Indigo Introductions

[Ashfalcon]

Darthalien made his way carefully down the dim stone corridors beneath the tower. The directions he'd been given weren't difficult, but the way was unfamiliar and he was -- despite himself -- a bit unsure of his welcome. Cavros had arranged for him to visit with the Indigo Ajah and take a look at some of what they did, and Cavros had never yet steered him astray, but Darth was Dedicated now and the older Asha'man had new Soldiers to help. Cavros would help when he could, but he'd made it clear that Darth was going to have to make some connections on his own.

Understandable, Darth thought to himself. He was pretty sure he wasn't lost, for the simple reason that this corridor was lit by glowing crystals set into the walls. The occasional doors -- several of them very heavy, and bound in what seemed to be power-wrought steel -- showed no signs of light around their edges, and the cross-passages were all dark as well.

At last he heard voices up ahead, and hurried forward. He was in good time for his appointment, but he was also eager to confirm that he'd come to the right place.

[Craig]

Elia Darrow

As figures in the blacks and whites of the Great Serpent's halls came into Elia Sedai's classroom, she wondered what it was they saw. Everyone would be able to see what was on the surface: an Aes Sedai who was both ageless and beautiful, even if her withered right arm marred that beauty somewhat. If the dark purple-coloured dress wasn't enough, the shawl across her shoulders marked her Ajah. She smiled and gave a comforting nod to each child as they entered, giving some the reassurance they needed here in the Tower.

Some of the older - or more informed - learning ranks would know more about Elia Sedai. She was a former Mistress of Novices. She'd been the First Seeker of the Indigo Ajah. At one point, she had been the Amyrlin Seat, although that had not been a long tenure. Since then, however, Elia Sedai had been content just to be an Aes Sedai of the Indigo Ajah. No titles, no honorifics. Yet individuals would still treat her as if she was still Amrylin. She occasionally got a fleeting pleasure from it, but more often than not, a sickness welled inside her instead.

Elia refocused on the room and the students, not that any of her thoughts made their way onto her face. She smiled warmly, holding her gaze with each one just long enough so that every Accepted and Dedicated felt seen, but not so long that they would feel judged. Judgment would only come if necessary.

Elia raised her good hand to bring the room to silence. "Good day, children. For those who don't know me, my name is Elia Sedai of the Indigo Ajah." She stepped out from behind the desk, moving to stand beside it. Elia's lilted tone was reverential as she continued. "Those of the Indigo Ajah are many things. We are the excavators of lost knowledge. We are the curators of discovered truths. We are custodians of objects of power. And we are at the vanguard of what can be done with the One Power."

Her smile subtly shifted into a smirk. "Or one could say: ter'angreal and Talents. Reductive, but at least two words more than some other Ajahs that will go unmentioned."

She walked to the side of the room, letting the others work on those comments as she opened a cabinet. On one shelf sat a wooden box, and from the box she retrieved two objects. She returned to stand behind the desk slowly, giving ample time for conspiratorial whispers to end unnoticed.

"One of my Talents is that of creating ter'angreal. The ability to create ter'angreal is not a requisite or requirement to join the Indigo Ajah, but if you do find yourself to possess such a Talent, you would find yourself no better home."

"Now, before we go any further, do any of you have any questions about myself or the Indigo Ajah? There is no question that is too broad or too specific." This time, the smile she placed on her face was the one she shared with her children; that of the mother. She needed them to know there was no Aes Sedai subterfuge going on here.

How could there be? I'm the only Aes Sedai here.

[Ashfalcon]

Darthalien found himself comfortably in the middle of the stream of arrivals, which was a relief; he was neither late nor especially early. Aes Sedai had little patience for disorder in any form, and Asha'man only a little more patience than Aes Sedai. Two Novices and one Soldier -- all three very new to the Tower -- gave him startled glances, but he'd been here long enough that the Accepted and Dedicated all knew the bare bones of his story.

He settled in beside Revic, a dark-haired Dedicated from Cairhien. They'd actually met in the Warder Yards, but since then they'd had several classes together. Both of them had been looking forward to this, though not for precisely the same reasons.

Their instructor was an Aes Sedai, and clearly an Indigo; the dress and shawl allowed for no mistake on that front. The withered arm was a curiosity, but Darthalien knew better than to ask anything about it. Instead, he sat calmly and listened. Ter'Angreal and Talents indeed; both sounded like a series of wonderful puzzles, though he was momentarily worried that he might end up as an object of study if he said anything about his own particular Talent.

Revic shot a hand up, and Darth looked at him, amused. "Will we be looking at Angreal?"

There it is, Dar thought to himself. Rev had aspirations to join either the Green Ajah, or the Red, but -- despite being stronger with Saidin than Dar was -- he worried that he wasn't strong enough. He was too steady to do anything foolish in order to get his hands on one of those legendary items, but he'd talked about using one to increase his effective strength.

Darth waited until the Aes Sedai had answered a couple of questions, then held his own hand up. "May I ask what drew you to the Indigo Ajah?" Unlike Rev, he had no idea which Ajah might suit him best, and he was eager to learn as much as he could about each of them.

[Craig]

Elia

Elia had to keep the smile on her lips from getting too broad at the eagerness of this first question. For as often as the learning ranks were told to focus on controlling themselves and the One Power, the allure of more power, of standing in the stream of saidar and wishing it was a storm's surge that one could utilise, it was an intoxicating notion. It was also a deadly one. The possibility of burning one's self out was all too real. The learning ranks seldom had to face the horrors of knowing someone who had done that, but it did occur. She had seen it before whilst serving as the Mistress of Novices. Ice nestled in her heart. Even now, the memory of it was harrowing.

"We will not be looking at angreal or sa'angreal today," she said evenly. "These Objects of Power are, well, quite powerful. And quite rare. You may be mistaken to think that every Asha'man and Aes Sedai has an angreal stashed away somewhere, but I can assure you that is false." Elia spread her hands. "Even I have seldom used an angreal. Which is not to say that you will never handle one, but temper your expectations."

Then there were questions on Talents, both in the round and on the specifics. This was not her strong suit, but she was able to answer with confidence. One could not have served as First Seeker without knowing how to get through a conversation on the topic of Cloud Dancing or Plantweaving.

She nodded to a pale Dedicated who had a hand raised. "May I ask what drew you to the Indigo Ajah?"

My, is that not a good question? Elia genuinely had to stop to think for a moment. She could recall working on her Great Serpent ring as an Accepted, and sitting in Ravak's office with one of the inkwells created by a Dedicated whilst she was a Novice. That hadn't been the question. The question had been what drew her to the Indigo Ajah, not to ter'angreal.

"Would that I could reply in all earnestness." She raised her good hand towards her ageless face. "I cannot recall any one specific moment that made me decide to join the Indigo Ajah. But in thinking back, I feel like I was always predisposed towards our Ajah. My Talents in particular lie in both creating ter'angreal and in sensing what ter'angreal are meant to do."

"I also have and had friends and family with other Talents, and it all always fascinated me. To think that even with the One Power, there are certain things that we cannot begin to do if we are without these Talents. It must be like how our channelling abilities are perceived by the layperson. However, where the average person may fear that which they do not control or understand, I find myself drawn into the mystery. I want to know more." Elia raised a finger to her lips, tapping thoughtfully. "Let us also not dismiss the possibility that brown is simply not my colour." She grinned, although with her agelessness, it may have appeared more as a simper. Perhaps I'm being overly friendly. Across the bond, Elia could feel that her Warder was in good spirits. Or maybe it's not me after all.

Her tone shifted to addressing the class as a whole, the former Mistress ofNovices' re-emerging. "For each of you, the choice of Ajah may be self-evident. You may have already decided. For others, no Ajah may yet feel like a natural home. I would encourage those of you who are Accepted and Dedicated to take what time you have to speak with members of any prospective Ajahs you are considering, in a one-to-one session."

The Shienaran paused, once again taking in each individual with a look of interest. "After this class, any and all of you may call upon my door if you wish to know more about the Indigo Ajah, or if you have an interest in ter'angeral. The two need not be inclusive."

She found the Dedicated who had asked again. Curious. She couldn't place where he was from. This was another mystery she could unravel in the future. "Is there any Ajah or Ajahs you find yourself currently drawn to, Dedicated?"

[Ashfalcon]

"All of them," Darthalien said simply. "Some, like Indigo, I simply don't know enough about. Others, like Yellow and Brown, I have worked with extensively -- but I fear that's done more to muddy the waters than to clear them. Were it an option, I might prefer not to choose, and simply pursue such puzzles as appeal to me."

He paused there, waiting to see the reaction to that particular heresy, and ignored the elbow that Rev jabbed into his ribs. He knew as well as his fellow Dedicated that Aes Sedai could be incredibly touchy about anything that suggested criticism of how the Tower conducted its business. He also knew -- because he'd asked -- that that Elia Darrow had been rather more than a simple Aes Sedai (if there was such a thing) in the course of her time at the Tower.

Beside him, a Novice was openly gaping; one of the Soldiers had twisted fully around in his seat and was staring as well. Oh, this is not going to do my reputation any good at all, is it?

[Craig]

Elia

The mask wearing the smile didn't slip, but Elia's mood did sour a touch. It was not that this Dedicated came back to say that he did not know where he was drawn - she'd literally just said that was an option. No, it was this unguided interest in 'puzzles'.

Oh fie! As if I hadn't also just stated my own interest in mysteries! She knew there was a difference between herself and the Dedicated, in spite of her words. Within the Indigo Ajah, there was a structure to her work, and there were wise constraints and precautions on how they operated. The Vaults were a key example of this, otherwise her statement about every channeller having a stashed angreal would be close to a lie.

Structure was important. Unfocused and left to ramble, a channeller would become a bearer for chaos. Whilst neither a certainty nor a prediction, she could see a number of distasteful roads that this Dedicated could stumble down. Burning out. A False Dragon. The Black Ajah. She could stomach the first, if only because it was the least-worst option. As for the Black, she wouldn't let someone slip to the Shadow if she could prevent it. She had seen how easy that route was to walk. She'd walked it.

Elia looked around the room, particularly at the reactions. Either the others understood how dangerous this Dedicated's words were, or they had already been mentally shackled by the philosophies of the Grey Tower. Regardless of which side they landed, they were on surer footing. It was this one, this figure of black and white, that would need to be monitored from hereon.

The smiling mask was still in place when Elia spoke again. "I hope I have the opportunity to provide more of an insight in the Indigo Ajah, Dedicated. It would be good if we could speak privately at some point in the future. For now, I am certain you are aware, especially from the reactions of everyone around you," she made a sweeping gesture over the room with one arm, "that the choice of an Ajah is neither optional nor trivial. Even if you were to rise to the seat of the M'Hael, I can assure you that the Ajah you came from will still leave an indelible mark upon your character, even as you serve no Ajah and all."

Well, if any of them had been ignorant before of Elia Sedai's former station as the Amyrlin Seat, they knew it now. Hopefully none of them will show any sycophancy. There is only one Mother at a time, otherwise we'll need another tier of hierarchy of former Amyrlins.

Elia set aside her smile, letting her expression become one of neutrality. Her gaze remained on the class and she took up one of the two items from the desk, a rod of some twelve inches with a glassy sheen. "Any further questions?" she asked plainly.

[Ashfalcon]

Dar nodded apologetically, but kept silent. He'd been tactless, he decided, which was poor behavior for a Weaver's Dagger and worse for a Dedicated of the Tower. He would have to visit this Aes Sedai privately, and perhaps make arrangements for a more public apology; he did not believe in making private apologies for slights -- or mistakes -- delivered publicly. He was also well aware that choosing an Ajah was both required and important, however difficult he might find the decision or however much he might dislike the necessity. No, he needed to find a way to smooth this over, and the sooner the better.

This was not the time, though. This was the time to pay attention, and show by his behavior that he was properly chastened.

Beside him, Rev shot his hand up again, eager to draw attention away from Dar even it meant putting himself at the wrong end of the crossbow. He wouldn't have any trouble choosing an Ajah; the Dedicated was practically made to fight and defend. Rev would slide right in with the Green, and do well there, unless the Reds were canny enough to steal him away instead. No, it was mostly just Dar who still hadn't worked out where he might fit in.

"One more, if I may, Aes Sedai," Rev said, speaking politely and just a little too fast. "I'm told that studying Ter'Angreal is dangerous. If we think we might have discovered one, what should we do with it?"

The whole class relaxed just a little bit, and Dar along with them. Rev had his moments of diplomacy, too.

[Craig]

Elia

The Shieneran frowned, though the dark lines across her brow were masked by her low fringe. Her relationship to dangerous ter'angreal was a unique one, and no-one could possibly understand the specifics of that. She resisted any pull to go down that emotional rabbit hole, instead formulated her thoughts into a productive answer.

"Yes, studying ter'angreal can be dangerous. And there are also dangerous ter'angreal in their own right, one should suspect. But with the proper precautions and with the insight of a valued teacher, those dangers can be mitigated or avoided."

"As to the second point, one should alert an Aes Sedai or Asha'man, preferably one of the Indigo Ajah. I suspect this answer is what you expected, but let me elucidate upon it. I am aware that some learning ranks take it upon themselves to explore their Talents in private, and those include Talents pertaining to ter'angreal. Some may be, in fact, innocent projects. But others will, knowingly or not, produce something that can cause harm. That is why you should never interact with ter'angreal without an Aes Sedai or Asha'man in attendance."

She audibly sighed. She was feeling more emotional than usual, and her composure was showing cracks. She smoothed her brow and forced herself to relax.

"Now," she said with a tone of finality, "we shall move onto the lesson." The glassy rod was still her hand, but now she held it up in plain view. It was approximately twelve inches in length, and whilst its surface was smooth, the rod itself was irregular. Looking through the surface sheen, one could see that the main body of the rod was wooden. Wood transmogrified into glass, but fundamentally wood.

"This is a ter'angreal. One of my own designs, and something that I only managed to create under the careful supervision of another Aes Sedai whilst I was an Accepted. Now, we shall see if one of you can recreate this ter'angreal under my careful supervision."

Elia took a steadying breath, then opened herself up to the Source. She let the elation of saidar flow around and through her. A smile subconsciously formed on her face. As she eyed the glassy rod in her hand, the Shienaran felt more like the Accepted that first created this object than the Aes Sedai she was.

With her sharpened senses, she looked for the perfect spot away from the class upon which to demonstrate. Raising the rod in one hand and directing it towards an empty spot on the wall, she channelled a thin strand of Air into the near end of the rod. Upon contact, from the other end of the rod streamed a jet of multicoloured particulates. Each was too fine to see individually, but as a whole they were a kaleidoscopic array of colour. From white and black, to red and green, across the whole spectrum of light. The empty wall was coated in sparkly sand-like flecks where there was even the slightest recess. The rest accumulated on the floor like a mound of multicoloured snow.

Elia stopped channelling, and the spray of colour stopped. The grains of colour remained where they had landed. She was smiling, widely, and her green eyes beamed. "Ridiculous," she half said to herself, before she turned to the class. "And only dangerous in the sense that if the Mistress of Novices or Master of Soldiers finds you using one of these, you will live to regret it."

She placed the glassy rod back on the table, then took up the other item. A simple length of birch wood, about a foot in length. Elia held it up just as she had the glassy rod before. "I took a stick just like this, and used it to create this ter'angreal. The material matters when it comes to creating a ter'angreal. An object made using stone as a base material will produce something different than using wood. Certain materials will not yield any result, depending on what it is you intend to do. Even the specific type of metal or wood you select can alter the outcome." She rotated the birch in her hand, letting the silvery sheen of its bark catch the light.

"Now, I have two questions for you. First, does anyone have thoughts on how this--", she raised the birch performatively, "--becomes this?" Her other hand gestured at the ter'angreal on the desk. "And second, who would like to try making this ter'angreal?"

[Ashfalcon]

Darth put his hand up. "The One Power is transformative," he said simply. "Witness the creation of Heartstone, which is not a naturally occurring substance but must be made by altering something else." He had the Browns to thank for that little bit of knowledge; otherwise, he hadn't the least idea how Cuendillar was made, and certainly wasn't about to attempt it himself. "We also know of power-wrought blades, carried down through the ages, which I believe were originally forged in steel."

He lowered his hand and waited, looking around at his fellow students. When nobody else spoke up, he raised his hand again. "I am prepared to embarrass myself in the attempt to create such an item, unless anyone else cares to step forward."

He waited again, but the rest of the class remained silent, most of them looking at anything except him or their teacher. Even Rev just looked at him and raised his eyebrows.

"Fine," he said at last, and rose. Coming to the front, he said: "I apologize for my hasty words earlier, Aes Sedai. Regardless of my indecision, I do understand the need to choose an Ajah." He hesitated, then added: "Do you have any advice for how to proceed, given that we work from different halves of the Power? I have worked on Delving with the Yellows, and might attempt a version of it here to explore your creation."

[Craig]

Elia

"Any advice for how to proceed?" Elia's left hand twitched as her mind envisioned smacking this child on the back of the head for insolence. The fool thinks this is the first time I've taught a lesson. She took a steadying breath, focusing on keeping her outward composure. The faint beatific smile never left her lips.

The Shieneran's gaze and tone addressed the room as much as the Dedicated in front of her. "I will explain the framework of how I would proceed, so that you may replicate it with saidin. You may find that Delving helps. Regardless, I will be here to stop you from doing anything dangerous." The Indigo placed the length of wood on the desk.

"You should start by layering a netting of Air around the birch, crisscrossing the surface at right angles, about an inch apart. Then run thinner strands of Fire between the layer of Air, making a second net. As the weaves come together and you settle them around the wood, use the heat to reshape the rod to match the ter'angreal."

"Next you will form a ring of Fire, here." She gestured at a spot in the air a few inches away from one end of the birch. "Within that ring, you will create a reservoir of Earth. This reservoir should be a shallow one. Too much and..." She felt her tongue trailing off. With far too much Earth, she assumed those harmless specks of sand could lacerate. That was a weapon.

"Keep it shallow," the Indigo continued. "Once your reservoir is in place, place a simple knot of Air in the middle. That should set the disc in motion. Bring that into the end of your rod. You know the weave has worked if the rod itself shimmers in response."

"Last, entwine together Spirit and Air and weave that into the body of the rod for a few seconds. There is no complexity to this final step beyond balancing the amount of each Power."

With the explanation over, she gestured to the length of birch before stepping back. She looked at the Dedicated, her focus on the class no longer important at this moment. At this closer distance with saidar flowing through her, she took note again of the particularities of the man before her. She knew she was far off the mark, but her gut instinct was that the man was Seanchan. He didn't seem to be from anywhere west or east of the Spine of the World. That and his accent was also alien to her, and she prided herself on her vocal mimicry.

Reluctantly, she found herself asking "What is your name, child?", even as she held onto the sweet sensation of saidar and readied herself to Shield the Dedicated.