voice, the tall man had taken one of the bandages to roll up, twisting one around his finger to show how it was done. It was clearly a practiced motion he had done numerous times before, and that would be because in the Infirmary there were always bandages in need of sterilising and rolling and counting. At least he did less of that now.

[Leala]

Jhanic did not so much react to being reprimanded for being late, but he did file away for further knowledge, should he have dealings with this man again. It was certainly disrespectful to be late. He would have to let Dedicated Murdock know that he was an attentive student, ready to learn. He followed the man into the Infirmary. His teacher motioned to the cabinet behind him and instructed him to begin counting and rolling them as he told him about himself. Picking up a bandage, he began to wind it around his finger, as Murdock had shown him. It was such a strange action, doing something so tedious, and with a small strip of cloth. His hands were used to holding spears and bucklers, not bandages.

"I can sieze Saidin without trouble, yes," he said as he finished rolling the first bandage. He set it on the table and took the next one, starting its rotation. "It was determined before I came here that I had a block, but if I did, I no longer do." He paused as he finished the second bandage, laying it next to the first. "I suppose any problems may arise from my supposed block. When too focused on one thing, I may miss things in my surroundings." He realized after completing the third bandage that he was pausing long enough in his speech to finish one bandage before speaking again. Words were never incredibly important in the Three-Fold Land, except when he was in battle. He switched to a mechanical motion as he spoke. "I do not know the details and techniques of Healing, but I know that it must be useful. Wise Ones worked wonders among the clan. Now that I have a similar ability, I would like it to be as much use as possible." As he spoke, he finished two more bandages, and continued again, waiting for his instructor to speak.

[Chris]

At least he wasn’t dealing with a completely green recruit. Murdock didn’t think he had the patience to help a man seize Saidin for the first time, not when he was trying to learn his own channelling. At least with Healing he could refine his technique by showing others how to use it, much more useful than staring at flames and exploding rocks.

With a block of his own Murdock could relate to that struggle, though he still had his to contend with. It was something he was used to now, like an extra arm that weighed him down if he didn’t carry it in quite the right way. He did think for a moment that Aiel were supposed to be good at paying attention to things and spotting stuff because how else could you live in the middle of nowhere like the Aiel, but that was something the tall man kept to himself.

“Of course Healing is useful. It reverses the damage done by other people. It helps people live where they should be dead. I can’t think of anything better than that. You spend so much time learning how to deal out death that this Healing, this... little nugget of creation... you’re handing out life to your patient. The Creator’s will and all of that.” Murdock gave Jhanic a stern look, his words serious. “Your patient has to have all of your attention. A lack of focus and you will do more harm than good – but that’s what these lessons are for,” he added as he set aside his bandage, not choosing to wrap any more. When the Soldier was done with those Murdock briefly inspected them before giving a nod of his head. “Alright then Soldier, let’s move on to the art of Healing itself. There’s two differences between this, and blowing things up in the yards – we don’t want this to mess up on our patient. That’s why I’m going to show you the weaves, and we’re going to practice channelling them into a target. Having a life patient is ideal but with the risk of going wrong being high, we’re going to start with something safer.”

With that Murdock stood, grunting a little from the effort before pulling down a small, blocky wooden figurine. “Channelling into Jean won’t hurt him if it goes wrong. The weaves won’t do anything, but it’s better to start this way before we move on to actual people.” He set Jean the wood figure on the shelf between them, and put a hand on its head. Seizing Saidin was impossible without thinking of Giselle, his dear, dear Giselle. This time she was sitting just past Jharic over his shoulder, smiling Murdock’s way at the charitable act he was performing. Teaching others, so generous! Murdock flashed a quick grin her way before he assumed the void, drawing upon enough Saidin to pull together the three basic weaves a man needed for Healing. “Earth, Fire, Spirit, like this.” He slowly threaded them together for his Soldier student, and then let them settle into Jean. Nothing happened, naturally. Murdock did this twice more, before letting the Soldier try it for himself. “See how you do with that. Don’t worry about messing it up, either.”

With hindsight Murdock really ought to have started with Delving first, but honestly? That was something for a more organised, formal teacher. Maybe later, if he remembered.