Trelaine's Room: White Tower, Tar Valon

Velvet curtains drape the two windows in the sitting room of this Aes Sedai's apartments. Velvet, the color of twilight, a purplish hue with warms the heart. The carpet on the wooden floor is also the same color of purple, but the Tairen mazework on the carpet stands out in colors of royal blue and a glowing green. Sitting atop of the rug is a table, with several soft and comfortable chairs, and one sedan, forming an oddly shaped semi-circle towards teh fireplace. Bookshelves line the walls of this room, envying that of many Brown Sister's rooms, but it is kept more tidy. Everything seems to have it's place, from the desk beside the door, to the mantle above the fireplace, which hangs between the two windows. Across from the entrance to the room, is another door, slightly ajar, which seems to lead to a bedroom.

Obvious exits:

Hallway

Trelaine(#1663PJc$)

The woman seems to be small and delicate when one first glances upon her. Her face is fine, youthfil and pixielike. But take a moment longer to study this woman, and her features seem more mature, and older than first expected. Take another moment, and confusion might set in, as it seems impossible to tell how old this woman really is. Milky-white skin, covers Trelaine's small frame, to highlight vibrant blue eyes that are anything from weak and frail. Those blue eyes are strong, mature, stubborn, and haunting. Hovering behind Trelaine's pale face are locks of dark brown hair, nearly black, that seems to swim, when unbound, in the slightest breeze. Often, however, Trelaine keeps her hair out of her face by braiding it, then looping it twice at the back of her head. A soft blush paints Trelaine's cheeks and hints at her soft lips.

Soft, light blue, drapes the upper half of Trelaine in linen, dyed to perfection. The blue linen is cut at the neck in a small scoop, quite proper, but exposing the fless around the neck. The sleeves wander, after a slight puff at the shoulder, to just below the elbows. A wide blue silk sash at the waist, is tied and bowed at the back. From there, blue and soft cream stripped linen make up the skirt, travelling, flowing to just above the ankles, keeping the dress modest, but easy enough to dance in.

Before you stands a lithe, muscular girl, perhaps seventeen summers. Her stark, yet handsome face speaks of great pain and many years of travel. Her skin is tanned deeply, though begining to fade.

She is dressed in a long white gown which fits her rather perfectly, showing off her muscular body.

Her demeanor is both proper and staunchy. She holds her head high like that of a noble, wearing her hair in an intrcate braid with threads of gold wound into it. Her dark brown eyes look at you with a quaint interest.

Immediately you begin to wonder about this strange ammalgamation of Mayene Noble girl and odd Tower Novice.

(If you ask about it, Sari just looks at you, smirks and winks.)

A knock sounds at Traliane's Door

Trelaine looks up from a cup of tea as she sits before the fire buring in the fireplace. An eyebrow arches, and Trelaine nods. "Right on time," the Green Sedai mutters to herself. Waving a hand in front of her, Trelaine embraces the One Source, and weaves air, opening the door for the Novice outside. The fire casts odd, perhaps even sinister shadows across Trelaines face, for it is the only light in the room, the curtains are drawn tight, preventing light from seeping through. Lips turn upwards as Trelaine looks at Sari. "Come in, my child," says the Aes Sedai in a soft voice which oddly carries to the door and seems to be everywhere.

Sari peers into the room and raises an eyebrow. Having had little contact with Aes Sedai until this point, she scarcely knows what to expect. She steps into the chamber, looking about and, noticing the Sedai sitting near the fire, she stepd forward and drops a very proper, almost noble curtsy. "Light Shine Aes Sedai." Sari nods. She becomes silent, waiting for the woman to speak.

Trelaine's smiles broadens just a hint as she motions towards the door again, closing it with Air once more. Then Trelaine looks at the novice before her. An intriguing child, but today is not for questions. Quietly Trelaine nods, "Peace favor you," the Shienaran Sedai says as she motions towards a soft chair opposite her. "Sit, child. You cannot stand for this lesson, it will only be a distraction."

Sari nods at the woman. "Thank you, Aes Sedai." She takes a seat in the chair next to the Shienaran and quietly folds her hands in her lap. As she has been instructed, she speaks not, but waits for Trelaine to continue.

Trelaine seems to stare at Sari, studying, measuring the girl before her for a long time. "You have decent enough strength," Trelaine comments cryptically. Setting her tea cup on the table before her, Trelaine takes the empty cup waiting there, and poors some tea into it, before motioning it towards Sari. As if obeying Trelaine's unspoken command, the cup rises from the table, and floats to just in front of the novice. "Drink some tea. For this excersise, you need to be completely relaxed." Then Trelaine leans back into her own chair, her cup of tea still on the table. "Today, I will guide you into your frist embrace of the One Source. You will have no control over it, so do not be frustrated. Few women, if any, can be perfect and do this easily, child. You will not make any weaves of the One Power today, just touching, embracing the source is all we will do." Trelaine looks towards the fire, nodding to herself, before turning back to the Novice. "What is your name, child? I am Trelaine Sedai. We have not been formally introduced yet."

Sari nods and takes the cup of tea as it floats toward her. She's certainly seen stranger things, but floating tea cups definitely make the list. She smiles a bit. "Thank you Trelaine Sedai. I am Sari Sur Pendraeg of Lady Beth and Sir Arvid Pendraeg of Mayene." She spews out her lineage as if it meant nothing to her and it was a long rehearsed line. She takes a sip of the tea and waits. Her eyes flicker a bit, possibly nervously, though if she is, she hides it well.

Trelaine smiles at the novice, and nods. "I see, child. You are the Mayene girl with the brother in the trainee program, am I correct? I have not been to Mayene before, I will have to remedy that," comments the Aes Sedai as she absently arranges her skirts. Then Trelaien waves a hand. "None of that matters here, and certainly not now. The first thing I will teach you is a bit of a meditation trick. This will help you to focus on the lesson at hand, and keep distractions away." The smile on Trelaine's face fades, but not into a frown, into serene calm. "Set down your tea, child," she urges, "The lesson begins now. The first thing you are to do, is to tense every muscle in your body, from the tip of your head, to the curling of your toes."

Sari looks up from the tea and nods her head. She places it on the table next to her and closes here eyes for a second. She sucks in a bit of air and concentrates on tensing her whole body. After a moment, she starts turning red as the blood rushes through her body from being so tense. She continues to concentrate on being tense as Trelaine instructed her, waiting with baited breath.

The light in the room seems to dim, and Trelaine's voice seems to flow and wrap itself around Sthe novice. "Start with your toes, and only your toes, gently relax them, breathing evenly as you do so," drones in a monotone voice, "relax yourself, relax the tension in your muscles, let it all flow and drift away as your muscles relax..."

Sari starts to breath again and follows Trelaine's instructions carefully. Bit by bit she starts to relax, starting at the tips of her toes and finally, she sags a bit as she releases the last of the tension, her breath becoming slow and steady. Her eyes close and it looks almost as if she has gone to sleep.

Trelaine continues to speak, her voice drifting on an invisible wind that wraps it's way around Sari, "Forget the outside world, there is nothing else. There is no room, there is no one but you. You are a flower, wrapped tightly around itself, waiting for the daylight to find it's way to you. The darkness surrounds you, envelopes you, but you are not cold, you simply wait."

Behind Sari's closed eyes, the world becomes dark and nothingness. She is so relaxed that it is easy to just slip into this medatative state. The sound of the fire slips away and there is only blackness and Trelaine's voice. Sari becomes a flower, a small pink rosebud, waiting in the darkness. She feels nothing, and waits.

The disembodied voice of Trelaine continues quietly on, "The predawn ligh hovers on the horizon, signifying what is to come. The world trembles, waiting for the light of the sun to warm it into awakening. Slowly, ever so slowly... painfully slow the sun starts to make it's way above the horizon... the warmth of the light filling you, fulfilling you, completing you. Stretch for the light... embrace it, as it embraces you..."

Sari watches as the pale dawn approaches, and begins to reach for the coming light, wanting so badly to be in it. She streches and pulls herself toward it. And as it becomes brighter, the light envelopes her. The warm sun filling her petals.

Whispers echo around Sari, Trelaine's voice continues, "Draw the warmth, the light, into your self. Absorb it, feel the joy of it filling you, reach for it. The Light that gives light, the light that gives joy, the river of light that rolls over you, courses through you, spins about you. Bring it into yourself... "

Sari continues to fill herself with the warmth of the light. Open in her petals toward it. She basks in the glory of it feeling nothing but utter and complete joy. She continues to accept the feeling until it becomes overwhelming. The feeling is so beautiful that it becomes painful. The smile on Sari's face turns into utter raidiance, then into a bit of a grimace. She looks into the light which has become so bright and big that she feels small and weak in comparison. She begins to frown a bit, shirking back.

Again Trelaine's words whisper quietly around Sari, embracing and calming the novice, "You do well, child. Again, open yourself to the warmth of the light, hold yourself in that warmth, then open your eyes."

Sari nods, listening to Trelaine's words and opens herself back up to the light. A bright glow begins to eminate around her, gaining intensity with fury. Sari continues to let the light enter her and surround her until it positively engulfs her. The glow of Saidar shines like the noon sun around her, looking like it may just eat her alive.

Trelaine puts a hand on Sari's knee, as she kneels before the Novice. "Not so much, child. Embracing the Source too heavily can drain you... and even brun the ability out of you. Release some of it, child." Surrounding Trelaine is the glow of Saidar, equally as bright as that which surrounds Sari, but there is no strain on Trelaine's face, not in her voice, not in her features. Encircling Sari are strants of grey, seen now only in Saidar's light. As Trelaine speaks, one can almost see her words carried along the strands.

Sari once again shirks back a bit from the light. She waits a moment and realizes that she is once again filled with complete love and joy. The glow about her fades to a semblence of the dawn, the look on her face is no longer strain, but ease and peace. She basks in the glory of saidar.

Trelaine nods before Sari, her hand still on the girl's knee. "Excellent, Sari, excellent. Now, as painful and heartwrenching as it may be, you must release Saidar now. You must guide into this easily, and that include rationing out how much and how often, you embrace." Trelaine stands, still embracing Saidar herself, but teh grey-whispy strands, disappear and drift into nothingness, like fog once the sun reaches it's height in the sky. Trelaine walks back to her chair and sits down, picking her tea cup up as she does so. A red, glowing strand streaks forward into her cup, and Sari's which is on the table, as well. Soon steam comes from both cups and the red strand sputters and dies. "That joy and light was Saidar, the female half of the One Power. There are two parts, Saidar and Saidin. Saidin, in a vile counterstoke at the end of the last age, was tainted by the Dark One, in retaliation for being sealed again. The taint on Saidin floats on the surface of it, like oil on water, eventually causing any man who touches it to go mad and die. Thus the reason for the need to gentle men with the ability to touch Saidin. As a safety measure for others, and for themselves."

Sari releases the source slowly, feeling sadness as she does, but she looks up at Trelaine and listens. She watches in amazement as strands of color fluctuate around the Aes Sedai, first disappearing into the air and then delving into the tea to warm it. She seems awe stricken. She continues listening to Trelaine, but it takes most of her concentration to do it after all that has happened.

Trelaine smiles at Sari, motioning the novice to her tea, before going on. "The relationship between Saidin and Saidar, isn't tumutuous, but it is ... strained. Saidin and Saidar push on each other, and in places they pull on each other, opposites to the very deffinition. Each strains against the other, making up the whole of the One Power. The greatest works in the Age of Legends were created by these two opposite powers wrestling with each other, making things complete."

Sari nods, listening intently as she reaches for the tea again. The familiar flavor soothes her heartache a bit and makes concentrating a bit easier. The world, all of a sudden, seems very mindane and yet full of things to discover. Oddly enough, she recalls the felling of being at sea, the wind in her hair, the smell of saltwater. She suddenly feels quite at home. She wonders why at this particular time she would remember this, but she shrugs it off, trying to listen intently to what Trelaine is saying.

Trelaine smiles at the Mayaner novice now. "Tell me, child, have you any questions? Do not strain yourself to find one, if you do not. But most do, at this point."

Sari frowns. "It seems so simple, I mean, how come you have to be taught to touch the source?" She shakes her head. "It felt so natural. Like being on the ocean again..." She looks up at Trelaine bewildered.

Trelaine smiles at Sari and nods in understanding. "Those who are not taught, but teach themselves to touch the source, do not touch it correctly. They run the risk of burning themselves out, which is just as dangerous as ... stilling themselves. Three out of four women who do touch the source by themselves become very ill. If they are not taught how to touch the source correctly, to have their blocks broken, they will wither away and die. And once they start to wither, not even Healing can help."

Sari frowns. "That's so sad." She shakes her head. "But how do they know? I mean what if no one finds them?" She sighs. "I suppose a lot of women don't get found though?" Her eyes drop to her tea cup and she sighs again.

Trelaine shakes her head, there seems to be a hint of sadness to Trelaine's eyes. "No. Most are never found. The Tower is feared and hated in some parts of the world, because of this, our numbers dwindle, we do not have enough sisters to search the world for those who can be helped."

Sari looks up at Trelaine innocently. "But, can't you change it? Can't you do something, with all this power? Make it different?"

Trelaine shakes her head. "The One Power is how the creator made it, except for the Taint. And much knowledge was lost from teh Age of Legends. If there were a way to change it, we do not know of it."

Sari nods. "I see." She lifts her chin and takes another sip of her tea. "But, it is good that at least some are found, I guess." She smiles at Trelaine.

Trelaine nods again to Sari, setting her tea back down on the table. "Yes. We do what we can, though it does seem small."

Sari nods. "I am glad for it." She grins. "i can't wait to learn more. It's all so exciting." Her demeanor is once again optomistic and it shows as she beams at the woman next to her.

Trelaine smiels and stands, looking at Sari. "And the most important lesson you learn in the Tower is decipline, thus all the chores." Ther eis perhaps a mischievious twinkle in Trelaine's eyes now, "Which, I am sure, you have plenty to be doing, don't you?"

Sari stands and nods. "Yes Aes Sedai." Sari drops a curtsy to the woman and starts out of the room.

Trelaine smiles after the novice, quietly and contemplatively watching her leave.