A Little Extra Learning (Attn: Bree) COMPLETE

[Jenny]

Four days later

Mirin quietly pushed open the ornate double doors and stepped reverently into the Great Library of the Grey Tower. She had two books in her arms, and as she passed by the librarians’ desk, she dropped them off. The woman sitting at the desk looked at Mirin and smiled familiarly.

“Thank you, Mirin,” she said. “Accepted Makenna is waiting for you in a study room on the second floor.”

Mirin nodded in thanks. She climbed the curved staircase leading to the second floor, and then found the hallway of rooms for quiet study. She peered into the windows set into the door of each one until she found Makenna. With a gentle knock, she entered the room. There were several books on the desk in front of the Accepted, including a heavy tome on Tower law.

“Good afternoon, Accepted Makenna,” she said. She curtsied before taking a seat and smoothed her white novice skirts. Despite her politeness, her tone was slightly wary. Mirin had not forgotten being shielded by Makenna. She wondered what surprises her mentor had in store.

[Bree]

Makenna was sitting in a window couch, enjoying the natural light and a fresh breeze as she read from one of the journals that had been given into her possession to study Dreaming and Dreamwalking. Amora en'Damier Aes Sedai had been the last Dreamer of any true ability to be known in the Grey Tower. The Indigo Ajah had given over several items that she had possessed for most of her life to assist Makenna in her study and the development and exploration of her Talents. Two bracelet ter'angreal that were designed to be used by two people entering tel'aran'rhiod together. One needed to be a channeler directing a flow of Spirit into one object and the other person could be anyone as long as they were asleep. The two people in possession of the paired ter'angreal could be anywhere in the world, as long as the channeler fell asleep and activated her bracelet first, when the other fell asleep wearing hers, she would be brought into Tel'aran'rhiod in the same setting with the other. Makenna was willing to use the pair with Mirin. It would be a good opportunity for her to try a few things.

The journal in her hands described another ter'angreal that would record one's Dreams for later viewing and understanding. She very much wanted to get her hands on that one. Makenna had believed that her own memory of her dreams was detailed enough and that she was skilled enough from years of practice to be able to make good use of her ability. However, the possibility that she was missing something and needed to be certain made her long for that necklace. She traced a sketch of it in the journal with the tip of her finger and pursed her lips.

She thought of her Dreams from the night before. She was keeping her own journals now and having debates with herself all the time about how much of the detail she should record. There were certain Dreams that she never recorded. And the ones about her daughter she always recorded as much detail as she could remember. Last night, her daughter was wearing what looked like a cloudy film and moving gracefully and elegantly through motions that were neither free nor natural but somehow Makenna knew they were some kind of dance. She knew also that Meleiea was gifted at that form of dance. If she had this ter'angreal, she could replay that Dream and watch her daughter dancing over and over.

It was these thoughts she was lost in when Mirin arrived. Looking up with a face blank of expression, Makenna said, "Hello Mirin. How have you been?" Makenna gestured to the other end of the window couch and closed the journal. Slipping it into her pocket, she offered a different book to the novice. On the cover was printed the title, Tel'aran'rhiod; Surviving Your Worst Nightmare.

[Jenny]

“I have been well,” Mirin replied, politely. She took the offered book. Her eyebrows climbed as she read the title.

“This author has a sense of humor,” she commented wryly. Her grey eyes moved to look once again at the book of Tower law and her thoughts flew to forbidden weaves.

“I have heard rumors of the invaders, the Seanchan, using the One Power as a weapon,” Mirin said. She watched Makenna carefully. Novices traded gossip as much as women anywhere, and Mirin had heard a few whispers about Makenna’s daughter. She shivered. “I know that the Oaths prevent Aes Sedai from doing so,” she whispered. “But there has to be some defense for us. The Tower cannot ignore the Seanchan forever.”

Mirin suddenly remembered the book in her hand, and she ducked her head. “I’m sorry, Accepted. I got carried away in my thoughts. What do you have planned for our lesson today? If you have studies of your own, then I will not trouble you. I can stay quiet and read.”

[Bree]

Makenna showed no sign of being effected by the girl's callous statements. She wasn't the first person to want to study the Seanchan regardless of their distastefulness. Makenna was old enough to realize that just because a thing was important or painful to her did not by any measure make it so to anyone else. So she ignored her personal response and concentrated on the very good question. "They do. I have seen it myself. They use the power to make fountains of Earth explode and to wound people. They call lightning and set fires. They do not do it because they want to hurt anyone. They do it because they are leashed and unable to resist. As bad as Compulsion, those leashes leave the channeling women with no choice but to do as they are commanded. Like animals.

"As for us being able to fight back, there are ways. The Oaths will not let us stand at a safe distance and use the Power for offensive fighting. We can stand at that safe distance and make defenses; passive defenses. We can walk into the danger and use the Power for offensive attacks. Anyone who is free of the Oaths does not have to think in this way but it will be obvious to all who can see that they are free of the Oaths. However, yes, there are ways to work within the Oaths. There are not ways around them." Makenna gave a stern look at Mirin regarding her use of the phrase "ways around".

Directing her attention back to the book she had given the girl, "I would like for you to read that. Particularly the first two chapters. Then tonight when you go to sleep, wear this." Makenna handed the secondary bracelet to the girl. "I will explain the rest when we meet in Tel'aran'rhiod tonight."

[Jenny]

“Yes, Accepted,” Mirin murmured. Light, she was getting tired of deferring to every single woman not dressed in novice white! But her months at the Tower had taught her to control her temper. She did not wish to be sent to the Mistress of Novices... again.

She gingerly took the bracelet from Makenna. It was made from an unfamiliar material that somehow felt smoother than glass. Mirin slipped it onto her wrist, expecting to feel something reminiscent of the One Power, perhaps a tingle. Instead, she felt nothing. The bracelet, besides its odd material, weighed on her wrist like any other piece of jewelry. She held up her hand. The light gleamed strangely off the bracelet. She shivered, removed the bracelet, and tucked it into her belt pouch.

Mirin excused herself and returned to her room to work on homework. Later that evening, she thumbed through the book that Makenna had given her, Tel’aran’rhoid: Surviving Your Worst Nightmare.

Soon, she was lying in her bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. Her roommate, Betrys, was already sound asleep, her breath slow and even. She turned the bracelet over in her hands.

What if this were a trap? Part of her did not trust Makenna. She still felt residual anger toward the Accepted. Another part of her was afraid. Makenna knew more about the World of Dreams; and the book had stressed that the danger in Tel’aran’rhoid was very, very real. What if Makenna wanted to hurt her? There would be no better place to do so than Tel’aran’rhoid. But that did not seem like the Accepted. Although Mirin found her teaching methods to be rude and sometimes painful, she had to admit, grudgingly, that Makenna was a very competent teacher.

Well, there was only one way to find out. She slipped the bracelet onto her wrist, curled up on her side, and closed her eyes. It felt like mere seconds had passed when she suddenly jerked them open again.

Somehow, she was standing upright, no longer lying in her bed. Mirin glanced down at herself, and her mouth dropped open in shock. She was wearing green silks, cut in the modest, yet flattering, Cairhienin style, one of the many dresses that her mother had lovingly sewn for her. It was the same dress that she had worn when she had arrived at the Tower all those long months ago; the same dress that she had watched Illyria Sedai burn as a symbol of letting go of the past. For a moment, the dress seemed to flicker to novice white, but then it changed back to green silk.

Mirin smiled triumphantly, and then looked up to see Makenna.

[Bree]

Makenna had gone to bed as soon as she had finished her very light supper and brushed her teeth and hair. At her age, she paid close attention to her hair and teeth and skin as a habit she had developed before learning to channel. Now that she was a channeler, it helped her feel ready for sleep to go through those pre-bed ablutions. She opened her dream journal and found the first clean page, setting a pencil in place to capture the details of anything that was very important.

Lying down and twisting the bracelet on her arm, she closed her eyes and embraced Saidar. Channeling a thin flow of Spirit into the ter'angreal, she felt it tugging at a small part of herself just behind her eyes. She lay thinking about that strange tugging sensation and then drifted into sleep. It always irked her to some small degree that she was never able to be fully aware of falling asleep. She would go from being conscious of being awake and trying to sleep to being conscious of being asleep and dreaming with hardly a breath between. But here she was, definitely asleep and definitely in tel'aran'rhiod.

The flickering changes of small details from moment to moment were at first, unsettling and nerve-wracking. After a time, however, she was able to put them mostly out of her thoughts and concentrate on the task at hand. She first thought of a place she had heard of from one of the books in the library. It was a small abandoned mining village, unlikely to have anyone accidentally dream themselves into it. It was not far from the Tower and it would have structures that she could use to create her construct. She was there. Just that quickly, no shift between and no sense of moving; just there.

She was standing on a rough dirt street with small trees growing in the middle of it, underbrush trying to reclaim the abandoned settlement for the wilderness. She could see four small cabins and one larger building in the distance. She set to work. She created pockets of nightmares inside each small building, careful to create the rule that each small nightmare could only encompass the space inside the structure. Inside the larger structure, she placed small warm-up trials in each of the six rooms. The sixth room, she created a pleasant scene with polished and glowing wood panels and a table, two comfortable arm chairs and a tea service complete with tiny cakes. She then sat in the chair closest to her and waited.

It was not long. Though there was no correlation to the length of time it took in the waking world, it was only moments before Makenna saw Mirin blink into existence in the room with her. She watched the girl have a battle of wills with herself over her dress and almost changed it back to novice white for her, but it was not about how she felt the girl should behave, it was about teaching her. She answered the greeting of the girl with, "Welcome to the world of dreams." She gestured to a second cup of steaming tea sitting on the table and invited the girl to sit and take it. "Whatever you believe you are perceiving is what you will perceive. In this place, I can exert my will over any of the objects in the room or over you, yourself. If your will is greater, you can circumvent anything I, or anyone else you may encounter here, might subject you to. It is not in any way a result of strength in the Power. It is a matter of will alone."

Pausing to make sure the girl had internalized that in case she had not read thoroughly the book she had been given, Makenna turned her attention to the tea cup in her hand. The cup wobbled and then seemed to melt and peel back away from the tea that stayed perfectly cup shaped before Makenna blinked and it all snapped back to the way she had originally imagined it. "I have set up a few challenges, very small things that might be pleasant or unpleasant but will test your resolve to remain focused and be able to control them. You see, anyone can dream themselves into this place by accident and some of them will do so and spawn pockets of their own dreams or nightmares which can trap you. If you want to know this place and study it, you first must conquer its rules. Happy things can trap you as surely as frightening ones. I will walk with you through each thing and make sure you are safe when you are ready. Do you have any questions?"

OOC: Makenna is not going to start with scary things. More like little kittens and sticky floors and then progress to bigger things in the smaller buildings. Feel free to move them through the first couple of minor challenges and then I will scale it up when I pick up again.

[Jenny]

As she looked into Makenna’s eyes, Mirin remembered the dangers of Tel’aran’rhoid. A few challenges, the Accepted had said. That could mean…well, anything. Anything could happen in the World of Dreams.

She shook her head in response to Makenna’s question. “I have no questions,” she said, her voice surprisingly steady despite the dryness of her mouth. Makenna stood and gestured out the door of the room. They stepped into a hall. Five other doors lined the hallway.

Mirin walked through the first door.

-----

And stopped in surprise. She stood in a beautiful meadow filled with spring flowers, a meadow that extended as far as her eyes could see, covered by a cloudless blue sky. The pleasant scent of flowers and a hint of pollen floated in the air. Her shoes vanished, and the soft green grass peeked between her naked toes. Mirin laughed and twirled. She glanced behind her and saw the door, standing in the middle of the air.

Her delight faded. Makenna had said this was a challenge. But what was challenging about… this? There was nothing threatening about this beautiful meadow. Her hand traced the bracelet that still surrounded her wrist. She wondered what would happen if she took it off. But if she were to ask Makenna, she would have to walk back through that door – and she did not want to leave. No, not yet. The rays of sun beat down warmly on her skin, and she smiled. The grass looked so inviting, so soft and restful. She could sit here a moment to think.

Mirin sat down, spreading her silk dress, admiring the way it reflected the sunlight. Tel’aran’rhoid truly was a beautiful place. Away from the stress of the Tower, away from that horribly plain novice dress. Away from her demanding teachers who watched and controlled her every move. She laid back in the grass, enjoying its softness. The sky was calm and blue. She wished that she could stay here forever. She closed her eyes.

When she opened her eyes again, she noticed something. Her limbs were tingling. What was happening? How much time had passed? The sun overhead had not moved at all. From her reading, she knew that time in Tel’aran’rhoid was different from the real world. But still, she had rested here long enough. She needed to return to Makenna. She tried to sit up, but her body didn’t move.

For a moment her mind went blank. She stared uncomprehendingly, and then opened her mouth to scream. Or rather, she tried to, but her mouth also refused to move.

She was paralyzed.

The flowers! She thought. Perhaps the flower pollen was paralytic. Think, Mirin, think! Am I trapped here? How long will I be trapped here? Oh Light help me! Where was Makenna?

At the thought of Makenna, she remembered her teacher’s parting words. The wind blowing in her ears seemed to whisper in Makenna’s voice: “Whatever you believe you are perceiving is what you will perceive. If your will is greater, you can circumvent anything. It is a matter of will alone.”

She stopped struggling and closed her eyes again to focus. I can move, she thought. She imagined herself moving, getting up, and walking back through the door. She imagined it. She believed it. It was a matter of will alone. And she would overcome this challenge. She could not stay trapped here. She had to return to Makenna, to the Grey Tower. She had to! She must!

Concentrating on that image in her mind, she sat up, her eyes still closed. Relief filled her as she sensed herself moving. No, she could not allow herself to feel relief. After all, what was there to be relieved about? The paralysis was not real. Of course she had full control of her body. It was perfectly natural.

She stood, and then opened her eyes to find the door. She ignored the meadow; she could not be lured into complacency. She stepped through the door.

Makenna was waiting, her expression smooth. Mirin stormed up to her.

“What under the Light were those flowers?” she demanded.

[Bree]

"I have no idea." Makenna tilted her head slightly to the right. "I only set the challenge to be calming. If you saw flowers, that was a construct of your own mind. If they were your perception of peace then they were probably one of your favorites." Makenna crossed her arms beneath her chest and sighed. "There are many other challenges to choose from. This one took you some time but not too long. Would you like to try another now?"

Makenna was impatient to send Mirin on her way to her next challenge. Meleia's dreams beckoned to Makenna and she needed to practice stepping into the space between dreams from Tel'aran'rhiod. Perhaps if she could learn to step out that way, then she could learn to step in without the use of the ter'angreal.

When Mirin had gone once more, Makenna imagined her opening into the space between dreams. She reached out to it and found the shimmering portal opening there before her. Stepping up to that portal and peering through, she knew that if she stepped out into that space, she would cease to feel her own physical body. She was not certain that she could interact with the dreams she saw there without stepping through and she was not certain what would happen to her ability to step out if she did. She stood there on the brink and looked out in the direction that she somehow just knew Meleia's dreams would be.

[Jenny]

Mirin took a deep breath. Makenna’s response had been so calm; it deflected the novice’s anger and left her blinking in confusion. Before she knew it, Mirin found herself facing a second door.

She smoothed her dress, which had returned to plain novice white. There was no choice but to move forward. She opened the door.

-----

Beautiful columns swept elegantly toward the sky. The courtyard was lit with the soft light of the dawn. Mirin strolled in awe, admiring the beauty of the architecture. But despite the pleasant view, her eyes flickered nervously. The first challenge had also seemed beautiful and innocent at first glance. She kept up her guard.

She noticed movement and quickly dodged behind a column. It was only a servant. Mirin quickly recognized the colors of House Osiellin. The man walked purposefully through the columns and disappeared. Was she in Cairhien? But she didn’t recognize the place. Perhaps, as Makenna said, this was yet another imaginary construct of her mind.

A shiver of unease ran down her spine. Mirin suddenly felt the urge to escape this place as fast as possible. She looked back for the door – where was the door? She panicked. Her dress flickered through a hundred colors and cuts before it suddenly settled on deep blue silks cut in strict Cairhienin style. Mirin lifted her chin proudly. She would escape. She would not fail!

She stepped out from behind the column to search for an exit. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw shadows move. A lady with her maid passed by. They turned to Mirin and pointed at her, giggling and whispering behind their hands.

Mirin frowned. Why were they mocking her? And then she looked down.

She was stark naked!

She blushed and attempted to focus like she had before. She imagined her deep blue dress; and when that failed, she tried to imagine novice white. She strained to think of it – to believe it –

New laughter broke her concentration. Two more servants – men this time – came out from behind the columns and began to point and laugh. The embarrassment was too much. Mirin fled. But as she ran, more and more people seemed to come out from the columns. They all laughed and jeered. She flushed in shame. There seemed to be no exit to the place.

Where was the door?

The columns stretched endlessly. The halls twisted like a maze. She raced through courtyard after courtyard. Tears began streaming down her face. She couldn’t bear the humiliation. After what seemed like hours of racing through the columns, she finally saw the exit, gleaming at the end of a long hall. But the hall was lined with people, all pointing and laughing. She clenched her jaw and ran as quickly as she could.

She burst through the door, panting with exertion. The first thing she did was look down. With relief, she found that she was, once again, dressed in novice white.

“Makenna...” I'm frightened, she thought, but the words refused to leave her mouth. Instead, she stood there silently and wiped the tears from her face. She yearned for her bed and the sweet bliss of dark, unconscious sleep.

OOC: I apologize for the delay on this thread. It’s taken me a while to summon the creativity for this challenge. I have the idea ready for one more, and then perhaps we can call it a night.

[Bree]

Makenna stood on the brink of the portal opening there in that dreamscape and pulled Meleia's dreams to her. At first there was no change that was discernible, nothing she could point to that was happening. Then one round glowing orb of light among the millions began to close the gap. She watched it approach and wondered to herself that it seemed so easy. Peering into the dream from the TaR side of the portal, Makenna watched the strange images and the muddled and disjointed flow of impressions. Slowly it began to make sense.

Meleia was dreaming of the strange and majestic dance she had learned. She dreamed of the forms of the dance and the walking and running patterns. She flitted through a walk and stopped in a form. Other people came into her focus. Some she admired and smiled at and others she cringed from or balked at. She dreamed of a strange garden and strange beasts. There were odd foods and always that collar and leash. Then she spun in a great circle and the dream changed. Makenna watched Meleia dream through the memory of boarding a large boat coming back to Westlands. Wherever she had been over the ocean and far from home, she was on her way back now.

Makenna felt a ripple of her own excitement flow from her and into the dream. She voiced to her daughter, "Meleia, don't give up! I am working on a plan to free you!" Backing away from the portal and letting it close, Makenna had a moment to compose herself before Mirin tumbled back into the hall. Makenna looked appraisingly at the frightened girl and quickly closed the gap. She felt enormously motherly at that moment and discovered her arms embracing the girl. A brisk embrace and Makenna released her. "You are okay. You are safe here. Whatever the challenge to you was, it is over now." The soothing tone of Makenna's voice was amplified by the slight alterations she made to their surroundings by exerting her will over the dreamscape. "Do you want to try another or shall we end our adventure and go to our own beds?"

OOC: This is all you! Makenna has what she came for so anything Mirin needs is all we are about now.