Loraine tilted her head and looked in the mirror a moment. It had been a long time since she'd taken her battle weaves training and the memories seemed to dance in her thoughts more as this morning's sunrise spread it's warm light across her floor. Lannie and Sirayn had trained her back then. She hadn't been finished with her class a week before Lannie was raised to the Seat. She sighed and turned away from the mirror, her thoughts lingering on the fates of those two Sisters as she brushed her hands down her skirts to straighten all of the imaginary wrinkles.

 

"The Wheel turns," she murmured, grabbing her pack and pulling open her door before making her way out to the Green's practice field. She'd prepared the field for today's lessons last night, taking great pains to make sure everything was perfect. She spread the blanket out on the ground, smiling at the few angreal the Greens had procured to make sure the training went smoothly. Everyone in the Ajah had to learn the same weaves, whether they were strong enough to handle them unaided or not.

 

She closed her eyes and listened to the world around her, taking in the quiet singing of the birds in the trees of the gardens, the general stillness of the field and the slow footsteps of her student crossing the field towards her. She smiled, listening as Kabria came closer. She was still pretty sure that Kabria was angry with her for the debacle her raising day had turned in to. She prayed it wouldn't cloud her concentration.

 

"Good morning, Kabria," she said softly as the other woman drew closer. She didn't open her eyes for a moment. "I am glad you could meet me today. It's going to be a beautiful day for training."

 

~Loraine

Standing in her small room in the Green Ajah Quarters Kabria tried to stamp down the last fringes of anger at Loraine. The woman’s friendship and guidance not only to her, but to Perivar as well had more than repaid the horror of her raising day. Still, it had left a sour taste in her mouth she was not soon to forget.

 

Closing her eyes she tried to form the flame and the void as she’d been taught in her lessons with the sword. It helped to take away the last of her anger, though she was still nervous about seeing the Sister again.  They had not spoken much since, and she was not sure if her actions had caused the older Green to harbor her any ill will.

 

She left the new weapons that she treasured so much laying in their cabinet today. Her hip felt strange without a sword, and dagger and she finally did take up the beautifully carved dagger and attach it to her belt.

 

Since starting her weapons training Kabria had taken to wearing pants, tucked into knee high boots and long coats that were suited to faster movement. Even when she donned her skills she still chose the tall boots. They were far better for riding than the slippers she’d always wore before.

 

Taking one last look in the mirror to make sure her face was calm she set out for the practice yard. Several of her Sister’s gave her small smiles and nods along the way. Each one with a look as if she remembered her own Battle Weaves Class well. Loraine was sitting quietly when she arrived and looking so serene that Kabria hated to disturb her, but her teacher broke the silence first.

 

“I am pleased that you will be my teacher Loraine. I have alwa…” Her voice caught and she made a choking sound as the words refused to form. “I value your guidance and friendship.” She corrected, realizing that the word always made her statement untrue. The oaths that seemed like such a small thing had often made her stumble and stutter as she learned. Kabria had never been a liar, but even the smallest white lie was out of her reach now. “Indeed the Light Blessed us with a beautiful day.”

 

Loraine's eyebrow arched as Kabria's sentence was cut short. She smiled and shook her head, offering Kabria a place to sit. "We're going to have fun today, I see it coming." She grinned and nodded to the field beyond them. "I have prepared a place for us to practice. We'll start with some pretty easy weaves at first, then get harder in the next few days. Before you're finished, you'll be what every trolloc and Fade fears most: an Aes Sedai who's not afraid of her ability."

 

Loraine's eyes grew serious and her face stilled as she turned back to Kabria. "Now, our oaths go a long way in preventing most of what you're about to learn. You'll find that you can't just arbitrarily pull these weaves out and use them on a rabbit. Just like the oath not to lie cut you off a moment ago in the middle of a sentence, the oath not to use saidar as a weapon unless you're defending yourself or your warder will keep you from using these weaves. There must be an honest feeling that your life, or your warder's life, is in danger. That's not always an easy thing and you'll find yourself thinking of other methods to handle a situation out of fear for your warder. Kynwric is particularly bad at putting himself in harms way, taking for granted that I will be able to get him out of trouble before he's seriously damaged." She paused there and her lips tilted upwards again a little absently. "Thankfully, he's yet to test me beyond my abilities. Make sure you have a long talk with yours once you're bonded, so that he knows what you're capable of, too. If he's spent any time with Kynwric..."

 

She laughed and waved her hand. "We'll talk about that later. Let me show you the first set of weaves. They are all Air based, which sounds easy enough. Air is the element that is most commonly overlooked, I think. You'll see how you can make it dangerous here. The first one is called an Air Razor. It's a pretty simple weave that you probably could've figured out on your own." She started weaving a flat disc of Air as she spoke, not breaking her sentence as she finished a simple weave. "You see, this part is pretty simple. From here, we add Spirit to strengthen it," she added Spirit along the edges of the weave and then shot a few strands through the weave. "You can make this as simple or as complex as you want. The more you practice, the more intricate it will get. I don't recommend it get too big, or you'll wear yourself out too quickly on a battlefield. The faster you can weave these and release them, the longer you live. Keep in mind that you'll be facing a line of trollocs that aren't just going to stand still and let you kill them."  She paused and looked at one of the stuffed trollocs, pushing the Air Razor towards it. It took a satisfying chunk out of the head of the closest one. She smiled at Kabria. "Now you try it."

 

When Kabria's first Razor was flying across the field, Loraine nodded. “Very good. I promise, it’ll get easier with practice.” She turned back to Kabria. “Now, the second weave is called an Air Club. It takes a lot less finesse than the Razor. After all, it’s just a large mass of air that you’re beating something with.” She smiled and started weaving the threads of Air around each other, watching Kabria’s eyes as she watched the twisting mass between them.  “Air Clubs are good for knocking enemies out, and they do not have to result in death. Sometimes if you are facing a single opponent, you may not be aiming to kill. An Air Club is a good way of dropping your opponent without doing permanent damage. However, if you ARE aiming to kill, Air Club can work perfectly well. The effect the Club has all depends on how sturdy you make it, and how hard you strike with it. The shape of your club will most likely be determined on what you need it for. Hold out your hand…” When her hand was extended, Loraine dropped the Club into her hands. “You feel how solid that is? Imagine knocking someone over the head with it, or perhaps a knee. Sometimes a simple weave like this can be the difference between winning and losing a fight, whether it’s your warder doing the fighting or yourself.”  She let the weave dissipate. “Now, you try it.”

 

When Kabria had a successful club made, Loraine nodded. “Again, the more you practice, the easier, faster, and more personal that weave becomes.  The last weave I’m going to teach you today is an Air Shield. It’s exactly what it sounds like. This comes in handy for quite a number of reasons, as it’s as effective as any shield in the armory and it’s much more portable.” She paused and grinned. “This is probably the most useful weave I can teach you. It takes a lot of strength in Air, but I think you can handle it. If you feel it is too draining, I have brought a few angreal to supplement you.” She set about weaving the Air in a large disc between them, building the weave until it stood between them like a plate of glass. “Now, what you need to know about this weave is that it can fend off anything you want to throw at it. Go on, throw that dagger at me like you’d rather bury it in my chest.” Loraine smiled as the shield stopped the dagger, deflecting it to hit the ground. “You can do anything you want, it’s not getting through that shield. The problem comes when I tie the weave off,” she paused and tied the shield off, standing and scooting back from it. “As you can see, it’s already starting to corrode around the edges. It will continue to crumple until it’s gone, because it only has the energy I put into it while I was weaving it to sustain it. Under any kind of attack, that strength isn’t going to hold out very long. If you need it for a long period of time, you’ll have to hold it open yourself. I’m going to step over here, feel  free to use that shield as a target for practicing Air Razors and Air Clubs. When it disappears, you can make your own shield. Try tying it off versus not tying it off so you can see the effects each way.” Loraine stood back and watched, giving help where Kabria asked or seemed to need it, but otherwise remaining silent until her shield was gone and Kabria’s had replaced it. “Now, I’m going to attack that shield so you can see what it feels like while you’re still feeding energy into it.”

 

Loraine didn’t blink an eye before she had a dozen weaves attacking the shield at the same time. She stuck to Air Razors and Air Clubs, just to reinforce Kabria’s ability to recognize them. After a few minutes of constant deluge from an attack, she dropped her weaves and smiled. “Interesting, isn’t it?”

 

~Loraine

Feels weird teaching again… and HOLY CRAP this is a long post! *laughs*

 

OOC: Alright, here’s the goodies for these three weaves. I’m going to try to give them to you an element at a time for each “lesson.” There are supposed to be some spaces between the days for “practice” so depending on how fast you want to do this, just throw in a little “practice” before you meet me a few days later (ie, lesson 2).

 

Now, the element strength and skill for each of the weaves above are:

1. Air Razor (Air 2, Skill 7) – razor of Air to cut through flesh. Higher strength in Air means blade is harder; higher skill, edge is sharper.

 

2. Air Club (Air 1, Skill 4) – good for knocking an opponent out; not too spectacular and doesn’t take much skill/strength in Air.

 

3. Air Shield (Air 4, Skill 4) – a shield of solid Air (obviously good to avoid blades, enemy arrows, enemy weaves during battle). Used to protect yourself and your comrades.

 

 

Kabria was thankful that Loraine chose to ignore her stumble over her words. The Oaths were no longer so new that they hurt, but getting used to them was taking her some time. She had been told that eventually they would no longer be a thought, and she prayed to the Light every night for that day to come. Taking a seat on the blanket next to Loraine she tried to focus on only her teachers words, but her mind continued to wander as she looked around their practice yard.

 

"I have prepared a place for us to practice. We'll start with some pretty easy weaves at first, then get harder in the next few days. Before you're finished, you'll be what every trolloc and Fade fears most: an Aes Sedai who's not afraid of her ability."

 

Kabria was not afraid of her ability, but of her lack of ability and of Trollocs. She had the heart of a lion but she was also smart enough to know that right now she would hardly be a match for a fade. She winced as Lor did bring up her slip, but she was surprised when the embarrassment faded quickly. Brought on by thoughts of Perivar. Make sure you have a long talk with yours once you're bonded, so that he knows what you're capable of, too. If he's spent any time with Kynwric..."

 

Suddenly her minded bloomed with a thousand questions to ask Loraine about the bond, and Perivar. She had spent time with him and may be able to provide incite as to his actions. Sometimes she could not understand why he was so fierce in his feelings for her. Kabria was sadly brought back to the here and now but made a mental note to ask Loraine the questions at another time.

 

Air was not her strongest element; she was a rarity in which Earth was her strongest, but it was not her weakest either. With her tongue between her teeth she watched intently as the Air Razor was formed. She cataloged the weave in her mind, saving it along side all the other’s she’d learned. Her years spent buried in books made her a quick study in knowledge. It was in the application where she sometimes struggled. Embracing Saidar she wove the flows slowly and sent the razor flying.  She watched it rip through the straw Trolloc and almost laughed as glee as the straw went flying.

 

Simple as the weave seemed to be, the air club gave Kabria some issue. Her imagination seemed to limit her ability with the weave. Over and over she formed it until she was holding a large stick, akin to the staff, in her hands. Relieved that she’d finally made it work she was ready to practice using it, but Loraine was ready to move on.

 

Trying the final weave Kabria felt a slight strain. This was at the edge of her strength, but not enough to use the Angreal. Though she did look at them hungrily a few times while she formed the shield again and again. When it was Loraine’s chance to attack her, Kabria was already tired, and felt a strain but she held out as long as she could. Just as she was feeling like she could hold no more Loraine’s barrage stopped.

 

“It goes beyond interesting, it is fascinating. May I continue my practice?” She felt bone weary but her mind raced with all the ways she could protect Perivar and save the world from the Dark One with weaves such as these in her arsenal.

 

Over the next three days Kabria spent the larger part of them in the yards. She would fling Air Razor’s at the dummy Trolloc’s trying to see how large she could make them or how fast they could fall. She wanted to be the best, she burned with the desire; but not for her own self worth; to help others and to purge the world of the Dark One. She had long since come to terms with the fact that she would never be the strongest Aes Sedai, but that did not mean she could not be the best at her level.

 

When her next lesson with Loraine came around she arrived early and was waiting when her teacher arrived. “Good-day Loraine! My skill with the weaves has improved much the last few days. I cannot wait to learn what you have to teach me today.” Her exuberance at learning to be a weapon began to overshadow the small resentment she still carried.

 

Loraine did something she hadn’t done in years that morning as she dressed… she broke out the breeches she’d tucked in the back and pulled them on. Today was a rather dirty day. Earth weaves were always dirty ones. She was standing as Kabria approached today, unable to stop the smile at the eagerness in the woman’s eyes. “Good-day Loraine! My skill with the weaves has improved much the last few days. I cannot wait to learn what you have to teach me today.”

 

Loraine grinned at her and nodded towards the stuffed trollocs. “I’ve seen what was left of the trollocs. They look to have been sliced and beat within an inch of losing their stitching! I’m impressed!” She turned back to Kabria. “You’ll like today’s lessons, I think. We’re going to work on Earth Weaves today. These are rather intensive little weaves that do quite a bit of damage to your opponent. I’m going to see if you can figure out how to use them as we go. The first, is Riven Earth. The purpose of this weave is to cause a portion of the ground to explode. Its usefulness depends on two things, first the strength of the woman weaving it and second your intent. If you’re strong enough in Earth weaves, then you can make this one big enough  to swallow a large piece of the ground and send what you pull up hurling out from the point you put the weave in.” She paused and shook her head. “Ah, it’s easier to show you, I think.”

 

She twisted a thick cord of Earth and Fire together, intricately weaving the fire around the Earth threads. She kept the threads loose so Kabria could easily see the pattern and then tightened it up when she finished it. She turned to the practice field behind her and pushed the weave away, making a point to use her hand to direct it, even though she really had no reason to do so. The weave landed behind the first row of trollocs, sinking into the ground and causing it to rumble and belch up a satisfying hole in the ground. The debris flew twenty paces in either direction, striking both the first and second rows of trollocs. “I kept that weave small so you could see it. You can always make it bigger. I recommend keeping it small until you get the hang of it and then work on making it bigger from there. So, before you weave it, can you tell me how you can use it?” When Kabria had given her a satisfactory answer, she nodded. “Good! So, give it a try.”

 

Once Kabria had made a few holes in the field, Loraine went on. “The second weave is called a Grenade. This can be a nasty little weave and if it’s a battle you’re heading into, I recommend you make a few of these before you get close to a battle field. You can always tie the weave off and not have to worry about sustaining them. In order to do this one, you’ll need a rock.” Loraine bent and picked up the rock she’d picked out earlier. “The size of the rock really doesn’t matter, though it’s my opinion that the bigger it is, the more pieces it breaks into. More pieces can be good for the reason you’d be using this one. So, grab a rock that you like,” she waited while Kabria did that. “Now, this weave is a little different. It’s just Earth and Fire again, but instead of that intricate weave from a moment ago, we’re going to do it much more simply. You want to layer the Earth and Fire on top of each other, keeping them even.” She layered as she spoke, surrounding the rock a few times and pushing the weaves into the rock before starting another layer. “Make sure you get the weave inside the rock. You want it to explode from the outside. Otherwise, it’s just a fireball. A really expensive fire ball. Now, from here, all you have to do is tie it off and throw it.” She tied the weave off and threw it as far as she could. It landed and exploded about halfway into the field of trollocs, knocking half a line of them down from the debris. “While you’re layering, what purpose do you think this weave would serve?” When she got the answer she was after, she nodded towards the field. “Give it a good toss. The further you throw it, the less likely we are to end up in the infirmary.” She smiled as Kabria lobbed the grenade away. Once it had exploded, Loraine moved on.

 

“I know I’m going a little quickly, but I want to make sure you know all three of these before the sun gets much lower. I can always come out and help you with your practice, if you’d like.” She smiled and turned back to Kabria. “You’ve got a good arm, too. Remind me not to get into a tossing contest with you. Now, the last one we’re going to learn today is called Pitfall. That’s the purpose of the weave, too. This weave is a lot like Riven Earth, in that you push it into the ground. However, instead of exploding, this weave implodes. It draws the Earth down instead of pushing it out. To do it, you just use Earth and Spirit.” She made a narrow net of Earth, shooting it with Spirit to reinforce it and let it settle a few feet away from them. When it had settled, she drew the center down into the earth, angling the weave towards that one focal point. She took a step back as the rumbling started and nodded as warm dust erupted into the air. When the dust cleared, there was a shallow pit in the ground where the weave had been. “Naturally, the stronger you are  in Earth, the bigger the whole can be. You can see pretty easily how useful this one would be on a battlefield,” she said, not taking her eyes off the hole in the ground for a moment. “Alright, now you try it!”

 

~Loraine

OOC: OK, here’s the details for this round! Again, throw in the “I practiced this” part of the post and I’m happy. ;)

 

Riven Earth (Earth 2, Fire 2, Skill 7) – direct a weave at a spot in the ground and it erupts in a shower of rock, dirt and fire. This would be used to unbalance/topple groups of people.

 

Grenade (Earth 2, Fire 2, Skill 8) – invest a stone with explosive property before hurling it.

 

Pitfall (Earth 3, Skill 5) – hole in the ground. Size of hole depends on your strength. Even a small hole can confound an opponent pressing too close; ideally you’d swallow a bunch of enemies at once, or at least make them fall over.

 

 

Kabria grinned at hearing that today’s weaves would be mainly Earth. It was her strongest element and one she longed to explore further. Her eye lit up at seeing the Earth ripple and explode beneath the Trollocs feet. Her minded raced with 100 ways to use the weave, but as requested she gave only one.

“I could use it to knock the attacker off his feet, and hit him at the same time. Depending on strength I could choose to stun him or to kill.”

Earth was her strongest element but Fire was her weakest, weaving carefully she flung her arm forward as she’d watched Loraine do and sighed when her hole was only a quarter the size. She’d been hesitant to weave too much, but this time she did let loose a little more and her hole matched Loraine’s. Her face was exuberant and as heard about Grenade. Choosing a rock a little bigger than her fist, she turned it over in her hands trying to picture how it would be used.

 

Laying the weaves was harder than simply weaving them and she had to concentrate even harder when she was working with fire. As such she only spoke while weaving Earth making her answer choppy. “The shards……would break apart…..and penetrate armor……..hurting several opponents at once.” When the laying was done she turned and hurled the ball as far as she could; smiling in delight when it exploded. “Pardon Loraine, but could I use a Flow of Air to launch it farther?” Her teacher nodded and Kabria’s minded tried to calculate how far she could manage to toss one.

 

The last weave made her smile most of all. After she saw the weave and tried it a few times she realized that she could make a rent deep enough and wide enough to stop a horse form crossing. She couldn’t try it on the Tower Ground of course, but she cataloged it away for next time.

 

Thanking Loraine for the help Kabria stayed three more hours to practice, using the light from the Tower windows to light the practice field. When she could barely hold on to Saidar any longer she stumbled up t o bed and collapsed in her clothes.

 

The next day she was up with the sun practicing the weaves again. Grenade’s lined the ground next to her and she alternated showering the ‘Trollocs’ with earth and shattering them Grenades. She could barely restrain herself every time she wove pitfall and holes and rents marred the yard. She was just completeing one of the largest holes she’d allowed herself when Loraine arrived.

 

Loraine walked across the ground slowly, a small bag in her hand as she drew closer to Kabria. She nodded approvingly at the devastation before her. “Well, done, Kabria! I see you noticed the bigger your weave, the more ground you can tear up. The stronger you are in certain elements, the bigger mess you make. There’s always a price, though, just keep that in mind. I nearly got myself killed ripping the ground up from under a nest of trollocs once because it took a lot of energy to do it. I’m strongest in Earth and Fire weaves, strange for a woman, but handy for a Green. Even for me, it nearly did me in. Always remember not to put all of your eggs in one basket.”

 

She smiled, shaking her head.  “Light help me, but I sound old.” Corlin would’ve been rolling his eyes at her already. “Alas, we’re moving on to Fire weaves today. I’ve brought an assortment of angreals if you need them. These can be pretty intense, so I’d recommend picking one out just to be on the safe side.” She opened the bag and spread it on the ground between them, exposing the angreal to the sunlight.

She turned to the field to search out a practical set of subjects for today’s weavings, giving Kabria the chance to choose whichever angreal she preferred in some sort of privacy. She’d always hated being the bug under the microscope of her teachers. What difference did it make whether she chose the turtle or the swan, anyway? She made just as much of a mess with either one! When Kabria was ready, she started on the first weave. “The first weave we’ll learn today is the Fireball. It’s one of the most famed weaves that all Aes Sedai are supposed to know, according to the rest of the world, but very few actually do. Sure, they can light candles, but can they do this?” She twisted the weave together and pushed it towards a trolloc before them, all without moving a muscle. When the trolloc burst into flames, she turned back to Kabria, arching her eyebrow. “No, most of them cannot. This weave is totally dependent on your strength with Fire and with Air, for that’s what you push it with. If you need your hands to get used to working with it, don’t feel strange using them. Fire is tricky and needs every form of assistance it can get. Here, I’ll show you the weave again, then you can try it.” She smiled and turned back to Kabria, twisting the weave together a little more slowly before tossing it towards the same trolloc. The flames lept higher. “Alright, now you try it while I put this guy out.” She wrapped a quick bubble of Air around the trolloc, reinforced the bubble with Spirit, and pulled the Air out of it, leaving a hollow bubble with no Air inside around the trolloc. With no Air, the fire subsided and as she released her threads of Spirit and checked on Kabria’s weave.

 

Once Kabria had lit her practice trolloc on fire, Loraine moved on. “The next one is much harder, I’m afraid. If that one gave you some trouble, this one will be worse. “ She moved closer to the trolloc she’d set on fire with the fireball and waved Kabria closer. She began weaving the threads as she spoke of them, twisting them around the trolloc without actually touching it. “This one is pretty involved and requires a lot of practice to get it right. You layer Fire and Spirit, equally spaced and linked like chain mail, completely surrounding your target. Naturally, if your target it moving, this can get pretty difficult. When you’ve finished it, you simply…” she paused and moved both she and Kabria up a few paces. “… snap the weave like this…” she lifted one of her Fire threads and snapped it, pulling the layers of the weave closer until it laid against the trolloc’s “skin”. “…and there you have Combust, one of the most vile weaves in our arsenal. I’m sure you can see why.” She started her weave to snuff the trolloc and turned to Kabria. “You might want to start on something smaller until you get the hang of it. When I learned, I did it around a rock. You’re less likely to get burned that way. The rock won’t combust, too, so you can see the effects of your weave on its surface.” She snuffed out the trolloc and helped Kabria find a good rock, mimicking the weave she’d just done to the trolloc around its surface so she could see it clearly. “Alright, now you try it.”

 

Once Kabria had it down well enough, she smiled and went on to the last weave. “Now, I have seen this last weave used in so many ways, I’m not sure there’s any better name for it than the one it has: Phantom Flame. It’s not terribly difficult, however, creating it requires a lot of skill with Fire.  I came out later than usual today so you could see these properly. With the sun setting, I’ve just enough time to teach you before you can practice it in the dark.” She grinned when she said it. This had been one of her favorite parts of this training. She wished she could’ve shown the twins this weave when they were younger. They’d have had so much fun with it. Instead, they’d had to settle for fireflies. She smiled and shook her head. Someday, she’d have grandchildren she didn’t have to hide her world from. Then, she’s show them how to make fire dance! “This one looks pretty easy, until you try it!” She pulled tendrils of Fire out of the air and set them off before her. “Depending on what I’m using it for, sometimes I make shapes out of them. It really doesn’t matter, since those little tendrils are all you need. The more skilled with fire you are, the smaller the tendrils can be. I’ve seen them so small you didn’t see them until your clothes were on fire! I don’t think we’d have much of a Tower left if we showed this to the pranksters we have in the Novice Quarters these days, do you?” She twisted Air in between each of the Fire weaves, carefully wedging the Air into place. “The Air is to keep them from touching each other. If they touch each other, they’ll just mesh together and that won’t have the effect we’re looking for. It also creates the light that we want to see, rather than the roaring flame we don’t want to see. These little pieces of Fire won’t cause a fire without something fueling it. Clothing, hair, dry grass, brush… I’m sure you get the idea.” She created a little wave of Air and pushed the weave away, watching as the little lights danced on the wind until they caught on the remains of a trolloc here and some dry leaves there, bursting into tiny flames that were quickly dissolved when the fuel ran out. “I’ve also used them to trick a wagon leader who was trying to hold me captive that a whole patrol from the Tower was out to find me. You’d be really surprised how realistic that looked, even to me! She smiled and looked back at Kabria. “Alright, now you try!”

 

~Lor

Today’s goodies:

~Fireball (Air 2, Fire 4, Skill 13) – sphere of Fire, size varying with strength in Fire, distance it travels varying with strength in Air. Your classic battle weave.

 

~ Combust (Fire 4, Spirit 4, Skill 16) – makes an object explode into flame. Use it on an enemy to good effect. The problem is that it carries a high skill requirement!

 

~ Phantom Fire (Air 2, Fire 2, Skill 16) – create hundreds of tiny, weak lights; can be used to distract, and also to light clothes/hair on fire. And again, a high skill requirement!

 

Almost there! Two more classes! :D

A chance to use an angreal was not a chance she was willing to pass up again. Seeing them spread out across the ground her hands twitched, wanting to scoop them all up. Holding on to her restraint she delicately she ran her fingers across each, trying to decide which one she would use. Finally she choose out the small swan, which appeared to be age dark ivory, but felt as hard as stone. Gripping it gently she turned to Loraine, ready to begin.

 

Where Earth was her strongest weave, strange for a woman, fire was her weakest. Wanting to test her limits without an angreal she formed the weave the first time without. The ball of fire was not large, but the force of air behind it sent it racing towards the Trolloc and burned through is head. The second time she reached out through the angreal and this time she could feel the heat of the fire before her rush of air pushed it away. If only she could always have an angreal when facing a Trolloc

 

Combust proved to be even harder, and she was glad of the assistance as she carefully placed the skeins of the weave. Again and again she tried to form it on the rock, each time frustrated when it fell apart. Chewing on her bottom lip she glared at the rock as she formed the weave again, this time it did not fall apart and the destruction that marred the surface was palpable. She was almost afraid to see what this weave would do to flesh and bone.

 

Phantom Fire was far less intimidating and seemed to be the most innocent of the fire weaves. They danced across the sky beautifully until they landed on the straw Trolloc across the yards. Again she had to draw through the angreal to make this weave work. It took concentration, but right as darkness fell she managed to make her own dance in the sky. Exhausted from a full day’s work Kabria fell into bed dreaming about fireflies and Trollocs exploding from within. It did not make for pleasant dreams and she did not make it to practice the next day.

 

She waited a full setting of the sun before she made her way back down to the Green Ajah practice yards. She had another appointment with Loraine the next day, and she didn’t want to disappoint her teacher. Over the last week she had managed to forget, or put aside, much of her anger at the woman. Kabria was beginning to see that she could learn a lot from the older sister.

 

Combust was the weave she spent half the day trying to make work again. Even on a straw Trolloc who didn’t move it was hard. She could not fathom using it on a moving target. When she was too tired to form that weave any longer she went back to fireballs. She delighted in the way they made the dummies heads explode or blew off an arm. There seemed to be no limit to the destruction she could cause. Breaking for dinner she went back to the yards when the sun had just set below the wall. Taking a seat on a cleared area of dirt she practiced Phantom Fire again and again making the night sky dance. Fire would never be her strongest element, but she no longer felt as if it were useless to her.

 

 

OOC: Yay!!!!  ;D I really like the fire weaves!!

Loraine took a deep breath before she entered the practice field. This was the last of the element lessons for Battle Weaves and it seemed that Kabria had done a really good job with them all. Fire weaves seemed to be giving her some trouble, but she was resourceful. Once she had access to the small store of angreal the Greens had hidden away in the Vault, she’d have one on permanent loan, Lor was sure of it.

She smiled as she caught up with Kabria, glad to see the girl had been practicing. “Good morning, Kabria Sedai,” she said softly as she drew closer. Sometimes just hearing the title helped with new sister’s seeming unease. Sometimes it backfired. It was usually worth the trouble to say, either way. Loraine had gotten over her title a long time ago, not long after getting it, to be truthful. Titles were just more words, they didn’t mean anything until you needed them to. She had more titles than she cared to admit to and they made little enough difference to her!

“We’re going to do some weaves involving Water today. I saved these for last because…” she paused and sighed. “…because these are the ones that I feel skirt the edge of what’s right, honestly. These are the ones I have the most trouble with, not because they’re difficult, but because sometimes they’re hard to get past the oaths to do. You may find them easier, but my head…”

 

Loraine shrugged and settled on the ground with her legs crossed in front of her. “Let’s try these sitting down. We’ll move around in a minute to test them on bigger things. I just want to start small with these so you can see them and get used to how they feel before you try them on bigger items.” She laid a small bag on the ground in front of her, pulling out a pair of stuffed dolls she’d found in a shop in Tar Valon. She handed one to Kabria and kept her eyes trained on the other. “OK, this will be our enemy at first. Our first weave is called Boil. It’s pretty self explanatory, however, there’s a level of difficulty to it. You thread the water weaves like this, which is pretty easy,” she started a weave of Water in the air between them. “However, you need it in here,” she pushed the weave into the doll, continuing to layer the water until the doll nearly dripped. “Now, just like the name says, you add Fire until the water boils,” she did as she said, hissing with pain as the water flash boiled in her hand. Tendrils of steam started curling from the doll’s arm and Loraine stopped weaving. She nodded at the doll in Kabria’s hand. “Now you try it, be careful of heating the water too quickly or you’ll be heading to the infirmary with me later.”

 

Once Kabria had that weave down well enough, Loraine moved on. “The next weave is called Drown. It’s pretty self-explanatory, too, I think. You create a weave of water outside your opponent’s head, shaped like a bubble so it’s completely surrounding it. Air can’t get through the water, therefore, your opponent will drown in the water weave.” She twisted the weave around the doll’s head and held it there for a few moment, a trace of Spirit surrounding the bubble to help it keep shape. “This one gets tricky on moving opponents, so you won’t find you use it very much.” She released the weave and nodded to Kabria’s doll. “Now you try it,” she said. It wasn’t a difficult weave, it was just a little tedious. Tedious and deadly…

 

Once Kabria seemed to have a good handle on it, she moved on to the last one. “Now, for this last one, let’s practice freezing water.” She let a few strands of water materialize before them, then blew Air across them until the water froze. She made the Air warm to thaw it out and offered to let Kabria warm up using them. Once Kabria made the water freeze, she moved on. “Now, this weave is much the same principle. We’re going to use the same idea to freeze the blood in your opponent’s veins. Blood is made up of water, so you have to find the water in your enemy’s veins and freeze it.” She reached into the bag again and chewed her lip. “I managed to borrow a few blood packs from the infirmary. They can’t store these for very long, so I’ve found the Yellows actually have a weave much like this one to cool the blood so they can keep it longer. I haven’t asked why they need it, though that may be a selfish thing, since they’d ask me questions about Healing that I can’t answer. I thought you’d like to practice using Water to find Water in the blood…” She smiled and laid the blood pack on the sack in front of her. “All you have to do is start a simple weave of Water, and let it sink into your opponent’s body. The water you create will find the water in their blood. Once you do that, it’s a simple matter of adding Air and a little Spirit, and cooling it until it freezes.” She did as she described and soon a thin sheen of frost appeared on the bag of blood before her. “Now, you try it!”

 

She helped Kabria where the girl needed help, but water weaves were pretty easy, once you got past your hang-ups about them. “Alright, that’s all I’ve got for you today. When you feel up to it, go try these weaves on the bigger stuffed trollocs. I’ll stay for a while this afternoon to help you out, so feel free to ask my anything you need me to show you!”

~Loraine

Boil (Fire 2, Water 2, Skill 27) – weave Water into opponent’s body and heat it to the boil with Fire. Ew! (If you’re strong enough, this is a great weave; problem is high skill requirement)

 

Drown, External (Water 3, Skill 13) – best used if you can get a good grip on opponent’s head with your weave – wrap water ‘round their head, sealing off their oxygen supply and drowning them.

 

Freeze (Air 2, Spirit 2, Water 2, Skill 6) – we’d like to teach this slightly modified; instead of attacking a river or something, to freeze that, we’d be freezing the opponent’s blood in their veins. This would, I assume, require a little less exertion, but maybe more concentration.

 

 

Unbidden Kabria’s eyes welled at hearing the honorific added to her name. She had earned the shawl and outside of her Ajah the Novices and Accepted she came into contact used the title, but with in her own Ajah she was simply Kabria. Something more than an Accepted, but not yet a full Sister to be trusted as the others were. Smiling at Loraine, Kabria tried not to blush and to take the complement with the stoic reserve she thought it deserved.

 

She was shocked to hear that Loraine had issue with these weaves. All Green Sisters were meant to be steel covered by silk, unshakable and impassable. She was not there herself but she had always pictured Loraine to be so. As she sat down on the ground she was nervous and unconsciously began fingering her tattoo. “OK, this will be our enemy at first. Our first weave is called Boil. It’s pretty self explanatory, however, there’s a level of difficulty to it. You thread the water weaves like this, which is pretty easy,”

 

Boil?! Kabria turned the small doll over in her hands and tried to picture what a weave like this could do to a person. It seemed horrific enough to watch it happen to fabric and wool. Turning the doll over in her hands she placed the small stitched face down before she began to channel water into its tiny form. She formed the weave with a small grimace on her face, but did not let up until the doll dripped with moisture. Grimacing she used a thin weave of fire to heat the doll until she was too hot to touch and she began to boil. Tossing her onto the dirt Kabria scrubbed her hands against her pants and released the source. “I think I understand that weave Loraine.” Looking at the tiny wet doll Kabria wondered if she could bring herself to make that weave again. Focusing on Loraine’s eyes she tried to remember that these would only be used in the last extreme defense of her life.

 

When she had to form the weave for drown she could not even bring herself to pick up the sad little doll. Weaving the bubble of water around its head she wanted to cry. Why did doing what as right have to be so cruel? At that moment she vowed to only use these weaves on the vilest of Shadowspawn, not wanting to see their effects on the human body.

 

For the last weave Loraine pulled out a packet of blood. Wrinkling her nose Kabria edged farther away from her teacher. She believed in the Yellow’s desire to heal, but she would never be comfortable with the sight of blood. At least not so detached from the human body as this was. Shivering she tried to focus on the teaching only and forget the fact it involved human blood.

 

Freeze. She could not decide if it was worse to freeze someone where they stood or boil the blood in their veins. Either was bound to be painful, but somehow freezing someone from the inside out seemed the worse of the two. Holding the packet off blood like it were a venomous snake she froze the blood inside and had to swallow hard to keep from losing her lunch.

 

She was grateful that Loraine stayed to help her practice, but she still loathed to practice the new weaves. They seemed to much like torture to suit her own tastes.

 

Loraine straightened her shoulders and walked across the practice field for the last time. She’d organized Kabria’s test, already, but there was one last weave to show her. It was probably the most important one of the lot. It had been two weeks since Kabria’s last lesson; two weeks since she told her to get in as much practice as possible, cornering any Green who stood still too long to show her their tricks or just to help her practice the weaves. She knew exactly how hard Kabria had been practicing, too. She saw the sweat coating the woman’s clothes every evening, after all!

 

“Are you ready for one last weave, Kabria?” She said, her lips stretching into a smile. “This one is probably the most important one you’re going to learn from me, so it’s important that you pay attention closely. This weave is called Remove Taint. Its purpose is to remove the taint from a weapon wrought by the minions of the Dark One. A mydraal’s blade is deadly for more than one reason, after all. I can’t show you this weave properly, at least not until someone nearby has been cut with a blade that’s tainted, but I can show you the weave and help you practice it. This weave is extremely demanding and so also very draining. We’ll practice it today really small, but I hope you’ll practice it more afterwards so it becomes easier and easier to do.”

 

She started weaving, pointing out strands of elements and talking through the weave she was creating so that Kabria would understand the order and placement of each thread. “First, you need large amounts of Water, Air and Spirit. They need to be layered like this.” She layered the three elements, leaving gaping holes where Earth and Fire would fill in without actually adding them. “These big open spaces will be filled with Earth and Fire, but I want you to see this part of the weave first. The placement of the Fire is probably the most crucial part, since any slip will cause more harm than good. It’s a delicate balance, but you’ll see that you don’t need as much Fire and Earth as the other elements.” She didn’t draw nearly as much of those two elements as she did the others and started weaving the Earth threads into the original knot of elements. “Earth is slightly concentrated in the center, which will be the focal point for the wound. The Fire activates the weave, which is probably why it’s so volatile.” She delicately threaded the Fire threads into the weave, biting her lip to keep the Fire from slipping or mixing with any of the other elements. The final thread of Fire went through the center and the whole weave seemed to melt together. The weave glowed brightly and hissed a little before it disappeared. “If we’d had a subject to work on, something for the weave to do, it would’ve lasted longer. It seeks out the taint and destroys it, bit by bit. The more taint, the more you have to work to hold the weave together. Just in case creating the weave wasn’t tricky enough, imagine holding the weave together while it’s working. You can’t see the threads, so you have to totally go on the feel of the thing. So, when you practice this one, I would recommend that you do it where you can’t see it once you’ve mastered creating it. The better you get at that, the more likely you are to be successful in what you’re trying to do.”

 

She smiled. “Now, you try it. You have a rather large test ahead of you, though, so I wouldn’t push yourself too much.” She watched as Kabria created the weave, helping here and there to make sure the threads were laid in the right place. Once she’d created the weave and it had disappeared, Loraine moved on to the last reason they were here. “Now for the fun part,” she said, turning to the newly restuffed field of trollocs on the practice field. “Your test is simple. Attack that army and be successful. You must use one of each type of weave: Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. You can use as many different weaves as you like, but you must destroy all of your targets.” She smiled and winked. “I know you’ll do fine, so just relax and start when you’re ready!”

 

~Loraine

YAY for the last part of the class! :D

Ok, the goodies:

Remove Taint (Air 6, Earth 3, Fire 3, Spirit 6, Water 5, Skill 28) – used to heal wounds from a Myrdraal’s weapon or other tainted items.

 

Final: use the weaves you’ve learned from each lesson (e.g. however many you want, but at least one each of Air, Fire, Water and Earth, in whatever order you want) on the Trolloc targets around the field.

 

The night before she was too meet Loraine for her final weave and test Kabria dreamt. They were not the usual happy dreams of bonding Perivar and destroying the Shadow ; but dark and twisted nightmares. In some she failed the test and was branded as a failure for the entire Tower to see, worst of all was the look in Perivar’s eyes before he turned and walked away. It had been disappointment mixed with contempt; even now she shuddered at remembering.

 

She had dressed carefully, wanting to look perfect. If she failed today she would fail grandly, but in her heart she did not think that would be the case. Dreams were just dreams after all and nightmares just nightmares…

 

Walking out to the practice yards she held tight to her nerves. She knew she had practiced as much as she could have; falling into bed most nights sweat covered and exhausted. Giving Loraine a tight smile she was anxious to begin, her eyes watching the weave and cataloging it in her mind. When she got a chance to practice she only used small amounts of the source, not wanting to drain herself too far before her test. Still she laid each skein carefully, not wanting to make a mistake.

 

“I know you’ll do fine, so just relax and start when you’re ready!”

 

Kabria swallowed hard and gave a small nod. Stepping forward she studied the stuffed Trolloc’s in front of her and quickly rearranged the plan she’d made the night before. She had not been counting on having to use one weave of each type; with Fire being her weakest it was there that she attacked first. With a pushing motion she wove Fire and Air and flung a fireball the size of her head across the field sending two more after it. They exploded one after another on the closest Trolloc exploding his head, chest, and legs in rapid succession. On the next stuffed beast she used boil, feeding water into the straw until it dripped, and then it burst into flame as it boiled away to nothing. Having found her rhythm she used grenade on the next Trolloc’s, preparing and flinging two rocks before the beast was done.

 

Ready to destroy her final beast Kabria wove Air and split her weave her cut the Trollocs to shreds with Razors, not stopping until it was a pile as large as a horse on the ground. Only the wooden pole that held the dummy in place was there to tell that a straw Trolloc had even been.

 

Releasing Saidar with a triumphant smile on her face Kabria turned to Loraine to see how she’d done. Whatever the true outcome it was to be nothing like her nightmare.

 

Loraine watched each weave carefully, minding the placement and speed with which Kabria created and used them. She nodded with each complete weave and waited until Kabria turned back with a smile before she said anything.

 

She held her expression still. "Very good, Kabria!" She said, a small smile stretching across her face. "I am impressed. I will report your progress to the Captain General. I believe you're nearly ready to be a full Aes Sedai! From here, it is usually costumary for a recruit to spend a night in contemplation with one of the Sisters of our Ajah and then petition the Captain General again. This second petition will be done inside the Ajah Quarters, though."

 

Loraine stopped, looking out over the still-smoldering practice field. "I hope this has helped you understand why your original petition was handled the way it was. There are things every Green Sister must know. Not all of them are the pretty stories you read in books." She smiled again, nodding to Kabria. "I trust we will talk again soon. For now, sleep well knowing you've learned as much as we can teach you. From here, experience is the only teacher you'll have to contend with." 

 

~Loraine

CONGRATULATIONS! :D  You're done!