The Grey Tower

Taylin wore a crème and green slashed dress with no sleeve, and revealed amble skin without being distasteful. Her hair was lined up in a net of curls and held in place by sapphire drops. Her smile was pleasant as she looked herself over in the stand mirror after her bath and perfuming. She finished the last bit of her makeup before heading for the Training Grounds. She had no intention of being late, and like a good soldier, she knew being 15 minutes early meant you were on time.

She moved with a fluid sway through the Ajah quarters, nodding her head in respect to all of her Brother and Sisters. The weather was nice out today, so she had no fear of getting wet. She hopped this first class would be a bit more One Power and a bit less physical in training. She was not to be let down. Near the Channeling yard and Practice yard stood two Aes Sedai of the Green, older women who seemed tough as stone.

“Greetings Sisters.” Taylin spoke with a bow, but her voice was in no way meek. One of the women snorted.

“Hello, Taylin Sedai. We are here today to begin your training in War Weaves. As the Battle Ajah it is our duty to defend the Tower and be prepared to face the Last Battle at any time. To this end we like to take our new members and teach them some basic to advanced battle techniques.”

The lighter hair Aes Sedai spoke next, she was much weaker in the One Power, but her respect came from age and being a teacher. “We’ve read about you, they say your skill with Cloud Dancing may be one of the strongest in the Tower, however you can’t always count on only one tactic, albeit a deadly one. So we will begin with the hardest for most Aes Sedai, this weave is called Spinning Earth Fire. It’s a destructive as it sounds. Now, if we will all embrace the source, I will show you the weave.

At once all three women were surrounded by a glow, Taylin let the moment of euphoria ride its way out. She watched the dark haired, plump Aes Sedai as she wove strands of fire and earth into the ground, weaving them in an intricate pattern. The result, not 700 yards away the ground exploded in a hail of stone and flame.

The plump Aes Sedai smiled, and reformed the weave, not completing it. “Follow me Taylin, and do as I do.” Taylin grasped what her meager strength in earth was, and her slightly more potent Fire, and followed the woman step by step through the weave. Five times they did this, each time stopping just before the weave’s completion.

Now it was Taylin’s turn to actually do it. She drew on the Power, and wove Earth and Fire, twisting them together just as she learned, and targeted an area where a lone tree stood. The eruption was not huge, but it was devastating, the tree was gone. She smiled to the two Sister, but the victory was short lived.

“Good, now you will learn the weave to battle a single foe. I have no doubt you will ace this one. Hit the dummy with a bolt of lightning, and hit nothing else.” The light haired woman spoke; they did not need show her this weave. Reaching out with Air, fire, and water she wove the weave simply, the resulting bolt was blinding, but not overly powerful, she did not want to show off.

“Good now you will learn to battle another channeler, the first to shield the other wins. Mariean has a gift for shielding, she will instruct you.” Taylin nodded and all of a sudden the standing woman had twelve weaves of spirit headed for Taylin, trying to cut her off from the source. She exploded back, spirit slicing four flows that seemed to shock the other woman as they were struck down. Two flows made it, and she felt her connection to saidar wink out.

“Again” The aes Sedai intoned, again and again; until finally Taylin managed to figure out her opponent. Taylin wrapped the woman in flows of air using large flows of Spirit as a distraction in an attempt to cut her off. The gambit worked. The elder Aes Sedai became flustered, and in trying to remove her bonds she launched a nasty attack on Tayliin. She nearly had her shielded. Desperately Taylin drank in more power, not all she could hold, but enough to break the forming shield. In the blink of an eye her own shield went out, and Mariean’s glow blinked away.

The day was long by this point and they retired for the day, her next class was the following morning.
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Today she wore a dress of forest green silk with a low neckline and golden jewelry. Her curly hair was only half done up in pearls. She seemed to have taken to being Aes Sedai like a duck to water. Her glide was not quite the same as a normal Aes Sedai’s pomp, unless needed. She preferred a swaying motion that accented the way her body moved beneath the fabrics.

Today a woman and man stood out in the Training Yard and Practice Area. She arched an eyebrow, as she had now been expecting this. The woman spoke, introducing the Asha’man as well. She seemed ready to get the day started, which fit Taylin’s drive perfectly.

“A simple one, a basic, we should have gone over yesterday if flame. You can conjure a fireball, but can you make it explode?” The woman wove Fire, Spirit, and Water in a complex weave that Taylin had to ask to see seven different times. When the weave was formed, the dummy target and a good twenty foot radius around it were scorched. Taylin stood in awe for a moment.

She began the weave, making sure to do it properly so as not to have it explode in her face. Her strength in fire was weak, and this was quite difficult. She concentrated harder, drawing on the Power. She finished the weave, and let it go. Her dummy exploded in a fireball that consumed everything within 10 feet.


“Normally we’d cover weather based battle tactics, but you seem to be ahead of the curb on that one. May have you teach a class or two. Anyway; our last test is Water and Air. Show me what you can do.” The Aes Sedai pointed two three dummies, and Taylin paused to think. She began to weave water with air, slowly crystallizing the dummy from feet up in ice. The second was not so lucky, she drew the water from the air around it until it became so brittle, it began to fall apart. On the third, she simply wove water and air into a projectile of ice, it smashed into the dummy and tree behind it.

Taylin turned to her teacher who seemed to be slightly more impressed than when first meeting her.


“There are only two more test for this class, but I suggest you team up with Asha’man Rhealk and get a grasp of what saidin is like.” The Aes Sedai glided off without much more of a word.

“You know how to make a circle?” His voice was kind but gruff.

“Indeed,” Taylin put herself on the edge of embracing the source, then reached out through Rhealk, and seized saidin[/]. Passing control of the bond to him was hard, the male half of the power was so different, and yet enticing, it was like the anger in her made into a living volcano. She watched how he forced his flows, his weaves, and she took note of his fighting style, and how he formed a shield. Shields had been their own lesson in War Weaves, protecting one’s self, assured safe ground to defend a position.

She watched him work forms and weaves, some dummies succumbing to flame, other to slices of whip like air strands. The day was soon growing dark as she realized they’d been practicing for hours, their bond tiring her from all of the channeling, if not used directly. She rested well that night in her new large bed in the quarters with the Greens. She was truly beginning to feel like one of them.

----

The next day came her final test in battle weaves, she was to face Rhealk, and must shield him or have him admit defeat to pass this Ajah class. They were in the training yards, and the grounds had been reserved for this test, so no one was about. Taylin looked to the Ashaman, and smiled. He smiled back, somewhat cocky. He’d regret that.

They were given five minutes to start, and the forest was included in the playing field. Taylin opened a short distance Gateway and was in the woods. She cast a Mask of Mirrors on herself to help hide her, and began to work the weather, bringing in a deep and heavy fog that was obviously unnatural. The field became a have one would be lucky to see ten feet ahead in.

Rhealk wove air, attempting to sweep the fog from his path, or pull the water from the air. Both attempts would work temporarily, but the fog kept returning. With every clearing he made in the fog, Taylin snuck closer to him. She’d shielded herself with a protection weave in case she surprised him too much. Suddenly she felt a twig snap under foot. Air, thick and solid hit the tree nearest to her. He knew she was there, but where? Taylin wove the fog in heavier, and could feel the man coming with the air proceeding him to clear the fog. She wove an illusion, herself bathed in the fog, and she walked from behind the tree silently. Three weaves exploded at once from her outstretched hand. Spirit, like a razor pierced his shield, and her own Shield cut him from the Source, the third, wrapped him up neatly in the air. The fog would dissipate with time. She smiled at him, sweat staining her brow and her dress damp. She released him.

“So do I pass?”

The Asha’man was a good sport; he even clapped her on the back softly. “Yes, you pass at that. I hate losing though. Care for a drink in the common room?”

Taylin smiled at him then gestured at her dress. “I’ll need to go get ready and change first, but I will meet you there.” The woman turned gratefully and swayed toward the Tower.

The weeks had been hard going with her training. She’d been out of commission for near eight days after letting a battle weave fall apart. She was growing in power though, toward her full potential in the Power. Today’s lesson was close-combat weaving. She found her teacher in the channeling yard, and a series of dummies lined up. Today they’d be focusing on her strength in air, and with it water. She excelled in these two with her latent Cloud Dancing, and her teacher meant to see her learn full control over it.

The elder Green was kindly, but gave orders not questions. “You will learn air weaves for close combat, and ranged. Watch me as I demonstrate.” The woman was suddenly surrounded by the Glow of saidar and Taylin embraced the power to watch. A whip like strand of air formed before the woman, and with it she lashed out, slicing the dummy’s head clean off.

This seemed straight forward enough. Taylin wove the strand of air, putting a razor sharp hardness to the sides. It was hard to control a whip, she’d never used one, but with her mind and a bit of trial and error she figured it out, her muscles need not move. She slashed with the whip, and the dummy was split open wide through his middle. Taylin smiled at the woman, Air was easy.

The elder Aes Sedai had expected nothing less. “Now girl, from afar, use the air to project as if losing an arrow, take the dummy’s head with it.”

Taylin did as told and formed a lance like shaft of air, and launched it forward. She missed. She tried again; a smaller lance shaped flow was let forth. The smaller it was, the more precise it seemed to be. She finally made the flow the size of an arrow, losing it and taking the dummies head.

The next weave was a blast of air, a way to knock back foes when surrounded. Taylin watched the other woman carefully as she aimed the blast she let forth, dirt and grass ripping from the ground. Taylin stood with a shield of Air, but still the blast was strong. She tried once it was her turn. It was a pitiful attempt. She dealt with the scolding, and the failed tries, until finally in her anger, she’d blasted away a standing dummy with a concussion in the air.

The elder Aes Sedai smiled at her, as she repeated the weave. Small victories lead to major ones, and so she was proud.

Now she focused on the dummy, pulling all of the air out of it. It took her time, but she would get quicker with practice. What was left was a dehydrated sack of burnable straw. Altering the weave, it’d compress the air around the dummy until it was crushed. She was tiring from channeling, but enjoying it far too much to ask for a break. Warriors didn’t take time-outs during battle.

Two weeks of practice would conclude in this class, when she would work with Water, and combine it with air. She knew this was a class on killing people with the One Power, and something within her felt odd about wanting to learn these things. She needed them, for her protection and others. Either way she’d made her peace with it.

A fair haired Aes Sedai of perhaps middle age met her in the training yards today. She was beautiful, in deep green silks, and Taylin immediately liked her. Who would have guessed such a beauty would be a professor in killing weaves. Appearances were never what they seemed with Aes Sedai, or Asha’man.

“The first thing you’re going to learn comes in handy, and is less gruesome than others. It’s called Quicksand, you can crumble a building with it, or cause a mounted party to become entrenched in the dirt. Weave a bit of Earth as so, and then Water. Water is your strongest element, this should be easy. Once you lay the weave, ground or wall, stone or mortar, will become putty.”

Taylin studied the weave, failed it only once, her power in Earth her weakest, still seemed easy augmented with Water. Two dummies would begin to sink into the earth nearby. Taylin smiled, letting the weave work until only heads showed. It amused her as she stopped.

“Good, your next weave is to pull water from a creature.” The Aes Sedai produced a rabbit. “This will be killed for stew tonight, instead of the butcher killing it, we are going to use it to learn. Water is no element to be ashamed of being strong in. People are water, air has water in it. It can be life or death. Watch.”

The Aes Sedai placed a weave of water and air over the rabbit, and Taylin watched in horror as the creature began to shrink up, as if sickly. She watched the other woman reverse the weave, and the rabbit seemed fine. “If you can do it to a rabbit, you can do it to a human. Try.”

Taylin wove the weaving perfectly; it was etched in her memory, the look of the animal. She used the air and water to remove the blood from veins and muscle. Soon the creature looked ready to die, or perhaps already dyeing. Taylin stopped and reversed the weave. The butchers would have to kill this one themselves.

“Next weave please.” She spoke easily, but the other Aes Sedai would have no nonsense.

“In war, there is death. Will it be yours or theirs? Learn this now, before you must learn it the hard way.” Taylin took a moment, but the woman was right. She was to be a warrior for the Tower, she could not shy away from a fight.

The next weave was as deadly. It was to electrocute multiple enemies, using Air, and Fire. It took her nearly two days to get her aim right, but once she did, she could hit up to 5 marks at once. She was proud of that, but wanted more still.

Her appetite was amazing for the weaves, she wanted to learn as much as she could. She watched as another woman joined them in the Channeling yards to demonstrate how to kill someone with a touch, or close enough to be touched. She called it Electrocution, she wove water, air, and fire. When she completed the weave she touched one of the dummies. The electrocution caused it to burst in flames.

Taylin was impressed. She watched the weave twice more, then practiced for a while. By the time she’d successfully gotten the weave in hand, it seemed the women traded out on teaching.