A Little Extra Learning (Attn: Bree) COMPLETE

[Jenny]

Mirin sat at her desk in the small room that she shared with Betrys, bent over her textbook. With a sigh, she straightened and stretched. Then, she glanced at the candlewick, which had been marked by hours. It was two hours after Low, and almost time for her weekly study session with Makenna, an Accepted assigned to be her mentor.

She looked at her parchment, where she had written a list of words. Since her arrival at the Grey Tower several months ago, she had spent hours poring over books. However, sometimes there were terms that she was unfamiliar with. She hoped to address these gaps of knowledge in her lessons with Makenna.

• splitting flows
  linking
  shielding and stilling
  angreal, sa’angreal, and ter’angreal
  Tel’aran’rhoid
  forbidden weaves

Mirin frowned as she looked at the last item. She hoped that Makenna would not think that she was interested in forbidden weaves; only that, if she were to avoid using something forbidden, she would have to first know what they were.

She stood, gathered her study materials, blew out the candle, and walked out of the room. She went downstairs to the Accepted Quarters, and then knocked on Makenna’s door. When the Accepted answered, Mirin curtsied. “I’m here for my weekly lesson, Accepted,” she murmured politely.

[Bree]

Makenna was grumpy. She could not shake the feeling that there was something very wrong and she couldn't place it. It was unsettling and she did not like the feeling. She had Dreamed the night before. She had taken to keeping a journal of her Dreams as a novice but she had been having more and more Dreams that she couldn't understand. There wasn't anyone who had been able to help her with it yet. Her scouring searches of the library were not very productive for that cause either.

The knock on the door made her growl. It must be my new pet novice. Just wonderful. She opened the door and sure enough, there she was. Makenna plastered a patient and kind expression onto her own face. She even managed a warm smile. "Hello Mirin. Let's go down to the tea room and sit in comfortable chairs to have out lesson, Hmm?" She pushed the other woman back by force of will and exited her room. Pulling the door closed firmly behind her, she smoothed her skirts and set out down the hall. "How have your studies been going? Is there anything you are having trouble with or that you would like to know more about?"

OOC: If you have any specific questions, like your list of terms to define, or Benefits and Talents, or site navigation, an IC or OOC question can be handled through this thread.
Makenna will not try to draw attention to her own attitude but she may be sharp with Mirin if she is haughty or irritating. That could be fun.

[Jenny]

Though the Accepted’s expression was kindly and her smile was warm, her voice betrayed her. Mirin sensed a certain tightness in her tone. However she appeared, Makenna was not in a good mood. Stepping lightly, Mirin followed her mentor.

“I’ve been well,” she answered. “I’ve completed my basic studies of the One Power with Accepted Taylin – well, Taylin Sedai, now.” Mirin winced at her mistake. Sometimes it was so easy to slip and accidentally address the newly raised sister with the wrong title.

She continued, “I’ve been doing some extra reading and, well, frankly there are some things that I don’t quite understand. I wrote a list here. Perhaps we can go over these during this lesson.”

The two women reached the tearoom. Mirin sat elegantly, her movements smooth and assured. The lessons in Appearance from Seth Asha’man had been well-studied and practiced. Mirin, who had always been graceful, had only gained in poise and confidence from the classes.

The servant stationed in the tearoom quickly brought a tray with a teapot full of water, two cups, and a selection of teas. With permission from Makenna, Mirin embraced saidar to heat the water. She channeled a thin thread of Fire, which was really all she could handle, and smiled crookedly. Heating tea was perhaps the only benefit of being weak in Fire. It was honestly quite difficult for most novices to control the amount of Fire used so that the water didn’t boil over and go up in a flash of steam. That never happened for Mirin.

After the tea had been prepared and arranged and the first sips taken, Mirin spoke again. “The first item on my list is splitting flows,” she said. “I read that there is a woman at the White Tower who can split her flow fourteen ways, although most can only manage three or four. But the book doesn’t describe how to split flows. Could you teach me?”

[Bree]

Makenna settled back into a comfortably stuffed armchair and took the cup of tea from the Novice. "Mirin, there are a hundred people that you are going to meet as you go through your training and after. Each of them is going to grow and change, be promoted, get a new title or station, get married... Each time they change, it will be an enormous event in their lives. For you, however, it will only be a chore. You will have to decide how important remembering the correct title of address for each person will be for you. You will probably base that on how much you want to stay on that person's good side or how important you want your own titles to be to other people. For myself, I probably would have worded that statement something like, I’ve completed my basic studies of the One Power. and just stopped there. Is it really important with whom you studied?" Makenna sipped her tea and felt the heat of it and the bittersweet taste of it radiate through her bringing calm and focus and a touch more patience.

She inhaled sharply and continued, "Do not worry over it too much. Now for your question." Makenna held out her hand and wiggled her fingers for the girl to pass her the list. Looking it over, she said, "Splitting flows is probably not explained in detail in any of your books because it is a matter of simply pulling another Thread. Much of learning to channel is visualization and likening. In this case, imagine you are holding two dozen straws in one hand. Reaching in and plucking one straw is as simple as closing your finger and thumb over them and pinching and rubbing until it won't separate again. Then you know, even if you are not looking, that you only have one."

Makenna moved her hands to mime the actions as she spoke. "You can pull that straw out and repeat the process twenty-four times because you began holding twenty-four straws. If you only begin with four straws, you can only do that four times. Beginning with one straw allows you to sort and pull one straw one time. Obviously." Makenna nodded once sharply to emphasize her point. "Now when it comes to the actual flows, it is different only in the way that holding Saidar is different from holding a fistful of straw. You will be able to split your flows according to your strength of dexterity, of mind and of Saidar."

Makenna looked down at the list.

• splitting weaves Got that...
  linking Simple enough but it will probably scare her...
  shielding and stilling I am NOT teaching her that today. Too hard...
  angreal, sa’angreal, and ter’angreal That will go with linking...
  Tel’aran’rhiod I wish I knew more about that one myself. It is a strange and disturbing thing not to be able to do as a Dreamer.
  forbidden weaves I bet you would like to know the few I have wheedled out...

Keeping her thoughts to herself entirely, Makenna asked, "What is a Weave that you know and it produces something small and visible?"

OOC: Makenna is experiencing some frustrations. She might come off a little peevish at the moment but once she decides Mirin is her own little duckling, she will be very warm and will take very good care of you. Is Mirin still a bit of a snot or is she sweet and innocent now that the Tower has gotten hold of her for a while?

[Jenny]

Mirin gazed calmly into her cup as the Accepted went on a long tangent about her choice of words. Outwardly, she seemed to take the advice stoically. Inwardly, she seethed.

Of course it was important to remember titles and names. Makenna was a fool if she thought it didn’t matter. In Cairhien, forgetting a detail could be a terrible social misstep and lead to gaining a lifelong enemy. Or, in her mother’s shop, earn a sharp reprimand for addressing a customer improperly. In the Grey Tower, Mirin found that many sisters and brothers scolded just as harshly if she did not add the honorific “Sedai” or “Asha’man” and drop a proper curtsy.

And she had included Taylin Sedai’s name to be polite. The fact that Makenna did not care who taught her the basics of the One Power made Mirin feel as though Makenna did not care about her. Of course, Mirin was beginning to understand that people came to the Grey Tower from all over the world – and that most lacked the fine sense of social propriety of the Cairhienin – but the snub still rankled.

Mirin very much wished to roll her eyes, but she gritted her teeth and forced herself to murmur softly, “Yes, Accepted.”

She listened carefully to Makenna’s description of splitting flows, and nodded. It seemed to make sense. Then, she watched Makenna skimming her list, and held back a sigh when the Accepted looked up with eyes that told Mirin that she would not learn what she sought. At least not today.

Sometimes her teachers could be so strangely reticent with information, even while they praised her for doing extra reading.

When Makenna asked about a small, visible weave, Mirin thought for a moment, then answered, “I can make ice from water.” She waited for Makenna’s reply, curiously wondering what the Accepted had in mind.

OOC: Mirin is definitely still, and will always be, a snotty brat. She’s just learned to pick and choose when to be snotty!

[Bree]

Makenna sipped her tea and said, "That will not do. You need something that is small and needs to be maintained. Here, learn this." Makenna channeled and pulled a thin thread of Fire and a thin thread of Air. Plaiting them together with two threads of Spirit, she formed a sphere. As she brought the ends around to meet and complete the sphere, the whole thing coalesced into a small globe of light. Makenna had made it small so that she could demonstrate again.

"Now you make your own. Once you have, I want you to," Makenna proceeded to match her actions to her words and demonstrated what she wanted Mirin to do. She reached to the steadily flowing threads that were maintaining the globe and split them off. She pulled these new threads away from their source and plaited them into another globe. Then once more she reached to the same place she had pulled the second weave from the first and began to pull a third. "I think you get the idea. Just try to make the globe and then maintain it while you make more. See how many you can make. I hear that as you gain strength with the Power, you will gain ability to Split your Weaves. But that only makes sense.

"Oh and just as a side note, if you tie off a Weave, so that you do not have to maintain it, then you do not have to Split your flows. It is self-maintaining." Makenna sent her three glowing orbs spinning slowly in a three ball cascade pattern and sipped her tea. After a moment she tied them off and kept them spinning with a tiny thread of Air just for fun while Mirin worked.

OOC: Yay! She will be fun then.

[Jenny]

Mirin watched Makenna weaving Fire with dread. Thankfully, the weave was quite small, and she could support the orb with Spirit and Air.

Then, Makenna began to split the flows. Mirin’s mouth dropped open as she watched Makenna holding onto multiple weaves. Although the Accepted was only working on one weave at a time, Mirin could see how, with enough dexterity, a channeler could work on multiple weaves at a time.

Mirin concentrated on her globe, noticing the threads connecting herself to the weave. She pulled at these threads, and instantly noticed the strain on her mind. It was very difficult, because her attention could not lapse from the first weave unless it collapsed – and she was also holding double the amount of threads. It would be frightening easy to accidently pull a thread into the wrong weaves.

She had not really believed it when the books said two weaves were more than twice as difficult to hold as one, while three were more than four times as difficult as two. She understood it now. How under the Light could any woman channel fourteen?

With some effort, she formed a second globe. Creating a third caused sweat to pop out on her forehead. She did not dare to try a fourth, and with some reluctance, released saidar. The world somehow seemed duller, colors less vivid, sensation less sharp.

“Thank you for teaching me, Accepted,” said Mirin. Although she looked more fatigued, her grey eyes sparkled with delight.

[Bree]

Makenna grinned in a sadistic satisfaction of the novice's tiredness. It was not kind but it was a lesson the girl had to learn at some point. It might as well be where Makenna could enjoy it. "Have some tea and listen." Makenna said peremptorily. "Two of the things on your list are related in the fashion in which they work. Angreal and Sa'angreal are items crafted to allow a channeler to handle more of the One Power than they would be able to alone. Linking is the process of two or more channelers aiding each other in handling more of the One Power than they would be able to alone. The effect is exponential. Women can link up to thirteen but men can not unless there is a woman creating the link. Women need a man to link with them in order to take their circle larger than thirteen. It is an odd fact but fact nonetheless."

Makenna tapped her cup with her index finger. "In order to link or use an Angreal, one must embrace the source through that other conduit. For linking, the conduit, a person, must be willing to put themselves on the cusp of channeling and hold at the brink before allowing the Power to flow through them. It is unsettling at first. We can try it if you like."

Makenna sipped her tea and gazed surreptitiously at the other woman over the rim of her cup. "If you are too tired, we can meet again at some point... eventually." Makenna could sense the near urgent desire of this novice to push herself and wondered if the goad would work.

OOC: I think we should split the practice up into at least two sessions IC but we can keep this thread going for all of them. We can call a time lapse after linking if you want.

[Jenny]

Mirin’s eyes glittered. She sat up straighter, attempting to hide her fatigue. “I’m not too tired,” she said. “I would like to try linking. But first I have a few more questions about items of Power.” She tossed her head, black curls falling over her shoulder in picturesque disarray.

She continued. “The White Tower claims all items of the Power for itself, but that seems to be wishful thinking. The Stone of Tear held a large collection of angreal, sa’angreal, and ter’angreal before it fell. Surely the Grey Tower has its own collection? And, are Aes Sedai allowed their own personal collections?”

As Makenna answered her questions, Mirin watched her carefully through too-innocent eyes. She did not expect the Accepted to tell her anything of the treasures of the Grey Tower. After all, she was merely a novice. But one day she would be Aes Sedai and she wanted to know. Knowledge was power; and information could be gained from many sources.

She suddenly found herself wondering about Makenna. The older woman had a mature, motherly look about her. She exuded calm and confidence, and the faint lines of her face showed that the woman had intimately known both laughter and grief. But there was something sly about the way she peered over her cup at Mirin, and a dark, hidden emotion in the way her lips twisted as she smiled at the novice.

Mirin felt cold inside. At home, in Cairhien, at least she had known that the people with whom she had played Daes Dae’mar were after wealth, or power, or both. Here at the Grey Tower, its inhabitants were mired just as deeply in the Great Game; but Mirin had no clue as to what they played for.

I’m overthinking, she thought to herself. I just need to keep my head down and learn. Learn until her eyes blurred from the crusty old parchment, learn until she was so worn out that she barely blinked each night when her head hit the pillow. Learn until one day she herself could hold the reins of power.

On Makenna’s command, she opened herself to saidar, but did not reach for it. The glow of the One Power remained hovering just outside the edge of her vision. It was a strain, as though balancing on the edge of a cliff – it was difficult to restrain herself from filling herself with the ecstasy of the Source, the sweet wonderfulness of the Power. It was only a few moments, but it felt like minutes before she sensed Makenna reaching through her and drawing….

Then she gasped, but her shock did not cause her to lose grasp of the Power. In fact, she could not let go at all. Only Makenna was in control of the circle, and only Makenna could release her. Mirin could acutely sense the presence of the other woman, sensing her controlled calm through the circle that bound them together.

Mirin panicked. Makenna held full control, and Mirin was as helpless as a kitten. She felt as though she were losing herself in the flow of Power that swept her up, threatening to carry her away. She flailed, trying to swim, but only felt as though she were drowning.

Makenna’s grey eyes bored into hers, and suddenly a word echoed through Mirin’s mind. Surrender, it said. With great effort, Mirin stopped fighting for control… and let go.

And instantly, the turmoil within her faded, and she was herself again. She could still sense saidar flowing through them, and between them, but it no longer overwhelmed her. Makenna still held control of the circle, but Mirin no longer felt a need to struggle for Power. Instead, she felt only a cool, crystal calm as she surrendered herself, allowing Makenna to direct the flows.

OOC: Yes, a time lapse sounds good.

[Bree]

Makenna had shown the novice how to pass the control of the circle back and forth and then had her attempt to initiate a link until she succeeded. The girl was not overly quick but she was not stupid. She did complain when Makenna suggested they stop and met again in three days. Of course that had been somewhat Makenna's fault. She had goaded the girl earlier. Still, the child did not have to be petulant.

It was time for them to meet once more and Makenna had instructed Mirin to the channeling practice yard. Makenna was setting up several items and hoping that the girl would not make her wait. A book with a very interesting technique for hiding one's flows was making a light weight in her pocket and she dearly desired to read that book. In her opposite pocket rested a small clear polished stone. It was perfectly smooth on the outside but an intricately etched butterfly lay perfectly within the center. What's more, the etching lines were slightly tinged red. The Angreal was Makenna's favorite. She had discovered it while helping the Browns and Indigos in a joint cataloging effort. Being a favorite of most of the Browns, she had managed to wrangle it for occasional use two or three times now. It was not strong at all but it seemed to have an affinity for Fire.

Today, she was hoping to show Mirin how to use an Angreal, focus Fire and a few other helpful exercises to strengthen her abilities. Some of Makenna's favorite exercises were frivolous and fun and even pretty. A few, were just mean. It would be interesting to watch Mirin learn to avoid the unpleasant effects of a poor Weave.