The Grey Tower

Tia's eyes went wide, "You set a chair on fire?" She wasn't the kind of girl to giggle at every little thing, but she couldn't help the giggle that escaped, "Did you get into trouble?"

For the Novice, it was sometimes hard to remember that her great aunt was once a Novice, as was her great memma. To think of them living in the Novice Quarters, in white? It seemed almost unimaginable. She wondered what they were like as Novices. . .what it might have been like to be a Novice with either of them.

OOC: Sorry. . .not my best, but I will strive for a more robust exchange next time!

Sadi couldn't help but laugh at Tia's reaction. It was an economical gesture, because that's what one learned after decades as an Aes Sedai: how to economize one's energy, expression, and emotion. Yet she was hardly a statue, and she couldn't help but be amused. Talking with her niece drew her back to her own youth, a place she didn't visit often. Not because it was unhappy, just she rarely had cause to.

"Oh, I got in plenty of trouble," she replied earnestly. "I was rather worried that I was going to be lit on fire next, but I managed to avoid that particular fate...if barely."

Once again, Tia giggled, "I don't think your mother would have taken very kindly to someone lighting you on fire, Aunt Sadira!" She took another sip of her tea as her imagination went off on its own tangent again. She and Einion had, for the most part, a carefree childhood, and hadn't seen either of their parents truly angry, either at them or anyone else for that matter.

The Novice wondered to what lengths her mother or father would go if someone dared try to harm either her or her brother? She'd heard stories of how powerful her Great Memma was, and knew she was willing to give her life (and had given) in an effort to defend the lives of her children. Who would be foolish enough to go after Miahala Sedai's family, though?

It was a naive question, as there were multiple storied of Tia's relations being targeted by those who walked the Shadows. Her parents didn't shelter the twins too much from the evils of the world, but they certainly did not harp on them either. She was naive in her way, but not wholly ignorant, to be sure.

Not one to dwell on the negatives, and eager to learn what Sadira might teach her, she followed up with a question, "I know fire may not be my key strength, but are you going to show me anything with fire today?"

Sadi listened, and watched. Eager, if inwardly and not necessarily outwardly, to get to better know her niece. This young woman would be following in the family footsteps, as it were, and while the Blue did not feel...not close to any members of her family, to see another in novice white just made her feel a little bit closer to Tia.

Curiously tilting her head, she asked, "Would you like to learn weaves with Fire today?"

Tia grinned as she nodded, "I would. . .even though it is not m strongest affinity, it would do me good to practice." She took another sip of tea and set her cup aside, "To be honest, I would be perfectly happy learning just about anything you wish to show me, Aunt Sadira. It is one thing to learn weaves like Wards through class, but something else entirely to learn weaves someone like you might think important."

The Novice looked down to her dress, and while it was white, it wasn't. . .spotless. "And if you might know the weave other Novices and Accepted use to clean their dresses, it might not be amiss. Mother says I've never been easy on clothes, and that hasn't changed since I've had to wear dresses over my preferred attire," she looked back up and couldn't help the goofy smirk.

Sadi couldn't help but smile again, feeling some further kinship with the young woman. The Blue had been a bit more...boyish than girlish in her youth, or so she had been told. Perhaps growing up with an older brother before any other siblings had something to do with that. That thought brought bittersweet recollections.

Ryne Machera II Gaidin may have only been half her blood-brother, but he was a good man, a good brother, and a good Gaidin. She missed him, even if they had drifted apart in those latter years.

"I will teach you what I can for today, although learning all weaves is a slow and cautious process. Novices are generally not supposed to be channeling without supervision until they attain the ring," she said, knowing that it was not always a rule adhered to. Sadira embraced saidar and pointed to the candles on the table.

As it was daytime, they were not lit since all the light needed came in through the window. She channeled a small filament of fire and one wick burst to life. "Think you could light the other one?"

OOC: I'm pretty sure that's a rule at least. I might be wrong. >.>

Tia made a bit of a face as Sadira spoke about channeling under supervision, "I had a bit of a close call when I went through the basics of the One Power with Mirin Sedai, though she was Accepted at the time." She wrinkled her nose, "With one exercise, I almost. . .took in too much, and it was enough for me to know I need to learn control before I practice on my own. It's one of the reasons I was really happy you agreed to work with me today, Aunt Sadira." She finished her comment with a warm smile, and then watched as her aunt lit the candle.

Despite the number of channelers in her family, Tia still found it fascinating to watch other women embrace Saidar. It was even more fascinating to watch what they might do next as they channeled. In this instance, she watched as her aunt wove the small filament of fire and light the candle on the far side of the room. It was such a fine thread of fire her aunt wove, Tia wasn't sure if she had enough control over her affinity for fire to do something quite so fine.

The Novice thought back to her class on basic wards, and how she struggled bringing threads of fire into each weave. It was not nearly as challenging as pulling Earth in, but it did take her a great deal more effort than either Air or Water. On the plus side, the class did give her ample time to practice weaving with fire, though she never tried something quite so fine.

With furrowed brows, Tia nodded, "I will do my best." She sat up a bit straighter in the chair and took a deep breath. When she first learned to embrace saidar, she used the budding flower as her visual to help. Through her practice with basic wards, she (with no small amount of irony) found thinking of a flame in a blackened room helped her embrace saidar more easily, and thus, in her mind, she saw a simple flickering flame. Not a moment later, she embraced saidar and concentrated on pulling a simple thread of fire.

The thread wavered for a moment, and then dissipated, but Tia was not deterred as she tried again. This time, she visualized the small filament her aunt wove, and did her best to duplicate it. Focusing on the candle, she attempted a thin filament, though what she got was a bit. . .bigger.

While Tia was successful in lighting the candle, her weave took out the upper half of the candle-stick, leaving a stub of a stick left, though the wick on top flickered to life. Wrinkling her nose once again, and biting her lip, Tia meekly said, "Oops." The table, and everything around it was in tact, which was a good thing, though there were drippings of wax on the wall, table and floor.

Sadi restrained herself to just an amused smile instead of a laugh, knowing that laughing would not be the best response. Despite how long ago it was, she could remember the difficulties she had in learning how to weave. Then again, she was wondering if Tia wouldn't follow Mia's strength than Sadi's. The Blue was not as powerful as her mother, but had learned dexterity to compensate.

"It's a good start," she said. "You didn't set a chair, or my curtains, on fire, so I'm hardly going to chastise you too much. It is difficult to whittle down the blunt force of the power for many channelers, especially when they are first learning." She paused. "Do you find it easier to create finer weaves in Air and Water?"

Tia's eyes were still wide and glued to the candle, and wax mess around the candle, but she looked to her aunt when the Aes Sedai didn't laugh. Feeling a tremendous amount of relief, the Novice offered a weak smile. I didn't set fire to the chair or curtains. . .and I did get the candle lit. Consider it a win? The thought went unsaid, though as she focused on Sadira's next question.

"I do, yes," she replied with a nod. "With both Air and Water, I can manage much finer weaves. . .maybe not quite as fine as the thread of fire you created, but not quite so blunt as . . .whatever that was I just did with fire," Tia added.

The Novice's thoughts went to the class she finished on basic wards, and some of the work she started on with regards to cloud dancing. The Air and Water portion came quickly and easily to her, and she found it much easier to finesse those parts of her weaves than Fire, Spirit or Earth. "In fact, I would say Air and Water are almost effortless for me. I don't know if it is possible, but I hope that with practice, I might find working with the other Affinities might get easier. Do you think it will?" She wondered if perhaps these were questions she should have asked Mirin Sedai when she was still an Accepted and teaching Tia about the One Power.

There had been so much to learn in those first few days and weeks, though, that she had no idea what questions to ask. . .or what she didn't know. She was not so wet behind the ears with the ways of being a Novice, but some concepts and ideas were still foreign to her.

"You may find that it becomes easier to manipulate them," Sadi said thoughtfully. "In terms of not having to fight it quite so much, but your strengths will always be your strengths so you won't necessarily grow stronger in the elements or being able to do much more with them."