An Old Piece of Me (fanfic)

[Leala]

Jhanic was not exactly sure what to do his first day as a Dedicated. He had breakfast, then he had two hours to dedicate to his own studies. He had never considered himself the studious type when he was in the Three-Fold Land, but he had discovered a world that warranted studying in the Grey Tower. He looked for things to read about. Now that he had reached the rank of Dedicated, and had been there for a few weeks, he knew what he wanted.

He wanted his spears.

His spears had been something of a joke from the other soldiers for a while. Especially as his training escalated, he had sought them. Jhanic never had enough time to look for them properly as a soldier. Those few times that he was able to search, the Asha’man that kept them was either out of the Tower, or somewhere else unreachable, given the timeframe that soldiers and novices were allowed.

He was banking that today, the Indigo Asha’man was in his room, still enjoying his breakfast. He had heard that the man was in the Tower just the other day. Jhanic walked with the dignity of a Dedicated as he walked to the Indigo Ajah’s quarters, not far from his own quarters, near the Green Ajah’s quarters. Walking through the courtyard, he entered the circular building and found Asha’man Kalir’s quarters, the rooms that he had visited the most since coming to the Grey Tower. None of the Aes Sedai or Asha’man spared him a glance as he walked past them. The sword pin seemed to do its job well enough.

Stopping at the Asha’man’s door, he knocked a few times. He straightened up when he heard someone coming toward it. When the door opened, the brown-haired man stood in front of him, staring at a book in his hands, scratching the back of his head. He spared a moment to look at who was at his door. His gaze hit Jhanic’s shoulders, and he looked up until he met his eyes. “Oh!” he exclaimed. “You’re uh…that….”

“Jhanic.”

“Yes, Jhanic! I see you were raised to Dedicated! Congratulations. How can I help you?”

“I was hoping you would still have my spears in your possession.”

The Asha’man stared at him for a moment, blinking. “Oh. Yes. I do, but uh…” He paused before motioning for Jhanic to follow him. “Come in here, my boy. I’ll uh…find them for you.”

Jhanic stepped into the man’s quarters and closed the door after himself, watching as Kalir moved about the mess in the first room. He would have followed after the man, desperate to find his spears, but he had a feeling that most of the mess that he saw were ter’angreal. The Asha’man muttered to himself as he picked through the room, then left the room, moving further into the quarters.

Jhanic waited patiently, simply amazed that his plan had even worked. He smiled to himself as he saw a tray of half-eaten food on top of some of the mess. After a while, Kalir let out a triumphant, “Aha!” Leaning forward, the Dedicated waited until the Asha’man emerged, the two spears in his hand. The other man’s gait was strange as he lifted his legs over the mess, holding the weapons carelessly over his head. As Kalir reached Jhanic, he tripped, and the Aielman caught his wrist in the air. The Asha’man used that as leverage to straighten up.

The Asha’man handed the spears to him and brushed off unseen dust from his shirt sleeves and his dark blue breeches. “Yes, there you are, child. I was only able to Delve into them. I could not quite work out your methods. Perhaps you’ll have better luck than me, though.” He chuckled. “I’m sorry that the shafts are a bit dusty, but the blades…those have been touched by the One Power. They’re likely untouchable to time.”

Jhanic examined his spears’ blades. There was just a bit of wear, but they looked mostly like the last time he had seen them. “Thank you, Asha’man.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble. Do give me updates if you can figure that weave out. It’s a rare talent, that, and especially rare to do it without training.”

He nodded to the other man, then left his quarters as he brushed the dust off his spears. He held them with the blades against his shoulders, so that it was known that he did not mean to use them. He did not wear the cadin’sor, but with his spears again, he felt like he did. It took a lot of discipline not to sprint down the halls and through the courtyard, as if he were in the Three-Fold Land.

He did notice a few soldiers and novices had taken notice as he moved across the Tower Grounds, back to his rooms. One or two novices even blushed at the sight of him. It was amusing, but he would not shame them by laughing. He entered the Accepted and Dedicated hall surrounding the Green Ajah’s quarters and found his rooms easily. One Accepted looked up when he came in carrying his spears. She looked on the cusp of a question, but he entered his rooms before she could voice it.

Taking off his boots, he took a slightly damp rag from his basin, then sat on his bed. He crossed his legs and laid his spears across his legs, then stared at his old friends. He had not used the spears since he was in the Three Arches. It had felt natural to him, but he avoided thinking of that particular Arch just the same.

As he began to run the cloth down the blade of the spear that he held, he began to sort through his studies in the Grey Tower, and how he could improve on what he had learned, and almost immediately, he felt himself seize Saidin. He almost had not willed it, but this familiar action had brought upon the action of taking a hold of the One Power. He held onto the power that filled him with raging rivers of fire and ice.

This particular talent of his had been puzzling him. He wondered if he would be able to properly observe and learn the weaves. His arms worked mechanically, and he watched and felt as weaves of the One Power of every one of the Five Powers poured from him into his spear blade. He had nearly forgotten that he could feel the weaves and manipulate them. That hadn’t stopped the worry that he would be too focused on watching them, though.

As he worked through his worry, he watched and directed the flows of Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Spirit as they went into his spear. He was not sure how he knew where each flow went, but Jhanic was confident as he directed them that they were going in the right places. The weaves were so complex and intricate, it was a wonder that he was able to do this. Just to be sure, he slowed the process down, observed it closer, and then paused it to write down notes, draw sketches.

He remembered comments from his spear brothers as he continued. They would remark often that he didn’t need to sharpen or clean his spears. This would always confuse him, because he maintained them regularly, at the same pace that they did theirs. He knew now, that with the addition of the One Power and Aligning the Matrix, he really did not need to maintain them. He would at the very least still wash them, especially now that he had them back.

Jhanic tied off the weave of the first one, then set it next to him, facing in front of him. With the same weaves, he watched and observed as he seemingly naturally added the One Power to his second spear blade, as if he weren’t controlling all Five Powers at the same time, and with such complex weaves. It seemed that after doing this without thinking for so long, he had managed to have it ingrained in him.

~~~

Jhanic made his way to the Library when he heard his name being called. Turning around, he saw Asha’man Kalir waving at him. He met the man halfway, and saw an expectant smile on the shorter man’s face. “Were you able to figure out the weave? Did you remember?” he asked. It almost seemed like the Indigo Asha’man was out of breath. Had he been looking for him?

“Yes, I remembered,” Jhanic answered with a nod.

“Oh, good. Hah, I can never tell what you Aiel are thinking,” he said with a nervous chuckle. He then shook his head, holding up an apologetic hand. “That is good, Jhanic. If you have time, perhaps you could show me a bit of it.”

He thought it odd that an Asha’man was asking him for something, being under him in rank. However, this man was the one that first remarked about his abilities. Men could not sense when another could channel, like women could with each other. He had seen the mark of the One Power in Jhanic’s spears, and he had offered to take him to the Grey Tower for training. He did not know if he would have a place back in the Three-Fold Land, but he knew that he had a place here now, and it was thanks to this man that he had gotten this training. He remembered the toh that he had for this man. It had taken him a few years, but he would finally be able to repay it. “Yes, I can show you, Asha’man Kalir.”